[HPforGrownups] Muggleborn vs Pureblood

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 168799

> Betsy Hp:
>> But JKR covers this issue in PS/SS.  Ron tries to do magic and can't
>> (turning Scabbers yellow) and Hermione tries to do magic and can (all
>> those spells she tried out that worked for her).  And I believe
>> someone (Hagrid?) says that all students start out on equal footing
>> as far as magical experience.]


Bart:
>
> Hermione has also read way ahead in her schoolbooks, and has more of
> the theory down than Ron. Notice, however, how she holds in a certain
> amount of contempt anything that isn't in the book; is it because her
> lack of experience keeps her from understanding it (although, by the 6th
> book, she FINALLY accepts that Fred & George are skilled and inventive).

<snip>

> And, for the reasons I put forward before, I do think that Muggleborns
> who excel at magical studies are the exception, not the rule.

Magpie:
This is the opinion that Draco reports, presumably repeating his father, to 
Harry in his first scene, but JKR raises this question in canon and assures 
us that no, there is no difference. Not by showing us Hermione, but through 
her Muggle-raised protagonist.  Harry finds he is not behind the other 
students at all and tells us so. Hermione is further ahead than others 
because she's studied, but everyone else is at the same level. All the 
students get their magic at the same time and start school at the same 
level.

The idea that Muggleborns who excel at magical studies are the exception is 
what Slughorn is claiming, and is perhaps more disturbingly something he 
uses in deciding how he treats students, but it isn't true and canon states 
this outright.

-m