Post by TW Admin on Sept 25, 2006 13:39:30 GMT -5
-+- The Weakening -+-
It happened almost like everyone had hoped. In his seventh year, Harry Potter destroyed every last horcrux, and defeated Lord Voldemort without risking the lives of any of his fellow students. The wizarding world was, at last, restored to the peace it had previously enjoyed. If fairytales came true, you could say that they all lived happily ever after.
Too bad fairytales are only found in books.
For a few years after the end of the war, nothing seemed amiss. The individuals involved had been greatly affected by it, as was to be expected. People fell in and out of love, married, and had children: most notably The Boy Who Lived and the bookish Hermione Granger. They were blessed with a set of twins: James and Lillian Potter. Nothing seemed amiss with the two—until they turned eleven. The two bright, energetic children did not receive the most important letter of their life: the letter to Hogwarts.
It wasn’t just the Potters, either. Fewer muggleborns were being accepted into Hogwarts, and those that did were progressively weaker and weaker. The children of half-blood and muggleborn witches and wizards were unable to compete with their pure-blood classmates in matters of magical skill. The Weakening, as it came to be called, was a world-wide phenomenon. Attendance numbers at wizarding schools plummeted. Purebloods became even more selective in the marriages of their children, some going so far as to arrange marriages between relatively unrelated bloodlines to ensure the magical race would not die out.
The wizarding world was in chaos. There was no one to reassure the citizens that everything would be fine, and that their existence would not collapse. Until Theodore Nott, a brilliant man with a sterling reputation, stepped on the Ministry scene and promised to restore the magical world to the peace it had enjoyed such a short time ago.
In 2017, just six short months after being elected, Minister Nott proposed a rigid caste system that would, he claimed, allow the government and population the opportunity to see if magical power was indeed decreasing with the increase of muggle blood. Those with less than ten percent muggle blood before the year 2000 would be classified as pure-blood; ten to fifty percent qualified an individual as a half-blood, and anyone with more than that was a part-blood. If a muggle had entered into a bloodline after 2000, all of the descendents would be classified as ‘muggle-born.’ In the situation that the members of two different castes had children, they would be given the rank of their father. The children of mothers who could not identify the father would be assigned their mother’s rank.
The one exception? The descendents of Harry Potter. All except the squib James Potter were granted immediate pure-blood status, in hopes of limiting the protests that were sure to arise. After all, Harry Potter was the savior of the wizard race: to call his children part-bloods would be a crime.
Minister Nott needn’t have worried. The protests that took place were so few, far between, and weak didn’t endanger the caste system in the slightest. After all, it was just to study the trends—right?
Sure.
Within a year of their introduction, the castes had become the defining way of life. Very few non-purebloods were employed in high positions at the Ministry of Magic. Part-bloods rarely owned property in magical towns, while muggleborns were treated like third-class citizens.
Yet still no one protested. Why should they? Purebloods, no matter how righteous their thoughts were, were afraid that they would be lumped back in with the lower classes if they contested the change. Many pureblood families were simply continuing their own habits of life. Half-bloods would receive respectable jobs, and could rise to the same level as a pure-blood if they worked hard enough. Plus, they were higher up than those part-bloods. Part-bloods told themselves that they didn’t care, when they really knew that there was little they could do to change the course of the society. Those muggleborns were less than they were, anyways.
And the muggleborns? Well, with the new caste system, few members of any of the upper three castes would marry a muggle, for fear of what their children would have to suffer through. The true muggleborns knew so little about the wizarding world that they couldn’t really protest; besides, after their stint at a magical school, during which time they were spat on and treated like trash, most went and married muggles and refused to allow their children to enter a magical school.
So, for three generations, the castes have persisted under various Ministers, all pure-blood. The current Minister, Pierre D’Atanna, Jr. has done nothing but maintain the rigid class system. There have been no upheavals, and all in all, things have progressed smoothly with the castes remaining self-contained. Of course, there are a few problems. Not with any actual upheavals, but there have been some signs that the castes might not be working.
The Sorting Hat at Hogwarts has gone so far as to sort students based almost entirely on blood status. Pure-bloods to Slytherin, and most half and part bloods to Hufflepuffs, while most muggleborns find themselves in Ravenclaw. Gryffindor is a disrespectful mix of all blood types, and contains those who are at least somewhat against the blood system. Those who aren’t sorted into the “appropriate” blood-house are looked down upon by their family and peers.
There are two divisions of the Potter family: the descendents of Samuel Potter are purebloods, while those born to James Potter are muggleborns, courtesy of his squib status and marriage to a muggle woman. Despite sharing the same last name, the two branches rarely interact with each other.
The Brocklehurst bloodline is proving to be an issue. Even though it’s merely a part-blood line, the children born to it are often some of the most powerful students in their generation.
Meanwhile, Everett Malfoy is collecting a small force of elitist pure-bloods who are convinced that the only true way to stop the downfall of wizarding society is to get rid of all of those with less than the purest blood. It’s not that hard to get support for the cause; after all, almost the entire pureblood population has held these beliefs for the last sixty-odd years.
And in the least respectable house of Hogwarts, some of the muggleborn students are grouping together, headed by an unlikely duo: Willow Potter, muggleborn, and Jay Sauter, pureblood. Of course, they're not sure exactly what they're there to do... They don't even have a name beyond the ever-specific "The Group." They'll do something about the situation at hand--eventually. Maybe.[/font]
[align=center] The year is 2082,
and The Weakening continues.[/align]
----+----
NOTE FROM SUPPORT ADMIN: Revamped, revitalized, and ready for action! TW is back on the track to being active, and we’re looking for new members. Including professors! Many, many canon positions available, so go ahead and check us out. We’ll be glad to see you.
It happened almost like everyone had hoped. In his seventh year, Harry Potter destroyed every last horcrux, and defeated Lord Voldemort without risking the lives of any of his fellow students. The wizarding world was, at last, restored to the peace it had previously enjoyed. If fairytales came true, you could say that they all lived happily ever after.
Too bad fairytales are only found in books.
For a few years after the end of the war, nothing seemed amiss. The individuals involved had been greatly affected by it, as was to be expected. People fell in and out of love, married, and had children: most notably The Boy Who Lived and the bookish Hermione Granger. They were blessed with a set of twins: James and Lillian Potter. Nothing seemed amiss with the two—until they turned eleven. The two bright, energetic children did not receive the most important letter of their life: the letter to Hogwarts.
It wasn’t just the Potters, either. Fewer muggleborns were being accepted into Hogwarts, and those that did were progressively weaker and weaker. The children of half-blood and muggleborn witches and wizards were unable to compete with their pure-blood classmates in matters of magical skill. The Weakening, as it came to be called, was a world-wide phenomenon. Attendance numbers at wizarding schools plummeted. Purebloods became even more selective in the marriages of their children, some going so far as to arrange marriages between relatively unrelated bloodlines to ensure the magical race would not die out.
The wizarding world was in chaos. There was no one to reassure the citizens that everything would be fine, and that their existence would not collapse. Until Theodore Nott, a brilliant man with a sterling reputation, stepped on the Ministry scene and promised to restore the magical world to the peace it had enjoyed such a short time ago.
In 2017, just six short months after being elected, Minister Nott proposed a rigid caste system that would, he claimed, allow the government and population the opportunity to see if magical power was indeed decreasing with the increase of muggle blood. Those with less than ten percent muggle blood before the year 2000 would be classified as pure-blood; ten to fifty percent qualified an individual as a half-blood, and anyone with more than that was a part-blood. If a muggle had entered into a bloodline after 2000, all of the descendents would be classified as ‘muggle-born.’ In the situation that the members of two different castes had children, they would be given the rank of their father. The children of mothers who could not identify the father would be assigned their mother’s rank.
The one exception? The descendents of Harry Potter. All except the squib James Potter were granted immediate pure-blood status, in hopes of limiting the protests that were sure to arise. After all, Harry Potter was the savior of the wizard race: to call his children part-bloods would be a crime.
Minister Nott needn’t have worried. The protests that took place were so few, far between, and weak didn’t endanger the caste system in the slightest. After all, it was just to study the trends—right?
Sure.
Within a year of their introduction, the castes had become the defining way of life. Very few non-purebloods were employed in high positions at the Ministry of Magic. Part-bloods rarely owned property in magical towns, while muggleborns were treated like third-class citizens.
Yet still no one protested. Why should they? Purebloods, no matter how righteous their thoughts were, were afraid that they would be lumped back in with the lower classes if they contested the change. Many pureblood families were simply continuing their own habits of life. Half-bloods would receive respectable jobs, and could rise to the same level as a pure-blood if they worked hard enough. Plus, they were higher up than those part-bloods. Part-bloods told themselves that they didn’t care, when they really knew that there was little they could do to change the course of the society. Those muggleborns were less than they were, anyways.
And the muggleborns? Well, with the new caste system, few members of any of the upper three castes would marry a muggle, for fear of what their children would have to suffer through. The true muggleborns knew so little about the wizarding world that they couldn’t really protest; besides, after their stint at a magical school, during which time they were spat on and treated like trash, most went and married muggles and refused to allow their children to enter a magical school.
So, for three generations, the castes have persisted under various Ministers, all pure-blood. The current Minister, Pierre D’Atanna, Jr. has done nothing but maintain the rigid class system. There have been no upheavals, and all in all, things have progressed smoothly with the castes remaining self-contained. Of course, there are a few problems. Not with any actual upheavals, but there have been some signs that the castes might not be working.
The Sorting Hat at Hogwarts has gone so far as to sort students based almost entirely on blood status. Pure-bloods to Slytherin, and most half and part bloods to Hufflepuffs, while most muggleborns find themselves in Ravenclaw. Gryffindor is a disrespectful mix of all blood types, and contains those who are at least somewhat against the blood system. Those who aren’t sorted into the “appropriate” blood-house are looked down upon by their family and peers.
There are two divisions of the Potter family: the descendents of Samuel Potter are purebloods, while those born to James Potter are muggleborns, courtesy of his squib status and marriage to a muggle woman. Despite sharing the same last name, the two branches rarely interact with each other.
The Brocklehurst bloodline is proving to be an issue. Even though it’s merely a part-blood line, the children born to it are often some of the most powerful students in their generation.
Meanwhile, Everett Malfoy is collecting a small force of elitist pure-bloods who are convinced that the only true way to stop the downfall of wizarding society is to get rid of all of those with less than the purest blood. It’s not that hard to get support for the cause; after all, almost the entire pureblood population has held these beliefs for the last sixty-odd years.
And in the least respectable house of Hogwarts, some of the muggleborn students are grouping together, headed by an unlikely duo: Willow Potter, muggleborn, and Jay Sauter, pureblood. Of course, they're not sure exactly what they're there to do... They don't even have a name beyond the ever-specific "The Group." They'll do something about the situation at hand--eventually. Maybe.[/font]
[align=center] The year is 2082,
and The Weakening continues.[/align]
----+----
NOTE FROM SUPPORT ADMIN: Revamped, revitalized, and ready for action! TW is back on the track to being active, and we’re looking for new members. Including professors! Many, many canon positions available, so go ahead and check us out. We’ll be glad to see you.