#tasoula lestrange

[konstantynowitz]

Riddle era headcanons

Walburga, like her son Sirius, was very rebellious in her youth. Wally’s parents had difficulty suppressing her recalcitrant tendencies and it only got worse once she got to Hogwarts. 100% bullied Muggleborns, probably even tried to hex Tom maybe once or twice before he earned his reputation.

Orion Black and Abraxas Malfoy were the first of Tom Riddle’s peers that he befriended during his first year at Hogwarts. In spite of this, Malfoy was the only one out of the two who joined the Knights of Walpurgis.

There is no doubt in my mind that would lead me to believe that Orion was not a pure-blood supremacist, but I don’t think he was much of an extremist when it came to blood purity. It definitely comes down to how far you are willing to go in order to preserve your own ideals and for Orion that only went as far as to marry your own cousin.

Alphard Black was a metamorphmagus like his grandniece Nymphadora Tonks. Being a metamorphmagi was not widely accepted back in the ‘30s and ‘40s, especially for witches and wizards born into influential pure-blood families so I don’t think Alphard’s parents approved of his abilities and probably implored him not to use them in public.

Cygnus and Druella were a love match which was a rare occurrence for pure-blood marriages at the time.

Tom Riddle’s classmate Rosier Sr. was the father of Evan and Felix Rosier. Rosier Sr. is also the brother of Druella Rosier, which therefore makes him the uncle of her three daughters Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa.

Druella inherited the lighter Rosier traits such as blond hair and blue eyes from her father, while her brother Rosier Sr. got the gene for more darker features from his family like his aunt Vinda Rosier.

Birth order of the Black siblings: Walburga (b. 1925), Alphard (b. 1927) and Cygnus (b. 1929). Canonically, Cygnus was born somewhere around 1938 which would’ve made him thirteen by the time Bellatrix (b. 1951) was born. Most fans have considered this a mathematical error made by J.K. Rowling and so I’m going to put his date of birth around the late 1920s.

Lucretia Black was not a pure-blood supremacist like her family, making her much like her cousin Alphard in that regard. She would later become an ally to the Order of the Phoenix when Voldemort rose into power.

Rodolphus Lestrange is said to have the gift of foresight, which I headcanon he gets from his father Lestrange Sr. Ironically, the raven is the family emblem of the Lestrange family, and in Greek mythology, a raven is the sacred bird of Apollo, God of foresight.

Lestrange Sr. married Tasoula Shafiq, a pure-blood witch from the Shafiq family who are listed in the Sacred Twenty-Eight. The Shafiq family are of Middle Eastern origin which is where I assume Rabastan Lestrange got his name from; the name Rabastan is Arabic for ‘Head of the Serpent’.

Euphemia Potter and Walburga Black were actually very close friends during their time at Hogwarts. The two grew apart especially once they graduated and Euphemia went on to marry Fleamont. Walburga didn’t approve of the match, because even if the Potters were a respectable pure-blood family they were not supremacists.

Orion and Walburga saw their marriage as more of an obligation than a partnership. It was a practical match which neither Orion or Wally were hesitant to accept. The two of them believed that it was their duty to keep their bloodline pure and if that meant marrying each other then so be it.

Due to the House of Black’s constant inbreeding, Orion was born with hemophilia.

[konstantynowitz]

Lestrange Sr. headcanons

Lestrange sr was the grandson of former Minister for Magic Radolphus Lestrange. It became a family tradition to give the boys within the Lestrange family a name that bore the first initial ‘R’ after Radolphus.

I headcanon Lestrange sr’s first name to be Radolphus in honor of his grandfather, so he’d technically be Radolphus Lestrange II.

His nicknames are Rudolph or Ru (but anyone besides Tasoula who dares call him these is a dead man).

Other than being British, he is of German and French descent.

Lestrange had three children with his wife Tasoula Shafiq: Rodolphus, Rabastan and Renissa. Renissa is Lestrange’s youngest child and only daughter, and in spite of being a girl she was included in the family tradition of being given a name that started with an ‘R’.

He and Tasoula were a love match, they were betrothed to each other since by their parents since they were seven. The match may not have been their choice in the beginning but they were undoubtedly soulmates.

Lestrange definitely had his fair share of relationships outside of his betrothal to Tasoula, but believe me when I say she was his queen. If he had to choose over his side whores and her, it would be her without question. She is the only one he ever truly loved.

He became a Knight of Walpurgis in his fifth year at Hogwarts when Riddle first started recruiting. Lestrange was second in command of the Knights, if Tom wasn’t there then Lestrange was in charge. Even since the early days of the Death Eaters the Lestrange family always held a position of power amongst Voldemort’s followers.

Close friends with Rosier Sr. — judging by the the French branch of the Lestrange family tree I’d say the two were probably distant cousins.

Lestrange is a seer, which was both a gift and a curse. He passed this ability onto his eldest son Rodolphus Lestrange.

He spoiled his children rotten, especially Renissa. She was daddy’s little princess in all regards. He’d do anything for her, she was the mini version of Tasoula and Lestrange adored her. There was nothing he wouldn’t give her, she was his whole world.

Lestrange held high expectations for Rodolphus as he was the eldest of his children. There was no doubt that when Rodolphus got older he would become a Death Eater like his father, much to Tasoula’s chagrin, although there was nothing she could really do about it.

Rabastan was of course going to follow in his father and older brother’s footsteps. All the sons of Voldemort’s Knights went on to become Death Eaters, especially if they were from prominent pure-blood families such as the Lestranges.

Radolphus and Tasoula would never disown their children if they decided not to fall in line with their family’s purist beliefs. This is mostly because Tasoula refused to abandon her children, she loved her sons and daughter too fiercely to ever cast them out. If Radolphus ever disowned one of his children then he better be prepared to lose his wife as well because wherever her kids go, she goes.

Don’t get me wrong, Radolphus was a pure-blood supremacist, he hates muggles and he doesn’t want them anywhere near his family, nor does he want any of his kids to defend or protect the very people threatening the magical integrity of the wizarding world. But family is family and he loves his kids and Tasoula, and I don’t think he’d be willing to just let them go like that.

Radolphus definitely had this talk with Tasoula when Walburga disowned Sirius. Tasoula was probably the one who started this conversation saying something along the lines of: “you can cast them out, you can disown them and pretend they never existed, but if you do that then you may as well erase me too, because wherever my children go, I go.”

I don’t think Radolphus would have ever considered disowning any of his kids anyway. I believe the Lestranges are a really loyal, tight knit family and they look after their own. After all their family motto is: Corvus oculum corvi non eruit (The raven did not pluck out the raven's eye), which essentially means they’d never betray each other.

[konstantynowitz]

Doublecanons for Riddle era:

Cygnus Black

The saving grace of the Black family.

Cygnus was the fail safe for his parents and became heir presumptive when Alphard made it clear he wouldn’t be producing any heirs to continue the bloodline.

As a child he was his mother’s little angel.

A blessing to the family, something that brought security to the bloodline in case something prevents Alphard from fulfilling his duties to the House.

Cygnus’s birth brought Irma so much pride because it showed she was capable of providing not one heir but two.

He never got involved with the Knights at school.

Nor did he interact much with Tom Riddle.

For Cygnus, Riddle was an insidious presence that he evaded at all costs.

No good would come from Cygnus associating himself with Tom Riddle and he knew this.

The Knights of Walpurgis were a cult, a group of fanatics, not a band of elite wizards ready to take on muggles and muggleborns by storm.

They abused the power they were given by birthright in the servitude of a half-blood who was using them for his own gain.

Cygnus would not allow himself to be taken advantage of.

He would not let the filthy half-blood taint his family name.

He would not allow bend down on one knee, kissing the boot of someone who ranked lover than him in terms of blood purity and social class.

He wasn’t the golden child, he wasn’t his father’s pride like Walburga, or the heir and therefore the most valued like Alphard.

Cygnus was the extra.

Alphard was needed to ensure the continuation of the Black family, Walburga was Pollux’s favorite, and Cygnus was… well he didn’t have much purpose unless something happened to his brother.

He was close with his elder cousin Lucretia growing up.

She was almost like an older sister to Cygnus, but that’s not to say that he and his actual sister didn’t have a relationship of their own.

Walburga was always looking out for Cygnus, after all he was her baby brother.

She cared about him in her own way…

Wally was more of a tough love sort of gal.

I would say Walburga was like a second mother to Cygnus, as most elder sisters are.

As for his relationship with Alphard, well I wouldn’t say that they weren’t close, but I’d definitely consider their dynamic a little complicated.

Alphard was the heir and Cygnus was the spare.

Their positions in the family didn’t personally define their relationship.

It was just that their were often kept at a distance because of Alphard’s duties to the family.

He had to set an example for Cygnus and it was very hard to separate duty and family from each other because there wasn’t really much of a difference in the Black household.

That’s just how it was. It was easier for Cygnus to have a relationship with his sister than it was to have one with his brother because Walburga didn’t have to do much other than to marry pure.

His mother wasn’t very happy with the idea of her son not marrying a Black.

Cygnus was supposed to have a match arranged between him and his cousin Araminta Melifula Black.

But obviously Cygnus had other plans once he first laid eyes on Druella.

Wally was the one who defended him so that her brother could choose the bride he wanted.

“What does it matter anyway?” She would say to Irma. “His children will still be Blacks. You were born outside of this family, weren’t you? And yet we, your children, are still of this House.”

Irma would give in. Walburga was right.

And besides, the match was perfect.

Ella was from a prominent and influential Pure-blood family.

With the Rosier’s association with Grindelwald there would be no question that she shared in their purist beliefs.

Druella was close friends with Tasoula Shafiq so I could imagine double dates between Ella and Cygnus + Tasja Radolphus.

Especially once the field trips to Hogsmeade start up.

Cygnus and Radolphus would be buying both Tasja Ella sweets and Honeydukes, and the girls would be dragging the boys along with them into all different shops.

Cygnus and Radolphus would be trailing behind their girlfriends, carrying by their hauls of goods while Ella and Tasja are just walking hand-in-hand through Hogsmeade as if they were the ones dating.

Snowball fights and sledding races have most definitely happened between the four of them.

I could see the teams being decided in accordance to who was with who.

So Ella with Cygnus and Rudolph with Tasja.

But in the end I could imagine Ella and Tasja completely disregarding the rules of the game and just team up with each other.

They would turn on their boyfriends so that it was more so like boys against girls.

This probably had frustrated both Cygnus and Radolphus a few times when their girlfriends do end up switching the teams.

But they grow hard to it and even start to team up together sometimes just to give Ella and Tasoula a taste of their own medicine.

This tradition would carry well into their adulthood when they had children of their own.

I could see the Blacks and the Lestranges taking their children out to Hogsmeade.

Bellatrix and Rodolphus would be ruthless when it came to snowball fights.

Rabastan was a sensitive little thing growing up. He’d struggle to even throw a snowball at someone from the thought of accidentally hurting anyone.

Especially Andromeda (who he was secretly crushing on).

Cygnus would be carrying little Narcissa around since she was too young to play.

Maybe he’d build little snowmen with her.

Rudolph would be getting attacked with snowballs by his Rodolphus and Bella.

They would show no mercy…

Tasoula would notice that Rabastan was feeling a little out of place since he wasn’t playing the way his brother wanted him to play.

So she’d teach him how to make snow angels with Ella and Andy.

I like to think about the interactions made between Cygnus and the Lestrange children.

He was like an uncle to the three of them.

Between him and Radolphus, they would be carrying the babies Cissy and Renissa.

Sometimes Cygnus would switch with Radolphus so that he could carry Renissa and Radolphus could carry Cissy.

Renissa loved to be carried by ‘Uncle Cygnus’.

Just like her father, Cygnus would spoil Renissa rotten.

He’d buy her anything she wanted from the stores at Hogsmeade: her favorite sweets, new plushies that she saw on display in the windows…

She had him wrapped around her finger, as if she too were one of his daughters.

They all made up one big family, which is why none of the parents were opposed to the idea of Rodolphus and Bellatrix becoming betrothed when it came time for them to graduate.

Let’s just say Tasoula and Druella were ecstatic.

And Cygnus, well, he just wanted his little girl to be happy.

But he was comforted by the fact that it was indeed Tasoula and Radolphus’s son that was to marry his daughter.

Cygnus wasn’t at all hesitant to give Rodolphus his blessing.

One engaged soon-to-be-married daughter down, two to go.

Andy was going to be arranged to marry Rabastan, but this was something that Andromeda herself was still unsure of.

When Andromeda ran away to be with Ted, Cygnus was distraught.

He didn’t want to disown his daughter, but at Walburga’s insistence, as well as the added stress from the weight of his family’s expectations of him, he had no choice.

He locked himself in his office for days.

All he could think about was how broken his family was now, overwhelming himself with his past memories of Andromeda.

She was his little girl, he was supposed to protect her, and he failed to do that as her father.

Now she was running off somewhere with a muggleborn who Cygnus viewed as a threat to his daughter’s safety.

He didn’t care about blood purity, he didn’t care about continuing his line…

All he cared about were his daughters and the fact that one wasn’t tucked away, safe at home anymore.

What hurt him even more was that Andromeda had left of her own accord and that he’d never get to see her again.

As of that day she was dead to the family.

Cygnus lived with a void in his heart for the rest of his days.

One day, a few years after this tragedy, Cygnus had gotten word regarding the birth of his first grandchild who Andromeda had by that muggleborn swine.

But he could feel no joy, no pride, nothing at all. He had already accepted the fact that his Andromeda was gone.

Tasoula Shafiq

Tasoula was born as the first daughter of Aykut Shafiq and Letitia Greengrass in 1927.

Her name means “resurrection” and is a diminutive form of the name Anastasia.

Tasoula’s nickname is ‘Tasja’, which bears the same meaning as her given name.

She was born with the blood malediction of her mother’s family which caused her severe Fibromyalgia.

Tasja was one of five children; she has three older brothers and one younger brother, who was a year younger than she was.

Tasoula was betrothed to Radolphus Lestrange when she was seven.

Ever since then she and her parents would make frequent visits to Lestrange manor.

She would always be a subject to Madame Lestrange’s scrutiny, especially as she got older.

I could see Madame Lestrange circling around a sixteen-year-old Tasoula in the receiving room of Lestrange manor, almost predatorily as she examined her.

I believe in this moment the Madame would say something along the lines of: “I suppose the girl does seem to posses quite pleasant facial features, and… child bearing hips, which is necessary if she plans to carry the next heir.”

Despite being a victim of Madame Lestrange’s harsh criticism, Tasoula was also the carrier of her hopes and aspirations for the future of the Lestrange family.

Tasoula carried herself well, a perfect pure-blood witch with both elegance and grace, which was appreciated by Madame Lestrange.

Madame Lestrange saw something in Tasoula that reminded her of herself a bit.

She was young and naive, a vulnerable sheep thrown to a pack of bloodthirsty, merciless wolves.

Tasoula was being introduced to a new world… a cold, cruel, vicious world where the weak didn’t survive.

She was now part of the system which she was unfamiliar with, and she would have to play by the rules if she wanted to remain in the family.

Tasja was a breath of fresh air to the family, which was both refreshing and threatening.

It was Madame Lestrange’s job to teach her how things worked in House Lestrange and Tasoula would need to conform to their expectations if she wanted to become Radolphus’s bride.

And so Madame Lestrange took Tasoula under her wing.

Even when she was at Hogwarts, Tasoula would join the Madame every Sunday for tea at Lestrange manor.

They became close after a while, their relationship developing into one a mother and daughter would have.

Tasoula was close friends with Walburga Black, Eileen Prince, Euphemia Fawley, Cassandra Selwyn, and Druella Rosier.

She and Druella were the closest out of the six. They were each other’s ride or die and their friendship remained constant throughout their lives.

Tasja was not afraid of Tom Riddle. She was the only one who could look him in the eye and not feel a shiver of trepidation running down her spine.

She was the only one who did not experience the feeling of sheer dread overwhelming her when he entered the room.

Tasoula didn’t hate muggleborns, nor did she think that muggles should be oppressed by the wizarding government.

Tasoula harbored affections for Étienne Rosier.

She’d often visit Rosier manor for Christmas in order to see Ella.

There was probably an incident at some point where Tasoula has accidentally spilled a glass of New Year’s champagne on her dress and had to change clothes.

So Druella took Tasoula up to her room and lended her some lounge wear which just so happened to be a hand-me-down from Étienne.

Like some oversized dress shirt or something.

And so that night when the girls were getting ready for bed Étienne would catch Tasoula wearing his clothes and say something like, “is that my shirt?”

Tasja’s face would be flushed red from sheer embarrassment and she’d just stutter out an incomprehensible sentence that was originally intended to be used as an excuse if it could even be understood.

“I-, no… yes— I mean no, Ella let me… she…”

Étienne would just laugh and shake his head, flashing her a wink before heading to his bedroom for the night.

Vinda Rosier was the first to notice that her nephew and Tasoula had feelings for each other.

She would be sitting in the morning tea room, spectating from affair as Tasja and Étienne awkwardly interacted with one another.

Vinda could tell by the way Étienne and Tasoula looked at each other that they were in love

She knew that her nephew had fallen madly in love with Tasoula, to the point where it was almost painful for him to love someone that he knew he couldn’t have.

This was because they could not act on these feelings due to Tasoula already having been betrothed to Lestrange.

But in the future, her marriage to Lestrange was a happy one.

She was a doting mother.

By providing the Lestrange bloodline with not one but two sons, she brought security to the family.

Since Radolphus had been the only heir to the English side of House Lestrange as his parents had no other sons.

Tasoula loved her children and was a doting mother.

She was very gentle and attentive towards them.

In spite of it being scandalous at the time for a noblewoman to do so, she breastfed them.

And Tasoula also refused to let a governess raise them.

She was their mother, not some woman that she and her husband paid for.

Tasoula would not schedule meetings for when her children were allowed to come and see her.

They were allowed to go to her whenever they pleased.

There was no such thing as ‘evening tea time’ where that’s the only time the children could truly speak to their mother and father.

No. Tasoula was a pretty hands-on mother.

She was in charge of their early education and would choose the best professors and governesses who came to the manor to teach the kids.

Tasoula would not accept any teacher whose main focus was on blood purity, as many of her friends had done with their children.

She wanted the main focus to be on real education such as history, mathematics, languages, science, literature, etc.

Her children didn’t need someone to teach them about the importance of blood purity and the strain muggle blood has on the magical lines of pure-blood families.

Tasja wouldn’t let a nurse maid bathe them, she’d do it herself.

Just as her mother did when she was a child.

Nor did she let any of her children go to bed without a goodnight kiss, or a bedtime story from both her and Radolphus.

She would make sure that her children knew that they were loved.

When they were babies she’d get up every time to change their diapers, feed them, rock them back to sleep.

Even though Radolphus often told her that they already had a wet nurse and a nurse maid to take care of all that during the night.

In response to this Tasoula would always say: “Well I’m their mother.” Every. Single. Time.

She’d request to eat in a more smaller, more private dining room or breakfast room in the mornings and evenings so that the family could be closer together.

They would serve themselves, no servants were allowed to watch them dine during this time.

It was a private moment between Tasoula and her family and she didn’t want to feel like she was being spectated while she enjoyed time with her husband and children.

At first this was very strange to Radolphus as his parents didn’t even bother eating with him while he was growing up.

Usually he’d just sit and eat with his governess in the main dining room, with its high walls and long table that oftentimes made him feel isolated.

Even when he wasn’t used to what his wife had in store for him and the children, he still found it to be somewhat comforting.

If only Radolphus had this growing up… he was glad his children had a mother like Tasja to give them the childhood they never had.

They would all eat as a family, no one was allowed not to attend family dinner.

If Radolphus was ever busy in his office and planned to eat later in the evening, Tasoula would go to hunt him down.

She intended on eating with her husband and children, not just her children.

It wouldn’t take her that much effort to convince Radolphus to eat with his family.

Rudolph knew he couldn’t defy her. She was too stubborn. And if he wished not to sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight then he better do as she says.

After Rodolphus and Rabastan, Tasoula and Radolphus didn’t plan to have anymore children.

Especially after Rabastan since Tasoula’s pregnancy with him seemed to trigger her blood malediction.

But Tasoula soon realized she wanted another baby.

And who was Radolphus to say no to his wife?

So Tasoula had Renissa and their family couldn’t have been complete without her.

Radolphus was hoping for a girl, he didn’t want another son.

I pin him as somewhat of a closeted girl dad.

He didn’t know that he would ever want a daughter until he got two boys but no girl.

Renissa really did capture her father’s heart the moment she was born.

Tasoula almost died in childbirth and was bedridden for a few weeks after giving birth to Renissa.

The birth had weakened her and caused her great pain because of the malediction.

It was a miracle she survived at all.

After that her health was never the same.

One day she could be fine, and then the next day her health could decline rapidly once more.

But she would push through it for the sake of her children.

Tasoula never let her illness get in the way of the time she would spend with her kids.

Sometimes when it was really bad she would have no choice but to remain in her chambers the entirety of the day, but she would still have them visit her.

The children would play games with their mother, or rehearse little plays or dance shows for her in the bedroom.

Even Radolphus would sometimes watch, or even join in on the entertainment when he wasn’t busy with work.

When Rodolphus went to Hogwarts, Tasoula was there with her husband and two youngest children to escort him to the platform.

I would think Tasja was much like Astoria Greengrass to Scorpius Malfoy.

I could imagine her giving Rodolphus a bag of candies saying, “here, take these, and make sure you share.”

She just wanted her son to make friends.

Even though both Rodolphus and his father would probably remind Tasoula that there was already a trolly filled with sweets on the train.

She didn’t care.

Whenever either of her sons got into trouble at Hogwarts, she’d stick up for them.

“My sons would never do such a thing! They are perfect little angels.”

In spite of knowing deep down that they probably did do something that shouldn’t have…

But she didn’t let them get away with everything.

If it was very serious she would be the one to discipline them, and even encourage the school to punish them with some sort of chore.

Tasoula always wanted her children home for the holidays.

She wasn’t one of those parents who would keep their kids at Hogwarts.

Most of the time, Tasja and Radolphus would throw a Christmas party at their manor for all their friends and family in attendance.

But another tradition was also to visit 12 Grimmauld Place to see Wally and Orion, as well as Ella and Cygnus.

The children would play and the adults would chat amongst themselves.

Usually the husbands would go to have a cigar and a brandy in another room while the wives stayed with the kids and talked.

Wally was probably pregnant with Sirius by Bellatrix’s eighth Christmas.

She was the last one of her friends to start a family so Sirius and Regulus are a little bit younger than most of Druella and Tasoula’s children.

With the exception of Renissa who was born a bit later, perhaps shortly after Regulus.

On Christmas mornings the children would go out to ice skate on the lake.

I could see Tasoula teaching little Cissy to learn how to skate.

When Regulus was old enough to join the older kids he’d probably be afraid that the ice would crack and he would fall in.

But Narcissa would hold his hand and teach him just like Tasoula did with her.

“One foot in front of the other, Reg. That’s what Auntie Tasja told me.”

There would come a day where Tasoula would no longer be able to attend these Christmas parties and the winters within Lestrange would become silent and bleak.

Tasja would pass away during Renissa’s second year at Hogwarts around the late 1970s from illness brought on by the blood malediction.

Radolphus would never be the same man he once was before the death of his beloved wife.

He’d mourn her loss for the rest of his life.

And the children would be distraught, especially Rabastan who was closest with his mother.