Lestrange family

**Lestrange** was the surname of an ancient pure-blood wizarding family, originally from France but also with branches in Great Britain, and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. They were related to the Rosier, Black, Malfoy, Tonks, and Lupin families. Bellatrix Black married into the family only because it was expected of her to make a respectable pure-blood marriage.

The Lestranges were a very old and wealthy family with a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank full of treasure. Like the House of Black, many Lestranges practised the Dark Arts and believed in the notion of pure-blood supremacy, they disdained Muggles, Muggle-borns, blood traitors, and in some cases, half-bloods. Similar to the Gaunts, and the Blacks they were willing to intermarry with cousins to maintain their purity.

The Lestranges' family emblem was a raven, and their massive family vault was located in Paris, in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. Their family tree depicted only the male descendants (females were depicted as flowers without names or faces), something which was noted to be unusual by Leta Lestrange.

The family motto is *"Corvus oculum corvi non eruit"*, which in English means "a crow will not pull out the eye of another crow", which represents how members of the family will not betray each other.

## History

The family produced a Minister for Magic during the 1800s: Radolphus Lestrange took a reactionary position, and attempted to shut down the Department of Mysteries, but was ignored by the Unspeakables and the rest of the Ministry. He resigned after six years in office due to ill health, which was rumoured to be an inability to cope with the stress of the office.

Corvus Lestrange (IV) was the head of the family during the late 19th century and into the early 20th, being acquainted with the Kama family, a French-Senegalese pure-blood clan. Desiring the already happily married Laurena Kama for himself in order to produce a pure-blooded male heir, Corvus used the Imperius Curse to force Laurena to leave her family and come to him. Laurena died giving birth to his child, a girl they named Leta, but Corvus did not care for her at all as she could not continue his line or name. Marrying a second time to Clarisse Tremblay, his cousin, this union produced the coveted son Corvus had desired, Corvus Lestrange (V). The Kamas became aware of their matriarch's death and swore revenge, with Laurena's husband forcing their son Yusuf to swear an Unbreakable Vow to kill the one person that Corvus loved. To protect his precious son and heir, Corvus dispatched his son and daughter to America with a servant, Irma Dugard, whose half-elf magic was too weak to trace. However the ship sank in a storm and Corvus V perished due to Leta having swapped him for a quieter baby in the neighbouring cabin.

During her time at Hogwarts around the 1910s, Leta Lestrange developed a close relationship with fellow student and magical beast enthusiast Newton Scamander. After one of Leta's experiments went wrong and endangered the life of a student, Newt Scamander took the blame and was expelled in her place. She would later cross paths with Newt again.

The Lestrange family, being named in the *Pure-Blood Directory* as one of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight" Pure-blood families, dated back centuries in the British wizarding community.

During the First and Second Wizarding Wars, the Lestranges supported Lord Voldemort and at least a few members of the family were Death Eaters. Voldemort named Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange among his most loyal followers, as they were the only Death Eaters who tried to find him after his defeat in 1981 and spent fourteen years in Azkaban because of their loyalty. Bellatrix, in particular, described herself as "*the Dark Lord's most loyal servant*". Bellatrix also had a "secret" relationship with Lord Voldemort and gave birth to a child with him before the Battle of Hogwarts. Bellatrix and Voldemort's daughter was later named Delphini. As Bellatrix and Voldemort both died in the Battle of Hogwarts, Delphini grew up as an orphan.

## Family members

"*The family has, however, eschewed the somewhat dangerous practise of inter-marrying within such a small pool of pure-bloods that they become enfeebled or unstable, unlike a small minority of fanatic families such as the Gaunts and Lestranges, and many a half-blood appears on the Malfoy family tree.*"
— Description of the Malfoy family[src]

### Distant relatives

 Mathis Gage
 Odile Perrot
 Huguette Perrot
 Laurelle Perrot
 Clarisse Tremblay
 Falco Tremblay

## Etymology

The name 'Lestrange' echoes the French phrase *l'étrange*, literally "the strange one", referring to Bellatrix's mental disturbance. In Old French, *estrange* means "foreigner". The surname may allude to English journalist Roger L'Estrange, who was known for opposing religious toleration and for being involved in plots against the government of William and Mary, similar to the Lestranges' intolerance about blood purity and involvement in the Death Eaters organisation. In addition, a few Lestranges have the forename Corvus, which is Latin for 'crow'. A raven, which is related to the crow, appears on the Lestrange family emblem.