James (och i förlängning Harry) blev rik på det gammaldags sättet: han hade rika förfäder.
I en ny novell som publicerades på Pottermore, med titeln "Potter Family" 1 , avslöjar Rowling att Potter-familjen lyckades med uppfinningen av flera viktiga potions.
Potter-förmögenhetens frön lades av den första familjemedlemmen, Linfred of Stinchcombe, som uppfann medicinska drycker:
Linfred was a vague and absent-minded fellow whose Muggle neighbours often called upon his medicinal services. None of them realised that Linfred’s wonderful cures for pox and ague were magical; they all thought him a harmless and lovable old chap, pottering about in his garden with all his funny plants. His reputation as a well-meaning eccentric served Linfred well, for behind closed doors he was able to continue the series of experiments that laid the foundation of the Potter family’s fortune. Historians credit Linfred as the originator of a number of remedies that evolved into potions still used to this day, including Skele-gro and Pepperup Potion. His sales of such cures to fellow witches and wizards enabled him to leave a significant pile of gold to each of his seven children upon his death.
Linfred lagde en grund som framtida generationer skulle bygga på, även om varje generations särdrag inte spelas in i den här historien:
The Potters continued to marry their neighbours, occasionally Muggles, and to live in the West of England, for several generations, each one adding to the family coffers by their hard work and, it must be said, by the quiet brand of ingenuity that had characterised their forebear, Linfred.
Familjens förmögenhet utvidgades sedan kraftigt av Harrys farfar Fleamont Potter, som uppfann Sleekeazy's Hair Potion:
It was Fleamont who took the family gold and quadrupled it, by creating magical Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion ( 'two drops tames even the most bothersome barnet' ). He sold the company at a vast profit when he retired, but no amount of riches could compensate him or his wife Euphemia for their childlessness.
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