Forum:Black Family in Slytherin

I have always found it problematic that articles on members of the Black family uniformly use the Slytherin infobox. The first piece of evidence used to support the conclusion that, with the exception of Sirius, the Blacks were all in Slytherin, is a comment made by Professor Slughorn in Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 4:


 * "The whole Black family had been in my house, but Sirius ended up in Gryffindor! Shame — he was a talented boy. I got his brother Regulus when he came along, but I'd have liked the set."

The second piece of evidence is a statement from Sirius in Ch. 33 of Deathly Hallows:


 * "My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.
 * "Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right."
 * Sirius grinned.
 * "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

The issue with both of these quotes is that it is unclear whether "whole family" literally refers to every Black from Phineas Nigellus down, excepting Sirius, or just to Sirius' immediate relatives. We can conclude from Slughorn's wish to have a complete "set" that Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa were in Slytherin (although Bellatrix and Narcissa's Houses were known previously from Goblet of Fire, Ch. 27 and Chamber of Secrets, Ch. 9, respectively). Sirius' comment about "break[ing] the tradition" would seem to indicate that his father Orion and mother Walburga, at least, were in Slytherin. Broadly intepreted, the comment includes both Sirius' grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and possibly all the Blacks in Orion and Walburga's lines (i.e., those descended from Sirius II and Cygnus I).

But I still think it's a stretch to assume that every Black in history, save Sirius, was in Slytherin. After all, Sirius wasn't disowned at 11, when he was sorted into Gryffindor, but at 16, when he ran away from home. No one burnt off the Black family tree was disowned for not being Sorted into Slytherin. I imagine a Black in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or even Gryffindor would've been fine, as long as they toed the party line on blood purity.

We know for certain that Phineas Nigellus, Regulus, Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa were Slytherins, and I think we can reasonably say that Orion and Walburga were as well. But I think we should err on the side of caution for all other members of the Black family, and and avoid using the Slytherin infobox. We can note the possibility that these individuals were in Slytherin in "Behind the scenes." &#x2605; S t a r s t u f f (Owl me!) 21:32, 13 April 2009 (UTC)