Chapter 776 - 776: 0776 The Social State

"The High Nobility occupy the highest tier of the old hereditary aristocratic order—an elite class whose status comes from ancient lineage, inherited privilege, and control of political and religious authority.

"They are regarded as nobly born by blood and birth, possessing the greatest social standing, privilege, and influence, with their words carrying authority simply because of the families into which they were born.

"Under a rigid hereditary hierarchy, with barriers between the different estates difficult to cross, the great noble houses historically married among themselves, carefully preserving their lineage, wealth, and position.

"Pure-blood wizards occupy essentially the same position at the core of the ruling order Voldemort has now built—represented by the so-called Sacred Twenty-Eight families, revered by Voldemort and the pure-blood supremacists as the noblest beings in existence.

"They now control the core power of the Ministry of Magic, enjoying immunity and first right of disposal over all matters.

"Even in the years before Voldemort's first rise, they practiced intermarriage among themselves, precisely to preserve the purity of their bloodline.

"This closely mirrors the position of a hereditary aristocracy at the very top of a rigid social hierarchy, along with its obsession with noble lineage and inherited status.

"The Warrior Nobility form the second tier of the order—the class traditionally responsible for kingship, military command, administration, and the defence of the land.

"Their standing is subordinate only to the highest hereditary nobles. They too belong to the upper ranks, but they possess less prestige by birth and less control over the innermost centres of authority.

"Under the ruling structure Voldemort has now established, a portion of the half-blood wizards who have thrown in their lot with him have likewise been granted a secondary tier of privilege—administrative and law-enforcement posts serving as tools of governance that assist the pure-blood class in managing the wizarding world.

"These half-bloods hold a status plainly higher than ordinary wizards, yet because their blood is not pure, they can never enter the inner circle of core power—corresponding to the position of a subordinate but still privileged noble class within a hereditary aristocratic system.

"The finest example among them is Severus Snape—the only half-blood among Voldemort's closest lieutenants. Of course, what almost no one knows is that Voldemort himself is a half-blood too…"

"Wait."

At this point in Hermione's account, an elderly white-bearded man in a red cap froze, and could not help but ask: "Miss Granger, are you saying the Dark Lord is a half-blood?"

"Of course," Hermione said, nodding. "Though even knowing this, there's no way for us to make it public."

"How could that possibly be?!"

Another old man—white-capped, red-bearded muttered to himself: "If the Dark Lord is half-blood, then why would he go around preaching pure-blood supremacy…"

"That's precisely where his hypocrisy lies!"

Just then, Harry strode over.

The moment they saw Harry, every guest who had come rose to their feet.

They looked at the bespectacled young man with a gaze mixed of awe, hope, and reverence.

Of course, by the customs of the wizarding world, Harry having had his birthday this past July 31st already counted as an adult. He had inherited his father's height, and now stood a full six feet tall.

Sherlock's sacrifice, and the brutal fighting of the past year and more, had stripped away his youthfulness at speed, leaving him mature and steady the very picture of someone who could lead others to victory.

"Sit, please, all of you. No need to stand."

Harry said this while looking toward his good friend, and gave her a smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, Hermione. Go on."

Hermione nodded; her heart full of feeling.

Who would have guessed that after losing Sherlock, Harry would grow up so quickly instead.

This… was probably one of your goals too, wasn't it, Sherlock?

That was what Hermione was thinking to herself, even as she went on speaking aloud:

"Just as Harry said a moment ago, the name 'Voldemort' is itself the product of his effort to flee his own half-blood origins.

"I imagine you all know that Dumbledore called him 'Tom' more than once, in front of many people."

As she spoke, Hermione swept her wand, and a name appeared in the air before the assembled guests:

[Tom Marvolo Riddle]

"…"

The guests stared at Hermione, uncomprehending.

Hermione sighed, and swept her wand a second time.

At once the letters shifted position, rearranging themselves into a new sentence:

[I am Lord Voldemort]

Only then did everyone understand.

So that was where the name Voldemort had actually come from.

Hermione continued her explanation:

"Next comes the commoner class in the old hereditary order—ordinary people engaged in commerce, agriculture, craftsmanship, and other productive work, but possessing little or no political privilege.

"Not only that, but they must also submit to the authority of the higher estates, fulfilling obligations such as taxation and military or civic service. They belong to the ordinary tier that is governed by those above them.

"Under Voldemort's rule today, ordinary half-blood wizards form the base tier of wizarding society.

"They hold no special privileges and are subject to surveillance and discrimination.

"In practice, they too are barred from any core position now—they can only maintain a basic existence, scraping by at work and in life as subjects to be controlled by the regime. Their position corresponds to that of ordinary commoners under a rigid hereditary hierarchy."

Hermione paused for a moment here before continuing,

"Below them is the lowest hereditary estate—the labouring class, whose members perform menial and physically demanding work, face discrimination from those above them, and possess severely restricted social rights.

"They are regarded by the ruling elite as people of inferior birth, unworthy of equal status and undeserving of the privileges enjoyed by the higher estates.

"Muggle-born wizards occupy essentially this position—we are portrayed as people of inferior blood, undeserving of magic despite possessing it.

"During the Wizarding War, Muggle-borns were among the principal targets of persecution, capture, and imprisonment. Their wands were confiscated, some were sent to Azkaban, and others were killed outright.

"The situation now is not much better."

As she spoke, Hermione produced a bound pamphlet, its pink cover printed with a bold gold-lettered title:

[Mudbloods—A Threat to Harmonious Pure-Blood Society]

Beneath the title was an illustration: a red rose strangled tightly by a fanged, vicious-looking green weed, with a foolishly grinning face at the centre of the blossom.

"The Ministry of Magic has now established a Muggle-Born Registration Commission, and is throwing Muggle-born wizards into Azkaban on charges of stealing wands and magic. Many have been forced to flee or go into hiding as a result…"

At this, everyone fell silent.

The wizards who had come to see Harry today were made up of two groups.

Muggle-born wizards, needless to say, could never be accepted by Voldemort.

As for the remaining half-bloods, they remained, for the most part, undecided still weighing which way to turn. But whichever group they belonged to, they had all felt deeply, firsthand, the truth of what Hermione was describing.

A somewhat counterintuitive fact: Muggle-born wizards actually outnumbered pure-blood wizards.

At least, this was true in Britain's wizarding world.

The reason was that many families who prided themselves on pure blood had, in secret, married in Muggle blood over the generations, simply to keep their line going.

So, what passed for "pure blood" was, more often than not, a claimed identity rather than a biological fact—the number of wizards who were pure-blooded in any strict sense was vanishingly small.

Harry, for instance, was in the broad sense a pure-blood wizard, since both his parents were wizards.

Back when Harry and Malfoy first met in Madam Malkin's robe shop, Malfoy had once asked Harry a question along these lines: "Are they our kind, too?"

Harry's reply had been: "They're a witch and wizard, I suppose that's what you mean."

On hearing Harry's answer, Malfoy had said at once: "I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you?"

So, to Malfoy then still a first-year having two wizard parents was already enough to make someone "his kind."

But!

Among families that strictly prided themselves on pure blood, matters stood quite differently.

Because Harry's mother, Lily, was a Muggle-born witch.

Judging strictly by that fact alone, Harry's bloodline was already "impure."

Under that stricter reckoning, Harry did not count as pure-blood at all—he was instead classed among the half-bloods.

Given this narrower definition, it was easy enough to understand why pure-bloods were outnumbered by Muggle-borns.

"In truth, even before Voldemort took control of the wizarding world, Muggle-born wizards had always been looked down upon by a certain portion of society. I myself was called 'Mudblood' more than once…"

Someone immediately began to apologize: "I'm sorry, Miss Granger, we didn't mean—"

"No, this has nothing to do with any of you. I chose to say it myself."

Hermione shook her head and went on:

"In fact, there exists something even more pitiable than the plight of Muggle-born wizards."

"What?"

The guests could not help but start at this.

It should be understood that by now, quite a few people had already begun referring to the present period as the "Second Wizarding War" set against the war decades earlier, when Voldemort first rose to rule the wizarding world.

For Muggle-born wizards, the persecution they suffered in both wars was plain to see.

This was especially true of the Second Wizarding War they were now living through after all, during the First Wizarding War, Hogwarts itself had never fallen.

And yet now Hermione was saying that something existed even more pitiable than the plight of Muggle-born wizards.

Beside her, Harry and Ginny exchanged a glance, both thinking: surely Hermione wasn't about to bring up house-elves?

If that were the case, today's gathering would become rather awkward indeed.

Fortunately, Hermione did no such thing.

"Many people don't realize that, under some rigid hereditary systems, there can also be a group excluded entirely from the recognized social estates—people regarded as outcasts.

"They are placed outside the normal hierarchy altogether, denied the rights and privileges enjoyed even by the lowest recognized class, and subjected to extreme discrimination, segregation, and abuse.

"In Voldemort's ideology, Muggles occupy precisely such a position.

"They are regarded as nothing more than non-magical human refuse, beings whom his followers believe may be persecuted, tortured, or killed without consequence.

"They possess no rights and no recognized standing at all—they exist at the very bottom of the entire system, beneath even those magical people whom Voldemort considers inferior.

"Which is to say, their situation is even worse than that of Muggle-born wizards."

At Hermione's words, the guests could not help but feel a chill run through them.

Only now did they realize that, living through the Second Wizarding War as they were, they too had—knowingly or not been overlooking the plight of Muggles as a group.

This was, of course, understandable enough.

After all, the wizarding world and the Muggle world are kept separate.

But just last year, in order to force the Ministry of Magic into cooperating with him, Voldemort had likewise sent his Death Eaters to launch attack after attack in the Muggle world.

That truly had been a case of refusing to treat those magic-less, helpless people as human beings at all.

Fudge, to his credit, had refused Voldemort's demand but he had also proven powerless to do anything about the situation that followed.

It was under these circumstances that Pius Thicknesse had risen to office with great fanfare.

Once in office, he had even, for a time, raised the rallying cry: "Muggle Lives Matter."

That is: MuggleLivesMatter— "Muggles' lives matter too" abbreviated as MLM.

During that stretch of time, the Aurors, too, had won a string of notable victories, repeatedly meeting the Death Eaters in direct confrontation.

The terror attacks in the Muggle world had, for a time, come to a halt for a while, it seemed the Muggle Lives Matter campaign had achieved real, substantial results.

No one had expected that this very Minister for Magic would hold out for barely a year before turning over entirely to Voldemort's side.

And with that, the slogan too became nothing more than a joke.

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