Lucius Malfoy was quite upset. He had given Ginny Weasley the artefact that Lord Voldemort had given him in their younger days. It had been a treasured item of Lord Voldemort's that he wanted Lucius to safeguard for him in his manor. Lucius had disliked it from the start. Cursed dark object, whatever it was. He would never trust anything from the hand of that filth. He never fully liked Tom Riddle, respected him, but didn't like him. The man was too arrogant and egotistical for Lucius to truly like him. It was a miracle how he charmed his way around the others though and rose up through the ranks. Almost like watching a cat hunt.
He didn't want to keep the item. It was too damaging if the ministry found out. He didn't fully know what was so dark about it. But yet he felt like he had little choice. Well...now with Lord Voldemort in such a weak state that Lucius was sure he was basically dead or over (and hopefully forgotten about forever, never plaguing the pureblood Sacred 28 again), he could slowly dispose of his last ties to that dark wizard.
He didn't know how the object was dark. Perhaps it would be Ginny's future offspring that discovered what was so awful about it. Perhaps it would be Ginny. He gave it to her without fully knowing what it was and yet nothing had happened all year. Which he was starting to find a little peculiar. He felt sure he would've heard something. Some reports. His sources on Arthur Weasley revealed no upset that had occurred with his children.
Draco Malfoy had also mentioned nothing awful happening at Hogwarts, where Ginny supposedly was.
He wondered if...he should do something about it.
He didn't. He didn't want to spend any more extra energy on it. Then Ginny's children would be the ones to suffer whatever was so awful about the diary. It had nothing to do with him anymore!
Draco plodded through another year of Hogwarts. Grades didn't concern him. His dad was a school governor and actually gave a shit about his grades so they were never terrible and he thought Hogwarts taught nothing in the junior years anyway. It was all piss easy. But yet he never felt comforted. Friends also didn't concern him. Crabbe and Goyle were like his bodyguards since birth and they would be his friends even by his grave, he had reputation. He had money, material comfort. Really, he had almost everything one would ever want in the whole wide world.
Except for certainty.
His father was a deatheater. Draco could feel it even though his parents didn't actually tell him he was. It seemed like exactly the sort of thing Lucius Malfoy would want to join, and Draco lived in a bit of fear and uncertainty over it his whole life.
Draco had incredible mixed feelings about Lord Voldemort, deatheaters, and his father's involvement in it all. He spent his childhood musing over it when he thought no one was watching him and it took him a long time to work out how he felt about it. Even then he felt like he could spend days disappearing into his thoughts over it all again, over some small he missed in some analysis, and have to redo the whole thing. Endless torment.
It was never about being pureblooded. It was about wealth, power, control. The people who were Sacred 28 purebloods wanted to be the kings and queens of the wizarding world. Have everything. Being pureblooded was one part of the equation to becoming all powerful. Unshakeable. Unbreakable. But yet it was the one everyone remembered them by. Possibly because everyone loved a good love story. Romanticisation.
The Sacred 28 were always looking for ways to cement their power. The families didn't really trust each other. But they were in alliance with each other against the common people. They ought to have obtained full control over wealth, power, politics, centuries ago but yet Draco had always felt like they were lacking. Throughout the history of the Sacred 28 families, they never seemed to quite have the influence over the wizarding world they truly wanted. Most things just felt like some kind of show of make belief to him.
The Sacred 28 didn't really care about being pureblooded that much. It was just one thing among the many they cared about. But they didn't like how the wizarding world was making it so easy for muggle-borns to come in. The issue with muggle-borns was that they looked at the wizarding world with fresh muggle eyes, didn't like what they see and didn't understand why things were the way they were, tried to change it, and threatened the lives of all the more established wizarding families who quite liked the way the magical world worked, the way it was. Except some of them were liable to be brainwashed because they thought the muggles had discovered a new way of governance or living that they hadn't, and it was this unknown mystery of the muggles, that gave the muggle-borns some credibility to threaten to make some changes.
Draco hated this aspect of it. He always felt uncomfortable for this reason around muggle-borns. But it would take them generations to understand how things worked. He thought the wizarding world should change so that muggle-borns couldn't have any real say on the state of the wizarding world. Not unless they were several generations deep into it at a bare minimum.
Did the Sacred 28 pureblood families necessarily want to kill muggles or muggle-borns? Well, they wouldn't care if random strangers died. They also didn't particularly love them. Who could when all you wanted was power and they weren't powerful? To him it made sense purebloods wouldn't like anyone less magical than they were. But yet they wanted to make the wizarding world unshakeable by muggle-borns. Lord Voldemort seemed to offer that solution.
In fact, at the time Lord Voldemort was alive, Draco never got the impression that was a very good time for the Sacred 28. They didn't seem to feel like any of the things they wanted to achieve were being achieved. Lord Voldemort must've been one of the only people offering a solution to one of these problems - killing muggles or muggle-borns, and having a very anti-anything non-pureblood culture, which would've changed the wizarding world's view towards muggle-borns for quite a long time. So because the Sacred 28 were unaccomplished, desperate, some of them fell for supporting Lord Voldemort. Perhaps for something to do with their time, perhaps because they enjoyed the thrill or dark emotions of being sucked into this sort of thing.
Draco wondered if it was the right decision for his father. Well, if Lord Voldemort really had some sort of power or influence beyond just this, and it was important to get him on their side, or to side with him so that he would never hunt down the Sacred 28 if he truly wanted to get rid of the old power, than it made sense to connect with him. To have his loyalty. In case Lord Voldemort turned out to be truly revolutionary. But then...Lord Voldemort never seemed to be successful in what he politically wanted to achieve and left them with mostly this mess. It was hard for Draco to feel whether his father made the right choice or not to join Lord Voldemort.
He didn't like Lord Voldemort. Who did? He was mostly a man of the past. But yet...Draco was terribly afraid of him coming back.
His father would have to serve as a deatheater again and possibly face death. The idea of body bags coming home to the Manor haunted him at night. His mother would be distraught. Draco knew this. He sometimes had the idea she may commit suicide upon what happened and it wasn't a very good one. He also didn't want his father to go to jail. Get into any troubles. He also didn't want himself to join the deatheaters. But he knew that if Lord Voldemort insisted Draco join...Draco could not. Otherwise his father could get in trouble.
He hated the uncertainty.
Draco was one of those people who liked to plan out his life from start to finish, and he never felt like he could. In fact, sometimes he wondered if in a world where Lord Voldemort was alive and his father knew what he was doing or up to, whether he would be any happier over the course of his future?
Draco also wanted him dead. When he was growing up he used to daydream about vanquishing the dark lord so that the uncertainty over the wizarding world would fade. He was bitter with jealousy when he realised he couldn't do it because Harry Potter was. And Harry Potter didn't even choose to be born into his role or wanted to! Draco at least, cared a little about the role he was born into. More than Harry Potter did from what he could see at Hogwarts. Harry Potter didn't even seem to like the wizarding world that much. He barely knew anything, was surprised by everything, and seemed to be discovering everything the first time. He barely did anything above ordinary in the classes. He was very...ordinary...
In fact, Draco half wanted to do something at Hogwarts to vanquish the dark lord for good and cement the Sacred 28 pureblood structure or the Malfoys position in society even more. It was just a matter of time, opportunity and convenience...
In fact, that may have been what Nott was doing. Draco didn't know if Nott wanted the dark lord to come back or not, but he could imagine Nott also using his time at Hogwarts to achieve his own gains, whatever they were. The Malfoys were like billionaires whereas the other Sacred 28s were like millionaires. They all wanted to move up. Were secretly resentful of the Malfoys but too fearful of them to do anything. Nott definitely wanted to see the Malfoys fall, Draco instinctively knew this, but yet he wasn't sure if Nott wanted to bring the dark lord into it. If he thought Lord Voldemort was a player that if returned or alive, could change the wizarding world so that the Nott family would benefit more.
Well, if Nott wanted the dark lord alive and active it was surely to help his own family rise...
I'm in the Slytherin Sacred 28 pureblood clique but I'm the bottom one there. I still feel like I know nothing. Hermione wrote in her diary.
When I find people difficult I turn to magic. The diary said. Magic can be used to control someone. To erase their memories, give them new memories. Shape their identities. Magic can be used to forge love. Friendship. Why don't you work on friendship magic? It seems to be what you need the most from the Sacred 28 pureblood slytherin girls. Their friendship to let you into the world.
I don't know about that. There's so little advice I can find in Hogwarts books or anybody about mixing magic with life like that. Even Salazar Slytherin doesn't really talk about whether magic like mind magic, love magic, or friendship magic should happen. I just feel like there's some lines that magic shouldn't cross...
If whoever you cast the spell on didn't want to be under their control they should find a countercurse. If they didn't they didn't want it enough. To be magical is to be at risk of having magical things happen to you. Kill or be killed. It is their own fault for being complacent.
The diary was very hard on anyone who fell victim to magic.
I guess. I mean, I guess most people don't do enough in terms of self-defense. They don't take enough responsibility for it...
They don't want it. They are lemmings. Sheep. To succeed one must discover new things beyond the limits. It is their fault if they perish due to someone else's ambition for success.
How does friendship magic even work?
It's probably linked to it's closest relative - the love potion. You should practice brewing a few of those.
I will.
Hermione broke into Professor Snape's stores and managed to brew a love potion in a few weeks. She wasn't sure what to do with it after. It was a medium strength one. What did she want to obtain from any guy? Would he even have any memory of it.
The unfortunate thing about love potions is that once it's wore of, the person who drank it will have full memory of their altered state of mind underneath it. Making it impossible to hide the fact that a love potion was used. The stronger the love potion the greater the differences when it wears of. But most people are not fools and will know if a love potion was used. Some people even suspect a love potion was used even when it wasn't when they have mixed feelings about someone.
The diary explained.
Perhaps we could alter it. To erase someone's memories of their time under it, or to make their memories seem normal. Hermione wrote.
People have tried that before. Love potions and mind potions don't mix well at all. Too potent.
That ruins that plan then. Love is so different to friendship. It's more intense. If someone were to fall out of love due to stopping a love potion they would know something was up. It's easier for people to feel like they were friends with someone and then they weren't.
Yes, that is a possible advantage of friendship potions.
How would I brew a friendship potion. Why hasn't there been any invented before?
Laziness. A thing that disgusts me of the wizarding world.
The first person to invent it would be rich.
You need the backing of the Malfoys, or any other wealthy family in the wizarding world to brew more of those, advertise and ship it around the world. So many inventions depend on them. That is why they are adored. They are basically the bank since Gringotts doesn't give out loans. So many people court them with their business ideas. Most of them garbage. All the wealthy families are very good at shifting through all the ideas to find the good ones however. They know which ones are good and which ones are not.
Maybe I'll just use it for myself then. Although...I do want money too.
It's not your main goal. You can obtain wealth later on.
How would I brew a friendship potion? I've never really invented any new potions before.
You should probably start of by adding ingredients that prevent anything awful from happening. There's a standard set that experimental potions all have. Then once it seems stable you gradually add less and less of those stabilising ingredients. You can use a similar base for love potions. A liquid that is easy for all the magical properties of the friendship potion to bind to, one that is easy to drink. Liquids that can resist spells or other magic that is cast onto it. It shouldn't be too reactive. Then, decide on what magical properties of friendship you wish to include in this drink.
Together Tom and Hermione worked through the friendship potion. She used up the spending money her parents gave her for Hogwarts on ordering ingredients under several fake names. Hermione put the same ingredients of control, bending of another's will (through magical means) from the love potion into the friendship potion. And then added a few ingredients that commonly had to do with friendship. The good sides of friendship - the lovey dovey side of friendship feelings, and not the complicated ones. It was easier to fool people when you gave them the pure emotion of friendship, just like how the love potion gave the user the pure emotion of love.
If it gave them the more complicated thoughts of love perhaps they would not fall in love at all.
Most of the ingredients in the love potion were to do with borrowing themes of devotion, subservience, appreciation of another soul, from other magical sources or areas around the world, and infusing it with properties of love. It wasn't really real love being manufactured but parts of a whole that could resemble love. Lastly were ingredients that made the potion more specific to the target which made it easier to work. Again, things like a lock of one's hair, a toenail, could work. Though some ingredients from the target like a teardrop or their breath were more potent because they were harder things to grasp.
Once Hermione finished it she looked at it rather happily. It was a very exciting prospect.
This feels fake. She wrote. I wanted to rise by myself.
No one rises by themselves. Everyone uses magic in some way if they want to reach the top. Everyone uses magic to control other people to a certain extent. Tom told her.
Alright. I guess just like how magic was my oldest friend in the muggle world where I thought it would save me. It's saving me now.
Yes. You know how to use your magic better than the ones here.
Tom urged Hermione to use it boldly so she used it on Pansy first - the leader of the group. Hermione only had enough to last a few days however and it was costly to brew it all again.
Pansy woke up. Today was another dreary day at Hogwarts. Hogwarts was like twenty times poorer than everything at home so there was always this feeling of gloom that followed her whenever she stepped foot in the castle walls. Strangely no one noticed it about her, perhaps it was because no one had ever seen her place, but she always felt that sense of gloom ebb and throb throughout the school year. On some days when she was reminded more of her pureblood Sacred 28 duties of keeping good ties and connections with everyone, maintaining the top status so that if anything were to happen she would be the first to hear about it, she felt the dull hum of Hogwarts more and more. On some other days when there were festivities or just...days that seemed like a page out of someone else's book, she felt like she could forget about reality a little bit more. Like they were days of a dream that were part of someone else's life and not quite hers. Like days of heaven on earth.
On that day she had to listen to Daphne's woes, not something she particularly wanted to do but she had no choice because Daphne was her closest friend at Hogwarts. She was actually fairly close to Millicent as well but Daphne was just a smidge closer. Daphne had asked her yesterday if they could talk and Pansy was too sleepy to say no. A thing she regretted. She also had to talk to some Ravenclaws that afternoon because they also wanted her company and advice about things. The other girls looked up to her because of her image and reputation and frequently asked her for advice. Pansy also didn't want to care about other people so much but she found she had to maintain those connections a little so she wouldn't get a bad name for being a completely selfish person.
Just like how she had to hand out sweets or gifts sometimes so she wouldn't get a bad name for being a wealthy stooge.
She got up, got dressed for school. Hogwarts didn't really allow anyone to assessorise much but Pansy always managed to wear things that both showed her wealth, and also taste in clothes. Which was dark pink at the moment, she loved the colour. Once she wore her usual assessories she headed to breakfast where they talked normally and she drank some pumpkin juice along with her meal, when suddenly...
Pansy didn't really think she had interesting thoughts much. But once in a blue moon she would get existential crisis' or highly reflective over things. Today it was about Hermione Granger and friendship.
Hermione...the girl was an instant no the moment Pansy knew she wasn't even a halfblood. She would never understand some things about wizarding culture, pureblood society. She would have no use for her. She would of course be a suck-up just like everyone else. But since she landed in Slytherin house and not any of the others, they had to be somewhat nice to her sometimes, for the image. Pansy had never thought of Hermione as much of a friend, but today...she was suddenly struck by how...outside of the pureblood world Hermione was. How much of a new perspective and fresh eyes she could give to everything. How perhaps she could even give Pansy some advice about things.
A better friend than Daphne or Millicent. Screw them both, Hermione was her new best friend! What did Daphne or Millicent know about anything?
"Hey Hermione, how did you sleep?" asked Pansy.
Daphne eyed Pansy out of the corner of her eye. Pansy didn't usually talk to Hermione out of the blue unless she was doing it to include her so they wouldn't look bad but this didn't feel like one of those occasions.
"Good, how about you," said Hermione levelly. She ate breakfast in an exceedingly normal manner for such an abnormal conversation taking place.
"Not that well. I never really feel like I sleep well at Hogwarts. It also feels a bit gross to me. How unhygienic does a boarding school sound? Like, I just think home is better," said Pansy, admitting a bit of her truer feelings.
Daphne eyed her but didn't say much. Pansy was up to something which could potentially be quite helpful to them, was Pansy trying to get close to Hermione for their own benefit or anything? Daphne desperately wanted a way to keep Hermione down forever so she could never threaten her spot in the clique. A deep dark secret of Hermione's could be good. All of them were happy they were able to permanently exclude Tracy. So Daphne decided to just let Pansy talk. But a part of her was burning inside with curiosity.
"Hogwarts is actually a pretty good boarding school," said Millicent. That was true, boarding schools could easily be more unhygienic and gross than Hogwarts.
"I guess. I feel like us Slytherin girls do a better job of keeping our quarters clean," said Hermione.
"You keep it remarkably clean for how little perfumes or products you have. I forget how poor poor people are until I see you," said Pansy as they wrapped up breakfast, "come with me to class. You've been in my house all these years but I've never really gotten to know you truly."
Daphne could feel the jealousy flaring up inside of her but she bit her lip and kept it silent. What did Hermione have that was better than her? Although she was sure Pansy was using Hermione for something it felt to her as if part of Hermione's personality was...enjoyable to others. And that made her burn inside. Daphne was the social butterfly whom others enjoyed being around.
"Tracy and I are rather similar. You're being unfair," said Hermione as they headed to History of Magic. Which was a class where it was rather easy to whisper among themselves.
"No. Tracy's a little bit richer. But you know, wealth can't really be everything. So why did you really want to get in Slytherin huh? What's your reason," whispered Pansy.
"Slytherin is the better house. Most of the wizarding world seems run by purebloods and you sort of need their allegiance to accomplish anything major in the wizarding world. It just makes sense to aim for it and to build connections early," whispered back Hermione.
"You use us. I like it, it's sly and cunning," said Pansy, simple admiration in her eyes, "what do you want to use us for though? Where do you want the connections with us to take you?"
"I don't know. I don't really know where I want to go in the wizarding world just yet. Not in detail anyway. It's just ... to have it there I guess," said Hermione.
"Cunning," said Pansy.
"Am I doing well?" asked Hermione.
"Not really," admitted Pansy, "but you're not doing badly. Sort of the mid ground."
"Are you really friends with Daphne and Millicent? Or do you guys just pretend to be because of the allegiance you all have with each other?" asked Hermione.
"Bit of both really. Once you have that much in common such as being Sacred 28 purebloods it is easier to feel like there's friendship between you than others," said Pansy, "I don't think you're all that great at Slytherin anything yet. But I can teach you how to be better. You're...not someone I can't see not being my friend if molded the right way..."
After History of Magic was over they headed to charms. Daphne had no choice but to let Pansy do her thing. Apparently it looked like a several day long thing that Pansy wanted. All the while she was burning up inside with jealousy.
"Help me with homework?" Daphne asked Nott whom she managed to catch in the Slytherin common room one afternoon. The Slytherin girls weren't that great at schoolwork although they weren't bad at magic, just lazy, because they had no reason to be, and they sometimes got other people to do it for them. Usually the Ravenclaw boys but sometimes anyone who was around.
"Yeah okay. Where's your friends?" asked Nott as he took out his homework and let Daphne copy answers. Daphne was completely alone in the slytherin common room that day.
"Busy. Sometimes, rarely, they are," said Daphne. She picked at her fingers uncomfortably.
"Do you want to go to an empty classroom? It's a bit crowded in here," said Theo.
"Okay," said Daphne.
She followed him into one of the dungeons downstairs.
"I just get so jealous," admitted Daphne, "over Pansy. Liking anyone else. Even though I know it's her up to her usual tricks or something. I just want to wrap my hands around Hermione's throat and strangle her sometimes. I just..."
Daphne laughed, "I bet you've done worse. Strangled someone or something. Who am I kidding, ranting to you. It's not like you'll have anything good to say..."
"Strangle her then," said Nott. He waved his wand and conjured up a blow-up doll that looked quite like Hermione. Daphne forgot how good at magic he was until then.
"Go on, I conjured her up just for you..." said Nott, waving his wand at the realistic life-sized doll. It looked to be made of elastic so if Daphne really strangled it hard enough it would pop.
Daphne faltered. She had the feeling this could be used against her, it was so unladylike, but yet she didn't want to seem against this sort of thing in case it was what Nott liked to do for fun in his freetime. The thing about Slytherin boys were that they were all dark in some way shape or form and it could get awful pretty quickly talking to them. They were not really all that attractive or romantic, they were simply just wealthy and powerful, and that was their main draw.
"It's a bit unladylike of me," Daphne ended up saying.
"I must do it for you then," said Theo. He waved his wand and the Hermione doll screamed as steam came out of her ears. It shook as if held by an invisible fist. Nott chuckled, laughing and laughing. The doll exploded with a pop, the elastic scattered around the room. Then he flicked his wand and it all disappeared.
"Nott, you know I didn't command you to do that," said Daphne.
"You know the way I interpret things," said Theo.
"Why do I even talk to you. See, this is why Pansy or Millicent are so much better than you eurgh," she said, turning to head out of the classroom.
"Kiss me?" said Theo.
"Why?" asked Daphne, turning around. Her parents had told her the Nott family were one of the families they ought to marry into if they could. She didn't want to say yes but she didn't want to say no, especially as Theo suggested it himself.
"I'm horny. You're here. Why not," said Theo, pressing her up against a wall.
Instantly Daphne knew this would be a fling sort of thing. Forbidden, hidden. A part of her wanted to, but a part of her didn't in case it would ruin things. How could she face him at all the balls, or with his actual wife in public for all their days if she had memories of kissing him in secret at Hogwarts?
"I don't want anything physical," said Daphne.
"Ah, the emotional sort of thing," said Theo.
"I'm not sure I want that either," murmured Daphne, "sometimes I just think it's easier to marry once and be done with it all..."
Theo chuckled, "that's what everyone says when they start out. No one sees themselves falling for flings before they do. We all start of as angels to fall from grace. It means little if you are so innocent at the start. All the bad ones had innocent intentions first..."
"I'll like to keep it for a little bit longer. Can't say I'm interested in like, emotionally spilling my secrets to you or anything," said Daphne, getting ready to leave again.
"Not that sort of emotional thing," said Theo, "it only counts if it's secrets about love. I know you and Pansy are vying for Draco Malfoy, he is the one to aim for isn't he? But do you really love him all that much? Is he really all that romantic? Does a part of you feel you could talk to anyone else about anything romantic instead of him. That sort of romantic thing..."
"If you have an interest in Pansy or I you can compete with Draco in public and not just...skulk of around the castle doing what knows what," said Daphne.
"I have little interest in public displays of anything," said Theo, "I have interests in emotional things. If you can resist me, ignore me while you're at Hogwarts. If not...I will provide in private what Draco Malfoy can't, both in public or private."
"Draco Malfoy's pretty formidable you know. In fact, I don't really think any girls are feeling like they can't emotionally talk to him about romance or whatever," said Daphne.
Theo roared with laughter.
"You think you're any better?" Daphne rose an eyebrow.
"None of the purebloods really like loving each other or dating each other," smirked Theo, "we do it all just for show..."
"The girls make a genuine attempt of love," spat Daphne before stalking out.
She headed to the Slytherin girls dormitory which happened to be empty and collapsed on her bed with the covers drawn, a little angry.
The girls tried to love the pureblooded Sacred 28 boys wholeheartedly. They wanted clean marriages. But there was always the fear of them doing the unthinkable...cheating. The boys were more prone to cheat. And it stabbed Daphne inside to imagine it all. Putting all the effort of marrying well just to have her future husband cheat. It was the number one thing she hated the most but like all witches of every generation, it was the bane of their life and difficult to prevent...
Theo's comments on doing things for show reminded her of the fact that since it really was all for show, any of the boys could really well cheat behind their back. Perhaps Theo wanted to prepare Daphne to be his side chick after he picked whoever he truly wanted for his wife.
Daphne sighed and twirled a lock of beautiful blonde hair around her finger. Why did everything with purebloods and slytherins have to be so messy? Why wouldn't things be more straightforward? But then...it was precisely all this complexity that kept people out. Made them hard to understand.
Author's Note: I know I keep saying I'm going to go on a hiatus soon but I wrote some more chapters before it. I have this crazy thing where I can write multiple chapters in one sitting and then not want to touch it for weeks or months. So if I have chance to get a few more sittings before I go on hiatus and forget about it I do have a few more. There may be some more chapters to this but a hiatus is still coming up.
Also, I take back what I said earlier on about how this fanfiction won't shy away from exploring magic in more depth if needed. There's a bit later on where I have it in my mind how certain magic works but it actually makes the chapter a bit boring to info-dump it all there, especially as it's a bit contrived and not really exploring a mystery of canon or anything. I think I was just influenced by other fanfics which had heavy explorations or magic and thought I'd like to write something similar but when it actually came to it I didn't like it that much. If a part of magic is really interesting or important to the story I might write about it, but otherwise it'll be glossed over.
It was also harder to fit all these themes in (pureblood Sacred 28 stuff, friendship dramas, romance angst) along with explorations of magic so I won't be focusing on magic so much. This story surprised me by how many chapters it's been already and how I still haven't gotten to some of my main ideas/scenes in my head that I wanted to get out. I think any future stories I write wouldn't have so many themes in them.
I have no idea how long this story might be but it might be 30 or 40 chapters? Maybe with a sequel that focuses more on the muggles discovering witches and wizards part if it feels like this story is mostly focused on setting up Sacred 28 stuff and how it works (including where their position may be if they fall a bit later on), and the muggles and witches/wizards stuff can come later.
Please review, I love reading them :)