The S.S.M.

The Society for the Support of Muggleborns and Their Families. Founded Jan 1980

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N E W S L E T T E R

Support which the S.S.M. aims to provide

For Hogwarts students:

A chance to learn more about the world they are a part of when they first discover it.

A community in which they can feel comfortable to ask others about their experiences, ask for advice in different situations, and meet other muggleborns before they start school.

Links and referrals to summer schools for those who wish to maintain their muggle education.

For Families of muggleborns:

A chance to learn more about the world which their family member is now a part of.

Help in building up their excuses for why their child has gone away.

Help in setting their house up to accommodate magic, including access to the Floo network, if they so wish.

A community for the families of muggleborns to have the chance to meet others going through the same situation as themselves.

The opportunity to take up a subscription with the Daily Prophet.

For Muggles (in particular, muggles who have married into a wizarding line):

Couples counselling for those who have not adjusted to the idea of being married to a wizard/witch.

Advice for witches and wizards planning on ‘coming out’ to their muggle partner.

A community in which muggles who know about the wizarding world can meet others going through the same situation as themselves.

During wartime:

Reassurance for muggleborns and family members.

Support groups for those who are severely affected by the war.

At this time, the S.S.M. will not be aiming to provide comprehensive support to adult muggleborns, under the assumption that they have already integrated with the wizarding community. These members of society are invited to join the S.S.M., where they can participate in coming up with new ideas and campaigning. Our main focus in campaigns will be better equality laws.

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The Problem: Employment discrimination

It is terrible that in this day and age this is still a problem, but workplaces are still allowed to ask potential employees about their parents and childhood in interviews. This has no bearing on their abilities as a worker, and so should not be brought up in interview. There are no specific equality laws to prevent workplaces for refusing to employ muggleborns - only a code of conduct which suggests that if they do not they will have a lowered reputation. Considering the war, however, this reputation seems to be less of an issue to some employers, which leads to muggleborns being unfairly discriminated against, and rejected from jobs even where they are the best candidate.

There is a higher proportion of muggleborns in unemployment than there are half-bloods or purebloods, as indicated by a report by the Ministry of Magic Research Committee in 1978. The report went on to suggest that these people have made more of an effort to find a job than their pureblooded counterparts, but that they also invariably receive less job seeker’s allowance, and qualify for minimal other benefits due to loopholes in the law, and their muggle upbringing.

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The Problem: Extended Family

Of course, the Statute of Secrecy will always be a hindrance to muggleborns more than it is to anybody else. The muggles who are allowed to know are parents, siblings, and any other dependants or guardians living under the same roof as the wizard or witch. Grandparents and other family members not living in the house are not supposed to know, no matter how close they are. For this reason, many muggleborns feel as if they are living double lives.

One muggleborn, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells his story:

“When I found out that I was a wizard, I already had my place at a muggle secondary school. All my family lives in the area, and I had a lot of friends who were assuming I would be going to that school with them. The idea of going anywhere else wouldn’t have occurred to any of us, before I got my Hogwarts letter, but between all these dozens of people who knew what my plans were, only my parents could know why they were changing. There wasn’t a good enough excuse to give them, so even with all the lying I have done over the past years, they still don’t understand. My parents were left with most of the job of trying to explain where I had gone, which was hardly fair on them when they didn’t really know for certain where I had gone.

“Every summer, I came home, and had to lie about what I had been up to at school. It became hard to keep track of what I should have been doing if I had been at a muggle school, and I just have to thank heavens that my mother being a teacher gave me a bit of a better idea about this. Now, things are even more complicated. I have left Hogwarts, so I can see people more often, which mutes some of their questions and takes the pressure off my parents, but it creates a whole hoard of new lies and secrets. What am I doing for a living? How am I affording certain travel costs? These are all things made terribly difficult, simply because I do not want to lose all contact with my family.”

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The Problem: Money

For muggleborns, there is often a need to keep two forms of currency going. Constantly converting money can be costly because of uneven exchange rates, and handling two different forms of money - especially two different forms which cannot be handled with just one bank - can be difficult. Questions arise over when is the right time to open a Gringott’s account (most appear to go for when they get a job in the wizarding world) and how much money to keep in each form of currency. Muggleborns have stated that this is much easier for them in the muggle world than the wizarding. Why? Credit cards.

In the wizarding world there are two ways to pay: hand over hard cash, or fill in a cheque to transfer money from their Gringott’s account. In the muggle world, there are many. Hard cash and cheques are still options, but they can also have cards which are linked to their accounts. Rather than having to fill in their bank details every time they want to pay someone without cash, they can simply present their card, which is scanned (by electronic means - a magical variation would be easy to imagine), sign a receipt, and the transaction is complete. Rather than having to carry around multiple chequebooks and tons of cash, two small cards which fit into a wallet sounds a lot more convenient.

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The Problem: Transport

The incident earlier this year which resulted in Hogwarts’ temporary closure brought to light an issue which has been prevalent for many years: underage muggleborns living out of London struggle to get to the city. They manage, despite the costs and difficulties, for the few times a year they have to for school supplies and the Hogwarts Express, but this year some were expected to go into the Ministry every day for lessons. Fifth year students, due to take their OWLs, are fifteen or sixteen, making them underage, but it was still vital they made it to London every day should they want to study everything in time for their exams.

This left them with a couple of options: spend the entire time living with friends (either who had access to floo or who lived in London anyway); or commute every day. Muggle transport, for most, would be out of the question because they would end up spending too much of their day travelling. They cannot apparate or floo, unless they happen to live close to somewhere else on the floo network. The Knight bus has various issues, from its capacity, to the price (perhaps unmanageable for teenagers with no income), to the non-fixed timetable. As for portkeys - they seem the best option, but does the Ministry really need to spend so much of its time setting up portkeys for muggleborns to be able to move around the country? After all, even if they can authorise them easily, somebody of age needs to cast the spell to set it up.

Perhaps, then, there needs to be a better system for helping muggleborns reach London. “Buddy” systems could work, leaving the muggleborns reliant on other people going in and willing to give them a side-along apparition lift. Alternatively, a Knight bus budget, for those who cannot afford it otherwise, to be included in the stipend offered by the school to low-income families. Information on how to hail the Knight bus should be provided to all muggleborns, and perhaps the Knight bus themselves should consider fixing their seats to make muggleborns - who are used to having non-moveable seats on buses - feel more secure.

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Welcoming our newest allies: Roger and Hadil Mills!

The Magical Menagerie are proud to announce their support for the S.S.M.

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Short-term Goals of the S.S.M.

Early this summer (June), the S.S.M. will send out letters to all families of muggleborns receiving Hogwarts letters for the first time, to offer to make appointments with them.

These appointments will take place throughout the summer (June-August), at the families’ convenience, where we will answer any questions they may have.

Fund-raising.

Funds permitting, we will start organising the campaign for more explicit laws regarding employment equality.

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The Problem: Discovering Magic

Co-written by Finnigan Frazer and Eamon Frazer

Last summer, I helped a friend out with a problem. She is a muggleborn, and when she received her Hogwarts letter her parents were horrified at the idea of having a witch in the family, although probably not as horrified as I was when I found out that they had tried to exorcise the magic from her. She ran away to her kind-hearted aunt’s house, where she has kept refuge ever since while her parents made no sign of budging on their hatred of her. They proclaimed her no longer their daughter, and kept her from seeing her younger brother, who they blindly refused to believe was also a wizard. Last summer, he turned eleven, and their determination that he was a muggle was shattered.

Both of them now live happily with their aunt during holidays, and their parents have no contact with them. The situation, however, is not uncommon. Muggle parents terrified of something new and strange, and having next to no explanation to cancel out an abundance of false notions, may resist their children going to Hogwarts at best, or attempt to hurt or disown them at worst. Not only do these eleven year olds not always have anywhere to turn, but they, too, are likely terrified in finding out about a new world which scares their parents so much.

This is a problem which may easily be resolved with a better explanation to families on first discovering magic. Information can calm nerves and dispel worries, enabling parents to feel more comfortable about sending their children to a faraway boarding school. The muggleborn witches and wizards can also feel more relaxed in starting at their strange new school, when rather than going into an environment where they know nothing of what to expect, they have already had all their questions answered.

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Welcoming our new ally,

Professor Minerva McGonagall!

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For some people, finding out that they are a witch or wizard comes as no surprise. In fant, it would be more of a surprise to them if they found out they weren’t. But how is it for people on the other side of the coin? Their world gets turned upside down in a matter of minutes as they get told that things they were brought up to believe as no more than stories are, in fact, true, and they are then expected to jump straight into this new world without question. Furthermore, their families are expected to watch them leave for a faraway school and lie to friends, family and neighbours, in accordance with the Statute of Secrecy, without having a full understanding of why.

We at the Society for the Support of Muggleborns and their Families believe that these questions need no longer go unanswered. Starting this June, we will be locating young muggleborns who have just learnt of magic’s existence and contacting them and their families. If they agree to a meeting, we will there answer any questions they may have, as well as provide them with insight and tips given by older muggleborns.

To aid with this mission, the Society for the Support of Muggleborns and their Families is asking for volunteers, of all blood status, as well as funds to enable this, as well as other causes. Contact details overleaf.

Created by Doris Frazer

[societyformuggleborns]

The Society for the Support of Muggleborns and their Families is a new non-profit organisation, founded in January 1980 by Finnigan Frazer. It aims to aid muggleborns, their families, and other muggles aware about the wizarding world to understand how the wizarding world fits in with the muggle world. It also fights for the rights of muggleborns and muggles within the wizarding world, for a better recognition of their equality to other wizards.

The Society's primary missions are:

To provide support for muggleborns, muggles who are aware of the wizarding world, and families of the aforementioned.

To recognise all peoples as equal, and have this reflected in the law.

To speak out against the war.