House of Black

## The Noble and Most AncientHouse of Black

> A family high in status and wealth, they were as wealthy as they were prejudiced against Muggles and Muggle-borns. They believed that blood traitors were just as bad as Muggles and Muggle-borns, if not worse than them for turning against their own.
>
> Reign Black on the House of Black's prejudice

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 Twenty-Eight. Many wizarding families in Britain were distantly related to the House of Black. Like the Malfoy and Lestrange families, the House of Black was synonymous with elevated status and wealth.

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.

By the late twentieth century, the male line of the House of Black continued through Sirius and Regulus Black's children. The female line continued through the Malfoy family, Teddy Lupin, and through Delphini Riddle who was Bellatrix's illegitimate daughter.

## Family history

### Early history

> …my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal...
>
> Sirius Black to Harry Potter about his family's values

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

The Blacks place 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 can be found on the family crest, is *Toujours Pur*, which means "Always Pure" in French. Many members took this phrase very seriously.

### Recent history

Because of their views, a large number of the Black family members practised 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. The family went to huge lengths to keep their bloodline alive and "pure", even going as far as marrying their own cousins (for example, Walburga and Orion Black were cousins).

A few members of the family, however, disagreed with the traditional views of their family; Sirius and Regulus Black, for example, joined the Order of the Phoenix, as did Andromeda Tonks, who married a Muggle-born and Nymphadora Tonks, Andromeda's daughter.

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 Black 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.

The male line of the Black family continues in the descendants of Sirius Black. The female line continues through the descendants of his brother Regulus Black, and the descendants of his cousins Bellatrix Lestrange, Andromeda Tonks, Narcissa Malfoy, Arthur Weasley, the Burke family, the Longbottoms and the Potter family.

### Reformed House of Black

After the First Wizarding War, members of the Black family, who were not dead or imprisoned or had not yet lost the family's beliefs, dropped every family belief. Instead, they swore to support both Muggles and Muggle-borns and to defeat Lord Voldemort at all costs.

Narcissa Malfoy reunited with her sister Andromeda, and after much persuasion, Sirius Black reunited with his brother Regulus.

All, but Narcissa, upheld their promise. Because of her marriage, she herself kept her promise, however, she raised her son with the same beliefs she herself had lost. Although, she divorced Lucius Malfoy soon after Voldemort's defeat and her son changed his ideals, raising his son with different ideals to the ones he'd been raised with.

It was the reformed Black family that destroyed Lord Voldemort's horcruxes and eventually defeated him.