Skip to main content

harry potter - Could a squib go to Hogwarts?



There are many subjects in Hogwarts that require magical knowledge, but not magical ability. Of course, subjects such as Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts require the student to have magic, but what stops a squib from attending Hogwarts study subjects like Care of Magical Creatures or Ancient Runes?


A squib raised in a wizarding environment should be able to comprehend these subjects. It's not as if the Ministry is stopping them, as Hogwarts isn't on a tight leash.


It's just something I have wondered about, because squibs could be a functioning subculture in the wizarding society, and all they do is get exiled to the muggle world. They could hold just as much value as every other wizard with the capability to cast a spell.



Answer



They would certainly not be admitted, and probably wouldn’t enjoy their experience if they did attend.


Admittance to Hogwarts is controlled by the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance. You name gets written in the book if you demonstrate signs of magical ability while you’re young, but this has to be your own magic: it’s not enough to ride off the coattails of your parents.


This is part of the sample content on Pottermore, and here are the relative parts:



These are the Quill of Acceptance and the Book of Admittance and they constitute the only process by which students are selected for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. […] The Book and Quill's decision is final and no child has ever been admitted whose name has not first been inscribed on the book's yellowing pages. […]


[The Book’s] track record in keeping Squibs out of Hogwarts is perfect. Non-magic children born to witches and wizards occasionally have some small, residual aura of magic about them due to their parents, but once their parents magic has worn off them it becomes clear that they will never have the ability to perform spells.




If you can’t go to Hogwarts if your name doesn’t appear in this Book, and your name will never be written in this Book if you’re a Squib, then you can’t go to Hogwarts. End of discussion.


But would a Squib want to go to Hogwarts? Would it be beneficial or healthy for them to do so? I suspect not; they’d always be an outsider. This snippet of conversation is fairly telling:



“Squibs were usually shipped off to Muggle schools and encouraged to integrate into the Muggle community… much kinder than trying to find them a place in the Wizarding world, where they must always be second class, but naturally [redacted] wouldn’t have dreamed of letting her daughter go to a Muggle school—“


Deathly Hallows, chapter 8 (The Wedding)



For examples, look at how Filch is treated by students, or Mrs. Figg at the Ministry hearing. The magical society doesn’t rate Squibs, and they’d be social outcasts at Hogwarts. Consider how certain students treat Muggle-borns, and now imagine how they’d treat Squibs.


You’d be a tiny minority, in a school of people with special talents that you don’t share, and the entire experience would remind you of what you were missing out on. Large aspects of their school experience are cut off to you, and there are plenty of ways to be bullied that you have no way to retaliate against.


And you go through all this, and what comes out at the end? There are very few jobs in the magical community that you can take, so you’ll probably end up in the Muggle world. A brief glimpse of what you could have had, but never will. It seems cruel.



I suspect a Squib at Hogwarts would be miserable and bullied, and would leave school with a strong inferiority complex. Even if they want to attend, I think it’s better to turn them away.




The link in DVK’s answer to J.K. Rowling’s old website says something similar: Squibs at Hogwarts would never be able to really fit in.



Squibs would not be able to attend Hogwarts as students. They are often doomed to a rather sad kind of half-life (yes, you should be feeling sorry for Filch), as their parentage often means that they will be exposed to, if not immersed in, the wizarding community, but can never truly join it.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...

Is there good canon evidence for the "Nightmare Matrix"?

On the Matrix wiki, there's an article about the Nightmare Matrix which says: The Nightmare Matrix was the second prototype Matrix, designed by The Architect after the massive failure of the Paradise Matrix in the hope that human minds would more readily accept an imperfect world with suffering. Unlike the first version, this Matrix instituted a basic cause-and-effect programming and forcibly made those connected to it accept the program. Vamp Prime, a possible remnant of the Nightmare Matrix. It also featured programs that resembled mythical evil creatures in various human mythologies such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, aliens, etc. It also failed, but many of the programs who were designed for it survived deletion in exile. The Merovingian and his wife, Persephone may have had their roots in this version of the Matrix. Upon its failure, the Merovingian started a smuggling ring of programs and information to provide a haven for exiles that would last for 6 cycles in the final ...

story identification - Anime with a boy hiring a creature from a stone, meets a man named Dante and starts a journey to collect crystals

I am from India, this anime or animated series (I can't remember this was made by the Japan or other countries) was aired between 2009 and 2012 probably in Jetix/Disney XD (but I'm not sure). This anime starts with a boy (the main character, I forgot his name) who find a stone (or crystal like thing) in his dad's property, his dad was missing that time. Some day he accidentally hire a creature/monster from that stone. Other day some creature attack him and he was saved by his creature and the story begins. In his journey to solve the mystery he meets a middle aged man 'Dante' (probably that was the name; this is the only character name I can remember). He had also some stone. After that they meet with one girl and a women (one of the girls is same age with the main boy character and probably will become his partner as the story goes on). Another women probably Dante's partner. Four of them started their journey to collect all the stone/crystal. They are collecti...