Hermione & the Elves (was: Wands and Wizards)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183788

Mike wrote:
> <snip>
> When wizards decided to segregrate themselves from the non-magical
world, they endeavored to do the same with all magical creatures.
> 
> The house elves were an easy problem to solve (from the wizard's
point of view). Just restrict them to only wizarding houses, and bind
 them to that house forever. <snip>
> But elves weren't the only beings restricted in this wizarding
effort to remove themselves from the Muggle world. They restrict the
centaurs to the Forbidden Forest. <snip>
> 
> The giants are a different story. They were herded into some 
mountains - somewhere in Russia I think, based on Hagrid's tale - or
killed if they didn't accede to that demand. A little tougher on them
than on the elves, wouldn't you say? <snip>

Carol responds:

The giants are a real problem. Grawp is the only example we see of a
domesticated giant, and would it be right and fair to the giants
themselves to domesticate all of them, if that were possible? (It
would certainly be hard to hide them!)

OTOH, if they're left to themselves in their natural state, as they
presumably were before the Statute of Secrecy was passes, how can all
the Muggle mountain climbers who don't believe in giants be protected
in a Europe that's much more densely populated than it was in the
Middle Ages? Even Wizards can't always deal safely with giants, who
resent their magic.

But if giants are placed all together on a kind of reservation (what,
BTW, is preventing them from leaving?), they kill each other off
because they don't naturally live together. They really are, for the
most part and in differing degrees, as brutal and dangerous as they're
reputed to be. You can't give them rights and education and ask them
to govern themselves. They don't have that capacity, except in the
most limited form (an Alpha giant or Gurg). They can't even be given a
voice in council via Grawp because they have the intellectual capacity
of a two-year-old human child.

Even setting aside the Statute of Secrecy, which Wizards are now bound
to obey and enforce, what ought the Wizards to do about the "giant
problem"? Unlike House-Elves, Merpeople, and Centaurs, they can't be
given a home at Hogwarts, whose castle and grounds are hidden from
Muggle eyes.

Carol, wondering what Mike and others think could be safely and
humanely done about what might be called "the giant problem" (at least
they're not being bred and sold for parts like dragons!)