The other day, I saw the "No Post on Sundays" scene from the first Harry Potter movie by accident, where there was an avalanche of letters out of the fireplace which really amused me. Really well done acting by all of that cast. This gave me inspiration for a discussion:
Lets pretend for a moment that the silly, absurd, ridiculous but interesting world created by JK Rowling were real. You're a Muggle or No-Maj parent, guardian, or relative and one day your child or an 11 year old in your immediate family gets their Hogwarts or Ilvermorny admission letter. How would you react to this?
At one end, you could perhaps be delighted at this development and be willing to embrace their becoming part of the Wizarding world or alternatively, you could be like Uncle Vernon- where you go to extreme lengths to prevent the letter from ever getting to them and to steadfastly refuse to let them go or take some action in between those two extremes.
I truly think that Uncle Vernon is perhaps the greatest unsung hero in the Harry Potter franchise- so far as Muggles go. Vernon had a dislike for Harry's father but still kept his son safe for over a decade. He knew Harry's parents met a bad end and probably assumed like Petunia did that no good could ever come of magic. He was protecting Harry from the magical world and figured he could over time "stamp the magic out" of Harry.
"He will not be going, I tell you! We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to all this rubbish!" I find that Vernon was quite reasonable in telling Hagrid, "I am not paying for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!" If the Dursleys were as anti-magic as there were, every extreme length they went to is arguably justified. From Petunia's perspective, her sister got killed by magic and it was at the root cause of their estrangement from each other earlier in life.
If my child were Half Blood or Muggle born, I'd think I'd probably have no choice but to let them join the Wizarding world for the sake of their well being. Even though it'd probably mean that they don't see me for a good part of the year. If they suppress their magic, they could die from becoming an Obscurial. Thus the logical choice is probably to let them become a Witch or Wizard if this is what fate has decided for them.
I'd want them to be able to function perfectly in both the magical and non-magical worlds so, I'd perhaps be tempted to give them extra education over the summer vacation months. I'd see what I could do. I wouldn't have much in the way of money to get them any magical equipment or supplies so I'd want Gringotts or some other Wizard to pick up the tab for them. I'd need to get arrangements with regards to that.
If Pure Bloods give them a hard time, I'd tell them to just deal with it on their own, they have no choice but to after all. If they don't like the magical world, I figure there is nothing stopping them from living in the non-magical world after they've mastered any magical abilities they have. They might need to get a GED and to go to a college because they missed out on tons of formal Muggle education, but I'm sure they could manage. Life is a journey in some ways and it'd be up to them where they want to take themselves.
