Question re: muggles and dementors

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 187965

Rick: 
> So there is something "special about a squib" after all, not being a 
> full magical person but having some magical access.  What's missing from 
> potientcat's analysis, I think, is a term for a person in Petunia's 
> state--a non-magical family that throws a wiz and a dud, not to mention 
> any description of what happens in wizarding families who throw a 
> dud--do you end up raising the kid like a squib in the magical community 
> or give them up to a muggle family? 

Montavilla47:
I don't think it's as hard as you're making it.  Someone like 
Petunia isn't a "dud" (I find that term a bit offensive, but I'm 
sure you don't mean it that way).  Petunia is a perfectly 
normal person (as us non-magical folk would view it) and a 
perfectly normal Muggle (as wizarding folk would see it).

Lily is the exception, since she is the only person in the 
family with magical powers.  

If you think about it in a continuum sort of way, use the 
analogy of musical talent.  Lily's "talent" came from her 
parents somehow--it didn't come from nowhere.  But,
out of her whole family, she's the only one with enough
talent to play an instrument.  Even if the rest of the family
has enough talent to appreciate music more than the 
average non-musical person, none of them has enough to 
carry a tune.

As the ability to carry a tune and play an instrument is the 
cut-off for admittance to the Hogwarts Academy for Musical
Prodigies.

Rick:
> If the answer is 'raise the dud kid in a magic community' there is an 
> unaccounted for class of person in the magic world, a person with full 
> knowledge of the magic world but without even the skills of a squib to 
> "still function within the wizarding world because they have access to 
> certain magical objects and creatures that can help them."

Montavilla47:

I'm not sure why you are making a distinction between "dud" and 
"squib."  If, by "dud" you mean a person without magical ability, then
you are simply calling the "squib" by a different name.  Squibs 
and Muggles have exactly the same magical skill set.  The only 
difference between them is the family that they were born into (and
the subsequent experience of growing up in a magical environment).

There are very few examples of Squibs in the books.  The two we meet
are Angus Filch (who works within the magical community) and Arabella
Figg (who seems to deal with both Muggles and Wizards).  We also hear
about some cousin of Arthur Weasley who works as an accountant.  We
don't know if that's in a Muggle office or a Wizarding office.  (After all,
Wizards probably need accountants as much as the next person.)

We also see how witches and wizards are treated if they are suspected
of being squibs.  Marvolo Gaunt bullied his daughter and treated her like 
a slave.  Arianna Dumbledore wasn't a Squib, but when she was hidden
by her family, the neighbors assumed that she was one.  When Neville 
was suspected of being a Squib by his family, his uncle threw him out 
of a window.

I imagine that there are a variety of solutions to the situation found
by wizarding families.  The idea of exchanging non-magical Squibs 
for witches or wizards born into Muggle families is so close to the 
idea of the Changeling that I'm surprised JKR didn't put that idea into
the books.


Rick:
> It's never really clear to me whether Petunia knows a good deal more 
> about the magical world from experience or hearsay..  But it's clear she 
> knows more than she tells.


Montavilla47:

It's pretty clear to me that she learned about it through hearsay.
Her only sister attended Hogwarts and seemed to enjoying off
her abilities to her family (as Petunia notes in PS/SS).  So, I'm certain
that Petunia learned a lot from Lily's stories.  

Also, she spied on Lily when Lily was with Severus.  Since they 
discussed magical matters, Petunia had opportunity there to learn
even more about the magical world.  Perhaps that was why Severus
came up with Muffliato!