======The Pure-Blood Directory======
=====Object Information=====
  * **Type:** [[Publication]], [[Book]]
  * **Owners:** [[Black family]]
  * **Maker:** Anonymously authored and published in Great Britain c. 1930s.
=====Description and Appearance=====
The //Pure-Blood Directory// is a small, black-bound book discovered by [[Hermione Granger]] in the library of [[12 Grimmauld Place]]. The title is printed on its cover. It was one of many dark and questionable books in the [[Black family]]'s collection, reflecting their obsession with [[blood purity]].
=====Magical Properties and Usage=====
The primary function of the //Pure-Blood Directory// is not magical in nature but ideological. It serves as a registry of [[wizarding families]] that the anonymous author deemed to be "truly" [[pure-blood]] by the 1930s. The book was intended to help such families maintain their [[blood purity]] by encouraging intermarriage only with other families on the list.
  * It lists a group of twenty-eight families, later referred to as the "Sacred Twenty-Eight" (Pottermore).
  * The publication promoted the belief that having no known [[Muggle]] or [[Muggle-born]] ancestry was a mark of honor and superiority within the [[wizarding world]].
  * The book was highly controversial upon its publication. Many families who were left out protested their exclusion, while others, such as the [[Weasley family]], were included but vocally denounced the directory and its prejudiced premise, cementing their reputation as [[blood traitors]] among purists.
=====History=====
Published sometime in the early 1930s, the //Pure-Blood Directory// was an attempt to codify the notion of [[blood purity]] in Great Britain. The anonymous author, widely speculated to be [[Cantankerus Nott]] (Pottermore), established a set of criteria for inclusion that many in the [[wizarding community]] found dubious and arbitrary.
Families like the [[Potter family]] were deliberately excluded because their common surname suggested possible [[Muggle]] origins and because they had historically advocated for [[Muggle]] rights (Pottermore). The [[Gaunt family]], despite their immense pride in descending from [[Salazar Slytherin]], were known to doubt the purity of every family but their own.
The families listed in the directory, known as the "Sacred Twenty-Eight," are as follows (Pottermore):
  * [[Abbott]]
  * [[Avery]]
  * [[Black]]
  * [[Bulstrode]]
  * [[Burke]]
  * [[Carrow]]
  * [[Crouch]]
  * [[Fawley]]
  * [[Flint]]
  * [[Gaunt]]
  * [[Greengrass]]
  * [[Lestrange]]
  * [[Longbottom]]
  * [[Macmillan]]
  * [[Malfoy]]
  * [[Nott]]
  * [[Ollivander]]
  * [[Parkinson]]
  * [[Prewett]]
  * [[Rosier]]
  * [[Rowle]]
  * [[Selwyn]]
  * [[Shacklebolt]]
  * [[Shafiq]]
  * [[Slughorn]]
  * [[Travers]]
  * [[Weasley]]
  * [[Yaxley]]
A copy of the book remained in the [[Black family]] library for decades. In August 1997, [[Hermione Granger]] found it while searching for books about [[Horcruxes]] at [[12 Grimmauld Place]] and mentioned it to [[Ron Weasley]]. Ron confirmed his family's inclusion, stating, "//The Pure-Blood Directory... a list of the twenty-eight truly pure-blood families... My family's in there... we're related to the [[Abbott|Abbotts]] and the [[Longbottom|Longbottoms]] and the [[Crouch|Crouches]]...//" He also noted his mother's desire to be blasted off the [[Black Family Tapestry]] for being related by marriage to a [[Weasley]].
=====Role in the Story=====
While a minor object, the //Pure-Blood Directory// is a significant piece of world-building that illustrates the deep-seated prejudice within the [[wizarding world]]. It serves as tangible evidence that the ideology of [[blood purity]] championed by [[Lord Voldemort]] and his [[Death Eaters]] was not a new concept but a long-standing and institutionalized form of bigotry.
Its discovery in //Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows// provides immediate context for the [[Second Wizarding War]], reminding the trio and the reader of the societal divisions they are fighting. The book underscores the hypocrisy and arbitrary nature of [[blood status]] prejudice, as seen with the inclusion of families like the Weasleys who opposed the idea, and the exclusion of families like the Potters.
=====Behind the Scenes=====
  * The full list of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight" and the detailed history behind the //Pure-Blood Directory// were revealed by [[J.K. Rowling]] on the Pottermore website.
  * According to this supplementary material, the anonymous author is strongly believed to be [[Cantankerus Nott]] (Pottermore).
  * Rowling also explained the reasons for certain families' exclusion, such as the [[Potter family]]'s pro-[[Muggle]] stance and their common surname, which made purists suspect "tainted" bloodlines (Pottermore).