[HPforGrownups] Re: Reason Dumbledore trusted Snape

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 171697

Inge now:

I dont get the *Half-blood, Pure-blood*

Snape is a 'half-blood' because one of his parents is a witch and 
the other is a muggle.

So why exactly is Harry described a 'half-blood', too - when (just 
like Neville, who is a 'pure-blood') both of his parents are 
wizard/witch ??

The way I see it, Harry is as much a 'pure-blood' as Neville is.

Magpie:
Harry is a Half-Blood because his mother was Muggleborn and therefore has
"Muggle blood." I agree this is one of the most confusing things in canon,
particularly since Draco, who is in some ways our mouthpiece for this sort
of thing, never once has a problem with Harry's bloodline or insults his
mother. He puts him down for being a sort of defender of Muggle-borns, not
having dirty blood himself. However, from what we've seen Hal-bloods in
general are not the targets of the kind of prejudice Muggle-borns are
according to Lucius Malfoy. 

But still, if Muggle-borns are considered tainted because they are
essentially Muggles by birth (Hermione is once called a Muggle in GoF in a
hate-letter), it's not unusual that Harry is considered a Half-blood. As
was recently quoted on the list, Hagrid defends Harry against the charge of
being *Muggle-born* when he tells him he's "not from a Muggle family" since
both his parents were magical (and that's all that Draco seems to be asking
at first too, whether Harry's parents were magical), but Harry is also
identified as a Half-blood many times. Tom Riddle in CoS, Dumbledore in
OotP, and I think Hagrid himself in GoF (when he wants Harry to be the
Half-Blood champion who beats Pure-blood Cedric because he's insecure about
being a Half-Giant).

-m