What would be a reasonable lower end for Harry's net worth at the end of OotP? I think it could be as low as 10,000G or so--all we really know from canon is that he has enough money that it seems like a lot of gold to him as a kid, and he has more than the Weasleys. I know that when I was eleven, ten thousand gold pieces would have looked like a freaking mountain of gold.

I'm curious about what people feel the reasonable lower bound is because I'm working on a non-superpowered non-megawealthy Independant!Harry fic, and I don't want people to quit reading on the basis of implausability.

 

We know Harry's richer than the average wizard, thought I think JKR made the Weasleys too poor. If I remember the first discription of Harry's vault then I believe its mountians of Galleons, Sickles, Krunts. I'm guessing around 250k Galleons. Given the prices in the wizarding world, thats quite a lot.

 

i think if you kept it under a million, it would be good.

anytime i've read a fic that had harry's wealth under a million it's garnered more of my respect.

it's quite a peeve of mine when a great fic comes around, but then has harry inherit a couple hundred million or several billion pounds.

on a related note, just what IS the conversion rate between galleons and pounds sterling?

 

I usually stick with the converter linked to below for my conversions of wizarding money to muggle money. It also converts muggle to wizard.

http://www.onlinetools.org/fun/muggleconvert/muggleconverter.html

 

I think it's better just to not mention exactly how much money he has. In mine I just said that while he was quite rich that didn't mean he had thousands of galleons to waste. It implies wealth but not unmeasurable enough that he doesn't care about spending money.

 

i hear the words you are saying and i think they're awesome.

 

As between:

And:

I don't think it's obvious that FanFic Discussion is the right place for this topic. In fact, FanFic Discussion looks like it is supposed to have discussions about particular fanfics (whether looking for a beta reader for your own or trying to find somebody else's), which would make this off topic.

 

point taken, I'll change the descriptor later

 

I'm all for a very rich Harry, as long as he doesn't just spend it and expect the Goblins to keep making him money. I'd like to see Harry trying to bring in some more wealth for himself.

One thing I like about some indipendant Harry is when he starts to date and work his way into pureblood political circles.(Though I don't like it when its overnight, would rather see a fic where he begins to think about this sort of stuff early on.) Money would be a keystone to any plan he made in that sort of area.

 

Either way works for me as long as the Aruthor doesn't just brag and brag about how rich Harry is.

 

I'm quite sure that I read somewhere that one galleon was worth 5 pounds.

 

Thats the conversion rate used in a lot of fics. No doubt someone used it once, anotehr author read it and used it and it carried on form there.

I think the idea of Harry making his own money is quite interesting. In a political!Harry, he could do it by making a bunhc of business deals with other old families or something. In independant!Harry he could, once he had trained up a bit, hire himself out as a hitman, an expensive hitman, or somehting like that.

In must-have-knowledge!Harry he could become a librarian or something

 

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I like stories wear Harry is at least a millionaire with lots of property to choose from.

 

Well we know he is not super wealthy because in PoA he dosen't buy a model of the solar system and a firebolt because he wanted to have enough money to finish Hogwarts (I don't remember the exact quote and don't have the books with me.) Assuming that the vault we know about is the only one he has, and considering tuition costs and inflation, I'd say that 50-60 thousand galleons is very reasonable. What Sirius left him, considering his purchase of a firebolt and other expenses, should be about 20 thousand. As for property, the only ones he has, according to the books, are the land at Godric's Hollow and HQ. I hope you will have him make his own money. Sadly, that would be original.

 

The 1 galleon = 5 pounds came from some q&a on JKR's website. I have never been a big fan of her economic system, but hey she wasn't starting out to build an entire fantasy world.

One thing to consider in that world is how much people actually make. Some how the Weasleys 'get by' on Author's lowly salary. One of the things to fact or in is that in all reality a wizarding family merely has to purchase/grow food and occasionally purchase new clothes. Magic is a wonderful thing. Need a new dining room table, use some wood working spells and make your own. If you're powerful enough conjure one out of thin air or transfigure a tree stump into one. It seems that you would only need to purchase something if you can't/won't make it yourself. Imagine how little money it would take to live your life if you could remove the cost of a vehicle, housing, furnishings and all the other things that a wizard or witch could get away without buying.

That's my two knuts,
Jim

 

What I find most amusing was how Ron bought a doll of Viktor Krum for 10 galleons, while only two years before that he had been using a spare wand, because he couldn't spare 7 galleons for a new one.

 

Remember they don't even need to grow or buy all their food. In one of the books it talks about Mrs Weasley pouring white sauce out the tip of her wand. Whether you can do that for all sorts of food, or just with certain types I don't know, but thats what it says in the books.

 

Assuming that Galleons are made of real gold, the 5 pound conversion rate is assinine. Gold goes for just under nine hundred dollars an ounce on the stock market. The Weasley's could easily get ten Galleons, smelt them down and craft jewelry.

 

Dont mention exactly how much money Harry has but mention its decrees once in a while. For example:By Xmas Harry had spent nearly half of hes vault.
Its an incentive for Harry to find a way to get more money himself.