no one would know
No one would know
'THE ORIGINS OF the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black date back to the nineteenth century — 1845, to be specific. With the birth of Sirius Black I in the third quarter of the year, a new generation of pureblood elitists was born, and a new family of soon-to-be revered witches and wizards was created. The tales of how the Blacks lived their lives are shrouded in secrecy, yet each story is inexplicably tangled with another. To illustrate, the first generation of Blacks was as much a mess as the latest one.
Sirius Black the First died without having married or produced an heir — but that's because he was a sickly child who didn't live to see the new year of 1854. Phineas Black the First, his younger brother, did well enough for both of them, having married Ursula Flint and fathered five children. Elladora Black lived as a spinster — she never quite got over the death of Sirius Black I and the disownment of the fourth and final member of the first generation: Isla Black, who was burnt off the family tapestry when news of her marriage to muggle Bob Hitchens reached the ears of the elders. With the death of Elladora Black in 1931, the second generation of Blacks came into focus.
As mentioned previously, there were five children born to Phineas Black I and Ursula Flint.
Sirius Black II was the oldest. He married Hesper Gamp, a respectable pureblood witch, with whom he had three children. The second oldest of the second generation was Phineas Black II — a man whose name was burnt off the family tapestry at the tender age of fifteen, when he stood in the way of passing laws to oppress muggles and refused to back down. The third was Cygnus Black I, who married Violetta Bulstrode and kept the family growing with four children. The fourth was Belvina Black, who married Herbert Burke. It is said that she mothered three children, but she cut herself off from the family after her marriage. Nevertheless, her place on the tapestry was unaffected, because she'd taken part a respectable marriage alliance. The final member of the second generation was Arcturus Black I, who married Lysandra Yaxley and fathered three children. With the death of Belvina Black in 1962, the third generation of Blacks came into focus.
As mentioned previously, there were a total of ten children born to the members of the second generations.
Perhaps it is a testament to the kindness with which Sirius Black II raised his children, because not a single one was disowned. Arcturus Black II, the oldest, married outside of the family's usual requirements — he married Melania McMillan, a pureblood Hufflepuff, and had two children of his own. It has been said that he was one of the only Blacks to marry the one he loved (apart from those who were disowned, of course). His siblings, Lycoris Black and Regulus Black I, did not marry — something that would have caused problems had their parents been someone other than Sirius Black II and Hesper Gamp.
Cygnus Black and Violetta Bulstrode had four children. Pollux Black was the oldest — he married Irma Crabbe and fathered three children. Cassiopeia Black was the second. She lived a quiet life, neither marrying nor giving birth. The third was Marius Black — a man disowned because he was revealed to be a squib when a Hogwarts letter did not arrive. The fourth was Dorea Black. She was almost burnt off the tapestry for marrying Charlus Potter, but Sirius Black II calmed her father down enough to make him see reason — she'd married a pureblood, after all. She had one son.
Arcturus Black I and Lysandra Yaxley had three children. Callidora Black, the oldest, met a similar fate to Dorea Black when she married Harfang Longbottom, but was saved by Sirius Black II, much like her cousin had been. She had two children. Cedrella Black, the second, was not so lucky, and no amount of reasoning stopped Arcturus Black I from burning her name off for marrying Septimus Weasley. Charis Black, the youngest, was the best of the three in the eyes of Arcturus I and Lysandra, for she married Caspar Crouch and bore three children.
The third generation of Blacks never quite died until recently — despite being born in 1915, Callidora Black didn't pass until the early 2000's came by. Nevertheless, she stayed away from her family as a result of the harsh treatment she'd been subjected to by her father, and the fourth generation of Blacks came into focus.
The fourth generation consisted of five Blacks.
Arcturus II and Melania McMillan had two children — Lucretia Black and Orion Black. Lucretia married Ignatius Prewett, and did not have any children. Orion married his second cousin, much to the appalment of much of the wizarding world, but it had to be done, for there was an alarming shortage of respectable pureblood women. Said second cousin was the first child of Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe — Walburga. Orion and Walburga had two children. The second was Alphard Black — disowned for 'giving money to his runaway nephew'. The final member of the fourth generation was Cygnus Black II, who married Druella Rosier and fathered three children.
With the passing of time, the fifth and final generation of Blacks came into focus.
Cygnus Black and Druella Rosier, despite being the younger couple, had children first. Bellatrix Black was the oldest, and married Rodolphus Lestrange. She wasn't the type to settle down, however, and therefore never stayed faithful enough to have children. Rodolphus, to his credit, never quite minded. Andromeda was their second child, and was disowned at seventeen for breaking off her engagement to Rabastan Lestrange and instead running off with a muggle-born named Ted Tonks. Narcissa was their youngest, and she was married to Lucius Malfoy, with whom she had one child — the only one of the fifth generation to do so.
Orion and Walburga Black did not marry until they were both in their early thirties — their marriage was a last resort, but once it became obvious that Cygnus and Druella wouldn't be birthing any males, the task became theirs. Orion and Walburga Black's oldest, Sirius Black III, was disowned at sixteen, partially for being the first Black to be sorted into a House that was not Slytherin, and partially for running away from home. Their youngest, Regulus Black II, was to assume the role of the heir but instead of marrying a pureblood woman and settling down to do that, he threw his life away in an attempt to right his wrongs.'
Regulus Black II sets down his quill and stares at the parchment in front of him. He'd sat down on Christmas Eve to pen his entire family history, something he'd been feeling the urge to do for a long time. He's about to die without anyone knowing he's dying for the right side. Everyone (just Sirius, Narcissa and Andromeda, really) would think that he was like the Arcturuses and Cygnuses. No one would think he was like Isla or Phineas II or Cedrella.
No one would know.
Swallowing the urge to cry, he looks outside the window and realises it's probably Christmas already. He's had enough of stalling. It's about time he did it, and he knows this. Getting out of his chair, he calls for Kreacher.
The cave is cold. He isn't wearing much — just a white button-down and dress pants. As a result, he's shivering by the time the boat crosses the lake and reaches the middle. The potion looks unassuming, it really does, so Regulus doesn't think twice about ignoring Kreacher's pleas for him to not do it and drinks scoop after scoop. Soon enough, he's lying half-dead on the floor. Kreacher's feeding him the potion with tears streaming down his face, and Regulus is inexplicably reminded of when Sirius used to force hot water down his throat when he stayed out in the cold playing Quidditch for too long.
He's seeing double by the time the potion is gone. Nevertheless, determination courses through his veins when he grasps the locket, places it around Kreacher's neck and replaces it with a fake. He's done it. And then he's crawling toward the lake, feeling the sense of foreboding coming off in waves, but he can't really help it, can he? He's hungrily bringing a handful of water up to his dry lips, but a slimy hand clamps onto his before he can. And he's being pulled. Regulus Black takes his last breath surrounded by no one he loves except for Kreacher, who's nothing if not loyal, and then, after vaguely recognising the crack of Apparation, he takes another.