As technology improved at an ever increasing pace, the old guard of the magical world felt threatened. Many of the Wizengamot and other leaders of the Wizarding World were born before the invention of the electric light and the telephone. The gap between the standards of living between wizard and standard humans shrank for the first time in thousands of years. But it wasn't just that the gap shrank. It disappeared almost completely. Transportation, health care, entertainment, production; suddenly there were areas where the standard world equalled or even exceeded the capabilities of the magical world. And the Muggle-born coming in to the magical world brought those ideas with them.
The magical world had a great deal to be proud of as a culture. Where the standard world was still struggling with racial and gender equality, the magical world was long past that. After all, magical power was not impacted by either factor. It was just as likely that the wife had a greater magical talent than her husband as the other way around. Yes, one could argue that the magical world treated the non-human magical species poorly but the standard world didn't have a much better track record with indigenous people. For example, the magical world never was involved in colonization or human slavery.
The magical world reacted to these rapid changes by closing ranks. Powerful and talented Muggle-borns found themselves barred from advancing in their new magical world. As they pushed for change, the Purebloods closed ranks even tighter. It was in this fear and uncertainty that Voldemort found fertile ground for his particular brand of hate. And if Voldemort hadn't risen on the platform of preserving magical culture (the status quo) it would have been just as likely for another Dark Lord to have risen pushing Muggle-born culture or an aristocracy based solely on magical power.
The Magical Society Club at Hogwarts was the local branch of the elite of Pureblood society. Not necessarily Death Eaters, but also the Light-sided families that existed at that societal level. For every Malfoy, Parkinson, Black, and Nott family, there was a Longbottom, Bones, Crouch, and Patil family to counter them. The 'Neutral' families outnumbered either side alone by enough of a margin that the Dark and Light would have to join together to out vote the Neutrals in the Wizengamot. However, what bound them together was they were all long-established Pureblood families with a vested interest in continuing to maintain their world. They simply disagreed with how to do that.
The Potters were never in that elite class. While they had magical power and a rich family history they lacked sufficient wealth and tended to marry Muggle-borns on an alarming basis. James Potter was considered a Pureblood due to the Potter history but his grandfather and great-grandfather both married Muggle-borns. Padma convinced Harry to attend claiming that his fame and apparent power with his defeat of the Dark Lord was enough to get him accepted. There were a few grumbles when he arrived but Harry simply shrugged it off.
The meeting had been going on for almost an hour and Padma was starting to regret attending and dragging Harry into it. This session was supposed to be a 'social' to allow the First through Third years a chance to get to know each other and establish connections with others of their 'class'. However, it turned out to be polite political warfare to establish the social pecking order in Hogwart's 'lower half'.
Her friend Daphne's family, like Harry's, was an old family but never had the money or influence to enter into the elite. Apparently, Daphne wanted to change that. Padma guessed the Hat put her in Slytherin for a reason.
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Daphne glared at Malfoy and in a cold voice said, "The Greengrass family has stood in Britain for over two thousand years. Long before the Malfoy name existed, the Greengrass family was known as the Faiche. We were elite amongst the learned Druids until the armies of Caesar forced us into hiding in Wales and Scotland! And where were the Malfoy's at that time? Pig farmers in France!" Tracey Davis sat beside her cousin Daphne adding her icy glare at the Malfoy scion as well.
The slightly pompous sounding Hufflepuff sitting next to Padma rolled his eyes at Daphne's speech. "Oh great. That's all we needed. A Druish princess," he groaned under his breath. Padma barely heard him so she was surprised when Harry spoke up from her other side.
In an innocently curious voice, Harry commented, "Funny, she doesn't look Druish."
Ernie Macmillan looked to be in pain as he tried to hold in his laughter at Harry's reply. Padma didn't get the joke but realized it was some kind of reference. Unfortunately, it also attracted the attention of the rest of the room.
"Do you mind, Macmillan? We are trying to have a rational conversation here," Draco Malfoy commented with his best attempt at a glare. His two enforcers standing over his shoulder added their glares to his. Padma started to apologize for the interruption but Harry got a comment out first.
"Dear me, what are those things glaring at us over there?"
Ernie answered, still fighting the laughter. "Spaceballs?"
Harry sighed resignedly. "Oh shite, there goes the school."
At Harry's comment, Ernie lost his battle with the laughter and started laughing uproariously to the confusion of the other students sitting around them.
Draco was glaring over at them and was backed by some of the Second and Third years. Even some of the Light-sided students and non-Slytherins were unhappy. Although whether their unhappiness was caused by the levity or the fact it was obviously a Muggle reference was debatable.
Ernie managed to fight his laughter back down. "I apologize for interrupting your discussion," he said in his slightly pompous sounding manner.
Padma noticed that Malfoy was ignoring Harry's presence as much as possible. Jakob Bulstrode was the nominal 'host' of the gathering but the Third year Slytherin took all of his cues from Malfoy. So far, this was the most acknowledgement Harry received the whole meeting.
Michael Corner, a boy from her own House and year, looked over at where Padma sat with Harry and Ernie with a sneer. "I don't know why Potter is even here. We all know the Potters were never… acceptable in Society. They were worker bees, not powers."
"He is the Boy-Who-Lived," Susan Bones offered in a tentative tone. Hannah Abbott nodded her support although Padma wondered if it was in support of Harry or simply her best friend. "He defeated the Dark Lord. Surely that is enough to show he belongs with us."
"Even a peasant gets lucky every so often," a Second year Slytherin witch answered condescendingly.
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