A/N: As an aside, in looking up information on the Wizengamot (I was misspelling it I found. It isn't Wizenmagot. It's Wizengamot. Tricky. AANyway ...) I found that there was very little information given from the books. It doesn't appear to be a top-level authority. It apparently is the parliament but is under the direction of the Minister's office. It conducts trials and apparently acts as advisors for the Minister of Magic. The Minister apparently needs public support to maintain his office, so who would have the votes in such a society? Obviously those houses that have been recognized by the Ministry of Magic. There are enough holdovers from previous Ministers so that he doesn't have total control, but apparently has enough to power to push through a patently unfair trial in canon.
An interruption I will explain some of the things that Harry and Hermione have learned SO FAR about Magical and Pureblooded customs from Sirius. Here is my take on the power structure:
POWER STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC AND THE WIZARDING WORLD
MINISTER'S OFFICE:
Minister of Magic, nominated and appointed by vote of families recognized as Ancient or Noble by the Ministry of Magic, Current Department Heads of the Ministry of Magic, and already sitting members of the Wizengamot, Minor Houses and holders of the Order of Merlin Second Class. Able to be removed by a majority vote of the Wizengamot, at the instigation of either the Chief Warlock, Director of Magical Law Enforcement, a member of the Wizengamot if seconded, or resignation. Responsible for general policy and is there mostly to keep the Wizarding World secret. Any Wizard or Witch may become the Minister of Magic. Originally held under the Authority of the British Monarchy, but that changed by the institution of the Statute of Secrecy. Still must liaise with the Head of Parliament as regards the effects of the Magical World on the Muggle World and the Muggle World on the Magical.
Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic, hired by the Minister of Magic to run the day-to-day operations of the Minister's office and to enforce policy decisions of the Minister of Magic. Power totally based on their relationship with the Minister of Magic and their perceived political prowess. Any Wizard or Witch may become the Senior Undersecretary.
Junior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic, hired by the Minister of Magic. Acts as court scribe for the Wizengamot and intermediary under the direction of the Minister of Magic between himself and court members. Responsible for notifications and the publishing of laws. Any Wizard or Witch may become Junior Secretary.
WIZENGAMOT:
Chief Warlock or Witch, appointed by the Minister of Magic as his Chief Counselor and controlling officer for the meetings under the direction of the Minister of Magic if the Minister of Magic does not wish to control the meetings directly. May be removed by a majority vote of the Wizengamot at the instigation of the Minister's Office or the Director of Magical Law Enforcement, May be held by any Wizengamot member or Head of any House recognized by the Ministry of Magic including Ancient, Noble or Minor House.
Director of Magical Law Enforcement, nominated by the Minister of Magic and voted on by the Wizengamot. May be removed for cause by a majority vote of the Wizengamot at the instigation of the Minister's Office or the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. May be held by any Witch or Wizard.
Wizengamot Members. Nominated by the Minister of Magic. Appointed by majority vote of the Ancient and Noble Houses and only may be removed by resignation or conviction of major crime committed after their appointment to the Wizengamot. Members act as jurists and vote on the laws submitted by the Minister of Magic, his Senior Undersecretary, Director of the DMLE or the Chief Warlock. May be held by any member of a recognized House or Order of Merlin holder of any class.
OTHER DIRECTORS OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC:
Appointed by the Minister of Magic or majority of Wizengamot and may be removed by the Minister of Magic with approval from the Chief Warlock and the Director of the DMLE or majority vote of the Wizengamot..
HOUSES:
Noble Houses are those headed by a Wizard or Witch that holds title to a patent of Nobility by the Monarchy of Great Britain in times past. Few Noble Houses have been created since the Statue of Secrecy was passed in the 17th Century.
Most Noble Houses are those that are headed by any noble who owns land and are of the rank of Baron, Earl, Marquess or Duke.
Noble Houses are headed by a Baronet or a hereditary holder of an Honorary Peerage.
Most Ancient Houses are those that are recognized as having been magical for 30 generations in Britain.
Ancient Houses are those that have been recognized as having been magical for 20 generations in Britain.
Minor Houses are those that have been magical for 10 generations in Britain or are started by an order of Merlin First Class Winner.
Pureblood Houses are those that have been magical or of magical issue on both sides for 10 generations regardless of where they came from. (For example, the Patils are Pureblood from an old Indian line but not Ancient as they haven't been in Britain that long. Non-British purebloods are stigmatized as they are not able to be a Minor House unless they are 10 generations in Britain.) An ancient house might not be pureblood because a muggleborn may marry into an Ancient House and if children are magical the house does not lose it's title of Ancient.
Once a House has been declared Noble or Ancient, that title may be reclaimed if magic "dies out" in the line and then reappears. Thus, if a House is Ancient (or Most Ancient) and the lines devolved into squibs, if a later generation shows magical ability once more, the title may be reclaimed by the House. However, they will not be considered pureblood unless only ONE generation is skipped (of magical issue). (This was snuck in for the cases where purebloods didn't want to lose their status and had magical grandchildren. However the Ancient count had to start over.)
HOUSE CRESTS
The significance of crests in order of rank (the later ones that apply are implied by the earlier ones) are as follows:
Head of Ancient or Noble House with voting rights, large house crest on the chest above the heart, with gold trim. If the Head is not personally holding the voting rights, there would be silver trim.
Scion of Voting House (child by blood), small house crest on the chest above the heart with silver trim. (I know by definition any member of a family is a scion of the family. But the title of Scion implies direct Blood Heir.)
Heir to Voting House if different from Scion (must be related by blood in the last 5 generations), small crest below any other crest on chest with silver trim.
Member of Voting House, small crest with no trim over center of the chest
Voting Rights for House due to proxy or guardianship, small crest on the front of the robes with gold trim
Head of House with voting rights because of Order of Merlin First Class, large personal crest or medium house crest above heart with gold trim.
Personal Voting Rights because of Order of Merlin Second Class, small personal or house crest with gold trim on chest.
Head or Minor House, medium crest on left arm
Scion of Minor House or Allied with any House, small crest on left arm
Affiliated with House, Member of Minor House or muggle House Crest, small crest on right arm
Protected by House, small crest on shoulder
Holder of a Blood Feud, large crest in the center of the chest trimmed with bright red trim. If holding the voting rights for major house, ALSO has gold trim. House which the Blood Feud is held against is placed in red colors only below this crest. This is considered an insult to that house and so no honor is given the house because the crest is displayed. It pretty much says that house will die.
Allied to House with a Blood Feud, small crest of the house holding the blood feud in center of chest with silver and red. Silver means alliance. Once again the crest of the house the feud is against is shown in red below
Under the command of a House with a blood feud. Small crest of House declaring Feud trimmed in red. Small red crest of opposing house below in red.
I hope this helps explain some of what happens in the next couple of chapters.
(I compressed two A/N chapters into one. Too many of them annoy me, so what the heck? I'll just get this out of the way.)
GRINGOTT'S, MONEY, WEALTH, AND THE MUGGLE WORLD
A reviewer made a comment pointing out how the whole way Gringott's dealt with the money in the muggle world and finances was unrealistic. Ehhhh. I can come up with a realistic rationale.
How could an institution that is basically a collection of large safety deposit boxes and such things offer interest if they wanted to? And how could a debit card (an idea from fan-fiction) work between the magical and muggle world?
My idea as to the explanation started with: Where does all the muggle money go? They have to be able to convert muggle money to Galleons and back because muggleborns buy things in the wizarding world.
How would they convert it to "real wealth"? Gold and other things that are tangible would be the yardstick that goblins could measure as profit. Well, they would have to be able to deposit it in a muggle bank. As wizards purchase things in the muggle world -- food might be a large import to the wizarding world for example -- the goblins set it up that they make a profit from the deducted galleons as well as transfer fees. After all, they charge the wizards Galleons while they spend muggle currency. And the muggle currency, deposited in muggle banks, makes interest. And don't let me forget, different muggle currencies have different values against each other. I'm sure goblins would figure out how to make a profit on that. They really are a profit-driven species.
Getting interest from Goblins is not a usual thing. Neither is having a muggle's money reside with them. When it happens, it really means that the goblins are causing that money to be backed as Galleons and, through a muggle institution, earmark a small amount of the interest and profit they make in how it all interacts for that muggle as a special case. It would be a big honor. Goblins don't like letting profit go, but will for honor. It would take something significant to them for it to happen.
The whole lower tax thing is a result of taxes having to be paid to support governments. The magical world would pay less taxes than the muggle world. Especially because the goblins might have gotten a treaty in the past which reduced their tax rate for themselves and those that they consider as being part of their operation -- the whole by law of the Ministry of Magic implies that at least one treaty is with them. Any muggle account handled this way, for all intents and purposes, would be part of the goblins' financial empire.
And the goblins wouldn't pay the interest really. The muggle institutions involved would. How do all the records of the transactions tie together? Magic, man. Magic.