[the_old_crowd] Re: The Noble House of Black

[Monika Huebner]

On Thu, 03 Jul 2003 14:59:11 -0000, "psychic_serpent"
<psychic_serpent at ...> wrote:

>This wouldn't necessarily lead to Sirius being exonerated 
>posthumously; you never know when Fudge will do something like 
>decide that it was Bellatrix who was innocent and that's why she 
>killed her cousin, although anyone who knew her would probably never 
>make the mistake of thinking she was on the good side.  

Even Fudge shouldn't make that mistake. Was he present at her trial? I
can't remember if Harry saw him there and my copy of GoF is on loan.
But the Lestranges made no secret of their being supporters of
Voldemort at that point, so Fudge must know that she really *was* a
Death Eater. And you're right, it would be very difficult for him to
explain why they were trying to kill each other if Sirius was a DE,
too. And now he has not only Dumbledore's word, but that of a couple
of other people as well, he can't keep pretending they're all lunatics
and/or victims of Confundus charms.

>I think Fudge, although acknowledging Voldemort's return now, will 
>in fact sweep under the rug everything that happened at the 
>Ministry.  It would be far too embarrassing for it to come out how 
>very poor the security is, that there was the magical equivalent of 
>a firefight going on in the Department of Mysteries, of all places,  
>AND that it included students who flew from Hogwarts to London on 
>Thestrals!  

Right. So no posthumous rehabilitation for Sirius. :( He could at
least give him that.

>Since Bellatrix is supposed to be in prison, she certainly wouldn't 
>qualify to claim 12 Grimmauld Place, which would leave Narcissa, and 
>you have to wonder why she wouldn't have done this already, since 
>Sirius was serving a life term in Azkaban before his escape.  Maybe 
>she will try to claim it now, you never know. 

Even if she does, she should have problems to find it. Dumbledore
contributed to make it unplottable. And did Tonks say that her mother
was dead? I can't remember. I guess I'll have to read it again when I
get it back...

Naama said:

>I should think that Sirius probably named either James or Harry (if 
>his last will was made after James died) as his residuary beneficiary 
>(is that the term?). I should say, Harry most probably now owns the 
>house. 

If Sirius' last will was made after James died, it must have been made
during the time frame of OoP. He didn't have time after James' death,
since he was immediately sent to Azkaban. But if he really got around
to making a last will in OoP, I'd guess he would rather have left the
house to the order than "forcing" Harry to live there. He hated it too
much IMHO. Personally, I wouldn't want to live with that screaming
portrait, either.

Monika