The Stand

The Summer of Second Year

"WHAT THE HELL" Rishi exclaimed "Why do we some Gilderoy Lockhart fan for a DADA teacher?"

Mrs. Gopal glared at her son "Language."

Harry chuckled "Are the books that bad?"

Rishi nodded feverishly "My aunt has all his books. One time, we went over, and I read those books. All his solutions are ridiculous! There's no way he did all that stuff! There's so dumb!"

Harry laughed "Don't worry about all that, want to play Quidditch? I can floo Neville, Draco and everyone?"

Rishi shrugged and after Harry made the calls, the pair went outside. These pick-up games had been happening for the majority of the summer. Since Draco and Rishi were interested in playing Quidditch during their second years, Harry suggested that they play for practice.

Neville, who wasn't very interested in playing in Hogwarts, played simply for fun as did Padma. Parvati, after hearing Draco boast about his status as a Quidditch superstar, joined them solely for the purpose of beating Draco. She quickly beat him in a game and since then, played for fun like her sister. Hermione, ever eager to learn, began playing when Rishi told her that playing with them was a chance to learn more about the game. When Hermione started playing, Daphne also began. Until then, Daphne was content to watch them and refused all requests of her to join in. However, when they needed a eighth player, Daphne joined in, apparently due to the need.

Each team had one seeker, one beater and two chaser. Since Harry played seeker at Hogwarts and Draco wanted to, they became the seekers. Similarly to Draco, Rishi aspired to be a beater for Ravenclaw so he took one beater position. Neville usually took the other and the Patil twins were the chasers. They also attempted to keep the teams fair, settling for teams of Harry, Neville, Daphne and Padma against Draco, Rishi, Hermione and Parvati. The teams were tied 90 - 90 when they were called in. While the kids were playing Quidditch, the adults were planning out a trip to Diagon Alley for new school supplies.

Unwillingly, the kids headed in. A quick trip through the floo brought all the kids into Diagon Alley where all bar Rishi, and Draco met up with their parents. The large swarm of wizards and 2 muggles then headed up to Gringotts. When they arrived, Ragnok came out to greet them "Hello Lords, Ladies and Scions." He then turned to Hermione and her parents "Hello Mr, Mrs and Ms Granger."

Hermione looked puzzled "Lords and Ladies?"

Draco nodded as the parents became immersed in conversation with the goblins "The Wizarding World still follows the medieval ways from the days of King Arthur and Merlin."

"So every family is a house" Hermione attempted to grasp the concept "So the head of the house is a Lord and their wife is the Lady. So the scion is the heir?"

"You're getting it" Draco smirked "I'm happy that you aren't rejecting this like most. However there is the one key part that you're missing. Not all houses are equal. There are tiers. Each new house starts at the bottom. You get to the bottom by either being new to the country or being a first-generation magic user. After 5 generations, your family gets the title of Noble. After 10, it's Ancient. After 50, Ancient and Noble. After 100, Most Ancient and Noble. The higher up you get, the less houses there are."

Draco gestured to the group "I believe there are 5 Most Ancient and Noble houses. House Potter, House Black, House Longbottom, House Bones and House Greengrass. House Malfoy is a Ancient and Noble house. House Patil and House Gopal are Ancient Houses. The final detail is Wizengamot. Wizengamot consists of the head or a proxy for all houses above the rank of Ancient."

Harry nodded "That's the gist. There's also more details like Family Grimoires and Manors that'll you learn when you come of age. I heard that Hogwarts used to have a class about this."