Hermione quickly figured out why they were here seemed to have been invited because they were connected to somebody well-known, powerful, or influential... everyone except Weasley and Hermione. Blaise, who was interrogated after McLaggen, told everyone about his mother, a famously beautiful witch for a mother ( she had been married seven times, each of her husband's dying mysteriously and leaving her mounds of gold). She was actually a nice person. It was Longbottom's turn next: this was a very uncomfortable ten minutes, for his parents, well-known Aurors, had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple of Death Eater cronies. At the end of Neville's interview, Hermione had the impression he was reserving his impressions on Longbottom to see if he turned out better. Belby had been ignored completely after that.