House (political)

Based on the canonical examples of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and the House of Gaunt, many stories treat (at least the upper strata of) the Wizarding World as composed of **Houses** with various ranks and rights. This is common enough it may be referred to as fannon, but the exact details tend to vary a lot between different stories.

## Lords and Ladies

The head of a House is in most cases styled **Lord**, and often (but not always, and sometimes restricted to certain levels of the hierarchy) has a seat on the Wizengamot. The inheritance rules vary depending on the author's preferences and the needs of the story, but often mimic those of the historic European aristocracy by ignoring daughters and younger sons.

## Hierarchy

Beside the basic **House** and the **Noble and Most Ancient House** mentioned in canon, various other subdivisions occur:

* **Minor House** is common as the lowest stage of the hierarchy (although there may also be "non-House" families outside the system, which would then be even lower).

* **Noble House** tends to signify that a House is of elevated rank, but is not as old as a **Noble and Most Ancient House**

* **Noble and Ancient House** is sometimes used as a separate level between **Noble** and **Noble and Most Ancient**, although in other stories it is used interchangably with one or the other.

* The reverse-order **Ancient and Noble House** (with or without **Most** added to first part) is occasionally used as a distinct group, although it is perhaps more often the result of a typo or misunderstanding.

* Some stories make a distinction between **Noble** and **Most Noble**, which may then be combined with any or all of the above variants. Others seem to use both variants interchangably, or only the first.

* **Ancient House** and/or **Most Ancient House** is sometimes used to signify age without the elevated rank.

* In some stories, the term **Most Most Ancient House** is used for the oldest Houses, and at least one mentions the possibility of a **Most Most Most Ancient House** (which would then be more than 2000 years old).

## Examples

### Harry Potter: Neko's Mate

In this story, a muggle-born who marries a "highborn" (not further specified, but presumably a Noble house or higher) may, but does not have to, start a Minor House (examples of such Houses are the Minor Houses of Evans and Tonks), and Minor Houses (but not the other types) may be inherited through the female line; however, that usually means that the woman in question cannot be her husband's primary or only wife. Whether there are other ways to create a Minor House is not stated.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*, Chapter 11 **Note**: this use may be a shorthand header collecting all houses that are both *at least* ancient and *at least* noble.
2. ↑ *The Power of Seven*, Chapter 19
3. ↑ *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*, Chapter 22
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*, Chapter 11
5. ↑ *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*, Chapter 28
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*, Chapter 8
7. ↑ *The Girl Who Loved*: Chapter 10, Chapter 12, Chapter 15
8. ↑ *Harry Potter: Neko's Mate*: Chapter 8, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 15
9. ↑ Harry Potter: Neko's Mate, Chapter 11