The Leaky Cauldron

Maybe your best friend Harry, with his vault filled with literal piles of gold, can help you out.

This is the kind of thing that has made the interpretation of Harry Potter as a struggle between old ("good") conservatism vs new ("bad") conservatism really resonate for me. You can think of the wizards as nobility, and muggles as commoners. It's acceptable to buy gifts and stuff for the people who don't really need them, but for the lesser nobility, it would be viewed as a handout and would be really difficult to navigate in a way that allows everyone to save face.

The idea that Ron went a whole school year without a wand is absurd.

It was just a plot element for some funny moments and to have Lockhart blast himself with a spell at the end. I don't think there was any other justification until people started making up defenses after the book came out.

Boy, it sure is a shame that Ron doesn’t have any rich friends, especially one who might have not gotten him anything for Christmas last year dispite having received a personal gift from and who might have found ways to share is wealth on the day they met. Sure is a shame he doesn’t know anyone like that./s

I always got the impression that, despite their financial issues, the Weasleys were too proud for "handouts." Like, despite their frustrations and hand-me-downs and everything that came with it, to them, it didn't matter because they had each other, and they truly cared for each other.

Like, yeah, the Malfoys had money and the newest and best of everything, but until the final book, they didn't seem to have a loving family home or lifestyle. Everything was about status and how they were perceived by the world around them (Lucius having a great job with connections because it made him "important," whereas Mr. Weasley had a job that was looked down upon but was important for both wizards and muggles).

Arthur was a member of the Order, he was a powerful and accomplished wizard, yet was content with his job working with "muggle artifacts" because he had a passion for it, and that was more important than his perceived status in society. I also imagine that they, the Weasleys, didn't want to give Harry the impression they only wanted him around so he'd buy them things, and Harry probably didn't want to be tempted to buy them things so that he could basically make them beholden to them ("I spent 100 gold on this wand for you, you owe me XYZ"). Remember, Harry was almost put in Slytherin, and did have several moments throughout the series where he acted less than honorably towards those around him.

Or I'm just overanalyzing the work of a transphobic conservative bigot. 🤷‍♀️ I haven't reread the books since JKR went all-in on her bullshit, but that's the impression I remember from reading them every summer growing up.