How to identify a magic user?

Question

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How does the Hogwarts Headmaster know whom to invite to school?

In Harry Potter universe, not everyone can do magic. Only magic users can do that. But, how to identify a newly borned child that he/she is magic user or not?

In Star Wars universe, we've midi-chlorians existence using which we can identify someone as force user. I was looking for similar things without any luck.

How does Wizard and Witchcraft universities send invitation letters to 11 year kids?

@Izkata - duh. I should have remembered - I answered that one with the same source :( — DVK-on-Ahch-To, Aug 19 '12 at 14:21

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 19 '12 at 16:29

2

There is a special quill that Minerva McGonagall had that wrote the names of all magic users to invite upon birth.

In Hogwarts there's a magical quill which detects the birth of a magical child, and writes his or her name down in a large parchment book. Every year Professor McGonagall checks the book, and sends owls to the people who are turning 11. (JKR chat, Scholastic.com, 2/3/2000)

Something similar must also exist at the Ministry to start monitoring for Underage Magic violations, but there's no canon mention of the details.

edited Aug 19 '12 at 16:29

user931

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answered Aug 19 '12 at 14:04

DVK-on-Ahch-To

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Full transcript of interview appears here: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/interview-j-k-rowling – b_jonas Jan 28 '14 at 17:53

How to identify a magic user?

1 Answers1