Pureblood (was Snape and Malfoy related? (was: Snape and Lucius ages)

[stbjohn2]

No: HPFGUIDX 115243


Dharma > > It is not clear to me that Snape is a pureblood 
Wizard.  From what 
> I  can gather, we can eliminate the possibility of him being a 
> > Muggleborn Wizard.  Unless I've missed something, the possibility 
> of  Snape being a half-blood Wizard still exists.  
> > Beyond the bloodline issue
since at least one of Snape's
parents 
> was  pureblood, it suggests the possibility that he is related to 
> the Malfoys.  It's not a certainty in my mind.  However, if they 
> were  related, it would not shock me.
> 
> Potioncat:
> From the last set of questions JKR answered, I understood Snape to 
> be Half Blood as well.  So that either one of his parents was 
Muggle 
> born or one of his parents  was a Muggle (less likely, I think.)

Sandy, sticking her nose where it probably doesn't belong...
JKR was asked if Snape was pureblood at the Edinburgh Book Festival, 
and (as she is so good at) she talked alot without ever giving a yes 
or no answer. Which leads me to believe that his status as pureblood 
or half-blood must have some importance in upcoming story lines, or 
why wouldn't she give a simple answer?
Is he a pureblood? We (or Harry anyway) didn't see him on the Black 
family tree. (Harry didn't see the Potters, either, and you'd think 
Sirius would have mentioned if *they* were related  -- I guess they 
could have been blasted off when James married Lily, but still, 
Sirius would know).
But my question actually goes to an understanding of what "pureblood" 
means. JKR says on her website that Harry is considered a half-blood 
because his grandparents (Lily's parents) were muggles. But with 
someone like the Malfoys, I'm sure they look much further back than 
grandparents, as well. In other words, if your (or Snape's or 
whoever's) great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was 
a muggle, their blood is still sullied and they count as half-bloods, 
right? (If Harry weds another halfblood, or even a pureblood, their 
kids still aren't purebloods, right?)
 I know that at some periods/places in U.S., they even had 
specific words for people with various proportions of black blood in 
them, but even if it was only 1/32, they were still considered to be 
black (or so Mark Twain tells us in Pudd'nhead Wilson), and I think 
the pureblood maniacs have a similar mindset, they just don't bother 
to do the math to figure out the fraction.