Half-blood

Potters3 — Half-blood Harry Potter is the son of a pure-blood wizard and a Muggle-born witch

"Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out."

— Half-blood statistic and blood purity^[src]

Half-blood was the term commonly given to wizards and witches who had known Muggle or Muggle-born parents or grandparents. By the 1990s, half-bloods were the most common type of magical person, as the pure-blood wizarding population would have become extinct had they not inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-borns.^[1]^[2]

Overview

It should be noted that any wizard who is neither Pure-blood nor Muggle-born is considered a Half-blood, even if they have two wizard parents; they need not have exactly half-Muggle/half-wizard heritage.

Non-magical children born with at least one magical parent are considered Squibs by the wizarding community rather than Half-bloods or Muggles.^[3] Examples include Martha Steward II, Dolores Umbridge's brother, and Gilderoy Lockhart's two sisters. Because of their Muggle parentage, many end up assimilating into the Muggle population as they would have more trouble thriving within the magical community although some are able to carve out niches for themselves such as Argus Filch.

Treatment

"You dare speak his name with your unworthy lips, you dare besmirch it with your half-blood's tongue, you dare... He dared — he dares — he stands there — filthy half-blood — "

— Prejudice against Harry Potter's half-blood status from Bellatrix Lestrange^[src]

Potter family2 — Harry Potter and his children are half-bloods with known Muggle ancestry

Those who believe in the importance of blood purity consider half-bloods to be inferior because of their Muggle heritage, though superior to Muggle-borns. As such, some families such as the Malfoys allowed them to marry into their pure-blood family and could do so without affecting their family's pure-blood status.^[4]

Other more fanatical families such as the Gaunts, Lestranges, and Blacks, require all marriages to be those of Pure-blood.^[4]^[5] Members of these families are more likely to use "half-blood" in a derogatory manner, similar to the epithet "Mudblood"; Bellatrix Lestrange did so on multiple occasion.^[6] and the portrait of Walburga Black often equated half-bloods with Half-breeds.^[7]

Some half-bloods expressed prejudice towards those with Muggle heritage, despite having some themselves, and clung to what wizarding heritage they had. Notably Lord Voldemort persecuted Muggles and Muggle-borns, despite having a Muggle father. He denied his half-Muggle heritage, emphasising his heritage to the famous pure-blood ancestor (Salazar Slytherin) to make himself more believable.^[2] Severus Snape may be another example; his self-entitled nickname was "Half-Blood Prince" because his mother (Eileen Prince) was a pure-blood witch and his father (Tobias Snape) was a Muggle. However, Remus Lupin reported that he never used the nickname openly. This, as well as Snape's membership in the Death Eaters, suggests he may have been ashamed of his Muggle heritage, at least in his early life.^[8] In fact, these people, along with some other Death Eaters, pretend to be pure-bloods, hiding their Muggle heritage from anyone else.^[9] Ironically (or perhaps because of), regarding the Prophecy concerning his defeat, Voldemort chose to go after a half-blood Harry Potter instead of the pure-blood Neville Longbottom.

When the Ministry of Magic fell under Voldemort's control in 1997, Muggle-borns were openly persecuted and pure-bloods were favoured above all else. Half-bloods were still accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and in the British Ministry of Magic, but were not treated as well as the pure-blood members.^[10]^[11]

Parentage

Pure/half-blood & Muggle

Wizard(s)	Pure/half-blood parent	Muggle parent
Seamus Finnigan	Mrs Finnigan	Mr Finnigan
Gilderoy Lockhart^[12]	Mrs Lockhart	Mr Lockhart
Remus Lupin^[13]^[14]	Lyall Lupin	Hope Howell
Mafalda	Pure-blood wizard/Squib father	Mother
Minerva McGonagall^[15]	Isobel Ross	Robert McGonagall
Malcolm McGonagall
Robert McGonagall Jr
Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort)	Merope Gaunt (pure-blood)	Tom Riddle Snr
Severus Snape	Eileen Prince (pure-blood)	Tobias Snape
Rionach Steward^[16]	Isolt Sayre (pure-blood)	James Steward
Dean Thomas	Father	Mrs Thomas
Sybill Trelawney^[17]	Mr Trelawney	Mrs Trelawney
Celestina Warbeck^[18]	Mr Warbeck	Mrs Warbeck
Dolores Umbridge^[19]	Orford Umbridge	Ellen Cracknell
Bowman Wright	Mrs Wright	Mr Wright

Pure/half-blood & Muggle-born

Wizard(s)	Pure/half-blood parent	Muggle-born parent
Alfred Cattermole	Reginald Cattermole	Mary Cattermole
Ellie Cattermole
Maisie Cattermole
Cresswell brothers	Mrs Cresswell	Dirk Cresswell
Albus Dumbledore	Percival Dumbledore	Kendra Dumbledore
Aberforth Dumbledore
Ariana Dumbledore
Garrick Ollivander^[20]^[21]	Gervaise Ollivander (pure-blood)^[21]	Mrs Ollivander^[21]
Harry Potter	James Potter (pure-blood)	Lily Evans
Nymphadora Tonks	Andromeda Black (pure-blood)	Edward Tonks
Hugo Granger-Weasley	Ronald Weasley (pure-blood)	Hermione Granger
Rose Granger-Weasley	Ronald Weasley (pure-blood)	Hermione Granger

Both half-bloods

Wizard(s)	Parents
Edward Lupin	Remus Lupin
Edward Lupin	Nymphadora Tonks

Muggle or Muggle-born grandparent

Wizard(s)	Pure-blood parent	Parent with Muggle or Muggle-born parent
Albus S. Potter	Ginny Weasley	Harry Potter (Muggle-born mother)
James S. Potter
Lily L. Potter
Delphini	Bellatrix Lestrange	Tom Riddle (Muggle father)

Unknown status

Wizard(s)	Ancestor
Hannah Abbott	At least one known Muggle parent or grandparent
Susan Bones
Millicent Bulstrode
Mundungus Fletcher
Porpentina Goldstein	At least one known Muggle or muggle-born grandparent^[22]
Queenie Goldstein	At least one known Muggle or muggle-born grandparent^[22]
Master Ollivander	Paternal grandmother was muggle-born^[21]
Miss Ollivander	Paternal grandmother was muggle-born^[21]
Quirinus Quirrell	At least one known Muggle ancestor^[23]

Behind the scenes

On J. K. Rowling's draft list of students in Harry Potter's class, which is not considered canon due to several contradictions with the novels, the following students were mentioned as half-bloods:^[24]

Susan Bones
Mandy Brocklehurst
Millicent Bulstrode
Michael Corner
Tracey Davis
Anthony Goldstein
Wayne Hopkins
Megan Jones
Sue Li (Possibly a precursor to Cho Chang)

In the GBC version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game), there is a boy in Slytherin who went to Charm school and is listed as being likely half-blood.^[25]
On the draft class list, Hannah Abbott was listed as a Muggle-born,^[24] but in a later interview, Rowling stated that she had always thought of Hannah as a pure-blood. To compromise, she was made a half-blood.^[26]
An interesting fact of note is that despite the ideals that pure-bloods are inherently more powerful wizards, several of the most powerful or particularly adept wizards and witches in the series are in fact half-blood, such as Lord Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and Harry Potter.
Due to Dean Thomas's father being dead, Dean himself was unable to prove his half-blood heritage during Voldemort's reign. As such, he was regarded as a Muggle-born.
The trio of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley consists of all three types of Wizards. Harry being half-blood, Hermione being Muggle-born, and Ron being Pure-Blood.

Appearances

Notes and references

↑ FAQ at J. K. Rowling's official site - "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. 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."
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 7 (Mudbloods And Murmurs) - Ron: "Most wizards these days are half-blood any-way. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out.”"
↑ Squibs" at J. K. Rowling's official site
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "The Malfoy Family" at Pottermore - "From the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy onwards, no Malfoy has married a Muggle or Muggle-born. The family has, however, eschewed the somewhat dangerous practise of inter-marrying within such a small pool of pure-bloods that they become enfeebled or unstable, unlike a small minority of fanatic families such as the Gaunts and Lestranges, and many a half-blood appears on the Malfoy family tree."
↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 10 (The House of Gaunt) - Marvolo Gaunt: "Centuries it’s been in our family, that’s how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way!"
↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35 (Beyond the Veil)
↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 12 (Silver and Opals) - " "“The Death Eaters can’t all be pure-blood, there aren’t enough pure-blood wizards left,” said Hermione stubbornly. “I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It’s only Muggle-borns they hate, they’d be quite happy to let you and Ron join up.”""
↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 29 (The Lost Diadem) - Neville: "They don’t want to spill too much pure blood, so they’ll torture us a bit if we’re mouthy but they won’t actually kill us."
↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 13 (The Muggle-Born Registration Commission) - "“No, no, I’m half-blood, I’m half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard, he was, look him up, Arkie Alderton, he’s a well-known broomstick designer, look him up, I tell you — get your hands off me, get your hands off —”"
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Gilderoy Lockhart" at Pottermore
↑ World Book Day webchat, 4 March 2004
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Remus Lupin" at Pottermore
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Professor McGonagall" at Pottermore
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" at Pottermore
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Sybill Trelawney" at Pottermore
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Celestina Warbeck" at Pottermore
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Dolores Umbridge" at Pottermore
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Mr Ollivander" at Pottermore
↑ ^21.0 ^21.1 ^21.2 ^21.3 Garrick Ollivander fact file at Pottermore
↑ See this image of Porpentina Goldstein's MACUSA identification card on display as part of a prop exhibition in Japan. Both of their parents died of Dragon Pox, showing that they were wizards, which means that their Muggle heritage was more distant.
↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Professor Quirrell" at Pottermore
↑ ^24.0 ^24.1 Harry Potter and Me
↑ This individual refers to his father, a wizard, but later refers to films. This indicates that while having magical ancestry, he had some contact with the Muggle world. Thus, he was most likely a half-blood.
↑ PotterCast 130 transcript
↑ https://www.pottermore.com/news/watch-the-new-trailer-for-new-mobile-game-harry-potter-hogwarts-mystery

[harry-1] FAQ at J. K. Rowling's official site - "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. 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."

[CS-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 7 (Mudbloods And Murmurs) - Ron: "Most wizards these days are half-blood any-way. If we hadn’t married Muggles we’d’ve died out.”"

[3] Squibs" at J. K. Rowling's official site

[malfoy-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "The Malfoy Family" at Pottermore - "From the imposition of the Statute of Secrecy onwards, no Malfoy has married a Muggle or Muggle-born. The family has, however, eschewed the somewhat dangerous practise of inter-marrying within such a small pool of pure-bloods that they become enfeebled or unstable, unlike a small minority of fanatic families such as the Gaunts and Lestranges, and many a half-blood appears on the Malfoy family tree."

[gaunt-5] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 10 (The House of Gaunt) - Marvolo Gaunt: "Centuries it’s been in our family, that’s how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way!"

[OTP35-6] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35 (Beyond the Veil)

[7] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

[HBP-8] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[9] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 12 (Silver and Opals) - " "“The Death Eaters can’t all be pure-blood, there aren’t enough pure-blood wizards left,” said Hermione stubbornly. “I expect most of them are half-bloods pretending to be pure. It’s only Muggle-borns they hate, they’d be quite happy to let you and Ron join up.”""

[DH-10] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 29 (The Lost Diadem) - Neville: "They don’t want to spill too much pure blood, so they’ll torture us a bit if we’re mouthy but they won’t actually kill us."

[11] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 13 (The Muggle-Born Registration Commission) - "“No, no, I’m half-blood, I’m half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard, he was, look him up, Arkie Alderton, he’s a well-known broomstick designer, look him up, I tell you — get your hands off me, get your hands off —”"

[lockhart-12] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Gilderoy Lockhart" at Pottermore

[lupin1-13] World Book Day webchat, 4 March 2004

[lupin2-14] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Remus Lupin" at Pottermore

[pottermore-15] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Professor McGonagall" at Pottermore

[PottermoreIlvermorny-16] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" at Pottermore

[sybilltrewlawney-17] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Sybill Trelawney" at Pottermore

[celestinawarbeck-18] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Celestina Warbeck" at Pottermore

[19] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Dolores Umbridge" at Pottermore

[ollivander-20] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Mr Ollivander" at Pottermore

[ollivander2-21] 21.0 ^21.1 ^21.2 ^21.3 Garrick Ollivander fact file at Pottermore

[macusaid-22] See this image of Porpentina Goldstein's MACUSA identification card on display as part of a prop exhibition in Japan. Both of their parents died of Dragon Pox, showing that they were wizards, which means that their Muggle heritage was more distant.

[quirrell-23] Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Professor Quirrell" at Pottermore

[HPM-24] 24.0 ^24.1 Harry Potter and Me

[bloodstatus-25] This individual refers to his father, a wizard, but later refers to films. This indicates that while having magical ancestry, he had some contact with the Muggle world. Thus, he was most likely a half-blood.

[pottercast-26] PotterCast 130 transcript

[27] ttps://www.pottermore.com/news/watch-the-new-trailer-for-new-mobile-game-harry-potter-hogwarts-mystery

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