At what time is a witch/wizard categorized as one?

[Berit Jakobsen]

No: HPFGUIDX 88896

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Tanya Swaine <swaine.t at x> wrote:
> At 00:31 16/01/2004 -0800, you wrote:
> 
> >K wrote
> >
> >You know it occurs to me that there's another reason he could have 
dropped
> >hi off the balcony - the Longbottoms are, or appear to be, 
purebloods, maybe
> >Uncle Algie felt that as a Squib Neville was an embarrassment to 
the family
> >and would be less of an embarrassment if he had an 'accident'? Dead
> >embarrassments being somewhat less embarrassing. Or if not an 
embarrassment
> >just inferior and it was just better to put the boy out of his 
misery (sort
> >of like the way the Spartans abandoned baby boys who were deemed 
to be too
> >weak to have the potential to be Spartans).
> >
> >K
> 
> 
> Tanya here.
> 
> Yes, that scenario would match well with what Neville said about 
the 
> responses from his family after he
> was dropped and bounced.  That attitude might have been a bit more 
> widespread also.  I mean if the DE's
> were trying to breed their numbers up and one, had gasp, horror, a 
squib 
> baby.  Pureblood pride and all
> that.
> 
> Tanya
> 
The Longbottoms were members of the Order. How likely is it that they 
harboured thoughts about the purity of blood and were inclined to 
kill off their squib son so he couldn't defile their good name? Of 
course, even if Neville's parents were in the Order, their relatives 
like uncle Algie might still have the mind of a DE. But I can't see 
Alice and Frank letting uncle Algie throw their son out of a window 
if the intention was to harm him in any way. By the way; I don't have 
the book here with me, but doesn't the text say that uncle Algie 
didn't mean to throw Neville out of the window, just hang him out of 
it to "encourage" him to fight back with magic, but then he lost his 
grip and Neville fell?

Berit
http://home.no.net/berjakob/snape.html