Aunt Petunia & Hogwarts

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 88218

Carol wrote:
> <snip> We're told very plainly in books one and two that Petunia is
a Muggle.
> > Also JKR has made the point directly in an interview:
>
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/2000/0200-scholastic-chat.htm

Francois responded: 
> All the interview says is that wizards can be born to muggles....  

Carol:
Actually the quote refers specifically to Petunia:

Q. Since Harry Potter's parents were sorcerers and Petunia was Harry's
mother's sister. Shouldn't Petunia be a witch or wizard?

A. No. As Hagrid explains in Book I, sometimes a witch or a wizard
occurs in an otherwise Muggle family, just as a Squib is a non-magic
person who occurs in an otherwise magic family. 

In other words, Lily is a witch who has "occurred" in "an otherwise
Muggle family," and Petunia is one of the Muggles in that family. In
order to be a Squib, she'd have to be from "an otherwise magic
family." Muggle parents can have a Witch or Wizard child, but they
can't have a Squib.

I do think there are Squibs (and consequently Wizards) further back in
the family, but we're told over and over again in books one and two
that Petunia is a Muggle. (Granted, she has more experience with the
WW than most Muggles. I think possibly her parents were murdered by
DEs and she has certainly heard about Dementors. But that doesn't make
her a Squib, only the sister of a witch.) Also Dumbledore himself
calls Harry a "half blood" even though his parents are a wizard and a
witch because his mother's parents were Muggles and her blood still
somehow prevents his from being "pure."

Carol