A Question about name-calling

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 100691

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Metylda <bamf505 at y...> wrote:
> In the books, we know that a Pureblood is someone who
> has a long, lengthy ancestry of wizarding blood.
> 
> A Mudblood is a person who has Pure Muggles (with no
> wizarding ability) for relatives.
> 
> What exactly is a half-blood? We have Seamus in the
> first book say that he is 'half and half' - that his
> Mum was a witch and didn't tell her husband (Pure
> Muggle) until after they were married.  We know Tom
> Riddle had a similiar situation where one parent was
> Pure Muggle.
> 
> What exactly is Harry then? Yes, his Mum was Muggle
> born, but she was a witch.  Does that still make him a
> Half-blood, as Bellatrix calls him in OOtP:
> 
> "Shut your mouth!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You dare speak
> his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it
> with your half-blood's tongue, you dare-" 
> 
> "Did you know he's a half-blood too?" said Harry
> recklessly. "Hermoine gave a little moan in his ear.
> "Voldemort? Yea, his mother was a witch but his dad
> was a Muggle - or has he been telling you lot he's
> pureblood?"
> (quoted from US Version - OOtP, pg 784)
> 
> Comments and thoughts?
> 
> ta!
> bamf!

There are two main interpretations for what Harry is. Someone like 
Bellatrix (or any of the other more blood-centric of the WW) would 
probably consider Harry a half-blood, and maybe even the more 
extreme would call him a mudblood. But technically, because both his 
mum and dad were magical, he is pure-blooded. Unlike Seamus, who 
would always be refrered to as a half-blood. Hope this helps. 

Meri - who thinks we should have an on-list euphamism 
for "mudblood". "Differently parented" perhaps?