The Genetics of Magical People

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 173810

---  "Milz" <absinthe at ...> wrote:
>
> From the Bloomsbury chat:
> 
> "How exactly do muggleborns receive magical ability?
> JKR: Muggle-borns will have a witch or wizard 
> somewhere on their family tree, in some cases many, 
> many generations back. The gene re-surfaces in some 
> unexpected places."
> 
> So on the surface, the magical gene appears to be a
> recessive gene.
> 
> Milz
>

bboyminn:

I think it is best to look at magic as a form of
Genius. Why do musical or mathematical genius's
occur is some families and not in others? 

Well, to some extent it is inherited. Very smart
people /usually/ have very smart kids. Yet, sometimes
genius is unexpected. Sometimes it occurs in the 
most unlikely places. Yet, even when genius is
very unlikely, you can probably find a similar level 
of intelligence somewhere in the distant family 
tree.

Sometimes, things just happen, sometimes genius,
and magic, are just random luck of the draw ever
so slightly tempered by genetics. 

But my point is, in trying to find a figurative
model for magic, I think Genius fits very nicely. 

Steve/bboyminn