#gamp family

[poetryandbloods-blog]

Generational suffixes are used to distinguish people who share the same name within a family. Because of this, I now imagine all black men named Sirius as being named Sirius Licorus Black and men named Regulus as being Regulus Arcturus. Cygnus it will be Cygnus Altair.

Hesper was the great-niece of Jasper Gamp, creator of Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. The entire Gamp family was known for its ease of transfiguration.

[konstantynowitz]

Regulus Black (I) — son of Sirius Black (II) and Hesper Gamp

During the childhood of Regulus Black (I) his mother Hesper would encourage him to dress in women’s clothing, which he frequently tended to do. Regulus was known for his more feminine disposition compared to his elder brother Sirius, who embodied the traditional traits of masculinity that their family esteemed.

Regulus would attend balls and parties dressed in female attire, which was widely accepted amongst his family because it was seen to reduce any potential threat he may have posed to his elder brother’s claim as Head of House Black.

In his youth, Hesper would address him as her “sweet little girl” and shower him with affection, often brushing his hair and dressing him in elaborate gowns adorned with lace and ribbons.

The Blacks were very fond of French fashion so Regulus found himself immersed in the latest styles from Paris, even as a child. His mother would bring exquisite dresses and accessories, each piece a testament to the family’s wealth and status.

Only few would make a mockery of him for his “odd” feminine behaviors as they weren't something that French nobles hadn’t been exposed to before. In fact he appeared to be quite indifferent to those who chose to mock him, preferring to embrace his femininity without shame.

Regulus’s homosexuality was no secret. Unlike many wealthy pure-blood heirs of his time, he never hid who he was or even bothered trying to sneak around with the men he was bedding. His most well-known lover was Jasper Voclain, a charismatic and flamboyant man who was notoriously known for his manipulations within the Black family and self-indulgence.

Voclain was of French pure-blood nobility, much like Regulus and his family, but gained much more status and wealth through his association to the Blacks. It would be a lie if it was said that he didn't take advantage of his relationship with Regulus, since the young Black provided funds for his lover's extravagant lifestyle (and eccentric wardrobe).

He was an absolute headache for Regulus's elder brother Arcturus, who prided himself on maintaining the family’s reputation and upholding the traditions of their lineage. Jasper’s flamboyance and penchant for drama often clashed with Arcturus's desire for stability within the family.

On one occasion Voclain, during a ball for an inner circle of pure-blood elites, jumped up onto one of the tables and threatened to assassinate Arcturus as a joke. Of course, he wasn't serious about the threat and said it more as a jest than anything else, but when he raised his wand at the young heir of the Black family, Voclain was immediately detained and sent into house arrest.

Jasper would spend his time in an opulent manor, his only punishment being that he could not go beyond the estate's lands, nor could he have any contact with Regulus, whatsoever.

Arcturus knew that Jasper would have never even dared to kill him, especially in such a public setting, but he despised the man and ordered for his "imprisonment" to spite Voclain.

Soon enough, Jasper would be permitted to return back to society, not even feeling the slightest bit of shame for what he did at the party. He walked the streets of France with his head held high with many people not even paying notice to him as they were used to his antics at this point.

Without penalty, Voclain slipped back into his life with Regulus, his charm and entitled disposition remaining intact as he picked up where he left off with his lover (much to the chagrin of Arcturus who wished the leech would just disappear from his life for good).

Oftentimes, it seemed to Arcturus that Jasper was bleeding the Black family's coffers dry, indulging in extravagant parties, lavish gifts, and ostentatious displays. It frustrated him that Regulus was allowing this to happen, the man seemingly accepting how much of a financial burden his lover was becoming.

Eventually, Arcturus had enough and cut Jasper off of all financial access to the Black family fortune, forbidding Regulus to waste a penny on the man. The eldest Black brother's decision to keep at bay was a drastic measure, but one he felt was necessary to protect the family's reputation as people were starting to notice the House of Black allowing themselves to be taken advantage of by a simple pure-blood noble.

As a result, Voclain was left to continue his lavish lifestyle at his own expense, which would later cause him to whine and complain to Regulus about how he could "barely" support himself and was "hardly getting by" using his money alone.

Regulus knew that his lover was dramatizing his current situation, as Jasper did with most inconveniences he crossed paths with during his spoiled and entitled life. He had grown accustomed to Voclain’s flair for the theatrical, but this time it felt different. The melodrama was grating, pulling at the seams of Regulus’s patience.

“Regulus, you simply don’t understand!” Voclain exclaimed, pacing the room with exaggerated gestures. “I’m practically destitute! How can you possibly expect me to live in such a squalor?"

Regulus sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. “Jasper, you’re not destitute. You still have more than most. This is about making better choices, okay? Just stop overindulging.”

“Choices? You mean living like a peasant?” Voclain shot back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “What’s next? Shall we start brewing our own potions instead of buying them from the market?”

At this point Regulus is just done with his theatrical lover, rolling his eyes murmuring something along the lines of how Jasper has never even brewed a potion in his life before.

[hiwaga-fucks-up]

watch me scour genealogy sites and 10th century manuscripts for the history of my characters' last names so that i could assign their families plausible territories from different charters of defunct lordships the domesday book only to decide that they have no more political power and not even show up on the fic

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hello! I wanted to ask about your analysis of Cedricd Diggory and his family, especially because people are unsure of whether his blood status is pure-blood or half-blood since there's not much about his mother, his nationality; only prominent figure of their bloodline was Eldritch Diggory— unknown blood status and a British wizard who served as the fourth Minister for Magic of the British Ministry of Magic. Wouldn't that tidbit add to possible wealth for the Diggory family as they're descendants of him?

Like, we don't have canon answers, so I have speculations, headcanons, and theories — but that's something I do here often.

Not much is known about Eldrich Diggory, but all the three ministers that came before him (Gamp, Rowle, and Parkinson) were all purebloods and likely Wizengamot members (Gamp canonically was and I assume the others were too). So, I think it's reasonable to assume that the Diggories, at least back then, were purebloods and members of the Wizengamot.

Amos Diggory (Cedric's dad) works in the ministry and seems quite prideful in his son and family — suggesting they might still be involved in the Wizengamot. We also know they lived near the Weasleys and Lovegoods around Ottery St Catchpole which is a wizard-only village, which indicates, again, that they at least used to be pureblood and might still be. (The Weasleys and Lovegoods are both purebloods who live in Ottery St Catchpole, so, it suggests the Diggorys' blood status is similar).

They also seem to have enough disposable income for the Quidditch World Cup which they seem to have paid for:

“Had to get up at two, didn’t we, Ced? I tell you, I’ll be glad when he’s got his Apparition test. Still . . . not complaining . . . Quidditch World Cup, wouldn’t miss it for a sackful of Galleons — and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy. . . .�� Amos Diggory peered good-naturedly around at the three Weasley boys, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny. “All these yours, Arthur?”

(GoF)

Mrs. Diggory also declines when Harry tries to give them Cedric's Triwizard winnings (yes, it was a choice fueled by morality, but it still implies they aren't short on money since a 1000 Galleons is a lot). Cedric also says this:

“Hi,” said Cedric, picking up a copy of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration that was now splattered with ink. “My bag just split ... brand-new and all ...”

(GoF)

So, again, the Diggories live comfortably and can buy a brand-new bag for every school year.

So, they seem to be well off, not Malfoy-rich, but doing well. I'd call them solidly a middle-class or even upper-middle-class family. They are likely still Wizengamot members, with Amos having a nice position in the ministry (though, nothing is known about it beyond the department). They were pureblood-ish around the 1700s. That being said, the Diggories are not listed in the Sacred 28, which could be either for Cantankerus Nott's resentment towards a Diggory of his time or that by the 1930s the Diggories were known as not pureblood anymore. There isn't really anything to say either way, but I find it more likely they married half-bloods and muggleborns throughout the years rather than muggles due to where they live (they live in a wizard-only village and go to school only with wizards, they have little to no opportunities to even meet muggles, so I think it's unlikely they married muggles. Again, not because of prejudice, but due to the fact they likely never really met any).

Mrs. Diggory, specifically, is implied to be a witch since she visits Hogwarts:

“Professor,” Harry mumbled, “where are Mr. and Mrs. Diggory?” “They are with Professor Sprout,” said Dumbledore. His voice, which had been so calm throughout the interrogation of Barty Crouch, shook very slightly for the first time. “She was Head of Cedric’s house, and knew him best.”

(GoF)

While the Fantastic Beasts movies showed a muggle at Hogwarts, this is a retcon considering muggles won't even be able to see the school due to how muggle-repelling charms work in the books:

The tricky part was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn’t visible to the Muggle eye.

(CoS)

“This is it,” said Hagrid, coming to a halt, “the Leaky Cauldron. It’s a famous place.” It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn’t pointed it out, Harry wouldn’t have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn’t glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn’t see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. 

(PS)

So, Cedric is essentially pureblood (I mean, his mom could be a muggleborn or half-blood but she's clearly a witch) as both his parents are wizards, he grew up around the Wizarding World his entire life and probably never met a muggle.

So, to summarise:

I think they have money, though I don't expect them to be super rich. I place them as an upper-ish middle-class. Like, they have disposable income and a very comfortable lifestyle, but they aren't the Malfoys or even the Blacks or Longbottoms (yes, I think the Longbottoms are pretty rich).

They might've been richer in the past, but by the 1990s they just don't give me the vibes that they are super rich, but they're doing well, yk?

They probably used to be a pureblood family around the 1700s

They may have started marrying in muggleborns/half-bloods between then and the 1930s or a Diggory angered Cantankerus Nott at some point.

They likely had a Wizengamot seat in the 1700 and it's very possible they still do.

Cedric is either pureblood or half-blood (his mom is a witch, but her blood status is unknown). Either way, he was raised very much like a pureblood with little to no muggle influences. I usually think of him as pureblood as it seems more likely to me.

[howlingday]

Baboon! Fauno jaune

Cardin: Te reto aún duelo para quedarme con tu harem

Jaune: Qu-

Cardin noquea a jaune de un golpe frente a la mirada atónica de rwbypn

Cardin: Lo hize ahora su harem me pertenece

Pyrrha:

Weiss: Lo hizo derrotó a jaune

Blake: No lo puedo creer

Ruby: Ni siquiera le dio una oportunidad

Yang: Ahora sólo hay una cosa que tenemos que hacer

Nora: ¡A EL!

Cardin: Eso es ahora pónganse en fila y empece-

Es interrumpido por una patada voladora propinada por pyrrha

El resto procede seguir la iniciativa y procede a golpear a el agresor

Yang: ¡traten de no apuntar a la cabeza! ¡quiero que siga consciente!

Ruby: ¡¿Yang es en serio?! ¡tiene aura! ¡le puedo disparar en la cara!

Blake: ¡No podras fanfarrónear más cuando ponga mis manos en tu gargante y te ahorque!

Nora: ¡Golpeen las rodillas! ¡Le partiremos las piernas!

Weiss: ¡¿Cabeza?! ¡¿cara?! ¡¿garganta?!¡¿rodillas?! ¡¿piernas?! ¡VAMOS POR LA ENTREPIERNA!

Pyrrha: ¡TRAIGANME A MILO! ¡SE LA METERE POR EL CULO!

Hecho de la diversión en un documental un baboon alpha fue atacado y derrotado por un baboon usurpador para quedarse con su harem, las hembras no se lo tomaron bien y procedieron a atacar y ahuyentar al usurpador y posteriormente se quedaron con el alpha

Baboon!Faunus Jaune

Cardin: I challenge you for your harem!

Jaune: Wha-

Cardin knocks out Jaune with one blow in front of RWBYPN's astonished gaze.

Cardin: I did it! Now his harem belongs to me!

Pyrrha: ...

Weiss: He did defeat Jaune.

Blake: I can't believe it.

Ruby: He didn't even give it a chance.

Yang: Now there's only one thing we have to do...

Nora: TO HIM!

Cardin: That's it now get in line and start-

He is interrupted by a flying kick from Pyrrha. The rest proceed to follow the initiative and proceed to hit the aggressor.

Yang: Try not to aim for the head! I want him to stay conscious!

Ruby: Yang, are you serious?! He has aura! I can shoot him in the face!

Blake: You won't be able to brag anymore when I put my hands on your throat and choke you!

Nora: Knock your knees! We'll break his legs!

Weiss: Head?! Face?! Throat?! Knees?! Legs?! LET'S GO FOR THE CROTCH!

Pyrrha: BRING ME MILO! I'LL PUT IT UP YOUR ASS!

Fun fact! In a documentary, an alpha baboon was attacked and defeated by a usurper baboon to keep his harem. However, the females did not take it well and proceeded to attack and drive away the usurper, subsequently staying with the previous alpha.

--------------------------------------------------

Jaune: (90s) Mm...

Arc G. G. Grandchild: Gamp-Gamp Jaune? What's the most important thing in life?

Jaune: ...

Jaune: (Taken from his family)

Jaune: (Beaten relentlessly)

Jaune: (Hears doctor giving Jaune 'til 22)

Jaune: (Meets Ruby)

Jaune: (Meets Pyrrha)

Jaune: (Meets RWBYNPR)

Jaune: (Smiles) Friends...

Fun Fact! Recent studies have shown that baboons who were placed into less-than-ideal conditions, such as those born to low-ranking mothers, during droughts, and-or in crowded troops are estimated to live shorter lives. However, these life expectancies increase exponentially if and when baboons form more and more friendships with other baboons. Simply put, the secret to a long and happy life for baboons is friendship.

[regulusblackslover]

The Whispers will be our Undoing

Regulus Black x FtM Reader x ???

Chapter I

Chapter I, Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter IV

Summary: The strange curiosity of a muggle born wizard terrible at most magic and Regulus Black of the everlasting house of Black as well as another tragic face fall in love and overcome the challenges of the Wizarding world

Read TW’s and Author Note Here

Word Count: 1.175k

Regulus Black had sworn to never love, not after he so desperately watched his parents hate each other to the point where their hate spread to him and his brother. And it didn’t help Regulus’ mind that his brother had abandoned him for some boy who didn’t even reciprocate his affections. With that Regulus had despised the shows of affection he received, being in his 4th year of Hogwarts he had received countless love letters, confessions, and the endless abundance of stares with giggles. To say he hated it was an understatement, each letter he burned with “Confringo” and each confession he scoffed and mocked the speaker till they in most cases ran away crying or furiously stomped away. As for the stares he couldn’t do much about it but it helped to be friends with fellow slytherins and those of pure-blood supremacy which he did not stand for but at least spared him from his parents disappointment. He had even made it to advanced potions and professor slughorn's infamous slug club. While none of his friends, which had been a small number, had made it into the slug club with him, he had at least two acquaintances of which there was Severus Snape who was a year above him and Theodore Nott who was in his year. As well as the unfortunate presence of Lucius Malfoy who he had a strong intolerance for but kept it to himself out of fear for the male. Then there was you, he had hardly noticed you at first not until there had been a debate on Gamp’s Laws of Elemental Transfiguration and the argument that was being presented and debated forgot a crucial piece of information in which it was so niche that none of them had noticed until you had spoken up. You neutrally yet somehow confidently pointed out the crucial fact causing Malfoy to scoff and further deliberation take place. That is the first time Regulus had noticed you. From there you seemed to pop up everywhere from in the Slytherin common room to his charms class, to Defence against the Dark Arts, to potions. Regulus didn’t mind your presence but just felt it was odd and so he started to observe you. He noticed how you rarely talked to anyone, only a couple words with Severus Snape who seemed at least like a friend to you but on a very low level. Furthermore he had noticed your lack of magical ability, your tremendous lack of magical ability to his surprise, you could barely cast a spell, yet you were a genius in magical theory and excelled in magical creatures and potions. You were an enigma to Regulus Black. So much to a point that he slowly decided to move closer to you. It first started by him moving across from you in potions, scaring away some Gryfindor who had been flirting with you, it then led to him making brief small strictly occasional conversation at the slug club meetings. Months had passed and he slowly crept closer to you. He had found out a couple things, one you were born to muggles and were from a strictly muggle line the first wizard in your family, two you had wanted to work at the ministry of magic and revolutionise their way of interacting with muggles and work to undermine pure-blood supremacy and then retire to be a professor he then saw what made you a slytherin, three you had a pet kneezale that you had disguised as a cat and affectionately called Link who was very protective over you and seemed to be in love with Regulus, and four you had loved to read into the depths of the night below the glowing windows of the slytherin common room. And Regulus had learned one thing about himself and that was that he loved to be in your presence. 

You and Regulus had formed a habit of sorts every sunday night at midnight when most of the Slytherin house was sleeping off their drunkenness from their weekend partying, you and Regulus would meet up in the common room and sit in the pair of chairs in the farthest corner that's only light came from the large church light windows that glowed. Then you would read you each had your respective book and you would sit in silence enjoying the others company and your novels. What either of you failed to realise is that sometimes one of you would stop reading, your eyes wandering to the other and a stare that could only be described as one filled with fondness watching the others slight reactions but moreover you would snap back to your own book. What neither of you would acknowledge is the fact that either of you only got through a couple of chapters when both of you knew you could easily get through full novels during that time. 

From there you slowly talked more, of course only in places in which you both would go unnoticed so as to not ruin his reputation(your words not his). Places such as the furthest corner of the library, and small notes during classes became your sanctuary. Soon enough you considered him a friend and a close one at that. Many times while his friends would choose to go to Hogsmeade he would lie claiming he had unfinished homework or other various tasks of course his friends were unconvinced that the Regulus Black was behind but they let it slide anyway. Those times you could freely walk around Hogwarts as it was a ghost town that's when the two of you got to rejoice. You got to spend the majority of the day together and neither of you had any objection to it.

Regulus was always astounded by you, you who were so mortal that he feared everyday you would shatter and you would be snuffed out. He was raised in the noble house of Black, he lived in the Noble house of Black, and there they believed in immortality, that they were better than mortals, by the will of their pure blood and being a wizard they were not bound to the same laws of time and death which was true in many many ways. Afterall many great wizards lived past the average muggle lifespan but you, you who were from muggle parents, were terrible with magic, and had no interest in living longer than nature intended you to( a conversation that made Regulus infuriated). For those reasons you seemed to Regulus the definition of mortal and for that he feared for you as what he deemed from a friends perspective. You however were astounded by Regulus, the boy who had such warmth and love but who acted quite frankly like a cold hearted prick who couldn’t give a damn about anyone. You feared that the light that shone from him may be snuffed out at the hands of the society he was a part of. Of course this is what you believed from a friend's perspective.

Thank you for reading <3

[luminousfumbling]

I just spent 3 1/2 hours making a Black family tree and so I’m going to share some of my findings. (No clue if all of this is 100% correct, I tried to double check everything as best I could but I’m very sleep deprived)

Sirius and Regulus have the same aunt (Druella Black (neé Rosier) as Evan Rosier. Making Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa Evan’s cousins on their mother’s side (Regulus and Sirius being the sisters’ cousins on their father’s side).

One of Sirius and Regulus’ great-grandfather’s brother’s daughters (Callidora) married into the Longbottom family.

Another one of their great-grandfather’s brother’s daughters (Cedrella) married into the Weasley family (and was disowned for it). Cedrella and her husband Septimus were Arthur Weasley’s parents.

And their great-grandfather’s brother’s third daughter (Charis) married into the Crouch family.

Sirius and Regulus’ grandfather’s sister (Dorea) married (Charlus) into the Potter family (I couldn’t find how close they are to James Potter but its been theorized that Charlus could be James’ distant cousin or uncle).

Sirius and Regulus’ uncle (by marriage) was also Molly (neé Weasley) Fabian, and Gideon Prewett’s uncle.

Elladora Black (never married or had children) was the one who would behead house elves when they got too old. She was the sister of Phineas Nigellus Black (the first) who was the oldest descendent of the black family tree that I could find and the whole Black family can be traced back to him and his wife, Ursula. (He had three other siblings and two were never married and the other, Iola, married a muggle, Bob Hitchens) (They might have had two kids but I can’t be certain and I don’t know what their names are or if they were magical.) Phineas Nigellus Black was also both Walburga and Orion’s great-grandfather.

There were also women with the last names Bulstrode, Macmillan, Yaxley, Crabbe, Rosier, Gamp, and Flint that married into the family (and Greengrass if you want to include Draco’s wife, though he was a Malfoy since his mother lost her maiden name when she married). The Men who married into the family (or really that the women married out of the family to) were Hitchens, Burke, Crouch, Longbottom, Weasley, Prewett, Malfoy, Tonks, and Lestrange.

[seriousbrat]

gamp's law of elemental transfiguration

I was talking about this briefly in @fiendishfyre's replies but I love thinking about magical theory and expanding on it beyond what we're given in canon (honestly class scenes in fics are some of my favourite to write). So I'm going to take a stab at filling in the blanks of this tantalising (for me. lol) bit of lore we get from Hermione. Also I know the magic system in HP is silly and doesnt make sense, I just like thinking about it for fun.

So we don't actually know what the law is. We just know that there are five Principal Exceptions to it, one of these being food:

"Your mother can’t produce food out of thin air, no one can. Food is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration... It’s impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, you can increase the quantity if you’ve already got some..."

So what could the others be? These are my suggestions:

Food. the known exception, but there's more to it, as I'll explain next:

Life. True life. We see that animals can be conjured; however my belief is that this is more an 'illusion of life'- those aren't really animals that could run away and become one with nature, rather they're imitations that would quickly die. In keeping with the first exception, these animals also wouldn't provide nourishment if you ate them. This would also extend to plants- you could conjure a tomato plant but the tomatoes wouldn't actually nourish you if you ate them.* I think this is almost synonymous with the first law, or serves as the explanation for it. The reason they're separate exceptions is because technically food is dead, even though it comes from and provides life- perhaps instead of 'food' it's actually 'nourishment', and Hermione was just kind of oversimplifying. Maybe you can create something that looks like food but doesn't provide nutrition or satiety.

Sapience: you can't create a 'being', a human or a house-elf etc, not even the illusory kind as you can for lesser animals. Barty jr transfigures his dad into a bone which leads me to the kind of creepy idea that you could potentially make a bunch of body parts and put them together into some kind of frankenstein thing, then charm it to move around. But that's obviously not the same thing as creating a human, and it wouldn't be sapient. It's also possible that this 'sapience' might also be understood as 'a soul' which is something that exists in HP lore, as we know. Though perhaps animals have souls too, we don't know.

Inherent magic: while you can create animals, you can't create creatures with inherent magical properties of their own. So you can't transfigure something into a bowtruckle, or summon a phoenix. if this happens in canon at some point then idk lol, but as far as I can recall it never does. It's possible this could also extend to magical objects; right now I can't remember if there's a clear example of this happening in canon either. Probably easier to conjure an item and then charm it, anyway.

Gold: and I mean the metal. Gold is the most magically powerful metal, the 'purest' metal; what alchemists are trying to produce. We know there are alchemists in canon and presumably if it was as easy as transfiguring things into gold it wouldn't be a job lol. My belief is that gold has some inherent magical quality that makes it impossible to produce through magic, which is why it's highly prized by wizards and goblins and used as currency, and why poor families like the Weasleys can't 'conjure more money'.** I'd say that sickles and knuts have trace amounts of gold in them, basically being alloys, and that goblins can tell just by looking at them whether they're real or not. The philosopher's stone breaks this rule, but that's fine imo because that's what alchemists are trying to do, circumvent the rule- and these rules were written by humans trying to understand the nature of magic, so they're not infallible.

All that being said, what could the law itself be?

Another tantalising bit of lore is the question the Ravenclaw door asks McGonagall, and her answer: "Where do Vanished objects go?" / "Into nothingness; that is to say, everything." That line has fascinated me so much that I have it memorised lol, I always imagined there was some big swirly void thing that contained the essence of everything vanished and anything conjured was taken from that pool. It's possible it's just a metaphysical question with no real meaning.

However, I kind of like the idea that all things, all matter, is part of the same mega-thing. So the essence of everything is present in everything else, therefore transfiguration is kind of just shifting the nature of one object through that into another object. I always saw transfiguration as wizard physics and I imagine there are complex algorithms involved lol. Obviously it's magic so there's no way I can fully make sense of it but within this theory, conjuring something would be 'taking' from 'the essence of everything' and Vanishing something would be 'returning' it to 'the essence of everything'. Here's my attempt:

Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration: the essence of everything is present in all things; all things are present in the essence of everything.

Basically, that's saying that all things share the same essential nature and transfiguration is just altering them physically/superficially. even when you seemingly conjure something out of nothing, it's still coming from that 'everything' that McGonagall references, literally out of thin air.

Hence, the exceptions- things like life (which relates to food), sapience/souls, magic (which relates to gold) exist outside of this 'essence of everything' and therefore can't be created.

ANYWAY, this got very metaphysical lol. Perhaps that helps someone with fic-writing or, if you're like me, provides a potential answer to something you've been desperately curious about in the HP lore.

*re: plants, I think there are ways around this to create more permanent plant situations- basically if there is any live plant matter in the vicinity, which is generally likely, one could transfigure those into different plants. in this case you wouldn't be creating life, just changing the nature of the life that's already there. similarly it could be that animals transfigured into other animals would actually exist as those animals.

however, being as how you can't create nourishment, a blade of grass transfigured into a tomato plant would still have the nutritional value of the grass.

** hermione does say that food can be increased in quantity if you already have some. obv if this applies to gold that makes no sense but it doesn't necessarily apply; it could be that multiplying gold, as we see in the Lestrange vault with Geminio, creates 'fool's gold' similar to what Leprechauns produce and that, again, goblins can tell the difference. The explanation being that gold is too magical and pure and special to be multiplied or even magically altered, being the 'purest' metal and the 'final stage' of metal in alchemy. I'm obsessed with alchemy and could write a whole post about this and how it relates to goblins. so i'll stop.

[bowtomycoolscissors]

The Hated Headmaster with his kin (Part 1)

This is my headcanon, and your interpretation of these characters doesn't need to be influenced. Kindly do not take this as verbatim.

I feel like this is something heavily considered:

Cygnus II's branch of the family was heavily overlooked. Not only were they not the second branch but the fourth one. Phineas I had never shown any particular interest in his youngest son at all, which didn't pass down to Pollux or Cassiopeia. Pollux was thought to be too “demeaning and greedy,” while Cassiopeia was “more Bulstrode than Black.” That comment offended Cassiopeia so much that she almost started a physical fight with her grandfather and had to be restrained by her brother and father.

Known to most, Regulus Black I (Arcturus III’s brother) was Phineas Nigellus’s second favourite grandchild, after Arcturus III, of course. He thought of Regulus as more aware, quiet and composed. His favourite granddaughters were Belvina’s daughter and Lycoris. So, it’s quite easy to figure out that Sirius II and Belvina were Phineas Nigellus’s favourites.

The man didn’t approve of Sirius II marrying a Gamp as he considered her too “lowly” for his heir, but when she produced him a grandson, he changed his opinion.

Phineas Nigellus was incredibly infuriated when he found out his namesake had been cavorting with foul muggles and advocating for their rights. The man was very close to disowning Phineas II but decided to have a conversation and perhaps steer him towards the right track; however, Elladora wouldn’t even think of it and forced Phineas Nigellus to blast him off the tree.

Phineas Nigellus never really got to bond with Dorea, since she was 5 when he died (1925).

[griffynbird101]

The Black Family tree is weird as hell (not for the reasons you think)

Hi, so a few days ago I made a post talking about squibs in the Harry Potter world and how JK Rowling doesn’t make sense and in it I mentioned how Cygnus Black was part of a child marriage and that prompted me to scour the Black Family tree for more examples…

It is deeply weird. In more way than one.

First of all; Cygnus was not the only child to have children at 13. His father Pollux also started at 13. This isn’t like a trend in the Black Family; most have children in their 20s and 30s, and the pair have siblings who have children at reasonable ages. It is completely random. Cygnus has 3 children before he finishes Hogwarts so it wasn’t like an accident or anything. I could’ve excused Pollux as a one off thing because he has Walburga but then it’s 13 years before Cygnus is born… but then Cygnus goes and has 3 children before he’s 17 so I don’t know what to think. (Especially since Alphard appears to be older, so why wouldn’t they have Alphard get married instead?? Like why did JK Rowling need to do this?)

There’s also a weird, but not impossible, trend where a bunch of Black Family members just don’t get married or have kids. In a normal family I would say that it made enough sense, but this is a family who puts having Pureblood children above everything so it doesn’t really add up. There are 8 people on the family tree who don’t have children and don’t get disowned (Granted we can cross of Sirius I and Regulus who both die young so it’s more like 6). It’s oddly progressive of a family who also at the same time thinks children are so important that they need to marry off 13 year olds??

Moving away from the topic of marriage; there’s an event that happens in 1990-1992 that I like to call “The Purge of the Parents” where all the remaining Black Family Members who aren’t imprisoned or disowned just die. Like literally, only Narcissa is left. The 5 other living Black family members die in 2 years (3 in 1992). It’s not just the Black Family either, I know Abraxas Malfoy also dies in 1992. There was just this massive genocide of an entire generation within 2 years and it’s not mentioned in the story at all. And while I’m writing this I’m starting to think JK Rowling just really hates Narcissa (“Oh Narcissa is your life going well? Well I’m gonna kill your entire family for no reason. How do you feel about that?”) There’s a massive plague or something that killed all the old people in the wizarding world; Harry was just too dumb to notice.

Unrelated to Marriage or death: Each generation has at least one trio of siblings where the second child is disowned. I like to think at some point the Black Family just collectively agreed that 3 was an unlucky number and they had to disown the middle child on principle. (Like; Alphard didn’t do anything against the family he just give Sirius some money, Cedrella still technically fulfilled the family wishes by marrying a Pureblood just not the right one: They were just looking for excuses at this point)

I’m rambling a lot so I’ll just say this; The Black Family tree is surprisingly not impossible. All the things I mentioned are plausible, but all together it makes for a very improbable and odd family tree. Honestly just leads to believe the family as a whole was incredibly unstable; possibly due to the fact that Purebloods in general are likely inbred due to breeding within the same few families for 1000 years. Also; tragedy for only Narcissa that the entire family just died out.. I get the feeling that it’s actually not… that terrible of a thing.

(Yay for that one Gamp (not sacred 28) in the family tree that everyone collectively decided didn’t exist. New blood was needed)

[in-flvx]

I know you like Lenny Kravitz as a Sirius fc so this obscure trivia may interest you: Sirius’s great grandmother is Hesper Gamp, and the other Gamp family member we know is Ulick Gamp(the magical prime minister in the painting in the muggle prime minister’s office in HBP). Ulick Gamp is portrayed as black on a chocolate frog card in Hogwarts mystery(shitty HP mobile game if you don’t know about it). Don’t ask why I know this lmao

Thank you sweet anon for this trivia!! I didn't know any of it but I appreciate knowing it now! Black house of black is alive and well!!!

[portkcys]

#𝚖𝚊𝚌𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚗. an introduction to ernie.

⌜ leo woodall, cis man, he/him, ⌟  welcome back to hogwarts, ERNIE MACMILLAN ! according to your file, you’re a TWENTY THREE year old PUREBLOOD. as i’m sure you remember, last spring had its challenges, but i’m confident you’ll take your studies more seriously this year. as a FIFTH year HUFFLEPUFF, focusing on HEALING AND MEDICINE, you’ve got a lot on your plate. our records show that you're INDUSTRIOUS and GENEROUS however, they seem to have left off that you're PRIDEFUL and REACTIVE. if i’m correct, you’re siding with THE LIGHT, which makes sense considering you’re known around the castle for smoothing down a perfectly pressed suit, the knowledge that you belong in any room you stand in, a stuffed animal buried under bedsheets, childhood dreams disintegrating under your fingertips, sitting on the roof with your friends to watch the sunset. let’s hope you make it through the year in one piece.

#𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚜.

FULL NAME: ernest cyneweard macmillan

NAME MEANING: ernest | serious and vigour. / cyneweard | royal guard. / macmillan | son of the bald one.

NICKNAME(S): ernie, ern, mac

DATE OF BIRTH: may 30th.

AGE: 23.

GENDER + PRONOUNS: cis man + he/him.

RELIGION: atheist.

#𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜.

FATHER: cyneweard maximillian macmillan. newly strained relationship: cyneweard instilled a deep, almost dangerous, level of pride in his son. after all, they were macmillans: sacred, long-lived, survivors and protectors. it is this that is his downfall. he refuses to see that voldemort has returned, whether out of fear or just disbelief - an opinion that, for possibly the first time in his life, that ernie doesn't share. it's resulted in a chasm opening up between them and there's only a matter of time before they'll have it out.

MOTHER: andromache florence macmillan nee fawley. loving but distant: andromache was a good mother to her only child. she couldn't have anymore children after him, and even though that wasn't a rarity, she doted upon him -- sending care packages and money under the not always so watchful eyes of his father. they're somewhat strained at the minute, as she, most definitively out of terror, has taken her husbands side in believing that voldemort is not dead, but he's still in more contact with her than he is his father.

SIBLINGS: none applicable.

EXTENDED FAMILY: maximilian macmillan (paternal grandfather), briar macmillan nee fudge (paternal grandmother), alcott macmillan (paternal uncle, godfather), dorothea macmillan nee fawley (paternal aunt via marriage, godmother), edmund macmillan (cousin), perseus black (paternal uncle via marriage, deceased), elladora black nee macmillan (paternal aunt), dorea ollivander nee macmillan (paternal aunt), garrick ollivander iii (paternal uncle via marriage), osric fawley (maternal grandfather, deceased), winnifred fawley nee gamp (maternal grandmother, deceased), aeson macdougal (maternal uncle via marriage), isabella fawley macdougal (maternal aunt), morag macdougal (cousin), adira smith (maternal aunt via marriage, godmother), calliope smith nee fawley (maternal aunt, godmother), zacharias smith (cousin), deimos burke (maternal uncle via marriage, estranged), araminta burke nee fawley (maternal aunt, estranged), elspeth burke (cousin), octavian burke (cousin).

PETS: owl named peter, pygmy puff named wendy and a therapy kneazle named lily. 

ORIENTATION: demiromantic, closeted bisexual.

LOYALTY: hufflepuffs, mainly. the light.

#𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜.

HOUSE: hufflepuff. hufflepuff geminis stand out for being geniuses at what muggles like to call 'multitasking'. they can't just work on one project - they need to have eight or nine things going all at once, usually as close to the deadline as possible. they also tend to be a little more outspoken and extraverted than the average hufflepuff, who would rather sit near the back of the classroom and quietly take notes to study later. because they often bite off more than they can chew, they are always complaining of various ailments related to stress.

BLOOD STATUS: pureblood, member of the sacred 28. consists of at least nine generations of purebloods. the macmillan family are closely connected to the following pureblood families: blacks, burkes, smiths, fawleys, ollivanders and the macdougals. a noted entry must also be the fudges, who have been considered pedigreed purebloods for only two generations.

AMORTENTIA: tba.

WAND: acacia, phoenix feather core, 11 1/2 inches, flexible. acacia is a very unusual wand wood which created tricky wands that often refused to produce magic for anyone other than their rightful owner, it also withhelld its best effects from all but the most gifted witches and wizards. this sensitivity rendered them difficult to place. garrick ollivander ii kept only a small stock for those witches or wizards of sufficient subtlety, for acacia was not suited to what was commonly known as 'bangs-and-smells- magic. when well matched, an acacia wand matched any for power, though it was often underrated due to the peculiarity of its temperament. acacia wands were not used often, as in the wrong hands, it would either be overpowered or extremely weak. case in point: ernie's father once took ernie's wand to show him how to perform a spell, and the wand practically revolted from his touch and refused to emit even a singular spark. phoenix feather wands were capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer to reveal this. they showed the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards disliked. they were most picky about potential owners, their allegiance was hard won and they were the most difficult to tame and personalise. ernie has only ever felt his wand act of it's own accord once, and that was to save his life - he has never managed to feel even the slightest bit upset about this fact.

AREA OF STUDY: healing and medicine. the focus of magical healing practices and muggle medicine. ernie is most drawn to muggle surgical methods and devising ways to make them more effectively used as part of magical healing practices, as well as potion inventing.

CLUBS: member of the slug club and the wizarding wireless. ernie has been a member of the slug club since he first started at hogwarts. the wizarding wireless is new, though, something that came about after cedric passed. he couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, and well, he needed something productive to do and the wireless gave him that.

PATRONUS: boar. the wild boar is usually produced by those who are incredibly strong and noble. many who conjure the wild boar are normally down to earth and very reserved, but very dangerous and fierce when threatened. they are quick thinking, clever, and very competitive in battle, making these witches or wizards very confident when challenged. those who conjure the wild boar are incredibly honorable. they are excellent warriors and end to follow closely to tradition. the wild boar patronus normally belongs to those who are willing to fight for their beliefs and who are incredibly loyal. in short, it symbolises strength, power, athleticism, independence, avoidance of unnecessary conflict and defence.

BOGGART: voldemort over his friends corpse. he's never seen voldemort. there aren't any photos printed in newspapers, not even the old ones. just fear, hysteria disguised as normality. he doesn't need to, though. his nightmares provide him more than enough to be able to picture the man himself. the first time he saw his boggart after that lesson in third year - where it was a stone justin, by the way - he threw up.

#𝚙𝚑𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜.

ETHNICITY: white.

NATIONALITY: british.

HAIR: blonde. short, heavily textured with added volume. low fade on the sides. product use is obvious - volumising mousse and matt pomade are preferred. gel is a no-go (what, you think he wants to look like a malfoy?)

EYES: blue.

SKIN: fair, unblemished. ernie takes very good care of his skin. people could call him vain, but he just considers it self-care and a normal part of his routine. okay, yeah, i'll admit the LED light he uses sometimes is a bit much, but who doesn't enjoy their skin looking good?

HEIGHT: 5’10”.

BUILD: mesomorph - athletic, heavy, naturally high muscle to fat ratio, medium bone structure, wide shoulders, narrow hips, ability to easily gain muscle mass, almost appears square. kibbe is natural - romantic.

FACECLAIM: leo woodall.

VOICE CLAIM: leo woodall.

#𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕.

TRAITS: + industrious, + generous, + intelligent, = competitive, = predictable, = obedient, - prideful, - reactive, - anxious.

STRENGTHS: potions, care of magical creatures, defense against the dark arts, natural inclination towards healing magics, rugby (part of an amateur league), apparition (soundless).

WEAKNESSES: transfiguration, divination, natural disinclination to dark magics, has panic attacks, flying.

#𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.

born in norwich, norfolk — he is very much a stereotypical southern posh boy for a good chunk of his life, as well as being the only child and heir to his fathers ‘empire’. 

home schooled until the age of 11 when he was dumped head first into private school (the same one his father attended, no less), where he thrived. 

hit a growth spurt at age 13 and was nigh unrecognisable if not for the same blue of his eyes to the school staff at the beginning of the next term. 

signed a contract at the age of 14 that dictates the terms upon which he is, as the eldest and only son, to inherit the family fortune. one of the terms was that he find a pure or halfblooded wife with whom to have at least one child. 

his family has many hands in many pots — though they keep their hands much cleaner than the malfoy’s do, despite being just as proud as them of their status in society. 

was rather a stout child, and some would say he still is as an adult. but he’s mostly filled out the soft edges with muscle. 

tends to talk about himself when he’s nervous — which comes across as him being arrogant and a bit of a braggart. he comforts himself with possibly mind numbing facts about his long family history. 

he had no interest in choosing magical law for his area of study, much to his father’s chagrin. he instead chose healing — a profession his father had to be reminded is just as impressive. 

often distributes snacks from his care packages around his fellow hufflepuffs. he hates seeing others go hungry, even if they, like him, are too prideful to accept charity. 

suffers from panic attacks and a probably undiagnosed anxiety disorder, which he is unlikely to actually get diagnosed so long as he is under his father’s proverbial thumb. 

regrets his - in retrospect very hasty - actions in calling potter a cheat last year. he could not get out of bed for two days after he came back with cedric’s body, and only did so after hearing how scared one of his best friends sounded. 

he has taken up running when he cannot sleep. read: he has taken up running at any available moment. it clears his mind, gives him room to simply breathe again. rugby helps, too, though that’s more about the bruises left afterwards. 

he’s known about the entrance to the hogwarts kitchens since his first year — whenever the hufflepuffs have anything even small to celebrate, he’ll often be put in charge of putting all the food and drinks together.

his father was approached by voldemort’s followers back before ernie was born. ever since, they’ve been monitored near constantly and everyone who comes to their family home is subject to rigorous background checks. they’ve had their heads forcibly in the sand on the issue of voldemort’s return. 

believes voldemort is back, much to his parents irritation. he has been instructed to keep his head down, to ensure the family name is not muddied by the potter boy’s ‘delusions’. (yes, they know he is 23. no, they do not care that the average 23 year old is not being instructed on how to behave by their parents.) 

he hasn’t been disowned over this but tensions have risen. he spent the last three weeks of the summer holidays with justin rather than stay at home. 

went through a history of magic phase in first year — the boys in his dorm can still recite the names of the trolls in alphabetical order thanks to him jabbering on about it. 

feels incredibly lost, if we’re being honest with each other. he doesn’t like to let it show because he thinks it’s a weakness. the world is turning back to war again and he’s honestly terrified - for himself, for his family, for his friends. 

has had a series of failed relationships that ended in disaster. he, a big believer in the concept of true love, is known as a bit of a bleeding heart despite being, well. ernie. 

producer for the wizarding wireless club, often takes the night shift with luna but is known to show up at 4am for the morning shift, the maniac, bright eyed and bushy tailed to get to work. he has allotted slots to talk about therapy and remind people of the importance of attending your doctor/healer appointments regularly.

#𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍𝚜.

his hufflepuff crew..... his besties his beloveds his bastards? where r u!!!

his platonic soulmate(s)? he says there is more than enough love to go around

childhood friends

friends

people he used to tutor

people he still tutors

his cousins aka my fave hater zacharias smith wya…..?

enemies

academic rivals

exes

a friends with benefits turned soooo messy

bisexual awakening

[teacup-gathering-itself]

I’m fond of the idea that “there are no muggleborn wixen in slytherin” is a cover for them to smuggle new blood into nearly extinct lines and do last minute adoptions.

“Oh Monroe? Yes turns out she’s a descendant of the Gamp line, just had a squib ancestor. We reached out to her great grandmother and they’re willing to teach her the family magic and all, who knows, she might even inherit heirship 🤷”

“See I knew she couldn’t be muggleborn, she’s just got too much innate sense for magic, of course she’s from a pureblood line. Unfortunate she’s on a squib branch but hey, better a squib descendant than an extinct line, right?”

“Hey no one can say Slytherin isn’t good at ancestry, we triple and quadruple check rare family records until we find why you ended up in green while claiming muggle ancestry.”

Literally just a whole underground ancestry revivalist and tradition preservation movement centered around smuggling muggleborns into proper wizarding houses. I think it’s such a fun idea that could be crack or could be like a whole political and legal adventure.

“Oh shit we have THREE eleven year olds who need wizarding last names. WHOS GREAT AUNT WANTS TO TUTOR A CHILD. This one’s good at astronomy, and is interested in runes, the second is super hyped about quidditch and charms, and the third is a little slow but has great intuition for dueling and lying.”

[ao3feed-drastoria]

Black Ascension Dark Descent

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/qCXVIu9 by Meadhbh123 A century changes everything and nothing at all in the noble and most ancient house of Black. An in-depth, inside exploration of the workings, dynamics, and political machinations of the Black Family from the night that Phineas Black, second son of Phineas Nigellus Black, headmaster of Hogwarts, is disowned in 1896 to the immediate aftermath of the second wizarding war when all that remains of a fractured family is a long line of graves for people too young to die, various members with intense dislike for each other, and very few members from a legitimate, pure line of the family. "You're little so you don't understand," "How could you possibly understand, you're still so young," Words spoken decades apart, but which haunt members of the Black family. "In this family we don't tolerate mud," "You're leaving us, for a mudblood?" Words spoken decades apart, that have echoed in every generation with the very utterance of the family motto "toujours pur". Words: 1033, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M Characters: Phineas Nigellus Black, Sirius Black II | Hesper Gamp Black's Husband, Phineas Black II | Phineas Nigellus Black's Son, Cygnus Black II | Violetta Bulstrode Black's Husband, Belvina Black Burke, Arcturus Black II | Arthur Weasley's Grandfather, Hesper Gamp Black, Violetta Bulstrode Black, Herbert Burke, Lysandra Yaxley Black, Arcturus Black III | Sirius Black's Grandfather, Lycoris Black | Daughter of Hester Gamp Black, Regulus Black I | Hesper Gamp Black's Son, Melania Macmillan Black, Pollux Black, Cassiopeia Black, Marius Black, Dorea Black Potter, Irma Crabbe Black, Charlus Potter, Callidora Black Longbottom, Cedrella Black Weasley, Charis Black Crouch, Harfang Longbottom, Septimus Weasley, Caspar Crouch, Lucretia Black Prewett, Orion Black, Ignatius Prewett, Walburga Black, Alphard Black, Cygnus Black III | Walburga Black's Brother, Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Andromeda Black Tonks, Narcissa Black Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange, Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Ted Tonks, Lucius Malfoy, Nymphadora Tonks, Draco Malfoy, Delphi (Harry Potter), Remus Lupin, Astoria Greengrass, Teddy Lupin Relationships: Hesper Gamp Black/Sirius Black II | Hesper Gamp Black's Husband, Cygnus Black II | Violetta Bulstrode Black's Husband/Violetta Bulstrode Black, Belvina Black Burke/Herbert Burke, Arcturus Black II | Arthur Weasley's Grandfather/Lysandra Yaxley Black, Arcturus Black III | Sirius Black's Grandfather/Melania Macmillan Black, Irma Crabbe Black/Pollux Black, Charlus Potter/Dorea Black Potter, Callidora Black Longbottom/Harfang Longbottom, Cedrella Black Weasley/Septimus Weasley, Caspar Crouch/Charis Black Crouch, Ignatius Prewett/Lucretia Black Prewett, Orion Black/Walburga Black, Cygnus Black III | Walburga Black's Brother/Druella Rosier Black, Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Rodolphus Lestrange, Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Voldemort, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/qCXVIu9

[hollowed-theory-hall]

What are your thoughts on this class division in wizarding society?

What percentage of the population do you believe would be considered upper class? It seems that within the Sacred Twenty-Eight, only families like the Malfoys and Lestranges could truly be considered extremely wealthy. In contrast, the Black family seems more like an example of old money in decline — where their generational wealth was being spent on lavish lifestyle without replenishing their fortune, as suggested by the state of properties like 12 Grimmauld Place, and unlike the Malfoys, they don't seem to own other estates, such as Malfoy Manor.

It's hard to imagine that at least half of pureblood families still belong to the upper class. Most have likely fallen to the middle class, or at best, the upper middle class. This decline in status seems to be the root of their discontent, fueled by a perceived loss of wealth and influence compared to previous generations.

It's likely that purebloods were displaced by half-bloods, who increasingly rose into the upper ranks of society. This shift could explain why so many purebloods were drawn to Voldemort's promises of restoring their power over those of "lesser" blood. They failed to see how their own ambitions would ultimately lead to their downfall.

Hello 👋

I have a lot of thoughts about this and the short of them is:

I don't think blood status has much to do with class because almost everyone is essentially a pureblood and muggleborns and actual half-bloods (with a muggle parent) are in the minority.

I don't think there is a pureblood decline in their society and class isn't really the issue with blood purity, it's just plain ol' bigotry.

I think the Sacred 28 is bullshit and that many purebloods in-universe don't take it all that seriously.

The full essay is under the cut because it got kinda long:

Honestly, I don't think blood status is all that connected with class in the wizarding world, tbh. Like, I talked about this in the first post in this blog, but I think, like, 70% of their population would be considered "pureblood", as in four wizard grandparents. Like, muggleborns are only about 5% of their population, and the majority of the magical population in Britain are ones I won't consider half-blood since technically all their immediate family is magical. So, really, it depends on what you consider "pureblood" and that would depend on how bigoted you are.

The Sacred 28 doesn't include even a third of the families I would consider "pureblood". The Pureblood Dictionary was written by Cantankerous Nott in the 1930s, and this context should be taken into account. He wasn't an unbiased source, and he didn't necessarily even do proper research into the genealogy of families that didn't feel pureblood enough to him (like the name "Potter" sounding too muggle to him) so let's take his writing with a grain of salt. It's also pretty clear families like the Blacks don't see the Sacred 28 as the be all end all since they marry other families which are pureblood but not in the dictionary, like Gamp or Potter, so clearly, many blood purists also take Cantankerous' book with a grain of salt.

Now, I think, since the majority of the population is what I at least would consider purely magical, blood purity doesn't correspond to class. The Weasleys are pureblood, and they are clearly portrayed as poorer and the family seemed to have been lower class for a while. The Prewetts (Molly's family), probably used to be more wealthy but have declined in recent years (from Muriel's behavior, the heirloom tiara, and such, it always seemed to me she was used to a better lifestyle and treatment. Also, Molly's mother was Lucretia Black, giving more evidence to this idea). We saw the Gaunts who were also on the decline in their most recent generations living in a rundown shack.

In the case of the Black family though, I don't think they were in that bad of a state. They clearly had money, I mean, buying the super expensive Firebolt didn't make a dent in Sirius' inheritance that he kept living off of. And they clearly lived in luxury before all the family died out, so I don't think they were that much on the decline. They probably weren't at the peek of their wealth, but they were far from struggling.

I think the state of Grimmauld Place has more to do with Walburga's and Kreacher's mental health rather than money problems. Also, I wouldn't say they don't have any other houses, we don't actually know that. Personally, I always read it as Sirius and Regulus clearly not growing up in the same house as the Black sisters, so I assume there are other houses that at least belonged to the Black family. Let's not forget that until a generation ago, there were quite a few of them around.

And, yeah, sure, the Potters are new money rich (from Sleekezyes) and aren't sacred 28, but the Potters are an old enough pureblood family the Blacks didn't disown Dorea for marrying into. This suggests that they are seen, in universe, as very much an old and established pureblood family in the UK and that the reason they aren't in the sacred 28 is Cantankerous Nott bias. So, again, the Potters aren't an example of half-bloods becoming more relevant or purebloods being on the decline.

The Crouchs are part of the sacred 28 and are clearly wealthy since they have a house elf, which is expensive and a sign of prestige:

“Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they’ll be rich,” said Fred. “Yeah, Mum’s always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing,” said George.

(CoS)

Also, the fact Crouch had incredibly influential ministry positions before and after the scandal with his son (you need to be very rich and very well connected to remain a department head after that at all, even if it is a less prestigious department).

The Malfoys are sacred 28 and are clearly very rich. We know they made most of their money from land they got in the Norman conquest and later muggle dealings, so that money is old. But we don't see them in decline until Voldemort returns. Lucius is living his best life, throwing away money on brooms for the Slytherin team, sitting on the board of governors, and having the minister's ear. Clearly, purebloods who had influence didn't all lose it.

The Smith family descends from Helga Hufflepuff, they are clearly pureblood but they aren't sacred 28 (name is too muggle). We also know they are pretty rich, both from Zacharias' behavior and from the fact Hepzibah Smith owned a house elf.

Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle (only the Parkinsons are Sacred 28 but Crabbes and Goyles are clearly pureblood as well) are likely living very comfortably, but they're not as wealthy as the Malfoys or Blacks. As Pravati seems to know at least Pansy from before school:

“Shut up, Malfoy,” snapped Parvati Patil. “Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?” said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. “Never thought you’d like fat little crybabies, Parvati.”

(PS)

I assume the Patils are seen as pureblood (even if they aren't on the sacred 28) and have about the same level of money as the Parkinsons do. I mean, I don't see Pansy’s parents being friendly with someone who isn't pure enough for their standards.

So, I don't think class is inherently tied to blood status since, as I said, most of the population is essentially pureblood, and it won't make sense for all the population to be rich aristocrats, that's not how this works. I also don't think there is necessarily a pureblood "decline" that created the antagonism towards muggleborns, most rich and influential characters we see are pureblood or essentially pureblood since they were raised by wizard parents in the wizarding world. I also think the tension around blood status is way less justifiable. Like, I don't think it has a good reason like that — it's just bigotry, and it has existed for centuries. It ain't new.

We see blood purist purebloods, or half-bloods reach very high positions in the ministry. It's muggleborns who seem to be struggling to get offers for ministry positions since they don't know anyone who could pull them in (since the ministry runs on connections, which is where the Slug Club comes in for talented muggleborns). In both wars with Voldemort, the ministry was Death Eaters. Many Death Eaters or other blood purists already had high ministry positions, just waiting for Voldemort to take over and let them do what they wanted with them: Lucius, Umbridge, Yaxley, Rookwood (in the first war), Runcorn, and many more since we don't have all the names.

In the first war, Arthur said it was 20:1:

Oh, Molly, come on, it’s about time you got used to hearing it — look, I can’t promise no one’s going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we’re much better off than we were last time, you weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one...”

(OotP)

As the first Order had 22 members in the photo Moody showed Harry, that would place the estimated number of Death Eaters at 440 (or more), which is an insane number to their measly population size of max 7,000 and would explain why the Death Eaters range multiple classes of wealth considering the sheer amount of members and sympathizers.

The reason the Death Eaters could take over so easily twice was because they had their own people in key positions. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the Carrows or Macnairs are particularly wealthy or influential, but they aren't suffering either. It's not that muggleborns took their status and positions. They didn't. There are very few muggleborns in the ministry (and in their population as a whole). And actual half-bloods who have a muggle parent are a minority as well. I'd estimate up to 90% of wizards grew up in the wizarding world with wizard parents. (Tonks is considered a half-blood, but her father is a muggleborn; he's a wizard, and she grew up in the wizarding world, so she barely counts as a half-blood as she lived around magic all her life). So, I don't think the tension about blood status comes from any fear for their traditions or lifestyles or their status being taken away by half-bloods — because I don't think anything like that is happening. Not really.

We even see muggleborns like Hermione choose to assimilate, embrace everything the wizarding world is, and forsake their muggle upbringing, which is likely something Ted Tonks did as well. It's not purebloods who have their lifestyles change, it's muggleborns who assimilate into the new world they enter. It's why Hermione learns and reads as much as she does, it's why past the first year she quietly stops mentioning her muggle parents and spends less and less time in the muggle world.

I do want to note, regarding class, that all wizards do go to the same school, so wealth and class clearly don't register to them the same way they do to us. I think it's less cut and dry for them because of how small the population is.

Like, if you want to marry only wizards, you have like 6,200-7,000 max people in the population. Looking at only those around your age, it would bring you down to like 400, maybe 500 wizards/witches. Cut that in half since you're probably gonna be looking for a het match, so you have 200-250 candidates. Let's say you're a blood supremacist so we remove all muggleborns and half-bloods from the list, and we're down to about 140. Remove families of blood traitors or ones you can't be with because they're too closely related to you, and you're down to less than 100 probably. And then, if you cut this down more by class and wealth, purebloods would have an even smaller possible genetic pool. And most of them don't want to end up like the Gaunts, they know marrying too close is a bad thing. In the Black family tree, the only close marriage we see is between Orion and Walburga and they were second cousins, which isn't that genetically close. So I think there is quite a lot of movement between classes and that most families are way less concerned about class than about blood.

To summarise, I see class in the wizarding world as not super strict and there is quite a bit of movement. As most wizards are wizard-raised, blood status doesn't matter to wealth or class all that much and you see old money and newer money working together (Lucius and Fudge) along with poorer people of similar blood status working with them (Macnair and the Carrows).

(I always got the vibe from Macnair he is lower middle class at most: “Macnair . . . destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry of Magic now, Wormtail tells me? You shall have better victims than that soon, Macnair. Lord Voldemort will provide. ...”, and the Carrows aren't giving aristocrat vibes either)

Like irl, there are a lot of variations. You have old families who were always well off but not extremely rich until recently (Potter) you have old money that's still living and kicking (Malfoy, Crouch), you have old money in decline (Prewett and Gaunt, to a more extreme degree), and you have rich families (although less than the Malfoys) with really shitty luck where the money is still there but there's no family to use it (Black). We also have poor families (like the Weasleys. Also Umbridge's family was quite poor, it was a half-blood family, btw, since her mother was a muggle).

The majority of wizards probably fall into the range in between — the middle class. With some on the upper end of this scale (Parkinson, Patil, Longbottom) and some on the lower end (Macnair, Carrows). Characters like Seamus and Lavender are also clearly somewhere comfortable in the middle class. Slughorn is another Sacred 28 name and the man seems used to spending and luxury, but he isn't extremely rich either, so I usually place him in the upper end of the middle class.

Additionally, the Pureblood Dictionary (where the sacred 28 are from) is bullshit and most pureblood families don't treat it as the end all be all, but more as a useful resource along with other resources. (my headcanon is that Cantankerous Nott wrote it to assure everyone of his own blood purity. JKR said in the past the Notts are as pureblood as the Malfoys, and we know the Malfoys have married muggles in the past... so...)

So, yeah... these are my thoughts, it's not all that organized, but I hope it makes sense.

[uefb]

Chapter One of Aimez-vous les uns les autres (Love One Another) posted today, sequel to Far Away from Temple After Sunset

Summary: It’s Christmas Eve and the first night of Hanukkah when Newt and Tina are injured in an action against Grindelwald, whereafter they are evacuated with Theseus & co. by the Magical Resistance to a small church in rural France. Dealing with curse-exhaustion, landmine injuries, and travel through Nazi- and Grindelwald-occupied regions isn’t how either of them expected to spend the holidays, but—-in the big scheme of things—-there were, arguably, worse ways to finish 1940… In the end, the experience brings them closer together and—-back in England—-holidays with their families give them paradoxical hope for shared peace in the years to come. (Written for @afrenchaugurey!)

Excerpt (opening scene):

Newt had woken up in an extraordinary number of incredibly strange places in his life, but—for him—coming to on top of a hay bale in the back of a Muggle lorry was really maybe the strangest.

In fact, if he weren’t so groggy, he certainly would have done more than a double-take to find his injured leg elevated on the thighs of what appeared to be an actual Christian pastor, sitting on the haystack directly beside him. Newt moved his arm to scratch at his nose then, only to fuzzily realise he’d been warmly tucked into what was definitely said pastor’s clerical robes, so he ultimately only succeeded in hitting himself in the face with its massive sleeves...

The pastor had looked up at him by then to offer a smile, but Newt’s mind still wasn’t up to its normal speed—though his heart felt like it was pounding doubletime—so he broke the gaze as fast as he could, casting about for his brother, who must have heard the shift of his head because—

“Merlin’s beard!” — A voice from across and behind him in the truck, and then Theseus had knelt on the dusty boards beside him, fingers instantly feeling at his wrist and neck for pulse and pressure, before pulling back to balance on his haunches, brows furrowed. “You are drugged to the gills, little brother... How in Gamp’s good name are you awake?” [1]

As the truck bounced over a particularly deep pothole, Newt couldn’t help throwing the robe’s sleeve over his eyes to hide his discomfort. Beside him, he could hear Theseus saved from falling on his rump thanks to the soft thump of one of the maquisards’ boots at his back.

“Humans don’t have gills,” he finally murmured through gritted teeth. “And to answer your question, I’ve developed a rather unfortunate resistance to a number of common substances, that’s why I’m awake…” A beat and a frown. “Where’s Tina?”

“You’re on her, Newt.”

He uncovered his face, tilting his head back to see what he was pillowed on, only to be met with the gentle dip at the top of his wife’s thighs; the scratch of her warm, wool coat; the subtle scent of her perfume that always reminded him of camping for pleasure (not work) in Puzzlewood Forest… [2]

He twisted back further for a better look (and he caught a glimpse of her, too—head low and pillowed on Auror Voorhees’ shoulder, deeply asleep), but Theseus put a hand on his chest to urge him back down before he could better assess her.

“Stop moving. Macmillan’s stability spells on your leg are already being tested by these roads...”

Newt relaxed reluctantly into the dry hay, and Theseus thoughtfully transfigured a handkerchief into a towel to tuck beneath his neck when he noticed him grimace at the texture.

“Look,” he reassured, “she’s fine — just utterly exhausted. She’ll be good as new with a few cautionary countercurses and a couple days’ rest. And we hope to be able to say the same for you soon.”

“So - where are we going then?” Newt countered with quiet acceptance, glancing from the pastor to Theseus and back again. “And - and what is he doing here?”

“Don’t worry,” Theseus reassured glibly. “He’s a squib.”