Find your tribe in a Sea of Creativity
Anyone think how weird it is that none of the Muggleborns question the Statute of Secrecy?
Even if you think Rowling is correct that re-introducing magic to muggles would be a very bad idea there’s always that one special pick-me 11 yr. old who thinks they’ll be the one to change things. Having a special secret that no one knows about and living with a bunch of kids your age and no parents is fun in the short-term, but you can’t tell me these kids didn’t get frustrated with the no magic during the summer rule, the exclusion of their parents from magical events (muggle parents could also be targeted by trigger-happy aurors, so there’s the constant fear that your parents could be obliviated), the muggleborn discrimination, and even just the difference in culture could be jarring.
That’s enough to make any kid frustrated and want to change things. So why don’t they?
I have no ducking clue but I’m gonna find out.
Muggleborns find out about the wizarding world before their first year at Hogwarts on their 11th birthday. Why not earlier?
First, let’s look at it from the angle of moving to a new country vs being a tourist in one. You see the pamphlets and the guidebooks; they all talk about how amazing this place is. The travel agent (aka the Hogwarts professor) that’s been working with you had done all of the hard work for you. In both instances you probably see the destination through rose-tinted glasses in the beginning. But if you’re living there eventually the glasses come off and you start to get opinions about how to make it a better place and more accommodating for you.
Telling Muggleborns earlier gives them time to get used to the new culture they’ve found themselves in, and the lack of school gives the parents more opportunity to explore it too. But by being introduced so close to the beginning of the school year, the introduction to the wizarding world becomes all about school and preparing for that aspect of this new culture. Everything else is secondary to that and it puts both the parents and the child at a disadvantage. It also makes this new world feel more temporary. For example, the difference between dual citizenship vs studying abroad on a temporary student visa (not an exact comparison but you get what I mean right?). All the parents know is that their kid needs to learn how to control their magic and they need to go to magic school to do that. The parents and the kid probably aren’t told what happens after, the kid at least is definitely not thinking about the long-term.
When you tell the kids right before school starts and offer a professor to guide them through the world, the parents don’t exactly get time to adjust and learn with their kid. And before they get the chance to bond as a family over this crazy new world they’ve found themselves in, the kid is off to boarding school and whoops how the fuck are the parents going to explore now without A) magic B) being obliviated by uncaring Aurors C) a convenient magical guide or D) getting past the anti-muggle wards.
Then once the kid comes back from school for the summer, it’s not a family experience anymore: it’s an us vs parents. The parents have missed out on the cultural immersion. The kid gets irritated because not only are they not allowed to do magic during the summer but their parents just seem so ignorant and oblivious now. They keep asking questions about the magical world the kid doesn’t want to talk about it bc they’ll have to explain every other word and it just reminds them that they’re not allowed to do magic did you make friends? mudbloods stick together but they can’t tell their parents about that part bc what if they try to kick up a fuss. The purebloods could kill them and no one would care did you try anything new? someone dosed them with a love potion for a day and was mad when they got upset about it. and how was school? what was the school like? the staircase is a death trap mom. There was a whole corridor sectioned off bc whatever was there could kills us dad. My friend told me you could get sent to the forbidden forest in the dead of night for detention while a unicorn killer was on the loose. I’m scared but I can’t tell you bc they won’t listen to you and if you’re too loud they’ll just obliviate you.
The parents want to help but being away from them has made the child distance themselves from needing their parents help. I also imagine that all of the anti-muggle talk might’ve gotten to them a little bit. Kids aren’t saints, they like to believe that they know better and being surrounded by other kids who were also thinking the same thing did not help. And in this case, where they have something their parents will never have in a world their parents will never be able to enter without them I imagine some of them starting feeling a little superior Hermione. And the thing is they’re right in a way, the parents didn’t get to experience the culture, the discrimination, the people, the context. Muggleborn children themselves are kind of gatekeeping this knowledge to weaponize the parents ignorance for their own benefit. As the parents continuously stay ignorant, the children steadily feel more justified in their belief that they know best. They’re doing the Purebloods job for them.
The Wizarding government is actually very clever for doing this. It’s sick but you can’t deny it’s effectiveness.
If you tell the kid that they have magic earlier, then it gives the muggle parents time to adjust with their child and create a united front. It also gives them time to find other Muggleborn kids and parents experiencing the same thing.
But if you tell them right before they legally have to go to school...the Wizarding World appears like this mystical solution to the Muggleborn parent’s problems after years of unexplained accidental magic. It also has the added benefit of weeding out the more extreme end of the anti-magic parents bc those that didn’t tolerate the accidental magic probably got rid of their kid one way or another so now the Wizarding World doesn’t have to worry about policing those parents or helping that kid from an abusive home! (it’s dark I know but this is a government we’re talking about. You can read worse in the news.) It definitely didn’t catch all of the abusive muggle parents, Harry Potter notwithstanding, but I digress. The parents that did keep their kid could develop a strained relationship with them due to accidental magic and the parents not believing the kids. Then there’s probably the lack of muggle friends due to said accidental magic in one way or another. The kid is feeling freakish but special, alone, scared, and frustrated that no one seems to know how they can do the things they do. The parents were at their wits end when magic came knocking and offered them a solution.
This scenario didn’t happen to every Muggleborn but I imagine there were enough of them going through some variation of this and that’s enough for the Wizarding World.
The Statute of Secrecy stays intact because Muggleborns aren’t introduced into the world early enough to question it beyond the surface level. And by the time they realize what they’ve gotten themselves into, they’ve deluded themselves into thinking things are better this way.
And for the few that grow up still desiring the Statute’s abolishment, what are they going to do as a lone ranger standing against the wealthy pureblood elites? They can’t get anywhere of note without a Pureblood’s backing and breaking the Statute would result in mass chaos, it’s unprofitable, why would they endorse it? Not to mention, in the aftermath of Grindelwald any talk of that would be shut down quick.
Albus fished in his pockets for something to give the man. "I don't suppose you'd care for a spearmint humbug...?" Albus trailed off pathetically as the man gave him a baleful stare and moved on. Albus sighed and rubbed his short, auburn hair. It was only just growing back in.
"Stop fussing," his date said.
"Nervous habit," Albus sighed again and forced a smile.
"Look, there's nothing you can do for the poor beggers, as much as you try." His date seemed half amused, half exasperated.
Albus smiled thinly. "There's no harm in trying."
The golden haired youth looped an arm through Albus', and together they set off down the cobbled lane. After several strides into the dark alley, Albus found himself pressed up against the crumbling brick of a high wall as his date leaned in to kiss him.
"Jeremy, we'll be caught."
"So what? You can just, you know..." Jeremy mimed aiming, and then blasting, with his right hand.
"That would violate I don't know how many laws." That was a lie. Albus knew exactly how many it would violate, but speaking of them would only make his transgression of the first, the most vital law, all the worse; the Statute of Secrecy.
"Come on, Al. We fought in the fucking war. We died in the war. We've earned the right to enjoy a bit of freedom. It's 1945, for chrissakes!" This emphatic speech was undermined somewhat by the furtive dark of their surrounds.
They stood against one another, breathing loudly into the quiet. Albus leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on Jeremy's mouth. "You're right. Of course, you're right. I've been living with secrets for so long, I've become rather accustomed to it." Jeremy looked Albus in the eye, naked pain and anger mixed with the deep exhaustion they all felt. The soldiers of the Second Great War.
Jeremy kissed Albus roughly, desperately, as though trying to draw his magic right out of him through that kiss. As though reaching for a miracle. Albus knew how he felt, returning the kiss with ardour. His hands clawed at Jeremy's shirt, burrowing beneath the thin material to caress his chest. Jeremy was more bold, fumbling with the buckle of Albus' belt.
"Wait, wait not here."
Jeremy groaned in frustration. "Why not?"
"It's cold, and muddy, and it's starting to rain— "
"Look, I'm not a breakfast in bed kind of guy here, Al! I like you, but can't we just have this moment? Here? Now?"
Albus turned his head away, and Jeremy cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry, Al."
"No, I'm sorry Jeremy. You reminded me of someone I had once cared for. Deeply. But I can see now this was a mistake."
Jeremy shook his head and turned to walk away. As he retreated further into the alley, Albus aimed his wand at Jeremy's back. With a whispered word, all memory of Albus was erased from his mind. Jeremy never looked back.
Tears streamed down Albus' face as he wandered the crowded streets, making his way slowly towards the Leaky Cauldron. Breaking his final Sickle on a Firewhisky, Albus knocked it back and climbed the stairs to his room.
Albus lay on his bed, realising too late that he had walked the length of London with his fly undone. Albus laughed, placing his hands over his face. Albus unbuckled his belt and reached beneath the waist of his pants. It truly had been a shame, he had liked Jeremy's fervent, if obnoxious and misguided, enthusiasm.
Albus stroked himself, thinking of a different golden haired youth. One recently incarcerated in Nurmengard. Albus pushed aside the grief, the guilt, the raw and maddening lust for power he harboured still, and concentrated on that beautiful face. The one who had smiled so sweetly while uttering those fateful words. Greater good. Albus groaned as he climaxed, not caring that he was still wearing his pants.
He lay for a while longer, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes, spilling down his face to pool on the pillow.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Gellert," he whispered. "It was for your own good."