Skip to main content

harry potter - Are there non-squib wizards/witches who work 100% in muggle world?


This Q/A ( Does Hogwarts teach non magical classes? ) made me realize that I can't seem to remember a single HP wizard/witch who had a Muggle job with a Muggle company, aside from Kingsley's bodyguard cover as the Prime Minister's secretary.


Everyone whom I recall being mentioned as having a job is either employed in some magical company or the Ministry of Magic (which seems to employ more magical people than every other employer combined) or be self-employed - again economically interacting with wizards.


Am I merely forgetting someone, or was Kingsley really the only magically capable person with a paycheck from the Muggle world (which doesn't count since the job was a cover)?



UPDATE: Just to clarify - I didn't necessarily mean "working a Muggle job while using magic to help you" - it could also mean simply doing a Muggle job. So there's not necessarily a concern about Statute of Secrecy (plus, you can use the magic, say, to learn - e.g. Hermione could magick herself to learn how to do dentistry in 1 month or something). So no need to answer how having some wizard doing a Muggle job would be contrary to HP universe rules. I merely want to know if there's an example, NOT why there should't be one.



Answer



Isobel McGonagall, mother of Minerva McGonagall


The Pottermore section on Minerva McGonagall talks at length about her mother, Isobel. After she eloped with a muggle, Isobel kept her magical heritage a secret from her husband, lived in isolation from the wizarding world, and voluntarily chose to lock up her wand.



By the time she was eighteen, [Isobel] had fallen in love with Robert. Unfortunately, she had not found the courage to tell him what she was.


The couple eloped, to the fury of both sets of parents. Now estranged from her family, Isobel could not bring herself to mar the bliss of the honeymoon by telling her smitten new husband that she had graduated top of her class in Charms at Hogwarts, nor that she had been Captain of the school Quidditch team. […]


Missing her family, and the magical community she had given up for love, Isobel insisted on naming her newborn daughter after her own grandmother, an immensely talented witch.



While no occupation is mentioned, it seems that Isobel neither used magic, nor associated with anyone who used magic, since she got married. Even after she revealed to her husband that she was a witch, Isobel kept herself isolated from others in the wizarding community (the fact that she was married to a minister probably influenced that). It's clear that by the time Minerva was accepted to Hogwarts (at least 11 years after they were married), Isobel still hadn't rejoined the magical community.




[Minerva] sensed, too, how much of a strain it was for her mother to fit in with the all-Muggle village, and how much she missed the freedom of being with her kind, and of exercising her considerable talents. Minerva never forgot how much her mother cried, when the letter of admittance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrived on Minerva’s eleventh birthday; she knew that Isobel was sobbing, not only out of pride, but also out of envy.



So while Isobel McGonagall didn't necessarily work in the muggle world without magic, she did live 100% in the muggle world without any use of magic or connections to the Wizarding World.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

What is the etymology of Doctor Who?

I recently decided to watch Doctor Who, and started viewing the 2005 version. I have the first two episodes from the first season, and I can't help but wonder what is the etymology of the name "Doctor Who"? And why does the protagonist call himself "the Doctor" (or is it "the doctor")? Answer In the very first episode of Doctor Who (way back in 1963), the Doctor has a granddaughter going by the name "Susan Foreman", and the junkyard where the TARDIS is has the sign "I.M. Foreman". Barbara, who becomes one of the Doctor's companions, calls him "Doctor Foreman" (probably assuming that is his name given his relationship to Susan), and Ian (another early companion) does the same in the second episode, to which the Doctor says: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about? "Foreman" is most likely selected as a convenient surname for Susan to use because it happened to be on display near where the TARDIS landed....