House Weasley

# **Summary**

House Weasley is a Noble House of the Wizengamot, established in the 11th Century AD alongside the creation of Wizengamot. House Weasley is currently inactive due to their inability to pay house dues (50,000 galleons), a consequence of financial misfortune that has plagued the House since its (former) Oath of Enmity with House Malfoy. If active, they would have six (6) votes; 5 for Noble, and 1 for Arthur's Order of Merlin - 2nd Class. The current Lord is Arthur, Heir is Bill, and Lady is Molly.

# **History**

## **Background**

House Weasley were one of twenty-nine (29) Norman, Breton, and French wizarding families who successfully invaded Britannia alongside William the Conqueror, with Redmond Weasley serving as a close companion to William. As was expected, these twenty-nine new houses immediately challenged the power of the Wizards Council. The conflict between the entrenched Roman families and the younger, more numerous invader families continued for decades, long after the Normans themselves had subjugated Britain. The erstwhile Lord Malfoy broke his family's alliance with the other Roman families and engineered a peace treaty between the two factions with the help of Redmond and another key player. House Weasley was granted Noble Status as having been members of the new invaders. The family's motto - ***Manus Qui Ducit*** - is reflective of their Machiavellian machinations in wielding their influence to their benefit.

The Weasleys enjoyed great economic and political prosperity after the establishment of the Wizengamot, joining in a defacto alliance with the Malfoys to help shape the future of the newly established Britain. They typically sorted into Hufflepuff and Slytherin, with a smattering of Ravenclaws. House Malfoy was set to sponsor House Weasley's elevation to Ancient and Noble, until a very public feud in 1790 dashed that particular aspiration. The two Houses devolved into irreconcilable differences, declaring a mutual Oath of Enmity that ultimately led to a series of lawsuits against House Weasley that ended in bankruptcy and loss of their Wizengamot seat.

At the current time, the Weasleys are a family of less than middling wealth who wield considerably less influence than before, generally considered 'blood traitors' by their enemies. Members have Sorted into Gryffindor with a handful of Hufflepuffs, with no recent Slytherins until Ginny in 1992. Ginny's birth marked the end of a curse placed upon the family which prevented the birth of female descendants, a consequence (it's believed) of whatever [REDACTED] spell used by Livilla Malfoy against the Weasleys.

## **The Family Residence**

**The Burrow** is the current familial residence of House Weasley, located in Ottery St. Catchpole in Devon. It is Unplottable and blood-warded, with an added House-Elf Repelling Ward (among a few others) of Bill Weasley's creation. It was once a hunting and holiday retreat of Weasley bachelors' past, one of two properties they were able to keep after being bankrupted by the Enmity Oath with House Malfoy. The other is **Shell Cottage**, which is under ownership of Muriel Weasley - Arthur's great-grandaunt.

**L'Domaine Weasley** was the family's primary residence located in Wiltshire, a sprawling manor house on several hundred acres of Unplottable and blood-warded lands. Access to the Manor is granted by the current Lord and/or Lady, limited to the Floo. It was purchased by the Malfoys in act of revenge on account of the Enmity Oath, however, the unique warding magicks prevented them from accessing the property. It sits abandoned some miles away from Malfoy Manor.

# **The War of Roses**

Alongside her *Consilierii Emereti* Arrius Weasley, Valdis Gaunt, Jericho Kolumbiko, and Nicodemus Crouch, Prince Emeritus and Acting Lady Danica orchestrated the downfall of Theron Lord Nott for his scheme to fracture the Wizengamot and reestablish the Wizards' Council of olde, granting him and his cohorts absolute authority over the muggles. Theron was aligned to the House of Lancaster, in direct opposition to Yorkist interests of Danica and her allies.

What followed can only be described as a three-year campaign of expert maneuver warfare (with an occasional frontal assault) that saw Theron's character and influence in complete tatters. Along with persisting rumors of alcoholism and a disturbingly keen appetite for teenage muggle girls (with picture proof courtesy of Jules Scarabee), accusations of contract fraud with other Wizengamot Houses came to the fore, along with more serious allegations of practicing redacted spells whilst muggle-baiting. Nott, with his propensity to brag about his superior hunting abilities, had made that insinuation all too easy to levy. The emergence of that particular accusation carried serious legal ramifications in the form of massive fines, formal censure, and, in very extreme cases, expulsion from the Wizengamot.

With the defeat of the Lancastrian heir Edward of Westminster and his muggle and wizarding forces in the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, Theron finally had to admit defeat and retreat from the public sphere altogether, though not without a formal apology to the Wizengamot and a sworn statement to never again interfere with House of York's interests. Lord Nott had initially postured and blustered with threats of Enmity Oaths and lawsuits against his enemies, but the historic siege of Castle Black (led by Valdis Gaunt and Thibault Longbottom) which resulted in the execution of his ally Sagittarius Lord Black had quickly remedied any such intentions.

## **The Clash with House Malfoy**

Prior to 1788, the Noble House of Weasley and the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy had been in a general state of de facto alliance for almost 300 years, with quite a few Consilierii serving on Malfoy Prince Administrations. The two families supported other during the conflict between the Muggle Houses of York and Lancaster, rewarded rather handsomely by King Richard III upon resolution of the conflict. While the House of Weasley never formally swore fealty to the House of Malfoy, the two families had several joint business ventures and supported one another politically in the Wizengamot. It was widely understood - widely expected - that the Malfoys would support the elevation of the Weasleys to the status of Ancient and Noble House once a seat became vacant.

In 1788, when the Heads of the two Houses – Hephaestus Malfoy II (Hufflepuff, Class of 1750) and Barnabas Weasley (Slytherin, Class of 1753) – decided to formalize their alliance with a marriage contract between Meleager, the Malfoy Heir, and Camilla, the eldest daughter of Barnabas. However, problems arose when Meleager, in a serious breach of etiquette, rather loudly let it be known that he was less interested in Camilla, who was six years his senior, than in Ludmilla Weasley, who was only one year his junior and who was considered to be more attractive than her older sister. Barnabas' father Amadeus Weasley (Slytherin, Class of 1703) had warned Barnabas that the inevitably unhappy union would bring ruin upon their houses, and that if his son truly wanted to foster an alliance between the two Houses, he would bequeath Ludmilla to Meleager. As it stood, the two were already very much in love with each other, and had already expressed wanting to be married once they graduated from Hogwarts. Unfortunately, Barnabas was more eager to marry Camilla off than to ensure either her or Ludmilla's happiness. It'd been noted several times that Camilla and Meleager didn't with each other during their years at Hogwarts.

After his vigorous initial protests, Meleager initially bowed to his father's wishes. But a week before the wedding, Meleager disappeared never to be seen again, along with Ludmilla, the bride price, the dowry, and all the wedding gifts that had been received up to that point. Each family blamed the other for the scandal. Barnabas Weasley called Meleager a rakish scoundrel who had seduced his baby girl, while Hephaestus called Ludmilla a shameless slattern who had deceived his beloved son, perhaps to his death. The situation deteriorated very quickly, with three duels between members of the two houses over the course of the next year.

Things came to a head in 1790 when Barnabas Weasley publicly accused Livilla Malfoy (née Avery), Hephaestus's wife, of cursing the Weasley family with a redacted spell. The purported spell - believed to be Dark Blood Magick - cursed the both the Weasleys and the Malfoys, preventing the birth of any female descendants The gravity of such an accusation, coupled with House Weasley's inability to demonstrate proof in front of the Wizengamot, resulted in a lawsuit of libel and slander against the Weasleys. The damages awarded to the Malfoys over a false allegation of using a redacted spell caused the Weasleys to lose their Wizengamot seat. Most of the financial difficulties the Weasleys have had over the last two centuries stem from these events.

### **Ending the Enmity Oath**

On 24 March 1993 at approximately 7:07PM, Harry Potter succeeded in convincing Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley to end the Oath of Enmity between their Houses. His clever Slytherin maneuvering saw the two men 'unite' against their common enemy the Dark Lord, who'd orchestrated the entire scheme that endangered the lives of both their sons.