Muggles (Was: Unanswered Questions)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 92517

> Meri wrote:
<snip>
> But there are not any actual full blooded Muggles at Hogwarts, 
> because a Muggle is by definition a person who cannot do magic, and 
> doesn't have any magical blood in their viens, which would make it 
> v. hard for them to pass their transfiguration and charms finals. 
<snip> 
> Meri (who wonders if a pair of Squibs had a baby if there would be 
> any chance of that baby having magical powers)

Carol responds:
I don't think we've been told that Muggles have *no* magical blood in
their veins. If that were the case, how could Muggle-born witches and
wizards like Hermione, the Creevey brothers, and Harry's mother be so
common? What JKR said is that Muggles (like Lily's parents) can have
magical children (witches or wizards) and that Squibs are the
nonmagical children of magical parents. There's nothing about Muggles
having no magical blood. I think some Muggles (Vernon, for example)
may have no magical blood whatever, but others, like Petunia, clearly
have magical ancestors, which explains how Petunia could have a
magical sister without being a witch herself. (As JKR herself
explained, Petunia is a Muggle, not a Squib, because both of her
parents were Muggles: nonmagical people whose parents were also not
magical.)

I think--and I'm not claiming to *know* this--that if two Squibs have
a baby, it might have a chance of having magical powers but probably
would not: We don't hear about any Squib-born witches or wizards. It
would be more likely be the nonmagical child of two nonmagical
parents--and by definition a Muggle. The nonmagical child of a Squib
and a Muggle would also be a Muggle by the same JKR-based definition. 

I think, then, that it takes only a few generations after a Squib
passing as a Muggle marries a real Muggle for their children's
witch/wizard ancestry to be forgotten. Lily Evans may have had a Squib
grandfather or great-grandfather, but her parents and sister were
Muggles. (That's canon.) But I have a feeling (not canon!) that her
Evans ancestor's wizard blood is about to show up in another
Muggle-born Evans descendant, Mark Evans, whom I predict we'll see
sorted into Gryffindor in Book 6. (If he doesn't, I'll have to rethink
my theory.)

But to tie all this back into the original discussion, Muggles *can*
have magical blood. In the case of Muggle-borns witches and wizards,
there's almost certainly a magical ancestor. Somewhere along the line,
the magical failed and a Squib was born. The Squib married a Muggle
and produced Muggle children. But two generations later, or ten, or
twenty, for whatever reason, the magic resurfaced and a Muggle-born
witch or wizard was produced--in the case of the Creevey brothers--two
Muggle-born wizard children. Must have had wizard ancestry on both sides!

Carol