Muggle Origins

[BloodRayne]

Remember in DH when Muggle-borns had to prove that they had at least one magical relative? Well, could they?

I remember JK saying something on the topic of Muggle-borns, but I can't remember if she said that they all are descended from someone magical or not. I mean, is the magic a genetic thing?

[chasing_willow]

I remember JK saying something on the topic of Muggle-borns, but I can't remember if she said that they all are descended from someone magical or not. I mean, is the magic a genetic thing?

I do believe she said they had at least one long-forgotten (or unknown - such as the case of Dean Thomas) magical relative.

Which does disappoint the Darwinist lunatic in me - I had hoped that magic could occur as a spontaneous mutation as blonde hair once did.

[cmwinters]

Remember in DH when Muggle-borns had to prove that they had at least one magical relative? Well, could they?

I remember JK saying something on the topic of Muggle-borns, but I can't remember if she said that they all are descended from someone magical or not. I mean, is the magic a genetic thing?

I think she was saying they'd have to say "Abraxas Malfoy is my great-grandfather—his daughter married $guy, they had $half-blood, who married $other_person, who had me," and be able to prove it somehow, like say, for example, Lucius would say "Yes, that's my fourth cousin" or whatever.

The quill & parchment that inscribes the names of the magical children born would, presumably, list the parents. Then if the parents were listed, assuming you could get a hold of it, it would more or less list your genealogy if you weren't Muggleborn. Like, for Harry, it would say (presumably) "Harry James Potter, b. 31 July 1980 to Lily Evans, 20 and James Potter, 20". So then you could go back 20 years and you'd see "Lily Evans, b 30 Jan 1960, to Muggle Iris Smith, 25 and Muggle Philip Evans, 27", and "James Potter, b 27 Mar 1960 to Dorea Black, 40 and Charlus Potter, 47" and so forth (and yes, I know that we don't think Dorea & Charlus are James' parents; but the example is making my point for me all the same).

I do believe she said they had at least one long-forgotten (or unknown - such as the case of Dean Thomas) magical relative.

Which does disappoint the Darwinist lunatic in me - I had hoped that magic could occur as a spontaneous mutation as blonde hair once did.

Yeah, and it also goes almost completely contrary to what she previously stated.

Imagine that.

</sarcasm>

At least it wasn't the next day. *flail* (Sorry. Frustration moment. Please excuse me.)

[Flobberworm93]

How do you plan to use this info? If you have someone trying to prove thier wizard ancestry, I imagine the ministry would make it extrememly difficult. Yes, they would have to have some distant magical relative, but for them to not know about it, it must have been really far back. At first, I figured it would have to be a recessive gene, but as far as we know, a wizard and a Muggle almost always have a magical child. So maybe it could only be activated in certain conditions, or . . . maybe I've overthinking this. I do that a lot. It drives my friends crazy.
Anyway,a muggleborn would have a very distant magical relative, but it would be almost impossible to get that information.