# Questions regarding the Harry Potter - Interaction of the Wizarding vs Muggle World **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 30, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369 "2021-06-30T22:05:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/41 "2021-07-01T19:02:24Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > They say games can last days, but could you even imagine what that would look like? A test match in cricket? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/42 "2021-07-01T19:19:34Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > And for the most part, they behave as if your sister in law having magic powers and getting murdered by a wizard and your ward heading off to wizard school every fall is just sort of an unusual, but not out of the ordinary annoyance. This is explained better in the book, but this is because the Dursleys despise anything out of the ordinary and so refuse to acknowledge anything unusual. To them, Harry’s parents were killed in a car crash; Harry is going to “that school” for troubled children; etc. The cracks in that facade only show in the last couple of books. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/43 "2021-07-01T19:20:58Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > There’s a scene in one of his short stories when a vanload of wizard-wannabes shows up at Harry Dresden’s house to take revenge on him for messing up their black magic. The leader declares, “Prepare to defend yourself!” Harry shrugs and pulls out his .44 revolver. “Ummm…what are you doing?” “I’m fixing to defend myself.” Harry Dresden is ten times the auror that Harry Potter ever was - change my mind! Also, he’d have mopped Voldemort up in the first part of the book, then spent the rest of the novel investigating the mysterious hidden figure that offered Voldemort power in the first place… ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/44 "2021-07-01T19:45:33Z")
Isn’t that pretty similar to watching a marathon? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/45 "2021-07-01T20:23:51Z")
It’s completely different from cricket test match in terms of fan experience and player exertion. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/46 "2021-07-01T20:49:15Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > They say games can last days, but could you even imagine what that would look like? Sounds like golf on a rainy week. Or the Tour de France with fog. I did like the books and found the movies OK, but the quidditch scenes were boring. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/47 "2021-07-01T21:06:40Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > Isn’t that pretty similar to watching a marathon? No, it’s more like watching an ultramarathon, where you stand at an aid station in the middle of the woods for hours, waiting for a skinny man or woman with a hat full of ice to run by. If you’re really lucky, you’ll get to see her eat an avocado, or fill up her water bottles, or even - thrill indeed! - take a nap. Then she runs out again and you wait for the next skinny, sunburned guy to come through. I mock, but I’m also the one who spent about six hours glued to a livestream of the Western States Endurance Run last weekend, doing just that. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/48 "2021-07-01T21:35:51Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > [@Babale](#): > > > > And even IF Voldemort senses your shot and whirls around to defend against it - his instinct will be to defend against a spell. Will that stop a bullet? That’s the sort of thing the aurors and SAS team will need to figure out, of course, but somehow - I doubt it. > > Suppose Voldy _can_ stop a single bullet; can he stop two? Two hundred? Can he defend himself against a squad of SAS armed with semiautomatic carbines and a SAW? RPGs? An armored car? I imagine it’s the same as with Jedi/Sith in the Star Wars universe. Much like Darth Vader, the number of bullets / blaster bolts Voldermort can stop with magic is “all of them”. Anyone else will depend on their importance, skill and the needs of the plot. Perhaps a more burning question: With all the people who care for Harry Potter since his first year at Hogwarts, is there any reason he has to keep getting sent back to live with his family of abusive a-hole muggles every summer? I understand he’s a minor, and all but is that fall under wizard law or muggle law? But there’s no summer program at Hogwarts? He can’t crash at the Weasleys? What would they have done with Harry if his mother didn’t have a sister or any other family? ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/49 "2021-07-01T22:03:30Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > With all the people who care for Harry Potter since his first year at Hogwarts, is there any reason he has to keep getting sent back to live with his family of abusive a-hole muggles every summer? I understand he’s a minor, and all but is that fall under wizard law or muggle law? But there’s no summer program at Hogwarts? He can’t crash at the Weasleys? What would they have done with Harry if his mother didn’t have a sister or any other family? Pretty sure this was covered in the movies but it was definitely in the books. Harry received protection from evil magic by living with family that cared for him. And they did care at least enough to take him in and give him a place of his own and feed him. I don’t have a good way to specifically look up Dumbledore’s quote but that was the gist. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/50 "2021-07-01T22:21:34Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I don’t have a good way to specifically look up Dumbledore’s quote but that was the gist. I believe this is a direct quote from Dumbledore: > [@](#): > > Your mother, blah blah blah blah, died to protect you, blah blah blah blah, strong magic, blah blah blah blah, power of love, blah blah blah blah, blood relation, blah blah blah blah ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/51 "2021-07-01T22:26:26Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I believe this is a direct quote from Dumbledore: Close. Apparently, this gets asked enough that the quote is googleable. She may have taken you begrudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother’s sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/52 "2021-07-01T23:18:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Really, the only problem with quidditch is that the Snitch score is an exact multiple of the Quaffle score Do you _genuinely_ think that quidditch is a well designed sport, other than that the Snitch score is an exact multiple of the Quaffle score? Or are you just playing some version of devil’s advocate? Because if “the game doesn’t end until someone performs some particular feat, and then their team gets a HUGE number of points, so they almost certainly win no matter what, but they might not” was a perfectly cromulent scoring mechanic, then why does no actual sport use it? There’s a reason that basketball doesn’t have a 50-foot-high basket and two players basically uninvolved with the main game are trying to shoot hoops into it and when one does, their team scores 30 points and the game then ends. There’s a reason why a game of NFL football doesn’t also have two guys pitching horseshoes on the sideline, and when one makes a ringer their team gets 80 points and the game ends. And there’s a reason why so so so many people who genuinely enjoy the HP books and movies (like me) think Quidditch is a badly designed sport. It’s not because we lack imagination. It’s not because we haven’t heard the argument about how really what matters is the cumulative score of all the games. It’s not because we’re joyless assholes who just want to criticize things. It’s because it is a BADLY DESIGNED SPORT. And it could fulfill the purposes it needs to fulfill, storywise (Harry is awesome and is great at flying a broomstick and good at catching things and gets to be the hero of the Quidditch games) quite easily without being a badly designed sport. Just make him the goalie. Or the quarterback. Or the pitcher. Or any other high-profile position that any number of real sports actually have. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/53 "2021-07-02T00:10:49Z")
And if it’s a genuinely bad sport, then why can’t any of the people who say it’s bad come up with something bad about it that’s actually in the books? Everyone always comes back to “the seeker almost always wins the game single-handedly”, and that’s not how the sport is actually described. It’d be like if I criticized football, because nothing anyone but the quarterback does matters. If it were true, it would be a valid criticism. But in the sport as usually described, the chasers usually score far more points than the seeker does. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/54 "2021-07-02T00:35:24Z")
Voldemort is a Slytherin, not a Ravenclaw. Like most, he has ambitions beyond his actual ability. He’s also so extremely bigoted that he assumes that there’s no way lowly muggles could in any way be superior. Someone else mentioned Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. I like HPMOR Voldemort’s motivations much better. He actually is scared to death that the stupid Muggles will destroy the world with nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. He thinks that science should work like magic, where the people keep the most powerful stuff secret, only available to a few trusted people. And, due to a prophesy, he’s afraid Harry will be the one who brings about the world’s end. And, yes, given that Harry is also a lot smarter, it makes sense he could do it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/55 "2021-07-02T00:54:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And if it’s a genuinely bad sport, then why can’t any of the people who say it’s bad come up with something bad about it that’s actually in the books? Did you read the post? MTV spelled it out pretty well. Basically, there are two almost independent games going on at the same time, with the (effectively) sideline game determining the end of the “main” game… No way does that make any sense. > [@Oredigger77](#): > > Harry received protection from evil magic by living with family that **cared for him**. [Bolding mine] They locked him under the stairs and generally treated him like garbage. They actively worked against him going to Hogwarts. In suspect the “love of the family protects him” only came later. Harry was treated badly so young readers would identify (my parents hate me and don’t understand. I could be special, too!). I bet he was created to be The Boy that Got Shit On. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/56 "2021-07-02T00:57:07Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > They locked him under the stairs and generally treated him like garbage. They actively worked against him going to Hogwarts. They also kept allowing him back into the house. I’m certainly not one to say he was well cared for but they weren’t getting paid to care for him and they could have easily taken him to an orphanage. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/57 "2021-07-02T01:32:41Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > > They locked him under the stairs and generally treated him like garbage. They actively worked against him going to Hogwarts. > > They also kept allowing him back into the house. I’m certainly not one to say he was well cared for but they weren’t getting paid to care for him and they could have easily taken him to an orphanage The claim they make in the layer book, and I don’t know how much I buy it but alright, is that Petunia was basically abused as a kid (at least in her own jealous head) because her sister became this special chosen one with magical powers while she did not. She stayed home and got to see how excited her parents were to raise a witch. So she married a thoroughly normal guy and tried her best to suppress magic in Harry by treating him as someone who was decidedly NOT special. It’s this whole cycle of abuse thing I guess. I don’t think it was meant to justify what the Dursleys did as to explain why Petunia was this damaged person who did horrible things. I don’t know if I buy it, though, especially given how abnormally well adjusted Harry is considering his abusive upbringing. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/58 "2021-07-02T01:36:29Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > > [@Babale](#): > > > > I believe this is a direct quote from Dumbledore: > > Close. Apparently, this gets asked enough that the quote is googleable. > > She may have taken you begrudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother’s sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you. That actually makes sense in the context of the story. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/59 "2021-07-02T05:30:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And if it’s a genuinely bad sport, then why can’t any of the people who say it’s bad come up with something bad about it that’s actually in the books? I’m genuinely not clear what you’re asking. Are you asking for an example of a game of quidditch where the in-universe characters thought it was unsatisfying? Because of course they wouldn’t react that way, they’re characters in that universe, THEY aren’t bothered by what might bother us. Or are you asking for examples of games which we, the skeptical readers, find dissatisfying/unrealistic/whatever? Or something else? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369/60 "2021-07-02T06:12:45Z")
Thing is, she has the new elements there - brooms, magical target ball. She just had to work it into something coherent, and make it so the other players aren’t really superfluous even in a Harry-centric game. So, like, instead of scoring, make it that it _is_ just the snitch that decides a game. But still make the whole quaffle-based part useful - maybe when a quaffle goal is scored, that side’s Seeker gets a ping of where the snitch is that only they can see, or the other side’s Seeker is frozen in place for ten seconds, or something like that. So scoring a goal isn’t 1/15th of completely useless, but the Seeker is still the hero. And even if not, why the hell is each goal 10 points and not 1? There’s no other 5 or 2 or whatever scores in the damn game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-regarding-the-harry-potter-interaction-of-the-wizarding-vs-muggle-world/945369.md?page=4)