You know, some of my favorite fics are abandoned. And yeah, I wish they weren't abandoned, but it doesn’t change the fact that I love them. I certainly don’t wish they’d never been written. Just saying, for those of us with dangling fics we guilt ourselves over. It’s still better that you wrote what you wrote.
I’ve seen a lot of posts on Tumblr claiming that the Blacks spoke French at home. Now, I see where this headcanon comes from: French used to be the language of the upper-class and, frankly, it is pretty sexy too.
But… German was the language of Gellert Grindelwald.
Okay, let me take you through my train of thought. I have that headcanon that most of the Sacred Twenty Eight would support Grindelwald and his cause because he wanted to overturn the Statute of Secrecy and create a new order in which wise and powerful wizards were the benevolent overlords of a new society. The purebloods would, of course, hope that, once more, they would be the ruling class under Grindelwald’s rule and learn the language of their master: German.
So far so good. But why do I think that the Blacks spoke predominantly German? First of all, their family origin. Black is an Anglo-Saxon name and therefore closer related to the Germanic roots (they might have chosen to emphasize that). Secondly, given that Viktor Krumm was very upset at the sight of Grindelwald’s mark, his influence seems to linger and there must have been supporters out there to that day. Last but not least, there are many German names in the Black family tree (Sirius’ mum is called Walburga. That is like every German grandma’s name ever).
And tbh Walburga yelling at Sirius in German is far more intimidating than French. I also feel like Regulus and Orion would have appreciated German because it’s very precise and has many words whereas Sirius would have disliked it; simply because it reminded him of his family, but he’d speak it fluently.
Then why did other families drop the language? Some of the Sacred Twenty Eight might not have supported Grindelwald in the first place (maybe they preferred Voldemort’s solution?). Other families might be bilingual or not have a high command of the language and other families might still rely on French as the language of the aristocracy.
Anyway… maybe next time I get to see a prompt/fic/drabble with any of the Black family using German. I think it’s at least a valid theory.
"How do you write such realistic dialogue-" I TALK TO MYSELF. I TALK TO MYSELF AND I PRETEND I AM THE ONE SAYING THE LINE. LIKE SANITY IS SLOWLY SLIPPING FROM BETWEEN MY FINGERS WITH EVERY MEASLY WORD THEY TYPE OUT. THAT IS HOW.
I expect nothing less from you, Sarah Cameron. Sarah Routledge.
art teacher in the future: kids, now we have a BIG challenge: we are going to draw... without A.I's help. kids: WHAT? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE teacher: Trust me, it's not.
Arthur: Never question your wife's choices. Remember, you were one of them.
Remus: That is exactly why I question her choices.
'Cause the sign on your heart Said it's still reserved for me Honestly, who are we to fight thе alchemy?
"something blue" S4 E9
+ BONUS:
you ever see shit that makes you think “i know i’m very online but i’m not online enough for this one”
Harry Potter + Hogwarts Common Rooms