Purebloods and Prestige
Hermione jumped slightly at the soft knock sounding at her office door. Her eyes returning to the page she'd just been proofreading, she completely forgot to invite however was outside her door to come inside. However, the person outside her door was Harry, who had no trouble letting himself in.
"Hermione?" He asked with a small laugh. "Did you forget that I knocked on the door?"
"Hmm?" Hermione asked, not paying attention; her eyes still glued to the book.
Harry just laughed and took a seat, knowing that in a few moments, she'd break out of her book bubble. Just as he had predicted, a few seconds later, she jumped; closing the book as she did.
"Harry! Oh Godric I'm so sorry! I knew you had knocked, I just… forgot I guess," she trailed off, looking apologetically at him.
"Hermione, it's alright," Harry laughed, a wide smile on his face. "It's actually rather funny to see you get so lost in a book."
Hermione blushed, pushing the book over to the side of her desk. "So… what did you come to my office for Harry?"
"Hmm?" Harry asked, confused for a moment. "Oh! Right. I came to tell you that we're all good to go private on this."
"Really?" Hermione asked, her eyes wide. "That's great! We should start right now! Oh wait-" she said suddenly trailing off, looking rather dejected. "There's no way I can take that much time off of work."
"Don't even worry about it Hermione," Harry reassured. "I got it all covered. Kingsley talked to the boss and got you onto my case. You're still getting paid, and other people will handle the paperwork that will normally come to you. It's all kinda technical, but it's how private cases work. Trust me. I talked to Malfoy about it too."
"Malfoy?" Hermione said, her head tilting slightly to the side.
"Yeah. He's agreed to help us. Along with Zabini and Pansy Parkinson I guess," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders. "He talked to me about it this morning."
Hermione remained quiet, mulling over the new information in her head. "So what do we do now?" she finally questioned.
"We're going to head over to Grimmauld Place," Harry said with a smile. "I've already fixed the wards so they'll be able to get in, and we'll start discussing everything there."
Hermione nodded, pulling her bag out from under her desk and filling it with binders and files. Harry watched, a small smirk on his face. She stood after a few moments, grabbing another stack of papers from a shelf as they exited her office. They began walking down the hall in silence, neither of them feeling the need to say anything. They rounded the corner to the lift, and Hermione's face broke into a smile as she saw the tall, lanky red-head waiting patiently for them.
"Ron!" she smiled, giving him a small embrace. "You're coming too?"
"Of course I am," he replied with a self-assured smile. "Harry couldn't leave his best mate out of this could he? Besides, if we're going to talk to the slippery Silver Trio, the Golden Trio had better all be together."
"The Silver Trio?" Hermione questioned with a laugh.
Harry nodded as they entered the lift. "That's sort of what we've decided to call Malfoy, Zabini and Parkinson. In a way they're almost like us ya know?"
At Hermione's confused expression, Ron cut back in. "There's three of them. They're all from the same house, and there's two males and one female. Also, they seem to work really well together. Just like us. Except for the unfortunate fact that they're from Slytherin."
"You can't base everything off Hogwarts houses," Hermione chided.
"I know," Ron smiled. "Got any food at Number 12 Harry? I'm famished."
Hermione and Harry laughed as the trio exited the lift and walked across the Ministry atrium. "I'm sure Kreacher would be thrilled to cook something up for you. I'm having a hard time finding things for him to do around the house," Harry said with a shake of his head.
"Wonderful!" Ron said with enthusiasm. "I didn't have time for breakfast this morning."
"You missed a meal?" Hermione said with fake horror. "I'm having a hard time believing that."
"Hey!" Ron said indignantly. "It can happen. And it did."
Hermione and the two boys laughed. Truly laughed for the first time in a long time. Once they were outside of the Ministry, they promptly apparated outside of number 12 Grimmauld Place. Malfoy, Blaise and Pansy were already there, as Hermione duly noted.
"Malfoy," Harry said cordially. "You found it."
"It's not that hard Potter," Pansy said with a slight sneer.
Harry looked ready to bite back, but he restrained himself and painted a smile into his face. "I'm glad it was no trouble then."
"I do have somewhere to be later this afternoon Potter," Malfoy commented, lazily twirling his wand. "So if we could get this…. show on the road, that would be preferable."
"Like anything could be more important than this," Ron whispered, leaning close to her ear so only she could hear.
Hermione softly snorted, waiting patiently while Harry entered his home, closing followed by Draco, Pansy and Blaise; with Hermione and Ron dutifully bringing up the rear. They walked past the portrait of Walburga Black who remained oddly quiet as the group made their way to the kitchen. They each took a seat at the table; Ron on Hermione's left and Blaise to her right. They sat in silence for a moment, then the discussion began.
...
"I don't how much you know about any of this Malfoy," Harry started, glancing at Draco out of the corner of his eye. "But I want to know anything that you know or that you think you know about any of this."
"That was rather repetitive," Pansy muttered under her breath from across the table.
Blaise shot her a sharp look, and she silenced herself; consenting to glare moodily at Harry from her spot around the table.
"If you're asking me exactly why Death Eaters attacked the Greengrass estate, I have no clue on this earth Potter," Draco said darkly, as Harry slightly adverted his eyes. "All I can tell you is what I know they did when I was previously a member."
Hermione glanced at Blaise and Pansy, noting that they had both paled slightly; Pansy more than Blaise. Apparently they weren't exactly comfortable with their friend's alliances, she thought to herself.
"That's good enough for me," Ron spoke up. "They're probably still using the same methods and techniques. Old pureblood families tend to stick with their ways, whether they work or not. The offense was intentional," he added, seeing Draco's scowl.
"At least we act like we have prestigious heritage Weasel," he hissed. "Can't say the same for you."
Ron shrugged his shoulders and looked at Malfoy without his face changing expression once. "Malfoy, you may think your family is better than mine, but let's keep in mind whose father ended up in Azkaban and whose family name has practically been smashed beyond repair for their crummy life choices."
Draco's jaw clenched, and Blaise let out a slow stream of air. "This isn't getting us anywhere," he mentioned.
"It's making me feel a lot better though," Ron said, a slightly cruel smile on his face.
"I'm glad tearing down my family is making you feel better Weasel," Draco scoffed.
"I seem to recall it working quite well for you ferret, and for your father every time we met," Ron mentioned.
"Okay wonderful!" Pansy said suddenly. "You're both getting a taste of your own medicine. Now can we move on with this? So far all that has happened is introducing the topic and arguing with each other. Not exactly what I'd call successful."
"I agree," Hermione and Blaise said at the same time, much to their surprise. Blaise smiled and remained quiet, allowing Hermione to speak.
"I agree with Pansy," Hermione repeated. "We're here to get things done, and this isn't helping," she said, giving a pointed look to Ron, who held up his hands in defense. "So let's stop acting like children, and get going with this."
Harry grinned at Hermione's statement, and turned his gaze back towards Draco, who was staring at Hermione; whether in anger or disbelief he couldn't tell.
Draco finally broke his gaze away from Hermione, and turned towards Harry, a bored look plastered on his face. "I don't know if you know this Potter, but there's a Sacred Twenty-Eight that the Death Eaters were constantly trying to recruit."
"What's the Sacred Twenty-Eight?" Harry asked, ignoring Ron's exaggerated sigh of disgust.
"You don't want to hear about that Harry," Ron tried to argue. "It's a bunch of crap that purebloods have been feeding off of for centuries."
"It could be important Ron," Hermione mentioned, looking to Harry for support.
Harry nodded, and returned his attention to Draco, who was sneering at Ron.
"The Sacred Twenty-Eight are the twenty eight British wizarding families that are believed to still contain truly pure wizarding blood," Draco started.
"Who are the twenty eight families?" Harry interrupted before Draco could get any further.
Draco looked at him with a rather annoyed expression while Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill so she could right it all down. He sighed, and started to rattle off the names of the twenty eight pureblood families.
"Abbott, Avery, Black, Bulstrode, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Fawley, Flint, Gaunt, Greengrass, Lestrange, Longbottom, Macmillan, Malfoy, Nott, Ollivander, Parkinson, Prewett, Rosier, Rowle, Selwyn, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Slughorn, Travers, Weasley, and Yaxley," Draco stated, not even blinking an eye.
Ron sighed again, and got up from his seat. "I'm going to go find something to eat," he stated.
Blaise smiled, and leaned over to Hermione. "Still a big eater huh?" he whispered in her ear. Hermione's eyes twinkled and she swatted him playfully on the shoulder, before looking back down at her list.
"Why aren't the Potters on here?" she questioned. "Harry's dad's family was pureblood." She also noted to herself that Draco had listed off all those names without hesitation, and they were all in alphabetical order.
"The Potter family was excluded because many pureblood families believed that 'Potter' was a common, muggle surname," Pansy said easily. "And because Henry Potter was an extremely pro-muggle member of the Wizengamot."
"What?!" Hermione exclaimed. "That's absolutely outrageous! Excluding someone just because they support muggles and their surname sounds too common?"
"Hermione that's just how purebloods are," Harry reminded her. "Remember that Andromeda was completely disowned because she married Ted?"
"You mean Draco's aunt?" Blaise asked.
Harry and Draco both nodded. "Pureblood families can often be wrought with tension and feuds," Draco added casually. "I haven't ever seen my aunt Andromeda. That's just what happens."
Hermione's features were lined with confusion and anger, but before she could say any more, Pansy interrupted.
"We're getting a bit off topic don't you think? This wasn't supposed to be a discussion about why the Potters aren't on the list anymore," she pointed out.
"You're right," Ron added, coming back into the room with a plate of scrambled eggs. "Let's get off that stupid list and continue."
"I don't know why you're so bitter about the list Weasley," Blaise commented, watching Ron as he took his seat again. "You're on it. You have nothing to complain about."
"It's still a stupid list," Ron muttered, turning to his plate of eggs.
"Okay so we have the list of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' Malfoy," Hermione jumped in, hoping to avoid another row. "What does this have to do with the Death Eaters?"
"Death Eaters only include those whom they think are pure," Draco replied, staring at her with his cool grey eyes. "For them, that means the purebloods. The twenty eight families are the 'purest' in England supposedly."
"But if they only recruited people from the families on that list, they wouldn't be anywhere near as big as they were," Hermione pointed out.
"Right," Blaise cut in. "So they recruited other lesser purebloods from all over the world. They were still pure, just not the purest."
"Again, what does this list have to do with anything then?" Harry questioned, starting to look a bit bored.
"Those twenty eight families were some of the biggest supporters for the Death Eaters, whether they were members or not," Draco replied, looking a bit uncomfortable. "If they refused to join, then they would be money donors."
"What-" Harry started before Pansy jumped in.
"It means that the Death Eaters would harass them for funding," she said, her voice tight. "If they refused to join, they'd have to pay a sum so that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wouldn't kill them and their families."
"How much did they have to pay?" Ron asked, his plate of eggs completely empty.
"It depended on how wealthy the family was," Draco answered, looking snarkily at the redhead. "Most of the families on that list have more money than they know what to do with, so the sum would be relatively high. After a while, some families would get tired of having to fund, so they would give up and join."
"Either that or they were killed," Pansy whispered. "If they stopped funding and still refused to join… the Death Eaters got rid of them."
"Is that what happened to the Greengrass family?" Hermione asked, looking expectantly at Draco.
"I already told you Granger-in case you forgot- that I don't know why they were targeted. There isn't really a way to find out either," he added.
"We could ask Bill," Ron commented, a thoughtful look on his face. "He might be able to get us access to the Greengrass records. Then we could see if large sums of money were being taken out every so often."
Harry nodded, a small smile present on his lips. "That could really work, if Bill was able to actually get us the records."
"Who is Bill?" Pansy asked, confused that she didn't know who they were talking about.
"William Weasley," Blaise answered quickly. "He goes by Bill. He works as a Curse Breaker for Gringotts."
"Oh," Pansy answered, her brow furrowed. "But how are you going to ask him for help if this is now a private case?"
"We can add people we think will be necessary," Harry reassured. "It's not completely closed, in fact the I'll probably fill the whole Order in on everything."
Pansy and Blaise looked rather confused, but they said nothing. Draco chose this time to exit his seat.
"Glad I could be of service Potter, but as I mentioned earlier, I do have somewhere else to be," he commented as he rose from his seat. "I suppose I'll be back whenever you need me, seeing as there's no way I can get out of this now."
Ron glared at the blonde wizard, and Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm sure whatever you have to do is so important Malfoy," Ron muttered quietly.
"It is actually Weasley," Draco snapped, leaving the room.
Blaise and Pansy's eyes connected for a brief moment, then they broke away looking around the rest of the table with the same expressions they had worn before. If no one had been paying attention, it would have gone completely unnoticed. Hermione however, had seen it.
"Where's Malfoy going?" she asked, looking pointedly at Blaise.
"Um… I'm not exactly sure if that's information you should get from me Granger," Blaise said, not meeting her eyes.
"Oh give it up Blaise. People will figure out sooner or later. It doesn't really matter now does it? She's dead anyways," Pansy said, a bitter edge to her voice.
"Who?" Ron asked, his interest suddenly piqued.
"Astoria Greengrass," Pansy answered. "That's the business he has to go and take care of."
"Well what in Godric's name does he have to be there for? It's not like they were related or something," Ron said, all the interest from before gone.
"Draco and Astoria were… well, they were promised to each other… basically from birth. He has to go and fill out all the legal paperwork," Blaise said quietly.
"Legal paperwork for what?" Ron asked. "It's not like they were already married… were they?"
"No, they weren't married," Pansy reassured him. "It was supposed to happen at the end of this year though. That's why there's paperwork and such. Because it was so close, the Ministry wants to make sure that no… foul play happened."
"They basically had an arranged marriage?" Hermione asked quietly. "How awful."
"Many pureblood families do it Granger," Pansy replied, a look of utter disgust on her face. "They think it's a way to keep all the pureness in their families."
"So are you two….?" Hermione asked nervously glancing at Blaise and Pansy.
"Oh Salazar no," Blaise quickly responded. "No, my family isn't really considered to be a high standing pureblood family, and they never really believed in the whole blood supremacy anyways."
"My family is part of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' or whatever, but my parents were much more lenient towards half-bloods and muggleborns. They didn't want me to have to marry someone I didn't love anyways, seeing as I'm their only daughter," Pansy said, a sort of sad smile on her face.
At the confused and mildly shocked looks around the table, Blaise laughed. "Pureblood society isn't all it's cracked up to be… in fact most the time it's just confusing and weird."
"I'm still confused… why does Malfoy have to do paperwork if they weren't married yet?" Harry asked, sharing a quick glance with Hermione and Ron.
"It's because of things that used to be much more prevalent in pureblood society," Pansy answered, waving her hand dismissively. "Families used to murder the person their child was promised to so that they'd get the money."
"Their families get money from their marriage?" Hermione asked, completely shocked.
"Not really anymore," Blaise replied. "Sometimes though. It all depends on the family. Some families give money to the bride's family… others to the groom and his family so that they can start a new life or something like that."
"It's all a bunch of crap anyways," Ron interjected. "Ninety-nine percent of those families don't need money anyways. They're just all out their to be the 'best'."
"So Malfoy has to go and claim that he didn't kill their family? Because he was supposed to marry one of the Greengrass daughters?" Harry asked.
"Pretty much," Pansy said with a sigh. "They do checks on his wand and the rest of his family, they search their house, and do all kinds of other ridiculous stuff."
"Like I said," Blaise sighed. "Pureblood society is pretty messed up."
The table fell silent, all of them thinking about the Greengrass family and what they were going to try and stop, until Pansy spoke up again.
"So you're going to check bank statements to see if they were being hassled for money?"
Ron nodded. "Yeah I'll talk to Bill and see what I can do. Goblins are tricky and we might not be able to get anything, but it's worth a shot."
"I wonder if that's what's going to happen to my family," Pansy said, gnawing her bottom lip. "I don't even know if the two men that came to my house were Death Eaters or not… but my father wouldn't tell me anything and he and mum were acting all nervous the other day."
"We can put up wards around your house Pansy," Harry offered. "Hermione's really good at them."
Pansy glanced at Hermione, her eyes betraying her fear. "Will you Granger? I don't want anything bad to happen to my family… they're- they're all I have."
Hermione nodded, giving the other girl a small smile. "Of course Pansy," she said as she stood up. "I think that's all we can do for the night, so I can come back and do it now if you want?"
Pansy nodded, and the little meeting dispersed. Hermione walked out of the kitchen, Pansy following closely behind her. Once they were outside of number 12, Pansy took Hermione's hand cautiously in hers and apparated to her family estates. Hermione's feet hit firm ground and she looked around, surprised by her surroundings. The Parkinson estate looked almost like the Greengrass estate. There were hedges surrounding the grounds, a long stone pathway leading to the door, and a large house sitting in the center of it all.
"I guess I'll get started then," Hermione said.
Pansy nodded looking worriedly at her house. "How long does it take you?"
"Not too long," Hermione answered. "Although," she said looking back at the house. "I've never done them on a house this big. It might take me a little longer than usual."
"That's alright. I'll wait for you," Pansy said, taking a seat on a small iron chair outside in the garden.
Hermione nodded and started making her way around the house, putting up all the protective wards and spells that she knew of. It didn't take her as long as she thought it would, and soon she was back where she started.
"That's all I know Pansy. Hopefully it helps," she said with a small smile.
"Thank you Granger," Pansy said, her voice catching slightly.
"You're welcome," Hermione said, turning to leave.
"Wait," Pansy said suddenly, causing Hermione to turn around. "I… I'm truly sorry for the way I acted towards you in school Grang- um...Hermione. You were never anything less than kind towards me, and I treated you so poorly…. And I'm really sorry."
"Thank you Pansy," Hermione said quietly, smiling at the young woman in front of her. "I'll see you at the next meeting?"
Pansy nodded, then turned and walked into her house without another word. Hermione smiled to herself as she walked to the edge of the property before disapparating.