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Considering that the majority of witches and wizards in the Harry Potter universe are so ignorant of the Muggle world, it's probably safe to assume that they don't spend a great deal of time around muggle people, never mind trying to understand their culture.

So if witches/ wizards are so far removed from the existence of muggles, how is it that there are a significant number1 of muggle/ magical pairings that go on to have families and conceive children?

I would assume that a number of them are from muggle/ muggle-born parents as the witch/ wizard may decide to go back to the muggle life that they experienced as children once their education is finished. But then again it seems that Hogwarts would not prepare magical children with enough skills in which to survive and compete in the muggle world (there was only a single opt-in subject that seemed to deal with anything muggle-related, which was Muggle Studies).

Considering even people like Hermione and Harry who grew up around muggles appeared to entirely live within the wizarding world after school, it seems that even this would be a rare occurrence.

When and where would the wizarding and muggle worlds interact significantly enough that people with such different lives could fall in love with each other (or at least become physically attracted enough to each other to do the do and conceive a child).

1: By "significant number", I mean enough so that an entire ministry department can work full time to mount an inquisition into the blood-status of magical folk who were second generation muggle-descended.

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    The main reason is probably the fact that anyone who isn't either pureblood or muggle-born gets classified as half-blood, even "second-generation half-bloods" like Dumbledore or Harry (whose mothers were muggle-born witches).
    – BMWurm
    Feb 18, 2016 at 11:28
  • @BMWurm that should be an answer.
    – ypercubeᵀᴹ
    Feb 18, 2016 at 11:41
  • @ypercubeᵀᴹ I did answer it, then read the linked question, and then realized the linked question actually states everything I put in there.... quote and all, at least DKR's answer did scifi.stackexchange.com/a/10029/30726
    – BMWurm
    Feb 18, 2016 at 12:35
  • @BMWurm Rereading this question (not the linked one), seems like it starts from a false assumption: "how is it that there are a significant number of muggle/ magical pairings that go on to have families and conceive children?" I seriously doubt that a there is a significant number of such pairs.
    – ypercubeᵀᴹ
    Feb 18, 2016 at 12:44
  • @ypercubeᵀᴹ Well, we could guess it is fairly common, since there simply are not enough magical folk around to all find matches without looking in the muggle world, but other than Cho Chang, who I seem to recall married a muggle and Prof. McG, whose father and first love were muggles, I don't actually recall that many Muggle/Magic pairings in canon... this might warrant a follow up question for a list of actual Muggle-Magic-Marriages in canon....
    – BMWurm
    Feb 18, 2016 at 12:52

2 Answers 2

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Hogsmeade Village is described as the UK's only settlement that is inhabited entirely by witches, wizards and magical creatures.

‘Do you know much about Hogsmeade?’ asked Hermione keenly. ‘I’ve read it’s the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain –’

‘Yeah, I think it is,’ said Ron in an offhand sort of way, ‘but that’s not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!’

As we can see from Grimmauld Place, Shell Cottage, Little Hangleton, Godric's Hollow and the Burrow, it's far more common for wizards to live in (or at least near to) muggle communities. That being the case, the potential for wizards to meet and 'couple' with muggles seems fairly obvious.

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  • Don't forget the mother and father of the antagonist lived in Little Hangleton :3
    – user3564421
    Feb 18, 2016 at 13:56
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    This doesn't really provide an answer. It just shows that for some reason wizards live near muggles, not that they interact with them. Even wizards like Artur Weasley do not really care enough to try to understand muggles. They would have no common cultural background. They can use the Floo, so they have no need to even walk outside and meet someone.
    – QuestionAuthority
    Jan 3, 2019 at 10:31
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    @QuestionAuthority - We see Wizards outside all the time. Harry bumps into a bunch of them when he's younger.
    – Valorum
    Jan 3, 2019 at 10:43
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The question starts from a false (or at least not proven or obvious) assumption:

... how is it that there are a significant number of muggle/ magical pairings that go on to have families and conceive children?

I seriously doubt that a there is a significant number of such pairs.

"Half-blood" is used with different meanings:

  • Someone with one witch/wizard parent and one muggle parrent.
  • Soemone with both parents witch/wizard but one of them muggle-born.
  • Someone with one (or more) of its (distant) ancestors being muggle.

I don't see any evidence that the majority is case one but mostly case two and often the more general case three. The linked question and answers support this.

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  • @Mike.C.Ford and how many people can you think of case 2 (Harry Potter being one of them)? I don't see why we should compare the population of case 1 (one muggle parent) with the population of muggle-borns.
    – ypercubeᵀᴹ
    Feb 18, 2016 at 13:00
  • I really can't unsertand what you are trying to say. But the number of muggle-borns is rather irrelevant to the question and my point. Consider that Dumbledore (and all his sisters/brothers) would fall in case 2. All Hermione's children would fall in case 2. And all the descedants of all those (and all the descendants of Harry) and all the descendants of a muggle-born from a marriage to a wizard) would fall to case 3. So, case 3 would certainly be the majority. Whether case 1 and case 2 would be equal in numbers or not, I'm not sure though.
    – ypercubeᵀᴹ
    Feb 18, 2016 at 13:15
  • I can't search the book snow but I remember somewhere mentioned that everyone is "half-blood" if one searches their line high enough.
    – ypercubeᵀᴹ
    Feb 18, 2016 at 13:18
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    You've entirely misunderstood the point of the question anyway, because the question is asking how wizards/ witches and muggles would come together in the first place. I was simply stating that there are more than expected, the numbers really have nothing to do with it. At no point in the question do I use the term "half-blood" so this answer is entirely unrelated to the question.
    – Mike.C.Ford
    Feb 18, 2016 at 13:59
  • The final definition of half-blood, used by self-styled "pure-bloods": Any wizard who is not able to edit the Muggles out of their genealogical records.
    – EvilSnack
    Dec 1, 2016 at 20:17

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