Back in Sorcerer's Stone we had the line, "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal!" I had interpreted it as it being an outrage that the Potters' sacrifice being described as something so mundane, rather than they being unable to be killed in a car crash.

Then we have bludgers in Quidditch. According to the wiki, they are made of iron and ten inches in diameter. Assuming to be made of solid iron, they weigh 149 pounds. And they can keep up with racing brooms, effectively being a flying cannonball in a sport that has not been mentioned to use helmets. Also, magical medicine can't fix death (by shattered skull). Presumably there is some sort of charm to bring the impact to non-lethal levels?

Now we have Newt Scamander giving a Muggle protective gear because his skull will crack under immense forces, while donning no such gear himself.

All this adding up is making me doubt my assumptions. Wizards have been described in fanfiction as being a 'bit' tougher than their non-magical counterparts. We can see that they are not completely immune to non-magical injuries and diseases--they have to use a Pepperup Potion to cure colds. They are capable of magic when underage that protects them--see Neville bouncing when dropped headfirst out a window. Does this protection continue?

How tough do you think a wizard really is?

 

I'm pretty sure you see Harry and others get their share of cuts and scrapes, so it's probably not tougher skin or anything like that. I could go along with the idea that there's some kind of passive magic that protects them, yeah, though probably not as strongly as they age than as when they're kids.

 

Point of order: British wizards don't have a Constitution, they have a Magna Carta.

In all seriousness, though, Newt might not need protective gear because, should the erumpent get too close, he can apparate.

I mean, why not; the later Potter movies, FB especially, have rampant amounts of apparating.

It borders on irritating.

Jacob, though, cannot apparate... or get a loan... or have the brains to make this up. Bakes a mean pastry, though.

 

I think they are physically normal, but can magically avoid and repair stuff that would kill a muggle.

 

I think the bludger point is the most important. Everything else is circumstantial, but in HBP we see Harry get hit in the head with a bludger that would have left any Muggle's head looking like a squashed watermelon. You can't attribute it to the quality of magical healing because for a non-wizard it would be instant death. Therefore there must be something protecting wizards from regular physical harm to a greater extent than Muggles.

The obvious answer to me is magical rather than physical. It's more economical to explain it with a difference between Muggles and wizards that we already know exists (magic) than to create a speculative difference that we don't know exists (physical superiority).

On a related matter, it also seems that wizards are more resistant to obesity. Hogwarts serves generous quantities of rather fattening food, has no routine exercise that we know of, and yet we also know of very few fat characters. A few characters are noted for being a bit pudgy, but the only obese wizard that I can recall is Slughorn, someone who is particularly noted for his enjoyment of the finer things in life. Is seems that a wizard really has to be committed to gluttony to gain weight.

 

Do you think this translates to a magical resistance against ordinary diseases as well? From what I can remember, the only mention of anyone getting sick was from Dragon Pox, a magical disease.

 

In CoS, I think, it was mentioned that people were going to the Hospital Wing to pick up Pepperup Potion to get rid of a cold. So either they aren't immune to common diseases, instead having cures for them that are as easily available as Tylenol, or the common cold is a magical disease, which is why scientists can't come up with a vaccine.

 

There is nothing magical about a common cold.

 

No, they just can easily cure muggle diseases.

(Pottermore: Illness and Disability)

 

Dumbledore himself is living proof that wizards seem a lot more durable than muggles - I doubt you can find a 115 year old who can move as fast as Dumbledore (even stand, really).

 

Or bludgers are enchanted to strike living beings with a limited amount of force.

 

I don't think so. It would have been mentioned in Quidditch Through The Ages.

 

They keep fit with quidditch, trying to navigate vast quantities of moving staircases, running for their lives, lots of calorie-burning spell casting.... aaaand hard-core fucking in every greenhouse, boathouse, alcove, dungeon, broom closet, and 'Come 'N' Go room' available.

He's like a mustachioed, magical, Hedonismbot. He reclines, eats a handful of crystallized pineapple, and says, "Mmm, yes... I told Tom Riddle how to make a horcrux, and I apologize for nothing."

I'm told Benadryl has a magic all its own.

 

Wasn't he 150+ before he was retconned to being 115 on Pottermore?

 

I'm pretty sure that Dumbledore being around 150 was only referenced by Ron, who we can all agree is not the best authority to base someone's age on.

 

Found the interview. A scholastic one from back in 2000.

 

Consider Transfiguration: the art of using magic to alter the fundamental nature of objects, including living organisms. What if the wizard or witch is able to - consciously or unconsciously - manipulate their body to resist damage, repair damage, and/or kill off microorganisms that seek to parasitise or harm them.

This does not, however, offer any explanation as to why magical people continue to age.

 

I always wondered about that actually. Wood took a bludgers to the head (per his own words) and was knocked unconscious where a normal muggle would certain have died. A hunk of iron traveling at a speed great enough to keep up and very nearly surpass the speed of brooms certainly sounds like a cannonball to me. I like the theory that their magic gives them an innate ability which strengthens the fortitude in some manner.

 

The bludgers may be charmed to cushion blows too for all we know.

 

There's also Armando Dippet who died at the ripe age of 355.