This question must have come to your mind: How do Muggle wizards get magical powers? Like, how did Hermione get magical powers in the movie when her parents were Muggles and they did not have magical powers?
So, how was Hermione born with magical powers, and how do the staff of Hogwarts come to know about these magical children? How do they know who is a wizard and who is a Muggle? And how are these Muggle-born students informed about the magical world and Hogwarts?
Today, we will know the answers to all these questions. In this blog, you will get to know a lot of new things about the magical world.
Muggle-born Wizards
So, the first question is: How do Muggle-borns get magical powers?
Muggle-borns are those whose parents are Muggles, that is, those who do not have magical powers. But Muggle-borns get these magical powers from their ancestors.
According to J.K. Rowling, there must have been a Squib in the family of these Muggle-borns at some point in time. Squibs are those who are from magical families but do not have magical powers, meaning they are exactly like Muggles but do not have magical powers.
Many years ago, due to not having magical powers, all these Squibs started living like Muggles and they started marrying Muggles only. Due to this, after many generations, the people in their family did not know about the magical world because they were living with the Muggles for years.
Even though these Squibs do not have magical powers, they have that magical gene and after many generations, this magical gene becomes active again in a child, due to which that child is able to do magic.
Like in Lily’s case, that magical gene became active, but in Petunia’s case, this did not happen, so she was a Muggle. Apart from this, Hermione Granger, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, all these Muggle-borns that we have seen in the Harry Potter series, all of them have got magic from their Squib ancestors.
Hogwarts’ Knowledge of Magical Children
Now we have come to know where the magical powers come from in Muggle-borns. Now let us know: How does the Hogwarts staff come to know about all the wizard children? How are the children selected for Hogwarts?
This work is done by a magical book and a magical feather, which is called the Book of Admittance and Quill of Acceptance. This book and quill are kept locked in a small tower of Hogwarts. It is believed that this book and quill were locked in this tower by the four founders of Hogwarts so that after them, these two magical objects can decide which child will be accepted into Hogwarts.
When a child shows the sign of magic for the first time, the quill senses that child and tries to write the name of that child in that magical book. Until that child does not give a solid proof of magic, i.e., until that child does some big magic, that book does not allow the quill to write the name of that child. If the quill writes the name of that child, then it will close that book.
For example, in the case of Neville Longbottom, when Neville was born, he shifted his blanket with magic, but neither his parents nor the magic book noticed his magic. The quill started writing his name, but the book strictly forbade it. His family did not know about his magical abilities for eight years.
When Neville was eight years old, his uncle hung him out of the first-floor window so that Neville would use his magical abilities out of fear, but suddenly his uncle’s attention was diverted, and he accidentally let go of Neville, causing him to fall.
But then, Neville’s magical abilities came out, and he bounced, which saved his life. Only after this incident did the book allow the quill to write Neville’s name, and Neville was admitted to Hogwarts.
There is a reason behind the strictness of the book: it wants to keep Hogwarts away from Squibs. To date, this book has not taken any wrong decision. Whether the child is from a magical family or a Muggle family, only the child whose name is in this magical book is accepted into Hogwarts.
Informing Muggle-born Students
Now, moving towards our third question: How are the Muggle-born students informed that they are wizards?
Those who are from magical families know everything about Hogwarts and the magical world because their family members have also studied at Hogwarts in their time. So, the children who are selected from magical families are sent Hogwarts acceptance letters by owl post.
Talking about Muggle-born students, when they are 11 years old, a Hogwarts staff member personally goes to the child’s home with the acceptance letter. They meet the child’s parents and explain to them about this hidden magical world.
If needed, they also show the parents a magic trick a couple of times so that the parents accept the reality that they were unaware of because of being a Muggle. It is difficult to believe these things without seeing them.
Not only this, they also help the child’s family and take them to Diagon Alley, where they explain to them about wizarding currency and how they can convert Muggle money into wizard money at Gringotts Bank so that they can buy school supplies and magical things for their child.
By the way, during Tom Riddle’s time, Dumbledore often used to do all these things, and during Hermione’s time, Professor McGonagall went to Hermione’s house and told her parents everything about the magic world and explained everything related to the school and the magic world to them.
