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Cygnus Black III (19381992) was a pure-blood wizard and a member of the noble House of Black. He was the youngest son of Pollux Black and Irma Crabbe and the youngest brother of Walburga and Alphard, who was later blasted off the family tapestry. He married Druella Rosier, and the couple had three daughters: Bellatrix, Andromeda, and Narcissa.[4]

Biography[]

He was a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Slytherin house.

Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix

Cygnus's three daughters from left to right, Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Andromeda

Andromeda was disowned for marrying a Muggle-born wizard, Ted Tonks. All the family but Sirius (and also possibly her uncle Alphard) subsequently shunned her.[5] Through his eldest daughter, he was the grandfather of Delphini, who was fathered by Voldemort as a result of their affair at Malfoy Manor. Through his disowned daughter and his youngest daughter, Cygnus was the grandfather of Nymphadora Tonks and Draco Malfoy respectively, and was also the great-grandfather of Teddy Lupin and Scorpius Malfoy, respectively.

He died in 1992, when his grandson was attending his first or second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while his granddaughter was training to become an Auror. Cygnus was the second last remaining Black of the male line before his nephew.

Etymology[]

Like many other members of the House of Black, Cygnus is named after a constellation. Cygnus is a northern constellation known as the Swan or the Northern Cross. It was named for several swans which appear in Greek mythology, including the one Zeus transformed into to seduce Leda, the form Orpheus took after his death, and a son of the god Apollo who was turned into a swan after his murder. The name is derived from the Greek κύκνος, kyknos, meaning "swan".

Behind the scenes[]

  • Cygnus was named after his paternal grandfather. There was also Cygnus I, an early member of the House of Black, who was most likely Phineas Nigellus Black's father and thus Cygnus's great-great-grandfather.
  • If Cygnus was truly born in 1938, than he would've been considerably young when his eldest daughter Bellatrix was born in 1951; this means that, like his father, Cygnus had a child at 13. It's possible that both are errors, as J. K. Rowling stated that math isn't her strong suit, and the Black Family Tapestry has other similar errors.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 Black family tree
  2. "World Exclusive Interview with J K Rowling," South West News Service, 8 July 2000 - "Hogwarts just serves Britain and Ireland."
  3. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 4 (Horace Slughorn), Horace Slughorn states: "The whole Black family had been in my house, but Sirius ended up in Gryffindor!" This implies that all Blacks except Sirius were sorted into Slytherin while Slughorn was teaching at Hogwarts. As revealed in Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies, Chapter 3 (Horace Slughorn), Slughorn had "completed half a century of service" at the time of his retirement in 1981, meaning he started teaching there circa 1931. Cygnus, born in 1938, presumably attended Hogwarts from 1949 to 1956, and thus would have been a student of Slughorn. Sirius Black also states "My whole family have been in Slytherin" and in Chapter 23 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, confirming that at least those Blacks closely related to Sirius were in Slytherin.
  4. Black family tree
  5. Bellatrix says in Deathly Hallows: "We – Narcissa and I – have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood." This suggests that the family as a whole refused to see Andromeda after her marriage and disownment.
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