Skip to main content

Why were Harry's Hogwarts Acceptance Letters Not Sent Directly To Him?


In Harry Potter and the philosophers stone Harry was "receiving" his letters in a way that was so labour intensive. First, one was sent in the mail, and the others where then sent, either shoved into the letterbox or through the door cracks. It then it got, "out of hand," as twenty four letters found their way inside the house. The letter sender (Minerva, I do believe, Deputy Headmistress) must, obviously have known they were not getting to Harry, so why keep sending them? I cannot even believe Minerva sending more than thirty letters! Why not either,


A) Send the letters directly to Harry


OR


B) Show up at the house, to explain everything.


Why not do a more logical way of sending/explaining Harry's being?




Answer



Your assumption on the letter sender is where your misunderstanding is occurring. In the Philosophers Stone, we find out Hagrid is in charge of sending Harry his letters. His first attempt added a letter addressed to Harry Potter blahblah, under the staircase, to the pile of muggle mail, whether sent through mugglemail or simply slipped into the mailbox/slot is another question.


So we have


A. letters were sent directly to Harry,


B. the amount of letters increased in an attempt to get one of them into Harry's hands past the Dursleys without direct intervention (Also Hagrid was allowed to use magic on this mission and he was most likely having fun (since he is technically not allowed to do magic, strictly speaking of course) ).



"I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an'get yer letters to yeh an' stuff -- one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job --"


"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. " I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person to tell yeh -- but someone's gotta -- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."



C. Finally Hagrid does show up and personally deliver the final letter to Harry after the Dursleys made a run for it and were hiding on an abandoned island.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...

How do Pokemon trainers collect their winnings?

According to Bulbapedia , Prize money is the money that a Trainer pays out at the end of a battle. So we know that the money comes directly from the trainer that just lost, and not some third-party committee or sponsor. But how is this done? It can be easy seeing the random trainers who challenge you along the way wanting to wager and then, after admitting defeat, sticking to their word and handing over their hard-earned pokebucks. Then there are the likes of Team Rocket and Giovanni, who also give money once they lose. This doesn't seem like something people in a criminal organization would willingly do. From this it appears that trainers have no say in whether or not they cough up the dough after losing, but I can't find anything on how exactly the funds are transferred from loser to winner. So how do Pokemon trainers receive their winnings?