Order of the Phoenix: Original Character: Rigel Black

BLACK, RIGEL ALEXANDER
(FIRST DRAFT)

CHARACTER INFORMATION:

Name: Rigel Black
Date of Birth: August 20th, 1930
Parents: Perseus Black (wizard), Andromeda Meliflus Black (witch)
Comes from a long line of wizards and witches so is a pure blood,
as if knowing that matters :)
Siblings: Regulus Black, Anthea Libra (sister-in-law)
Other Relations: Sirius Black (son), Andromeda Black Tonks (niece), etc.
Spouse: Varity Weaver Black (Hogwarts Hufflepuff House; half-blood)
Eye Color: Dark Gray
Hair Color: Black (with some gray because of his age)
Build: Tall and strong even in older age. Ages in build very well.
Appearance: Strong and good looking (as is true of most of the Black family). Also quite and slightly soft spoken. How you can have those two together I’m not sure yet. We will see.
Schooling: Hogwarts, Ravenclaw House (1941-1948)
Profession: Something to do with law at the ministry of magic, possible a judge (one of the ones that you don’t really hear about).
Unusual Abilities: none, that I know of.
Age at Time of Fifth Book: about 65

CHARACTER PERSONALITY:

A very calm, collected individual. Takes things as they come and doesn’t easily give in to panic. He is a very wise, thoughtful person. He is also kind. His thoughtful, kind nature, though, is also accompanied by a strength of will that rivals many. He will not be moved on a issue if he sees the right path to take. He is a very honorable person (he has a strong since of honor). He is loyal to those he loves (much like his son). In later years, he has (many time) and air of sadness about him. All in all he is a very nice person how has had a hard life.

CHARACTER HISTORY:

Born into the infamous pureblood Black family, Rigel is really nothing like the rest of his family. The Blacks hold purity of blood to be among the most important (if not the most important) traits. They are also known for their affinity toward the dark arts. Still, they are a very powerful and respected family in the wizarding community (much like the Malfoys). They have almost always held positions of power and influence. In every generation, though, there is usually a member of the family that doesn’t succumb to the family’s way of thinking. Rigel’s aunt, Lacerta Black, was one of these. From a very young age, Rigel was heavily influenced by his aunt. Although a very powerful and rich family, the Blacks could never be consider close. Rigel’s parents didn’t have what you would call a strong, close relationship with their son. He was taken care of by a nurse when he was very young. When he was old enough to start learning the basic skills (like reading, writing, math, etc.) that he would need before entering formal wizard school, his parents got him a series of tutors. One of these, and his favorite, was his aunt. She took the job with pleasure, knowing that she might be able to impact her young nephew’s thoughts for the better like someone had done for her. Her love for him and her kindness was able to shape him in a way his parents never could. He grew up with radically different ideas about the importance of being a pureblood and the worthiness of non-pureblood (or even muggle) people that annoyed his parents and the rest of their family to no end. He was able to start seeing people for the choices they made, not their blood. This was not something his parents took calmly, he suffered for his beliefs. But, as he was a Black and therefore powerful and stubborn, this only cemented his ideas all the more firmly in his mind and his parents couldn’t begin to do anything about it.

All this was even more evident when it came to school. The Black family had an almost unbroken record of being members of Slytherin House at Hogwarts. There were one or two exceptions, but they weren’t talked about much. When Rigel entered Hogwarts, he became one of those exceptions. Although he did have many of the Black traits that made them ideal for Slytherin, he lacked the disdain for those unlike him and also the drive to get what he wanted no matter how he got it that would really make him a Slytherin. Instead he combined those traits he inherited from his family (a high sense of honor, stubbornness, a certain intensity among other things) with a quick intelligence, a love of knowledge and wisdom, and a slightly quiet, reflective nature and took them into Ravenclaw. It was definitely a house that suited him well. The years he spent at Hogwarts among those that thought like him were some of the best years in his life. They did not contain the constant struggle that he faced at home.

After Hogwarts, Rigel began a career with the Ministry in something to do with law (eventually becoming a judge or something like that). He had not only a strong sense of honor but also a strong sense of justice. His love of justice, though, was balanced with a knowledge that mercy was sometimes needed. He had become a good man. Having grown up in a family that flirted with the dark arts, he understood the subtleties of evil and worked hard against it. For not only did his aunt give him his ideas about the importance of blood, she also strove to teach him about evil and why one must choose good and fight against those that choose evil. Seeing the effects of evil on his own family was a powerful illustration and one that stayed with him, causing him to dedicate his life (after a fashion) to fighting it. He was not active in fighting the dark side, like say, an auror, but he fought it nonetheless. He was more the type to analyze things, reflect and make judgments then go out with a wand and capture darksiders. He became a very wise and discerning man. He was a good judge of character. (A lot of this is talking about his entire life, not just his first few years out of Hogwarts.)

Several years after he graduated from Hogwarts, Rigel met and fell in love with a young woman by the name of Verity Weaver that was a few years behind him in school. She had not been a Ravenclaw but a Hufflepuff. Verity was a very soft spoken, gentle, sweet young woman. She also possessed many of the qualities that Hufflepuffs were known for (loyalty and perseverance). She was the perfect match for Rigel. They complimented each other well. In his families eyes, though, she was worthless because she was a half-blood. Against the Black family’s will, Rigel married Verity and for a time they were happy and all was well (except his parents were mad at him but that didn’t bother Rigel much). (They got married when Rigel was about 26 or 27.) Rigel had a good job at the ministry, they had a nice home and were pretty well thought of in the community and they loved each other. About three or four years after they married, their first child was born. Rigel, carrying on a slight tradition in his family, named his son Sirius, after the brightest start in the night sky. In looks Sirius was very much a member of the Black family. He was also like them in character, capable of being very stubborn and intense but also strong and honorable. In ways he was more like the rest of the Blacks then his father because he didn’t grow up in the atmosphere his father did but in one were he was excepted and loved. He was also capable of great loyalty and perseverance. Growing up in a more loving atmosphere gave him a confidence and pride his father only occasionally had. It also allowed the more mischievous side of the Blacks to take hold. While Rigel had a very quiet humor (he did love a good joke and could have fun) and was serious and sober minded most of the time, his son was only serious and sober when he needed to be.

For Rigel and his young family, though, there were dark times ahead. When Sirius was only three years old, Verity became very ill and did not recover. Rigel took the death of his wife very hard. His young son, who was very high energy and usually cheerful was the only one that really helped him throughout that time. He had to be strong for Sirius. He was all his son had left. So, Rigel took on the task of raising his son alone. It was a job he thought he did very well, teaching Sirius the values he had come to hold so strongly and giving him the love Rigel wished he had gotten. He only regretted that he had never really been able to remarry. He could never bring himself to. So, Sirius didn’t have a mother. Rigel made up for that fact by putting everything he had into raising his son. His job, while important to him, always took second place. His son came first. They were a good, close family. Something Rigel never had.

Rigel was proud of his son, even more so when Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts. It was something Rigel didn’t expect. No Black had ever set foot in Gryffindor. It was to him a sign that his family wasn’t doomed. Even with everything his family represented, Rigel still had pride in being a member of it. He didn’t hate them, he just wanted them to change. With his son and niece both he saw a change for the better in his family.

As was mentioned before, Rigel didn’t hate his family. He didn’t agree with them and didn’t approve of their thoughts and actions, but that is not completely the same as hating them. In fact, they and their group of friends were the people he knew the best and saw most often. Except for the short time he was married to Verity, Rigel didn’t interact with many people outside his family’s circle. This is not to say he saw them a lot, just that when he saw people it was usually them. He was a very quite reserved person who kept mostly to himself. He interacted with the people he worked with but really no one else. A lot of this was brought on by peoples views on the Black family. They didn’t expect someone who thought like Rigel to be a member of that particular family. Even his time in Ravenclaw didn’t really help him there. His family usually kept him out of the circles were he would find most of the people like him in thought. So even though Rigel and his son didn’t get along with the Blacks at all and were looked down upon by the rest of the family, they knew them the best. Now, the note here would be that Rigel and Sirius weren’t really around the family enough for them to effect Sirius’ attitude very much. He was still a high strung, confident person, mostly because of his father and later his time at school.

There was a short time, when Sirius was at school, that Rigel was befriended by Matthew Potter, a well known Auror and friend of Dumbledore. This mainly sprung from the fact that Matthew’s son James was best friends with Sirius. That and the fact that Matthew took a liking to Rigel. He came to have a great deal of respect for Rigel as he got to know him. Matthew, whose very personality and family history stood as the extreem opposite to Rigel’s, ended up being a good friend to Rigel (although they didn’t always understand each other being so different). It helped that the Potters and Rigel’s son Sirius were a lot a like in many ways. This time came to an end when Matthew and his wife Elizabeth were killed by Lord Voldemort for their active part in fighting him.

Rigel was devastated when his son was sent to Azakaban for the murder of thirteen people, having supposedly been in the service of Lord Voldemort, the most feared Dark Lord of their time. He became an even quieter person then before and also sad. What humor he possessed was almost destroyed. There were many times he blamed himself for what happened but usually he was saved from depression because of common sense. He knew from much time spent in reflection, even with his knowledge of what happened, he couldn’t have predicted it. This fact also tormented him. Although he knew all the facts surrounding his son’s imprisonment, there were things that never made sense, things that were never resolved because of his son’s lack of a trial (something his love of justice rebelled against). In many ways, he never completely accepted his son’s guilt. Nor, though, was he sure of his innocence. It was a confusing mess that would hunt him and be with him wherever he went. It wasn’t until many years later that this particular wound would be healed.

NOTES ON RIGEL’S CHARACTER:

Now, we don’t want to get the idea that Rigel silently sits by while people abuse him, that is not the case at all. He may be quiet and reflective but he is also strong willed and quite capable of standing up for himself. If the reason is good enough he won’t hesitate to be assertive. He is usually wise enough, though, to know when to argue and when to not. He would have had to been this way to have survived in his family. He would have to be strong and he would have to be stubborn.

Nor should we get the idea that Rigel’s family had no love for him. They did like him stay around. They many have been frustrated with him and abusive of him, but they weren’t completely without love for him.