Muggle-borns and Hogwarts

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I've signed up to do this fic exchange, and the prompt I'm working with had me wondering about the procedure for admitting Muggle-borns to Hogwarts. If anyone can help me iron out a few issues or offer some speculation and theories, I'd appreciate it. ^_^

It’s so weird the way Muggle-borns are effectively emancipated from their parents once they enroll at Hogwarts. If Hermione’s any indication, that is. Maybe the rest of the kids love their parents and their Muggle heritage and we have a lopsided view because JKR has no use for anyone that isn’t dedicated to Harry.

I have to wonder, though, at the fact that Muggle-borns make it to Hogwarts at all. Look at Hermione’s parents, two dentists, presumably well-educated, sensible folk (as opposed to UFOlogists or something). They get a letter in the mail saying their daughter’s a witch and accepted to Hogwarts, here’s a list of frankly nonsensical-sounding books and they’re supposed to just send her off to complete strangers, sight unseen? Most responsible parents tour the school or at the least, look it up online, call someone to discuss their curriculum and whatnot (like my parents did when we moved to Australia). Others, who’ve lived in the area for a while and know the school’s reputation and either attended it themselves or know others who did, wouldn’t need that step, but Muggle parents are just sending their child off to a place they’ve never been, cannot go and have zero access to the teachers or their child once they’ve arrived at school.

So I ask anyone to explain to me, given these facts, how it is that there are ANY Muggle-borns at Hogwarts.

And I wonder, first, how it is that Dumbles and co knew Harry hadn’t read his letter, and second, whether they care this much about Muggle-borns. Those kids without an important prophecy hanging over their head might only get the one letter and then never be bothered by those crazy wack-jobs/probable pranksters again. (And probably for the better, they’d lead a better life in the Muggle world- I have no idea why so many fans are so eager to live in JKR’s magical world)

I also wonder if they can track underage magic by these kids before they’ve attended Hogwarts. Hermione mentions she’s practiced a few spells, presumably without any letters of warning, and Lily did her trick with the flying and the flower, also without any warnings. Yet Harry gets his letter about Hogwarts a short period after his trick with the snake. Do they perhaps have a spell that detects magic and that alerts them to send letters to the kids to tell them they can join Hogwarts? Maybe they wait for a burst of magic to confirm the kid has magic before letting them know they can come to Hogwarts. (after all, does the magical that quill notes down kids who are to attend Hogwarts take Squibs into account? It might pick POTENTIAL future students. Otherwise, wouldn’t Neville’s family have demanded to know whether his name was on the books and left off tormenting and abusing the poor kid? If they were assured of his future, they wouldn't have tortured him and given him issues with his magic)

Then again, maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe the letters get sent out at a certain time every year- in which case it’s rather cruel if a kid manifested magic early and is going nuts because they don’t know what’s happening to them. Sure, Lily seems proud of her magical abilities, but another child or their family might think they’re possessed by the Devil or something evil and get beaten up or locked up in a mental institution or any number of awful things.

I’m still curious why Hermione and Lily get away with their magic, however, when Harry’s uncontrolled, wandless magic in PoA apparently got the attention of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department. I mean, I know what happened there was serious, I just mean they can obviously track wandless magic, which means they would know about Hermione and Lily- unless it’s something that’s only put in place after they attend Hogwarts?

PS. How did Hermione get her textbooks? Harry had Hagrid to show him the way to Diagon Alley but he was a special case. I know some fanfics have professors go and personally visit families, but then in that case, why didn’t they do that with Harry? (I read someone say that if Snape had gone to collect him, the Dursleys would’ve seen his cold, harsh manner and been delighted to let Harry go off with him. But no, we had to have that frakwit Hagrid go and abuse them because it’s SO FUNNY when a grown man injures a little kid, dying of laughter right now. Side-rant: bloody hypocrites, that think Hagrid attacking Dudley and not!Moody attacking Draco is a good laugh but oh, that Snape, HE’s the real child-abuser)

PPS. Random, but in my head!canon, Harry and Hermione start a primary school for Muggle-born and wizarding kids so they can grow up together and the former can learn about this society they'll be part of and the latter can overcome the prejudices that are otherwise entrenched in them about the Other by the time they meet these kids. Plus, Muggle parents can get to see their kids, also learn about the wizarding world and have their questions and anxieties dealt with, and wizarding folk can get over their ignorance and see Muggles as human beings, too. (Yeah, I know this'd never happen with canon!H&Hr but I like to daydream)

PPS. Yes, I know, this is getting ridiculous, but I just remembered an enjoyable fic I read which had Snape going to meet the Grangers:

"Dr. Granger?"

He spoke with a strange accent, in clipped, economical tones.

I narrowed my eyes. "Yes, how can I help you?"

He inclined his head slightly and said, "I am here to deliver a missive to Miss Hermione Granger."

Missive? Who says that nowadays? And why the devil would he be delivering a letter to Jeanie?

I raised the arm that I was bracing against the entryway slightly higher and asked pointedly, "My daughter?"

Black eyes flashed in a way that I didn't like, but the voice remained neutral. "If you please, sir."

"I'm sure you'll understand if I insist on knowing what business you have with an eleven-year-old girl."

"Certainly," he replied stiffly. He was still standing awkwardly on our front steps, looking rather uncomfortable, and it occurred to me how very inhospitable I was being towards this caller. Manners be damned. I didn't trust him.

Fic's from the pov of Hermione's father, I really love the way the author's fleshed out the Grangers' history and this story is now my head!canon for their past. ^_^

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

But why didn't the Ministry interfere when Harry released a snake in public? How does the Ministry decide which displays of magic are going to go unquestioned and which aren't? I think the Ministry not knowing about magic of kids who have yet to receive their letters (or but their wands or start attending Hogwarts) is more consistent with the evidence than having the Ministry be aware of all these infractions and do nothing because in their wisdom they know Muggles are going to look over them, but not the case of Aunt Marge, or the levitated pudding or the Patronus in the streets of Little Whinging.

[fishinginthemud.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's a way to make sense of it. They couldn't have done anything about Harry releasing the snake because that would have spoiled the surprise of Harry finding out he was a wizard. He didn't blow up his aunt intentionally any more than he released the snake intentionally, so if there were any consistency being applied, they would have just called it an accident and not blamed him. As it was, the whole aunt incident was made to look like it had been brushed under the rug as a favor to Harry, when he shouldn't have been liable for it in the first place.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

In the case of Aunt Marge, the Ministry sent the Accidental Magic Reversal Dept. Based on this incident, the AMRD would seem to have at least two purposes. 1. To reverse accidental magic, or at least the more obvious and/or serious effects of accidental magic, such as an inflated, floating woman. 2. To hide magic from muggles who aren't supposed to know about it.

Why does the Ministry have a department that deals specifically with accidental magic? Adult wizards probably don't require their assistance, since they're allowed to reverse their own accidental magic, and I'm guessing that wizarding parents probably usually don't need help dealing with the accidental magic of their children. Plus, children in wizarding families are usually kept away from muggles. In other words, it seems like the services of an Accidental Magic Reversal Dept. would primarily be needed only in situations where underage muggleborn wizards do accidental magic; there aren't adults around who can reverse the magic, and the magic is more likely to be witnessed by muggles.

IMO, the existence of the Accidental Magic Reversal Department suggests that the Ministry is aware of magic done by young children. After all, most accidental magic happens when children are still young, before they learn to control their magic. As I said, the department probably deals mostly with instances of accidental magic done by underage muggleborn wizards, but the families of young muggleborns can't contact the department for help since they don't know it exists. So what's the point of even having a department that's designated to deal specifically with accidental magic unless they're able to track the magic of young children?

So how do we explain instances when did the Ministry did and did not intervene with Harry?

The levitated pudding and the patronus charm were classified as magic intentionally done by an underage wizard who already had a wand. Thus, Harry was reprimanded for them. The ministry will not reprimand a young wizard for doing magic until he's old enough to use a wand.

The shrunken sweater and regrown hair were both minor instances of accidental magic done in the presence of muggles who already knew Harry was a wizard. So no intervention was needed. It might even be the case that the Ministry generally doesn't bother trying to hide minor incidents of accidental magic from the immediate family members of muggleborn children, since they'll eventually find out anyway that their child is magical.

Aunt Marge, on the other hand, wasn't supposed to know about magic. And somebody needed to reverse the spell before any other muggles saw her floating around. So intervention was needed.

Intervention wasn't needed when Harry wound up on the roof of the school because nobody witnessed him using magic to get up there.

However, the fact that the school sent home a report that Harry had turned his teacher's wig blue actually might mean that the AMRD did respond to that incident, for how did the school know that it was Harry who had turned the wig blue?

So that leaves the incident with the snake. All I can say for that is that just because Harry wasn't aware of the Ministry interfering doesn't mean nobody did. ;)

[oryx_leucoryx]

You are making way too many assumptions here :)

Adult wizards vary in competence. Not all of them are equally capable to reverse the accidental magic done by their children, and some children are capable of accidental magic that is hard even for the averagely competent adult wizard to reverse. See for instance the girl that was brought to St Mungo's. And I'll have to check, but I think another task for these guys would be taking care of splinching events, which is an example of accidental effects of magic where adults require help.

So the mere existence of a squad for reversing accidental magic does not imply by necessity that it is mainly involved with the magic of children in Muggle areas.

As for Harry's teacher, the fact that it was noticed by the school means there was no Ministry intervention. The Ministry would have Obliviated anyone present. The teacher knew it was Harry because he behaved like he felt guilty and teachers are good at detecting that kind of thing.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

>>>>You are making way too many assumptions here :)

Yes I know. :D

But it's fun to try to make sense of something that's impossible to make sense of, since Rowling didn't bother to come up with a consistent and rational system for how the Ministry deals with underage magic.

>>>As for Harry's teacher, the fact that it was noticed by the school means there was no Ministry intervention. The Ministry would have Obliviated anyone present. The teacher knew it was Harry because he behaved like he felt guilty and teachers are good at detecting that kind of thing.

You're making the assumption that Harry knew it was his fault. ;)

I was imagining a scenario where the Ministry did show up and obliviate everyone except Harry and it was actually someone from the Ministry who sent the note home explaining what had happened.

But I fully realize I'm grasping at straws.

Like I said earlier, it just makes no sense that wizards would try so hard to hide magic from muggles and yet wouldn't bother to do anything about the accidental magic of muggleborn children. But that's JKR's problem, not yours.

[oryx_leucoryx]

But really, is it necessary? We deal with UFO-sightings, claims of alien abduction, crop circles, Sasquatch sightings and all other strange phenomena, some of which may be the result of the wizarding world, for all we know.

Anyway, how did the Ministry decide not to intervene with all of Tom's magic that he performed before school? Sure, while he was suspected as the cause and some of the events were impossible to explain the Ministry had no reason to think an unnaturally killed rabbit would give the wizarding world away any less than an unnaturally inflated aunt.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

>>>>But really, is it necessary? We deal with UFO-sightings, claims of alien abduction, crop circles, Sasquatch sightings and all other strange phenomena, some of which may be the result of the wizarding world, for all we know.

What if Ministry personnel are showing up and convincing witnesses that they saw a UFO, aliens, or a Sasquatch rather than a wizard doing magic or a magical creature? If wizards can convince muggles to attribute strange phenomena to something else besides magic, then it's that much easier for the magical world to stay hidden.

Anyway, how did the Ministry decide not to intervene with all of Tom's magic that he performed before school? Sure, while he was suspected as the cause and some of the events were impossible to explain the Ministry had no reason to think an unnaturally killed rabbit would give the wizarding world away any less than an unnaturally inflated aunt.

Mrs. Cole suspected that Tom was behind the dead rabbit and Amy and Dennis's strangeness, but she didn't actually witness him doing magic, from what we are told. Aunt Marge, on the other hand, was well aware that she was being magically inflated. She saw magic in action.

[oryx_leucoryx]

It is only after the fact that the Ministry could know if Tom was suspected or not and to what degree. Tom directly performed magic on people, he had as much direct witnesses as Harry did. While Mrs Cole didn't witness what Tom did to the kids, Amy and Dennis were as much witnesses as Marge was. At the time the magic was done, how could the Ministry tell there won't be testimonies to deal with?

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true. It would be interesting to know what exactly Tom did to Amy and Dennis. I'm pretty sure I've read a theory that Tom possessed them. Maybe Jodel suggested it?

Oh! Or maybe the Ministry did show up and obliviated the two kids, causing them brain damage, and that's why they were never the same. :p

[oryx_leucoryx]

And the Obliviators never suspected Tom Riddle of any later misdeeds, nor did they warn anyone at Hogwarts. 'Cause it isn't in their job description. Sorry, this is getting worse than some of the authentic conspiracy theories.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I know, I'm just being silly at this point.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Oh, yes, I just checked - it's the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad that deals with wizards who splinched while Apparating. Since the kids only learn this in 6th year and are useless at it when they start learning this aspect is dealt with separate from the Trace.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

ah, well there goes that whole argument then. :)