Wizarding Top Ten

[kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 188157

> Pippin:
> The Grangers are dentists, not actors. And even if they were actors, they'd still have to remain in exile and in hiding knowing that terrible things were happening at home and their daughter was in danger. Sirius couldn't stand it in the end, why should the Grangers think they could?

Kemper now:
Sirius was contained in a house he hated.  He was expected to stay in there without leaving unless given permission by Dumbledore.   The Grangers are in Australia.  A huge country with lots to do.  

Sirius was already a soldier in the war (both 1 and 2).  Hermione is a soldier in the 2nd war; her parents are not.  As Muggles they are already aware of that reality in the world.  As parents, they are expected to be worried about their daughter not to go and find her.  You don't need to be an actor to go into hiding.  Though it might behoove them to do work other than dentistry which they more than likely might not be able to perform anyway as licenses might not transfer to another country.  One British dentist would be very conspicuous to any of Voldemort's spies, two opposite-sexed ones would be even more so regardless of their memories being altered.  I forgot who suggested that a DE might not have the power/skills to break down memories that only TDL could do so, but if Hermione's parents were valuable to TDL then I'm sure he would meet with them personally.


> Pippin
> Odysseus knew he wouldn't be able to resist the Sirens, however strong his resolve, so he had himself tied to the mast of his ship. I see the Grangers' situation as similar. They know that that the best thing they can do to defend Hermione is stay safe themselves. They know they might not be strong enough or skilled enough to do it on their own. Why wouldn't they, like Odysseus, temporarily give up some of their freedom for protection?

Kemper now:
It's a false protection.  And besides, no one human at the immediate time was out to untie Odysseus.  He knew he was safe. 

I'm guessing that the Grangers are at least as intelligent as their daughter and as well read.  Obviously this is speculation, but I believe that they would be able to ask follow-up questions to Hermione's request (which I don't think happened, but for argument's sake...) and realize they didn't need to have their memories altered.  They would concede that hiding is necessary and Australia would be a good idea (based I'm sure on Hermione's research on where English speaking wizards and their communities are in least abundance... which makes sense as it started out as a penal colony and that the first English speaking witches/wizards in Australia would be Muggle born and may have a more open acceptance now of their Muggle/MuggleBorn/HalfBlooded neighbors.)


> Pippin:
> We do see different ways of hiding memories in canon. Snape puts some in the Pensieve, Slughorn disguises them -- which, BTW, disposes of the argument that modifying memories is not something wizards would voluntarily do to themselves.

Kemper now:
Slughorn still *knew* the memory.  He gave an altered memory to Dumbledore.  

I hadn't heard the argument that a wizard would voluntarily alter their own memory to the point of forgetting their original memory.  That doesn't make sense to me, but I suppose that it's possible if you write yourself instructions on what to do... but then that sounds like meeting yourself while using a timeturner: not a good idea. :D

Kemper