Lily's magical background

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112603

Karen (earlier) wrote:
> > > James Potter is a full-blood.  For Harry to be a half-blood,
Lily is a Muggle.  Therefore, Lily's grandparents are Muggles. <snip>
 
I (Carol) responded:
> > Not a Muggle (a person with no magical powers) but a Muggleborn,
the witch or wizard child of two Muggles. She still has Muggle blood
in the sense that her parents are Muggles, which explains how Harry
can be a Half-blood despite having a witch and a wizard as parents.
> > 
> > I think the part about "Lily's grandparents" is another slip of
the keyboard; JKR seems to have meant "Lily's parents"/"Harry's
grandparents." At any rate, there's no doubt from the books that 
Lily is a Muggleborn. <snip> Her grandparents were presumably Muggles
as well, but it's her parents who are important in determining Harry's
status as a half-blood, no different in Riddle!Voldemort's view from
himself as far as bloodlines go.
 
Karen then wrote:
> Thanks for the correction on the Muggle vs Muggle-born. I don't 
> think JKR made a slip with "grandparents". I think she wants us to 
> know that all 8 of Lily's and Petunia's great-grandparents are 
> Muggles. <snip>
 
Carol again:
At any rate, all four of Lily's (and Petunia's) grandparents were
Muggles, and therefore both parents were Muggles, which is all that's
needed to make Lily a Muggleborn and Petunia a Muggle. It would have
saved a lot of confusion if JKR had made the Muggle grandparent
connection clearer on her website!

Carol