Malfoy family

*"It is often said of the Malfoy family that you will never find one at the scene of the crime, though their fingerprints might be all over the guilty wand. Independently wealthy, with no need to work for a living, they have generally preferred the role of power behind the throne, happy for others to do the donkey work and to take the responsibility for failure. They have helped finance many of their preferred candidates’ election campaigns, which have (it is alleged) included paying for dirty work such as hexing the opposition"*

- Description

## Early history

### pre-1692

The Malfoy family consisted of an ancient line of pure-blood wizards, most of whom attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and were traditionally sorted into Slytherin House. Like many other progenitors of noble English families, the wizard Armand Malfoy arrived in Britain with William the Conqueror as part of the invading Norman army. Having rendered unknown, shady, (and almost certainly magical) services to King William I, Malfoy was given a prime piece of land in Wiltshire, seized from local landowners, upon which his descendants have lived for ten consecutive centuries.

The Malfoy family soon gained the reputation for pure-blood supremacy and courting richness and power from those around them. Until the passing of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in 1692, the Malfoys integrated themselves in high-class Muggle society.

### International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy

After the litigation passed and it became mandatory of Wizards to separate and hide themselves from muggles the Malfoy family found themselves in a peculiar situation. They were now unable to operate many of their businesses and also lost the means to acquire power and influence in the muggle world. The common cause of pure-blood supremacy urged them to obfiuscate and veil their past dealings with non-magical beings. This change of policy also meant they exclusively focused on magical beings in their pursuit of wealth.

Generations upon generations of the family began building up a small but sustainable real estate portfolio in and around the magical community of lower Engeland. Partly by expanding on their already granted lands and partly by clever investments. This gave them footing and saw them through yet another century of wealth and comfort. During this period they built the final version of what is now Malfoy Manor. Taking with the times they constructed the manor in a style akin to the larger country houses spread across the United Kingdom and hosted several balls for higher wizard society. Their popularity and influence was at a peak during these two centuries and it was during this era that they adopted their aristocratic mannerism.

## 19th century

### Appius Nessus Malfoy maior (1800-1867)

**Appius Nessus Malfoy maior** is the current patriarch and progenitor of this generation of the family. He was brought up during the turn of the century and as such saw much of Europe and it's volatile nature, during the **napoleonic wars.** He also witnessed the end of aristocracy. As such his vision and social navigating was fundamental for the families influence and prestige in the following century. Appius noticed the common wizard and their unhappy predicament and even more so feared their growing resentment. The flamboyant balls and gala's now no longer deemed tasteful he transformed the family and it's ancestral home to a more sober and contemporary reprentation of the higher classes.

Appius also noted a genetic problem arising among several of the once noble families he acquianted himself with. Through the centuries, many had befallen the ill faith of running out of suitable candidates for their offspring and had resolved to a vile-but-necessary means to secure their proud heritage. Disgusted by the blatant incest he set a precedent for the family still adhered to today. By eloping with **Desmeralda** Delacour, from wizarding France he secured purity of blood without the need to indulge in degeneracy. His skilled political and academic insight landed Appius a prestigious job in the ministry through which he secured privileged education for his children at Hogwarts. If there was anything to blemish his reputation as progenitor to this generation it would be that he set his further generations up for easily avoidable hardships were it not for paternal love.

### Pescennius & Bella Malfoy (1832-1884)

**Pescennius Nero Malfoy** (1832-1882) & **Bella Lucretia Malfoy** (1832-1883) were the **rotten and spoiled fruit** from Appius and **Desmeralda**. The wisdom and patience bestowed on their parents was absent from the siblings throughout their scandalous lifes. Both were known and fanatic **pure-blood supremacists** that could afford to take things to an extreme well beyond their peers because of the **priviliged education** and upbringing they'd received. Not only did this boost their popularity among the wrong crowds, it also led the eyes of some less-then-desired individuals keeping a careful watch on them. A streak of high profile, highly organized and well funded **hate-crimes** was reported during the years following their graduation, though the pair always seemed inseperable, busy of somewhere just the two of them. When this eventually began to lead to other rumours the pair settled down with partners from wizarding France and for a short moment the crimes stopped. Both were able to sire offspring before a final hate-crime shook up the wizarding community once more when a carriage carrying the two on their way to the hospital to deliver a child rumoured to be theirs to the hospital.

## 20th century

### Antebellum

Pescennius & Bella both left two children in care of their surviving parent. Under strict supervision of the patriarch of the Delacour family, and the both paternal and maternal grandfather of the children, the two parents were allowed to raise the children under some conditions. Sensing the tension brewing and fearing another attempt on the surviving children, Monsieur Delacour recalled the girls to attend beauxbatons and reside in France with him. This led to a further french relations in the family. When all the children came of age it was decided that Pescennius' children would inherit the estate while Bella's children were given the right to live, subsist and treat themselves from the fortune within certain boundaries.

Unbeknownst to the now deceased patriarch of the delacour family, the rising tensions and polarization of the wizarding communities regarding their views of muggles drove a rift between the family. As Bertram and Arsinoe, children of Pescennius, took a violent stance against the muggles while Alois and Melpomene blaming the half-blood wizards both parties clashed and fell apart. This subsequent rift led to the isolation of Melpomene and Alois, whom were now considered 'french' by the current heads of the family.

### Wizarding world war

#### Bertram allies with Grindelwald

The situation between the two eventually came to a rest when yet another generation of offspring was added to the family tree. The relatives found in one another family once more and enjoyed some relatively peaceful years of co-existance, opting to remain one family rather than breaking of into seperate branches. Abraxes, son of Bertram was proving himself to be a true prodigy in terms of oratory and magical duelling and was bound for a prestigious career in the wizengamot. Arsinoe and Alois children were making a name for themselves on Beauxbatons and Betram was even convinced of sending his daughter to france as well, hoping she'd like the climate there. Things were going well until another series of attacks targetting wizards, this time seemingly from dissidents seeking to break the international statute of secrecy.

Bertram, as *defacto* patriarch of the family initially entertained the thought of his family stepping up as one of a ruling class among pureblood nobility and pressed his son Abraxes to harbor similar ideals. Notes and correspondence from France indicate great reluctance on their behalf. Bertram himself began funding and organizing dissidents and was at times seen openly recruiting for Grindelwald. Ironic since his son was later observed convicting many of those individuals for their misdeeds through his acquired position at the Wizengamot.

#### Death of Arsinoe's family

Arsinoe was swayed by Bertram to join Grindelwald and his army of followers along with her husband, an insignificant wizard from House Nott. They ventured to the united states to wreak havoc as agents of chaos in a greater scheme to expose wizards and withces to mugglekind. The pair were frontline fighters for Grindelwald and both perished spectacularly gruesome deaths at the hands of MACUSA aurors after a trial and hearing determined them fit for execution. Their daughters were later lynched by a mob of muggles near the town of Salem, though Bertram would never hear of this and a lot of evidence regarding this incident was later covered up. The death of Arsinoe and her family reduced the Malfoy family back to three nucleair families spread thin across warring europe.

#### Betrayal in France

With the war now fully escalated, Bertram and his son sought refuge in France after Abraxes was put on leave after some of his sentences were now being scrutinized. Bertram's status and credit soon allowed him to amass a new circle of followers for his cause just as Grindelwald was defeated. The vengeful group of malcontents were still out for conflict and the authorities of France feared attacks. The French Malfoy Manor, sometimes dubbed the Maison Malfoy was laid under siege by officials and a tense standoff soon got ugly as Bertram and Abraxes took their own kin for hostage. Melpomene and her daughter fled the Maison and were taken in by authorities on the scene. The following statement is an eye witness' acount that has been taken from his raport, translated and publicized in the Daily prophet:

> "*11:35 - Early in the morning two hostages arrived, distraught but unharmed. They spoke of a desperate and unyielding character unfazed by the display of superior firepower. One of our officers noted their resemblance to the perpetrator after which they boldy exclaimed to be his family. Now we have it! We thought.. foolishly.. we presented the girls an offer. Leniency in return for de-escalation. We allowed them to bath, dine and rest before marching them up to the front door."*
>
>

> *"13:13 - An unlucky number that won't escape me. This man is insane, and so is his rotten spawn. Both dead girls, at such precious age. Was this to make a statement? We'll call for back up and show them how justice is served. By merlin it sickens me the levels to which these criminals dare stoop."*
>
>

Officer Nestor was later identified dead among the scene. What exactly occured in the Maison remains a mystery for outsiders but what is known is that on 1315 hours, French authorities raided the Mansion. Alois and his children did not survive the raid, neither did Bertram. What is known is that according to authorities, Abraxes at some point coöperated in some way shape or form with the authorities in the demise of Bertram and possibly other relatives. Abraxes and Bella now stood as the sole survivors of the Malfoy family that had been reduced to one nucleair family by the end of the war. Post-war hearings and trials found that reasonable suspicion of the usage of the imperiatus curse on Abraxes made him elligible for a full acquittal. The post-war trial was heavily influenced by the French authorities and remains shrowded in history as one of the most controversial hearings in history.

## Current state

#### 1963

The family is currently headed by Abraxes Nero Malfoy Minor. He's kept to the family tradition of marrying with a French pure-blood wizard and has at this point retired almost entirely from public life. His children attend Hogwarts as of 1963 and he himself keeps to backdoor lobbying and undercut nepotism since his reputation has been greatly blemished. A plethora of rumours now surrounds the Malfoy family and certainly among muggle borns tends to leave an especially nasty taste.

#### Rumours

* **Abraxes was acting on his own:** a persistent rumour among lower circles of the wizarding community in England is that Abraxes was never under influence of the Imperius curse but acted on his own behalf. The evidence supporting this claim rests on his appearant and unaided snap out of it and the suspicious timing of his change of heart.
* **The French ordered him to kill Alois:** A rumour popular in France around the time surrounding the incident was that in a plea deal, Abraxes was given the choide of murdering Alois and his children in an attempt to steer negative publication of the incident regarding the deaths of Melpomene and her daughter. Evidence of this theory is built around the odd French interventions during court proceedings.
* **Abraxes was a double agent:** Oddly enough this outlandish theory was proposed during the post-war trial hearings by French and Dutch taddle-magazines despite never being mentioned in court or on official documents. For some reason it stuck despite several attempts to have it officialy refuted. This rumour is more widely accepted abroad.
* **Abraxes did nothing wrong:** The official conclusion of the events that transpired during the Wizarding War. Though many critical thinkers now cast doubtful eyes on this series of events, among pure-blooded wizards this is still accepted as fact. Albeit more out of formality and perhaps lingering shame for some of the misdeeds perpetrated my their own families during the war.

## Trivia

### IC

* The Malfoy family follows a naming tradition closely resembling that of Roman patricians, as evident by their usages of cognomen and the -affix Maior or Minor to denote junior and senior members.
* The Malfoy family is a staunch opponent of inbreeding and has never adopted the practice themselves. Because of this they're not related to the Blacks, Lestrange, Peverells or Potters for at least a century.
* The Malfoy family is arguably the richest wizarding family in the United Kingdom, with the only family in comparison being house Lestrange.
* The Malfoy family maintains a tradition of intermarrying with French pure-bloods, as halfblood-marriage is still viewed as beneath them.

#### OOC

* Appius Nessus Malfoy is portrayed by Samuel in HPRP: Secret's of Hogwarts
* Irelia Octavia Malfoy is portrayed by Melissa in HPRP: Secret's of Hogwarts