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

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 battle 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.

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" pure-blood 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 declaring war on Muggles like the more militant members of the Wizengamot.

### Recent history

Henry Potter also served in the Wizengamot from 1913 to 1921. He 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. 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 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. He retired with his wife Euphemia a few years later, but sold the company at a vast profit.

Charlus Potter, Fleamont's son, became a respectable Auror, after obtaining the required training, and began working for the Ministry of Magic in the Auror Department, some time after graduating. At some point, he married Dorea Black, who was part of House of Black, one of Britain's richest and most powerful pure-blood families.

James Potter, Charlus and Dorea'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.