Explain This Passage

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 180432

 "rlevatter" <rlevatter at ...> wrote:
>
> Well, I'm new to this group and obviously the archive is huge,
> so my apologies if this has been asked/answered already.
snip
 Surely if being a
> pureblood meant not merely that one's parents were magical
> but that each line was magical for many generations, only a
> small number of inbreeding families could still be purebloods.
> Voldemort and Snape were both half-bloods, both with Muggle
> fathers, but it makes no sense to call Harry a half-blood.
> 
> Or does it? What am I missing?


Potioncat:
Welcome to the group.

What are you missing? The effects of bigotry on people. To LV's gang, 
being Muggleborn was the same as being a Muggle. So Lily counts as 
Muggle. Actually, Muggleborns are "worse" than Muggles, because the 
Muggleborn stole magic. Which I guess is why there are Squibs. (In 
the minds of the radical Purebloods.)

Another way of looking at Half-blood is by grandparents. If you have 
2 Muggle grandparents, you are half blood. It doesn't appear that 
anyone bothers breaking things down beyond half.

And you're right, at least according to Hagrid and I think Hermione. 
Very few of the Pureblood families are really Pure.