The spectre dashed through the hallway, a dark blur in Hermione’s vision. As it fled, it extinguished the candles lighting the walls, plunging her into darkness.
The house had remained unoccupied for years, after the last of the Blacks had succumbed to the supposed family curse.
The ministry had decided to renovate the manor - it couldn’t be destroyed - and sent Hermione to investigate, to see how much work was needed to give new life to Black Manor.
The department thrummed with rumours, of ghosts and curses, dark magic and death. Hermione didn’t believe a word of it.
How naive she’d been.
The house was beautiful, despite the eeriness, and with a little remodelling, would be the perfect new training academy headquarters.
Portraits adorned the walls, of beautiful women and handsome men, all looking down at her over the bridge of their nose. An odd design choice, but the artist had captured them beautifully. It was as if they were possessed, following Hermione around the room.
All but one.
Bellatrix Black - the last to survive. She’d had no children, refused to pass on the curse. Her portrait was complete, just as beautiful as the others, but less alive.
A chill washed over Hermione each time she found herself staring at the portrait. A cold, heavy weight on her shoulder, as if she wasn’t alone.
Hermione didn’t believe the rumours, but somehow, she felt herself becoming entranced by the house. She never wanted to leave, never wanted to part with the beauty of the place,
She found herself drawn to the portrait of Bellatrix. She had been so beautiful, even in the sea of elegant men and women that filled the walls. Something about her was special, pulling Hermione in.
While I make some more alignment charts, voilà, here's my rendition of the Jon Matteson family tree!
Gary and Paul are brothers, and they have an older sister who my sister and I definitely didn't name after Jon himself. There's quite a big age difference between the siblings, with twelve years between Joan and Paul (Gary's somewhere undecided between there).
I've seen many people headcanon Gary as Richie and Trevor's dad, but I just canNOT see that man raising children. Plus, the surnames don't match up. Speaking of surnames, though, Gary changed his on his own accord, purely for his lawyer brand. "Gary Matthews" just didn't have the right ring to it.
Joan has three sons: Trevor, Richard ("Richie") and Daniel. Trevor and Richie are twins (Trevor is eleven minutes older, I don't make the rules). Paul used to be saddled with babysitting the trio, and as a result, he's very close with his nephews, even now that they don't need babysitting anymore. He's especially close with Richie.
BONUS: Trevor is the reason Paul had to see Godspell at the rec center. Trev was in it, and he also thought it was awful (in a fun way).
Since Black Friday tells us two of Linda's sons aren't Gerald's, and Lauren has confirmed that Linda and Gary have had at least one affair, we put two and two together and now Gary's the biological father of Trent and Seaton. (Seaton was picked at random, and Trent being Gary's child was just obvious). Whether or not Gary knows this is up to interpretation. It's possible Linda's the only one who knows.
Wallace McNeil and Boy Jerry are brothers and the cousins of Joan, Gary and Paul. Wallace got the f*ck out of Hatchetfield the moment he had the possibility to. Girl Jeri converted Boy Jerry into such deep Christianity, but then he took it further than she ever had.
Due to Lauren confirming Linda and Gary's affair/s (whether it was a joke or not, I take that as canon now), Roman Murray and the Monroe family aren't a part of this family in any official, legitimate way (*cough* looking at you, Gary and his illegitimate children *cough*).
For reasons I hope are obvious, Wiggly isn't included either.
Now just imagine the family gatherings.
Summer barbecues, where Trevor takes every opportunity to reference the Barbecue Monologues.
Christmas celebrations that Boy Jerry is specifically asked not to show up to. He shows up anyway — even the time they didn't tell him at whose house they were celebrating.
Birthday parties where no one has any idea what to buy the birthday person. What does Paul get Trevor the theater kid? What would Boy Jerry get Richie the anime nerd? What does anyone get Paul the Normal Man?
12 year old sirius would scribble down “sirius potter” on his parchment instead of taking notes during transfiguration and mcgonagall snatched the thing from his desk exactly once. the one time it happens sirius looks so mortified she smiles and decides to incinerate the parchment on the spot before reprimanding him because she may have a soft spot for him but favouritism is out of question. things get a lot more interesting when years later she’s teaching slytherins and snatches a piece of parchment with “regulus potter” written on it.
Why do people give Harry more Black family storylines than Draco?!
It's hard being a Draco fan...well a canon Draco fan. If you want great fics that explore his character, you have to deal with a bunch of Drarry and sometimes Dramione. That's not even factoring in how OOC Draco is in so many of these fics. That's why I partly gave up on Drarry fics. It's almost impossible to find a good Draco fic that does not involve him shagging someone in the golden trio.
But this post was inspired by posts by Snaters and/or Dumbles antis who claim Harry should have named his son after Regulus. Here are my grievances:
There needs to be more exploration of DRACO as the Black heir
I don't know how Siri was able to keep his fortune when he was supposedly disowned but it's very frustrating seeing fics where Harry is the Black heir and becomes Lord Black. Just stop and think for a moment. Draco is literally the only pureblood Black offspring left! The Black line is basically extinct! And if you factor in Drastoria, Draco was willing to let his maternal AND paternal lines fade away! The only time Draco's Black heritage seems to be brought up is in fics where abusive Lucius disowns him. It's just sad. Harry is NOT a Black! As much as I love Godfather!Sirius, part of me is disgusted that Harry inherited Grimmauld's place. That house should belong to Narcissa and Draco and I don't care if I am the only one on this hill.
More Regulus & Draco, please!
People seem to prefer to write a relationship with Reggie and Harry. Which makes a bit of sense...but wouldn't it be more interesting to explore Draco & Reggie?? Draco and Regulus are family and they share quite a few similarities. I have seen some fics where Narcissa is so protective of DE!Draco because she sees him as a second chance after she failed Reggie. Or I have seen some fics where Regulus lives but so many of those center on Harry and Draco is lucky to be an afterthought. Why is Draco so divorced from his Black family? There's hardly any exploration with Draco & Sirius either. I don't even recall Draco expressing any feelings about Sirius as a family member in book 3 when the dude is his cousin! Draco, Harry's rival, is related to his beloved godfather and NOTHING is done with this! Like WTH!!!
The positive side!
At least there are incredible fics out there that explore Draco's relationship with Andy and the Tonks family. I love Dora being Draco's surrogate big sister 🤩. So cute!!! I also like the Tonks family being involved in Draco's redemption and Ted being so fatherly towards Draco. Chef's kiss. Please, let Draco interact with his family 😞! Why is JKR so against Draco having a family?! Even his damn wife dies in CC!!! He only has one kid! Please, give this man an extended family!
Anybody talks about Yuji being amazing in the last couple of chapters.
"Yuta is still stronger."
CAN HE NOT HAVE THE SPOTLIGHT?! LIKE, DAMN! LIKE WHO ACTUALLY GIVES A FUCK?! LIKE YUJI FANS REALLY CAN'T SAY "Yuji's doing so great" WITHOUT SOMEONE BRINGING YUTA UP?!
Did the Color Wheel Fanart meme with some of my favs :)
In counterclockwise order:
Coconuts from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Spinel from Steven Universe
Hamegg from Little Astro Boy
Tom Tucker from Family Guy
Inspector Sun from Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow
José Carioca from Saludos Amigos
Tima from Metropolis 2001
Glass Joe from Punch-out!! Wii
The Found Family and their Dads™️ smashing cake at each other and doing illegal magic is exactly what I want to see on my favorite mystery hijinks show
friendly reminder that Sirius and Regulus never actually got to reconcile and Sirius died thinking that Regulus was just as cold and evil and cowardly as their parents