[HPforGrownups] Re: To the Extreme

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 165118

Magpie snipped:

Characters often inherit traits from their parents, but nobody seems bound 
by their blood when it comes to talent.

Snow:

Except for squibs, whose parents are magical and yet they don't present 
themselves with even a bit of non-magical talent.

Magpie:
Sorry, I meant that being Muggleborn, Halfborn or Pureblood doesn't 
determine your power as a magician. A squib is limited in having no magic, 
but he's limited in himself, it's not his bloodline that's limiting him.

Squibs don't seem to be exactly Muggles, despite what JKR is saying (though 
I see her point---they are like the opposite of a Muggleborn), because 
Squibs seem to have, for instance, a certain affinity for cats. I don't 
think Figg could brew any Potions at all for the same reason JKR says 
Muggles can't--at some point you need a wand. She could probably brew the 
parts that don't require magic. Of course, it's also possible that she *has* 
Potions for whatever reason. I don't know if Potions work on Squibs or 
Muggles.

I'm not sure what you mean by their showing no non-magical talent. They both 
seem like capable adults and presumably have some talents even if they're 
just ordinary people.

Snow:
If you naturally inherit traits from your parents, via blood, wouldn't you 
at least exhibit some tendency towards some type of talent?

Magpie:
I think we do have clear examples of people inheriting talents, looks, or 
dispositions from their parents. I'm just making a distinction between that 
type of inheritance (which JKR seems to think is important, or else Harry 
wouldn't live at the Dursleys and she probably wouldn't have so much juicy 
family drama!) and something that's more like racism, where your "group" 
determines how good or bad you'll be. So Harry can inherit his father's 
talent for Quidditch and his mother's eyes, but it's not like Harry's got to 
be a talented Wizard because he's not a Pureblood or not a Muggleborn. At 
least that's the way it seems to work in canon. The believe in the first 
seems to be held by the good guys and the bad, the second only by the bad.

James and Sirius are definitely Purebloods--and I forgot the Twins and Ginny 
both seem considered by Rowling to be powerful. Also Barty Crouch and Percy 
were very successful.

I have definitely noticed the same pattern you have, that it seems like 
there's more "ordinary" Purebloods as opposed to extraordinary Halfbloods 
and Muggle-borns, but I have a feeling that's not supposed to represent a 
rule. We do also have more ordinary Half-bloods and Muggle-borns, it seems.

Snow:
Snow- who thinks that Dumbledore is muggleborn and his brother, Aberforth, 
is very unlike Petunia and more like Mrs. Figg's who is possibly talented in 
potions

Magpie:
Isn't Aberforth a Wizard? He was accused of practicing inappropriate Charms 
on a goat, I thought. (Though that could of course just a rumour!)

If Aberforth is Dumbledore's brother and Dumbledore is Muggleborn he 
couldn't be like Mrs. Figg--she's a Squib. If DD is Muggleborn their parents 
are Muggles, so Aberforth is either a Muggleborn (if he is a Wizard) or a 
Muggle (so he probably can't be working in Diagon Alley). He can't be a 
Squib, because he wouldn't have Wizard parents.

-m