Do Muggle Parents Visit Their Muggleborn Children at Hogwarts? Are They Totally Excluded?

Question

Questions about Muggle parents getting onto Platform 9¾ are addressed Who gets Muggleborn students onto Platform 9¾, where it's verified that Muggle parents and siblings can indeed get onto the platform, so are able to cross that magical barrier (DH). I cannot find a canon reference to any known Muggle parents visiting Hogwarts. It seems unfathomable that any parent would send their child(ren) off to a boarding school — a magical one no less — without reassurance they would have access to their child(ren) as needed. A few things:

In Goblet of Fire, Hermione explains that Muggles cannot see Hogwarts:

‘[Hogwarts is] bewitched,’ said Hermione. ‘If a Muggle looks at it, all they see is a mouldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying DANGER, DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE.’

_{Goblet of Fire — page 148 — Bloomsbury — chapter 11, Aboard the Hogwarts Express}

Does this mean Muggle parents simply cannot see the outside of Hogwarts, or does it mean Muggle parents, if somehow led inside Hogwarts, wouldn't be able to see anything or the interior of Hogwarts would appear as a ruin?

It's not against the rules for Hogwarts parents to visit their child(ren). Arthur and Molly Weasley make quite a few appearances at Hogwarts (CoS, GoF, HBP). Various sets of parents show up to collect students after Dumbledore is killed, such as the Patil twins, Zacharias Smith, and Seamus Finnigan (HBP). Of course Lucius Malfoy makes his appearances at Hogwarts (CoS), and Slytherin student Graham Montague's parents come to Hogwarts after Montague Apparates out from the broken Vanishing Cabinet where he had been trapped by Fred and George Weasley (OotP).

Finally, Petunia managed to send a letter to Dumbledore when she was still a child (DH), so the barrier between the Muggle World and Hogwarts must have some flexibility.

Or am I wrong and all the parents of Muggleborn students are just plain out of luck when it comes to visiting their child during the school year? Do Muggle parents visit their Muggleborn children at Hogwarts, or are they totally excluded?

Answer 1

I'm unaware of any canon answers so I will hazard a reasonable guess.

It seems exceptionally unlikely that Dumbledore would allow any policy or circumstance which made it impossible for a parent to visit with their child. Parents are, after all, the child's first teacher/protector/champion/consoler/cheering section and in times of triumph/stress/trauma, most children will turn to their parent. Dumbledore has consistently shown that the welfare of his students is a primary concern and so he would insure that all of his students could avail themselves of whatever parents/guardians they had.

On the other hand, I think that muggle parents would feel exceptionally uncomfortable traveling to Hogwarts under most circumstances. I can just imagine one of Hermione's dentist parents doing side-along-apparation with Dumbledore.

Generally, I think that the comment by Anthony Grist is probably correct (families of witches and wizards are more like squibs) and thus they could travel to Hogwarts. I think it's fairly rare though and that's why we don't see any instances of it in the books.

Answer 2

• Moaning Myrtle parents (who were Muggles, as she was a victim of the Heir of Slytherin because of that) came to Hogwarts to pick up her body. Therefore, it's technically possible.

  "Come on, Rubeus," said Riddle, moving yet closer. “The dead girl’s parents will be here tomorrow..." - Chamber of Secrets, CHAPTER THIRTEEN, The Very Secret Diary

• Weasley's were at Hogwarts both during HBP, and, more importantly, CoS when Ginny was taken to the Chamber:

  ... moments later, found themselves outside Professor McGonagall’s office. ... It was Mrs. Weasley, who had been sitting crying in front of the fire. She leapt to her feet, closely followed by Mr. Weasley, and both of them flung themselves on their daughter. - Chamber of Secrets, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN, Dobby’s Reward

• Montague's parents picked him up after being stuck in the Vanishing Cabinet.

  To cap matters, Montague had still not recovered from his sojourn in the toilet; he remained confused and disorientated and his par-ents were to be observed one Tuesday morning striding up the front drive, looking extremely angry (OotP)

• I'm sure some of the parents (Cedric's for sure) were spectators for the Tri-Wizard in GoF.

---

While there's no canon info about parents visiting in regular circumstances, it's clear that (1) parents COULD visit, and (2) Muggle parents COULD get in.

So, the actual answer is two-fer:

1. We don't know if parent visits were allowed as part of regular school routine in the first place. Based on my experience with American schools, that seems highly discouraged, and I guess Brit schools would be the same.

2. However, IF such visits were allowed for Wizard parents, it's 100% clear Muggle ones could be included in that (and, under a Headmaster like Dumbledore or Minerva, WOULD be included).

Answer 3

I think they could get into Hogwarts because

1. Myrtle’s parents (who were muggles) got into Hogwarts to get her body.
2. if Muggle parents can’t get into Hogwarts, how do they visit their child if a Muggle-born got into the Triwizard Tournament?

So, yes: Muggle parents could get into Hogwarts but only if needed. I don’t think there’s a parent-teacher meeting at Hogwarts because - well, what would they speak about? Especially to the Muggle parents. ‘Your son got Troll for Transfigurations and failed to transform a rat to a goblet and vice-versa’? It would be an interesting conversation, though. Maybe they’d just send out a letter like how the Ministry did in OoTP.

Answer 4

Book Canon

• (As you've pointed out) Muggles cannot see Hogwarts.

  ‘It’s bewitched,’ said Hermione. ‘If a Muggle looks at it, all they see is a mouldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying DANGER, DO NOT ENTER, UNSAFE.’
  _{Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Chapter 11 - "Aboard the Hogwarts Express"}

• However, we see elsewhere that Muggles can enter.

  ‘Come on, Rubeus,’ said Riddle, moving yet closer. ‘The dead girl’s parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure that the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered …’
  _{Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 13 - "The Very Secret Diary"}

  (The dead girl is Myrtle, who was Muggle-born, and thus had Muggle parents.)

How to reconcile these two statements is left as an exercise to the reader, but some possible explanations are that perhaps the enchantment can be dropped as needed, or that perhaps they can see it once they enter. Or maybe either Hermione or Riddle were wrong.

Also it's worth remembering that Squibs definitely can enter Hogwarts (see Filch and Angus Buchanan), and that there's no other known differences between squibs and Muggles.

Movie Canon

Movie canon is a lot simpler.

• Riddle says Myrtle's parents can enter.

  The dead girl's parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered.
  _{Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film) - 1:32:25}

  
  _{Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (screenplay)}

• Jacob Kowalski, a Muggle is able to enter in the third Fantastic Beasts film.

  As of the writing of this answer, the movie is not yet out, but this can be seen in the first trailer, particularly at the end, which shows him inside the Great Hall talking to some students

  
  

In conclusion:

Book canon - There is some conflicting canon, but it seems like muggle parents can enter.
Movie canon - Muggles can enter and nothing implies otherwise.

Answer 5

Yes, the parents of muggleborns can visit their children, because remember in CoS they mentioned that Moaning Myrtle parents went to get her body? So yeah, they can, but I'm guessing only under extreme circumstances.