"You certainly do," said Susan "And you can use that to knock the wind out of him. That's how Hannah and I deal with him."
"Hannah outranks him too?" asked Harry.
Susan nodded "Yes, the Abbott, Bones, Potter, Longbottom and Black families are the only current holders of the Ancient and Noble status. As I mentioned before, the Meadowes and McKinnon families used to have this rank before going extinct, and the Nott, Goyle, Gaunt and a few other families have lost their "Noble" status. Actually, I think that the Gaunt family has gone extinct as well."
"You said earlier that when a woman marries, her status changes to that of the house that she married into. What if there was a woman who was a part of the McKinnon family who married into another family before the McKinnon's were wipes out? Could she not have some way to save the family?"
"She could," replied Susan "Naturally the oldest son would have to take the name of his father, but a second son could grow up to head the McKinnon family once more, so long as his father agreed to it. Actually I believe that that could happen with the Noble House of Prewitt. Gideon and Fabien Prewitt were the last to have the name and they died in the war, but their sister is Molly Weasley. If Arthur Weasley agreed to it, any of those sons, apart from the oldest, could take on the name Prewitt and continue the family. Obviously the second oldest son would have the first in line of the Prewitt family, but any of the other four could take on the name also."
"Would the revived family keep its status?" asked Harry.
"That's kind of a grey area," replied Susan "In a fair world then yes they would, but it depends entirely upon the situation. Someone is bound to call it into question these days, especially with regards to the "Noble" status."
Harry nodded but then grinned and said "Well, you've told me who is Ancient and Noble, but what about the rest? Who can I lord it over?"
"Everyone apart from me, Hannah and Neville," replied Susan "If you were that way inclined of course. However, if you must know the Ancient families are the Houses of Bagshot, Bole, Diggory, Goyle, Macmillan, Nott, Smith, Turpin, Gaunt, Marchbanks, Montague, Ogden and Peverell. Of those Gaunt and Peverell are now believed to be extinct."
"Cedric was from an Ancient House?" asked Harry in surprise "Wow, you'd think the Ministry would put a bit more effort into finding out the truth about how he died."
"Not with Lucius Malfoy lining the Minister's pockets," replied Susan, darkly.
She continued "The Noble families are the Houses of Avery, Bagwell, Boot, Cauldwell, Dagworth, Dumbledore, Fenwick, Fudge, Greengrass, Harper, McGonagall, McLaggen, Parkinson, Prewitt, Proudfoot, Rookwood, Scrimgeour and Vector. None of those families have gone extinct."
"Dumbledore and Fudge are considered Noble?" asked Harry.
Susan nodded "According to this, the Dumbledore family is quite young in comparison to some others, but it was granted its Noble status after Albus Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald. Fudge being Minster was an automatic ticket to his family becoming Noble, not that the buffoon deserves it."
"And McGonagall?" asked Harry "What did her family do?"
Susan flipped through several pages of the book with a frown on her face "It doesn't say. Our Professor is a Half-Blood, and her mother was a half-blood, while her father was a Muggle…" Susan flicked through several more pages before shaking her head "I don't see how her family came to be considered Noble…"
Susan flicked through several more pages, before brightening "Ah, here it is. The McGonagall line was believed to have gone extinct four generations before our Professor came along. If her father was descended from a squib of the family then she must have been able to claim back her status. Anyway…"
She flicked back through the book to find the list of families again.
"The Lesser families are the Houses of Babbling, Belby, Borgin, Brown, Bulstrode, Crabbe, Davies, Doge, Finnigan, Flint, Frobisher… oh, that's interesting," she exclaimed.
"What is?" asked Harry.
Susan turned the book around so that Harry could see the page more clearly. She pointed to a name on the list.
Harry leaned forward and read "The Lesser House of Granger (possibly extinct.)"
He leaned back in his chair "Hermione's from a Lesser House?"
"If this is the same situation as with Professor McGonagall then yes," replied Susan.
Harry thought for a moment before realising something "Hang on, earlier you said that the Malfoys are a Lesser House. Does that mean Hermione and Draco are on even footing?"
"If it can be proved that Hermione is a direct descendant of the Granger family mentioned in this book then yes," replied Susan "And although he doesn't have to like her, young Mr Malfoy would be forced to be civil to her, at least in public."
Harry smirked, imagining the look of Draco Malfoy's face as he was forced to say "thank you" to Hermione when she held a door open for him in a public place.
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