1) Those numbers are about American finance in 2011. British finance in 1991 probably did not have salaries quite that ridiculous. But more importantly:
2) As Dumbledore explains, it’s not this rescue price that is the problem, so much as all the cumulative rescue prices Harry’s enemies will now expect him to pay for each of his friends (not necessarily once, either… Hermione could well be attacked again).
Yes, those are 2011 numbers, but far lower salaries suffice to carry the argument. (If Hermione lives for another 170 years, she has to pay Harry just $20K/year to repay him.) Also, this plan does have her working in finance in 2011 (when she’s ~22, she can’t start that much earlier.)
It does set a bad precedent, but I wasn’t talking about that—and this exact situation (completely legal, Harry doesn’t want to destroy Lucius) is unlikely to ever come up again. (Future challenges of this kind could plausibly be met by having a Dementor eat the kidnapper, optionally after paying the ransom.)
1) Those numbers are about American finance in 2011. British finance in 1991 probably did not have salaries quite that ridiculous. But more importantly:
2) As Dumbledore explains, it’s not this rescue price that is the problem, so much as all the cumulative rescue prices Harry’s enemies will now expect him to pay for each of his friends (not necessarily once, either… Hermione could well be attacked again).
Yes, those are 2011 numbers, but far lower salaries suffice to carry the argument. (If Hermione lives for another 170 years, she has to pay Harry just $20K/year to repay him.) Also, this plan does have her working in finance in 2011 (when she’s ~22, she can’t start that much earlier.)
It does set a bad precedent, but I wasn’t talking about that—and this exact situation (completely legal, Harry doesn’t want to destroy Lucius) is unlikely to ever come up again. (Future challenges of this kind could plausibly be met by having a Dementor eat the kidnapper, optionally after paying the ransom.)
She’ll be in her thirties in 2011.