[HPforGrownups] Muggle born adults

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 75085

Faith's Girl:
>This made me wonder if there might not be a reason for this.  Were
>huge numbers of muggle-borns killed or frightened back into hiding in
>the muggle world by Voldemort, leaving the wizard world with a
>shortage?  Is prejudice so entrenched in wizarding society that it's
>hard to get a job without a Name?  Do muggle-borns just tend to drift
>back into muggle society and find jobs there?  Do they tend to take
>new names and forge new habits to blend in?

JKR has said in interviews

a. that around 25% of Hogwarts students are Muggle-born
b. that there are 1000 students at Hogwarts

Accepting both of those statements for the moment, and assuming (as is
logical) that _all_ Muggle borns get a Hogwarts invitation, because the WW
wouldn't want half skilled wizards roaming about with no knowledge of how
the WW works, that would mean that there are around 36 children with magical
abilities born to Muggle (or presumably half-Muggle) families each year.

That's a very small number, compared to the total number of children born in
these islands each year. If, as many of us surmise, only a proportion of WW
children go to Hogwarts, it means that Muggle borns are also a very small
proportion of children in the WW also, which in turn means that it's not so
surprising that we haven't heard of many of them.

It's also possible that, as you suggest, because the pure blood families are
all more or less interrelated, that it's less easy for Muggle borns to get a
high status job in the WW because there is so much string pulling and family
connection involved - not to mention more than a little prejudice. Perhaps
their lack of visibility is a combination of all these factors

Cheers

Ffred

O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri