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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."
Ron Weasley discussing blood purity[src]

Half-blood is the term commonly given to wizards and witches who have a Muggle/Muggle-born parent and magical parent. By the 1990s, half-bloods were the most common type of magical person, as the wizarding population would have become extinct had they not inter-married with Muggles and Muggle-borns.[1]

Due to the dominance of the magic gene, children born to at least one magical parent will almost always be magical themselves. A non-magical child born to a Muggle and a wizard is considered a Squib (not a Muggle).[2]

Attitude towards half-bloods

"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 — "
Bellatrix Lestrange's prejudice against Harry Potter's half-blood status[src]
Potter family1

Half-blood Harry Potter and his wife pure-blood Ginny Potter have children 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. Occasionally the term "half-blood" can be used in a derogatory manner, similar to the epithet "Mudblood"; Bellatrix Lestrange and the portrait of Walburga Black did so on multiple occasions.[3]

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 hated Muggles and Muggle-borns, despite having a Muggle father, and denied his half-Muggle heritage, leaving hints that he was a pure-blood instead, emphasising his heritage to the famous pure-blood ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, to make himself more believable.[1] 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.[4] In fact, these people, along with some other Death Eaters, pretend to be pure-bloods, hiding their Muggle heritage from anyone else; most of them are half-bloods due to centuries of dilution and decline of what may be called as a true "pure-blood". 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, but were not treated as well as the pure-blood students.[5]

Known half-bloods

Pure or half-blood parent and Muggle parent

Wizard(s) Pure/half-blood parent Muggle parent
Seamus Finnigan Mrs Finnigan Mr Finnigan
Gilderoy Lockhart Mrs Lockhart Mr Lockhart[6]
Remus John Lupin Lyall Lupin Hope Howell[7]
Mafalda Pure-blood Squib/wizard father Mother
Minerva McGonagall Isobel McGonagall Robert McGonagall[8]
Malcolm McGonagall
Robert McGonagall Jr.
Tom Marvolo Riddle/Lord Voldemort Pure-blood Merope Gaunt Tom Riddle Sr.
Severus Snape Pure-blood Eileen Prince Tobias Snape
Rionach Steward Pure-blood Isolt Sayre[9] James Steward
Dean Thomas Father Mrs Thomas
Sybill Trelawney Mr Trelawney Mrs Trelawney
Celestina Warbeck Mr Warbeck Mrs Warbeck[10]
Dolores Jane Umbridge Orford Umbridge Ellen Cracknell[11]
Bowman Wright Mrs Wright Muggle Mr Wright

Pure or half-blood parent and Muggle-born parent

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
Aberforth Dumbledore Percival Dumbledore Kendra Dumbledore
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Ariana Dumbledore
Garrick Ollivander Pure-blood Gervaise Ollivander Mrs Ollivander[12]
Harry James Potter Pure-blood James Potter Lily J. Potter
Nymphadora Tonks Pure-blood Andromeda Tonks Edward Tonks
Hugo Granger-Weasley Pure-blood Ronald Weasley Hermione Granger
Rose Granger-Weasley

Two half-blood parents

Two magical parents, known Muggle ancestry

Unknown combination of parental status

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:[14]

Appearances

See also

Notes and references

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