I guess that this result would not be considered. Kidnappings, using mind control or arranging unfortunate accidents seems more likely (what probably happens in situation where parents completely refuse Hogwarts and other magical schools).

 

Or, you know, obliviation.

 

I mentioned mind control, obliviation is a subset of it.

 

Not in any way related to canon (is there even a canon version?) but I like to think that all muggleborn students attend Hogwarts for free (based on the statute of secrecy and perhaps even some old charter from the founders era), while the others pay or choose cheaper alternatives.

That would somehow explain the relatively high number of muggleborn students we see in Hogwarts, and also explain some of the hatred against "mudbloods": they'd get the best education available for free while some less wealthy purebloods have to settle for lesser options.

 

But wait. Being in the Hogwarts registry is mentioned on two specific occasions. In the first book, Hagrid mentions that Harry, a half-blood, has been signed up for Hogwarts since his birth. Then in book six, Dumbledore tells the same thing about Tom Riddle Jr., also a half-blood.

Now, you could argue that Harry was signed up by his wizard parents, but then who signed up Riddle? Nobody. That means that all wizards are automatically signed up for Hogwarts since birth. Presumably the requirement is being born in the UK.

And, since they are already signed up, regardless of blood, that must mean it is free for everyone.

 

Having your name appear in the book isn't part of some transaction. It's a record of every magical birth (probably in the UK). That's how muggleborns are found IMO

Edit: Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if when it comes time to send letters that cutting your name out of the book didn't cause an address to appear as well.

 

Well, the castle is already built, upkeep is taken care of by unpaid elves, and transportation is provided by the Ministry. That leaves the teachers' salaries, but if the Ministry takes care of that, which might make sense with regard to how Umbridge was appointed, and her citation of Dumbledore's failure to appoint a professor of his own as the reason for that (with room and board taken care of for them as well, and teacher salaries being what they are [lol]), what's left for students to pay for? Supplies? Yes, but Tom has those taken care of for him by Hogwarts, or presumably some fund provided to them for such situations by the Ministry.

Combined with a registry that suggests every magical child in the UK could attend if they desired, it seems like Hogwarts is either relatively cheap (for those who can afford supplies) or free.

 

Magical book or quill aside, funding for the professors' salary and the expense of food has to come from somewhere at the very least.

Sure, you're entitle to a spot at Hogwarts from birth, but that's like getting an acceptance letter from a University saying that you meeting their standards and they are willing to allow you to attend their institution. It doesn't mean your not going to have to pay for your education in some way.

I imagine there are 'scholarships', particularly for Muggle-borns. I also believe, like I mentioned earlier, that there might be some sort of loan system for people like the Weasleys. You attend, obtain your education, and you or your parents finish paying for it once you've left school.

There are probably lesser schools, considering Hogwarts is supposedly 'the best education you can get in Britain'. Muggleborns may be offered to attend these schools instead of Hogwarts, if they object to Hogwarts' cost or distance, and those of magical families whose family don't want to pay for a Hogwarts education probably attend these schools as well.

 

Food can't be conjured, but it can be multiplied and transfigured. This means that, presumably, so long as you had enough wizards and elves, you could feed everyone at Hogwarts with a single apple, or any other food item really.

 

If that is so, why were Harry, Ron, and Hermione eating mushroom stew on their 'camping trip'. Hermione seems like the type that would have prepared for said situation and so learn to maximize food, if it were possible. Instead, she kept going on about Gamp's Law.

 

And Gamps law Was that you can replicate or transfigure food, not conjure it. I'd stick it down to a minor plothole myself.

 

Okay so HP Lexicon say that Gamp's Law allows for food to be moved from one place to another, changed, but not created out of nothing.

The way I read this, is that you can 'trade' a hand full of mushrooms for a slab of meat of the same nutritional value, but you can't just keep multiplying a single mushroom and retain any semblance of nutritional value in your mammoth pile of mushrooms, meaning you then can't 'trade' all those mushrooms in for 1000 odd steaks to feed a school full of children, as there'd be next to no nutritional value to the meat.

Wrong or right, that's how I've always understood it.

 

Meh, works for you I guess, but HP wizards ass rape thermodynamics all the time, creating extra nutritional mass should be childs play for them. Like I said, I chalk it up to a minor plothole or something very hard to do, making it impractical as a way to replace normal food.

 

Perhaps. I've never really considered it working any other way.

 

Hermione seems like the type who'd think outside the box to you? Harry, Ron, and Hermione were eating mushroom stew because Hermione read Gamp's Law and stopped there, and neither Harry nor Ron had the knowledge to question her, the wits to work around that law, or the skills to make the food even if they could.

EDIT: I guess it is a plot hole, though, all jokes aside, since Gamp's Law, while telling you how food can't be made, goes on to give you the ways it can.

 

The key is not that it's impossible to make food, it's that it's impossible to make food from nothing. I.e. conjure it.

If you have something to start with, no matter how small, you can make food.

 

You could just turn your desk into a pig and eat that.

 

Assuming you know how to skin and prepare the pig, I guess. Seems like it'd be more convenient to just transfigure it into the meal. Probably easier too.

Wonder if there's a spell that skins and bones the swine. That'd be neat.

 

My theory is that farming is handled by House Elves (is there any reason to not use eager slave labor for this?).

On food multiplication - maybe in theory you may feed everybody by expanding single grain of rice but this type of magic is getting extremely harder to perform as difference between original and target size is increasing?

 

Do the books ever refer to any spells as really old?

I'm sure that wizards don't/didn't prepare their kills by hand. That would be ridiculous.