Who will return to Hogwarts?

[Athena Appleton]

As far as the ministry's lack of participation in the school... it seems to be that up until Order of the Phoenix, the minister has allowed Dumbledore to make those decisions, but when he thinks enough is enough, he has the power to do all kinds of stuff.

When Vernon says he won't pay for Harry to go to Hogwarts... well, Vernon had no clue what Hogwarts was, really, or how it is run, except that it was a magical school. So that's not really a good backing point.

About Harry saving his money, or Hagrid mentioning that James and Lily wouldn't have left him without some provision to be able to go to school, this is perhaps the strongest evidence, in my opinion, that there is a tuition. But it does say that Harry doesn't want to have to ask for money for spellbooks, with no mention of tuition. Plus, we never hear of Harry going to his vault and paying his tuition. Who knows, maybe it's a direct deposit or automatic transfer, but I somehow doubt it.

What we're having trouble with here is that we are trying to compare a fantastical place, an imaginary place, to something we know in real life. In some cases, that works out great. In this case, I don't think it does. Hogwarts is different than any school ever, it doesn't fall between the lines of "public" and "private", because it's not real and even in the story, it existed before modern rules and standards were made regarding schools.

[carsten]

What we're having trouble with here is that we are trying to compare a fantastical place, an imaginary place, to something we know in real life. In some cases, that works out great. In this case, I don't think it does. Hogwarts is different than any school ever, it doesn't fall between the lines of "public" and "private", because it's not real and even in the story, it existed before modern rules and standards were made regarding schools.

I think it is OK to compare fictional and real places. It helps us to understand both worlds a little bit better. And if they were totally unrelated, then it would be pointless to read HP-books at all, wouldn't it? It is the link between our lives and the fictional story that keeps our interest up.

Carsten

[Athena Appleton]

well, I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to compare them... I just think that if something comes up (like this) that seems to be incomparable (is that a word?? ) it's best to sit back and remind yourself that it's a fiction story with fictional characters and fictional places.

really, there's no telling what kind of school Hogwarts is, if it's public or private, if there's tuition, what happens if you get a magical child who is poor and can't afford the tuition, etc. so it seems silly to try to figure all that out, when it's something that is so far removed from anything we know and are familiar with...

[Groo]

i agree with Athena that it is a fictional world and we cant really compare our world with it. JKR has just written a book series, and i hardly think she would have bothered to pinpoint the fact whether Hogwarts is public or private, its just something that would have emanated from her writings.

however the fact remains, that all of us subconsciously believe that the wizarding world is a parallel one and keep theorizing about even small facts which are just byproducts of the story, and i see nothing wrong in that. we are true HP diehards and we will occasionally get carried away. and such theorizing lends a new dimension to the books, it actually makes us live in the magic world

as Carsten beautifully puts it

It is the link between our lives and the fictional story that keeps our interest up.

though this is just my opinion

[carsten]

Athena: Sorry to contradict you, but I always get this weird feeling, when being told: "Stop thinking beyond this point."

Groo: I agree to you. Actually this is the superior quality of the books: They show a complete world of their own, and the fact that we can find similarities to our own - even in details - are my explanation for their great success.

Push the limits!

Carsten

[Athena Appleton]

I love people who only think in black and white...

Nobody ever said "stop thinking," I just think it should be accepted at some point that there are some things we don't have answers to, and to fret over those things is kinda ridiculous. I think Rowling has a few things in the books for the sole purpose of making us realize that this is a fictional story and a fictional world. The public/private thing is one of them. Another is that she has some major contradictions regarding the timeline of Harry Potter. And the fact that some wizards manage to go their entire lives without being around muggles, or having to use "muggle money," but there are some things we dont' know how else they would get certain things.

This is where a little thing called imagination comes in... the ability to accept that some things exist that we've never seen, or that we don't know about. If the only way a person can appreciate something is to associate it with something familiar with him or her, then that person is lacking in imagination.