Pure-blood

"The pure-blood families are all interrelated. If you’re only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods your choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left."

- Sirius Black

Pure-blood is the term witches and wizards who come from "purely" magical heritage call themselves. Usually, a witch or wizard who has all magical grandparents would be considered pure-blood. Some of the more severe schools of thought require several more generations of wizards to be considered pure-blood. Thus, the children of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley would be considered pure-blood by some because all four of their grandparents were magical, but not by extremists, because their paternal grandmother was a Muggle-born witch.

Maintaining "Purity"
Some pure-blood families can trace their pure-blood status through many generations of magical folk and deny ever having any Muggles within the family. However, the truth is that if they ever did exist in the past, true pure-blood wizards and witches do not exist today. They merely erase Squibs and Muggles from their family trees.

Many pure-blood families, such as the Blacks and Gaunts, practice marrying cousins in order to maintain their pureblood status, and disown any members who marry someone who is not a pure-blood. This practice has been known to cause problems as families become inbred; for example, the Gaunts showed signs of violence and mental instability.

Attitude
"I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families."

- Draco Malfoy

Many pure-bloods see themselves as superior to those witches and wizards who are born to Muggles and half-bloods. They believe that Muggles are little more than animals, and that Muggle-borns are second-class citizens, unworthy of being allowed to practice magic. Many also discrimnate against half-breeds, werewolves, and magical creatures such as Centaurs.

Salazar Slytherin believed that only pure-bloods should be allowed to attend Hogwarts and educated in magic; this was the cause of his conflict with the other Founders and his leaving the school. However, he left behind the Chamber of Secrets in the hope that one day his heir would open the chamber and release the basilisk to target Muggle-born students. Tom Marvolo Riddle was this heir, and the basilisk petrified several Muggle-born students and killed at least one in 1943 and 1992 respectively.

Tom Riddle, later known as Lord Voldemort, continued his persecution of those who were not pure-bloods (ironically being a half-blood himself) with his followers, the Death Eaters. They strived to place pure-bloods in control of the wizarding world and to rid it of Muggle-borns.

However, there are pure-bloods who do not have these beliefs, and instead treat all magical people and Muggles as equals. These pure-blood folk are often labelled "blood traitors" by the more fanatical pure-bloods.

Known Pure-Bloods
See this list of known pure-blood families
 * Salazar Slytherin
 * Ernie Macmillan
 * Prince
 * Eileen Prince (mother of Severus Snape)
 * The Black family
 * Andromeda (Black) Tonks
 * Bellatrix (Black) Lestrange
 * Narcissa (Black) Malfoy
 * Phineas Nigellus Black
 * Regulus Black
 * Sirius Black
 * Walburga Black
 * The Gaunt family
 * Marvolo Gaunt
 * Merope Gaunt
 * Morfin Gaunt
 * The Longbottom family
 * Alice Longbottom
 * Augusta Longbottom
 * Frank Longbottom
 * Neville Longbottom
 * Hannah (Abbott) Longbottom (by marriage)
 * Harfang Longbottom Possible relation
 * The Malfoy family
 * Astoria Malfoy (by marriage)
 * Draco Malfoy
 * Lucius Malfoy
 * Narcissa (Black) Malfoy (by Marriage)
 * Scorpius Malfoy
 * Abraxas Malfoy
 * The Weasley family
 * Arthur Weasley
 * Bill Weasley
 * Charlie Weasley
 * Fred Weasley
 * George Weasley
 * Ginny Weasley
 * Molly Weasley
 * Percy Weasley
 * Ron Weasley
 * Septimus Weasley
 * Goyle
 * Mr. Goyle
 * Gregory Goyle
 * Crabbe
 * Mr. Crabbe
 * Vincent Crabbe
 * The Potter Family
 * James Potter
 * Charlus Potter possible relation
 * The Prewett Family
 * Molly (Prewett) Weasley
 * Gideon Prewett
 * Fabian Prewett
 * Ignatius Prewett possible relation
 * Nott
 * Nott Sr
 * Theodore Nott

Related Articles

 * Blood purity
 * Blood traitor
 * List of known pure-blood families
 * Death Eaters