FAMILY TREE AND MOLLY WEASLEY

[terryljames76]

No: HPFGUIDX 65989

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Susan Smith" 
<atroposgryffin at y...> wrote:
> SPOILER
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> <terryljames at h...> wrote:
>
> Is it possible that Molly is a nickname for Morgana Lestrange? 
> (Bill wrote):
> Possibly.  We are told that Molly is a 'cousin by marriage' to 
> Sirius Black.  What could that mean?  Either Molly is a cousin of 
> Sirius's wife - but Sirius never married, so far as we know - or 
she 
> is the sister of one of Sirius's cousin's husbands - of whom we 
know 
> of three: Lucius Malfoy, Mr. Tonks and Rodolphus Lestrange.
> So yes, Molly's maiden name could be Lestrange.
> 
> <MY REPLY>:  Sirius family tree indicates his paternal cousins to 
> be:  Andromeda, Bellatrix (LeStrange family) and Narcissa (Malfoy 
> family) and his maternal cousin to be Molly Weasley (this would 
> be "by marriage"-right?).  So Molly is not a Lestrange (IMHO)  See 
> Lexicon HP site, Sirius family tree
> 
> Susan

A maternal cousin wouldn't be a cousin "by marriage"--just a cousin.  
Just because he's related to Bellatrix doesn't mean that he couldn't 
be related to Bellatrix's husband also, which if Molly is Rodolphus' 
sister would make him Molly's cousin by marriage. 

In the U.S., a "cousin by marriage" could also mean the spouse of a 
cousin.  So if Arthur is Sirius' cousin (just an example; don't have 
the tapestry in front of me), Molly would be his cousin by marriage.  
Then Sirius would not necessarily be related to any male Lestranges.  
However, there may be no reason why he couldn't be related to both 
Molly and Arthur. 

Sounds like the wizarding world is a lot like a small town in the 
U.S. Deep South!

Terry LJ