In the Harry Potter series, a Muggle is a non-magical person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born in a magical family. Muggles are simply ordinary human beings without any magical abilities and almost always with no awareness of the existence of magic. The term Muggle is sometimes used in a pejorative manner in the novels. Witches and wizards with non-magical parents are called Muggle-borns. Muggle-borns are wizards and witches who are born in Muggle families, like Hermione or Harrys mom. Muggles do not know about magic in general, and the Ministry of Magic has whole departments responsible for keeping magic secret. However, some Muggles do know about magic, such as parents and family members of wizards. The word Muggle is now used in various contexts in which its meaning is similar to the sense in which it appears in the Harry Potter book series.