Squibs (was Re: Colin Creevy)

[kempermentor]

No: HPFGUIDX 113012



> HunterGreen:
It wouldn't matter to the basilisk whether or not the person is 
muggleborn (after all it does attack Harry later on), only to the 
person commanding the basilisk. And that person is not doing 
a 'pureblood test' to find out if the person is muggleborn or not, 
just going with what she has been told. The snake could have just as 
easily attacked Dean Thomas, since he (and no other students) know 
he's a half-blood. I have a question now though, how did Ginny know 
Filch was a squib?


Kemper now:
Ginny didn't know Filch was a Squib.  Below is a work in progress.  
Part of it addresses the scene/chapter you are referring to.  It's 
long, so apologies to the rushed.


Squibs: Marginalized by Magical World
The idea of a Squib is learned in SS during the feast after the 
sorting when the talk around the first year Gryffindors turns to 
their families and Ron asks, "What about you, Neville?"  

"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but 
the family thought I was all-Muggle [a Squib] for ages.  My Great 
Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic 
out of me—he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly 
drowned—but nothing happened until I was eight.  Great Uncle Algie 
came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs 
window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue 
and he accidentally let go.  But I bounced—all the way down the 
garden and into the road.  They were all really pleased, Gran was 
crying, she was so happy.  And you should have seen their faces when 
I got in here—they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you 
see.  Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."  (SS 
125)
	
Neville says his family thought he was all-Muggle.  What is wrong 
with being non-magical?  His family allows Great Uncle Algie 
unsupervised with Neville even after Neville nearly drowned.  Why is 
that considered ok?  It isn't until GUA `accidentally(?)' drops 
Neville head first from at least two stories where he bounces instead 
of breaks a vertebrae that Neville is treated without abuse and 
totally accepted by his family.  Though they still believe that 
he's "not magic enough to come [to Hogwarts]" until he gets his 
letter when they are even more pleased.  GUA, who has terrorized his 
nephew, is so pleased that he spoils Neville with the lavish gift of 
a toad.  Would GUA have given his nephew such an extravagant gift if 
Neville were a Squib?  Probably not because what Neville does not say 
but which can be inferred is that magic is valued; the more magic, 
the more value.  If more magic and importance are at one side of a 
spectrum, then no magic and insignificance are at the other.  It is 
no wonder GUA has put Neville in harms way instead of building a 
healthy, trustful relationship with him.  GUA thought Neville a 
Squib, an insignificant member on the outskirts of the magical 
community.
	The magical community marginalizes Squibs.  
	  When a class of people is marginalized, they are usually 
shamed and ridiculed as well by those that do the marginalizing.  
This can be seen in the magic community as well.  From a sheaf of 
parchment that was within an envelope from a Kwikspell correspondence 
course on Argus Filch's desk, Harry reads:
Feel out of step in the world of modern magic?  Find yourself making 
excuses not to perform simple spells?  Ever been taunted for your 
woeful wandwork?
There is an answer!  (CS 127)

The first question posed on the parchment addresses a Squib's 
experience of being treated poorly by the world of modern magic.  
Feel out of step is code for don't feel accepted.  The second 
question could have been more accurately posed: Are you ashamed of 
being a Squib?  The last question is total emotional manipulation.  
It preys upon the pain of being ridiculed for the hope of using a 
wand.  But there is no hope there.  Only the despairing frustration 
at continuing to be unable to perform any sort of magic and at losing 
any Galleons spent on the course.  It then claims to have the 
answer.  But the answer for the Squib lies either in social change 
from the world of modern magic, a difficult solution to find alone, 
or in changing one's reaction to that world.  When Filch catches 
Harry, a citizen of the world of modern magic, looking over the 
Kwikspell course, Filch is fearful that Harry now knows him to be a 
Squib and questions Harry on whether Harry read his personal post.  
Harry lies, denying having read it.  Filch is flustered:

"If I thought you'd read my private—not that it's mine—for a friend—

" 
and continues,
"Very well—go—and don't breathe a word—not that—however, if you 
didn't read—go now
"  (CS 128)


 Filch denies that the parchment is his and wants Harry to keep his 
mouth shut about it: to keep his secret from the world of modern 
magic.  A world that has laughed at and humiliated Argus Filch into a 
closet.  
It takes the grief of losing Mrs. Norris for Filch to step out of 
that closet.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are the first to discover her after reading 
the rooster-blood graffiti written by Voldemort with Ginny's hand.  
As the feast lets out the hall where Harry and friends are begins to 
fill with students.  There is an uneasy quiet as students become more 
aware of the bloodied wall and the hanging, motionless cat.  Then 
Draco Malfoy shouts, "
You'll be next Mudbloods!"  The shout, (or is 
it what's being shouted?), attracts the attention of Filch.  
Filch is quick to blame Harry for the cruelty:

"He did it, he did it!"  Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling.  "You 
saw what he wrote on the wall!  He found — in my office — he knows 
I'm a — I'm a —" Filch's face worked horribly.  "He knows I'm a 
Squib!" he finished.  (CS 142)

Filch comes out of the closet admitting he is a Squib in front of 
three students.  Harry honestly denies knowing what a Squib is.  But 
Filch claims Harry's denial is "rubbish" because of Harry having seen 
his Kwikspell letter.  Apparently in the past, Filch has experienced 
witches and wizards willing to torment him for being a Squib.  It is 
not only poor, petrified Mrs. Norris that has the enraged Filch 
accusing Harry of a hate crime; it is also what Filch believes Harry 
wrote on the wall:

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN
OPENED.  ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
(CS 138)

As a Hogwarts' staff member, Filch is sure to know the circumstances 
50 years earlier surrounding the Chamber of Secrets.  It is curious 
and interesting to note that he identifies with those 
considered `enemies of the heir.'  We learn later that the `enemies 
of the heir' have Muggle, non-magical, blood ties.  Could 
the `enemies of the heir' entail Squibs as well?  If so, then the 
enemy of the heir either has a non-magical background or is non-
magical.    
Squibs, abhorred by Slytherin's heir and aggrieved by the magical 
world.  
Through Ron, Harry's interpreter in the magical world, the definition 
of Squib is learned:

"Well -- it's not funny really -- but as it's Filch," he said.  "A 
Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got 
any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but 
Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a 
Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a 
lot. Like why he hates students so much."  Ron gave a satisfied 
smile. "He's bitter." (CS 145)

Filch does act as though he holds a resentment or two.  The other 
Squib in the books does as well; however, it comes out as righteous 
indignation.  And though she is still disregarded by the modern 
magical world, she is neither reluctant nor ashamed to declare 
herself a Squib.
	This is evident when Arabella Figg is in Courtroom 10 to 
testify at Harry's hearing.  She sits in front of the entire 
Wizengamot, states her name, and is then asked by the Minister of 
Magic as to her relevance in the hearing to which she answers:

"I'm a resident of Little Whinging, close to where Harry Potter 
lives" (OP 143)
Madam Bones:
"We have no record of any witch or wizard living in Little Whinging 
other than Harry Potter.  That situation has always been closely 
monitored given
 given past events."  (OP 143)

Madame Bones, head of Magical Law Enforcement, is acutely aware of 
the security/intelligence reports of Harry Potter's neighborhood.  
She is sure not the one going out to Little Whinging and running 
survelence on the residents there, but it sounds as though someone is 
monitoring the area.  That person or agency does not even consider 
muggles a threat or take into consideration the possibility that a 
Squib dwells nearby.  So Squibs must not be considered a threat, or 
maybe they just aren't considered.  This seems to be Mrs. Figg's 
impression:

"I'm a Squib.  So you wouldn't have me registered, would you?"  (OP 
143)

Here, Mrs. Figg could be addressing Madame Bones but she may be using 
the plural `you' as in `you, witches and wizards, leaders of the 
modern world of magic.'  She questions the silent consent that allows 
Squibs to be marginalized by their family, community, and 
government.  Madame Bones seems more impressed by Harry's power and 
magic in producing a corporeal Patronus then by the presence of 
Dementors in a Muggle neighborhood away from MoM tabs.  She shows the 
subtle elitist attitude which is the status quo of the system.  Where 
the status is esteemed if magical and disregarded if non-magical.  
Returning to the above quote; Fudge, the Minister of Magic, the most 
politically influential position within Magic Britton, looks left and 
right at the witches and wizards sitting near him and asks them 
instead of the Squib sitting in front of him `incidentally, can 
Squibs see dementors?'  Mrs. Figg replies `indignantly' that they 
can.  Is Mrs. Figg's indignant response due to not being addressed 
directly or due to the question even being posed?  Either way, it is 
a slight on her person.  I'm magical, therefore I am.  You're not 
magical, therefore you aren't.
	Fudge looks down and acknowledges her response `coolly' and 
asks for her story of the events of the night Dudley and Harry were 
attacked.  She states that she saw `dementors running' and later 
described them as `big and wearing cloaks.'  This is not the most 
accurate description of dementors and, right after listening to it, a 
wizard in the Wizengamot leans to a witch next to him and whispers 
something in her ear.  She smirks and nods at what is sure to be 
degrading remark of Mrs. Figg, or of Squibs.  Even Madam Bones, a 
fair Judge according to Tonks, repeats back Mrs. Figg's 
descriptions `coolly.'  There is judgment in one's voice when 
speaking `coolly.'  The judgment Madame Bones seems to hold is `I 
don't believe you, Mrs. Figg, you're Squibiness is showing.' 
	Arguably, Mrs. Figg has had the most important role within 
the magical community: assuring Harry Potter's physical safety.  She, 
as an original member of the Order, knew the danger involved with her 
assignment; Death Eaters, especially the crazy, fanatical kind.  Mrs. 
Figg would do anything in her non-magical power to protect Harry 
knowing that it could come to being murdered like the Potters or to 
being tortured like the Longbottoms.  
	She knows the law.  She anticipates and articulates the 
consequences of Harry's actions in the alley.  She is a forceful 
presence against a wizard who was not following his assignment.  She 
is not the meek Squib at Harry's hearing.  Rather, she's playing to a 
prejudiced, magical crowd.