Black family ponderings

[rosie_rues]

So, I finally went and looked at the Black Family Tree properly. It took me three seconds to decide to disregard the birthdates of the Black sisters - because they make no sense (full rant may be forthcoming). I also wanted to check what Sirius' mother was called.

That's where it got interesting. She's called Walburga Black and, according to the tree, was born in 1925. Tom Riddle was born at the end of 1926. Both would have been in Slytherin, although Walburga would have been the year above Tom.

The Death Eaters were originally called the Knights of Walpurgis, named after Walpurgis Night, or the Eve of saint Walpurga.

Isn't that interesting?

EDIT: I have also solved the mystery of the Black sisters! The Blacks, after centuries of magical inbreeding, clearly suffer from an inherited temporal instability. This explains how Cygnus Black was chronologically only 13 at the time of Bella's birth. He had, in fact, lived those years three times over, and was beginning to go bald. Little Bella inherited the family curse in full, and at the age of five began to grow steadily younger. Her frantic parents managed to stop the reversion before Bella disappeared entirely, but she was forced to relive her toddlership. Three bouts of potty training scarred young Bella for life. This explains how Bella was both a) born in 1951 and the eldest Black sister, and b) a school contemporary of Severus Snape (born 1959). Bella finished school some years after her 'younger' sister Andromeda eloped with a charming young muggleborn who aged at a sensible rate.

This also, of course, explains what happened when Sirius Black fell through the Veil. Anyone else would have just dropped straight out the other side. Unfortunately, Sirius' genetic predisposition, in combination with Bella's instability and the general weirdiness of the Department of Mysteries, led to him being catapulted back through time. Sirius is currently residing in the fifteenth century where he is busy explaining flying motorbikes to Leonardo da Vinci while he tries to reinvent the time turner from scratch.

Comments

[rufus.livejournal.com]

oh my god. Maybe *that's* what Slughorn was talking about when he said he knew the consequences of obsessive love, or -- something like that, anyway -- in HBP. *boggle*

re: the sister's dates, I know. However, I am intrigued by the fact that going by the tree, Cygnus Black had three children *while at Hogwarts*, OMG. Scandalous. But it did me out of Narcissa, in terms of MWPP era characters to play with, which is annoying. Oh well.

[rosemaryandrue.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I'm just ignoring the Black sisters' birth years. If you remove Bellatrix from that period, you lose one of the main reasons Snape became a Death Eater. Or there's the crack theory I just added up there ^_^

The Walpurga thing suddenly leapt out at me. Even if there's no direct connection, that whole generation of Blacks are Tom Riddle's contemporaries, which is just fascinating.

[rosemaryandrue.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* And I've just looked at it again and noticed she was four years older than her husband. Maybe she had a thing for younger men ^_^

[such_heights]

Ooh, that is interesting! Although, I suppose it might just be a name that got stuck in her head, which is how it found its present incarnation. But that's boring. Hmm ~ponders~

Hahahahaa. That made me snort, and it's really far too late for that kind of behaviour. That's just aching for some really insane Black family crack!fic.

[rosemaryandrue.livejournal.com]

Ssh. Mad speculation is much more fun ^_^ It doesn't seem implausible that there was some connection between Riddle and the elder Blacks though. It does make the Regulus-Draco parallell seem stronger too.

[summersalts.livejournal.com]

Sirius is currently residing in the fifteenth century where he is busy explaining flying motorbikes to Leonardo da Vinci while he tries to reinvent the time turner from scratch.

Hee! You're totally writing that, aren't you? ;-) Best crack idea ever.

[rosemaryandrue.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Nah. I'd end up making myself do in-depth research on fifteenth-century Italy, and I can't be bothered.

[divinereverie.livejournal.com]

I've always been of the opinion that perhaps the Knights of Walpurgis were founded by Walburga's husband and named for her ;) I was wondering if anyone was going to pick up on the whole connection.

[rosemaryandrue.livejournal.com]

*grins* I only looked at the tree for the first time a few weeks ago, and the two coincidences jumped right out at me. I wonder if she and Tom were on the Quidditch team together?

[busaikko]

And of course Saint Walburga is also known as Saint Bugga, the patron saint of Harry Potter slash.

mwa ha ha ha

[kilted.livejournal.com]

Patronage:
against coughs; against famine; against plague; against storms; Antwerp, Belgium; boatmen; coughs; dog bites; diocese of Eichstätt, Germany; Gronigen. Holland; harvests; hydrophobia; mad dogs; mariners; Oudenarde, Belgium; plague; diocese of Plymouth, England; rabies; sailors; storms; watermen; Zutphen. Holland

How fitting, haha...

[kilted.livejournal.com]

Damn bad tags... Sorry.

[busaikko]

Yes, and witches as well! I do like Saint Bugga. And she does keep cropping up in my stories, oddly enough....

[kilted.livejournal.com]

Haha, wonderful!

Bugga bugga bugga... hee hee.

[rosemaryandrue.livejournal.com]

I think I knew about the mad dogs, but not the rest. Perhaps the Black family originated in Devon ^_^

[rosemaryandrue.livejournal.com]

*cackles* The portraits see all.

[hibernater.livejournal.com]

ROFL!! Best description of the BFT cock-up ever. kasche linked this in her art, and OMG, I can't breathe, I'm laughing so hard. No reason why I should tell you that, except that I thought I should share the love. Cheers!

[tree_and_leaf]

I'm also here via kasche's post - and I'm completely in love with your theory.

Like The Time Traveller's Wife, only with dark wizards and less doomed love. Which is an improvement, obviously!

[miyamashi.livejournal.com]

That is completely and utterly awesome. I hadn't seen the Black Family Tree until this prompted me to look it up, and I have to say I love your theory, now that I understand what you're talking about. XD

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I was steered here by kasche and her art. I must tell you that your explanation of the inconsistencies of the Black Family Tree had me wheezing and gasping in utter mirth! (And as the parent of a pair -- yes, two -- of potty-training children, I fully agree that having to do it even more than once would definitely make someone a bit wonky around the head.)

[shipchan.livejournal.com]

Where did you hear that the Death Eaters were called the Knights of Walpurgis?

[nevereverposts.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, Sirius' genetic predisposition, in combination with Bella's instability and the general weirdiness of the Department of Mysteries, led to him being catapulted back through time. Sirius is currently residing in the fifteenth century where he is busy explaining flying motorbikes to Leonardo da Vinci while he tries to reinvent the time turner from scratch.

Reminds me of the episode of Doctor Who with the weeping angels. XD