The Sacred Twenty-Eight Pure-blood Wizarding Families

The sacred twenty-eight list was first published in the infamous publication ‘Pure-Blood Directory’ in the 1930s. Its author was anonymous although rumored to be the work of Cantankerus Nott.

The list appeared at a time where Gelert Grindelwald was leading his group of followers known as The Alliance to the supremacy of witches and wizards over Muggles.

Pure-blood supremacy is an ancient habit started by none other than Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is important to note that the wizarding world would have gone extinct if their ancestors hadn’t married Muggles.

Some families that were not included among the sacred twenty-eight showed their disapproval of that decision. Others on the contrary were not keen to be part of this pure-blood show-off and asked for their name to be deleted from the list, with no success.

Some like the Potters were not included as the author of the list estimated that they were descendants of tainted blood.

Abbott – 
A pure-blood family that counted some notable members such as Giffard Abbott, once headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The family kept its pure-blood status at least until the 1930s, as a descendant of the family, Hannah Abbot, was a half-blood.

Hannah was sorted in Huflepuff and studied along with Harry Potter. She was a prefect and a member of the Dumbledore’s Army and fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. Her mother, Mrs. Abbot, was murdered by Death Eaters in 1996. Hannah later married Neville Longbottom and became the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron.

Avery –
A family whose members have been traditionally sorted to the Slytherin House at Hogwarts School. One of the descendants attended school at the same time as Tom Riddle, as they were both members of the Slug Club. Recent members of the family have been known Dark Art practitioners and Death Eaters.

Black – Extinct in the male line
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was one of the most notorious and richest families in Great-Britain. The family was so large that many pure-blood families were related to them.

The family counted a Hogwarts headmaster in the name of Phineas Nigellus Black and were traditionally sorted in Slytherin, with the exception of Sirius Black, sorted in Griffindor. Sirius, as a last male descendant of the Black family, was killed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, first Lieutenant of Lord Voldemort, also killed during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Bulstrode –
At least one of the Bustrodes descendants didn’t marry a pure-blood, as Millicent Busltrode, a descendant of the family who attended Hogwarts at the same time as Harry Potter, was half-blood. The family was distantly related to the Potters, the Blacks, the Flints, and the Crabbes.

Burke –
The Burke was one of the sacred twenty-eight pure-blood families related to the Black and Flint family. Their descendant, Caractacus Burke, co-founded the well-known Knockturn Alley shop Borgin and Burkes, the place to be for any witch and wizard wishing to dwell in the Dark arts.

Carrow – 
Some members of the Carrow family took part in dark activities in the 20th century. A witch from the family served as an acolyte of Gellert Grindelwald. Amycus and Alecto Carrow, both Death Eaters, taught at Hogwarts when Voldemort took control of the Ministry of Magic.

They were particularly aggressive towards the students, not hesitating to punish them using a dark list of spells, including the Cruciatus Curse.

Crouch – Definitely extinct
Being one of the oldest pure-blood wizarding families in Great Britain, the Crouch’s had an abrupt, dark, and horrible end to their line.

Bartemius Crouch Sr was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and often seen as the next Minister of Magic until his son Bartemius Crouch Jr was outed as a Death Eater at the end of the First Wizarding War.

As an ultimate request from his dying wife, Crouch Snr will help in the escape of his son from Azkaban by switching both his wife and son using a Polyjuice potion during a family visit.

Bartemius Crouch Jr, who killed his father and transfigured his body into a bone, played a key role in the return of Lord Voldemort. He will face a fate worse than death after receiving the dementor kiss.

Fawley – 
The Fawley is a pure-blood wizarding family whose most descendants attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The family members are traditionally sorted into Hufflepuff House.

Flint – 
The Flints counted among them a Minister for Magic in the name of Josephina Flint who led the ministry from 1819 to 1827.

Ursula Black (born Flint) married the former Hogwarts headmaster, Phineas Nigellus Black. Marcus Flint was a Slytherin student who attended Hogwarts during the same period as Harry Potter.

He was the Slytherin’s Quidditch team captain. The Flint family was related to the Black, Burke, Gamp, and Bulstrodes.

Gaunt – Extinct in the male line
The Gaunts were an ancient pure-blood family particularly violent and unstable due to their inbreeding activity. The family was once very wealthy and prominent but later lived in poverty and despair. As descendants of Salazar Slytherin, they had the ability to speak Parseltongue.

Tom Riddle, which later became known under the name of Voldemort, was a descendant of the Gaunts. The Gaunts are related to the Peverell, Slytherin, Sayre, Riddle, and Potter families. The family is extinct in the male line.

Greengrass –
The Greengrass was a family with a pure-blood supremacy ideology. This ideological tradition was broken by Astoria Greengrass, who changed her view on Muggles after witnessing the atrocities of the Second Wizarding War.

Astoria will marry Draco Malfoy and have a son named Scorpius. She will die due to a blood curse carried in her family.

Daphne Greengrass, Astoria’s older sister, attended Hogwarts in the same year as Harry Potter and was sorted in the Slytherin house.

Lestrange – 
Lestrange is an ancient and wealthy pure-blood wizarding family that originated in France but had branches in Great Britain. Many members of the family dwell in the dark arts, especially the sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange who stayed loyal to Lord Voldemort until the end.

One of their descendants was the Minister for Magic Radolphus Lestrange, who was in office during the 19th century. His reign was marked by his unsuccessful attempt to shut down the Department of Mysteries.

Another family member, Leta Lestrange, has married the magical beast lover Newt Scamender. The Lestranges family bear a raven crest and have a large family vault in Paris, in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

Longbottom – 
The Longbottoms are a well-respected pure-blood family who didn’t hold prejudice on blood purity. Frank and Alice Longbottom, two well known Aurors and former members of the Order of the Phoenix, were tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange during the First Wizarding War.

Their son Nevill Longbottom who was a member of the Dumbledore’s army, fought fiercely in the Battle of Hogwarts and eliminated the snake Nagini, one of Voldemorts Horcruxes.

Nevill married Hannah Abbot, and after a brief carrier as an Auror, went to teach Herbology at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Macmillan – 
The Macmillans are a pure-blood family who kept this status for at least 9 generations. Ernie Macmillan, who attended Hogwarts as a Hufflepuff student, was a member of the Dumbledore army and fought against Death Eaters at the Battle of Hogwarts. The Macmillans are distantly related to the Black and Prewett families.

Malfoy –
The Malfoy is a wealthy and politically powerful family who believes strongly in pure-blood supremacy. They first came to Britan with Armand Malfoy who was providing services to King William I. Armand build the Malfoy Manor in lands provided by the king himself.

The Malfoys perpetuated the tradition of influencing the center of power using their fortune and connections. Lucius and his son Draco Malfoy were both Death Eaters under Voldemorts commands but defected their ranks in the last moments of the Dark Lord.

Nott –
The Nott family is an old pure-blood wizarding family whose members generally studied in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and are sorted into Slytherin house. The family was a known ally of Lord Voldemort and one of the earliest Death Eaters.

Theodore Nott, son of a Death Eater, was a Slytherin student who went to school at the same time as Harry Potter.

Olivander – 
The Olivander family is an old pure-blood family, known for their deep knowledge in wand lore. They have been in the wandmaking business since 382 B.C. when their ancestor, a Roman wizard, founded the now-famous family business in England when the Romans set foot in the country.

Garrick Olivander was praised by the witches and wizards of Great Britain for his wand quality. The wandmaker was kidnapped and tortured by Voldemort before being saved by Harry Potter and his friends.

Parkinson – 
The Parkison family is a pure-blood family that counted in its tree a Minister for Magic named Perseus Parkinson who exerted from 1726 to 1733. Perseus unsuccessfully tried to pass a bill to make it illegal to marry a Muggle.

Pansy Parkinson, a family descendant, was sorted in Slytherin during her studies at Hogwarts. She was a close friend to Draco Malfoy.

Prewett – 
Fabian and Gideon Prewett were two powerful members of the first Order of the Phoenix. Both were fiercely killed by Voldemort during the First Wizarding War.

Molly Weasley (born Prewett), their sister, was like a protective mother to the orphan Harry Potter, a friend of her son. The Prewetts were related to the Black, the Macmillan, and the Weasley families.

Rosier – 
Present in Great Britain and in France, Rosier is an old pure-blood wizarding family related to the Black, Lestrange, and Malfoy families.

One of the Rosier was a Grindelwald acolyte who participated in the Global Wizarding War. Two other members of the Rosier family will later join the ranks of the Death Eaters under Voldemort’s reign. Felix Rosier was a Slytherin prefect in the 1980s.

Rowle – 
The Rowle family counted a Minister for Magic, Damocles Rowle, from 1718 to 1726, who was an anti-muggle politician who rose to power.

Damocles is known for creating the Azkaban prison after he proposed to the Dementors inhabiting the isle to feed on the prisoners’ souls in exchange for their work as prison guards.

Some members of the family were also Dark Art practitioners, such as Thorfinn Rowle who was described as a pretty extreme Death Eater.

Selwyn – 
The Selwyn was a pure-blood wizarding family who lived in Great Britain. One of the Selwyns was a Death Eater involved in the kidnapping of Luna Lovegood under the Dark Lord’s orders. Dolores Umbridge claimed to be a member of the Selwyn family at some point in her life.

Shacklebolt – 
The Shacklebolts are among the pure-blood families listed in the Sacred Twenty-Eight list. Kingsley Shacklebolt, an Auror member of the Order of the Phoenix and Minister for Magic after Voldemort’s fall, presumably contested the presence of his family name in this list.

Shafiq – 
The Shafiq was a pure-blood family whose name was listed in the Pure-Blood Directory published anonymously in Britain.

Slughorn – 
The Slughorns were a presumably very wealthy family who was open to Muggle-borns and Half-bloods. Horace Slughorn taught Potions at Hogwarts and was Head of Slytherin House.

After a period of retirement, he came back to teach again at the request of Albus Dumbledore and even fought in a duel against Lord Voldemort, who was a former student of his, in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Horace’s father was a high-responsibility official at the Department of International Magical Co operation in the Ministry.

Travers – 
Torquil Travers, a member of the family, was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the beginning of the 20th century, in an era marked by a series of events related to Gellert Grindelwald and his acolytes. One of the Travers was also a Death Eater during the Second Wizarding War.

Weasley – 
The Weasleys are considered as one of the prominent wizarding families in Great Britain. The family was considered by some as blood-traitors due to their sympathy toward Muggles.

The Weasleys didn’t approve being listed among the sacred twenty-eight as they considered that blood status wasn’t a measure of highness.

Arthur Weasley especially was an amateur of Muggle-culture and, along with his wife Molly, were members of the Order of the Phoenix during the Second Wizarding War.

Ron, Ginny, and the Weasley twins were members of the Dumbledore’s army. During the Battle of Hogwarts, where almost the whole family participated, Molly killed Bellatrix Lestrange but lost Fred, one of her sons, during the fights.

Ron Weasley was a close friend to Harry Potter and helped directly in the fall of Voldemort. He will briefly become an Auror before joining his brother George in the family business who was doing very well. He married Hermione Granger, a bright woman who later became Minister for Magic. Ginny Weasley married Harry Potter and had 3 children, James, Albus, and Lily.

Yaxley –
The Yaxley family counted among her members Corban Yaxley, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and a Death Eater. The family was related to the Crouch, Weasley, and Longbottom families.