Squibs and Kwikspell

[lifeavantgarde]

No: HPFGUIDX 101638

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Antonia Maria Duchesne 
Siemaszko <antonia at t...> wrote:
> At 10:32 AM 6/16/2004, you wrote:
> 
Tana wrote:
>>>Eustace_Scrubb:
My guess is that Kwikspell is exactly analogous--it appeals 
to "incompetent" wizards as well as squibs, people who feel their 
lives are empty because they can't do magic or can't do it as well 
as their parents/siblings/friends etc.  It probably does most of 
them no good whatsoever, but that doesn't stop people from shelling 
out their hard-earned galleons in the hope that it will.<<<
> 
Tana:
>>I still maintain that a Squib is a magical person with a 
disability, or not enough magic, NOT an unmagical person. Otherwise 
Filch wouldn't try something like that, if he knows nothing will 
ever teach a squib magic I don't see him hurting himself that way..<<

Stefanie:
We know squibs are different than Muggles, and have some underlying 
magical thread (other than the fact that they are knowledgeable 
about the wizarding world while Muggles aren't) because Filch can 
see and interact with Peeves, and Figg can see the dementors (OotP 
7).

Now, how are we told a wizard is indeed a wizard instead of a squib? 
The answers the book gives us are that said unschooled wizard will 
perform some type of "accidental magic" sans wand. If a child 
doesn't show this type of magic before their age of wizard 
schooling, even before the Hogwarts letter doesn't show up, the 
parents believe their child to be a squib.

This "accidental magic" is wandless, of course, seeing as how the 
child has not yet purchased his first wand. (We do see an example of 
a child using a wand at the campsite in GoF -- was it little Kevin 
who was blowing up slugs with his father's wand?) But, on the whole, 
Harry's causing his hair to grow, Neville's bouncing -- the magic 
seen here is generally wandless.


Could it possibly be that "wizardhood" is being able to channel the 
powers that be even without a channeling device? The accidental 
magic is shown to be haphazard and hard to control...so using a wand 
to concentrate one's control would just be easier. We have seen 
examples of wandless magic with wizards so it can be done with, I 
suppose, concentration -- perhaps a squib can only do magic with 
extreme concentration, and a wand?

Could Kwikspell be a method of teaching squibs to channel whatever 
underlying energy they can with concentration and practice? (And 
perhaps the reason it sounds so "infomercial" is because, as we have 
seen, wizards aren't the most open-minded of people...could 
Kwikspell be an under funded, independent try at reaching out to 
those to be politically correct ;o) "magically challenged" people?