Black Family Tree *possible spoilers*

[spotsgal]

No: HPFGUIDX 147208

> Miles:
> But Sirius told us (in OotP) that all pureblood families are 
> interrelated.

Christina:

And Hagrid told us in PS/SS that, "There's not a single witch or
wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin."  Exaggeration.  I always
figured that most of the pureblood families were related at some
point, but *every single one*?  I'm a bit surprised.

> Miles:
> So Harry is a distant "cousin" of Ron, Draco and Harry are distant
> relatives, Sirius is kind of an "uncle" for Harry...
> I do not see the new details of the Black family tree as a surprise,
> and I doubt they will be important. James Potter was a descendant of
> an ancient family of the WW, so according to Sirius' statement he is
> somehow related to all/most non-muggleborn wizards. Where's the 
> news?


Christina:

Well, as unobservant as Harry usually is, I would still think that he
would have noticed the name "Potter" on Sirius's family tree, if not
"Crouch" and "Longbottom" as well.  Sirius points out several names,
but he doesn't point out Harry's grandparents?  And Harry completely
misses seeing the name?  Eh.  He certainly notices Draco's name, and
"Lestrange" as well.  The "Aunt Elladora" that Sirius points out is
directly above the Potters' names - Harry was essentially staring
right at it.  And for all of Harry's angst about how his family is
dead, I would also have thought that Sirius would have mentioned
something like, "See, Harry?  My blah-blah cousin was sisters with
your grandmother, so you do have a family, a real blood family - me."
 Also, the way Sirius talks about Mr. and Mrs. Potter doesn't seem
like the way somebody would talk about people they were related to.

If certain little parts of the tapestry scene in OP were different, I
wouldn't be surprised by JKR's notes on the tree.  But the the fact
that James and Sirius seem to be pretty closely related, combined with
the weirdness of the dates...that's news.  It doesn't match up with
what we thought we knew.  Maybe JKR meant all along for 40 to be a bit
old for having kids, but keeping in mind the lifespans of wizards, I
never expected that.

If Charlus and Dorea really are James's parents (which I am still not
convinced that they are - the dates are kind of wonky), then James and
Sirius could have been *very* closely related.  James and Sirius could
have been as close as first cousins.  I don't see anything *wrong*
with that, but I personally dislike it.  The power of the bond between
James and Sirius lies in the fact that they were as close as brothers
even though no blood (supposedly) connected them.  JKR has continually
demonstrated that the bonds of friendship can be just as strong (and
in many cases, stronger) than the bonds of blood.  If James and Sirius
were blood-related, it weakens the meaning their relationship has, for
me.  If the Potters were related to Sirius, it also lessens the
meaning (for me) in taking him in as a "second son."  Ditto for Harry
and the Weasleys.  The gift of family that the Weasleys give to Harry
is meaningful because they *aren't* his family (well, now they might
be, but you know what I mean).  Those are just my personal feelings,
of course.

One more thing that's really bothering me - if Dorea and Charlus were
James's parents, wouldn't they be blasted off the tapestry for taking
in blood-traitor!Sirius and treating him as a son?

I'm convinced that this is a page of JKR's early "notes," and not a
replica of the tapestry Harry saw at 12GP.  The entire HP story
underwent so many changes before it arrived where it is (didn't one
version have Hermione's dad finding the Potters' dead bodies?) - I
think it's possible that the Black family tree was tweaked as well. 
That would explain that, even if the Potters *are* related to the
Blacks, they might not be on the 12GP tapestry (blasted off perhaps,
or more distantly related than we see them here) and so Harry wouldn't
have seen them.  JKR might have also changed the dates of James's
parents' birth since writing out the auctioned tree to make them older
when they died, etc.


Christina