House of Black

## The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

"*Tourjours Pur.*"
— The family motto, translating to "Always Pure"

**The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black** was one of the largest, oldest, and wealthiest pureblooded wizarding families in Great Britain, and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Many wizarding families in Britain were distantly related to the House of Black. Like the Malfoy and Lestrange families (both of whom are related to the Black family), the House of Black was synonymous with elevated status and wealth. The Blacks were traditionally sorted into Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The Black family tree was displayed in the drawing room of the family home at 12 Grimmauld Place in London, England on an intricate tapestry, as an ornate mural. The tapestry started in the Middle Ages and showed the dominant line of the family up to the death of its last members.

By the late twentieth century, the House of Black had become extinct in the male line with the deaths of Sirius and Regulus Black, as Regulus did not have children and Sirius had a daughter. The female line continued through the Longbottom, Malfoy, Potter and Weasley families, Felicity Black, Teddy Lupin, and through Delphini who was Bellatrix's illegitmate daughter with Lord Voldemort.

## Family History

### Early History

"*... my parents, with their pureblood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal...*"
— Sirius Black to Harry Potter and Felicity Black on his family's values

The Black family traces its origin back to the Middle Ages. They claim to have entirely magical ancestry, but as Sirius Black informed his daughter, Felicity Black, and godson, Harry Potter, no true pureblood families existed by the twentieth century. The pureblood families like the Blacks simply removed Muggles and Squibs from their family trees.

The Blacks place a great importance on blood purity, considering themselves akin to royalty in the wizarding world and disdaining Muggles, Squibs, Blood Traitors, and Muggleborns. The family motto, which can be found on the family crest, is *Toujours Pur*, which means "Always Pure" in French. Many members took this phrase very seriously.

### Recent History

Because of their views, a large number of the Black family members practiced the Dark Arts and supported Lord Voldemort during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. A few Blacks even became Death Eaters, while many others never took the Dark Mark but believed in the "purification" of the wizarding world nevertheless. The family went to huge lengths to keep their bloodlines alive and "pure", even going as far as marrying their own cousins (for example, Walburga and Orion Black were cousins).

A few members of the family, however, disagreed with the traditional views of their family; Sirius Black, for example, joined the Order of the Phoenix, as did Andromeda Tonks, who married a Muggleborn, and Nymphadora Tonks, a distant member of the Black family, as well as Felicity Black, Sirius' daughter. Sirius and Tonks were murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black), Sirius' cousin and Tonks' aunt, in battle.

Supportive of Voldemort at first, the family loyalists who did not become Death Eaters got cold feet when they saw the levels he would go to achieve his goals. Their hatred towards Muggles is such that some members who are not outright Death Eaters would go to lengths to persecute them, such as Araminta Meliflua trying to pass a Ministry Bill to Make Muggle-Hunting Legel. However, even those who originally supported Voldemort's actions to purge the Muggles got cold feet when they saw what he was willing to do for power.

With Sirius' death, the male line of the Black family died out, but the female line continued through his daughter, Flick, and the descendants of his cousins Bellatrix Lestrange, Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy, his second cousins, once removed, Arthur Weasley, the Burke Family, the Crouch Family, the Longbottom Family, and the Potter Family.

## Family Members

### Main Family

* Alexia Walkin Black
* Alphard Black
* Andromeda Tonks (née Black)
* Arcturus Black I
* Arcturus Black II
* Arcturus Black III
* Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black)
* Belvina Burke (née Black)
* Callidora Longbottom (née Black)
* Cassiopeia Black
* Cedrella Weasley (née Black)
* Charis Crouch (née Black)
* Cygnus Black I
* Cygnis Black II
* Cygnus Black III
* Dorea Potter (née Black)
* Eduardus Limette Black
* Elladora Black
* Felicity Longbottom (née Black)
* Hesper Black
* Iola Hitchens (née Black)
* Licorus Black
* Lucretia Prewett (née Black)
* Lycoris Black
* Marius Black
* Misapinoa Blishwick (née Black)
* Narcissa Malfoy (née Black)
* Orion Black
* Phineas Nigellus Black
* Phineas Black
* Pollux Black
* Phoebe Black
* Regulus Black I
* Regulus Black II
* Sirius Black I
* Sirius Black II
* Sirius Black III
* Walburga Black

### Relatives by Marriage

* Caspar Crouch - husband of Charis Crouch
* Charlus Potter - husband of Dorea Potter
* Druella Rosier - wife of Cygnus Black III
* Ella Max - wife of Cygnus Black I
* Harfang Longbottom - husband of Callidora Longbottom
* Herbert Burke - husband of Belvina Burke
* Hesper Gamp - wife of Sirius Black II
* Ignatius Prewett - husband of Lucretia Prewett
* Irma Crabbe - wife of Pollux Black
* Jimbo Blishwick - husband of Misapinoa Blishwick
* Lucius Malfoy - husband of Narcissa Malfoy
* Magenta Tripe - wife of Licorus Black
* Melania Macmillan - wife of Arcturus Black III
* Neville Longbottom - husband of Felicity Longbottom
* Rodolphus Lestrange - husband of Bellatrix Lestrange
* Septimus Weasley - husband of Cedrella Weasley
* Ted Tonks - husband of Andromeda Tonks
* Ursula Flint - wife of Phineas Nigellus Black
* Violetta Bulstrode - wife of Cygnus Black II

## Family Tree

"*En stirps nobilis et gens antiquissima Black.*"
— Latin inscription on the Black Family Tapestry

### Blasted Off of the Tapestry

"*Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh! ... Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers!*"
— The portrait of Walburga Black screaming at her "traitor" son

The original tree described from Grimmauld Place was subject to some magical interference. According to Sirius Black, his mother Walburga blasted names of "Blood Traitors" off the tapestry without hesitation. The Black family motto of *Tourjours Pur* ("always pure") was followed assiduously by family members; any who disagreed with the notion of blood purity or married Muggles or people of different blood statuses were disowned and blasted off the family tree, as were any Squibs. Thus, family members that remain on the tapestry can be assumed to have married fellow ("respectable") purebloods. Some even married their own cousins; Orion and Walburga Black, for instance, were second cousins. Generations of this practice resulted in Inbreeding, which in turn has caused problems such as low fertility and emotional instability.

The known disowned members are Eduardus Limette Black (for an unknown reason); Iola Black, for marrying Muggle Bob Hitchens; Phineas Black, for supporting Muggle rights; Marius Black, for being a Squib; Cedrella Black, for marrying blood traitor Septimus Weasley; Alphard Black, for giving gold to his runaway nephew Sirius; Sirius Black for running away from home; and Andromeda Black for marrying Muggleborn Ted Tonks.

Thus, the Blacks are related to the Max, Blishwick, Flint, Hitchens, Gamp, Bulstrode, Burke, Yaxley, Macmillan, Crabbe, Potter, Peverell, Gaunt, Longbottom, Fortescue, Weasley, Delacour, Johnson, Granger, Crouch, Prewett, Rosier, Lestrange, Meliflua, Tonks, Malfoy, and Lupin families (albeit most of them distantly) but are related to all wizarding families as all families were once pureblood and all pureblood families are related. Also, Muggleborn people are descendants of Squibs who are born into either a pureblood family or a halfblood family (which is part pureblood). Therefore, all wizarding families (and some Muggle ones) are related to the House of Black.

## Physical Appearances

The Blacks were commonly described as having "*great good looks*" and a certain aristocratic elegance and haughtiness that reflected upon their personalities, for they considered themselves "*practically royal*".

The traditional look for the majority of the Black family is dark hair and dark eyes, though there were some exceptions: Sirius Black III was grey-eyed, Andromeda Tonks had light brown hair, and Narcissa Malfoy was blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Despite these differences, each and every one of these three cousins were still noted to be a beauty in their own right, being of tall and elegant stature, with attractive features. Besides this, even after their incarceration in Azkaban and subsequent escape, Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius were both described to have retained vestiges of these "*great good looks*", despite losing much of it in the depression of the prison.

## Wealth

The Black family, as with many other pureblood wizarding families like the Malfoys, the Lestranges and the Potter Family, is considered to be very wealthy. This may be one of the reasons why the members of this family acted somewhat arrogantly.

In 1993, Sirius Black III used money from Vault 711 to pay for Harry Potter's Firebolt. This vault may have been property of the Blacks, since Sirius may have inherited this vault after his mother's death. However, he may have acquired it after being disowned, using the money given to him by his Uncle Alphard.

After Sirius died in 1996, his daughter, Felicity, and godson, Harry Potter, inherited all of Sirius' properties, including his house, his house-elf, and his vault, which still contained "a reasonable amount of gold". Given its depth, it is likely a high-security vault.