Humans

Humans are the dominant sentient species in the wizarding world, inhabiting all parts of the globe. The most significant characteristic defining humanity is the division between individuals who possess the innate ability to perform magic and those who do not. This biological divergence has led to the formation of two largely separate societies: the magical community, composed of witches and wizards, and the non-magical world of Muggles. Witches and wizards have established a global, clandestine society governed by bodies like the Ministry of Magic in Britain, which exists parallel to, but hidden from, non-magical governments. The cornerstone of this separation is the International Statute of Secrecy, enacted in 1692 to prevent widespread persecution of magical folk by the non-magical majority.

The fundamental division within the human species is based on the presence or absence of magical ability. This distinction is the source of major social and political conflicts throughout wizarding history, primarily centered on the concept of Blood Status.

• Witches and Wizards: Humans born with the ability to channel and control magic. This ability typically manifests in childhood and is honed through formal education at institutions such as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
• Muggles: The term for non-magical humans. The vast majority of Muggles are completely unaware of the existence of magic or the wizarding world. Their memories of any accidental exposure are typically modified by Obliviators from the Ministry of Magic.
• Muggle-borns: Witches and wizards born to two Muggle parents. Despite possessing genuine magical ability, they often face prejudice from Pure-blood supremacists, who consider them inferior. Hermione Granger is a prominent example of a highly gifted Muggle-born witch.
• Squibs: Individuals born into a magical family who lack any magical ability themselves. They are rare and often live on the fringes of the wizarding world or integrate into Muggle society. Notable Squibs include Argus Filch and Arabella Figg.
• Blood Status: A prejudiced social classification system based on ancestry. It distinguishes between Pure-blood (no known Muggle ancestry), Half-blood (mixed magical and Muggle ancestry), and Muggle-born. This ideology was a central tenet of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

The wizard-led Ministry of Magic has historically classified other intelligent magical races, often leading to strained and complex relationships. The definition of a “Being” is “any creature that has sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of the magical community and to bear part of the responsibility in shaping those laws.” This classification has been a point of contention for many non-human races.

• Goblins: An intelligent and proud race known for their skill in metalwork and control of the wizarding economy through Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Their relationship with wizards is fraught with centuries of mistrust, stemming from wizard prejudice and disputes over ownership, such as the Goblin Rebellions and the contested ownership of the Sword of Gryffindor.
• House-elves: A species of magical beings bound into servitude to wizarding families. Their enslavement is a deeply ingrained part of wizarding culture, challenged by individuals like Hermione Granger through her organization, S.P.E.W.. Dobby's pursuit of freedom and Kreacher's complex loyalty are central to the narrative.
• Centaurs: A highly intelligent and proud race of star-gazers who live in herds, primarily in forests like the Forbidden Forest. They have voluntarily chosen “Beast” status to avoid association with what they consider lesser creatures like hags and vampires, and they remain fiercely independent and deeply suspicious of humans.
• Giants: A race of enormous humanoids largely driven to near-extinction and exile by wizards. Their brutal and violent nature has made peaceful coexistence difficult. Lord Voldemort successfully recruited the remaining giants to his cause during the Second Wizarding War, while Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant, represents a bridge between the two worlds.
• Merpeople: Underwater-dwelling beings with their own complex society and language. They are classified as “Beings” and maintain a general separation from the human world, as seen in the Black Lake at Hogwarts.

Beyond the general ability to perform magic, some rare, innate talents can manifest in certain witches and wizards.

• Animagus: The learned ability to transform into a specific animal at will. This is a difficult and highly regulated branch of Transfiguration, with practitioners like Minerva McGonagall and The Marauders (James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew).
• Metamorphmagus: An extremely rare, inherited ability to change one's physical appearance at will without the use of a spell or potion. Nymphadora Tonks is the only known Metamorphmagus in the series.
• Parselmouth: A speaker of Parseltongue, the language of serpents. This ability is most famously associated with Salazar Slytherin and his heir, Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter was able to speak it due to the piece of Voldemort's soul lodged within him, an ability he lost after the Horcrux was destroyed.
• Seer: A witch or wizard with the gift of Divination, allowing them to see into the future. True Seers are very rare, and their predictions are often involuntary and cryptic. Sybill Trelawney is a descendant of the famous Seer, Cassandra Trelawney.

• J.K. Rowling has stated that the wizarding community's obsession with Blood Status and its persecution of Muggles and Muggle-borns was a deliberate allegory for real-world racism and bigotry. (J.K. Rowling interview).
• On Pottermore, Rowling explained that magical ability is carried by a dominant and resilient “magic gene.” This explains how Muggle-borns can arise from long dormant magical ancestry and how Squibs can occur when the gene fails to activate. (Pottermore).
• The term “Muggle” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003, defined as “a person who is not conversant with a particular activity or skill,” a direct result of the series' cultural impact.