Reasonable Restrictions, Inspired by Oryx_leucoryx

[terri_testing]

Oryx, your comments inspired me to further thinking. But it got long again….

The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underaged Sorcery was passed in 1876.

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

So glad to be a source of inspiration.

In 1876 Phineas was about 29, possibly expecting the birth of his first-born. Not yet headmaster, for sure, but likely a teacher. The Decree was the work of his predecessors, perhaps with involvement of older family members, somewhere. But he was probably inspired by their thinking.

So Dumbles wrote to Petunia that she really didn't want to come to a place where everyone was doing magical stuff that could get a bit out of hand? Yes, sounds like him.

Interesting speculations all around. Hermione got Crookshanks after spending the summer with her parents in France. Perhaps they had to deal with French magical officials? That may have been a bit too much.

[vermouth1991]

I'd like to cross-examine this essay with your comment, could you please provide a link to it?

[oryx_leucoryx]

LJ won't post comments with links, but in the discussion of Terri's previous post, one of the things I said was:
The way the Statute of Secrecy is enforced means magical children in Muggle homes cannot regularly perform magic in small ways during school breaks, making them more likely to keep having accidental magic into their teens. Bug or feature?

[vermouth1991]

Thanks. You mean the one on parenting?

[hwyla]

Interesting idea about the familiars helping to prevent accidental magic outbursts. That would also make sense that Uncle Algie didn't give Neville his Trevor until the Hogwarts letter came (IF I recall correctly). He wasnted to encourage the outbreaks, not calm them down

[oryx_leucoryx]

Well, if Bill was 5 years out of Hogwarts in June 1995 (third task in GOF) then he turned 11 in November 1982 and started at Hogwarts in September 1983. (And Ginny was 2 when he went, and could have meaningfully wanted to go too.)

Tom's letter was not delivered in the middle of winter. Nor can the book-lists be sent before the staffing decisions are finalized. Thus I believe the letters get sent in the summer to all students. (And in 1995 everyone was in a rush because the letters got sent very late in August.)

IOW Bill's Hogwarts letter was some 20 months in the future when Scabbers showed up.

[hwyla]

Sorry - I went with what Lexicon said was his birthyear of 1970. Oops. Of course there is still always the possibility that when he said it had been 5 years, he had been there for another reason than schooling, perhaps a quidditch game. But, I will accept that Lexicon might have it wrong. Although with JKR and 'maths' it's impossible to know for sure since the Lexicon presumably got Bill's birthdate from something she said, it's too specific a date. And it means that Bill is only 1 year older than Charlie instead of 2. But better to stick as close to the book as well as we can, I wouldn't put it past JKR to get the year wrong on one of these

[oryx_leucoryx]

The birthdates for the Weasleys are from birthday wishes Rowling's site used to have on the appropriate day. Ron's is the only one that is mentioned in canon.

[sweettalkeress]

I swear, every time I read these essays I'm just bowled over by how insightful they are. They're honestly more interesting than anything that actually made it into the last couple books

[oryx_leucoryx]

And Justin missed most of his second year because he was Petrified from December to late May. He was doing OK in the DA, but then DADA was mis-taught to everyone most of the time. We don't see him in HBP or the battle in DH so we don't know if he passed any OWLs or anything else about his abilities.

[flyingskull]

First, Terri, your essays are always so well thought-out and pellucid I've always felt the utmost admiration, not only for your excellent brain, but for your style as well.

I've been in this comm since its inception, but generally lurk like anything and lately RL has gobbled me up entirely. So, even when I wanted to participate, I never had the time for it. Today I found myself free and did my best to keep up with DTCL.

All this blather to ask a question: my memory of the books isn't the best, but didn't Hermione say on the train in PS that she had practised spells at home? If so, could it have been another oh dear maths moment or, as usual, the Reasonable Way To Induct Children Into The Cult Of Magic is something that JKR pulled out of her arse later?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Hermione does say so. But she doesn't say whether all her attempts took place on a single occasion or more. IOW she may have tried levitating some small objects and a few other spells from the early chapters of her Charms textbook, until suddenly an angry Ministry owl showed up. The students are not told they are not supposed to do magic outside school until they first arrive at school, which leaves the time between the letter arrives and September 1st in a legal no-man's-land, as far as Muggle-raised kids know.

[flyingskull]

Yes, that's true and it's quite logical, but somehow I can't imagine Hermione not explaining about the rule to the boys, thus completing her little bragging anecdote with a lesson. IIRC - big if - she talks as if trying spells at home was normal. Didn't she also have a long time to do it? Or are the letter sent in the July before fall term instead than at the eleventh birthday?

[oryx_leucoryx]

My opinion is that the letters can only be sent in the summer, because that is when the staffing decisions are finalized, so that would be when the book lists are finalized. (Things may have been different before the DADA job was cursed, but when Albus goes to bring Tom his letter we don't see any signs of winter weather.)

[sunnyskywalker]

This seems all too likely. I'm sure there's plenty of heaping justifications about how it wouldn't be fair to expect those poor helpless Muggle parents to control a magical child's magic during holidays, someone would get hurt, so really it's for their own good... And if Purebloods happen to benefit more, well, that just shows that the Muggleborn kids weren't motivated enough to practice sufficiently during the school year to ensure their own futures, and were not good at making magical friends to stay with during holidays, so really it just shows they're a bit lazy and deficient in character. Did they expect to just waltz in and do everything as easily as those born to it? No, surely it's only reasonable that someone starting with less will have to work harder to reach the same level as someone starting with more! Anything else would mean having different, lower standards especially for Muggleborns, and that's hardly fair, after all.

[sunnyskywalker]

ETA: And that's enough of getting into Pureblood justification/self-delusion for now, because ugh.

Also, I like the idea of magical familiars helping keep magical "output" at a steady trickle to prevent blowups! That makes Hogwarts allowing pets makes so much more sense. It just seems like asking for trouble otherwise. (They could all use school owls; no one needs a personal owl. And a castle full of cats sounds like a recipe for a lot of late-night yowling, not to mention allergies. We saw the problems with toads.)