Chapter - 32 : Bloodlines and Names

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Sirius nodded. "Yeah. You carrying my name strengthens your connection to me and to the House of Black, making it more likely that your magic will have the same affinity as other Blacks. That's one of the reasons why purebloods tend to also take their father's name as their own. Harry James Potter, that's obvious, and Orion Alphard Black after my middle name and my father's first name. Even traditions like naming children after star constellations or only using names starting with a certain letter, helps link generations together."

"That sounds… rather unbelievable," Harry said slowly.

"That's magic for you, Orion," Sirius said, making Harry smile at the name. "It's bizarre and often unpredictable. It takes a very special type of mind to delve deeply into advanced magic. It's not a coincidence that the greatest witches and wizards tend to also be the craziest."

"Like Dumbledore."

"Right. And Voldemort wasn't the sanest either."

"Hah, true enough!" Harry snorted, thinking of all his encounters with the Dark Lord. Then his mind wandered back to what Sirius had told him. "So… what magical affinity does the Black bloodline have?"

"Well, we Blacks are brilliant at everything, of course," Sirius said with an arrogant expression, but then he grinned and shook his head. "Actually, our magic tends to be good at offensive spells. Basic stuff like casting a stunning spell can be done by almost anyone. More advanced things though, such as permanently cursing an object or attacking several targets at once, is much harder. Only very powerful wizards or ones with a specific affinity would be capable of it.?

Harry suddenly found himself warming up to the idea of magical inheritances. "I remember watching Dumbledore and Voldemort fight - they cast countless curses and caused a huge amount of damage. It was bloody amazing magic."

He wondered if he would be capable of similar magic now that he was a Black. When he asked Sirius, the answer he got was that it depended on whether he had gained the Black affinity or not. Black blood and the Black name might be enough to overpower Lily's magical influence but it would be difficult to tell until Harry's magic had matured a bit.

Harry again grew wary of Sirius' beliefs, thinking that it sounded as if the man believed purebloods were better than muggleborns.

"No I don't," Sirius insisted when Harry raised the question. "Muggleborns are just different, as I've said before. I mean, having a specific talent is great if you're actually interested in that branch of magic, since you can pick up spells faster and cast them more powerfully. The problem with that is if, for instance, you have a magical affinity in Charms, then you'll probably never be an expert in Transfiguration no matter how hard you try. Your magic simply wouldn't be formed for that branch of magic. Muggleborns don't have that problem - they're potentially equally good at everything. It depends what you think is more useful - being brilliant at one thing, or good at lots of things."

Harry wasn't sure he agreed with what Sirius was saying. "Hermione – my friend who's a muggleborn – was brilliant at everything."

"Was she really?"

"Yes! She saved my life countless of times with her knowledge and magic."

Sirius gave a shrug. "Well, she sounds like a powerful witch then. If you've got enough power, you can cast spells others would find beyond them no matter what their heritage. A person's magical affinity doesn't determine their magical strength."

"So you agree that a muggelborn can be just as powerful as a pureblood?" Harry checked, wanting to be clear on that point.

"Oh, definitely," Sirius said firmly. "The only thing you can say for certain about the ability of muggleborns is that they never have magical talents. A muggleborn will never speak Parseltongue, or be a Seer, or a Metamorphmagus."

"Really?" Harry tried to think of a counter-example but came up blank.

"I think it comes down to the difference between magic with and without a wand," Sirius said. "The first can be cast by just about anyone, so long as they have enough magic to power the spell. That's why subjects such as Charms, Defence and all that are the main ones taught at Hogwarts – they can be learnt by all students. With wandless magic it's different – it needs to be shaped and channelled within your very blood. Take the Animagus transformation – I don't need a wand or incantation to change into Padfoot..."

The conversation gradually trailed off, with both wizards content to finish their breakfast and get on with their day. Harry couldn't stop thinking about everything Sirius had said, however; in fact he was so distracted that he narrowly escaped falling out a window after once again tripping over his own feet. He'd more or less accepted that Sirius was right about magical affinities – the older man had grown up in the wizarding world, after all, and had never before shown any sign of spouting pureblood ideology. Harry trusted that he was telling the truth and, as hard as it was to believe at first, the more he thought about it the more the rules of inheritance made sense.

Harry would never describe himself as great at magic. His grasp on theory was sketchy and it had often taken him a while to get the hang of new spells at school. He learnt best under pressure; he'd had a huge incentive to cast a Patronus and master the summoning charm, and he'd always found it easy to cast powerful spells in the middle of a fight. Defence was his best subject, but Harry felt that was due to his interest in it, not because of any inborn magical skill – which fit with Sirius' description of unaffiliated magic.

The only magical talent he'd had was Parseltongue, which had disappeared along with the Horcrux in his head. But he still remembered how easy and instinctive it had been to speak to snakes, and wondered if perhaps he'd experience something similar with offensive magic once the blood adoption was complete.

Although he did wonder why he'd never heard of the rules of magical inheritance before. He could only think that either this new world was different from his old one or it just hadn't been talked about much – which, considering that he'd been raised in the muggle world and had never mixed much with pureblood families, was quite likely. It was true that he'd spent a lot of time with the Weasleys, but they were far from typical purebloods. They celebrated Christmas rather than Yule, and Mr Weasley - while a generous and kind-hearted man - wasn't exactly normal, what with his collection of muggle batteries and his flying Ford Anglia.

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