Legacy of a Pureblood Patriarch

On Wednesday, September 5, the following article appeared in The Daily Prophet:

P. C. BLACK DEAD AT 78

A scion of one of our oldest and most outrageously provocative pureblood families, Pollux Cygnus Black was in many ways a relic of a happily bygone era, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. The nephew of the infamously tempestuous Sirius Black, Minister for Magic from 1918-1924, 1926-1928, 1930-1934 and 1936-1939, P.C. Black followed proudly in his uncle's footsteps. He caused quite a stir when he left school to marry Irma Crabbe at thirteen (the bride was but twelve), which turned into a full-blown scandal when his daughter Walburga was born only six months later.

P.C. Black completed his education at home under private tutelage, and would eventually acquire a well-earned reputation as a scholar of wizarding jurisprudence. His magisterial work, The Role of the Seven Statutes of Hegesippus in the Formation of the Hermetical Code of 764, sold some three hundred copies, and is still regarded as the definitive work on the subject.

Upon the death of his father in 1943, P.C. Black took up his father's seat on the Wizengamot and entered into public service. Meanwhile, according to many reputable sources both in Britain and on the Continent, he began funnelling large sums from his newly-acquired fortune to the support of the Dark wizard Grindelwald, for which he was personally awarded the Order of Purity, First Class by Grindelwald himself.

After Grindelwald's defeat, Mr Black dedicated himself to defending the prerogatives of the old pureblood families on the home front. He authored a number of important statutes, including the 1959 Law on Inheritance and the 1966 Law for the Regulation of Domestic Labour, and was the Chairman of the Standing Committee for the Revision of the International Statute of Secrecy from 1957 to 1969.

In 1967 he served for six months as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Mr Black seems to have regarded this achievement as the high watermark of his career, though his colleagues recollect that he was a brutal tyrant in the position, leading to his ouster that same year by current Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore. In 1968 he famously instigated the Pureblood Riots in response to the Squib Rights Act, leading to the forced resignation of the Minister for Magic. From 1973 to 1975 he headed the British delegation to the International Confederation of Wizards.

In 1976 he retired from public life and moved to Transylvania in order to devote more time to his various recreational activities, citing the heavy burden of British restrictions on Muggle hunting. In 1986 he returned to England in order to spend more time with his great-grandson, Aries Black, whose mother had died earlier that year.

He achieved his final legal triumph only a couple of months ago, when he successfully coerced the Wizengamot into releasing his grandson, Sirius Black, from Azkaban prison on a technicality. Sirius Black is, of course, best known for betraying James, Lily and Harry Potter to the Dark wizard You-Know-Who, and for the murder of the late Peter Pettigrew and a dozen Muggles, proving once again that the apple does not roll far from the tree.

P.C. Black is survived by Irma Crabbe Black, his wife of sixty-five years, his sister Cassiopeia, his brother Marius, his grandson Sirius, his granddaughters Bellatrix Lestrange, Andromeda Tonks and Narcissa Malfoy, his great-grandsons Aries Black and Draco Malfoy and his great-granddaughter Nymphadora Tonks. He is predeceased by his sister Dorea Potter, his daughter Walburga Black, his sons Alphard and Cygnus and his grandson Regulus.

Due to his status as a former Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Mr Black's body will lie in state at the Ministry on Thursday, September 6 and Friday, September 7. Funeral services will be held in London at the parish church of St Wulfstan-within-the-Walls on Saturday, September 8 at 11 o'clock in the morning.

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The week Pollux died flew by in a dizzying blur for Harry. Monday started ordinarily enough. He and Draco went to their lessons with Aunt Cassie at Windermere Court before heading over to Grimmauld Place, where they found Sirius and Narcissa already waiting for them. Pollux was actually fairly lucid when they arrived, and conversed happily with his great-grandsons about Quidditch for half-an-hour before he slipped back into unconsciousness. The boys sat there with their great-grandmother for another forty-three minutes before Pollux died.

It was sudden. He was breathing fairly normally up until the last minute, then there was a strange gasping sound. Moments later, Pollux gave up the ghost. For one horrible minute it felt as though the world had ended, and then all hell broke loose. Irma was reduced to hysterics and had to be escorted by Narcissa to her boudoir in order to recover. Sirius took charge, summoned Kreacher and began issuing orders. The coroner arrived after an hour, and it seemed to Harry and Draco as though his arrival inaugurated an unending stream of visitors and paperwork. The boys wanted to help, but had no idea what was going on or what to do. Eventually Sirius kindly but firmly asked them to stay out of the way, and the boys obliged him.

That evening Clytemnestra took them to Windermere Court, where she kept both boys for the rest of the week, since Sirius was preoccupied with all the details of managing the funeral and Irma refused to allow Narcissa to leave her side. She baked them pies and read them books aloud, anything to keep the boys distracted. There were no lessons. Except for Clytemnestra, all the adults seemed constantly preoccupied with funeral preparations and legal details, letters and wills. No one expressly forbade the boys to play, but at the same time neither boy felt much like doing anything in particular. They spent most of the week reading, playing music together (Harry on the piano and Draco on the violin), practising spells or playing chess.

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