Katie Mosher: How exactly do muggleborns receive magical ability
J.K. Rowling: Muggle-borns will have a witch or wizard somewhere on their family tree, in some cases many, many generations back. The gene re-surfaces in some unexpected places.
http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0730-bloomsbury-chat.html
Harry Potter was never about this in the first place.
Harry Potter was about sex in the bushes (source: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).
And sex near the lake (sourcev Harry Potter and the half blood prince)
IRL you can get good at many things with determination and practice, but you’re only going to be great at those things with determination, practice, and innate talent.
With that aside, many kids dream not simply of becoming extraordinary but of being extraordinary all along. Is this fantasy really the same sort of idea as adult theories of racial or ethnic superiority? I don’t think it is, although perhaps maybe discouraging it is still the better approach.
