Private message to Daphne Greengrass

[alt_rodolphus]

- Miss Greengrass,

You have an interesting methodology for "preparing" your extended family, as you put it. Had I not been indisposed with other projects yesterday I would have surely heard sooner of your bold and enterprising public relations manoeuvre. Since you appear to have gone to the trouble of sparing me the role of the villain in your piece, I almost feel I should thank you for your efforts - this despite the fact that they were executed without my input or foreknowledge.

From here on out I am certain that you will be showered with attention from both admirers and the idly curious - and a few detractors as well, no doubt. In moving forward, please permit this bit of advice: your words and actions now reflect on the Lestrange name, even if you do decide to keep the "Greengrass." I see no reason not to trust you to bear this privilege in mind with the honour and respect it deserves.

Your Uncle,
Rodolphus

Comments

[alt_daphne]

I'm eighteen years old and Head Girl, Uncle Uncle, and quite accustomed to speaking up for myself and, when appropriate, for others, as well. And of course I wouldn't paint you the villain of the piece. All that's happened has nothing to do with you - though I am curious as to why you decided to pursue your inquiry in the first place. Financial gain seems beneath your interest, and you have no need of it, besides. If I'm legally entitled to anything special from your brother's estate then you're more than welcome to it, I'm sure.

[alt_rodolphus]

There are some holdings I prefer to keep in the bloodline, yes, though in the larger sense it's the bloodline itself that motivates my inquiry.

You're familiar with the Sacred Twenty-Eight, yes?

[alt_daphne]

Of course. The Greengrasses are part of the Sacred. So are the Lestranges, the Blacks, the Bulstrodes, the Weasleys, the Malfoys, and many others.

[alt_rodolphus]

The Sacred is an outdated concept based on research conducted almost one-hundred years ago. In my free time I've been compiling my own research on blood purity, driven mostly by the knowledge that the Lestrange line itself nearly went extinct four generations ago. Poor breeding practices led to a plague of squibs that was only relieved when the bloodline crossed out the Sacred and co-mingled with the Strangeweale and Jugson lines (located on the second and third tier of blood purity - but never mind that, it's details from my own research).

When I married my wife, I had some concern that the union of Lestrange with Black (two of the Sacred) would result in squibs once more. In truth, quite the opposite occurred and we were given two children who possess remarkable and rare magic. Hydra is a legilimens like her mother before her, possibly even stronger in skill - and Bella is very, very skilled. Rigel has a form of magic that has never been seen before; its scope and power may in fact surpass that of all written knowledge available on rare magics.

However, neither child came to us easily. My wife had several miscarriages, which in large part accounts for the age difference between Hydra and her brother.

All that aside, what is more significant is that in the last few years, several of the Sacred bloodlines, the great wizarding legacy families, (or tier 1, as I term them) have gone extinct, or will soon. Carrow and Nott: recently extinct, completely and fully. Slughorn, Parkinson, Rosier, Malfoy, Black: soon to go extinct on the paternal side. True, Bella's one surviving traitor cousin could be out there bearing children, but since they will never end up on the tapestry, they do not matter. Stephen Rosier and Horace Slughorn are too old to have children, Lucius Malfoy is unlikely to sire more, and Tony Parkinson didn't live long enough to have more than his one daughter.

In short, my research led me to embark upon the inquiry into Raz's liaisons and whether or not they produced any offspring. So far, the only one to surface is you.

[alt_daphne]

How fascinating. And yet it seems tragic that in the Protectorate era so many pure bloodlines have begun to taper off. One would think the opposite would be the case.

Your children may possess rare and remarkable magic, but I'm afraid I'm just an ordinary witch. A skilled one, mind you, but thoroughly ordinary.

[alt_rodolphus]

Incorrect - you're a Lestrange. You never need think yourself ordinary again.

I understand that it will take some time for the cognitive dissonance to pass, but trust that in time, it will.