It's All Relative (was:By the way....

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "Talisman" <talisman22457 at y...> wrote:

snips at random for that existential effect
> 
> However, this business of relations is very interesting, indeed.
> 
> Harry is said to have no living relatives, save the Dursleys.  But 
> clearly, if James, Sirius, Narcissa, and even Darco, are all related 
> to Phineus, Harry does have relatives. Possibly loads of them.  
> Flints, Bulstrodes, Longbottoms, Burkes, and who knows what other 
> families yet to be revealed. 
> 
> I think many of us may have suspected as much, after learning that 
> most pureblood families are related, in Book 5, but here it is in 
> spades.
> 
> Tsk, tsk, Dumbledore. 
> 
> Well, of course, old Dumbles likes to make the fuss about Lily's 
> blood.  But, still *you have no other living relatives* seems to 
> have been rather an ::coughliecough:: overstatement.
> 
> Perhaps he is making a distinction between sharing common blood, per 
> se, and sharing it to some personal preference in degree of 
> separation.  Apparently, inclusion on the same family tree (or at 
> least blood-based eligibility to be included) under the same great-
> great grandparent, is not the definition old DD likes to use.
> 
> By-the-by, Phineus is called Sirius's great-great grandfather, and 
> according to the tree (assuming Charlus is James's father, which I 
> think he is) he would be Harry's great-great grandfather, as well--
> even though Sirius was James's age.  
> 
> Of course that's quite possible.  James is said to be a late-life 
> treasure, so Dorea and Charlus were just getting around to popping 
> out the 4th generation when the Blacks had managed that long enough 
> ago so that the 4th generation had already produced a 5th. 
> 
> All the same, Harry and Sirius: the same degree of relation to old 
> Phineus. Something to think about.   
> 
> 
> The exact nature of either relation to the founders is not clear, 
> though DD calls Riddle Slytherin's *last heir.*
> 
> Just why he is called an heir is not clear.  
> 
> Does DD call him *heir* just because he had *some* degree of Slyth 
> blood? 
> 


Difficult to imagine that no-one else shares Slyth blood if the pool of 
'acceptable' pureblood breeders as small as yesterday's chart indicates.
Well, there is one way, but incest is such a nasty word. So judgemental.
It probably boils down to degrees of consanguinity, how many quarterings
on your escutcheon, the fewer the better. Even so, after 1,000  years that
would indicate frequent and deliberate breeding back to the same few 
bloodlines - not a healthy activity, just look at the Bourbons. 

It's probably significant that the Gaunts are presented as clinging to the
unjustified superiority of Slyth blood, even though they've sunk to such
a low level of genetic, social and financial degeneracy. Who the hell
would want to marry into that lot anyway? Not even other 'purebloods'
would relish the idea of inviting those in-laws round for Sunday afternoon
tea and cakes. 
Talleyrand's observation of the Bourbons "they've learned nothing and 
forgotten nothing" could equally apply to the Gaunts. 

But look what happens when there's an out-crossing - hybrid vigour 
appears in the form of Tom. Just as nasty as the rest of 'em, but with the
drive to do something about his perceived situation instead of returning
to squat in squalor in a one-hut rural slum with what remains of the
glorious Slyth bloodline that he's so  proud of.

Still, unless there's a covert wizarding version of "The List of Adrian 
Messenger" somewhere in the background it's difficult to believe that 
out there somewhere there aren't more Sally descendents.

Mind you, as I've observed previously, to be an 'heir' does not necessarily 
require that a blood relationship exists - although in this case we're told 
it's definitely there. Anyone benefiting from a legacy or will is an heir, 
related or not.
Tom was the first into the Chamber and as such he may automatically have
become 'heir' to whatever legacy Sally left there. Anyone with a smidgeon
of Slyth blood and a touch of Parseltongue could be a beneficiary. Even the 
blood bit may not be absolutely essential - Harry gets in and he has 
negligible Slyth blood so far as we know. Yep, he has a Voldy bit in  his
mind, but that doesn't involve blood does it?  And Ginny - "she opened
the Chamber of Secrets" according to Tom - possessed, certainly; Sally
blood? I don't think so. Come to that, how much of this actual precious
blood is there in the Diary? Nope; I suspect that some licence is needed
when using the 'blood' word in this context.

As for DD, what can one say?
"Economical with the actualitee", probably sums it up politely.

Kneasy