Lestrange Family

"*The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!*"
— Bellatrix Lestrange declaring her family's 'loyalty'

## Family heritage

### Notable family members

* Nigella Lestrange (née Rosier)
* Loki Lestrange
* Mercedes Lestrange
* Aquarius Lestrange
* Fiore Lestrange
* Rabastan Lestrange
* Rodolphus Lestrange
* Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black)
* Wendy Lestrange
* Celosia Lestrange

## Relationships

### Related families

* Black family
* Malfoy family
* Wildfire family
* Pikeman family
* Tonks family
* Goldfinch family
* Potter family (distant)

## Affiliation

### House(s)

Slytherin

**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 Black, Malfoy, Tonks, Selwyn, Lupin, and Rosier 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.

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

## History

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.

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.

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.

During the First and Second Wizarding Wars, the Lestranges betrayed Lord Voldemort and at least a few members of the family were Death Eater spies. 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*" to hide her true loyalty to her family. Bellatrix, along with her husband and brother-in-law also had a secret alliance with Marvolo Prince-Slytherin and his family, as she was named the godmother for Nathara.

## 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
### Blood relatives

 Celosia Lestrange | Daughter of Rodolphus and Belllatrix Lestrange and twin sister of Wendy Lestrange.

### Relatives by marriage

 Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black)

Nigella Lestrange †Loki Lestrange †Fiore Lestrange †Aquarius Lestrange †Rabastan LestrangeMercedes Lestrange †Rodolphus LestrangeBellatrix LestrangeWendy LestrangeCelosia Lestrange