Nevermore?

[heidi]

This is the most crack theory I've ever come up with - yes, more than Manchurian Candidate!Ron, or Thestral-to-the-Hut!Hagrid. But I'm just going to toss it out for the shredding...

teawithvoldy asked how Reg, if he is RAB, learned that Voldemort was making horcrustaceans, when other, more trusted advisors didn't, and it's possible, I think, that the Blacks may be descendents of Ravenclaw.

Ravens are, of course, black, and raven, especially in connection with hair, is sometimes a synonym for Black. We know at least two sets of founder-descendents no longer have the founder-surname as their last name - the Smiths and Gaunts - so why not have the Blacks as descendents of Ravenclaw?

Which might have resulted in Voldemort trying to obtain or utilize something belonging to Ravenclaw - perhaps the tapestry itself? - which Reg had access to, and that's how he figured it out.

So, unleash the hounds - tear it to shreds.

Comments

[priscellie.livejournal.com]

Oooh, interesting. And if might go some way in explaining why the Blacks are so obsessed with pure blood--because they have Founders' blood running through their veins. I look forward to seeing what other people think of your theory! Mmm, cracktastic theories are the best kind.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

ManchurianCandidate!Ron?? I haven't seen that theory.

Good catch on Raven = Black Harry is noted as "the raven-haired boy" about 2454175874517 times in fan fiction. But didn't Sirius say that everyone before him in his family had been Slytherins? Or at least as far back as anyone could remember.

Personally I think the wand that was prominently displayed in Mr. Ollivander's window could be a Horcrux. It might actually be Rowena Ravenclaw's wand. Well, that makes as much sense to me as anything else.

BTW Princess Cate was adorable :)

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

It's somewhere in my Memories here - I'll try and find it - but it maniefsted into the form of fic a few years ago... Basically, the gist of it was, Peter Pettigrew's voice in PoA isn't described as unused, like Sirius's was, so I concluded from that that he had changed back regularly through the years, especially when Ron was very little - say, 2 or 3 or 4 - and he was in a house with at least two wands all the time, and even more during the summer holidays, and he put some triggers in Ron that he could take advantage of later if he needed to, and that the reasons Ron did things like help Harry get to the Stone were done to help Voldemort instead. I could probably go through OotP as well, although I'm not sure about HBP, to find more examples of Ron doing things that help Voldy...

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Oooh that's interesting. I assumed that Peter didn't remain a rat for 12 consecutive years. That would probably destroy all of his humanity (sound familiar?) I assumed he transformed at night, while Percy was asleep (I can't imagine Percy keeping a rat in his bedroom!), maybe went outside the Burrow, found something to smoke, raided the fridge etc. (and Molly always assumed it was her growing boys eating her out of house and home). We saw in GOF that Ron has great difficulty resisting the Imperius Curse. I've always figured that somewhere in the last 3 books, JKR would throw in Imperio'd Ron, who did something against his will. Haven't seen it yet, maybe she'll write it in Book 7.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love the idea that he snuck out for smokes and better food sometimes - he didn't get skinny until PoA, so it's possible he was sneaking cakes in the years before that, and keeping his weight through that, not the occasional every-flavour bean he stole from Ron's plate. And yeah, I always suspected Imperioed!Ron would show up, but that's 'cause we're Ron Hayteors, right?

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

I'm stil waiting for Imperio'd! Ron to show up... if he doesn't, it will be yet another bogus hint or else another plot point that JKR has dropped. She sure did that a lot in HBP. I must e saying that because I'm a Ron Hayteor.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I like it and I want to believe it, but the only Founders' Heirs we've seen in canon belonged to their ancestor's House. Which isn't to say that JKR isn't building up to making a point about choices versus blood, but she relies a lot on repeating patterns.

Also, if the Blacks are descended from Ravenclaw, that means we have an awful lot of Ravenclaw heirs running around, and not one of them seems tied to Ravenclaw House at all. (chrysantza makes a good argument for Ravenclaw!Tonks, but that's just fanon at this point.)

On the other hand, as theories go, I like it better than, say, Mr Lovegood having Rowena's Recipe Book tucked away somewhere in the family archives...

[misscake]

You know, that's a pretty interesting theory.

I'm more in love with the plural of horcrux being horcrustaceans though! :D

[psychic-serpent.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think that horcrustaceans is now my favorite version of that word! On another note, though, the Regulus in your icon (Heidi, not danijo1) looks so perfect! Who is it?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

That is the extremely pretty Cillian Murphy, who played Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow in Batman Begins this summer in which he had only one scene with Gary Oldman, but one is enough I think, and who can be found in many, many pics at cillian_daily.

[freya]

Wouldn't Harry have noticed if Rowena Ravenclaw was at the top of the tapestry? I guess it's the sort of thing one would make something of.

Likewise, wouldn't it be a matter of pride to ensure that all the descendents of a founder were sorted into that founder's house?

It's possible though.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Unless he, pre-growth-spurt, didn't look all the way up?

[freya]

But I'd guess the whole poinit of a family tree like that, if you were Ravenclaw's descendents, would be to show that. You'd guess that that bit would be somewhat illuminated to make damn sure everyone saw it.

Plus, Voldemort was much with the killing people for priceless artifacts, rather than buying or borrowing. And given Mrs Black's tendency for scorching off bits of the tapestry, he wouldn't want to put his soul in there ,just incase she hit the wrong bit and his soul just came pouring out.

[marie-j-granger.livejournal.com]

Harry didn't notice that there was a Potter two generations above Sirius, so I think we can safely assume that he did not look all the way to the top of the tapestry.

Also, it's possible that the Blacks were a bastard branch or something (maybe the descendants of Rowena's secret pregnancy from Salazar? There's a crack theory for you!) so she wouldn't actually appear on the tree. That could be why they're in Slytherin too. Either because they were unacknowledged heirs of his or because a Slytherin person (not necessarily a descendant) raped one of Rowena's heirs. The resulting male child was then given the name Black to partially hide his mother's shame -- probably raised by some other Pureblood family. (Malfoys or one of the others that later married into the family, perhaps.)

[marie-j-granger.livejournal.com]

Also, I was just looking at the tapestry portion on the Lexicon (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/blackfamilytree.html). If Sirius's paternal (and maternal) grandfathers were the sons of Phineas Nigellus and Ursula Flint, shouldn't their name have been Nigellus? Maybe they changed their name because Phineas was such an unpopular headmaster at Hogwarts.

[acciopotter.livejournal.com]

I love this theory. Lots. No tearing it to shreds, please. The only thing that immediately comes to mind is the family tree on the tapestry, where somewhere someone's name should be listed as "Ravenclaw." But you never know what has been blasted off the tapestry or otherwise altered.

[shake-n-shimmy.livejournal.com]

Here from the Daily Snitch :D


Just a thought about that...she could've gotten married and changed her name? I mean, there were no worries about losing any legacy by it, seeing as she has a whole House at Hogwarts dedicated to her =0)

[acciopotter.livejournal.com]

A good point. Being a woman during her time would mean that such traditional things are not out of the question.

[shake-n-shimmy.livejournal.com]

We can even use Hezipaadjsnbah Smith as an example. Err--she was an heir, right?

Ooh, just imagine who could be an heir out there! So many possibilites!

[acciopotter.livejournal.com]

It's really exciting! :)

[lizardlaugh.livejournal.com]

Hey, I think Dumbledore and Ron are the same person, so... that's a perfectly valid theory as far as I am concerned. However, I think it is equally plausible that Regulus wasn't nearly as lowly as Sirius claimed. Bella was part of Voldemort's inner circle, and for all we know, she and Regulus were close. At any rate, I don't think Sirius really knew what he was talking about since it has been implied that even the inner circle isn't supposed to know who is in the inner circle.

[bear.livejournal.com]

Utterly unrelated to the topic at hand, but when I saw this I thought of you. :)

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Now that makes me happy!

[riibu.livejournal.com]

Interesting theory -- I like it!

[aquila1nz.livejournal.com]

So that would make Draco and Tonks descendents of Ravenclaw too? And Phineas?

[wickedelf.livejournal.com]

OOh, I like that possibility. The Black=Raven thing is interesting and given how little in the hp-verse tends to be coincidence... I'd say it's a decent possibility.

As to the tapestry issue... perhaps the top (where Ravenclaw would be?) is concealed? Or who knows... It's not like we've gotten to *see* the tapestry, so as far as I am concerned... there's still a lot of wiggle room left there. Just because Harry didn't notice something in the few minutes he looked at it, doesn't mean it isn't there.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Re; concealment, it's possible, or Harry didn't notice. Harry usually doesn't notice things until they're important; he saw the locket at 12 Grimmauld and didn't notice it as the same as what he saw in the Pensieve, for example.

[kiffle.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm re-reading the book right now, and taking notes because I'm a giant dork. Also, because I didn't pay enough attention the first time. But I wonder...the cup/goblet whatever, that Dung stole from Grimmauld. I think it said it had the Black family crest on it, but was it said later that it was Ravenclaw's goblet? or did I just read that in fic somewhere? I know I read somewhere about one of the horcruxeseseses being Ravenclaw's goblet, but I don't know anymore. Anyway, if they ARE one and the same, that would support your theory. Um. I think.

I suck at this. :)

[teawithvoldy.livejournal.com]

Oh! What a crackpot, yet facinating theory!

*goes off to read the books again.

[wheresmytower.livejournal.com]

Hrmmm. Alternatively, perhaps the house of Black are descendents of Rowena's partner from a previous/later marriage where that partner was a Slytherin? That would explain the lack of a direct tracing to her, but would provide reasons for Ravenclaw possessions to be in the Black family. Also, it would explain why the family members are connected to Ravenclaw, while still being almost consistently sorted into Slytherin.