fic for googlebrat: Duty (Regulus, Walburga, PG)

[genficsanta]

Title: Duty
Author: miss_morland
Recipient: googlebrat
Rating: PG
Character(s): Regulus, Mrs Black
Warnings: None
Author's Notes: I hope you'll like this! Many thanks to my lovely beta reader for her help.

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Comments

[vegablack62]

If we do not hold ourselves up in these turbulent times, to whom will the others look for guidance?" This could so easily have come from someone on the side of the angels. Shows how narrow the line can be.

I thought reading this how similar in some ways Mrs. Black is to my picture of Augusta Longbottom, her attitude to duty the role of their own family, even a surviving child who doesn't quite measure up but is all that there is left.

What values they believe they are upholding are I believe very different. I think there's a difference in ethics, and personality. I don't think Augusta has rages, more a cold anger, I believe. But they are the same cards in opposite suites certainly.

I think Mrs. Black would have despised the real Voldemort and found him vulgar as much as she thought he was doing the right thing for society. The scraping and bowing before him would have disgusted her as well. I think we can believe she's never actually seen real Death Eater interaction. I think she hides from the criminal brutality by not thinking about it at all, hiding it behind the excuse that she has no need to hear about vulgar activities.

(This is a universal attitude. I know many, many people who will switch the TV channel if a discussion of say Abu Grabe or Guatanamo comes on. Preferring to hear a commentator tell them its not a bad thing rather than consider things for themselves. Useful tools are best kept behind a curtain.)

[therealsnape]

But they are the same cards in opposite suites certainly.

What an interesting idea. Now that you've mentioned it, I can quite see this. They are indeed, each in their own way, upholders of pride, values, traditions.
And I agree on Augusta's cold anger - but then, hers is a clean sorrow. It's atrocious, but she needn't feel ashamed. Seeing this version of Mrs. Black, I can see how she would crack under the loss of another son, in another shameful way.
And I think, too, that she would find that man very vulgar - useful, of course, does good things, but showy.

[vegablack62]

"...hers is a clean sorrow. It's atrocious, but she needn't feel ashamed."

Yes there are definite differences in their circumstances that lead to real differences in their behavior, and feelings. Augusta approves of her son's actions; she feels their is nobility in his fate which she clings too. She is less frustrated than Mrs. Black in that regard. I do think she still struggles to hold her head high and that accounts for some of her behavior. Anyone who doesn't think there is a stigma attached to brain damage and insanity hasn't spent much time with it. Brain damaged veterans don't get a lot of public support even now in our world. People lose patience. I don't think Augusta relishes pity very much. She's had to live a long side suffering for a long time as well. I also don't think she comes from the wealth and position that the Blacks enjoy.

But the pride in family and tradition and what the family stands for is all there in spades, so is the sense that the scion of the family has to uphold the past however ill-equipped she thinks he may be.

It's interesting because I think there's more sympathy for Augusta because we feel more attached to the cause she supports. We see the same behavior in a more positive light. Walburga is rarely written with the sympathy we see here.

I think Regelus's death probably killed her. I can't remember if she lived to see Sirius arrested. I wonder her thoughts on the loss of Regelus. The rumor was he was killed for betraying the cause. That must have bothered her, but I wonder if she had regrets about pushing him into the cause or not stopping him anyway. I wonder if she had her suspicions about the situation.

Both Blacks really suffered from having their reputations and true motives blackened. I'm fond of Regelus and see him as one of the more tragic and sympathetic characters in the books, far more than Draco. That's one reason I loved this story.

I think she would have found Bellatrix vulgar too.

[miss_morland]

I think Regelus's death probably killed her.

I don't have my copy of DH with me at the moment, but if I remember correctly she 'went mad with grief' after Regulus's disappearance, according to Kreacher. It's quite understandable, seeing as she lost both a child and the family's only heir...

[miss_morland]

But they are the same cards in opposite suites certainly.

I love love love this idea, and now I want to write a story featuring both of them. (Perhaps for the next round of femgenficathon!)

[vegablack62]

I would love to read that!