Chapter 088

Draco looked at Harry's hand, then at the remembrall, then back to Harry's hand. Finally, a sneer appeared on his face as he non to gently set the magical glass orb in Harry's outstretched appendage.

Whirling around, Draco stalked back toward the Slytherin table, Crabbe and Goyle following behind him with matching expressions of confusion. Many stares followed the trio as they passed the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, most of them showing disapproval of the boy's actions. Malfoy just glared at everyone as he sat down with a heavy thump.

With a soft sigh, Harry placed the remembrall on the table in front of Neville and sat down.

"Thanks, Harry," Neville said quietly.

Harry gave the boy a smile. "You're welcome."

"That was so cool, Harry," Hannah gushed. "The way you're constantly showing up Malfoy whenever he shows his ugly face is enough to make my day."

Harry's eyes shone with amusement.

"Glad to be of service."

"It was pretty impressive," Terry added his own input into the conversation. "The way you handled Malfoy."

Harry shrugged and took a bite of his food, chewing a bit before swallowing.

"Malfoy is actually easy to deal with once you understand how he thinks," Harry began to lecture; it was something he really enjoyed doing—lecturing, that is. "You see, Malfoy is a pureblood, one of those who have been raised to believe he is superior to those with dirty blood, or muggleborns and half-bloods. Status is everything to him, and because of his father's position within the Ministry, he has come to the belief that he is at the top of the food chain."

He noticed that all of his friends were listening with rapt attention, even those he was not as well acquainted with were leaning in to hear what he had to say. Harry smiled. It was good to see that his peers were always so interested in listening to him. This feeling of respect and admiration really was the best.

"But the truth of the matter is no matter how much money his father throws around, there are those more powerful than he. The Malfoy family, for all the money they bribe people with, are not the wealthiest family in Britain. That honor belongs to the remaining families of the Founding Five, the Bones." Harry nodded to Susan who blushed bright red. "The Longbottoms." he gestured to Neville. "The Potters, and the Blacks. Each of these four families have accrued more wealth than the Malfoy's could hope to gain within a hundred years."

"Then how come you guys don't do anything about him?" asked Lisa, frowning. "If you three are richer than Malfoy, then surely you could just out bribe the Ministry out of his hands, right?"

"Right now none of us have control over our finances," Harry told her. "All three of us are minors, and we would need to be an adult or legally emancipated in order to access our vaults. Because of that, none of us have the ability to use our money to our advantage."

"But even if we did have the ability to toss money around like it was going out of style, we wouldn't," Harry continued. "Not only is it morally wrong to use ones accrued wealth to get what you want, it's also dangerous politically. You must understand that using wealth to bribe your way to the top will eventually lead to your downfall. What happens when someone who doesn't take bribes ascends to become Minister of Magic? Or if you use all that money you have acquired and keep spending it on bribes, only to realize you've run out of money?"

Harry paused, allowing his friends time to let that sink in.

"Then there is the fact that, before now, the Founding Families have never really needed to use bribery to get what they want." He looked at Lisa. "You know about the Founding Five, don't you?"

"Of course." Lisa looked offended that he would even suggest she didn't know the history of the five most important families to the Ministry of Magic. "The Founding Five was the name given to the five families that created the Ministry of Magic, and they were the ones who accomplished what the Four Founders started when they built this school: the complete segregation of the magical and non-magical worlds."

"Exactly." Harry nodded. "The Founding Five were the creators of today's Ministry, and they were the ones who gained the first five seats on the Wizengamot. Our word holds a lot of sway over magical Britain's government."

"Of course," Harry added. "We've lost a lot of power since then. The war against Voldemort decimated many pureblood families, including those of the Founding Five."

He ignored the flinches and paling faces his casual mentioning of the Dark Lord's name invoked. They would have to get over their fear eventually, because he had no intention of giving that man anymore power than he already had. Especially since he was dead.

"As of this moment, the Blacks are all but extinct, with the only remaining male heir currently incarcerated in Azkaban prison. Only Susan and her Aunt remain of the Bones family after the war, and Amelia Bones is the head of the Department of Magical law enforcement, so the Bones family seat is currently in stasis until Susan reaches the age of majority. Neville's family managed to survive, I know that he has a couple of aunts, uncles and cousins who had not been in the country during the war, but the main branch only consists of him and his Grandmother, who currently holds the Longbottom seat. And you all know that I am the last of the Potter family."

"That's pretty sad." Hannah looked downtrodden at the turn this conversation took. "To think that so many important families were killed off like that."

"That's war," Harry informed her with a shrug. "In war, people die. And if you think that's bad, you should read up on some of the muggle wars that have taken place. The non-magical community is possibly even more apt at finding new ways to kill each other than we wizards are."

XoX

Potions class that day was a lot different for Harry than it had been last Friday. The moment class started, Severus Snape wrote his instruction on how to brew a basic antidote to common poisons, told his class to start working, then sat down in his desk and proceeded to glare at nothing. Or at least, that is what it looked like to everyone else.

Good thing Harry was not everyone else. The entire time he and Neville had been brewing their potion, the ornery Potions Professor had been sending him strange looks. Harry didn't know what to make of the man's staring, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and simply proceeded to make his potion with Neville.

The potion itself was very easy to make. Harry already had six vials worth of Antidote to Common Poisons locked away inside of his trunk. The standard way of making it was to add four measures of crushed Bezoar to the cauldron, then add two measurements of Standard Ingredient—a mixture of herbs with many magical properties that were often used in potion brews. Once the ingredients were added, the cauldron needed to be heated to a medium temperature for five seconds, and afterwords, a small application of magic was required to get the ingredients to mix properly. Since Harry used a pewter cauldron, the brew needed to sit for 40-minutes, and then you added a pinch of ground Unicorn Horns followed by a clockwise stir, two mistletoe berries, two anti-clockwise stirs, and then another application of magic to complete the brew. If someone followed the instructions correctly, the entire process would take a little under the hour of class time they had.

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