[HPforGrownups] OOP: The Inheritance?

[Liz Sager]

No: HPFGUIDX 66054

Finchen wrote:
>Is he really the "official"role of the father and  guardian for Harry? I
>mean that by official law? Serious still was sentenced to lifelong Askaban
>when he died and Wormtail hasn't been cought yet, has he? So "officially" 
>he
>still is guilty killing the Potters and 12(?) muggles and Wormtail. Of
>course DD will tread Harry like Sirious son and I think Harry will own all
>of Sirious posessions. But this will still be a secret untill Wormtail's
>been found and Sirious' been cleared of this.

Until Pettigrew is found alive and in Voldemort's service and can talk, 
Sirius is still guilty. In Azkaban, he would not have been able to claim 
guardianship of Harry; nor, I believe, would wizards and witches protecting 
Harry stand for it. As a fugitive, Sirius would not have been able to 
officially 'claim' Harry as a son, either. I just can't think of a way that 
it could happen.

As for inheriting the property, I've been looking to see if perhaps Mr. 
Black would have died before Regelus, so the property would have passed to 
him, then to Mrs. Black, then to Sirius after she died. Just a thought, but 
since I can't find anything to prove that would be the case, it will have to 
remain just a thought. Although maybe Mrs. Black left the property to Sirius 
as a rather sort of cruel joke -- "You're in Azkaban, you're never getting 
out, and you're never going to be able to DO anything with this. HA!" Lovely 
woman. ::cough::

Since it seems as though Sirius was unable to assume the official 
guardianship of Harry, and if no will was left, it would pass to his nearest 
male relative on his father's side -- at least that's what I've been able to 
glean. Anyway, Sirius has three female cousins -- Bellatrix, Andromeda, and 
Narcissa, who are all still alive. If we want to assume that the sisters are 
oldest to youngest, left to right (or even right to left, but I'm leaning 
towards left to right), this would also be their age order:

'"You and Tonks are related?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Oh yeah, her mother, Andromeda was my favorite cousin. [...] No, 
Andromeda's not on here either, look --"
He pointed to another small round burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and 
Narcissa.' (Page 113 US ed)

'...[Harry] was too busy staring at the names to the right of Andromeda's 
burn mark. A double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black with 
Lucius Malfoy, and a single vertical line from their names led to the name 
Draco.' (Page 113 US ed)

'But Harry was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: 
Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodolphus 
Lestrange.' (Page 114 US ed)

So it would end up looking something like this:

Rodolphus  = Bellatrix    [Andromeda's burn     Narcissa = Lucius
  Lestrange     Black            mark here.]            Black      Malfoy
                                                                            
|
                                                                    Draco 
Malfoy

To go to the first male with Black blood, it would go to none other than the 
amazing, bouncing ferret himself, as none of the husbands would be able to 
inherit because of blood. At least, that's what I've been able to figure 
out. Hopefully, Sirius left a will of some sort. I'm glad I find geneaology 
fascinating, otherwise this would be the most boring thing in the world to 
me. :D

Another thing, while we're talking about blasted relatives -- What about 
this dear Uncle Alphard that left Sirius the money enabling him to get a 
flat of his own at seventeen? Was he blasted off the Black family tree 
because he left money to Sirius, for some other reason, or a combination of 
both?

Liz
Who's ready to have swiss cheese made.

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