Potter family

Potter Sigil

 Weasley family
 House of Gaunt

 Flint family
 Bulstrode family
 Crabbe family

 Prewett family

 British Ministry of Magic
**American Branch:**
 Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
 Magical Congress of the United States of America

**Potter** was the surname of an old wizarding family descended from Ignotus Peverell and Linfred of Stinchcombe. The Potters were, for many generations, Pure-blood, up until the birth of Harry Potter in 1980, but they were excluded from the Sacred Twenty-Eight due to their egalitarian stance on blood purity. The Potters have traditionally been sorted into Gryffindor House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry though some, such as Jane Potter have been sorted into other houses.

The family also had a branch in the United States, whose members presumably attended Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The most prominent member of the American branch was Auror Abraham Potter, one of the first in his profession on American soil. They are also very wealthy, with a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank containing a great deal of gold.

They were related to the Peverell, Fleamont, Black, Evans and Weasley families, and more distantly to the Gaunt, Riddle, Flint, Bulstrode, Crabbe, Dursley, Prewett, Delacour, Johnson and Granger families. It is unknown who the family was related to through the American branch.

## History

### Early History (B.C.-1900)

The Potter family descended from a twelfth-century wizard named Linfred of Stinchcombe, a locally well-beloved and eccentric man, whose nickname, 'the Potterer', became corrupted in time to 'Potter'.

Linfred was a vague and absent-minded fellow whose Muggle neighbours often called upon his medicinal services. None of them realised that Linfred's wonderful cures for pox and ague were magical; they all thought him a harmless and lovable old chap, pottering about in his garden with all his funny plants. His reputation as a well-meaning eccentric served Linfred well, for behind closed doors he was able to continue the series of experiments that laid the foundation of the Potter family's fortune.

Historians credit Linfred as the originator of a number of remedies that evolved into potions still used to this day, including Skele-Gro and Pepperup Potion. His sales of such cures to fellow witches and wizards enabled him to leave a significant pile of gold to each of his seven children upon his death.

Hardwin Potter, Linfred's eldest son, married a beautiful young witch from the village of Godric's Hollow who went by the name of Iolanthe Peverell. She was the granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell and as the eldest of her generation in the absence of male heirs within the Peverell family, inherited her grandfather's Cloak of Invisibility. It was, as Iolanthe explained to Hardwin, a tradition in her family that the possession of this cloak remained a secret, and her new husband respected her wishes. From this time on, the cloak was handed down to the eldest in each new generation.

Abraham Potter was a member of a branch in the family, which immigrated at some point before 1693 to the United States of America. Once there he became one of the original twelve Aurors trained and appointed by the first President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America. It can be assumed that he was educated at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The American Potter eventualy decended into Oliver Potter and his distant relation to the famous Harry Potter would not be uncovered until centuries later by eager genealogists.

### Exclusion from the Sacred Twenty-Eight (1913)

Although Henry Potter (known as Harry by his friends) was the second born of his father he and his brother Alexander would take up the family seats in the Wizengamot from 1913. They condemned the Minister for Magic at the time, Archer Evermonde, for forbidding the magical community from helping the Muggles fighting during the First World War. Their outspokenness on behalf of the Muggle community, along with the fact that Potter is also a relatively common surname in the Muggle world, led to the exclusion of the Potter family from the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' list, for which his brother condemned him for.

However their younger brother, Charlus Potter, was the near opposite of them he often spoke out against his brothers views on the Muggle community and Muggle-born Witches and Wizards. A group of Muggle-borns would attack and kill Charlus in 1945.

### Recent History (1900-1970)

Fleamont Potter, Henry's second son, attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he was Sorted into Gryffindor House. Most of his classmates there teased him about his name, goading him into later attributing his dexterity at duelling to the fights he made in return. After graduating, Fleamont took up a potioneering career in which he invented Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, the sale of which quadrupled the family gold and enabled him to woo even American witches by 1926.

James Potter, Fleamont and Euphemia's only son, was born late in the couple's lives on 27 March, 1960. By that time, his parents were both elderly (even by wizarding standards), but they pampered and cherished their child accordingly to the point where he became a proud yet arrogant boy. However, James was still considered a good person.

James attended Hogwarts from 1971 to 1978, and was sorted into Gryffindor like his father. While there, he became leader of a small gang of Gryffindors in his year known as the Marauders, along with Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. He played as Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and was very aware of his talents.

While at Hogwarts, James met Lily Evans who was also in Gryffindor. He developed a crush on her, but James was somewhat an obnoxious youth due to his love of showing off and his exceptional self-confidence. He often hexed other students with Sirius out of boredom, including Lily's friend, Severus Snape.

James was also an accomplished Animagus, along with Sirius and Peter as they sought to accompany Remus each month when he became a werewolf. James' Animagus form was a shining red stag with pronged horns, from which his nickname "Prongs" was derived. They also made the Marauder's Map, a small piece of parchment enchanted with a Homonculous Charm which displays a map of the Hogwarts Castle and grounds, and all the school's inhabitants — including all staff, ghosts and students — in great detail.

By the end of his time at Hogwarts, James lost the less savoury aspects of his personality and was appointed Head Boy. The Potter family welcomed Sirius to their home one summer after he was disowned by his own pure-blood supremacist family, making him an unofficial member of the Potter family. Sirius himself was later provided a home after his uncle Alphard Black left him with some of the Black family gold (which saw Alphard disowned from the family as well), but Fleamont and Euphemia would often welcome him back to their home for Sunday lunch.

### First Wizarding War (1970-1981)

#### Service in the War

Both Flemont and Euphemia Potter fought alongside the Albus Dumbledore in the Order of the Phoenix despite their age, but were forced to stop in 1978 when they both became infected with Dragon Pox, which would see them killed late that year. However, James and his new wife Lily Evans, would take up the fight both defying Lord Voldemort, a distant relative of the Potter's, several times

#### Near Extinction of the British Branch

Harry Potter, James and Lily's son, was born during the height of the war on 31 July, 1980. At the same time, Dumbledore witnessed a prophecy made by Sybill Trelawney at the Hog's Head Inn which predicted that a child with the power to defeat the Dark Lord would be born to parents who had defied him three times "*as the seventh month dies*". Voldemort was only told part of the prophecy, because Severus Snape, who was eavesdropping on the interview, was caught by Aberforth Dumbledore (Albus' brother) and thrown out of the pub.

Even though two infants were born at the end of July, Voldemort picked Harry as he believed their shared blood status made them equal. Severus Snape and Dumbledore made arrangements for the Potters to go into hiding by using the Fidelius Charm over the Potter cottage in Godric's Hollow.

James and Lily made Peter Pettigrew their Secret-Keeper, but he betrayed them when he secretly defected to the Death Eaters as a spy within the Order's ranks and, as a result, betrayed the Potters' whereabouts about a week after the Fidelius Charm was performed. They originally intended for Sirius to be the Secret-Keeper, but he suggested Pettigrew instead thinking he would be less obvious.

Peter betrayed the location of the Potters in Godric's Hollow, where the family secretly owned a cottage, and Voldemort attacked them on Halloween 1981. The Potters were fortunately able to survive this encounter, however, they were all very shaken by the attack.