Walburga Black

## Walburga Irma Black

**Walburga Irma Black** (4 May, 1925 – 22 January, 1994) was a pure-blood 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, Regulus II, Altair II, and Aquila. 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.

Walburga was born in Tisbury, Wiltshire, England, and lived in Grimmauld Place in London after she married her second cousin Orion Black. She died in 1994, but her portrait still remains at 12 Grimmauld Place. Walburga's portrait makes anyone not in the pure-blood elite quite uncomfortable in her home, by constantly shouting insults and epithets at them.

## Biography

#### 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.

Shortly after graduating Hogwarts, Walburga waited for her second cousin Orion to finish his education and married him on 28 June, 1958.

#### Later life and the 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.

In April, Walburga discovered that she was pregnant. Perhaps out of the grief of losing Regulus, she had turned to her husband for comfort, but because she had not touched her husband for several years before that, Orion ordered her to get rid of it. Walburga said that she wouldn't. 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. Arcturus and Melania, Orion's parents, as well as Pollux and Irma Black (née Crabbe) (Walburga's parents) were skeptical and expected that due to the stress and grief in losing Regulus, the foetus would not survive. However, it did.

Walburga gave birth to a baby boy, who she named Altair Regulus, on 7 January 1980. Arcturus, Melania, Pollux, and Irma welcomed the new life with more skepticism, as they believed that Walburga and Orion would not be fit to raise another child. 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. Walburga named her favourite niece, Bellatrix, as godmother, and her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, godfather.

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.

When it happened the second time, in March 1980, 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. He also considered that the first time may have well and truly been an accident, but after Walburga announced that she was, again, expecting, just two months after she had given birth to Altair, Arcturus was furious. He sent Walburga to stay with her parents, Pollux and Irma, along with the baby, and ordered his son to tell him whether he had planned any of this with Walburga. Orion had not, and seemed confused and not entirely lucid at the time. Arcturus deduced that Walburga had definitely done something, perhaps in desperation, grief, or madness, and determined that it would be best to keep them apart. Walburga was furious.

Arcturus' fourth 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. Her godparents were named Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Orion stayed at Grimmauld Place for some time, but Walburga returned there when Aquila was but a few days old. 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 most adored him, including, begrudgingly, Arcturus and Orion. Though Orion hadn't wanted either of them, much like he hadn't wanted Sirius and Regulus at first, he began to seem happier, slowly.

Save for Walburga's niece, Bellatrix, who was still violently attacking muggles under the Mark of Lord Voldemort, and her other niece, 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.

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. She kept Sirius a secret from her two youngest children, but praised Regulus constantly for what he did in the war.

Arcturus, Walburga's father-in-law, was left disappointed and sickened by Sirius's actions, and retreated to his home in Somerset where he stayed for several days, pondering where it exactly had gone wrong. Walburga's father, Pollux, was more insistent that the Blacks demand a fair trial for his grandson, and had one quickly arranged for his grand-daughter, Bellatrix, but due to the nature of her crimes, she was sentenced to life in prison in Azkaban, with her husband, Rodolphus, brother-in-law, Rabastan, and accomplice Barty Crouch Jnr. Sirius was never given a trial and was locked in Azkaban for life.

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.

In the 1980s, when the war was over, Walburga raised her two younger children with an idea of the mistakes that she had made with Sirius and Regulus, but instead of amending them, it was clear that she did not work hard to stop them. She put immense pressure on Altair and Aquila and demanded that they be on their best behaviour at all times, and the cleverest children their tutor would ever teach. If they were not on their best behaviour, or did not make good marks in Astronomy, the Dark Arts, History of Magic, French, German, Latin, and the preservation of their family's genealogy, she would punish them severely. She had very high expectations and as a result, Altair and Aquila grew up without an abundance of love.

#### Death of youngest son (August 1991)

Walburga's youngest son, Altair Black, did not receive his Hogwarts letter on the 31st of July when they are meant to be sent out. For years, Walburga had been paranoid her son was not performing magic, but fell to her own daughter's tricks to make her believe he had done so. She entered her husband's study in the evening of the 30th of August and witnessed Orion beating her son, and when Aquila tried to interfere, she ordered her daughter to stop.

Walburga allowed her husband to take care of the ordeal, and as a result of the disownment of her eldest son, the First Wizarding War, and other contributions, their morals were twisted in a way that could not be rectified and they decided that a dead son was better than a Squib.

Walburga informed the public that her husband and two children were also suffering from an illness in August 1991, just before her niece Narcissa's son Draco was due to begin Hogwarts. Fearing the worst, Narcissa attempted to visit the family but was turned away by Walburga. News came out later that Altair Black had succumbed to Dragon Pox.

#### Death of husband (December 1991)

The decline in Orion's well-being was immense and almost a sight to behold in the four months after the death of their son Altair Black. In 1959 and 1961, Orion had fathered two children with Walburga somewhat begrudgingly, as it was required of him by the family, as the heir, and as was outlined in their marriage contract. However, his father, Arcturus, later separated them both by force when he learned that their third and fourth child were conceived unwillingly by Orion.

Orion had the tendency to become depressed and ignore his children, and this was somewhat common when he and Walburga were raising Sirius and Regulus. Arcturus often interfered and arranged family outings whenever this was the case, and in adulthood, Orion was past the point of resentment, because he was resigned, and participated as he was told. When Regulus died, however, Orion fell into a deep depression and started drinking more than ever.

In the case of Altair and Aquila, Arcturus was past the point of hoping that Orion would be interactive, because he was so miserable, and he decided to step in and allow Orion to be separate from Walburga when he chose. Surprisingly, Orion returned to Walburga of his own free will, and spent a lot of time with his children, which distracted him from his problems. Arcturus soon became convinced that something was wrong, psychologically, with his son, that Orion would choose to return to a woman that abused him, and a woman that abused her children. He then retracted his theory, when he realised that Orion was trying to see Regulus in Altair and Sirius in Aquila, and was trying to re-experience the infant years of Regulus and Sirius's lives before it all went wrong- Arcturus estimated that the cutoff was around the time Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor, when Walburga started hurting her son and didn't stop.

Arcturus from that point on tried to be as constant in his son's life as he could, which perhaps helped Orion see that not everything was awful. Orion did, however, compartmentalise, and existed in his own somewhat precarious world, as a father to two small children, and that was it, and Arcturus tried to help him, but found himself out of his depth. After Altair's death and murder, Orion fell deeper than he ever had before into a spiral of guilt and self-destruction.

Orion was found in his study hanging from the rafters on Christmas Eve, 1991, by Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, who were visiting with their son Draco, who had arrived home from school. Draco and Aquila were kept out of the room while the Ministry got involved, and Walburga was witnessed to have been yelling that her husband was selfish.

#### Decline and death (1991-1993)

After the death of her husband, Walburga became somewhat psychotic and frightened her daughter so much that she begged to come live with Narcissa. During that time, Walburga was alone, but Aquila returned to her mother in the spring of 1992, the spring before she was to receive her Hogwarts letter.

Aquila was accompanied by her mother to Diagon Alley in the summer of 1992 when indeed, her Hogwarts letter arrived. Walburga left her daughter at Gringotts while she visited the vaults, but returned knowing that Aquila had snuck away. Her daughter met Ginny Weasley there, who was accompanied by her father, Arthur Weasley, who was employed at the Ministry of Magic's Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Walburga was extremely cross that her daughter, Aquila, had supposedly snuck away from Gringotts, and personally insulted the Weasleys when Arthur was within earshot. Arthur, having learnt his lesson after his brawl with Lucius Malfoy, decided not to engage.

That was one of the last times Walburga Black was seen in public. She was in mourning for the rest of her life, and never wore any other colour except black.

Her daughter, Aquila, was Sorted into Gryffindor House the night of 1 September, 1992. Walburga did not publicly react and was believed to have taken up drinking again.

Aquila did not receive a single letter from her mother in all of her first year at school. She was an anxious child and although she had made many friends and was happy in Gryffindor, was always terrified of what her mother would think of her. She did not return to Grimmauld Place for Christmas of 1992 and Walburga spent the time alone.

Aquila and her best friend, Ginny Weasley, had been writing in a cursed book that Lucius Malfoy had slipped into Ginny's cauldron during one of Ginny's summer visits to Diagon Alley. The individual that they believed was writing back to them was a boy called Tom Riddle, and he possessed Ginny, forcing her to write her own goodbyes on the wall in blood and open the Chamber of Secrets, which had coincidentally been opened for the first time while Walburga was at school. Walburga's daughter followed the Weasley girl down into the Chamber and they had to be rescued by Ron Weasley, Ginny's brother, and Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, fellow Gryffindors.

Walburga punished her daughter severely for the stunt and Aquila was not allowed to write her friends over the summer. Aquila ran away from home in the last two weeks of August and went to the Burrow in Devon, where the Weasleys live. That July, Walburga's eldest son escaped Azkaban, which no wizard had ever done before, and Walburga faced an inquiry from Ministry Aurors over the incident. She told the Aurors who were looking for Black that she had disowned him long ago and that he was "never any son of mine". The Aurors noted that the woman was prone to alcoholic tendencies and had a bit of an anger problem, as she kicked them out of her house.

Aquila returned to school in September 1993, and Walburga was drinking so much alcohol that she did not care where her daughter went or what she did. Walburga barred herself in her room and refused any visitors, and never wrote Aquila again.

Walburga spent the Christmas of 1993 at one of the Black family properties in Tisbury. Through early January, she reportedly felt "weak and unwell", and by mid-January she was "drowsy ... dazed, [and] confused". She died on Friday, 22 January 1994, at half past six in the evening, at the age of 69. Her niece, Narcissa, was by her side.

#### Post-mortem

Narcissa informed Aquila of her mother's death and a funeral was held on Saturday 30 January, 1994. Through reading her mother's early papers and photographs, Aquila discovered that her mother had loved her deeply; she was heart-broken, and blamed her father and brother's deaths for "wickedly" estranging her from her mother.

Walburga's portrait remained magically fixed to the wall in the hallway of her family home, using a Permanent Sticking Charm. The picture, which was covered in canvas when inactive, showed an insane old woman, prone to screaming insults at anyone who disturbed the portrait, particularly that of non-pure-bloods. This happened several times when the Order of the Phoenix used Grimmauld Place as their headquarters after her death, and they tried unsuccessfully to remove the portrait for quite sometime.

After Walburga's death, a will was enacted that formally bestowed the entirety of House of Black's wealth on her youngest. Sirius Black III, despite being an Azkaban inmate and therefore should have been unable to inherit anything, was cut out from the will and Aquila's guardianship was awarded to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy.

## Personality and traits

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.

Walburga both witnessed and allowed the murder of her youngest son, Altair Regulus Black, when Orion discovered he was a Squib. She did not kill Altair herself, but did not stop it. When her husband committed suicide that December, Walburga believed Orion to be selfish and despite this, was overcome by grief. When her younger daughter was sorted into Gryffindor like her eldest in the following year, Walburga was too distracted in her mourning and drink that she did not find that she cared one way or the other. Altair's death was kept a secret and the general public believed he had succumbed to Dragon Pox.

## Magical abilities and skills

* **Dark Arts:** Walburga was proficient in dark magic, being able to cast both the Killing Curse and the Imperius Curse successfully and of handling cursed objects (her abilities clearly helped by her malevolent personality). Furthermore, it was highly likely she was skilled in the casting of various other dark spells and charms.

## Relationships

#### The Black 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.

Walburga greatly admired and favoured her younger son, Regulus because he remained loyal to the Black family traditions and was sorted into Slytherin. Walburga was obviously devastated when her son died. She turned to her husband for support and in the few months after his death, found out that she was pregnant. Her son Altair was born and she gave him Regulus's name as a tribute. She perhaps, had hoped that she could have a second chance and attempted to raise Altair and his sister Aquila in a better way than she had Sirius, but did not blame herself for Sirius's wayward attitude, so she was unsuccessful. Altair and Aquila still grew up in terror of her, but Walburga favoured her only daughter because she felt that she was extremely talented and remained loyal. She had never had a daughter before and tended to punish Aquila less, though she still frightened her.

## Etymology

* *Walburga* is a variation of the name *Walpurga*, who was a saint for whom Walpurgis Night is named. Historically, Walpurgis Night was considered to be a time when the barrier between the living and the dead was weak and when witches held celebrations. Also, the Knights of Walpurgis (later known as the Death Eaters) were named after Walpurgis Night.
* *Walburga* was also the given name of the mother of Josef Mengele, a Nazi doctor who conducted horrific experiments on prisoners in concentration camps. She was said to have been extremely cruel and a Nazi supporter, rather like Walburga Black's views on retaining blood purity.
* *256 Walpurga* is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on April 3, 1886 in Vienna and was named after Saint Walpurga. This loosely fits in with the Black family tradition of using celestial names for their children.