Three Black sisters on a tree

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 106732

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" <nkafkafi at y...> 
wrote:
> In OotP, Ch. 6, we get a peek at the Black family tree. Most of it 
is pretty vague, but interestingly JKR makes sure to relay the exact 
> position of the three Black sisters: Andromeda, Bellatrix and 
> Narcissa. 

> this small portion 
> of the tree looks like:
> 
> 
> R===B   A   N===L
>               !
>               D
> 
> 
> Legend:
> 
> R) Rudolphus Lestrange
> 
> B) Bellatrix Black 
> 
> A) Andromeda Black (burned)
> 
> N) Narcissa Black
> 
> L) Lucius Malfoy
> 
> D) Draco
> 
> Note: if you got Draco as Andromeda'a son (oh, horror!) it's 
because you use an uneven font like "Times New Roman". You need to 
convert it to an even font like "Courier New" and then Draco will 
properly appear as Narcissa and Lucius's son.
>

Valky:
LOL I actually got Draco as Rudolphus' Son! When reading the message 
board. 

Neri continues: 
> This order strongly suggests to me that Bella is the older sister 
> Andromeda is the median and Narcissa is the youngest 
> Now, I don't know anything about traditional genealogy, but 
> family trees I've seen on the web almost always follow the 
> convention of listing siblings from left to right according to 
> their age. 
> So if wizards follow muggle conventions in this, and if JKR's 
editors didn't mess up the right order (again!), we can conclude 
that Bella is the oldest, then Andromeda, then Narcissa. 
>
> Now I properly credit Carol for first posting that Bellatrix is 3 
yrs older than Sirius (and thus also the other Marauders, Lily and 
> Snape). This follows from Sirius telling Harry: "I haven't seen 
her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming 
into Azkaban." Since Harry had just turned 15 at this point, it 
seems Sirius was in his forth (or possibly fifth) year at Hogwarts 
when Bella was in her seventh year.
> 
> This age creates a problem in my reconstruction <snip>


Valky:
All credit to you for noting the inconsistencies that appear Neri, 
but respectfully, perhaps what you are seeing is not a Flint but a 
clue to the order of things in the wizard world.
If we put the girls order on the tree as denoting youngest to eldest 
from L-R instead Bella becomes the youngest, and Narcissa could well 
be in Lucius Malfoy's same year at Hogwarts.
(although I definitely like very much the Snape and Narcissa may 
have been friends connection underlining Snape and Lucius 
familiarity this really does work in favour of canon and could 
easily be true)
I did try looking at Sirius and Regulus tree canon to see if I could 
back myself on the reverse order scenario but unfortunately there is 
nothing on appearing order there at all.

Again respectfully, because you have obviously looked harder than I 
on this particular matter, maybe it is so that JKR refers to the 
Lexicon timelines as an additional note, not *only* because they are 
accurate but also because they represent a tangible summary of the 
canon that can more easily with the proper tools be flipped to show 
the reverse order. More easily, that is, than a few scattered lines 
in large pile of notebooks.

Neri concludes:
> My last question for today is: Is Andromeda still around? 
It thus seems that we might have some reunion of the three Black 
sisters before the end.
> 
> 

Valky:
Yes I think she is definitely around and that we will see them 
altogether before too long.
Perhaps we will meet Andromeda at a memorial for Sirius in book six.