Chapter 13: The Future
"Our work within the wizarding world is far from done. In fact, I really don't think we'll ever be done. We are always looking for ways to make our society better, smarter, and more prosperous. Our long term vision includes a representative chamber in the Wizengamot.
"After all the resurrected seats were reclaimed the Wizengamot sat at 116 members. The Minister for Magic also gets to appoint a seat for every ten active families on the Wizengamot always rounded up. So if we had 110 members, there would be eleven ministerial appointees, but if we had 111, there would be twelve appointees.
"We decided to try to get the number seats dropped to 60, and then create elections for another 60 seats. A rule was established that said for every two seats that died out, one would be added, and only somebody born to a son or daughter born of a House had claim to it. That means that Draco Malfoy, son of Narcissa Black could claim the seat, but Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco Malfoy could not. If it came to it Scorpius, as the son of Astoria Greengrass, could take the Greengrass seat though. It's been a slow process, but we've dropped down substantially over the last several decades with many of the Dark Lord's followers and their Houses dying off.
"The Ancient and Noble Houses of Carrow, Lestrange, Nott, Rowle, and Yaxley are gone, with Travers soon to follow. The Houses of Beamish, Crabbe, Goyle, Max, Pennington, Thurkell, and Umbridge followed as well. With the defections of the Parksinsons, Malfoys, Fawleys, Higgs and Urquharts, the darker aligned Houses are on the decline. Our side took their losses as well, the Ancient and Noble House of Dumbledore is gone the Oglethorpe, Pokeby, Toke, and Hooch seats followed. Seamus Finnigan is all that remains of his House as well. Of the eight elevated Houses, six of them are squarely on our side: Vance, Fawcett, Robards, Diggle, McGonagall, and Farley. Edgecombe is a swing vote and Wilkes sides with the darker Houses.
"That also means we've had to elevate six Houses to Ancient and Noble status. The newly christened Ancient and Noble Houses of Belby, Goldstein, Johnson, and Ricketts stand for the light. We've managed to swing the Urquharts as the elder generation passed and the Blishwicks have become substantially more moderate after what is now known as the Parkinson's Crossing Affair occurred.
"We've set some goals for the future that we're hoping to achieve. First, we want to explore and embrace technomancy. It has the potential to provide a massive benefit to the magical economy. We also have been pushing for a while to start a wizarding day school of sorts. It would serve primarily to teach muggleborn children about how to write with quills, how owl post works, the statute of secrecy, and all kinds of other things that they should know about before they head off to Hogwarts.
"The most important thing we're trying to do, in my opinion at least, is to embrace our history, the good times and the bad. And this is an area where Stephen has a chance to make a huge difference. My generation and several dozen before it suffered at the hands of a ghost with a prejudice against goblins as our teacher of history. We've improved drastically, but there are so many things that just aren't well known and they bloody well should be. Most of the goblin wars don't paint wizards in a great light, but we should know them anyway so that we can learn from them. Very few people know how house elves, with their incredible magic, came to be dependant on witches and wizards. Even fewer know of the five pillars of the light who took a stand at Godric's Hollow against the Dark Lord Cyrus Wenlock and his Knights of Walpurgis and defeated them.
"The wizarding world is a wonderful place, with such incredible potential. I'm excited about what we've accomplished so far, but strongly looking forward to the future. Let me be the first to say, Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, welcome to the family, and enjoy the ride!"