The Knight of Walburga

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 169453

Goddlefrood, with a small disclaimer to begin, that being that 
any words used herein that are not words perhaps should be.

I still have some problems with reconciliation of Mrs. Walburga 
Black with her portrait. How did a woman from a pure blood 
radical background end up with such a foul depiction. Is it 
simply because her portrait was meant as no more than an 
amusement, or is there more to it?

Was Kreacher involved, perhaps? His description of his old 
mistress went a little awry when describing her to whatever 
or whoever painted the portrait in the hall at 12 Grimmauld 
Place, thus giving rise to her parodic depiction.

Or was she slowly poisoned or otherwise diseased and ended up 
looking as she does in the portrait shortly before her passing? 
The fullest description of her portrait is in Chapter Four of 
OotP:

"The moth-eaten velvet curtains Harry had passed earlier had 
flown apart, but there was no door behind them. For a split 
second, Harry thought he was looking through a window, a 
window behind which an old woman in a black cap was screaming 
and screaming as though she were being tortured - then he 
realised it was simply a life-size portrait, but the most 
realistic, and the most unpleasant, he had ever seen in his 
life.

The old woman was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the 
yellowing skin of her face stretched taut as she screamed; 
and all along the hall behind them, the other portraits 
awoke and began to yell, too, so that Harry actually 
screwed up his eyes at the noise and clapped his hands 
over his ears."

If the tapestry is to be believed, and despite some anomalies, 
in this instance I think it safely can be, Mrs. Black was 59 
or 60 years of age when she died having been born in 1925 and 
died in 1985 (the death date I actually gave her when writing 
a discarded R. A. B. theory before the tapestry as drawn by 
JKR came to light - #142202). 59 or 60 is not especially old, 
more particularly in the wizarding world, if JKR's interview 
statements are to be taken as accurate. How is it then that 
Mrs. Black is described as old by Harry, he has seen many 
far older wizards and witches before he sees Ma Black's 
portrait, after all?

Walburga is drooling, has rolling eyes and yellowing skin 
to boot. Not the ideal of a respectable, in wizarding world 
terms, middle aged woman. Also not a depiction she herself 
could have approved IMO. Back then to Kreacher, but also to 
how portraits come about. The only instance we have of a 
portrait being created is Dumbledore's after his death in 
HBP, if that is a typical example of how portraits come to  
be then we have been shown no portraitist who painted it. 
The impression I formed is that they come about after death, 
and also that not every dead wizard or witch merits one.

The Black household has many portraits, as the above quoted 
portion coupled with Phineas's portrait in the bedroom Harry 
uses attests. Suggestive that it is a family where a portrait 
would be merited, in whatever way that works in the wizarding 
world. If I'm correct then these portraits appear after death 
and depict the sitter (even though we do not know if there is 
an artist) at or around the moment of death.

I predict that we will find out a deal more about the more 
recent Blacks in Deathly Hallows. As a small aside I also 
contend that Hallows can refer to the vessels in which 
Horcruxes are stored, which could then tie in to the recent 
Relics, as translated back from the translation recently 
noted.

What we may find out about the Blacks I believe will be that 
they were active in their opposition to Lord Voldemort, while 
disapproving of certain other of his resisters. Mrs. Black 
had something to do with the obtaining of the heavy locket 
that would not open, in other words. She should have been a 
contemporary of Tom Riddle at school, albeit two possibly 
three school years above him. If Regulus is R. A. B., as now 
appears the case, even though I hold out hope he won't be, 
then Mama will be the person from whom he learned the secret 
referred to in the letter left with the fake locket in the 
cave.

Briefly on Pa Black, he was a few years younger than his 
wife and died in the same year as Regulus, perhaps he too 
was somewhat useful in the anti-Voldemort movement. He was 
also at school with Tom Riddle, a year or two behind.

Sirius's view that his parents turned away from Voldemort's 
stated aims need not be what really happened, maybe Orion and 
Walburga recognised him as their old school mate and had known 
him to be a half blood back then. This scenario would make 
them extreme pure blood proponents and counter many of the 
above thoughts, but the conclusion that they assisted in 
their way to rid the world of Tom would not necessarily be 
altered following that reasoning either.

Any thoughts on these matters out there?

Goddlefrood