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.

--

Comments

[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...