Fudge devoted a large portion of the letter to praising Moriarty, recounting his admiration and respect for him, and congratulating Moriarty on bringing home the trophy from the All-Europe Wizarding Duel Competition.
At the same time, the letter revealed another piece of information: he had gained the support of more than a dozen Power Families led by the Peverell family, the Minchum family, and the Ogden family.
At the end of the letter, Fudge invited Moriarty to attend a "Power Holders' Gathering" at Fudge Manor at the end of July.
Moriarty could no longer hold it in. Holding the letter, he burst into laughter. Now he understood why Fudge had received so much support. Barty Crouch's own incompetence was certainly a factor, but the greater reason was that Fudge himself was exceptionally good at handling people.
Many wizards believed that pure-blood families were the ruling families of the wizarding world, but that idea was mistaken.
It was true that most pure-bloods controlled wealth, but they did not necessarily control power. In Britain, those who truly held power were a small group of current or former high-ranking Ministry of Magic officials, along with their families—the so-called Power Families.
For example, Moriarty knew of a deeply hidden Gamp family in Britain, one with a history spanning more than five hundred years. Britain's first Minister for Magic had been Ulick Gamp.
Of course, most people in power came from pure-blood families. After several centuries, wizards had generally come to conflate Power Families with pure-blood families.
Take the Crouch family, for instance. Not only were they one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families, but they had also produced a Minister for Magic. Once Fudge took office, Barty Crouch would become Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.
Then there was Lilith. The Peverell