New Material: SS Chapters 1-4 (SPOILERS)

I loved the notes on Measurements, and the one on Clothing!

It makes sense, having read the said notes, that the magical community preferred- or shall I say, prefers to stick to the old ways rather than embrace the changes introduced by Muggles.

The use of the so-called imperial system of measurement lends more mystique to the world of Harry Potter, in my opinion. If the metric system were employed, it might not only appear scientific/sci-fi-esque but also... simply wrong. The whole story deals with magic/fantasy, after all.

As to their manner of dress, I think that other than preference for wizard clothing being "seen as a clinging to old ways and old times," it's also a way for witches and wizards to preserve an identity that is distinguishable from Muggles. I mean, they have had to adhere to the International Statute of Secrecy ever since it was enacted, hiding themselves away or in plain sight. Perhaps the magical community's sense of fashion is but one way to, shall we say, reassert themselves in a larger world dominated by Muggles. The same thing goes for their preferred system of measurement.

Just my two Knuts' worth.

I searched the harry potter wiki. There's no exact date when Petunia was born. It just said there prior to 1959. Lily was born on 1960. We could assume that perhaps, Petunia is 2-4 years older than her. When I watched the DH 2 and saw the younger versions, I think that Petunia is not really that old. Just a matter of 2-4 year difference to Lily's age.

Am I the only one experiencing "no edit button" here?

I would like to correct what I wrote above. It's supposed to be.. "In or prior to 1959."

^and Lily had Harry when she was around 19-20 years old. Hala, I now wonder how witches experience labor and delivery and if it is much easier (Merope Gaunt died after delivering Tom Riddle, though) because when I assist in labor and delivery of moms around that age in Muggle world, sobrang pati ako nahihirapan para sa kanila.

Yep. We could say that. I don't think age matters to them. After all, they have already finished schooling and as long as they can support their family. And let's also consider their so-called "maturity age", in the Wizarding world, their maturity age is 17 yrs. old. much younger than any other muggle version. So them marrying at the age of 18 or so is just perfectly fine.

lianne wrote:Hmm...I think 'clothing' was revealed in Chapter 5.

My apologies for that. May I repost my reply under the appropriate topic?

Re: Vernon & Petunia Dursley -

I don't think I'll quite understand what Petunia saw in Vernon, apart from his - to borrow Jo's words - delicious normalcy. *shudders* I have to hand it to him, though, for choosing to stick with Petunia even after she told him about her sister. Doing otherwise might have saved him from quite an amount of, er, trouble later on.

I can well imagine how the Dursleys' first meeting with James Potter went. Sitting around a table for four, Vernon (and presumably Petunia both) dressed to impress, Lily whispering a few reminders in James' ear before finally approaching the table... Sorry, getting carried away here.

Re: Ghost Plots -

It's amazing - and not to mention staggering - to think that there is so much detail behind the entire Potterverse. Everyone and everything seems to have some sort of backstory - there must be enough to fill more than a few books.

Having said that, I'm glad Jo decided to share the information on Pottermore. At the very least, we wouldn't have to shell out more Galleons for new books. (That may be a point of contention, though - having an actual book to read as compared to having all this info accessible online.)

Petunia's back story was cool. True that she might be so jealous of her sister, but that's expected from someone who saw a sort of "inferiority" within herself, who saw her sister having unusual powers, and less favored by their parents. I think she deluded herself in the delight of "her own" - her muggle-ness, the lack of magical ability as her own "good quality".

It's cool to see the human-ness of Petunia's character. ^_^

Sorry for the double post (edit button still invisible XD)...

..."is the one less favored by her parents" to correct my post above XD

I love the Ghost Plots, the back stories just makes me want to read more about everyone in Hogwarts. I did not expect how much thought, ideas and control she exudes when writing the story.