Why Should They Even Believe?

[Paige Jacobs]

I realise that my character won't be sorted for ages yet, but I was just thinking that because she is effectively muggle-born with no knowledge of magic being real, and no contact with anyone from the magical community, why should she even believe that her Hogwarts letter is real and not just some kind of weird prank or hoax?

I guess I was thinking along the lines of the books, where Hagrid introduces Harry to everything. Is there something like that on this site? I'm trying to work out a few things for later, and I know my character won't want to tell her foster family anything about the letter, so I was just thinking through how she would know where to buy her supplies, how she would get wizarding money etc. by herself.

 

[Nicolas King]

Hi Kate,

Children who have magic show it via uncontrollable outbursts (often at emotional times). Normally, muggle parents would explain these strange things away but I think the child would know something is different/strange about them (and the parents likely suspect the same).

There's also an interview with JKR where she addresses this in some capacity:

HPFreak7: How are muggle parents convinced to let their kids go to Hogwarts, a strange place they never heard of before; and wouldn’t they think it was a practical joke?

J. K. Rowling replies -> In the case of Muggle parents, special messengers are sent to explain everything to them. But don’t forget that they will have noticed that there’s something strange about their child for the previous ten years, so it won’t come as a complete bolt from the blue.
(Source)

I think that also addresses your concerns - her parents would be told and she would have it broken to her somehow as well.
We don't see this in the books because we follow Harry's journey, and we know that the Dursleys already knew and didn't want to address the issue (hence the whole cottage on the island to hide from the letters and Hagrid coming anyway deal).

I hope that helps,

~Nick

 

[Paige Jacobs]

Thanks, that clears things up.

 

[Stefan Archer]

Topic Closed and Archived​

---

Your question/issue has either been resolved or is unanswerable.
If you have any more questions or concerns feel free to open another topic in the FAQ forum, we're always pleased to answer your questions.

Thank you,

~The HNZ Site Staff