19 December 1992
Hermione hummed happily as she sat in a compartment with all her friends as they headed home to the burrow. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eloise walk by at least 3 times, the shy girl paused to knock twice but turned and fled. Hermione scowled thinking of her dorm mate, she didn't understand why Eloise said the things she did. It always seemed like Eloise was just a very shy girl but maybe she preferred to be alone.
"Can you explain wizarding families to me?" Harry paused his game of chess with Ron to address the cabin at large. Neville lowered his book on magical fungi, Luna paused her battle with her rucksack, Hermione lowered her charms book, and Ron looked at him with an odd expression on his face.
"What's there to know? I had to listen to mum talk for hours about wizarding history." Ron blurted, truly baffled.
"It seems like everyone know more about my family than me." Harry flushed and toyed with some of the pawns he captured.
"Sure, Harry. What do you want to know?" Neville cut off Ron who was about to retort.
"I heard a few people talking about houses..like House Malfoy or House Weasley." Harry look at his friends hopefully.
"A long time ago, House meant something. They would call their families Houses, the most prominent would refer to themselves as ancient, Noble, pure...etc. The sacred 28 are supposedly the most pure and ancient of the Houses. Everyone has a house, when muggleborns are born they create their own house, unless they were born of a squib. While Longbottoms and Weasleys are still considered part of the sacred 28 we moved on from a lot of the more archaic practices in the last couple generations." Neville said, in full lecture mode.
"Trust me, dads not happy with being lumped together with them." Ron sneered.
"I thought the Potters were an old family?" Harry questioned.
"They are but never were too hung up on the ideals of blood purity. There were rumors that the Potters would marry muggleborns and squibs if they chose to. They've always married for love." Hermione said with a smile.
"Gran says your grandfather was in a spat with House Nott when Cantankerus Nott when he complied everything." Neville shrugged sheepishly.
"So, are these 28 families in power at the ministry or something?" Harry questioned.
"No, nothing like that." Hermione giggled. "While some of the families have continuously married into each other and kept the political power amongst them, the sacred 28 only have inherited seats on the Wizengamot. They only make up less than half the seats now. Since a few of the families have died out, like the Prewetts, Gaunts, and Shafiqs."
"Well, I'm sure you will name your second child Prewett." Neville said in a matter of fact tone, his ears turning pink. Hermione's cheeks burned and she looked down at her lap.
"So, people can just give their children new last names? What's to stop a muggleborn from changing their name?" Harry questioned.
"Mums a Prewett by birth, ours uncles died in the last war. Meaning, that mum blessed Hermione with the family magic and Hermione's children can carry on the name. Also, muggleborns make their own houses at birth, they get their own tapestry and family magic." Ron mumbled, who so far had been trying to tune the conversation out.
"Family magic?" Harry looked dumbfounded.
"Yeah, something families do after the baby is born. All families have their own rituals." Luna said serenely.
"What does it do?" Harry rubbed his temples.
"Family magic is supposed to strengthen your core from a young age. Some say it makes magic stronger but there's no way to tell. Some say the family magic is sentient and tests you to see if your good enough. If not, the baby becomes a squib." Hermione said in a grave tone.
"So, does that work with adoption?" Harry asked. Ron and Hermione stiffened while Neville and Luna looked at Harry critically.
"Adoption is taboo, families can't just adopt a child. They become a ward of the house." Neville said, his face stricken and pale.
"Why?" Harry persisted, Ron was glaring murderously and Hermione focused on her lap with great interest.
"You don't just take a child and hand them your family magic. Especially a child from another house, most family magics don't mix well and it's highly frown upon. There have been some desperate houses, needing an heir that used a potion and a ritual but it's been classed as dark magic and banned." Luna supplied, her eyes blue eyes bore into Harry's.
"I guess, I just don't understand why these families wouldn't. Hermione said some families died out. Wouldn't that help?" Harry rushed to defend his questioning, not understanding why his friends became so defensive.
"The ritual and potion, strips the child of everything from their birth parents, even their magic. Then the child is essentially reborn as a child of the house, becoming the parents child, blood and magic. Many children died or became squibs but the families didn't care, they could just find another muggleborn or half blood. There have been even less successful cases with only the blessing ritual." Hermione whispered, her voice pained.
"It's not selfish, we would rather die out than have to use a ritual that could kill so many children on a chance it could work." Neville said heatedly. "These lessons have been given to us since we were in the cot."
"I'm just trying to understand. The muggle world has orphanages and adoption is a common occurrence." Harry sat back.
"Well, like we said. The magical world is very small and many of us are related so if a child is orphaned then a simple ancestry potion and a trip to the tapestries to find the closest magical relative. Then they would become a ward, most families would treat them as their own." Neville shrugged.
"Really? So shouldn't I have gone to someone in the magical world?" Harry asked hesitantly.
"Normally, unless your parents will specified otherwise." Luna smiled absently.
"I can't imagine my parents wanting me sent to muggles who hated magic." Harry grumbled.
"The potters were wiped out so the closest magical relatives would have been... Bellatrix Lestrange or Narcissa Malfoy. There was a third daughter but she was disowned and disappeared into the muggle world." Hermione said after a moment of thought. Neville paled.
"How do you remember all that?" Neville choked.
"Bloody walking encyclopedia, this one." Ron snorted.
"Mum decided I needed to know all this, even though my darling brothers didn't pay attention." Hermione hissed while she glared at Ron.
"Still, to remember all those family lines, especially Black family lines." Neville whistled appreciatively, the color slowly returning to his face.
"So, my choice was the Dursleys, the Malfoys, or the Lestranges? Who are the Lestranges?" Harry asked hesitantly.
"Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rebastien are all in Azkaban for life." Neville muttered quietly.
"Azakaban?" Harry asked.
"Wizards prison. Guarded by dementors, some say it's a fate worse than death. The dementors suck out all your happiness, leave you with nothing but your worst nightmares...and for the worst criminals they get the kiss." Hermione shuddered, Luna rested her head on her friends shoulder, frowning.
"The dementor can suck out your soul." Luna said bluntly when she saw the question in Harry's eyes.
"How is that possible?" Harry exclaimed.
"Right through the mouth, leaves you this drooling husk. Never be cured of a kiss. Dads gone a few times and always needs a few days to return to normal after." Ron frowned.
"So, what did the Lestranges do?" Harry whispered.
"They were caught torturing a pair of aurors for the whereabouts of You-Know-who after you killed him." Neville whispered, his voice laced with pain.
"What happened to the aurors?" Harry asked with trepidation.
"They're still in ...long term ward for spell damage. They were my mum and dad. The papers said they were the best." Neville whispered, not meeting anyone's eye.
"I'm sorry Neville, that must be awful." Hermione said softly.
"Didn't give up any answers though. Not sure if they had any to begin with but when Gran told me...she said dad went down trying to protect mum and mum spit in Bellatrix's face." Neville said slowly, his voice growing stronger as he went on. "I see them every Christmas, and right before school every year. They aren't really there anymore. Mum always gives me a Droobles wrapper so I think she atleast recognizes me."
"Of course, I bet they are very proud of you, too." Luna said with a wide smile.
"Not much of a wizard though, am I? Can't even use my dads wand." Neville muttered miserably.
"What about your wand?" Harry asked.
"Gran gave me dads, said it only accept me when I earned it." Neville sighed miserably.
"I don't think that's the way wands work." Harry said slowly, looking around at his friends for help.
"Mum tried to send me with Charlie's old wand but it didn't work well enough for me so we went to Ollivanders." Ron shrugged, yawning.
"I had to try about 50 wands." Harry nodded emphatically.
"Really?" Neville squeaked, his eyes lighting up.
"Sure, I can use my brothers wands but none of them work like mine." Hermione agreed quickly.
"Tell your grandmother, she'll take you over the hols." Luna said sternly.