Other Interesting Thoughts about the Black Family Tree

[lls_mutant]

*I have a brilliant idea for a scene in my story now, with Sirius arguing with the versions of the earlier Siriuses. Just cause I think it's funny.

*Here's an interesting thought. Okay, so Orion and Walburga (HA!) were family. But the names Sirius and Regulus come from what could be considered his side of the family. Regulus would have been named after Orion's uncle, and Sirius after his grandfather. Now, maybe they just liked the names. Maybe Walburga knew them too. But maybe it also says something interesting about the family dynamics that both boys were named after relatives that were closer to Orion than Walburga. Granted, it doesn't say anything revolutionary, but it says something interesting. Or it could, if you wanted to.

*Interesting that Orion and Regulus died the same year. Perhaps Voldemort killed Orion after his son's defection? Or Orion, maddened with grief at the loss of his beloved son, took it on himself to tell off Voldemort?

*If my name was Pollux or Irma, I might be tempted to name my daughter Walburga too, as some kind of cosmic revenge. Especially when my sisters got names like Cassiopea and Dorea, which are semi pretty.

*Does anyone else think of molecular orbitals when they see 1s2d? Or am I just that much of a geek?

*Septimus Weasley. Can you imagine? "Dear, could you change Septimus's diaper?" "Septimus! It's time for dinner! Getyerass in here!" Poor kid. (I swear- JKR's taste in nomenclature is... ::laughs amusedly:: When I was pregnant, several people asked me if our son was going to be named Harry. Now, that was a non-starter because our last name begins with an H, and Harry - sounds terrible. But I actually swore that I was NOT going to use a Potter-verse name. The only name I like (on paper) is Sirius, and come on. The serious/Sirius joke is annoying after a few years in fandom; could you imagine having to live with it all your life? I did scream when Snape's father was revealed to be Tobias though, although fortunately he's utterly unimportant at the moment.)



And another question/rant about fandom in general,

Okay. I don't accept the theory that Remus and Tonks were involved in OotP, but I know people do. That's not what I want to ask, though. What I want to ask is this:

Why do people consider Remus a "bad friend" to Sirius for possibly finding love during OotP if they weren't a couple?

Sirius needed a friend during OotP, that's true. But to me, there's every indication that Remus was that friend. But Remus is a complicated man- he does have time to do more than one thing during a month. He can be a friend to Sirius and hook up with a chick. Unless he's having sex in front of Sirius and laughing saying "haha, look what I have!", whyever should Sirius mind that Remus has finally found some happiness? I mean, I have friends that go through hard times. Am I a bad person for still being married?

If Remus was blowing off Sirius to court/flirt with/sleep with Tonks when Sirius needed him, I can see where Remus would be a bad friend. But Sirius is also a grown man. He needed company (and more than that, freedom), yes. But he needed privacy as well. And he didn't just need Remus. And even if Remus was the only one he felt truly comfortable with, having Remus around 24/7 would probably grate on his nerves.

Besides, Sirius has to sleep sometime.

I'm not sure I've seen a ton of people saying this. And in fact, my frustration isn't with someone who can make a good case for it, or someone who can write a compelling fic where Sirius is feeling lonely or out of place or hurt or whatever that Remus and Tonks are together. But I just see it as one of those black and white, all or nothing fandom distinctions that drives me nuts, and I felt like being a little bitchy. Not even so much about the plotline (because like I said, I think the question of Remus and Tonks getting together didn't come up until after the DoM fight), but just what it says about the way people perceive love and friendship. It's kind of scary, really.

Oh well. Enough procrastination. Remix instead, while Toby naps on his grandma's shoulder!

Comments

[medicinal-mirth.livejournal.com]

I think I must be the only person who saw the name Walburga and didn't snicker. I come from a family with a Wallantyna, Viroslav, Bohdan, etc. To me, it just sounded like an old-fashioned Eastern-European name, though I honestly have no clue where it came from. :P

[maglors-finch.livejournal.com]

Etymologically, Walburga is the same name as Walpurgis of the German Walpurgis Night, when the witches fly around Mount Brocken (Harz) on their broomsticks. SO it's an appropriate name for a witch, even though the original Walburga was a Christian saint.

[maglors-finch.livejournal.com]

And I forgot to mention that the Knights of Walpurgis were the predecessors of the Death Eaters.

[medicinal-mirth.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's pretty interesting, actually. Thanks! :D

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

Does anyone else think of molecular orbitals when they see 1s2d? Or am I just that much of a geek?

Yes. Yes I do.

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

Or Orion, maddened with grief at the loss of his beloved son, took it on himself to tell off Voldemort?

That would make an awesome fic. (The entire family tree is like a bunny breeding ground. Many stories between these lines indeed. ;D)

Why do people consider Remus a "bad friend" to Sirius for possibly finding love during OotP if they weren't a couple?

Do people think that? *puzzles* Surely it's only R/T shippers who think that he did, and not even all of them and why would R/T shippers be complaining about Remus and Tonks hypothetically getting together while Sirius was alive? *cannot compute, brain explodes*

Still, it's a moot point since Remus clearly was with Sirius in OotP, right? ;)

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Why do people consider Remus a "bad friend" to Sirius for possibly finding love during OotP if they weren't a couple?

People are saying that? How bizarre.

I think the only possible answer to that question is "because a significant minority of fans are just plain crazy."

[lady-nimua.livejournal.com]

Assuming that Sirius and remus weren't together, and remus and tonks are, wouldn't Sirius be the bad friend if he wasn't happy for remus for finding horrible, spineless pink love? And surely remus would be tactful about it, because he's a tactful kind of man.

[snorkackcatcher]

Why do people consider Remus a "bad friend" to Sirius for possibly finding love during OotP if they weren't a couple?

Simple character bashing, presumably, i.e. where if someone's determined to dislike a character for one offence (usually shipping-related), everything else they do gets interpreted as ESE regardless of common sense. (I've been posting on the FAP Ginny debate thread over the last few days. Lots of that sort of thing there!)

And even though I've come round to the idea that Remus and Tonks probably had something going on during the latter part of OotP (on structural grounds) -- I'm not at all sure that Sirius was cracking up in 12GP quite as much as fandom makes him out to be anyway? Somewhat stir-crazy, perhaps, and definitely pissed off, but a man who could survive twelve years in Azkaban with Dementors outside his door 24/7 probably managed to find a way to handle being stuck in a comfortable town house with a reasonable amount of company. The only times we actually see him, he seems moody but otherwise not too bad.

[gunderpants.livejournal.com]

Someone mentioned it above: it has nothing to do with Remus actually being a bad friend (because I have no doubt that by the end their friendship was probably stronger than it had ever been) but more to do with people slandering Remus now he's an icky heterosexual. Really. People wouldn't have said Remus were a bad friend if he'd just spent time away from Sirius and there was no R/T in HBP. They're just shitty shitlickers.

Also, I need to post my own R/T manifesto. That will probably be awesome.

[kanella.livejournal.com]

Are people seriously saying that? I think Remus is pretty much the perfect friend - he forgives you when you're an idiot, he puts up with you in the hellhole known as 12GP, he gives you the chance to be daring and adventurous (aroooo!), and he doesn't protest when you want to hex the heck out of your nemesis. Poor Remus - he's a good friend to a fault sometimes.

[calzamante.livejournal.com]

If Remus was blowing off Sirius to court/flirt with/sleep with Tonks when Sirius needed him

You said it all there, really. Remus was in fact blowing Sirius. Constantly. So there!

Well, to be honest,

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

I do remember saying something along those lines when the book first came out in terms of - 'if Remus was actually shagging Tonks while his friend was going out of his mind, his actions tell tales that I'm disappointed to hear.'

The thing is, from my run ins with guys, alot of them are loyal to each other (from what I've seen with my brothers and their friends growing up), and I've always gotten the notion of, when it came to guys, it's always been bros before hos (please, I'm not calling Tonks a ho).

Whereas with women, you're taught that your man comes first - *cue 'stand by your man'* and start working on the chilluns right away! There's a fair lot of women will literally knock their friends over just to get a ring on the finger, or be absent from their friends as long as they are dating a guy.

All this to say, in that respect, I can understand why people would go 'huh'?, because it's one thing having a shag, but letting the shag come over and above friendship no matter how ragged it is? I honestly can't say I know guys who would put a dalliance before friendship.


But with regards to Remus, I do see him as being very complicated and every much someone who can easily compartentalize things. He can have the bro and the ho without it undermining his divine architect, because the way how his life is, he has to take all the stuff he can, because with his circumstances being what they are he has to take what he can.

So yeah, I can understand why people would bring that point up. It's stuff that I've observed with the students in college here. Men are truly from mars and women are definately from venus at times.