House of Black

"Any time the family produced someone halfway decent they were disowned."

- Sirius Black on his family

The House of Black refers to one of the largest pure-blood wizarding families in Britain. Many wizarding families in Britain are distantly related to the House of Black. The Black Family Tree is displayed in the drawing room of the family home at 12 Grimmauld Place. It starts in the Middle Ages and shows the dominant line of the family up to the present day.

With Lord Voldemort favouring blood purity, a large number of Black family members have been connected with him and the Dark Arts.

Family Crest The family's motto, Toujours Pur can be found on the Black family crest. In French, this means Forever Pure.

Family Tree
Legend: Names in grey were removed from the tree by Walburga Black. The published tree does not contain descendants of side branches of the family. See also:
 * Another Version of Black Family Tree, which shows the Blacks are additionally related to the families Longbottom, Weasley, Flint, Rosier, Macmillan, Yaxley, Prewett, Crabbe, and Crouch.
 * HP Lexicon Tree.

"Blasted Off"
The original tree described from Grimmauld Place was subject to some magical interference. According to Sirius Black, his mother Walburga Black blasted names of blood traitors off the tapestry without hesitation. The Black family motto of 'Toujours Pur' (forever pure) was followed assiduously by family members, and when Sirius rejected his family, he was removed from the tapestry. Thus, family members that remain on the tapestry can be assumed to have married into other pure-blood families. Long practices of marrying the same families to retain a "pure-blood pedigree" - inbreeding - resulted in birth defects and subsequent low population of pure-blood wizards at the time of the story.

Etymology
Most Black family members are named after stars. For example, the star Sirius is in the constellation Canis Major (the dog). What's more, Sirius Black, an animagus, could morph at will into a black dog named Padfoot. Another example is Bellatrix, the third brightest star in the constellation Orion, which is also the name of Sirius's father and Bellatrix's subsequent uncle. Lycoris Black seems to be a play on the candy liquorice.

House of Black Blood Relatives

 * Alphard Black - Removed posthumously for leaving money to Sirius.
 * Arcturus Black I
 * Arcturus Black II
 * Belvina Black
 * Callidora Black
 * Cassiopeia Black
 * Cedrella Black - Removed for marrying a blood traitor, Septimus Weasley.
 * Charis Black
 * Cygnus Black I
 * Cygnus Black II - d. 1979
 * Dorea Black
 * Elladora Black
 * Isla Black - Removed for marrying muggle Bob Hitchens. The marriage happened before Walburga was born, so it is not clear who erased her name.
 * Lucretia Black
 * Lycoris Black
 * Marius Black - Removed because he was a squib.
 * Orion Black - d. 1979
 * Phineas Nigellus Black - Once headmaster of Hogwarts.
 * Phineas Black- Removed for supporting muggle rights.
 * Pollux Black
 * Regulus Black I
 * Regulus Black - d. 1979
 * Sirius Black (1845 - 1853) - elder brother of Phineas Nigellus, Elladora and Isla Black
 * Sirius Black (1877 - 1952) - married to Hester Gamp
 * Sirius Black (1959 - 1996) - Removed for being a blood traitor. Also known as Padfoot.
 * Walburga Black

Lestrange
 * Bellatrix Lestrange - née Black.

Lupin
 * Nymphadora Tonks Lupin
 * Teddy Lupin

Malfoy
 * Draco Malfoy
 * Narcissa Malfoy
 * Scorpius Malfoy

Potter
 * James Potter - Possibly via Charlus Potter.
 * Harry Potter
 * James Potter II
 * Albus Potter
 * Lily Potter

Tonks
 * Andromeda Tonks - née Black. Removed for marrying a muggle-born, Ted Tonks

Weasley
 * Arthur Weasley
 * Bill Weasley
 * Charlie Weasley
 * Fred Weasley
 * George Weasley
 * Ginny Weasley
 * Percy Weasley
 * Ronald Weasley
 * Septimus Weasley - Removed for being a blood traitor.

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Behind the scenes

 * A hand drawn copy of the most recent section of the tree was donated to a charity auction for Book Aid by J. K. Rowling, in February 2006. The drawing was purchased on behalf of Daniel Radcliffe for £30,000.
 * Another version of the tree appeared in the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film).