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

Lestrange is the surname of an ancient French pure-blood wizarding family, that also has branches in Great Britain and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. They are related to the Black, Malfoy, Tonks, 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 are a very old and wealthy family with a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank full of treasure. Like the House of Black many Lestranges practise the Dark Arts and believe in the notion of pure-blood supremacy, they disdain Muggles, Muggle-borns, blood traitors, and in some cases half-bloods. Similar to the Gaunts, they are willing to intermarry with cousins to maintain their purity.

The Lestranges' family crest is the raven, with their massive family vault being located in Paris, in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

History
The Lestrange family, being named in the Pure-Blood Directory as one of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight" Pure-blood families, dates back centuries in the British wizarding community.

The family has 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 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 supported Lord Voldemort and at least a few members of the family were Death Eaters. 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". Bellatrix also had a "secret" relationship with Lord Voldemort and gave birth to a child with him before the Battle of Hogwarts. Bellatrix and Voldemort’s daughter was later named Delphini. As Bellatrix and Voldemort both died in the Battle of Hogwarts, Delphini grew up as an orphan.

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

Etymology
The name 'Lestrange' echoes the French phrase l'étrange, literally "the strange one", referring to Bellatrix's mental disturbance. In Old French, estrange means "foreigner". The surname may allude to English journalist, who was known for opposing religious toleration and for being involved in plots against the government of William and Mary, similar to the Lestranges' intolerance about blood purity and involvement in the Death Eaters organisation.

Behind the scenes

 * Although it is pronounced le-STRANGE in the films, the Scholastic Official Website states that it is pronounced la-STRAWNGE.

Notes and references
Famille Lestrange Rodzina Lestrange Лестрейнджи pt-br:Família Lestrange