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Harry's magical parents are Lily Evans (a muggleborn) and James Potter (a pureblood). Since a pureblood is someone with magical parents, why isn't he considered a pureblood?

A muggleborn, or mudblood is a person with powers from an ancestor. A halfblood is a person with one parent that is magical. Given that Harry has two magical parents, why is he only a "half-blood"?

marked as duplicate by Radhil, Gallifreyan, Valorum harry-potter Feb 25 '17 at 18:26


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    Per the wiki; "It should be noted that any wizard who is not either Pureblood or Muggle-born is considered a Half-blood, even if they have two wizard parents; they need not have exactly half-Muggle/half-wizard heritage." – Valorum Feb 25 '17 at 18:18
  • The logic goes like this: If your magical ancestors have all been forgotten, you're a Muggle-born. If your non-magical ancestors have all been edited out of your genealogical records, you're a Pureblood. If neither is the case, you're a Half-Blood. – EvilSnack Mar 3 '17 at 2:53

It's a matter of definition, and hearkens back is similar to the 'One drop Rule' that used to be well known in the US. Basically, to be a pureblood, you must come from magical families on both sides, not just two magic-using parents. Conversely, any muggle blood makes you 'half-blood' at best.

From Pottermore:


None of the families are really pure-blooded, as Dumbledore points out in Beetle the Bard


Harry's Mother's family is not a recognized wizard family, so he has muggle-blood. Any muggle-blood with wizard blood defines him as a Half-blood.

To go straight to the horse's mouth, here's JK Rowling on the subject:
(Note: This is from the Harry Potter Wiki, and I haven't been able to substantiate it as an actual JKR quote yet.)


  • Was the "One Drop Rule" well known in the UK too? If it was just used for the US, I don't think that means much to Harry given that the American Wizarding World seems pretty isolated from the British one. – Thunderforge Feb 25 '17 at 18:25
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    @Thunderforge - Dunno if it was well known in the UK, but my point was about the concept, not the term -- basically ANY muggle blood (even a single drop) made you not 'pure-blooded' per the perception of the 'Pure Blood.' Updated the answer to make it clear that it wasn't necessarily an influence on JKR writing it. – K-H-W Feb 25 '17 at 18:27

On account of his mother, Lily.

A pureblood is someone with magical parents...A halfblood is a person with one parent that is magical.

You're kind of right. The criteria for Muggle-born and pureblood are pretty straightforward. Rowling is much more vague and inconsistent when it comes to half-bloods. You can be a half-blood either if one of your parents was a Muggle (and the other a witch/wizard) or if one of your parents was a Muggle-born witch/wizard. What matters is that at least one parent has some connection to the Muggle world, whether they remained a Muggle until their death or they later went on to become a witch or wizard.

In Harry's case, he counts as a half-blood on account of his mother Lily. She was a Muggle-born witch with two Muggle parents. That was enough to make Harry a half-blood.
