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"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher. She kept herself alive out of pure spite."
Sirius Black[src]

Walburga Black (19251985) was a pure-blood witch, the daughter of Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe, the sister of Alphard and Cygnus, the wife and second cousin of Orion Black and the mother of Sirius III and Regulus II.

Walburga lived in Grimmauld Place starting at an unknown point in her life. She died in 1985; but her portrait still remains at 12 Grimmauld Place. Her portrait makes blood-traitors, half-bloods, muggle borns and anyone beneath the pure-blood elite, quite uncomfortable in her home.

Biography

Early life

Harry Potter: "Were — were your parents Death Eaters as well?"
Sirius Black: "No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge… I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first."
Sirius Black to Harry Potter on his family's views[src]

Walburga was a member of the traditionalist pure-blood House of Black, who looked down on any except other "respectable" pure-blood wizards and believed in pure-blood supremacy. She was the daughter of Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe, and sister of Alphard and Cygnus. Because of the family tradition of marrying respectable pure-blood families, she married her second cousin Orion and they had two children, Sirius and Regulus. 

Family life and death

Blackfamily1970s

The Blacks in the 1970s. From left to right: Sirius, Orion, Regulus, Walburga, and Kreacher.

Her elder son Sirius Black was a severe disappointment to her because he did not agree with the ideology of blood purity and was sorted into Gryffindor house at Hogwarts, rather than the family's traditional house, Slytherin[2]. Growing up, he ticked off his parents, particularly his mother, by decorating his room with posters from the muggle world depicting bikini-clad women and motorcycles, and had stuck those to the walls with irreversible sticking charms that infuriated her. He was disinherited and removed from the Black Family tree when he left home at the age of sixteen to live with the Potter family. Walburga personally blasted her son from the tapestry. She maintained a habit of blasting people from the Black family tree which stood in the hall of the family home at 12 Grimmauld Place if they displeased her; she did so to her brother Alphard simply because he left gold to Sirius despite being disowned. According to Kreacher, Walburga was heartbroken by this abandonment, but nonetheless disowned both of them to cleanse the tapestry.

Her younger son Regulus, however, followed the family traditions and joined the Slytherin House and eventually became his mother's favourite, as well as heir to the wealth, position, and traditions of the Black family. Regulus became a Death Eater during the First Wizarding War; although neither Walburga nor Orion were followers of Lord Voldemort themselves, according to Sirius, they thought he "had the right idea"[3], until they saw that Voldemort was ruthless in his pursuit for power, at which point they got cold feet. Regulus was killed in 1979 after trying to destroy Voldemort's Horcrux, and died childless without an heir. As Regulus forbade Kreacher from telling this to anyone, Walburga thought Regulus died trying to leave the organisation. Walburga's husband Orion also died in the same year from an unknown cause. Walburga was likely/obviously devastated when her husband and son died.

In 1981, Walburga's disowned son, Sirius was framed for the murder of his friend, Peter Pettigrew and 12 Muggles and was thus sent to Azkaban. It's possible that if Walburga heard of this, she was pleased.

She died in 1985, leaving her house-elf Kreacher in her now abandoned house.

Post-mortem

Walburga Black: "Freaks."
Kreacher: "There, there, mistress."
Walburga: "Scum of the earth. Not like it was in the days of my fathers."
Kreacher: "Kreacher is here."
— Portrait of Walburga on the people[src]
Kreacher portrait OOTP 1

Kreacher polishing Walburga's portrait frame.

Walburga's portrait remained magically fixed to the wall in the hallway of her family home, using a Permanent Sticking Charm. The picture, which was covered in canvas when inactive, showed an insane old woman, prone to screaming insults at anyone who disturbed the portrait, particularly that of non-pure bloods. This happened several times when the Order of the Phoenix use Grimmauld Place as their headquarters after her death, and they tried unsuccessfully to remove the portrait for quite sometime. She survived the deaths of her family, but the destruction of it may account for her final madness. After their deaths, she was alone in the house except for the family house-elf, Kreacher, who seemed equally deranged due to his parroting her beliefs, until Harry Potter came to know and treat him better one year after inheriting him.[3]

Personality and traits

"Stains of dishonour, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth!"
Portrait of Walburga Black screaming at members of the Order of the Phoenix[src]

Walburga Black, like most members of her family, was obsessed with blood purity, and her portrait would often scream insults at blood traitors, half-bloods or muggle-born wizards. She had little affection for her son Sirius, as he was viewed as a blood traitor by the Black family but appeared to have a fairly good relationship with Sirius' younger brother, Regulus, and was proud of him when he joined the Death Eaters. Although she was not a Death Eater herself, she was convinced that Voldemort was doing the right thing by trying to eliminate Muggles and bringing wizards and witches out of hiding. Walburga was kind to her house elf, Kreacher, who shared her views on blood purity. Kreacher was very loyal to her. Based on her portrait's tendencies of screaming uncontrollably, she seems to have had a very violent temper, similar to her elder son when angered. Sirius justified this by claiming that his mother was a spiteful and heartless woman.

Magical abilities and skills

Relationships

Black family

Walburga and Orion had a happy marriage and relationship, especially since they shared blood purity ideology.

File:110px-Sirius Black Profile.jpg

Sirius Black, her elder son

Walburga was likely devastated when her husband died. Walburga's eldest son, Sirius was a huge disappointment to her and the rest of the family, since he disagreed with the Black family's beliefs in blood purity and was sorted into Gryffindor rather than Slytherin. When Sirius left home at the age of 16, she blasted his name off the tapestry. If

RegulusBlackCloseUp

Regulus Black, her younger son

she had heard about his being sent to Azkaban, she was likely pleased.

Walburga greatly admired and favoured her younger son, Regulus because he remained loyal to the Black family traditions and was sorted into Slytherin. Walburga was obviously devastated when her son died.

Etymology

  • Walburga is a variation of the name Walpurga, who was a saint for whom Walpurgis Night is named. Historically, Walpurgis Night was considered to be a time when the barrier between the living and the dead was weak and when witches held celebrations. Also, the Knights of Walpurgis (later known as the Death Eaters) were named after Walpurgis Night.
  • Walburga was also the given name of the mother of Josef Mengele, a Nazi doctor who conducted horrific experiments on prisoners in concentration camps. She was said to have been extremely cruel and a Nazi supporter, rather like Walburga Black's views on retaining blood purity.
  • 256 Walpurga is a large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on April 3, 1886 in Vienna and was named after Saint Walpurga. This loosely fits in with the Black family tradition of using celestial names for their children.

Behind the scenes

  • In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Walburga's portrait was not heard screaming, but she could be heard muttering behind her curtain, and Kreacher still talked about the "scum" in 12 Grimmauld Place, such as "Mudbloods" and "Blood traitors".
  • Walburga's father was only thirteen when Walburga was born, although it is possible this is a mathematical error on Rowling's part (Rowling has admitted she lacks skills with mathematics).
  • On the tapestry from the film, Walburga and Orion are depicted together, and their heads looking in different ways, although they are in marriage. This is likely because both Walburga and Orion were born into the House of Black, and their marriage may have been arranged.
  • Walburga was probably educated at Hogwarts as Horace Slughorn mentions that he has taught the whole Black Family.
  • Since Walburga and Lucretia Black were born in the same year, it is more likely that they were classmates at Hogwarts.
  • Walburga may have known Tom Riddle, as he was one year younger than her, so she could have encountered him at Hogwarts.

Appearances

Wiki
The Harry Potter Wiki has 12 images related to Walburga Black.

Notes and references

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 Black family tree
  2. 2.0 2.1 In Chapter 4 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Horace Slughorn states: "The whole Black family had been in my house, but Sirius ended up in Gryffindor!" This implies that all Blacks except Sirius were Sorted into Slytherin while Slughorn was Head of House. Walburga, born in 1925, presumably attended Hogwarts c. 1936 to 1943, and thus would have been a student of Slughorn, who was stated to have begun teaching at Hogwarts around the same time as Albus Dumbledore in Chapter 5 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in 1938 or earlier. Sirius Black also states "My whole family have been in Slytherin" and in Chapter 23 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, confirming that at least those Blacks closely related to Sirius were in Slytherin.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  4. 4.0 4.1 LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
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