Walburga Black

**Walburga Irma Black** (née **Black**; 4 May 1925 – 22 January 1985) was an English Pureblood witch, the daughter of Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe, the sister of Alphard and Cygnus, the wife and second cousin of Orion Black, and the mother of Sirius III and Regulus II. She was also a member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, an old wizarding family and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

### Early Life (1920s-1950s)

Walburga was a member of the traditionalist pure-blood House of Black, who looked down on any except other "respectable" pure-blood wizards and believed in pure-blood supremacy. She was the daughter of Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe, and sister of Alphard and Cygnus. She attended Hogwarts from September 1936 to June of 1943, and owned a wand made of walnut and dragon heartstring.

### Later life and First Wizarding War (1959-1981)

Walburga gave birth to a son, Sirius, on 3 November, 1959. However, Sirius was a severe disappointment to her, because he did not agree with the ideology of blood purity and was sorted into Gryffindor House at Hogwarts, rather than the family's traditional house, Slytherin. Growing up, he ticked off his parents (particularly his mother) by decorating his room with posters from the muggle world depicting bikini-clad women and motorcycles, and had stuck those to the walls with irreversible sticking charms that infuriated her.

Sirius was disinherited and removed from the Black Family tree when he left home at the age of sixteen to live with the Potter family. Walburga personally blasted her son from the tapestry. She maintained a habit of blasting people from the Black family tree which stood in the hall of the family home at 12 Grimmauld Place if they displeased her; she did so to her brother Alphard simply because he left gold to Sirius despite being disowned. According to Kreacher, Walburga was heartbroken by this abandonment, but nonetheless disowned both of them to cleanse the tapestry. She did not disown her son completely, however, as magic dictated that he was still in the line of inheritance and Arcturus, her father-in-law, personally attested to this.

Luckily for her, Walburga gave birth to another son, Regulus, on 23 April, 1961. He followed the family traditions and joined the Slytherin House, and eventually became his mother's favourite, as well as heir to the wealth, position, and traditions of the Black family. Regulus became a Death Eater during the First Wizarding War; although neither Walburga nor Orion were followers of Lord Voldemort themselves, according to Sirius, they thought he "had the right idea," until they saw that Voldemort was ruthless in his pursuit for power, at which point they got cold feet. Regulus was killed in March 1979 after trying to destroy Voldemort's Horcrux, and died childless without an heir. As Regulus forbade Kreacher from telling this to anyone, Walburga thought Regulus died trying to leave the organisation.

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. Orion's parents reportedly kept a worried eye out for their grandson Sirius, though Walburga did not care what happened to him.

### Post 1981 (1981 - current)

In November 1981, the next year, Walburga's disowned son, Sirius, was framed for the murder of his friend, Peter Pettigrew and 12 Muggles and was thus sent to Azkaban. Walburga and Orion were left shocked and horrified that they 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.

Walburga's father, Pollux, considerably drained the family coffers by keeping Lucius Malfoy out of Azkaban, however, in partnership with Abraxas Malfoy. Whether Walburga was aware of this or not is unclear.

## Personality

Walburga Black, like most members of her family, was obsessed with blood purity, and her portrait would often scream insults at blood traitors, half-bloods or muggle-born wizards. She had little affection for her son Sirius, as he was viewed as a blood traitor by the Black family but appeared to have a fairly good relationship with Sirius' younger brother, Regulus, and was proud of him when he joined the Death Eaters. Although she was not a Death Eater herself, she was convinced that Voldemort was doing the right thing by trying to eliminate Muggles and bringing wizards and witches out of hiding for them to rule both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds. Despite this she is known to have become disillusioned with the Death Eaters toward the end of the First Wizarding War, showing that even she believed that they were going too far.

Walburga was kind to her house elf, Kreacher, who shared her views on blood purity, and as such Kreacher was very loyal to her. Based on her portrait's tendencies of screaming uncontrollably, she seems to have had a very violent temper, similar to her elder son when angered. Sirius justified this by claiming that his mother was an intensely spiteful and heartless woman, though Kreacher did say Walburga was heartbroken by Sirius' defection.

## Abilities and Skills

*See Power Scale for more information.*

*Bella's Abilities and Skills*

### Other Skills

* **Occlumens**: Bellatrix was an experienced Occulmens, trained by her grandfather Pollux. Likewise, she was talented in Legilimency, given her dedication to the Dark Lord and her ability to penetrate minds is next to none.
* **Apparition:** Bellatrix was proficient in Apparition, although her sister Narcissa may be even more skilled than her
* **Teaching skills:** Bellatrix taught Draco Occlumency and (non-verbal spells, the Unforgivable Curses and other branches of the Dark Arts.
* **Dark Arts Savant**: Sirius achieved an O in D.A.D.A. during her time at Hogwarts. Through her skill, she mastered the Dark Arts.

## Possessions and Properties

* **Wand:** 11”, black walnut and dragon heartstring

## Relationships

### Family

Walburga and Orion had an arranged marriage and a close relationship, especially since they shared blood purity ideology. Walburga was devastated when her husband died. Walburga's eldest son, Sirius was a huge disappointment to her and the rest of the family, since he disagreed with the Black family's beliefs in blood purity and was sorted into Gryffindor rather than Slytherin. When Sirius left home at the age of 16, she blasted his name off the tapestry. She was most likely pleased when he was sent to Azkaban. She kept Sirius a secret from her younger children and never said a word about his life, while she did praise Regulus constantly. Though she hated him, Kreacher did state Walburga was heartbroken by Sirius' departure.