Dudley as HBP??!!

[jakedjensen]

No: HPFGUIDX 106022

Mandy wrote: 
> 
> It follows the creed that if there is just one drop of non-magical 
> blood in your family line, you are considered non-pure or half-
> blooded. 
> 
> Cheers Mandy

Jake replies:

I have been a part of several blood line discussions in the past.

I think it unlikely that half-bloods are defined as "just one drop of 
non-magical blood in your family line". To me, this does not fit with 
the canon (although if you can show me some canon that supports this 
idea, I will gladly throw up my arms in surrender). On the other 
hand, here is canon that directly refutes the idea that one drop of 
magical blood in your family line makes you a half-blood.

The Malfoys are considered pureblood, and yet, they have muggle-blood 
in their "family line". As do the Weasleys. Ernie Mac., who claims to 
be as pure as anyone, only claims to be able to trace his pure 
heritage back thirteen generations (at which point, we are led to 
assume, there may be some muggle-blood--hence the disclaimer). 
Indeed, the text clearly states that there isn't a witch or wizard 
alive that doesn't have some muggle-blood in their family line.

In addition, Lily is not considered to have "magic blood." This may 
sound confusing, but think about it. If muggle-borns were considered 
to have magic blood then why would people like the Malfoys hate them 
so much? The answer, I think, is that muggle-blood magic folk are not 
considered magic blood. Hence, harry is a half-blood. Dudley, on the 
other hand, would need Vernon to be a pure blood to be a half-blood. 
If you think this is incorrect, consider what would happen if two 
muggle-blood magic folk had a child. Would the child be a half-blood 
a pure-blood or a muggle-blood? By your definition, the child would 
be a half-blood. But then think of what the Malfoys would say of 
this. They don't count the blood for you but they do for your child? 
That doesn't make sense. In thier eyes, the child would still be a 
muggle-blood witch or wizard. 

The key is that all this stems from pure-blood fanatics. To pure-
bloods, only a'old, pure blood" matters. So, if you don't have a pure 
blood in you (at all), you can't be a half-blood. The "half" relates 
to having at least some old, pure blood in you. Note, both Harry and 
Tom are half-bloods by this definition because they both have some 
(but not all) pure-blood in them. So, Dudley cannot be half-blooded 
because there is no connection to a pure-blood line that we know of.

So, to work with your initial definition. A half-blood is anyone who 
has at least a drop of old, pure blood in their immediate family 
line. A muggle-blood is someone without any old, pure blood in their 
immediate family line. A pure-blood is someone with old, pure-blood 
on both sides of their immediate family line. This definition fits 
with all characters in the book and makes sense of how both Tom and 
Harry are half-bloods. It also makes it impossible for dudley diddums 
to be a half blood.

Jake