The Epilogue and the post-DH WW

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 169571

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the Epilogue extends
only to 2007, which is both the year that the book was finished and
published and ten years after the start of DH. My reason for thinking
so is that JKR will bring her world up to the present time, with no
need to imagine the future. 

So the Muggle world will be exactly as it is right now, with no
Voldemort attacking us unawares and no awareness of the WW (not to
mention no unimaginable technology), and the WW will have had time to
make some strides forward and recover from the war with Voldemort, but
will still be the same in some respects. (Hogwarts, we know, will
still exist and one of Harry's friends [surely Neville] will teach
there. The Statute of Secrecy will still be in effect (it has to be,
or we Muggles would be able to see Hogwarts).

If I'm right, HRH will be 27 or 28 years old at the end of the
Epilogue, and we'll find out who marries whom and what their careers
are and what they name their first child or first few children but not
how or when they die. (I'm hoping that all three will go back to
Hogwarts a year late to finish their education, which will put them,
for better or worse, in the same year as Ginny.)

My question is, what do all of you think the WW will be like at that
point? Will Scrimgeour still be Minister for Magic, or will it be Mr.
Weasley or someone else (Percy, LOL)? I expect that Hogwarts will have
made some progress toward House unity, with the stigma removed from
Slytherin (please, JKR), but what about the WW? Obviously, Muggles
won't be part of it, but possibly there will be an improved Muggle
Studies program at Hogwarts that focuses on understanding Muggles and
their history and cultural accomplishments rather than presenting
technology as a substitute for magic (the Arthur Weasleys of the world
may find plugs and "ekeltricity" fascinating, but that's hardly all
there is to being a Muggle). More likely, "tolerance" will be actively
promoted, with blood purity deemphasized. (I can just see the teachers
actively promoting a "multicultural" agenda to counter the training
that the purebloods receive at home.) But what about Squibs? Won't
some people in the WW still be "more equal than others"? What
constitutes fair treatment for Squibs?

Werewolves will need free access to Wolfsbane Potion to keep the WW
safe and allow them something resembling equal opportunity, and the
younger ones can be admitted to Hogwarts so that they can be genuinely
equal (with their fellow students taught to "understand how a
werewolf's mind works--maybe from the horse's mouth by a reinstated
Lupin on his third chance). But what about Muggle werewolves, the
Squibs of the werewolf world? Phase them out by making sure they don't
bite anybody, but what kind of life can they live?

As for nonhuman creatures with "near-human intelligence," what's the
best solution? There's no point in giving house-elves wands; they
don't need them. And what if they don't want freedom? What about
goblins? What would happen if *they* were given wands? Should
house-elves and goblins be admitted to Hogwarts? Or should they just
be left alone (as I think the Centaurs and Merpeople should be--and
someone should teach the Centaurs "tolerance," while they're at it.
Even Firenze sees himself as superior to humans.) Peaceful coexistence
seems like the best solution to me, but I'm not sure how it would work.

As for Giants and Trolls, I somehow don't think it's feasible to turn
them all into Grawps or provide a special classroom for them at
Hogwarts. I'm afraid the best solution for the Giants, at least, is to
leave them where they are and let them kill each other off. (Wicked
me, sorry, but some "prejudices"--or fears--are justified, and Ron's
characterization of Giants seems to be borne out by Hagrid's
observations and experience.)

What do you think of this brave new world? Have I got it all wrong?
What do all of you think the WW will--or should--be like as of 2007?

Carol, who predicts that the Epilogue will end with Harry still alive
in what for us is the present rather than projecting his life eighty
years into his future and ours