How Is Hermione a Witch?

Hermione Granger is one of the main characters in the Harry Potter franchise and you might think you know all there is about her life and legacy. However, one of the questions is how is she a witch if her parents are mudbloods? Magic is described as hereditary, so how is this possible?

Hermione is a witch born to muggle parents but has magic in her blood. The term that describes this occurrence is called a squib. A family can pass down magic genes that await for the right combination of genes in parents to create a child that is a witch or a wizard even if they are muggles themselves. 

If you are looking for an elaborate explanation and wish to know more about muggles, witches, wizards, and half-bloods, keep reading!

How is Hermione a witch?

Hermione Jean Granger was born in 1979 to English muggle parents. She only found out about her abilities as a witch when she was 11 years old. That was also when she was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

She was quickly sorted when the Sorting Hat decided for her to be a Gryffindor. Her nature leaned towards the Ravenclaw motto due to her cleverness and motivation to study and learn. She has been praised numerous times by her professors, friends, and even rivals for her academic success.

Even the people who disliked her could not get away from the fact she is smart. Ron, who had his doubts about her because she was a know-it-all, grew to like her the most. They became friends once she protected them in Philosopher’s Stone when Harry and Ron first got in trouble.

Hermione was born to a muggle family, but there were family members who were witches or wizards. Imagine it this way. She has the genes of a witch, but she was the first one after many years to have them awakened in her. It was like a lottery and she won certain powers.

Due to the fact she was not recognized as a pure-blood and did not have family members to teach her magic before the age of 11, she was a late bloomer when it comes to magic. This might be the reason behind her incredible willingness to learn, study, read books, take exams, and raise her hand with confidence in every class.

Any child who grows up in a muggle (or in our world, common) family without magic must be thrilled to learn more about this world of mystery. Witchcraft is a practice, after all. It takes knowledge, dedication, and talent. 

Even when Harry showed immense courage, she was the one to know and remember most spells they needed during their adventures. Even when Ron showed understanding, she was the one to display talent.

Hermione showed more will and motivation to learn than any other witch or wizard because she did not consider magic as a part of her life early on. Her abilities, therefore, grew stronger and became more and more developed because she cared about knowledge and wisdom more than the fun she could have with magic just for the sake of fun.

She treated her magical abilities as valuable, like a gift that was not hers to keep for herself, and showed respect towards magic like it was something sacred. She had appreciation and gratitude. That made her a witch more than her genes ever did.

How is Hermione a mudblood?

Mudblood is a derogatory term that refers to muggle-born or any other non-pure-blood wizard or a witch. Some wizards and witches considered their magic weaker and dirty. Some of those people were many Slytherins including Lord Voldemort who wished to eradicate them completely.

They believed their pure magic was supreme and that half-bloods and muggles were less worthy. Hermione was called a mudblood because she was a witch born to muggle parents.

When Hermione finished her education, she first got employed in the Ministry of Magic where she fought for better treatment of house-elves. Once she was promoted, she started working for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where she wanted to eradicate the laws that served only the pure-bloods and treated other witches and wizards as less important.

She used her past and heritage to promote witches and wizards who were not pure-blood to prevent any old biased laws.

Despite being a Mudblood, she was called the cleverest witch of her age by Remus Lupin, praised by Albus Dumbledore himself, and told there was not a spell she could not do by Hagrid. Harry claimed she was the best in their year while being Muggle-born.

She was the first to master new spells and use them better than expected for a witch her age and level of education. She was great at non-verbal magic which is not the easiest form of magic to master. She even practiced wandless magic and did not need her wand for certain spells. Only a few were successful at both non-verbal and wandless magic, especially at a young age.

She was able to challenge and beat Mundungus Fletcher, Antonin Dolohov, and Gregory Goyle. She was a challenge even to Bellatrix Lestrange with a little help of her friends while using another wand. She was incredibly talented in advanced charms not only because of her talent but dedication.

How can two muggles have a wizard/witch?

Squibs are muggles who were born into a wizarding family. They are pretty rare. Squibs, as people born to at least one parent with magical abilities, are the opposite of muggle-born wizards and witches.

Muggle-born wizards and witches can come from squibs. It is like magic skipped a generation. Wizards and witches are sometimes the descendants of squibs and muggles. This is how muggles can have a child with magical abilities.

They have the awareness and knowledge of the wizarding world but are just unable to use magic on their own. They can, however, see the magic when muggles can’t. They are on the inside but cannot use its gifts. 

One of those examples is Argus Filch. The attitude towards squibs is not a very positive one, since many wizards consider their children traitors if born as squibs. The Ministry does not even keep records of their birth.

They are mostly encouraged to assimilate into the muggle world instead of living as disrespected and unprotected citizens in the wizarding world. They are not to be mistaken for obscurials who are wizards and witches with suppressed magical abilities.

Is Hermione a witch or a wizard?

People with magical abilities are often called wizardkind or referred to as wizards. However, the only real difference is the gender – witches are female people practicing magic, wizards are male. 

A man who showed the same abilities as a witch was called a wizard since, in many legends, only witches existed or existed first. The term wizard is sometimes used as a male counterpart of a witch in fiction.

Both witches and wizards are people with magical abilities, no matter their blood and education status. However, there are other categories of wizards and witches you might wish to pay attention to such as:

The Veelas, Maledictuses, Parselmouths, Seers, Animaguses, Metamorphmaguses, Obscurials, and Werewolves. There is no difference between a wizard and a witch when it comes to their power, education, or capabilities. These categories, however, are much different.