Were the Creevey Brothers Muggle-Borns?

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

We have discussed before how Rowling seems to have "forgotten" in her later books that she originally intended for Colin Creevey to be a Muggle-born student. For one, it seems somewhat improbable that Colin and Dennis both turned out to be wizards if both of their parents were Muggles. For two, the fact that Professor McGonagall had to "chivvy" at least one Creevey out of the castle in chapter 31 of DH suggests that, despite the prohibition against Muggle-borns, the brothers were able to attend Hogwarts while Tom was in power... though it's possible that Colin, like Dean, was present for the final battle only because he had responded to Neville's alert on the DA coins.

However, it occurs to me that Colin's blood status was actually a bit ambiguous from the beginning.

What he told Harry in chapter 6 of COS is this:

I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad’s a milkman, he couldn’t believe it either. So I’m taking loads of pictures to send home to him.

What Colin did not include in his introduction is any information about his mother. Thus, despite Colin's ignorance of magic, it's entirely possible that his mother was, in fact, a witch (or maybe a squb). If so, she would not have been the first witch to have hidden her magical abilities from her Muggle husband for as long as possible, nor do we know if she was even still in the picture by the time Colin received his invitation to Hogwarts.

Yes, Colin was petrified by the basilisk in COS, but that does not prove that he was a Muggle-born. It's possible, for instance, that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Furthermore, as far as we know, the only way to properly identify a Muggle-born is by investigating his or her family tree, and Diary!Tom could only know what Ginny knew or believed about the current student body.

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Also, for the Creeveys to be able to attend Hogwarts during Voldie's rule it wasn't enough for them to have a magical parent, the magical status of said parent had to be known and provable. Dean suspected his bio-dad may have been magical but with him not being in the picture Dean couldn't claim his status as half-blood. For the Creevey boys to attend school that year they had to have known that their mother was a witch and she should have been able to document her status.

[sunnyskywalker]

You have me imagining a very interesting phone conversation now, with Milkman Dad calling up his wife after they separated ten years ago. "Hello, Edna, it's Travis. Yes, it's been a long time. Listen, I know this might sound odd, but are you by chance a witch? ...yes, both of them. Would you be willing to put that in writing for the school records?"

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

IWell, if Mrs. Creevey were a Squib who'd been rejected by her family, having children who had the ability for whose lack she'd been rejected might be very painful, no? And her sons, once at Hogwarts, wee being trained to look down on Squibs. She might not choose to mention her own background to them. And if her birth family had abandoned her to the Muggle world and lost track of her completely, her parents and siblings might not realize they'd grandsons/nephews at Hogwarts. The name Creevey certainly would convey nothing to them. The only way someone might guess is if there were a stong family resemblence and someone at Hogwarts to notice it and make the connection.

But her decision not to let her children know her own background and family ("I was orphaned at eight and sent to foster care") would change when the Muggle-born Registration Commission came along.

At that point of course she'd step forward and say, "I, the mother of these two supposed Muggle-borns, am actually the Squib daughter of A and B, Purebloods for three generations. You can see the scorch mark on the family tree right next to the name of my elder brother Corvus."

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I don't think it necessarily would be that difficult to figure out if your long-lost mother had been a witch; it could be as simple as asking the Hogwarts professors if they remembered teaching a girl with your mother's maiden name. Proving that this former student was, indeed, your mother might be trickier, but you might have evidence such as photographs, a marriage certificate or announcement in the DP, a will, wizarding relatives who were willing to vouch for you as family, etc.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Not just that she was a witch, but one with ancestry and evidence for such to convince Umbridge. We don't see Hogwarts staff testifying for Mary Cattermole.

So there are plenty of scenarios under which Mrs Creevey was a witch and her sons still didn't attend Hogwarts in 1997-8.

[sunnyskywalker]

You know, that makes me wonder exactly what was allowed as evidence. Was she claiming that Muggleborns had all "stolen" their magic at age 10 or 11, so that professors' testimony wouldn't count? But you'd think the Hogwarts Quill records would be considered reliable, and the Quill seems to record children pretty young (at birth, even, if Harry isn't unusual in this regard), so what official excuse could be used to suppress or ignore them? That parents steal magic for their infant children somehow?

[oryx_leucoryx]

I suppose Umbridge had to discredit the quill somehow - maybe she claimed that 'the old Muggle-loving fool' sabotaged it so that it allowed all those magic-thieves in. (No, Rowling didn't show nor tell anything about that, it's yet another plot-hole.)

From what we see at the one trial we are shown Umbridge interrogated people about how they came to be in possession of wands and about their parents. To be considered a true magical person one had to demonstrate at least one line of ancestry that doesn't go back to all Muggles. I don't know how many generations back she would have gone.

I mean, suppose that Severus had not been a DE. His father was a Muggle. He claims his mother was a witch, but if the Princes were a little-known family, or if perhaps Eileen herself was a half-blood and only her mother was of wizarding ancestry - does Severus even know her maiden name? Hypothetically he might have been in trouble.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Maybe Umbridge believes that Muggle-borns are, in reality, the bastard children of muggle women who "stole" the magic from innocent, unsuspecting wizards.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the fact that these muggle mothers have "stolen" magic from various unsuspecting wizards explains why the legitimate (inbred) children of these wizards then turn out to be less powerful.

[sionna-raven.livejournal.com]

IMHO Umbridge's committee works more on psychology than on gentic proof. If a Muggleborn hands in his/her family tree traced back to the recognizable Squib, he or she publicly surrenders to the Magic Supremacy doctrine.
I can imagine especially Gryffindor or Hufflepuff Muggleborns refusing to do that.
It makes a whole lot of difference to say "Look at me me I'm a real witch or wizard. I went to Hogwarts and can do magic!" or to say "Look at my birth certificate. Here's the Squib grandfather. I am Halfblood. Muggleborns are imposters."

A Muggleborn who has been sorted into Slytherin doesn't have this problem at all. It's a simple line of logic the Pureblood Slytherins would accept:
Slytherin doesn't allow Muggleborns. The Hat doesn't make mistakes. A witch or wizard with unknown or dodgy descent must have Squib ancestors to be sorted into Slytherin. He or she is without any doubt Halfblood!