[HPforGrownups] Re: Religion, Wizard genesis, Mars is bright

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 41010



dfrankiswork at n... wrote, in the discussion of 
Wizarding Genetics:
>...the Hogwarts Quill, IIRC, goes into action at birth, not conception.
<snip>
>...neither wizards nor Muggles have any way of influencing
>whether their offspring are magical.  (It has occurred to me that the
>reason Squibs are rare might be infanticide: what do you suppose the
>Malfoys would do if they had a Squib baby?  The Fudges?)

Ellen replied:
>...and I got to thinking--  The Hogwarts Quill knows whether a child is 
>magical at birth, but it doesn't seem that the child's own family knows 
>until they begin (or don't begin) manifesting some magic.  Remember that 
>Neville's family worried that Neville was a Squib, tried (successfully) to 
>shock him into showing his magic, and were relieved when he got his Hogwarts 
>letter.
>Which I find kind of surprising.  I can see that Hogwarts, for whatever 
>reason, might have a policy of not revealing who's in the book until the 
>letters go out, but you would think that whatever magical-child- detecting 
>charm has been performed on the Hogwarts Quill could be duplicated by 
>someone else--  that, say, the Longbottoms, purebloods
>all, could have had some more reliable way of finding out whether Neville 
>was really a wizard than dangling him out the window by his ankles.

First, it sounds like the Hogwarts Quill is pretty special -- probably made by the founders (who I assume packed a pretty big bang) and similar to the Sorting Hat...It actually *doesn't* make sense to me for any old wizards to make their own.  The best I can see them having is a weaker, less reliable version (sort of like home pregnancy tests compared with actually going to the doctor).

A theory might be that the Longbottoms *did* test Neville and he came out positive -- but was for some reason (Memory Charm anyone?) not exhibiting *any* signs of magic that they could recognize and since the detection spell is flawed -- well, hence the dangling by the ankles.

On another note, I have a hard time working out the logistics of the infanticide theory...at what age would a wizarding family stop looking for signs of magic and just give up??  But if children (as toddlers) failed the home magic test AND were displaying no signs of powers, I can see old families such as the Malfoys, Fudges, and even the Diggories as quietly giving them to muggle orphanages (I should hope they wouldn't kill them at that age).  Although, it would be pretty embarrassing for such a family if the child *did* turn out to be magical and got his/her letter when they were 11.

On other note, David said:
>If it is purely a magic detector, then no question of free 
>will need arise.  Coercion may, if parents have no choice 
>but to obey McGonagall's letter.

This isn't exactly the best springboard for the issue I'm going to go into, but it did get me thinking about something:

To what extent *is* free will involved when it comes to going to Hogwarts?  Obviously, Malfoy says that he might have gone to Durmstrang and there's the bit about Lupin having to forgo schooling because of being a werewolf -- but, on the other hand, it seems sort of -- *dangerous* to leave a magically gifted child untrained, doesn't it?  I mean, perhaps the reason Dumbledore went out of his way to accommodate for Lupin wasn't just because he's a nice guy -- but because the idea of having a normally magical wizard *with no training* is a scary thing.  Now, in a wizarding family like Lupin's, perhaps he could have been privately tutored -- but think about the muggle-borns.  If their parents don't want them to come, do they?

My ideas are that a) if the *child* wants to go, Hogwarts/Dumbledore makes it happen. and b) Most muggle parents are so frightened by all the weird things their kids can do that the proposition of a place that will teach their kids some control is a blessing.

As for families like the Dursleys, how long do you think Marge and Vernon with put up with Dudley if he started manifesting powers?  Admittedly, they wanted to keep Harry, but I think it would be a little different with them for Dudley, who is their own son and direct reflection on them -- if he started doing unintentional magic in public (to the extent that it couldn't be ignored), I imagine they'd do anything to get rid of him.

Also, I am personally of the mind that magic in humans has a sort of puberty-like stage -- that is, around 11 or so, a young wizard's powers sort of expand and develop rapidly.  Which would explain why youngsters are allow to practice magic at home before Hogwarts, but not after -- they simply aren't powerful enough to do much damage.

laura


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