Half-bloods, Pure-bloods, etc. (was Re: Voldemort CHOSE to attack Harry)

[Cathy Drolet]

No: HPFGUIDX 108792

Boolean
"But but but...Harry *isn't* a half-blood is he???

James & Lily were witch and wizard, therefore Harry is pure-blood, 
no?

I though half-blood only applied to the child of a couple made up of 
a witch/wizard and a Muggle? "

DuffyPoo:

There only seems to be three destinctions of blood purity, half-blood, pure-blood and Muggle-born.  No quarter-blood, eigth-blood, etc.  A person is either a pure-blood or Muggle born....everybody else is half-blood.  Half-blood refers to, or seems to at least, anyone who is not pure-blood (from a Malfoy perspective) or Muggle-born.  Lily was Muggle-born - two Muggle parents, James was a wizard (both magical parents as far as we know),  so HP is half-blood.  Mrs. Riddle was a witch, Mr. Riddle was a Muggle, Tom Riddle is a half-blood as well.  I am assuming, only assuming, it would go back even farther as well.  If there's a muggle in the ancestry anywhere, any resulting wizard/witch is half-blood.

It all goes to the purity of blood issue.  A person's opinion of 'pure-blood' comes from their own prejudice.  This is my theory, at least.  To Malfoy, Sr., or the Black family, a person can only be a pure-blood if they can trace their family back through generations upon generations and find nothing but magical ancestors.  This would not be the same definition of pure-blood to a family like the Weasley's or to Dumbledore.  Dumbledore considers the Weasleys "one of our most prominent pure-blood families." Yet when Sirius and HP are discussing the Black family tapestry he talks about being related to both Arthur and Molly, then he says "but there's no point looking for them on here - if ever a family was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weasleys." (Blood traitors from the Black Family prejudice, I might add, not Sirius's own belief.)  Why?  He had just pointed out that "Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood mariages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so " she and the whole family had been blasted off the tapestry.    Why? Because they are blood traitors.  Andromeda didn't have the sense to marry a pure-blood but brought Muggles into the family line. I can only surmise, then, that the Weasleys have done the same, married Muggle-borns or half-bloods at some point and are thereby considered blood traitors by people like the Blacks/Malfoys....but not by people who don't share that kind of prejudice, Dumbledore for example.

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