Hi-ray-th

(Noun)

A homesickness for a home you can't return to or that never was. The grief for the lost places of your past. Longing or desire.

•

They can't control it so it scares them

In that flicker is the possibility for a bonfire

That could burn down their fragile empire

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The Sacred Twenty-Eight were the twenty-eight British families that were still "truly pure-blood" by the 1930s.

Many of the families within the list take pride in such an honourable status - some even going as far as inbreeding, or expulsion if they threaten to contaminate the bloodline. This placed increasing amounts of pressure on the new generations of these families as time went on. Pureblood families were becoming more and more rare and so those that remained pureblood were more than likely to be rather segregated. They would cut themselves off from other families - mostly those that betrayed the wizarding lineage by risking its loss through the incorporation of half-bloods and muggle-borns.

Some might say that Sirius Black was the first wizard to truly fight back against this oppressive tradition. It may be true to say that Sirius did lead the way for other pureblood wizards to abandon their supremacist beliefs and rejoin the wider community. However, these people most likely don't know the story of Esmerelda Avery.

Esmerelda Avery not only defied all of the expectations built up of her, but also built the bridge that connected the isolated, fearful, pureblood families with the rest of the wizarding world. If you've heard the story of Esmerelda following the path of least resistance as Voldemort rose to power, then you've heard it wrong. Her bravery far outshone that of a Gryffindor as she battled a harder fight than anyone could imagine.

Perhaps that's why she didn't fit in.

This is the little-know story of Esmerelda Avery and how her friendship with a house elf began a long, winding tale of hardship.

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note 23/07/2021

don't worry, i didn't forget andromeda

yes, she did run away from her home, but i deliberately omitted her here because (to my knowledge) she didn't fight in the first wizarding war - therefore, whilst she did rebel, i don't consider her to have "fought back"