Hesper Black

## Hesper Black (née Gamp)

### Died

11 January, 1930 (aged 50)12 Grimmauld Place, Islington, London, Middlesex, England

## Relationship information

### Family members

* Hector Gamp II (father) †
* Miriam Gamp (née Selwyn) (mother) †
	+ Ten siblings
* Sirius Black II (husband)
* Arcturus Black III (son)
* Melania Black (née Macmillan) (daughter-in-law)
	+ Lucretia Prewett (née Black (granddaughter)
	+ Orion Black (grandson)
* Lycoris Black (daughter)
* Regulus Black III (son)

## Affiliation

### Loyalty

* House of Black
* Gamp family

**Hesper Pretoria Black** (née **Gamp**) (**13 October**, **1879** - **11 January**, **1930**) was a pure-blood witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1 September, 1891 to June of 1898. She was the youngest child of Hector Gamp II and his wife, Miriam Gamp I (née Selwyn). She was the younger sister of Millicent, Hannah, Moira, Marian, Henrietta, Gwendoline, Morgan, Hector III, George, and Martha.

She married Sirius Black II, heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, in 1900. She became the mother of Arcturus III, Lycoris, and Regulus I. She was the paternal grandmother of Orion and Lucretia, and the paternal great-grandmother of Sirius, Regulus II, Altair, and Aquila Black.

## Biography

### Early life

Hesper was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk. The Gamp family estate in which she was raised was unplottable and had been built by her third great-grandfather in 1749.

She was a member of the Noble and Ancient House of Gamp, and the youngest of eleven siblings, eight of which were girls. Her older sisters had been expected to share responsibilities in looking out for her.

The Gamps previously prospered and had a great amount of money, though this diminished with Hesper and her ten siblings. Hector II, Hesper's father, found himself unable to afford the children he was producing, though in his quest to secure a male heir, did not much care. In Hesper's Hogwarts years, she would later find herself the owner of third or even fourth-hand books and other previously used supplies, passed down by her older siblings.

The Gamp family, because it was so large, also had struggles with disease. In the year 1879, when Hesper was only an infant, she lost three of her older siblings, including Moira, Morgan, and George, to diphtheria, which raged throughout their household. Hesper survived only because her mother was sent away to stay with relatives.

Moira was closest in age to Hesper's oldest sister, Hannah, at six years old, whereas her brother Morgan was two, and George one.

#### Hogwarts years

Hesper Gamp received her Hogwarts letter in July of 1891. Sometime before she left for school, she either purchased or inherited a wand made of cherry and dragon heartstring from Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley, London.

She was Sorted into Slytherin on 1 September, 1891. Since all of her siblings were very close in age, her older sister, Martha, was two years ahead of her, in her third year, and their older brother, Hector, was in his fourth year. All of the Gamp siblings had been sorted into Slytherin.

Hesper's oldest sister, Millicent, was very careful as the oldest sibling, to look after them all in school. She encouraged her sisters Hannah and Marian to share their possessions with the younger ones, and to keep them clean, so as to not let on that the Gamp family was financially struggling, or that they were being neglected by their father, Hector Gamp II.

In the spring of 1898, while Hesper was just finishing her seventh year of Hogwarts, she met a man named Sirius Black II at a social event over Easter and they immediately connected. Sirius Black was the son of Phineas Nigellus Black, and was the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Hesper could not have believed in her wildest daydreams that she could have been asked to marry, him, as seen in her diaries, found by her great-granddaughter Aquila, after her death.

### Later life

Hesper was the daughter of Miriam Selwyn, a member of the Noble and Ancient House of Selwyn, who was of the opinion that Sirius had good prospects. Hesper agreed to marry him in 1899, and they married in a lavish ceremony in Tisbury, Wiltshire, England, on the Black family's largest country estate, on 24 May, 1900.

Their firstborn son and heir, Arcturus, was born on 12 December, 1901, in London. Sirius named him for his beloved brother, Arcturus. Their second child, a daughter, was born on 12 August, 1904, and she was named Lycoris.

Their third and final child, Regulus I, was born on 22 September, 1906.

Hesper's brother-in-law, Phineas Nigellus Black II, was disowned and struck off of the family tapestry for campaigning for muggle-born rights, in 1924. It was one of the last acts Phineas Nigellus Black I performed as Head, and he passed away on 10 June, 1925. From that point onward, Hesper's husband, Sirius, became Head of the House of Black, and inherited his father's duties and responsibilities in regards to managing the estates and the Wizenagmot.

It is unknown whether her husband was close to his younger brother, Phineas, but it was known that he was close to his brother Cygnus, and his brother Arcturus.

Phineas, after becoming disowned, fled to France and married a muggle-born woman there. In 1913, he became the father to a son, but Hesper likely did not keep track of her brother-in-law's whereabouts after he was disowned.

In 1924, Hesper's son, Arcturus, married Melania E Macmillan, the daughter of Ambrose Macmillan and his wife Blodwen Macmillan (née Carrow), and the wedding was widely considered by many the social event of the decade. Following the union, Arcturus and Melania embarked on a holiday around the world. They visited Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and New York City in the United States of America before finally coming home. The holiday lasted six months and photos of the trip can be found in the Black family archives.

Their first child, Lucretia Misapinoa Black, was born on 12 April, 1925. Her birth was marked by the Daily Prophet in a congratulatory announcement that took up a quarter of a page. A few years later, their son and heir, Orion Regulus Black, was born on 18 May, 1929. His birth was marked by pomp and celebration. Orion was the new Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, and witches and wizards around the United Kingdom were often interested to see photographs of the tot, which were published in the Daily Prophet.

#### Death

Hesper Black (née Gamp) passed away on 11 January, 1930, at the age of 50 after complaining of stomach troubles. She was discovered to have developed stomach cancer during an autopsy. Her death was very much unexpected. She was preceded in death by her father, Hector Gamp II, her sister, Moira Gamp, her brothers, Morgan and George Gamp, her sister-in-law, Eglantine Gamp (d. 1917), and her nieces Ermintruda and Floretta Gamp. She was survived by her mother, Miriam Gamp (née Selwyn), her husband, Sirius Black II, her three children, Arcturus III, Lycoris, and Regulus I, as well as her six sisters and eighteen nieces and nephews.

### Post-Mortem

Sirius, moved out of No. 12 Grimmauld Place after Hesper passed away on 11 January 1930, most likely to one of the other Black family properties. It marked the head's retreat into seclusion, rarely commenting on wizarding matters or politics, and leaving most of the Head's responsibilities to his son.

## Etymology

*Hesper* is an English variation of the name *Esther*, which is believed to be derived from the Persian word for "star," possibly an allusion to the naming pattern of the family she married into.
The *Book of Esther* in the *Old Testament* tells the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish wife of the king of Persia who saved her people from extermination.

It's also possible that her name derives from Hesperus, the "Evening Star" from Greek mythology (Vesper for the Romans). This was a name assigned to the planet Venus, visible during the evening, whose morning counterpart ("Morning Star") would become called "Lucifer" in Latin.