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2 “Hardware”—something about blood and money
It can be inferred whether a person is from the top class or not by his or her outside conditions, such as one’s family background and knowledge. A well-born person has more accesses to superior education than people do from lower classes, so to some extent he or she can develop more abilities and present better manners. In Harry Potter series, the characters’ abilities or gifts are mostly inherited from their magical blood, and blood in some way is the synonym for social hierarchy. The phrase “blue blood” in European culture shares certain similarity with “pure-blood” in HP stories. In the story, pure-blood wizards enjoy higher social status. The hierarchy system can be dated back to hundreds of years ago when ordinary people holds strong hatred and fear against wizards and witches. Sorcerers then gather together to protect themselves and hide their magic traces. (In Middle Ages, witch hunting prevailed in Europe for centuries.) Most part of the story is narrated at Hogwarts (a magic educational institute). The school headmasters are appointed by the school governors, while the majority of these governors are from ancient potent pure-blood wizard families. Outside the school, the Ministry of Magic runs the whole wizardry world. The wizards mentioned above occupy important positions in the ministry. The “current” Minister for Magic Corrnelius Fudge (a pure-blood) has a preference for so-called respectable pure-bloods, and is gradually manipulated by the wealthy Malfoys.
2.1 About “pure-blood”: the high rank
Both the Malfoys and the Weasleys are pure blood magical families, and both Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley are officials, working for the magical government, the Ministry of Magic. The two old families, however, lead quite different lives because money matters a lot here. As in the common world, the richer a family is, the better life the family members lead and the higher social status they enjoy.
2.1.1 The Malfoys—noble but decadent aristocrats
He who has wealth speaks louder than others. The Malfoy family has a long history and a great fortune which they themselves are very proud of. Born in this glorious family, Draco Malfoy, Harry’s archenemy at Hogwarts, is a bit spoiled. It can be seen that Rowling bears certain prejudice against the Malfoys because she describes them as arrogant and annoying people when they show up in the story for the first time. Apparently, the family education has gone wrong: the little lord is no gentleman. But regardless of their haughty airs, the Malfoys still stand on the top of the social ranking pyramid.