( Walburga was actually born malnourished, due to her mother’s young age and unprepared body, and had to be treated at St. Mungo’s for several weeks. She made a full, quick recover and for many years, it didn’t seem like it had had any impact on her health: she developed normally into a young woman, which made her parents very proud. The consequences would only be known years later, during the first year of her marriage: Walburga couldn’t fall pregnant. She and Orion were trying often enough, but nothing seemed to work, despite her mother’s advices. At 30, she remained childless, watching her brother Cygnus with his own offsprings, and she decided to consult the doctors to try and resolve the problem. They told her the malnourishment might have rendered her barren, without any hope of getting any treatment. The news devastated her, especially since that she would one day be the Matriarch of her family, she had been brought up with the conviction that giving birth was her only role in the Black family. Therefore she didn’t give up, despite the doctors’ skepticism that she would able to call herself a mother one day. Then, at 34, she was at last expecting her first child.
When Sirius was born, she cherished him at once – she had been waiting for him for so long, he was her miracle child. Until she was pregnant with Regulus, she had made up her mind that he would probably be her only child, and she spoiled him to no end. Nothing was ever refused to him, and he was rarely punished. Two years after Sirius she was pregnant with Regulus, who would be treated the same way his older brother was. Unfortunately, Sirius took a very different path, perhaps because of the no-scolding policy with which he had been raised for most of his childhood. Quickly, the rebellion got out of hand, and so did Walburga’s educational method. Having had no landmark in her childhood as to how you were supposed to raise a child, it didn’t seem uncommon for her to be using the Unforgivable curse on her sons or to lock them in the cellar. Yet she loved them, she loved them so much – she had been waiting for them so long. But the love could not compensate for the things she put them through, especially Sirius, and slowly all the love was swallowed by the hatred and miscommunication which grew worse and worse between her first born and herself. When he eventually left, and despite everything he could think and everything she could show towards the rest of the family, she was left heartbroken. From that point onward, all her love was poured onto Regulus, perhaps too much, but she had never been a woman with a sense of proportions. )
