Chapter 257: The Past of the Claude Family

"According to my husband, the Claude family was once quite wealthy."

"But over a hundred years ago, the Claude family produced a head of the family who publicly opposed the excessive enforcement of the International Statute of Secrecy."

"Later, because they led the family in advocating for equal dialogue with the Muggle world, they were deemed traitors by more than half of the Sacred Twenty-Eight families at the time, ruled as 'blood-tainted,' and expelled from the list of the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

"So, the 'pure-blood' title of the Claude family became a worthless piece of paper a century ago."

"The ancestors of the Claude family could only boast about the name of the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight' through word of mouth."

These were the secrets of the Claude family, and it was the first time Titus truly understood the origin of the Sacred family name his father had boasted about.

"In the century that followed, although some in the Claude family were unwilling and wanted to return to the ranks of the Sacred families, they all failed. The family declined repeatedly, and by now, to the generation of my father-in-law, they couldn't even be bothered to mention the obsession with pure blood anymore."

"Nowadays, the only family left in the world that still acknowledges us is probably the Malfoy family..."

Speaking of this, the two who were listening intently were both stunned.

"Malfoy? You mean that..." John asked, a bit uncertain.

"Uh-huh, the Malfoy family currently headed by Lucius."

Mrs. Claude nodded and said.

"Why?"

This time it was Titus who asked. It should be known that he hated the Malfoys very much; he had had disputes with Malfoy more than once at school, although it had become less frequent since last year.

But he didn't expect that the guy he hated the most was actually the only one who acknowledged their family status?

"It seems that before the Claude family was expelled, the Malfoys and the Claudes were family friends. There were quite a few intermarriages and such... I'm not sure, it's all something I heard from my husband."

"The current Malfoy family, although they still view the Claudes as traitors, is also the only family that remembers the former glory of the Claudes."

"Other families probably don't even know who the Claudes are."

"When I married my husband, the Malfoys even sent a congratulatory gift, even though no one had notified them at all..."

Hearing this, John couldn't help but recall.

When he went to the Quidditch World Cup before, he ran into the Malfoy family in the stands.

The words Lucius said to Mr. Claude at that time, although harsh, sounded like he was urging him to turn back before it was too late...

"Back to the point, it's because the Claudes have already been expelled that most people don't know we are of pure-blood origin, so the Death Eaters didn't specifically target us."

"The Malfoys don't seem to have dragged us into the water either; after all, more than a decade ago, the Malfoys didn't expose us."

Mrs. Claude concluded at the end, but immediately added with uncertainty and hesitation.

"Hiss... but the head of the family back then wasn't Lucius... it's really hard to say now..."

He really didn't expect the Claude family to have such a hidden past.

After hearing it, it took the two of them quite a while to digest it.

However, it didn't stop them from still hating the Malfoys.

Who knows if they didn't kick them while they were down just because they thought the Claudes still had some value to exploit.

Even if that wasn't the case.

At most, it was just thinking that compared to those unprincipled villains, the Malfoys at least still maintained some kind of decency.

But it couldn't change the fact that they were enemies.

If he continued to serve Voldemort, they would sooner or later face each other head-on.

The day after returning from Titus's place, John and Hermione came to the Order of the Phoenix again.

"Where is everyone?"

John walked into the kitchen and didn't see anyone, asking strangely.

When the two walked into the Order of the Phoenix, there was no one on the first floor. Logically speaking, everyone should have been up by this time, right?

"Hermione? John?"

Just as the two of them were feeling strange, there was finally movement upstairs.

It was Harry's voice.

He was poking his head out from the stairs, looking down.

"Harry, where are the others?"

Hermione looked up at Harry and asked.

"Today is the day Mr. Weasley is discharged from the hospital, and Ron and the others have all gone to pick up Mr. Weasley."

"Then Sirius hasn't been seen since Christmas, Professor Moody just finished his night shift and is resting upstairs, and Professor Lupin has gone out on a mission."

Seeing that it was indeed the two of them, Harry explained to them while jogging down the stairs.

Well, in the large Order of the Phoenix, Harry was the only one left who was breathing.

Oh no, wait, there was also Kreacher; that guy had just been peeking at him from the stairwell again.

John looked at him and said somewhat speechlessly.

"... Kreacher, don't look at me like that. The pendant box was taken away by Headmaster Dumbledore, and I can't return it to you..."

Kreacher was probably still thinking about his former master's pendant box.

After handing it over to Dumbledore last time, John hadn't asked about the follow-up.

He didn't know if it had been destroyed or not.

And strictly speaking, that was Voldemort's thing, not his former master's relic.

His former master's relic was still lying in that poison basin.

Kreacher then slowly retracted his head.

Harry on the side asked somewhat strangely.

"Are you talking about the pendant box that made you feel uncomfortable when you encountered it before?"

"Speaking of which, we went to find Professor Dumbledore together earlier, but I ended up being dragged away by Professor Snape first. I don't know what happened with you afterward."

"Did Professor Dumbledore help you find out what the problem was?"

Harry also remembered the time John discovered a special pendant box here.

"Oh, checked, it's fine. It's just that the Black family used to hang out with Slytherin, and there are some dirty things in the house, you know."

John replied with an ambiguous answer.

After all, Dumbledore had repeatedly urged him not to tell Harry about the Horcruxes.

Hearing this answer, although Harry was still confused, he didn't ask any more questions.

The three of them sat in the kitchen, chatting about things that had happened during this time.

Because of the attack on Mr. Weasley, everyone became even more vigilant.

Harry had been living at the Order of the Phoenix since the holiday started, and he wouldn't go out if he didn't have to.

Actually, he didn't want to go out either, because now he was almost tortured by Voldemort's nightmares every day.

Although he didn't dream of turning into a snake again, he dreamed last night that he was standing behind a black door again.

By the way, they also learned why Sirius was always missing.

Because he hated living in this house. Although this was his former home, he had run away from home when he was young.

Even after so many years, he still felt disgusted by this place.

He only came back for a meal during Christmas some time ago, and he lived outside the rest of the time.

Just as they were chatting, there was movement at the front door again.

It was the Weasley family returning in a grand manner. ===== CHAPTER 258 =====