Potter Family

"*The Potter family is a very old one, but it was never (until the birth of Harry James Potter) at the very forefront of wizarding history, contenting itself with a solid and comfortable existence in the backwaters. Potter is a not uncommon Muggle surname, and the family did not make the so-called Sacred Twenty-Eight for this reason; the anonymous compiler of that supposedly definitive list of purebloods suspected that they had sprung from what he considered to be tainted blood.*"
— Early description of the Potter family

**Potter** was the surname of an old wizarding family descended from Ignotus Peverell and Linfred of Stinchcombe. The Potters were, for many generations, Pureblood, 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 at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

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. The family was also very wealthy, with a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank containing a great deal of gold.

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

During the First and Second Wizarding Wars, the Potters supported the Order of the Phoenix and opposed Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. James and Lily Potter were both Order members who defied Voldemort three times and fought in the First Wizarding War. On 31 October, 1981 James and Lily's fourth encounter with Voldemort was their last. He murdered them as they attempted to protect their infant son, Harry.

Harry survived and went on to be the youngest Seeker in a century and leader/teacher of Dumbledore's Army. He also played an important role in many battles and skirmishes of the Second Wizarding War. These battles included the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, and the Battle of Hogwarts. During the Battle of Hogwarts he defeated Voldemort once and for all, thus ending the war.

After the war Harry became an Auror and helped reform and revolutionise the Ministry of Magic. At some point he married fellow Gryffindor and Dumbledore's Army member Ginevra Weasley. The couple had three children: James Sirius, Albus Arthur, and Lily Luna Potter, all three of whom were named in honour of family, friends, and allies.

The Potter family, despite being excluded from the Sacred Twenty-Eight and not seeming to care about blood supremacy, were (or must have been) once a "respectable" pureblood family, as Dorea Black was not disowned by her family after marrying Charlus Potter.

## Family History

### Early History

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.

Ralston Potter, a later descendant of the Potter family, served as a member of the Wizengamot from 1612 to 1652. He was a supporter of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, instead of wishing to declare war on Muggles like the more militant members of the Wizengamot.

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 house Abraham was sorted into remains unknown and his distant relation to the famous Harry Potter would not be uncovered until centuries later by eager genealogists.

### Recent History

"*It was Fleamont who took the family gold and quadrupled it, by creating magical Sleekeazy's Hair Potion ('two drops tames even the most bothersome barnet').*"
— Fleamont invented Sleekeazy's Hair Potion

Henry Potter (known as Harry to his friends), also served in the Wizengamot from 1913 to 1921. He condemned the Minister for Magic at the time, Archer Evermonde, for forbidden the magical community from helping the Muggles fighting during the First World War. His 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.

Fleamont Potter, Henry's son, attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he was Sorted into Gryffindor. 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 Sleekeaze's Hair Potion, the sale of which quadrupled the family gold and enabled him to woo even American witches by 1926. He retired with his wife Euphemia a few years later, but sold the company at a vast profit.

Dorea Black, born into the House of Black, one of Britain's oldest, largest and wealthiest wizarding families, married Charlus Potter, with whom she had a son. This meant that, despite being branded "blood traitors" for their openness to Muggles, the Potters were considered a respectable family with a certain status, on a par with others such as the Macmillans, the Longbottoms and the Prewetts. In any case, the union of Dorea and Charlus connected the Potters with many other British wizarding families.

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

The twins attended Hogwarts from 1971 to 1978, and were both Sorted into Gryffindor like their father. While there, James became the leader of a small gang of Gryffindors in his year known as the Marauders, along with Charlotte, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. James 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.

James and Charlotte were both accomplished Animagi, 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, whereas Charlotte was a red fox, where her nickname of "Kit" 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 pureblood 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

#### Service in the War

"*It's a secret society. Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the people who fought against You-Know-Who last time.*"
— Lily and James joined the original Order of the Phoenix