Chapter 6: The Johnson family

"Ah, I almost forgot. Tomorrow, the Johnson family will be coming to our house as guests, and they're bringing their daughter, who should be the same age as you," Barbara casually mentioned to her son.

"Oh and Cedric, remember the formalities and manners we practice. A good relationship with a family like this is beneficial for both parties," she added, staring seriously at Cedric, although her gaze remained warm.

"I know, mother. It won't be a problem," Cedric replied confidently and with a calm smile.

"Good, it's good to hear you say that," Barbara nodded, satisfied that her son understood and didn't complain.

The Johnson family was a pure-blood wizarding family, although not as well-recognized as some other noble and ancient houses because they didn't have as high a status as those other prominent families.

But among magical houses that supported the Ministry, the Johnson family was one of the most financially prominent, which was important if you wanted to do business with noble and influential houses and didn't want to engage with less reputable ones.

Yes, there were several other much more powerful and prominent magical families now supporting the Ministry of Magic after the fall of the Dark Lord, like the Malfoys, the Parkinsons, among many others. Even though it was known that they had supported the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters in some way, they couldn't be imprisoned.

Although these magical families did suffer losses, as they had to pay a substantial fortune and even lost several important businesses.

After the fall of the Dark Lord and his followers, there was a period of relative calm and peace in the magical world in the years that followed.

Many of the Dark Lord's followers were imprisoned, while others went into hiding, and some managed to claim they were coerced into obeying. So they remained unpunished.

However, the threat of dark wizards in the British magical community seemed to have dissipated.

Despite the fact that almost all wizards and witches' lives became more peaceful after the Dark Lord's fall and his Death Eaters, for the Malfoys, the Parkinsons, and many other pure-blood houses, things became more complicated.

In the first few months after the Dark Lord's fall, all those who had been involved with the Death Eaters went through a complex situation. They had to do everything in their power to avoid going to Azkaban.

They spent long nights debating in the Ministry of Magic, presenting different explanations. Some denied their involvement in Death Eater activities and claimed they were simply involuntary followers who didn't harm anyone. They argued that they were being coerced or threatened and feared reprisals if they didn't obey.

Most magical families used the excuse that they were under the influence of the Imperius Curse and claimed they weren't followers of the Dark Lord but were being controlled. They argued that they weren't direct culprits of their actions, so there was no evidence or sufficient reason to prove their direct and conscious involvement.

And a few managed to reach an agreement with the Ministry, claiming they had repented their support for the Dark Lord and were willing to cooperate with the Ministry to stop other followers and dismantle the remaining groups of dark wizards in Britain.

But in the end, most noble and wealthy magical families like the Malfoys and the Parkinsons had to buy off many people, from important politicians to doctors and various other expert wizards who helped them come up with excuses and reasons for their actions.

Of course, all of this cost them a large fortune to achieve this, after all, nobody really believed in their statements that they had been under the Imperius...

However, there were always people willing to accept money and the Ministry of Magic was not in a position to take on all the richest houses in Britain, they needed money to recover and rebuild what the war had left in ruins.

And with the fall of the Dark Lord, the Ministry knew that most of these noble families were not a real threat or potential danger to the wizarding community, as they used to always support the winning side.

Although this time they clearly chose the wrong side to join, but despite being part of the perpetrators of the war and having been accused by countless wizards and witches for many crimes of all kinds, these noble and ancient houses managed to avoid going to prison using a good part of their fortunes.

Losing money wasn't the biggest problem for noble and ancient houses with great influence and power. They had ways to make more money. What was most important to all of them was their image in the magical community. These grand families were part of the noblest and oldest houses in Britain, which demanded respect. They couldn't allow other families or wizards to see them with contempt or dare to challenge their status just because of the mistakes they made during the war.

No, these pure-blood families had to maintain their position of power at all costs.

To achieve this, they not only needed to acquire and purchase the assistance of many wizards, witches, and other influential people who would prevent others from challenging or supporting them no matter the situation.

No, what these ancient and noble houses really needed was to have respectable and legitimate businesses with other noble and important houses that had an upright and honorable reputation in society.

Why?, you might ask...

Well, because respect and power were most important to these noble houses. Especially now, with so many other noble and ancient pure-blood families losing their reputation and power.

This would cause other houses to gradually increase their influence at the expense of those who had lost it, and no one would miss such a good opportunity, no matter how much it cost.

"Hmm... besides the Johnson's daughter happens to be a possible future Lady Diggory" Barbara Diggory muttered under her breath and lightly to herself not expecting her son to really understand what that meant at his age, but on the contrary, Cedric was not a typical 7-year-old boy, he fully understood what she was referring to.

After all reading so much about the magical world had paid off.

'Cursed be the tradition of pureblood houses making marriage contracts with other pureblood houses' complained Cedric to himself.

'Well, at least I know my parents, unlike others, won't force me into anything... I hope,' Cedric wondered if his mother would be capable of it... he didn't think so, but well, at least he was sure his father would support him if he opposed it. He could always count on Amos.

...

...

-Diggory Manor, Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England

-December 2, 1984

The next morning, Cedric continued his meditation routine with Qui-Gon, as usual.

After finishing, since he still wasn't hungry, he decided to read for a while before his master complained about him spending too much leisure time in the afternoon.

But only an hour had passed since he began reading when he heard the house-elf knocking three times on his room door.

"Young master, the guests from the Johnson family have arrived, and the mistress invites you to join them."

"... Okay, I'll go right away," Cedric replied with a sigh. He closed the book he was reading slowly and then left for the hallway.

Once he reached the guest room, looking in the distance, he saw two figures dressed entirely in black, one tall and one short. The taller figure wore a wizard's robe, and the shorter one was in what appeared to be a frilly black dress. Both were probably today's guests, the Johnson family.