Interesting sidelight to the Harry Potter stories. I may approach them from a slightly different angle, because I am a big fan of British children's literature.
From the point of view of someone who has read the "Jennings" series, the "Chalet School" series, "Stalky & Co.," and other British school stories, Harry Potter is essentially the British public school story with a little magical window-dressing.
The same themes recur . . . the idea of sending your kids off from the age of 8 to boarding school is pretty wild to Americans. Even Kipling saw the danger in it . . . especially the children who were sent from India back to England (as he was). He mentioned with some disgust in his autobiography a boy who became a snob in public school, and dismissed his mother as "not quite our type, donchaknow . . . "
That was my take, too. Behind the "magic," it's a totally secular worldview. Police procedurals have more spiritual content!
I like the "school" stuff, and I guess my kids do, too, because we don't have to experience it!
Do you think Severus Snape is Draco Malfoy's father? My kids think I'm nuts (naive creatures that they are ...). It's obvious that he's head-over-heels about Narcissa, and he HATES it, but I think it's been and gone and he's the dad.