[HPforGrownups] Re: Chapter Discussions: Chapter 8, The Hearing

[Silverthorne Dragon]

No: HPFGUIDX 87638

Berit replies:

Good point :-) I don't know. One explanation could be that squibs
know there exists a magical world and therefore have more "practise"
in seeing things Muggles don't. Like some Muggles claim to be able to
see ghosts while most don't... Maybe all squibs share this "extra
sense" with wizards.

I'm just basing my assumption on canon evidence. And there's no doubt
Mrs Figg acts like she can be able to spot dementors with her eyes,
not just her feelings. Also the way she's genuinely indignant when
it's hinted squibs can't see dementors suggests she speaks the truth


{Anne Replies}

I agree with the possibility that with a squib that although they cannot
actively *use* magic--it's still in thier blood, and affects them somewhat.
The ability to 'see' magical and supernatural things may be a side benefit
of having wizards blood and just because you can 'see' it, doesn't
necassarily mean you can 'touch' (Or utilize) what you see--much like Filch.
And since Muggles (or most Muggles at least) "Haven't a drop of magical
blood in thier bodies", that lack would keep  *them* from seeing things like
Dementors. As for the Muggles that *CAN* see...well, genetic diversty would
argue that some wizard blood got loose in the Muggle genepool
somewhere--which might explain them. After all, all it really takes is some
wizarding ancestor to get lost in the Muggle genepool to let that particalur
code loose on the general population. Probably also explains why you get
(pardon the word, but I don't remember JK's 'properly polite term at the
moment and I just woke up to boot), 'Mudbloods' popping up all over the
place--forgotten wizarding inheritance through the genes exherting itself.

Perhaps in the case of Squibs it's that they are unable to conciously access
what magic they posses. After all, I don't think any of us can deny that
Filch (An acknowledged Squib)  and Mrs. Norris have some sort of "magic'
link to each other, whether or not JK has explained what it is just yet. And
remember that even as a Squib, he was trying to take a correspondance course
for learning magic--a clue that perhaps Squibs are not as magically out of
it as they could be. There seems to be a chance if Filch is 'wasting time'
trying to learn alternative methods to traditonal spell-casting, then it
could be a matter of finding the 'right' method to access it. After all, I'm
sure wand waving, although the *standard* way of casting, will not work for
everyone. And if there's no one to teach you another way....

And I'm sure that Mrs. Figg likely has a few, 'natural' side talents that
don't necessitate wand-waving per se. (Compare the smell of cabbages in her
house to the smell of rotten eggs and old cabbages that the Diagon Alley
Apothocary share in the first book)  Perhaps some low level potions require
minimal magical interference. Snape did, after all, indicate that "There
will be no silly wand waving in *this* class"--which I always took to mean
that the catalysts in potions was more often the ingredients themselves
interacting with each other and less with any interfernce on the part of the
witch or wizard mixing them.

Anyhow, just my two short cents...Hope everyone had a good Holiday...;)

Anne