Cygnus Black III (17 December, 1879 - 4 November, 1943) was a pure-blood wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1 September, 1891 to June of 1898. He was the second-born son of Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black and his wife Ursula Black (née Flint). He was the younger brother of Sirius Black II, and the older brother of Phineas Black II, Arcturus Black I, and Belvina Burke (née Black).
His father was a greatly influential man in education, but he was truthfully one of the most hated Hogwarts Headmasters of all time. Cygnus's mother, Ursula, passed away when Cygnus was ten years old. He later attended the school for which his father was Headmaster of, and was a student of Slytherin House.
He later married Violetta Bulstrode, the middle child of Archibald Bulstrode and Euphemia Bulstrode (née Parkinson), and over a period of eighteen years, the couple had four children together. The eldest, Pollux Black, married Irma Crabbe and had three children, Walburga, Alphard, and Cygnus IV. The second oldest, Cassiopeia, never married and lived out her days as a spinster.
The third oldest, Marius, died young in mysterious circumstances. And finally, the youngest, Dorea, married Charlus Potter, a member of the Potter family, but the couple did not have children for quite some time, finally resulting in a son named James.
Biography
Early life (1879-1891)
Cygnus Black was born on 17 December, 1879, into the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, an old wizarding family, who looked down on any except other "respectable" pure-blood wizards and believed in pure-blood supremacy. He was the second son of Phineas Nigellus Black and his wife Ursula Black (née Flint), and was two years younger than his older brother, Sirius.
His father, Phineas Nigellus was Head of the House of Black, and his older brother was heir to the house, making Cygnus himself the Heir Apparent. This would last until the birth of his nephew, Arcturus Black III, in 1901. But apart from his father's duties as head, Phineas Nigellus Black also held the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts, and as a consequence had very little time for children.
Cygnus's mother, Ursula, stayed at home and was instrumental in the running of the Black household. During this time, the Black family had only a handful of human servants staffed at Grimmauld Place, and they used house elves mainly as cooks, and it was Ursula who was notorious for her preference to be waited on by clean individuals, and not such dirty house elves as the Black family traditionally relied on. Ursula Black gave birth to Cygnus and his older brother, Sirius's younger brother, Phineas, in 1883. Cygnus was four years old and had fond memories of his then younger brother. Phineas was followed by another brother, Arcturus, in 1884.
But after the birth of Cygnus's younger sister, and her fifth child overall, in 1886, Ursula became very ill and immediately after Belvina's birth, she was confined to her bed, when Cygnus was seven years old. For the next three years she would linger, until she finally passed away on 27 October, 1889, when Cygnus was ten years old.
His father, Phineas, then already Headmaster, as well as his brother, Sirius Black II, then a first-year student, briefly returned to Grimmauld Place during the autumn of 1889 to bury Ursula, but afterwards they both returned to Hogwarts. Phineas hired additional servants to take care of the younger children, including Belvina, aged three, Arcturus, aged five, and Phineas II, aged six, and Cygnus- aged ten. Their spinster aunt, Elladora Black, 39, who Belvina supposedly loathed, began living at Grimmauld Place as well, in order to keep an eye on things.
Elladora Black, according to one of the servants living in Grimmauld Place during this time, was not "benignly maternal." Elladora was the one who began to institute the policy of cutting off the heads of the family house-elves and mounting them on the wall once they became too old to carry a tea tray. She effectively ran her brother's household after the death of her sister-in-law. Fortunately, Cygnus only had to endure her for one year and then he would be off to Hogwarts.
Hogwarts years (1891-1898)
Cygnus Black began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school of which his own father was Headmaster of, in September of 1891. He was sorted into Slytherin House on 1 September of that year. He was two years behind his older brother, Sirius.
He left the school upon his completion of his seventh year in 1898.
Marriage (1901)
On 23 February, 1901, Cygnus married Violetta Bulstrode, a daughter of Archibald Bulstrode, Head of the House of Bulstrode, at Black Manor in Tisbury, Wiltshire. Although an arranged marriage orchestrated by the bride's father Archibald Bulstrode, the couple did have a brief period of courtship before betrothal and wed willingly. Becoming parents about a year following the marriage, the young couple found themselves strapped financially to maintain the lifestyle expected of their rank.
Violetta's interest in social services, scientific development, hands-on child-rearing, charity and intellectual stimulation were not shared by Cygnus who, although dutiful and benevolent, was bluff in manner and conventional in his pursuits.
Later life (1901-1943)
They soon put a strap over their financial woes and, eleven years later, their second child, Cassiopeia Black, was born at Tisbury. A third child followed in 1914. Their final child, Dorea Black, was born in 1920.
Their eldest child, Pollux Black, later married Irma Crabbe in 1924 and they had three children together, Walburga, Alphard, and Cygnus IV. The second oldest, Cassiopeia, never married and lived out her days as a spinster.
The third oldest, Marius, died young in mysterious circumstances. And finally, the youngest, Dorea, married Charlus Potter, a member of the Potter family, but the couple did not have children for quite some time, finally resulting in a son named James.
Etymology
Like many other members of the House of Black, Cygnus is named after a constellation. Cygnus is a northern constellation also known as the Swan or the Northern Cross. It was named for several swans which appear in Greek mythology, including the one Zeus transformed into to seduce Leda, the form Orpheus took after his death, and a son of the god Apollo who was turned into a swan after his murder. The name is derived from the Greek κύκνος, kyknos, meaning "swan".