[HPforGrownups] Re: Can a M$^blood even become a pureblood? (From Assumption)

[Cindy Jenkins]

No: HPFGUIDX 97854

Susan wrote:
> Is it possible for a m$&blood family eventually to become a
> pureblood family?  Ok, James is from a pureblooded family.  Lily
> comes from a muggle family, but she's obviously a wizard.  They
> have Harry.  Isn't he (Harry) technically more "pure" than Lily
> (bloodwise)?  So if he married a pureblood, their child would be
> even more "pure" wouldn't he/she? And if that child grows up and
> marries a pureblood...  See where I'm going?  Where does it end?

Nepenthales responded:
>It doesn't end.  It doesn't matter how many generations follow; the
>bloodline would never be pure wizard again.  The 'pureness' of the
>blood would approach 100%, but would never get there.

Cindy now:

I've always equated the mudblood debate with the slavery debate in the early
US.  When slavery was legal, there were a number of rules to determine who
was Black and who wasn't.  The oldest was the Descent Rule, which said any
offspring from a mixed union were to be considered Black, and therefore a
slave.  That was later clarified with the One Drop Rule, which said if your
blood was 1/32 Black, you were to be considered Black.  That meant that only
one of your great-great grandparents had to be Black for you to be
considered Black, even if you appeared very Caucasian.  (Your kids, though,
would be White, because they had less than 1/32 of Black blood.)

As you can see, though, this was fairly difficult to prove, as people didn't
live long enough to know their great-great granparents.  Also, if there was
a Black ancestor in your history, it was usually a well-kept secret.

It seems to me that this paranoia of having "one drop" of Black blood is
similar to the paranoia of having one drop of mudblood.  If Ron and Sirius
are to be believed, there are very few pureblood families left.  I can't
imagine how they've managed to remain pureblood, but unlike race (which you
may be able to guess by looking at a person) pure parentage wouldn't be
visible to the naked eye.  You'd have to rely on family trees and ancestry
charts.  These, though, could be altered if there was an embarrassing
marriage a few generations back.  Like hiding the fact that your
great-great-grandfather was Black so you would be considered White, I could
see the Malfoys hiding the fact that a great-great grandparent had muggle
parentage.  Who'd know?

In other words, people who claim to be purebloods may or may not be
pureblood, and I think their hatred of mudbloods may be motivated by the
fact that their parentage may not be 100% pure.  Just look at Tom.  He is
unarguably a mudblood himself, but he's also the champion of the
muggle-haters.  Go figure.

Cindy