R.A.B. - Sirius's dear old mum?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 142308

Goddlefrood:
<snipped quote of Mrs. Black portrait description from OOTP>
> This set some alarm bells ringing when I recently reread OotP. Why 
> would the portrait be done in such a horrendous manner? Surely the 
> subject of the portrait would want to be seen in a better light
> than she actually is. Then it occurred to me that Dumbledore's
> portrait appeared on the wall of his former office shortly after
> his death and without too much of a stretch I concluded that
> perhaps Mrs. Black's portrait appeared on the wall in the hall
> shortly after her death. 

Jen: Now this is a very interesting theory. I remember wondering why 
we never heard a first name for Mrs. Black even though she was 
mentioned frequently, and also why we never heard *anything* about 
Mr. Black, except when Sirius talked about his parents together. I 
imagined Mr. Black to be a quiet, subservient type since he was 
married to the likes of Mrs. Black, and Sirius lumped them together 
because his Dad never openly crossed Mrs. Black's demands or wishes.

In fact, while I like your theory, I also like the idea of a timid 
Mr. Black who intiated one courageous plot in his life by stealing 
the horcrux and avenging his son's death.

Goddlefrood:
> The description of rolling eyes, yellowing skin and the matter of 
> torture being mentioned suggested to me a more advanced state of 
> poisoning than the point Dumbledore had reached atop the tower. It 
> sounds to me like the condition somebody would be in at death if 
> that death were caused by slow poisoning from the potion in the 
> cave. (A leap). It would also account for the apparent vast 
> difference in age between Sirius and his mother in that the potion 
> has the effect of making the person drinking it look older than
> they are over time.

Jen: I hadn't noticed this before, but the Lexicon also mentioned 
how old Mrs. Black appeared in the portrait and wondered if she had 
her children later in life or was aged 'unnaturally'.. I like your 
idea of a slow-acting poison. 

Although this brings up something curious. Dumbledore never exactly 
said that the green goo was a poison, instead saying it wouldn't 
kill the drinker right away. It's conceivable to me this was a 
typically vague Dumbledore statement because he wasn't certain of 
the mechanism, but the real poison in the cave was in the lake.  
Voldemort ensured the death of the drinker not via the green goo, 
but because that drink would cause unbearable thirstiness and lead 
to drinking the lake water, which *was* a poison (thus not being 
killed right away until thirst overcomes you). 

Whatever the case, Harry understood Dumbledore to mean the green 
drink wasn't poison: "No,..no, you're not dead, you said it wasn't 
poison, wake up, wake up--" (chap. 26, p. 536, Bloomsbury)

Goddlefrood:
<snipped how this was pieced together, see upthread>
> Piecing it together I propose that Regulus was asked to do a job 
> that was equaly irksome as Draco's in HBP but in Regulus's case he 
> decided to back out rather than proceed. 

Jen: The fact that Regulus died in 1980 makes me think he was 
drafted to assist with the plan to kill the Potters (or Longbottoms, 
if LV was still deciding who to target). Perhaps Regulus was given 
the job of torturing Sirius in hopes of luring the Potters out of 
hiding, but couldn't go through with it. That seems like the type of 
sadistic job Voldemort would require a new DE to perform. 

Goddlefrood:
> While he was a DE he came to know of LV's steps to secure him from
> death. Mrs. Black from this snippet of information garnered from
> her favourite boy, and possibly because she was at Hogwarts at the
> same time as LV, deduced that LV had made a Horcrux (note
> singular). She would have known of his roots and could have found
> out about the cave from inquiries with the orphanage. She then 
> took Regulus with her to the cave and retrieved the heavy locket
> come across by Harry and co. in Chapter Six of OotP.

Jen: First, I think it's impossible Mrs. Black took Regulus. If he 
died in 1980 that would mean whatever poison she ingested took 5 
years to finish her off. Even though Dumbledore didn't die 
immediately from the potion (or the water splashed on his face if 
that was the poison), he still didn't appear to be someone who was 
going to make it for 5 more years.

The suggestion Mrs. Black knew Voldemort made a horcrux, and then 
was able to locate the cave, seems pretty incredible. It took 
Dumbledore almost a year to find the cave and he was armed with the 
location of the orphange, the story about the cave from Mrs. Cole 
and the means to visit all possible sea-side villages set into the 
cliffs which were close enough for a day trip from the orphanage.

Also, Mrs. Black knowing Riddle from her school days is plausible, 
but locating the orphange where he returned in the summers and 
locating Muggle staff who knew him 40 years afterward seems unlikely.

Don't get me wrong here, I'd love to know how RAB knew about and 
located the horcrux when it took Dumbledore 5 years to figure out 
this information, research it, track down memories and finally 
locate the ring and the cave.

Goddlefrood: 
> Alternatively she took Kreacher with her some time after Regulus's 
> death and died a lingering death by poison. Regulus is a favoured 
> son as indicated by the Black family tapestry. Mrs. Black, despite 
> her alleged approval of the Dark Arts, would want some form of 
> vengeance for her only loyal boy.

Jen: This scenario seems much more possible with the timing of the 
story. The major question again is how they found the cave.

Goddlefrood:
<snipped plausible reasons to believe Mrs. Black was a good potion-
maker>
> Mrs. Black would have been well able, if my suppositions are
> correct to replace the potion in the bowl at the cave. She then
> deteriorated into the woman pictured in the portrait and died
> alone and forgotten. Sirius misjudges another character, as he has
> been prone to do.

Jen: Either she was able to make the potion or there was a refilling 
charm, as others have speculated. Though you have to wonder about 
that last one as Voldemort would not expect anyone to find his cave, 
let alone drink the potion!

As for Sirius misjudging Mrs. Black, there was enough evidence she 
was an unbalanced person long before any poison she might of drunk. 
Perpetuating the house-elf head wall-of-fame; acting intolerable to 
the point Sirius ran away at 16; burning people off the tapestry for 
Muggle marriages or just because they pissed her off. Sirius doesn't 
seem to think the portrait was an innacurate portrayl of his mom 
from when he last saw her, though since he *hadn't* seen her in 
years, he might have attributed her aged look and her yellowing skin 
to the natural aging of a bitter woman rather than poison.

> R.I.P. Romula Andromeda Black?
> Goddlefrood

Jen: Love it! Or how 'bout Rigel Alpha Black if it was Dad?

Jen