Pollux Black

## Pollux Phineas Black

**Pollux Phineas Black** (3 March, 1902 - 5 October, 1990) was an English pure-blood wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1 September, 1913, to June of 1920. He was an esteemed member of Slytherin House at school, as well as an early member of the Slug Club. In his later life, he sat on the Hogwarts Board of Governors.

He was the eldest child of Cygnus Black III and his wife, Violetta Black (née Bulstrode). He had three siblings, who varied in age. He was about eleven years old when his younger sister, Cassiopeia Black, was born, and twelve at the birth of his younger brother, Marius. He was eighteen when Dorea Black was born.

He was a paternal grandson of Phineas Nigellus Black, widely known to be Hogwarts' most-hated Headmaster in History, who was Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black from 1859 until his death in 1925. He was the nephew of Sirius Black II, Head of the House of Black from 1925 to 1952, and the first cousin of Arcturus Black III, Head of House from 1952 to 1991.

He married Irma Crabbe, daughter of Joseph Crabbe and Antoinette Crabbe (née Greengrass), in 1922. This same year, Pollux's younger brother, Marius, was discovered to be a Squib. In an effort to educate his son about what (in the words of) Cygnus Black III considered to be the 'cleansing' of their Noble House, Pollux bore witness to Marius's death at the age of twenty. The experience thoroughly affected him to the point that he did not want to have children until over two years later.

He became the father of Walburga Black in 1925, Alphard Black in 1929, and Cygnus Black IV in 1931. After his father died in 1943, Pollux inherited Black Manor. He was also one of the only members of the House of Black to use Blackmere House as a holiday residence until he moved there permanently in 1974 with his wife, Irma.

He was the maternal grandfather of Sirius Black, who was wrongly convicted for the death of twelve muggles and another wizard, Peter Pettigrew, near the end of the First Wizarding War. Pollux was the only member of the Black family to ever visit him or his other grandchild, Bellatrix Lestrange, in Azkaban.

Among his other grandchildren were Regulus Black, Altair Black, Aquila Black, Andromeda Tonks (née Black), and Narcissa Malfoy (née Black). He was also the great-grandfather of Draco Malfoy, son of Narcissa Malfoy, and the great-grandfather of Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of Andromeda.

## Biography

### Early life (1902-1920)

Pollux was born in Tisbury, Wiltshire, England, at Black Manor, to Cygnus Black III and Violetta Black (née Bulstrode). He grew up as an only child, as his other three siblings were born much later, when he was already away or close to going away to Hogwarts.

Despite being an only child, Pollux enjoyed a very social childhood. He had three cousins, Arcturus Black, Lycoris Black, and Regulus Black, who were relatively close in age, on his father's side. On his mother's side, he was a first cousin of Esia Lestrange (née Carrow), daughter of his aunt Elizabetha.

In terms of Pollux's early education, this started very early as well. He was instructed in the ways of his Noble House, and studied several languages, including French, German, Latin, and Mermish. He learned calligraphy, astronomy, and many other subjects in his early childhood. That being said, he was also a very socialised child. His parents often hosted get-togethers at Black Manor and were often invited to other pure-bloods' homes.

In 1913, when Pollux was eleven years old and preparing to leave for school, his younger sister, Cassiopeia Black, was born. A younger brother, Marius, followed in November of 1914, when Pollux was twelve. Finally, in 1920, after Pollux had turned eighteen, his mother gave birth to a younger sister, Dorea.

#### Hogwarts years (1913-1920)

Pollux received his Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1913. He was believed to have purchased a wand made of cypress and dragon heartstring at Ollivander's Wand Shop some time before attending. He boarded the Hogwarts Express in London with his cousin Arcturus, who would be a first year as well, and they shared a compartment with Arcturus's cousin Louise Moore, who was also a first year. Louise reportedly planned to make Slytherin to prove to her aunt Hesper that she was worth spending time with, because she was a half-blood.

Pollux was sorted into Slytherin House with his cousin Arcturus, while Arcturus's cousin Louise was, inevitably, put into Hufflepuff. His cousin Arcturus and she hoped to remain friends but as they aged, Louise and the rest of her family were shunned from the Blacks, and they refused to consort with each other. Pollux shared a dormitory with Ivor Greengrass, Cyrus Macmillan, and his cousin Arcturus. Pollux became close with Cyrus Macmillan over the years. The Macmillans traditionally were a house divided, with one branch drifting toward the darker of magics, while the other side tried to remain as light as they could. Cyrus and his sister Melania were from the darker of branches, the children of Ambrose Macmillan and his wife Blodwen Macmillan (née Carrow), and were found acceptable to befriend.

Pollux also became close to Ivor Greengrass, who was the son of Ivor Greengrass Snr and his wife Ottoline Greengrass (née Prewett). The House of Greengrass has always been a neutral family and Ivor proved to be a very good friend to Pollux over the years.

#### Engagement and early years of marriage (1920-1929)

His father had been born a member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, one of the oldest and richest families in Wizarding Britain. That being said, the Blacks also believed in pure-blood supremacy, and disowned those who they thought did not live up to their standards.

Pollux had been enjoying a casual relationship with a witch called Irma Crabbe in his seventh year at school when she expressed her idea of a courtship. Pollux decided to agree, and it was managed by their parents, but they were both in agreement and both wanted the engagement.

Pollux's younger brother, Marius, was discovered to be a Squib in about the same year Pollux was to marry Irma Crabbe in 1922. In an effort to educate his son about what Cygnus Black III considered to be the 'cleansing' of their Noble House, Pollux bore witness to Marius's death, at the age of twenty. The experience thoroughly affected him to the point that he did not want to have children until over two years later.

They married in June 1922, after a long engagement, which was made longer by the death of Pollux's younger brother. Three years later, Pollux's first child was born. They christened her Walburga Irma, and for some time enjoyed their time as a three person family unit. Pollux had gone into politics, and he was high ranked in the Ministry of Magic by the time that their second child, Alphard Rigel, was born on 11 July, 1929.

#### Raising children (1930-1950)

Their third child, Cygnus Phineas, was born on 10 October, 1931. Pollux tried to raise Walburga, Alphard, and Cygnus in the same way that he was raised. Irma would instruct them in German, and Pollux would instruct his children in French and Latin, then delegate those responsibilities to a tutor when he no longer had the time.

Walburga was taught to paint and had numerous other hobbies, while Cygnus liked to play on his broom. Alphard liked collecting small creatures which he kept in jars. He also liked to fish, with magic, that is. Pollux never understood Alphard's strange obsession with the outdoors but attempted to keep an open mind when his son would bring something crawly into the house. It was usually then exterminated by his wife Irma, who couldn't stand such things.

### Later life (1950-1990)

#### Role as a grandfather (1950-1958)

Cygnus was the first to marry out of Pollux's children: in 1949, he took his mother's suggestion to marry the daughter of Irma's favourite maternal first cousin, Florinda Rosier (née Yaxley). Unfortunately for Cygnus, his mother's gentle "suggestion" soon turned into an obsession, all with the aim of Druella joining the family.

Druella Rosier and Pollux's son Cygnus and were second cousins, but Cygnus despised her. He tried all that he could to get out of the marriage but his mother insisted that they would make a lovely pair. Druella was a very pretty blonde witch and Cygnus eventually gave up on fighting his mother. A magical contract was drawn between the House of Black and the House of Rosier so that Cygnus could not resist.

Cygnus and Druella married in 1950. Pollux's first grandchild was born on 13 December, 1951, and the baby was christened Bellatrix Druella Black. The next year, his second quickly followed: Andromeda Olga, born 29 December 1952. Having satisfied the terms of his mother's agreement, but not having produced a boy, the couple were obliged to try again, but the third would meet the limit of the agreement. Narcissa Anastasia was born on 19 July, 1955.

This time it was Pollux's turn to find a husband for his daughter. On his suggestion, Pollux's daughter Walburga was to become engaged to his cousin Arcturus's son Orion. Orion Black was four years younger than Walburga, and like Cygnus and Druella, they were second cousins: only Orion had been living for some time as a bachelor, and was considered a "problem child" by his father Arcturus. In order to satisfy Pollux's cousin, who at that time was Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black as Arcturus Black III, Pollux would have to show that his daughter was capable of reigning him in.

Pollux also most likely saw the benefit of marrying his daughter off to the Heir of the House: in the 1950s, the House of Black was the richest family in magical Britain. If Walburga were to have a son, then his line would succeed and fluorish forever in the future of his own Noble House, and not elsewhere. Besides, his other son, Cygnus, had only had daughters so far: and Alphard was considered somewhat 'defective,' at least by Pollux's standards. If his name would carry on, it would have to be through his daughter.

#### Marriage of Orion Black and Walburga Black (1958)

Arcturus's son, Orion, who at that time was the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, had originally not wanted to marry anyone, and there may have been some wrangling on Pollux and Arcturus's part to get him to agree. Arcturus likely threatened his son with arranging him to marry a decidedly more unpleasant witch, and because Orion and Walburga had known each other since childhood, Orion was eventually forced to agree. Walburga, on the other hand, had always been infatuated with her second cousin, which Pollux had found odd considering that she was (at least in 1958) considered a spinster: she was thirty-four.

This was considered late for a society witch. It was entirely possible that she had been waiting for Orion, who was also nearly thirty, and still unmarried.

Orion and Walburga married on 28 June, 1958. Much like Orion's parents before him, the ceremony was heavily covered in wizarding media. At this time, the Blacks were the wealthiest wizarding family in Britain, and Arcturus Black, having taken on the Headship in 1952 upon the passing of Pollux's uncle, Sirius Black II, was the wealthiest man in the British wizarding world. Pollux was overall very pleased with the situation, and Walburga's smile in the wedding photographs, at least, according to his granddaughter, Aquila, made her look as though "*the cat had caught the canary*".

#### The House of Black (1959-1970)

Pollux's fourth grandchild, Sirius, was born on 3 November, 1959. He was christened Sirius Orion Black on 21 January, 1960, and Pollux was present at the baptism, which was also recorded in newspapers such as *The Daily Prophet* and *Witch Weekly Magazine.* Pollux was put under the national spotlight like never before: as from birth he had only been a minor member of the House of Black. The new attention brought by being the grandfather to the Heir Apparent excited him.

Orion and Walburga's second child, Regulus, was born, on 23 April, 1961. They christened him Regulus Arcturus, both in honour of Pollux's cousin Arcturus's brother, Regulus III (who had recently passed away in 1959), and Arcturus, as the Head of the House of Black. Pollux was present at the baptism once more, as Regulus's grandfather. This event took place on 28 July, 1961.

#### The Question of Alphard (1961-1963)

By this time, Pollux's son Alphard was still not married, and expressed no intention to. Pollux personally had always thought that Alphard, nicknamed "Alphie," by some of the kids (namely Sirius and Regulus) was a disappointment, but that it was the fault of his wife, Irma, and not Alphard's own: he could have also been considered a 'defective' child, and from the age of three had always been very 'strange' (socially, according to Pollux, from letters he had sent to his cousin, Arcturus). Pollux and Irma preferred to keep him out of the public eye once their daughter's relationship with the Heir to the House was put on spotlight.

Alphard, on the other hand, was perfectly content with this arrangement: he would not marry, and he had taken up the mantle of restoring one of the old Black family properties- a small light keeper's cottage, nicknamed "Tarn End," on the Isle of Skye, and had moved out of the manor in Tisbury to live a new life of seclusion out in the wilderness.

#### Divorce of Cygnus and Druella (1963)

In 1963, Pollux's son, Cygnus, and daughter-in-law, Druella Black, attempted to duel each other to the death. His young granddaughter, Narcissa, then aged eight, was the only one to witness the duel, apart from her mother, Druella, but Druella was left in hospital for a week due to her injuries, and thus could not tell them why they attempted to kill each other. Cygnus refused to talk about it, and told his father that he would be filing for divorce.

#### Custody Trial (1963-1964)

After Pollux's son filed for divorce, The House of Rosier threatened litigation against the House of Black. They wanted custody of all three of Pollux's grandchildren- the twelve year old Bellatrix, the eleven year old Andromeda, and the eight year old Narcissa Black. This resulted in a negotiating period which went nowhere, taking place mostly over the autumn of 1963, when Bellatrix and Andromeda were at school, and then a custody trial, which took place during the winter of 1964.

The trial was so scandalous that at times the judge would make everyone leave the room so as to listen to what young Narcissa had to say without anyone influencing her. Some people heard weeping and wailing inside the court room. Testimony was heard depicting Druella Black as an unfit mother and that she had an affair with a half-blood Photographer, Bartholomew Crockett, who denied any involvement in the case several years later. The Rosiers lost the trial, and Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix were allowed to stay with the Blacks.

After the ruling, Pollux's former daughter-in-law, Druella, left Black Manor and all three of her children. She did not even demand to see them. His granddaughter, Bellatrix, then became prone to throwing insane tantrums and demanding that she go live with her mother, who would teach her dark magic, but Druella had left the family under orders that she not interact with her children at all whatsoever.

#### Incident on the Isle of Skye (1966)

At Christmas, 1966, Pollux's son, Alphard, invited Pollux's grandsons, Sirius, seven, and Regulus, five, to his island to stay at Tarn End Cottage in Skye, where there was a terrible storm. Orion and Walburga returned without speaking to each other. According to family accounts, there had seemed to be an incident on the island where Walburga endangered Sirius's life during the storm. Supposedly, Orion had gone out to look for them both, and Alphard had to fish all three of them out from the mudflats with his boat.

Pollux, in several of his letters, wasn't sure what to make of the two very odd situations, the divorce and trial, one of which tore his son's family apart, and the separate incident in Skye, which very nearly could have destroyed his daughter's marriage as well.

### First Wizarding War (1967-1981)

#### Early Effects of the First Wizarding War (1967-1969)

The early effects of First Wizarding War had taken hold around Pollux: a wizard by the name of Voldemort had declared himself a Dark Lord, taking advantage of a charged political climate to do so.

In 1968, Nobby Leach left office for mysterious health reasons, leading to a conspiracy theory that he had been poisoned by his Muggle-prejudice advisor Abraxas Malfoy. He was then replaced as Minister Of Magic by Eugenia Jenkins, who, like her predecessor, was sympathetic to issues of social justice. Squibs then began marching for their rights, which spurred pure-blood supremacists to riot. Throughout the 1960s, with various minority groups demanding to be treated as equals, many of the old, elite pure-blood houses, to which all of the Death Eaters belonged, increasingly felt that their very way of life was being threatened.

Many pure-blood supremacists who did not join the ranks of the Death Eaters nonetheless gave their wholehearted support to Voldemort's cause in secret even still.

In 1969, Voldemort began to gather support and lead marches in wizarding areas, and the group called themselves the "Knights of Walpurgis" in the early years, and preached ideas about pureblood supremacy.

Pollux kept to seclusion, while his family, unbeknownst to him, had been radicalised by the chaos. Pollux's daughter, Walburga, began to say that the Knights of Walpurgis had the right ideas at the dinner table. When his wife Irma began preaching his ideals, Pollux found out, and was extremely blasé. He believed that this would all blow over and that there would not be a political revolution.

#### Sirius Black's Sorting (1971)

Pollux's grandson, Sirius, received his Hogwarts letter in July 1971. However, on 1 September, 1971, Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor House instead of the traditional House of Slytherin, an act which greatly offended most of the family. The Blacks had all been sorted into Slytherin for centuries: to have an heir of the house not be in Slytherin was considered an insult.

Pollux's wife Irma and his daughter Walburga were the most angered by Sirius's sorting, and wanted to disown him, but Arcturus, the Head, having succeeded his father in 1952, talked them down, and refused to do so. Arcturus was certainly disappointed that Sirius hadn't made the noble house of Slytherin, but his approach was pragmatic, and the family took no action. Arcturus saw Pollux's daughter as extreme and told her so. **Pollux** agreed with him.

As Arcturus's word as Head was law, the Black family continued to remain silent while Sirius, struggling with a thousand year old legacy, befriended blood-traitors and half-bloods in Gryffindor House.

#### Signs of Open Warfare (1972-1974)

Voldemort launched a revolution against the British Ministry of Magic with the intention of toppling it and creating a new world order run by pure-bloods. He launched a silent coup, which took place during the Election of 1973, replacing many progressive Wizengamot seats with traditionalists whose elections he had promised to fund if they ran an election campaign smearing Squib activists and other supporters of muggles. He also took control of the media, with planted paid-for articles in the place of actual and credible news.

#### Open Warfare (1975-1976)

Promising a world where Muggles would be kept in bondage and in utter servitude, Voldemort, declaring himself as "Lord Voldemort," launched an open revolution in 1975.

To achieve these ends, the Death Eaters and their allies (including the particularly destructive Giants) began openly carrying out attacks on Muggles for sport and to show chaos. Cleaning up these attacks, healing survivors, modifying memories, searching for the perpetrators, and attempting to prevent future attacks occupied more and more of the Ministry's time and attention. The most deadly attack of this era occurred on 21 July, 1975, when Death Eaters were tasked to cause an explosion following a Quidditch Match at Falmouth Stadium in Cornwall. Pollux and his wife Irma, who were living in Cornwall at the time, likely heard about this event, which killed twenty innocents.

As the organisation's confidence grew, the Death Eaters began targeting Muggle-born and blood traitor witches and wizards as well, torturing and sometimes killing their victims, which shocked wizarding society. Other "inferior" magical beings such as house-elves (who were treated like vermin) and Goblins (a family of which was slaughtered) also suffered under their reign of terror. To inspire yet more terror, the Death Eaters would cast the Dark Mark in the sky over every house or scene that they killed at.

This same year, in 1975, Pollux either read about or witnessed Eugenia Jenkins get ousted as Minister of Magic, and get replaced by Harold Minchum, a hardliner who placed more Dementors around Azkaban. In addition, ruthless Council of Magical Law Head Judge Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior rose rapidly through the Ministry's ranks until he also became the Head of the Department Of Magical Law Enforcement. Minchum and Crouch then began to make serious headway, though the anonymous and elusive Death Eaters still retained the advantage.

Pollux's granddaughter, Bellatrix, decided to join the organisation in 1975. Voldemort had taken Bellatrix under his personal wing, sharing with her his personal-secret knowledge of the Dark Arts; and inspiring in Bellatrix a delusional-psychotic attraction bordering on loving obsession, which Voldemort never honestly returned.

#### Problems at Home (1976)

The next year, in 1976, Pollux's grandson Sirius ran away from home. His cousin, Arcturus, visited Grimmauld Place himself, and told Pollux how he witnessed Walburga holding a candle to her son's depiction on the Black family tapestry, an artefact that has been around since the 17th century.

Arcturus had tried to convinced Walburga that Sirius would come back to them, but he had been blind to the real issues that had been clouding Grimmauld Place, and was unable to get through. Arcturus reportedly had a conversation with his son, Orion, who informed him that Sirius had become increasingly rebellious over the last few years, flaunting his Gryffindor house affiliation and disdain for his family's pure-blood values. Arcturus had then realised that he could not blame his daughter-in-law for what she did, but maintained his refusal to disown him from the house completely, as that option was irreversible and permanent, and he still held an old man's naive hope that Sirius would come back to them. Pollux had no choice other than to follow Arcturus in the matter.

#### Regulus as Heir Apparent (1976)

Pollux's other grandson, Regulus, then aged 15, became the defacto Black heir following Sirius's flight. Pollux returned to Cornwall with his wife, Irma and time passed.

Regulus, who was a Slytherin, and a child that was often overlooked by all those except his parents, though he had wonderful accomplishments, was apprehensive at first. He, too, hoped that Sirius would return, but as time went on and that became less and less likely, he began to take up the mantle of the Black family heir.

Pollux's daughter Walburga arranged for his granddaughter Bellatrix to take the young and impressionable Regulus on a Death Eater rendezvous, where he met many pure-bloods who had all been inspired and radicalised by the Dark Lord Voldemort.

#### Death Eaters (1977)

Pollux did not have any idea that this had occurred, until one day in July, 1977, when Regulus announced proudly during a visit to his residence in Cornwall that he had joined the Dark Lord. At first, Pollux was not sure of what to feel. He was ultimately pleased, and "*thanked Regulus*," for doing what he could not. He was most likely prouder of his grandson than Arcturus was, as Arcturus retained his pragmatic approach that the House of Black do nothing.

#### Misgivings (1978)

The war had picked up and the amount of missing witches and wizards that were not pure-bloods was climbing into the hundreds by 1978. Pollux had seen conflict before- namely the Global Wizarding War, during which he had raised children. He began to feel that his grandson had made a mistake taking a side, and while he had little influence over his granddaughter Bellatrix, felt that she had erred as well.

Arcturus visited, and explained to Pollux that Regulus and Bellatrix's choices officially allied the House of Black with the Dark Lord Voldemort, and because Arcturus had some influence (but not total control) over his daughter-in-law, Walburga, he admitted that Pollux's daughter had donated a great amount of money to the Death Eater's cause, which was money of her own, and actions of her own doing. Despite his initial misgivings, Pollux simply told Arcturus that he was being asinine, and the family would do fine in Voldemort's "glorious revolution".

#### Regulus's Disappearance (1979)

Regulus, in fact, had realised that he had erred in joining the Dark Lord. He was sixteen when he joined, and for some time, naively believed that he was going to participate in the cleansing of the Wizarding World. He had been inspired by his cousin Bellatrix and threatened by his mother, and his father did not care about him enough to stop him. But a month after he joined, he quickly became incredibly disenchanted with the cause's insane and brutal leader.

In February 1979, Voldemort requested the use of Regulus's personal house-elf Kreacher, and then callously left him to die. When Kreacher managed survive and to return home over Valentine's, Regulus deduced that Voldemort had created a Horcrux. He then proceeded to make a plan to destroy it in April, when he would be away from Hogwarts, over the Easter holidays. This failed, and resulted in his violent death at the hands of the Inferi, though he did manage to replace the locket with a fake and entrust the real Horcrux to Kreacher. Pollux nor the rest of the family knew about any of this.

#### Death of Regulus Black (13 April, 1979)

When Regulus went missing, like so many others had, Pollux stayed at Grimmauld Place with his weepy wife and daughter, who made posters for the Daily Prophet. Regulus had not yet finished school, and had not even sat his N.E.W.T.s before he died at seventeen- ten days before his eighteenth birthday. By this time, Walburga had turned to her husband for comfort, after Pollux and Irma left, but even Orion "*had fallen on the drink*". Pollux's cousin Arcturus was devastated, like the others, and decided to visit their grandson, Sirius, to tell him personally, hoping that the sadness of Regulus's death would reconcile him enough to come back to the family.

#### Sirius's Refusal (April, 1979)

However, Sirius refused to return to the family. At nineteen years old, he was a year out of Hogwarts, and had already joined the Order of the Phoenix, an organisation headed by Albus Dumbledore to stop Voldemort. He was on the other side of the war, and had already been living away from the Blacks for nearly three years. He would not come back just because his brother, the spare, had died. That being said, he had initially refused to accept that Regulus was gone, and as the facts set in, appeared devastated. Arcturus did not end up being successful in getting him to return.

Most of all, he did not want to come back only to be under Walburga's roof. Arcturus told Pollux how he had suspected, in 1976, when Sirius ran away, that Walburga had been physically abusing him, and their conversation near the end of April, 1979, confirmed it. However, Arcturus couldn't make Sirius return by force, and the two of them parted ways. Pollux then brought up the incident at Alphard's cottage in Skye, and together, the two of them deduced that there had indeed been some oddness there, but since Sirius was lost to them, now, they could no longer try, and the matter was swept under the rug.

#### The New Heir (May, 1979)

There was yet another bombshell to be discovered.

Near the end of April, 1979, Walburga discovered that she was pregnant. Orion ordered her to get rid of it, but Walburga said that she would not. Granted, because Sirius would not come back, and their younger son had passed away, the Black family could have used another heir, but it is likely that their third child was not intended for this purpose. Rather, he was more likely an accident. Pollux and Irma, as well as Arcturus and Melania, were skeptical, and expected that due to the stress and grief in losing Regulus, the foetus would not survive. However, it did.

#### Birth of Altair Black (January, 1980)

Pollux's daughter, Walburga, gave birth to a baby boy, who she named Altair Regulus, on 7 January, 1980. Pollux, Irma, Arcturus, and Melania welcomed the new life with more skepticism, as all four of them secretly believed that Walburga and Orion would not be fit to raise another child after losing Regulus so brutally and driving Sirius away. Orion was already severely depressed and had been for quite some time, and although Walburga threw herself into raising Altair, she was also somewhat of an alcoholic at the time.

The war raged around them. On 12 January, 1980, Minister Minchum was also removed from office due to his failure to end the war and was immediately replaced with Millicent Bagnold. The Order of the Phoenix, a secret organisation created to fight the Dark Lord, suffered badly and skirmishes picked up at a rapid pace. Pollux nor Irma cared to hear Sirius's name on the radio, and they may have secretly hoped they would hear his name, if it was any consolation over Regulus's death.

#### A Fourth Child (March, 1980)

A second child, their fourth in total, was supposedly conceived by Walburga and Orion in March. By this time, Arcturus understandably put his foot down, believing that Walburga had coerced Orion into conceiving two more children through magic- likely the Imperius Curse or something similar.

The accusation greatly offended Pollux, as he simply refused to believe that his daughter had done any of those things. He demanded an explanation from Arcturus, and there was an explosive argument between Arcturus, Irma, and Pollux which very nearly ended in a duel.

Pollux had also taken the time to consider that, while the first time may have well and truly been an accident, the announcement of a second child sounded quite suspicious, seeing as it had only been two months since his daughter had given birth to Altair.

#### Arguments (April, 1980)

Arcturus was still furious by April of 1980, after it had been a year since their grandson Regulus died. He didn't believe that Orion had conceived either of the two children willingly, which drove a permanent wedge between Pollux and Arcturus. Pollux was angry at Arcturus for daring to bring the subject into conversation when they all had Regulus on their minds.

In April, Arcturus sent Walburga to stay with Pollux and Irma, along with the baby Altair, but refused to tell any of them why. Pollux accused him of fabricating lies and challenged him that perhaps he didn't deserve to be Head. This was a volitile situation that very nearly could have escalated into a challenge by rite of magic- Pollux would have adequate grounds to challenge Arcturus to a duel to the death for the Headship of the House of Black, if what Arcturus was saying was indeed false.

However, this seemed to be true. Orion seemed deeply confused and not entirely lucid during an interrogation which took place with both Arcturus and Pollux present, and Pollux was forced to determine that he had in fact been wrong, and that Walburga must have subjected Orion to some sort of spell to make him cooperate with her when he did not want her closeness, even after the death of their son. Arcturus deduced that Walburga had definitely done something, perhaps in desperation, grief, or madness, and along with Pollux, determined that it would be best to keep them apart.

#### Birth of Aquila Black (November, 1980)

Pollux's seventh grandchild, and only granddaughter, Aquila Walburga, was born on 4 November, 1980, in the same year as Altair, though the two children were almost eleven months apart. She was born only a day after Sirius had been, though twenty-one years after the fact.

Orion stayed at Grimmauld Place for some time alone, but Walburga returned there when Aquila was but a few days old (albeit under heavy supervision) along with Pollux and Arcturus, who introduced him to his child.

The newborn baby was thought to have looked like Orion and Sirius by Melania, who quickly fell in love with her only granddaughter. Altair, however, was close to the spitting image of Regulus, and Pollux and Irma adored him, and most all did, including, begrudgingly, Arcturus and Orion. Though Orion hadn't wanted either of them, he began to seem happier, slowly.

#### Height of the First Wizarding War (1981)

Save for Pollux's granddaughter, Bellatrix, who was still violently attacking muggles under the Mark of Lord Voldemort, and Narcissa, who had married a Death Eater and had a child of her own (Draco, born 5 June, 1980), the Blacks retreated into seclusion as the war continued to rage around them. Pollux was now a great-grandfather.

They watched as the war entered its most desperate phase in the early months of 1981. Pollux and Irma probably kept an eye on the papers, and tuned into the radio that listed the fates of many Order members. They might have learned that Gideon Prewett and Fabian Prewett were killed by Antonin Dolohov, and Dorcas Meadowes was murdered by Voldemort himself in January. Benjy Fenwick, Pollux learned, was killed by his granddaughter, Bellatrix Lestrange, Evan Rosier, and Julius Jerome; and so brutally mutilated that only bits of him were recovered, in June.

Meanwhile, in the Ministry, Barty Crouch Senior issued an edict in July 1981, giving Ministry Aurors full permission to employ the use of the Unforgivable Curses against their enemies. A massive Ministry campaign, spearheaded and led by Alastor Moody, Otto Cattermole, and Frank Longbottom; ensued, immediately turining the tide of the war against the Death Eaters. They initially focused their efforts on resisting the giants, killing many of them with the Killing Curse, and wiping out entire tribes until they forced the survivors to go into hiding.

The Ministry began to identify and apprehend Death Eaters. Auror and Order member Alastor Moody became legendary for his successes, arresting and capturing Igor Karkaroff, along with many other supporters of the Dark Lord, and also killing Evan Rosier when he resisted arrest, although losing a chunk of his nose in the process. Antonin Dolohov also met his capture and imprisonment at the hands of Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Corban Yaxley, one of Voldemort's earliest followers, was captured and sent to Azkaban as well.

#### The Dark Lord's Downfall (31 October, 1981)

On 31 October, 1981, Voldemort traveled to the Godric's Hollow with the intention of murdering the Potter family for unknown reasons, and there met his downfall. Pollux was shocked, the rest of the Blacks were shocked, and the entire Wizarding World was shocked when, leaderless, Death Eaters began to fall left and right.

*"To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"*
—Celebrations going on at the end of the war and the destiny forced upon the young Harry Potter
That same night, news of Voldemort's downfall and apparent death spread like wildfire throughout all of Great Britain; with monumental celebrations breaking out all across the country so strenuously that numerous large-scale breaches of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy were noticed by the Muggle international media. This was excused by Minister Bagnold, who asserted the war-weary wizarding community's "inalienable right to party." Though some people, like Barty Crouch Snr, claimed the celebrating got out of hand and became childish and ridiculous.

In the aftermath of Voldemort's shockingly abrupt defeat and subsequent disappearance without a trace, many were skeptical that he was really dead. Aurors, Order members, and Ministry officials searched at home and abroad for any sign of him but found none. Although they eventually came to the conclusion that Voldemort had truly been defeated and was dead, many Death Eaters were still at large and considered a huge threat.

#### Arrest of Sirius Black (1 November, 1981)

However, another event that took place within that week was enough to shock Pollux and Irma to their core. Their grandson, whom they still cared about, though he was separated from the family, had been arrested.

Walburga was left shocked and horrified that she had disowned a son that had ended up supporting all the "right" values in the end. Walburga, at least, could have been proud of him, but she also did not want to acknowledge him at all.

Pollux and Irma were comforted by the fact that Sirius had finally chosen to come back to them, if not physically. They were confused, however, when Pollux came to visit him in Azkaban (Arcturus had somehow refused, and neither Melania, Orion, Walburga, nor Irma were going anywhere *near* that place), Sirius told him to reportedly to "*piss off*," only it goes without saying that he did it in much ruder terms.

Pollux could have begun to suspect that his grandson was truly innocent of the crimes he was thrown into Azkaban for, but he did not think that far ahead, and simply believed that his grandson was just being his grandson, as "colloquially rude as always," as Pollux put it, in a letter to his cousin, Theodore Bulstrode Jnr.

#### Arrest of Bellatrix Lestrange (2 November, 1981)

Pollux was entirely unsurprised when Bellatrix was arrested along with her husband and brother-in-law on 2 November 1981, for torturing an Auror and his wife into insanity. He did not attempt to help her, for he felt that she deserved what she got, and had always viewed her from the age of twenty as a somewhat "*psychotic menace*".

Pollux visited Grimmauld Place that night with his wife Irma and spent time with his younger grandchildren, grateful, but not entirely reassured, because it appeared that with the end of Voldemort, the conflict was almost over. If Bellatrix was arrested, then it truly meant it was over.

The fact that their other grandson, Sirius, had been thrown into Azkaban, in a cell next to their beloved granddaughter Bellatrix for betraying the Potters to Voldemort, as well as on the count of the murder of twelve muggles and a wizard by the name of Peter Pettigrew, made Pollux upset that they had made the wrong choices. He asked his cousin Arcturus why they hadn't done more to stop Sirius from leaving.

## Appearance

Pollux had brown hair and grey eyes, one typical trait of the House of Bulstrode and the other of the House of Black. Much like the rest of the Black family, he was tall, well-built, and darkly handsome. He did not resemble the Bulstrodes much in his face.

## Etymology

Like many members of the Black family, the name *Pollux* comes from a star. It is the brightest star in the constellation Gemini. The name refers to Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Zeus and Leda in Greek mythology. The name is traditionally thought to mean "much wine", since astrologers associate Pollux with prosperity and celebration with wine. Pollux's sister Cassiopeia was named after a constellation.