Half-blood

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"*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.

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).

## 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]

 File:Potter family2.png
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.

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. 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. 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.

## See also

* Blood purity
* Blood traitor
* Mudblood
* Muggle-born
* Pure-blood

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*
2. ↑ "Squibs" at Template:JKRS
3. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*
4. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*
5. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*
6. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Gilderoy Lockhart"
7. ↑ World Book Day webchat, 4 March 2004
8. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Remus Lupin"
9. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Professor McGonagall"
10. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"
11. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "UNKNOWN ARTICLE - Add to Template:PM"
12. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Celestina Warbeck"
13. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Dolores Umbridge"
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Mr Ollivander" (archived copy of old version here)
15. ↑ See this image of Porpentina Goldstein's MACUSA identification card on display as part of a prop exhibition in Japan.
16. ↑ Pottermore - Writing by J.K. Rowling: "Professor Quirrell"