some more fun facts about the pureblood wizarding families
part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/moonyaugust/782654203898249216/a-few-fun-facts-about-pureblood-wizarding-families?source=share
a lot of the pureblood families that we know about are because of the eurocentric (and specifically british and french) influence on the series and worldbuilding (fuck jkr), but also because different cultures have different standards of blood purity or even eschew that notion altogether
the trelawney family emerged in the 1500s in cornwall, following the emigration of a greek merchant to the area. since then, the family has held these ties in great esteem, continuing to practice traditional greek polytheism and worship of the pantheon
they also have the sight, which tends to skip three or four generations at a time. as such, they primarily worship apollo, god of prophecy
the ollivanders are the primary provider of wands to hogwarts students, due to gaiseric ollivander's relationship with rowena ravenclaw around the founding of the school
the bones family is predominantly polish in origin (though the current branch is polish/mongolian), and is one of several pureblood families to be considered "ministry-bound", aka that most of their descendants will end up working in the ministry (like the pettigrews or the mulcibers). this conception usually isn't complimentary, as it assumes low-level jobs rather than high-level jobs (reserved for the "higher" pureblood families)
the abbotts and the fawleys hold less political sway in britain than they do across pockets in east and south asia, though their roles are traditionally as diplomats for those countries to the british ministry for magic (hence why they continue to use anglicized surnames)
the burkes are credited with the founding of knockturn alley as well as borgin and burkes. though not as flashy, their entrepreneurial skills give them a good reputation among pureblood circles, often funding their allies and buying support in the ministry
similarly, the notts own a number of shops on diagon alley, though secretly as to not stir attention, allowing them to accrue wealth quickly and quietly
the notts hold a deep fascination with genealogy and have records going back centuries, which are kept hidden from the public. often, they gain leverage by twisting the contents of these records, sending other families into turmoil trying to preserve their reputations while the notts just sit back and profit from the chaos (ie the sacred twenty eight list)
the carrows, though attempting to be self-suficient and gaining power, often find themselves in debt to other families due to poor decision making. this is the case with alexei carrow (father of alecto and amycus), who found himself in debt to and exploited by abraxas malfoy after alexei was caught trying to fuck over abraxas on an important ministry affair. this debt continued after abraxas' death, with his son lucius continuing it to piggyback off of the carrows' labour. it's sort of an open secret among the top pureblood families that the carrows are political flip-floppers and backstabbers, but also idiots)
on that point, the most powerful pureblood families have gained their prestige on the backs of many other families, leveraging their wealth and power to stay at the top while other families are lower on the hierarchy and have to work extra hard to assert themselves, though maintaining a little more privilege than muggleborns (wow sounds like the real world, funny how that works).
there are many pureblood families in britain, actually, but those that are less talked about or considered prestigious are mostly ones not named on the sacred twenty eight or who do not play much of a role in wizarding politics (or, they're considered offshoots of bigger pureblood families: it was common in the late 1800s for branches of powerful families to split and rename themselves in order to gain more leverage for the actual family name, like the snydes from the malfoys or the sinistras from the sterlings)
the sterlings (on the sacred twenty eight, they're known as the 'shacklebolts' because jkr sucks balls and also the notts are... not kind people) are an academic family, believed to be descended from one of the founders of uagadou. they can be credited with bringing spagyric/plant alchemy to britain, though its teaching remains more popular at uagadou. they're very politically savvy but know how to stay out of the limelight until conditions are right for their pursuits. many of the sons over the last fifty years, including kingsley and his brother roman, have aspired to the position of minister of magic, though have as of yet fallen short
all pureblood families have sigils of animals, though many have lost that information (smaller families don't use the sigils much anymore). this generally influences the family's patronuses [maybe i'll make a whole post on this if y'all are curious/when i flesh this out even more]
though the "prewett" family is extinct in the male line (meaning no male heirs have that last name anymore), there is a line of "prewitts", descended from leander prewett, whose son's name was changed accidentally at st mungo's due to an administrative error and was never changed back. they still live on to this day but are no longer pureblood
the weasleys and the prewetts are distantly related through a common ancestor, resulting in the shared genetic traits of red hair, long features (like noses, ears, or head shape), freckles, and pale skin. though, don't worry: by molly and arthur's time, this is pretty distant (they are not pulling a black-marrying-their-cousin thing i promise)
the vanity family are maori/pacific islander, with wiremu kauri being stationed in the uk during the first world war and eventually staying there, changing his name to william vanity (based on his family's common nicknames or teasing of him being too proud; it was also an extinct pureblood name that would allow for safety in the puritanical society), and having children, including daniel, father of emma vanity and her sisters. william's brother, nikau, later joined him and took the last name vane instead, resulting in romilda vane in the 1990s
william's then girlfriend (later wife), sally flint, used her former entanglement with the nott heir (who had access to family records going back centuries) to forge a connection between william and the historical vanitys to secure his protection in pureblood society, given that william back home didn't have the same ideas of blood purity and could have faced major backlash, especially for marrying sally (she was also the first woman to serve on the wizengamot in the 1930s and never backed down from challenging the flint's notoriously problematic beliefs. she rocks)
that's all for this one! let me know if you guys still want more (i promise i'm cooking up more ideas as i write this lol) and stay tuned for the next chapter of valkyrie, hopefully coming in the next week or two (depending on how quickly i can write it; it's an olivia chapter after all) :P
[@suniwrites i think you asked to be tagged in the next one so here it is!]
