Black Family

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the House of Black **article** at the Harry Potter Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

## Family Heritage

### Species

* Wizardkind
* Hybrid
* Tribrid
* Original Tribrid

### Notable Family Members

* Artemisia Black † (Disowned)
* Apollonia Black †
* Licorus Black †
* Magenta Black †
* Phoebe Black †
* Alexia Walkin Black †
* Eduardus Limette Black † (Disowned)
* Hesper Black †
* Misapinoa Black †
* Cygnus Black I †
* Ella Black †
* Arcturus Black I †
* Sirius Black I †
* Phineas Nigellus Black †
* Ursula Black †
* Elladora Black †
* Iola Black (Disowned) †
* Sirius Black II †
* Hesper Black †
* Phineas Black † (Disowned)
* Arcturus Black II †
* Lysandra Black †
* Belvina Black †
* Cygnus Black II †
* Violetta Black †
* Arcturus Black III †
* Melania Black †
* Lycoris Black †
* Regulus Black I †
* Callidora Black †
* Cedrella Black † (Disowned)
* Charis Black †
* Pollux Black †
* Irma Black †
* Cassiopeia Black †
* Marius Black † (Disowned)
* Dorea Black †
* Lucretia Black †
* Orion Black †
* Walburga Black †
* Alphard Black †
* Cygnus Black III †
* Druella Black †
* Araminta Meliflua Black †
* Bellatrix Black †
* Andromeda Black (Disowned)
* Narcissa Black
* Emilia Black
* Sirius Black III † (Disowned)
* Regulus Black II †

## Relationships

### Related Families

* Malfoy Family
* Lestrange Family
* Mikaelson Family
* Labonair Family
* Lightwood Family
* Crabbe Family
* Crouch Family
* Flint Family
* Gaunt Family
* Longbottom Family
* Lupin Family
* Potter Family
* Riddle Family
* Rosier Family
* Tonks Family
* Weasley Family
* Blishwick Family
* Bulstrode Family
* Burke Family
* Gamp Family
* Hitchens Family
* Macmillan Family
* Max Family
* Prewett Family
* Tripe family
* Wood Family
* Yaxley Family

## Affiliation

### House(s)

* Slytherin
* Gryffindor

### Loyalty

* Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
	+ Slytherin
		- Slytherin Quidditch Team
	+ Gryffindor
		- Marauders
	+ Slug Club
* British Ministry of Magic
* Death Eaters
* Order of the Phoenix

**The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black** was one of the largest, oldest, and wealthiest pure-blooded wizarding families in Great Britain, and one of the Sacred Thirty. Many wizarding families in Britain were distantly related to the House of Black. Like the Malfoy, Lestrange, and Lightwood families (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, neither of whom had children. The female line continued through members of the Malfoy, Potter, Mikaelson, Lightwood, Weasley families, as well as through the individuals Teddy Lupin and Aurora, the latter of which was Bellatrix's illegitimate daughter with Lord Voldemort.

## History

### Early History

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

The Blacks placed a great importance on blood purity, considering themselves akin to royalty in the wizarding world and disdaining Muggles, Squibs, blood traitors, and Muggle-borns. The family motto, which could be found on the family crest, was *Toujours Pur*, meaning "Always Pure" in French. Many members took this phrase very seriously, and were willing to even marry and have children with their own cousins to keep the bloodline pure.

### 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. Walburga and Orion Black, two members of the family who were alive during the rise of the Death Eaters, were known for being 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 Muggle-born, and Nymphadora Tonks, a distant member of the Black family. Both were murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black), Sirius's cousin and Tonks's 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 legal. 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's death, the male line of the Black family died out, but the female line continued through the descendants of his cousins Bellatrix Lestrange, Andromeda Tonks, Narcissa Malfoy, and Emilia Black, his second cousin, once removed, Arthur Weasley, as well as members of the Burke family, the Crouches, the Longbottoms, the Lightwoods, and the Potter family who were related to the Blacks.