To the Extreme

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165119

Snow wrote:
> 
> I had given this subject point some consideration in the past
wondering whether a muggleborn witch is more powerful than a 
> pureblood one.
> 
> If you look at the characters that possess the greatest powers in
the books so far they seem to be the ones who have at least one parent
who was a muggle:
<snip examples, though I'm not sure about Myrtle's inclusion in the
group being justified>
> 
> On the other hand we have a few purebloods we know are not very  gifted:
> 
> •	Neville (who's "family thought...was all–Muggle for ages")
> •	Ron (who has never dazzled anyone with his magical skills, he 
> had trouble making a feather fly)
> •	Crabbe and Goyle (lucky the school even let them in)
> •	Draco (questionable)

Neville was using his father's wand for the first five years and was
suffering from lack of confidence. He's at least good in Herbology and
not bad in Charms and DADA. I don't think we can fairly judge him from
what we've seen so far. Ron is exactly on a par with Harry in every
class except DADA, and he made a E in that. Draco made an O in Potions
(no help from Snape on the OWL) and is also evidently gifted at Charms
considering the flashing badges that he made in GOF ("Support Cedric
Diggory, the real Hogwarts champion" changing to "Potter Stinks." He
seems to be at least Harry's equal at duelling, considering the shape
the bathroom was in (Sectumsempra doesn't count as a higher level of
skill any more than an unfinished Crucio does). Draco may not get
quite the marks that Hermione does, but she seems to be the only one
who does better, at least the only one that Draco or his father mentions.)

Snow: 
> Then we have the product of purebloods gone bad, which is a Squib. 
> For being said to be rare, we have two that we are aware of and one 
> off-screen character that is questionable:
> 
> •	Filtch (who doesn't seem to have any particular strong point 
> at all even for a squib)
> •	Mrs. Figg's (who also does not appear to have any special 
> aptitude)
> •	Perkins? (who Arthur Weasley borrowed the tent from for the 
> Quidditch World Cup was furnished and smelled exactly like Mrs. 
> Figg's... coincidence or clue) 
> 
Carol:
I'm not at all sure that a Squib is "the product of purebloods gone
bad." As far as we know, it's a witch or wizard with at least one
magical parent, regardless of blood line, who somehow failed to
inherit a magical gene. (Squibs do seem to have an affinity with cats,
even being able to communicate with them. I wouldn't be surprised if
Mrs. Figg performs magic at an advanced age. She certainly seems to
know a lot *about* it (reading knowledge rather than practical
knowledge?).

As for Perkins, I always thought, given the smell and decor of the
tent, that he bought it secondhand from Mrs. Figg. He's not a Squib,
however, or he wouldn't be working for the MoM, even in a department
that's not highly regarded. He's "an old warlock named Perkins,"
according to OoP IIRC). And a warlock, as far as I can determine, is a
male wizard. 

Snow:
> It appears that the strongest wizards are those who have muggle 
heritage. Could it be that Salazar Slytherin not only disliked anyone
 that was not of pure blood heritage but went to the extreme where
muggle-borns were concerned (when he kept a creature in the Chamber
who's main objective was to seek out and destroy muggle-borns) 
because he feared how powerful they are?

Carol:
I really think you're leaping to conclusions here, especially since we
don't know Dumbledore's parentage. And you're forgetting James Potter
and Sirius Black. Neither of them is high on my list of favorite
characters, but they did become illegal Animagi in their fifth year
and help to create the Marauder's Map. And I'd consider the Weasley
Twins pretty talented as well.

Carol, who, alas, is just an old fuddy duddy with no fondness for
far-fetched theories