Half-blood Harry Potter is the son of a pure-blood wizard and a Muggle-born witch.
- "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 both a Muggle/Muggle-born 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[1].
Due to the dominance of the magic gene, children born to at least one magical parent will almost always be magical themselves, meaning that a non-magical child born to a Muggle and a wizard is a Squib, not a Muggle[2].
Attitude towards half-bloods
Lord Voldemort and his followers.
- "You dare speak his name? YOU FILTHY HALF-BLOOD!"
- — Bellatrix Lestrange to Harry Potter after he uses the name Voldemort[src]
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. Often the term "half-blood" is used in a derogatory manner, similar to the epithet "Mudblood"; Bellatrix Lestrange and the portrait of Walburga Black did so on multiple occasions.[3]
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.[1] 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.[4] In fact, these people, along with some other Death Eaters, pretend to be pure-bloods, hiding their Muggle heritage from anyone else. Ironically, 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.[5]
Known half-bloods
Severus Snape
Pure- or half-blood parent and Muggle parent
- Seamus Finnigan — pure- or half-blood mother, Muggle father
- Mafalda — pure-blood or Squib father, Muggle mother
- Tom Marvolo Riddle/Lord Voldemort — pure-blood mother, Muggle father
- Severus Snape — pure-blood mother, Muggle father
- Dean Thomas — pure- or half-blood father, Muggle mother
- Bowman Wright — pure- or half-blood mother, Muggle father
- Minerva McGonagall - pure- or half-blood mother, Muggle father
Nymphadora Tonks
Pure- or half-blood parent a Muggle-born parent
- Alfred Cattermole — pure- or half-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Ellie Cattermole — pure- or half-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Maisie Cattermole — pure- or half-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Aberforth Dumbledore — pure- or half-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Albus Dumbledore — pure- or half-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Ariana Dumbledore — pure- or half-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Harry Potter — pure-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Nymphadora Tonks — pure-blood mother, Muggle-born father
- Hugo Weasley — pure-blood father, Muggle-born mother
- Rose Weasley — pure-blood father, Muggle-born mother
Seamus Finnigan
Half-blood parent and half-blood parent
- Teddy Lupin — half-blood father, half-blood mother
Two magical parents, known Muggle ancestry
- Albus Severus Potter — half-blood father, pure-blood mother
- James Sirius Potter — half-blood father, pure-blood mother
- Lily Luna Potter — half-blood father, pure-blood mother
Unknown combination of parental status
- Hannah Abbott — at least one known Muggle ancestor
- Susan Bones — at least one known Muggle grandparent
- Millicent Bulstrode — at least one known Muggle ancestor
- Mundungus Fletcher — at least one known Muggle ancestor
- Remus Lupin — at least one known Muggle ancestor
Behind the scenes
- On J. K. Rowling's draft list of students in Harry Potter's class, which is not considered canon due to several contradictions with the novels, the following students were mentioned as half-bloods[6]:
- Susan Bones
- Mandy Brocklehurst
- Millicent Bulstrode
- Michael Corner
- Tracey Davis
- Anthony Goldstein
- Wayne Hopkins
- Megan Jones
- Su Li (Possibly a precursor to Cho Chang)
- On the draft class list, Hannah Abbott was listed as a Muggle-born[6], but in a later interview, Rowling stated that she had always thought of Hannah as a pure-blood. To compromise, she was made a half-blood.[7]
- An interesting fact of note is that despite the ideals that pure-bloods are inherently more powerful wizards, several of the most powerful or particularly adept wizards and witches in the series are in fact half-blood, such as Lord Voldemort, Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and Harry Potter.
- Due to Dean Thomas's father being dead, Dean himself was unable to prove his half-blood heritage during Voldemort's reign. As such, he was regarded as a Muggle-born.