Chapter Text
Inbreeding in the Wizarding World?
Many of you might’ve heard a Muggle-born scoff and say something like “Inbred pure-blood” in the past, but what did they mean by that?
Well, in the Muggle world researchers found that if closely related plants, animals, or Muggles have offspring, these offspring often become defective, especially if this happens over more than one generation, or if the ‘parents’ are siblings or first cousins. This was found to be the case in livestock, but also in small and closed communities.
Any wizard or witch working with livestock like chickens and pigs can confirm this, I'm sure. That’s why those folks try to mix their livestock up.
Well, as was said, Muggles have found the same problems. Especially in their noble houses where -in order to keep their blood pure- they intermarried constantly.
Yes. You read that right. Pure-blood beliefs also exist in the Muggle world. And it was for the same reason as it developed in our own world: To keep money and power in a small circle of families, pure and simple.
But let’s get back to the Muggle-born calling others “inbred pure-blood.” Why would they do that?
Well, the answer is obvious, right? Until our article about The Spell and its counter on December 29 th of 1992, many of the pure-bloods were ugly and/or stupid. So, any newcomer from the Muggle world who heard those rather ugly and/or stupid people talk down on them because they were not “pure-blood” did conclude that inbreeding was at fault for the state the pure-bloods in question were in, especially since they intermarried more often than not.
Lately, a smart Muggle-born could be heard asking, “You’re not slow and stupid anymore, I thought before that you were because of inbreeding, but it was because of The Spell used by some pure-bloods. Doesn’t intermarrying weaken your gene pool? (Muggle terminology, meaning the traits each parent brings into a union.)
Well, let us clear that up. They are wrong. And they are right.
They are wrong in thinking that close relations (first cousins and closer) lead to physical inbreeding in the wizarding world somehow, that we get mentally and/or physically handicapped. That isn’t the case. The Department of Mysteries (DoM) is researching this, but first clues point towards magic being the deciding factor here.
They also are right , because our magic weakens over time if only people within a small circle of families intermarry. It’s a very slow process, but it has been monitored by the DoM and they have irrefutable proof.
Magic tries to keep us strong by producing more and more Muggle-born to refresh our pool, but because the upper echelons of our society refuse Magic’s gift by denying Muggle-born access to our world, the pool is getting magically weaker as a whole.
If you want more proof, think about who the two most powerful wizards in the last 50 years were. First Albus-Dumbledore comes to mind, a half-blood, with a mother who was Muggle-born and the father a pure-blood. Second Lord Voldemort, aka Tom Marvolo Riddle, with the mother nearly a Squib and the father a Muggle.
Also, data gathered by the Unspeakables does prove this irrefutably.
They also found that Muggle-born and pure-bloods are of the same kind. There’s absolutely no difference, physical or magical.
There is a difference between Muggle-born and Muggle, though. The DoM is still researching the origins of Muggle-born but found some evidence that they descend from Squib lines. You see, not only did The Spell weaken us, no, also the denial of new magic into our midst did!
One more very important note. Do not fall into the easy trap to compare Muggles to chicken and pigs now! They are human beings and as self-aware as you and me. They have much more in common with us than the livestock we all eat! It is not proven that all Muggle-born stem from Squib-lines on both sides, as of yet. So it is possible, but not proven, that a pure Muggle and a magical person can produce (magical) children.
But in the end, wizards and witches stand above all.
Unspeakable No.15, Department of Mysteries
Lucius Malfoy, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
First…
Albus, who was sitting comfortably in a wingback chair in faraway Peru, sprayed his 7-month-old newspaper that he had obtained with such great difficulties with his tea, which he had just taken a large sip from before reading the last sentence and who had written the article.
Had Albus read just a bit further, he would have found: ‘First article in a series. The next one will be titled Wizards superior individually – Muggles much more advanced and superior as a society ?’
But he didn't. He threw the soggy paper in the trash and went to complain to Gellert who just said smirking, “You were right, the Greater Good always prevails.”