DH Questions: Lovegoods/Ron's absence/blood status

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 188308

Sandie wrote:
<snip>
> 
> 1. Are the elder Lovegoods and Weasleys friends? The Weasleys invite the Lovegoods to Fleur & Bill's wedding, and it's mentioned they live near each other, so why does it seem like Luna and Ron & Ginny didn't know each other prior to Hogwarts? In fact, doesn't Ron "meet" Luna in OotP? Or are we supposed to think Wizarding weddings are huge, so the Weasleys invited many of their wizarding neighbors?

Carol responds:
I don't think that the Weasleys and Lovegoods are friends (though perhaps Molly and Mrs. Lovegood were before Mrs. L. died), but they're certainly acquaintances. For example, Mr. W. knows that the Lovegoods couldn't get tickets to the QWT.

As for why the Lovegoods are invited to Bill and Fleur's wedding, Luna and Ginny are in the same year and friends of sorts, and Luna fought DEs at the MoM, which certainly seems like a good reason to invite her to join the celebration. And, of course, if you invite Luna, you invite "Daddy." I'm pretty sure that Ron, like Ginny, already knows who "Loony" is. He's with Hermione in the Prefect carriage when Harry, Neville, and Ginny sit down with her. It's Neville who doesn't know Luna and is intimidated by her very evident eccentricity.
> 
> 2. How long was Ron at Shell Cottage/away from Harry & Hermione? I thought it was a matter of weeks but my friend and I couldn't settle on an exact time.

Carol responds:
All I know is that it's late March--and the Easter holiday--when the Snatchers kidnap HRH and Dobby is killed. (JKR has her years mixed up; Easter 1998 was in April, but she seems to think that the year is 1997.) And it's some time in May when they fight the Battle of Hogwarts. I'd say that they were at Shell Cottage just over a month (and Teddy is born some time in April), but you're right that the time frame is vague.
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> 3. The last question is about the next gen... In a canon-based fanfic I read, the author referred to the three Potter kids as purebloods and the two Weasley kids as half bloods. Obviously Ron and Hermione's kids are half bloods, but is that correct about the Potter kids (HB Harry + PB Ginny = PB kids?). I kinda thought once a PB wizard married anything other than a PB, their kids were no longer PB.
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Carol responds:
I think what matters is that all four grandparents would be witches and wizards. In Harry's case, he has two Muggle grandparents, so he's a Half-Blood, but that wouldn't apply to his children. If the WW kept track of the degree of Muggle blood in their veins (Harry's kids as 3/4 bloods, the next generation as perhaps 3/8 bloods if my math is right) there would be no purebloods.

Carol, not sure that she's correct on that last answer, but thinking that it's simpler and less confusing than continuing to consider kids with four wizarding grandparents Halr-bloods