Squibs have genes to do magic?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 146438

Rachel(146396): 
> JKR has never said that the wizarding gene is dominant. I think it's 
> pretty clear that it HAS to be recessive for the reasons you put in
> your post re squibs and muggle borns.

> Miles:
> I think this statement and the discussion about it has no basis in 
> canon or in JKRs statements. We do not know *anything* about the
> nature of magic in Potterverse. We do not know why people are 
> magical and others are not, we do not know anything about 
> magical "theory" or the nature of spells and their power. 
 
> So it's pure speculation to assume that genetics play any role for
> humans being magic or not. 

Jen: Right or wrong, JKR introduced the concept of magic being due to 
a dominant gene as pointed out by CH3ed in this thread. Next time I'll 
include the relevant quote so it won't appear to be my own speculation.

Personally, I wish she'd left genes out of it. She gave a more vague 
and probably more defensible answer in the Barnes and Noble interview 
in 1999 when asked how Muggle-born Hermione could be a witch: "Nobody 
knows where magic comes from. It is like any other talent. Sometimes 
it seems to be inherited, but others are the only ones in their family 
who have the ability." 

Anyway, my main point got last in the battle of the genes: If Filch or 
Figg performed magic, wouldn't that make whomever does it a latent 
witch or wizard rather than a true Squib? JKR said on her website in 
the Squib section that a Squib is a 'non-magical person'. So a person 
who could perform magic, even late in life, would not be a Squib.

But hey, maybe it doesn't really matter. If JKR isn't sure how magical 
skill develops, she can do whatever she wants. 


SV: 
> In as far as Mrs. Figg or Filch doing magic, they probably can to an
> extent. It is implied that they can each talk to cats. Filch
> ordered the book to teach squibs magic, which wouldn't have been
> written at all if it were not possible. 

Jen: The Kwikspell course is for witches and wizards who aren't able 
to perform magic well, not squibs. At least that's what the 
promotional material says.


SV: 
> And Mrs. Figg's house smells like cabbage, the same smell
> Harry notices at the potion shop in Diagon Alley. They cannot do big
> magic. Mrs. Figg states that she cannot "so much as transfigure a
> tea bag," but she is certainly trying her hand at potion making.

Jen: Filch and Figg aren't performing magic. To quote JKR 
again: "Neither of these characters can perform magic (Filch's 
Kwikspell course never worked), but they still function within the 
wizarding world because they have access to certain magical objects 
and creatures that can help them..."

The more I think about it, the more I think Filch is a latent wizard 
and not a squib. He calls himself a squib in COS, but the fact that he 
bothered to order the Kwikspell course and it 'didn't work' according 
to JKR makes me think he might be capable of magic, unlike Figg who is 
truly a Squib.


Jen