Half-blood vs Pure-blood

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 171703

Inge earlier:
> The way I see it, Harry is as much a 'pure-blood' as Neville is.
> 
Lisa replied:
> Neville has no muggle grandparents or great-grandparents. Harry does.
> 
> Me again:
> So if Neville had one great-great-grandparent he would be considered
a 'half-blood'? Hmmm !
>
Carol responds:
I really hate to waste a post on a question that JKR herself has
already answered (probably because so many people were as confused as
you are about Harry's blood status). Harry is indeed a Half-blood, as
JKR explains in her FAQ:

"[Question:] Why are some people in the wizarding world (e.g., Harry)
called 'half-blood' even though both their parents were magical?

"[JKR;]The expressions 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born'
have been coined by people to whom these distinctions matter, and
express their originators' prejudices. As far as somebody like Lucius
Malfoy is concerned, for instance, a Muggle-born is as 'bad' as a
Muggle. Therefore Harry would be considered only 'half' wizard,
because of his mother's grandparents. [I think she means his mother's
parents, Harry's grandparents.]

"If you think this is far-fetched, look at some of the real charts the
Nazis used to show what constituted 'Aryan' or 'Jewish' blood. I saw
one in the Holocaust Museum in Washington when I had already devised
the 'pure-blood', 'half-blood' and 'Muggle-born' definitions, and was
chilled to see that the Nazis used precisely the same warped logic as
the Death Eaters. A single Jewish grandparent 'polluted' the blood,
according to their propaganda."

http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=58

Carol again:

As you can see, JKR determined blood status using the Nazi model for
determining whether a person was Jewish. (It reminds me of the
"quadroon" and "octaroon" designations once used to determine whether
a person was white or "Negro" in the American South.)

At any rate, because Harry's mother had Muggle parents, she had
"Muggle blood," making Harry as much a Half-blood as if she had been
an actual Muggle. If he were to marry the pure-blood Ginny, their
children would have one "Muggle" grandparent. It's unclear whether
they would still be considered Half-bloods. By the next generation,
however, I think their blood would be "pure" enough to qualify as
marriage material for most pure-bloods, even possibly the Malfoys, if
only because pure-bloods who can trace their ancestry back through
nine generations of witches and wizards (like Ernie Macmillan) or who
have wizarding family trees extending back to medieval times (the
black family tapestry and beyond) or farther like the Ollivanders,
"makers of fine wands since 382 B.C." or whatever) are increasingly rare.

It's important to JKR's story thematically that the Trio consists of a
Pure-blood, a Half-blood (raised by Muggles), and a Muggle-born. Each
has his or her own particular talents, and the Muggle-born Hermione is
in some ways more talented than the pure-blood Ron despite the
advantages of his magical upbringing. IOW, despite Draco Malfoy's
sneers, she is not innately inferior. Harry has something of both;
he's closer to a Pure-Blood than Hermione, but his mother was a
Muggle-born like her and he was raised by Muggles. Also, of course,
Voldemort is also a Half-Blood (he refers to Harry's "Muggle" mother
in the same breath as his own Muggle father), and again it's important
thematically that he chooses the Half-Blood Harry, with whom he
identifies to some extent, rather than the pure-blood Neville, as more
likely to be the Chosen One. (And a certain Half-Blood Prince, who
also seems to share some traits and background with Harry, is, of
course, also a Half-Blood.)

At any rate, it appears that even one Muggle grandparent makes you a
Half-Blood in the eyes of the Pure-Blood supremacists. Two Muggle
grandparents certainly do (which is why Harry qualifies). Four Muggle
grandparents (two Muggle parents), of course, make you a Muggle-born.

Both Remus Lupin and Mundungus Fletcher have been referred to as
Half-Bloods, one in an interview and the other in HBP, but we don't
know whether the non-Pure-blood parent was a Muggle or a Muggle-born.

I realize that it's all quite confusing, but Harry is called a
Half-Blood by Dumbledore, Voldemort, and JKR herself, and they should
know.

Carol, hoping that she hasn't muddied the waters by expanding on JKR's
definition