Chapter 54 Fear

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During his first rise to power, Voldemort was like the beacon of hope for everyone who felt like they were losing their place in the wizarding world.

Oppressed factions like werewolves, giants, etc saw a better future for their people in Voldemort.

Dark witches and wizards saw a way for them to freely practice their dark magic by following Voldemort. It didn't matter what their Dark Lord was fighting for as long as they could gain more power and hone their magic by working under Voldemort's banner.

Privileged purebloods saw a way to retake the power and influence which according to them has been stolen from them. These are the purebloods who rather than accept the fact that with the same resources and opportunities half-bloods and muggle-borns can also accomplish all the things that purebloods can, they don't want to believe that they are no different than half-bloods and muggle-borns so they instead choose to cling to the ridiculous idea that their blood somehow makes them superior.

From their point of view, it makes sense. If Voldemort came to power then all the muggle-borns would be deemed as lower-class citizens no matter how talented or powerful they are and half-bloods would be oppressed for coming from 'tainted' origins, this way purebloods could retain their status and power just based on the technicality of their 'superior' blood.

That's why the whole Blood Supremacy cause only really started 80 years or so years ago when the pureblood houses were beginning to lose their power. Before that, while the purebloods always enjoyed better status than the rest no one was ever prosecuted just based on their blood.

But those who believed in Blood Supremacy cause had no way to properly justify and support their beliefs before Voldemort came along, with Dumbledore, a half-blood standing at the top of wizarding Britain supporting the muggle-borns and half-bloods. Someone who is considered as the most powerful wizard alive by most of the wizarding world.

Then suddenly Voldemort shows up, a wizard descending from the line of the great Slytherin himself and powerful enough to rival Dumbledore. Most importantly this great wizard believed in their cause and was willing to fight for their rights.

Of course, Voldemort never really believed in anything but himself. The Dark Lord perfectly used the beliefs and fears of these purebloods to quickly rise to power.

But these purebloods were not the only ones who supported Voldemort, other purebloods who didn't believe in blood supremacy, many half-bloods and even muggle-borns also supported because of fear or for power.

Those were some dark times before Harry's birth with Voldemort basically running a terrorist organisation and the only one powerful enough to stop him was a pacifist school Headmaster.

Even now eleven years after the fall of the Dark Lord the wizarding world is still feeling the effects of Voldemort's war.

The wizengamont is still divided into three factions. The Blood Supremacists under the leadership of Malfoy, the Traditionalists under Greengrass and the Light faction under the Potter-Black alliance.

The blood supremacists are mostly pureblood houses who supported Voldemort and fight for the pureblood cause. The Light faction with the support of Dumbledore believes that everyone should be treated equally regardless of their blood status and fight for the rights of muggle-borns.

But if Harry had to choose between blood supremacists and light, Voldemort or Dumbledore he would pick neither of them. Both of the factions are too extreme, he would rather support the traditionalists.

Traditionalists like blood supremacists believe in preserving their culture and traditions that have been passed down for generations and like the light they accept everyone regardless of their blood status.

But where the traditionalist faction differs from the light is that they accept the fact that muggle-borns are different from them and they are not willing to give up their traditions and practices just to make muggle-borns feel welcome and accepted into the wizarding world.

Most of the people who supported Voldemort were not all extremists who believed that every muggle-born should be killed for stealing magic from them. Most of them were just dissatisfied with all the privileges the muggle-borns were receiving.

The wizarding world as a whole knows that they need muggle-borns for their kind to survive or they will go extinct due to inbreeding. As such there are lots of laws in place to make sure that the muggle-borns feel accepted in the wizarding world.

Even though the wizarding world puts no value in muggle currency the banks are required to accept muggle money from Muggle-borns. Of course, muggle-borns can only exchange a limited amount but the amount is more than enough for a muggle-born to graduate from Hogwarts or any other magical school while living rather lavishly.

Muggle-borns also have to pay only a tenth of what purebloods have to pay to attend Hogwarts. This is because of the gold donated by wealthy pureblood houses. Like House Potter, every house on the school board donates a sum of gold every year to support the muggle-born students and also pay for the various scholarship programs run by the school.

Even in Hogwarts magical traditions and practices that have been passed down for thousands of years are pushed aside for celebrating muggle holidays like Christmas or Halloween which are created by muggle businesses to make money.

This has created a lot of resentment and fear among the people of the magical community who believe that they are losing everything they hold dear just to make room for muggle-borns in the wizarding world.

Voldemort being a master manipulator used this fear to gather supporters for his cause from all over wizarding Britain. That's why even now you will find people who sympathise with his cause in every corner of the magical community.