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[abbers44]

HARRY POTTER DISCUSSION POST

I CANNOT HOLD IT IN ANY LONGER. Post your questions/topics here! Any book/movie! A thread a topic seems like the easiest way to stay organized, but no need to be too anxious about that. GET IT ALL OUT.

Comments

[abbers44]

WIZARDING ECONOMICS. I am seriously so fascinated by this lsdkfj Wands are only 7 Galleons! They are still on the gold standard! Are there scholarships available? Are there homeless wizards? WHAT IS THE DEAL.

[victorialupin]

HOW DOES WIZARDING MONEY WORK.

No, really. 17 Sickles to a Galleon, and 29 Knuts to a Sickle. WHY WOULD YOU NOT STICK WITH MULTIPLES OF 5/10?

ARE ALL WIZARDS SUPER GOOD AT MATH?

[abbers44]

sdlfkj screaming. I know, I know. When I just reread the bit where Hagrid's explaining the money system, I was like, JESUS CHRIST. SO NEEDLESSLY COMPLEX.

And everything in coins!! Wallet design must be a huge market sdlfkj endless lightening and shrinking charms.

I wonder if there are other money systems in different countries, or if it's all just the same coins. Everything we know about the wizarding world is pretty Anglicized, with all these Roman roots. Surely wizards in, like, China don't use awkward Latin when casting spells.... It's be really fascinating to learn about how it works abroad. We had tiny glimpses in GoF, I guess, but I want mooooooore.

[victorialupin]

I remember reading some essay years ago that theorized that Wizarding Britain is kind of ... behind the times, to say the least, and that the rest of the Wizarding World looked at it as a bit backwards and conservative. I'm not sure if there was much evidence of that (beyond maybe the fact that they banned flying carpets, even though other parts of the WW use them?), but I like the idea nonetheless.

[abbers44]

Can you buy wands secondhand? It seems like Ron's first wand was pretty ancient. But who would give up their wand? Can you master other wands like the Elder Wand? If so, does the wand really choose the wizard?

[abbers44]

I suppose when people die their wands are up for grabs! But that still seems strange.

Wands seem so much like soulmates, which sldkj is bringing up the same sorts of questions. Can you really shop around for a wand? Are you just destined to have a less than ideal wand if your perfect one is in a different country? Do the wandmakers have some sort of book, like Hogwarts, keeping track of kids who'll need wands in their country, and work from that to design them? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

[likeafox]

There has to be, like, multiple wands of the same length, wood, and core though, right? It's not like there are endless options. Though I supposed there would be differences based on what specific animal/plant/whatever the core material came from. Maybe it's, like, you can have multiple wands that would be right for you, but they'd all be pretty similar. Harry seems like a special case, anyway. He probably only had the one perfect wand, but because Voldemort made it so, not because he was born that way. Maybe, like, Ron could have had any wand of the same length and wood and core material, no matter who made it or what unicorn (right? ron's new wand was unicorn hair?) it came from.

ALSO, Charlie apparently got a new wand, but why did he need a new wand? Did he not get his own in the first place, or did he, like, change as a person and need a different wand? Maybe they had to go to a subpar wand maker for Charlies first wand, so once he got a job he went to Olivander and got a wand more suited to him.

sdflkj getting tired, sorry

[abbers44]

I suppose I could get over this if Ollivander weren't SO FUCKING INSANE AND CREEPY about wands. If it didn't really matter that much, why does he make a point to bring up everyone's wand type the minute he sees them? He even remembers the core giver...

The changing as a person thing is interesting!! That would explain secondhand wands enough for me to let it go a bit slkj. It would make the Elder Wand a little easier to understand as well. It seems like even though the Elder Wand is ~all powerful~ it still wouldn't be as well suited as your own wand, but if you changed to a point where idk your priorities and skills changed, then I could see how the Elder Wand would feel natural to use.

[abbers44]

THERE ARE HIT WIZARDS. How is that legal? HOW SHADY IS THE MINISTRY?? How do these laws get passed... are there elections?

[victorialupin]

I feel like there's absolutely no oversight in the Ministry. We don't see a great deal of checks and balances, and the public seems grossly misinformed about Ministry happenings.

On that note, the Wizarding Media is super strange. I wish we'd seen a middle-of-the-road publication; The Daily Prophet is completely biased, but The Quibbler's occasional boughts of truth are mixed in with ridiculous stories. It's not as if newspapers are objective in the real world, but I almost feel like it's impossible to be properly informed in the WW unless you have inside sources.

[abbers44]

IT IS TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BE INFORMED. sdlkj See, this is why I get extra annoyed at the treatment of Slytherins during the Battle of Hogwarts. How the fuck is anyone supposed to know what is going on unless they are bff with Harry or something. If you don't receive information directly from one side, you're stuck with fearmongering combined with denial sldjfk just. It's like you're supposed to follow some inner moral compass, but without letting your entire upbringing and CENTURIES OF HISTORY into the decision making process.

Eesh, like when Harry was all pissy at Seamus in OotP because his mum wasn't sure Voldemort was actually back and all. COME ON, HARRY. She's not dumb or a Death Eater or out to ruin your quest! She is so dully normal and average. YOU SHOULD BE ALARMED, NOT ANGRY. sldfkslfjslkjslfkjs

[likeafox]

I'll never understand people who completely side with Harry in the Seamus v. Harry argument. Like. Would it majorly suck to be Harry in that scenario? Obviously. But it really doesn't take a lot of thinking to understand Seamus had a really legitimate point of view.

[likeafox]

OKAY GUYS. I have needed discussion of this since the second it happened the night DH7.2 was released.

In the movie Harry tells Ron and Hermione that he's going to go face Voldemort and most likely die. In the book, however, he consciously decides that he isn't going to tell them. Can't tell them, even. From The Forest Again:
Ron and Hermione seemed a long way away, in a far-off country; he felt as though he had parted from them long ago. There would be no good-byes and no explanations, he was determined of that. This was a journey they could not take together, and the attempts they would make to stop him would waste valuable time. -DH p. 693
Obviously in the movie it happens very differently. So my questions for you

[abbers44]

From my (admittedly fuzzy) memory of the movie, Harry didn't really tell them, they just sort of... understood. And he didn't really even go looking for them, did he? It seemed like they just happened upon each other and it clicked

[talimeeka]

I agree with the not being able to follow through thing, but I think there's a good chance he didn't because he thought they may have tried to stop him, a reasonable assumption I think.

[abbers44]

WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE LUCIUS MALFOY ACTUALLY DOES? sdlkfj does he bring in a salary... It seems like he just attends a lot of dinner parties and tugs at strings in the Ministry, but like. Does he have a title....

I WONDER IF YOU CAN INVEST IN THE WIZARDING WORLD... sldfkj just trying to understand how the Malfoy fortune is maintained if Lucius doesn't technically have a job. sldkfj Wizarding stock market~

[victorialupin]

lmao, I remember somebody asking that question and another poster responding with "Is blackmail a job?"

But, yes, I would assume it's mostly investments. He was obviously a school governor and I wouldn't be surprised if he's held other official posts, but I don't think they're the main source of income, just a way to maintain connections.