AVERY, Cerelia Araminta

by Orla Hughes Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:28 pm

CERELIA ARAMINTA AVERY
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INTRODUCTION
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FULL NAME: Cerelia Araminta Avery.

NICKNAMES: Lia or “Lee-Lee” by her brothers.

AGE&BIRTHDAY: Fifteen | March 7th 2011.

YEAR: Fifth Year.

ALLEGIANCE: Potter’s Army.

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Ravenclaw.

CLASSES: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms.

WAND: Yew, 13 inches, Doxy Wing core.

PLAY BY: Clémence Poesy.

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APPEARANCE
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HAIR COLOR: Blonde.
Cerelia’s hair spills over her shoulders and falls down to her waist where the bottom naturally curls to tickle her lower back if her shirt was to ride up. Her full, thick locks are the colour of spun gold and are endlessly soft, heaven to run your fingers through. She doesn’t often wear it down and tames it with more than a few straightening potions and charms. Naturally, she has incredibly curly hair with long ringlets that hide the length of her hair. It’s difficult to manage when it is curly though and so Cerelia spends time the night before straightening out her hair after her shower so that in the morning she only has to make a few minor touches and throw it up into a pony tail or a bun depending on what she wants to do with her hair that day. It’s rare for her to have it curly. Few have ever seen it that way and she would prefer to keep it like that also, finding it incredibly embarrassing instead of uniquely adorable.

EYE COLOR: Blue.
Her eyes are the shape of slightly too-wide almonds but her eyes are far from the same colour as the outer shell. Framed by long eyelashes, her eyes sparkle the most beautiful of blues. They’re wide, knowing eyes that fill with wonder at the simplest of things. These are the eyes that charm those around her whether she realises it or not - which I’m sure she doesn’t. Rarely are they covered in make-up unless she is forced into doing so by her step-mother. She doesn’t need it, though. That’s the beauty of it. Her eyes shine and sparkle in the sunlight but seem almost dull and worn out when the sun has turned in. Her eyes seem to reflect the light almost as if they’re sparkling pools of water.

HEIGHT&BODY TYPE: 5’7, ~~Painfully~~ Thin.
For her height, Cerelia most definitely isn’t the correct weight. Far from it in fact but this is due to a number of reasons - mostly because she was a sickly child and as a result never developed as she would have done. She did however, get quite tall, especially for her age and it seems strange to think that she could and is still growing. She is mostly all leg, possessing a torso of the average length for age. She doesn’t look oddly proportioned as a result of her weight but does look a little bit too thin. She doesn’t need to stretch her arms up as high as most do for a glimpse of her ribcage but she isn’t unhealthy. Her general health is fair but when she does get ill, the loss of appetite does nothing for her frame and so she makes sure she takes her vitamins and ensures she has a balanced, if not slightly vegetarian, diet.

SUMMARY:
Cerelia is a tall, narrow shouldered young woman with long legs and slightly short arms. She has long pale fingers with manicured nails neatly painted a pale pink, something that is refreshed every few weeks or so in Diagon Alley. She wears three rings, all silver, one on the thumb of her left hand, her mother’s engagement ring on the ring finger of her right hand and a curling, multiple hoop ring on the little finger of her left hand. Her arms, like the rest of her body, are incredibly pale with blonde hair tickling the surface, barely visible unless you look closely and at a certain angle. She has few moles on this part of her body, such blemishes appearing more on her torso just underneath her ample bosom. As mentioned she has narrow shoulders with jutting shoulder blades. Her hair will spill over her shoulders, naturally curly but manipulated to be straight. Her neck is long and of a creamy pallor that makes any choker pendants stand out stark against her skin. Her eyes, shaped like almonds, are of the most dazzling blue framed by long dark lashes and protected from falling hairline sweat by well-groomed eyebrows. Her lips are scarlet in colour, slightly wide and pouty, and spread willingly into a broad, but incredibly rare, smile.

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PERSONALITY
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TRAITS:
001. Well-educated.
Cerelia’s education began before she had a formal one in a school environment. Determined that her only daughter shouldn’t become a Pureblood bride interested only in her appearance, her mother hired tutors that educated Cerelia in every subject under the sun. From an early age she began learning different languages and studied both Magical and Muggle history. Mathematics was broken down for her to understand and with a young Muggleborn that had recently left University she read every book she could get her hands on. She was equipped with the most basic of skills at first then that knowledge was built upon and built upon until it appeared necessary to introduce her into the subjects she’d encounter at school. Another handful of educators were hired and she began to study the theory of some of the subjects she’d encounter when she received her letter of acceptance, her lack of wand leaving her unable to practice magic. She was, however, allowed to brew and could explore the countryside around their home in search of the creatures she studied in the library with her Care of Magical Creatures tutor. Though Cerelia struggled at first with much of what she did, she soon gained a certain amount of ability in each subject, something she wouldn’t have done if not for her mother’s insistence that she be taught.

002. Graceful.
Cerelia inherited her mother’s gracefulness. She moves with measured steps, as if great thought goes into every movement. She stands tall with her shoulders back and her head lifted high. She never moves her legs too far apart and walks with near silent footsteps, only the swishing of her robes behind her acting as an indication of her whereabouts. Though weak, there is a certain amount of fluidity about her movements. She never appears wooden unless bone straight is your opinion exactly of wooden then in that case perhaps she does. She does not act irrationally and so her movements do not mirror that trait. She takes calm, easy steps and does not speed them up for fear of losing her countenance. She has the most hesitant of touch when dealing with objects. She takes doors slowly by pressing her palm against the flat of the spherical doorknob and curling her long, spindly fingers around it. Her speed makes it difficult for things to open, some objects requiring a sharp turn that her tiny wrist just could not allow for. She is an uncanny echo of her mother in terms of grace, terrifying her father somewhat. It is most probably for that reason that whenever she is around her father she is seated and her brothers dole most of her things out to her - for fear of reminding their father far too much of his lost wife.

003. Day Dreamer.
The stretching of her mind should have perhaps made her more practical but she became whimsical. Though far from unintelligent, Cerelia would take to imagining worlds far from the one she waited in. She did not ask the Gods for princes she could not have and she certainly didn’t expect anyone charming but she wished for something different, most certainly. She did not want to resign herself to the fact that in time she would be married off and would become a Pureblood wife whose husband might look upon her with disdain or vice versa. In the afternoons she would sit in the window seat of the library and dream of lands far away, of adventure and spells that would unlock the secrets of the world she lived in. She read about the schools she might have gone to, hoping that perhaps there she would be able to find the adventure she yearned for. She read about times before her own, delighting in tales of archers and highway men that would steal from the rich before sending them on their less than merry ways. She rarely spoke of her wishes though; learning early on that her father did not appreciate such tales of grandeur. He wanted a daughter who knew her place, not one that reached up high so her fingers could touch the clouds.

004. Diligent.
Not one to ever give up when a challenge presents itself, Cerelia is a hard-working, persevering creature. She struggled through her childhood with her academics but did not once pack up and tell her tutors she would rather busy herself in Diagon Alley with the other girls buying fabrics on her father’s tab that would be made into expensive robes. No, she closed her books, thought about her task over a cup of tea and a spot of lunch from her House Elves and once she was finished, opened her book up again and began to work doubly hard in order to crack through the subject and comprehend it successfully. She does to this day find things challenging in terms of academics but still takes that same outlook on it and doesn’t dare forget her mother’s determination to not leave her brainless. Cerelia has many jokes told of her as a result of this unwavering resolve, one of her tutors mentioning once to one of her brother’s that if she had to drag the entire Wizarding World out of the darkness of war then she would do it until her back broke with the force of it.

005. Gentle.
Accompanying her grace, there is another factor that makes her move like the most delicate of spring breezes. She is a gentle creature, applying the lightest of touches to anything and everything. Her touch is feather-light, the application of strength non-existent, her hands a glorious warmth. She is for that reason perhaps one of the best people to receive some form of first aid from. When her brothers would fight she would appear in the mouth of the doorway that took her out into the garden, her fingers curled around a wooden box full of ointments and bandages she would apply to their cuts and scrapes with a touch so delicate that if they blinked, her brothers could have sworn she hadn’t touched them at all. Her presence is not unlike the breeze because of her grace and gentleness. She is something you must pay your complete attention to otherwise you could blink and she could already be gone, an unsettling chill left behind in the place of her reassuring warmth.

006. Curious.
Education was perhaps the best and the worst thing to happen to Cerelia. With her mind stretched, she began to search for more. She would pour through the books in the library, learning all she could in the time she had to herself before a meal or before bed. Their house felt older than time itself despite its many facelifts and Cerelia would delight in searching it for secrets that she would have otherwise missed. It was her curiosity that got her in the most trouble with her father. She would speak to the paintings on the walls in the old wings of the house that had lain otherwise dormant on the walls without a soul to talk to other than each other. They had exhausted all conversation by then, however, and so when she stumbled across them they began to live somewhat again. Her exploring took her throughout the house and through the countryside, allowing her to find books and ornaments and pictures of her mother that her father never allowed to be set out. Of course, as a result of this she was punished most severely with spells that she daren’t think of casting. Yet, that did not stunt her need to explore. If anything, the danger of it made her even more curious than before.

007. Sentimental.
In some respects, this might be a very foolish thing to be as her father never stopped reminding her how fleeting life was and how foolish it was to hang onto things. But that was his bitterness. Cerelia was forever looking for a link to her mother, her memory far sketchier of the woman than first thought. On her midnight wanderings through the house she would come across trunks filled with her mother’s things, locked away in room she had not previously thought existed. She was hesitant in opening the trunks and her weak frame made the task near enough impossible but when she finally brushed the dust away she could pour through the trunks, picking out bits of jewellery that her mother had owned, pictures of the woman herself and toys of Cerelia’s that had been gifts from her mother that had been locked away. It was because of her father’s desire to wipe their mother away that made Cerelia all the more determined to find evidence of her and it made her cling to the Edwardian lockets and crinkled, curling pictures and bears that were worse for wear. She clung to something more foolish than life; she clung to one that had long since been extinguished. Yet, never once did she feel foolish. Never.

008. Frail.
Cerelia had never been the healthiest of Pureblood children. Far from it, in fact. In her early years she was in and out of St. Mungo’s having fallen sick with this and then later developing that. She’d had more than a few brushes with infectious wizarding diseases and it was suggested once that it was one of those diseases that brought her mother down ill at the rate she did. As a result of her childhood illnesses Cerelia never grew chubby and never possessed any of the baby fat that plighted young witches and wizards - and Muggles alike. No, she stayed a tiny creature with a frame emaciated not by poor diet but by the illnesses that ravaged her. Little could be done when she entered her later childhood years for her body was already growing length ways but not width ways. She grew tall and gangly but did not possess much in terms of weight. Puberty allowed for some curves to develop but that was merely to aid later childbirth. She remains to this day incredibly thin but she does not look nearly as deathly as she did when she was a child. She does however get many a headache that perhaps could be attributed to her weight but no such theory has been put forward. She just works within the restrictions, having accepted long ago that she is to expect fatigue far quicker than her peers would and other such things. She grins and bears it though, deciding there is no room to complain for she simply knows no different.

009. Passive.
This is a learned trait more than anything else, a side-effect of being a Pureblood and a woman at that. She has learned to keep a straight face and be unmoved by even the slightest of things. She rarely opens her mouth when she is home for fear of a reprimand, preferring just to nod at whatever her father says. She has been privy to much of the Death Eater goings on and through the crack in open doors has witnessed many atrocities that she would rather go without remembering. She has successfully convinced her father as a result of her passiveness that she is a callous bitch that cares for nothing he stands for. Perhaps that is the reason why he takes his wand to her more often than not but she has learned to live without questioning his actions. She merely accepts them and moves on, as her mother once did before her. She does have a caring side, however. When she allows herself, she becomes incredibly emotionally involved with people but doesn’t often both to preserve herself and to prevent a conflict of interests between her family and there’s. It is because of that, that she is quite a difficult person to approach having mastered the art of having a blank facial expression but if one was to approach her then he or she would see she is as much of a pleasure to talk to as she is on the eyes.

010. Retiring.
This is another one of her mother’s traits though caused primarily by the headaches that afflict Cerelia. She takes her leave much earlier than perhaps a normal witch or wizard would care to. She prefers the solitude that retiring to her room gives her. She is retiring both physically and emotionally, not allowing for the more destructive emotions to slip through into being. She is far from emotionally demonstrative and does not under any circumstances voice her opinion past a certain point. Rare it is in fact for her to voice her opinion at all and she prefers her own silence. She takes to her bed far often than not though, ailing occasionally with much more than just a simply head ache. She certainly prefers her own company over that of her family’s. She is quite wise for this though, she removes herself from situations she would otherwise not wish to be in. She is slightly manipulating because of this, using her ailments not necessarily afflicting her in order to escape unwanted company or uneasy situations she finds herself in.

011. Obedient.
Never one to argue, Cerelia does what is asked of her no matter what it is. She is ordered around by both of her brothers and let’s not forget her father. She does not question what they ask and though the latter is hardly fair with his requests, her brothers expect far less of their sister. They are calm and patient with her, banking on the fact that her obedience won’t require the threats and the harsh treatment that their father bestows on her. It is because of this instinctive obedience that she is incredibly easy to manipulate. That, mixed with the loyalty she feels towards her family she is incredibly easy to bend if words to the effect of “your father would approve” are uttered to her. She does her best to uphold the family name but her ignorance and naivety make her a target for those whose manipulative streak is far stronger than her ability to see it in people. Her obedience, however, does not mean she does not disagree. Far from it in fact. Her obedience just means she’ll do what is asked. It never suggested she agrees with what it is she is required to do.

012. Book-worm.
If there is one thing Cerelia loves above everything on this earth then it is to read. Her hours of reading through the books in the library, studying every word the tomes held, made her adore the coarse parchment bound in leather. She’ll spend hours in a library, no matter whether it be magical or muggle. She cares not for that, she merely wants to read through everything the library has to offer her. She adores fairytales more than anything, though. She loves the tales of princesses and evil step-mothers. The latter is quite true to life in some respects but she pays little mind to that and just enjoys the tales. Nothing else, she feels, compares to the weight of a book in her hands. It’s tiring on her wrists after a while but she wouldn’t have it any other way. She’ll read about anything and everything, you see. Whether that be Quidditch, which she isn’t all together fond of, or Ancient Runes which is a great secret love of hers. She has countless numbers of books. Her room at home is devoted to them with the bookshelves she has bursting with books to the point where there are piles stacked haphazardly around the room.

013. Perceptive.
It seems an odd trait to have for someone so easily manipulated but Cerelia isn’t as completely naive as her father would like to think. No, she has learned to watch and as a result has seen through much of what the people around her do. She understands much of what motivates people, especially those close to her. Her opinion of them is not high because of this understanding but she cannot help but love them despite this. She is rarely shocked by anything her brothers do or any of the anxieties they face. She also finds herself rather in tune with their emotions, their feelings hitting her like walls of water, painful and chilling, or sometimes just washing over her like a tide. She’s surprised sometimes by the strength of the emotions, not her own, that flood through her. It is perhaps what causes the headaches - the mere shock of the feelings. She doesn’t feel the same watery invasion around those she has only just met. She can feel it only the tiniest amount, as if she’s walking through the surf - her mind a million miles away.

014. Loyal.
More of a Gryffindor trait, Cerelia is the most loyal person you could ever have the pleasure of meeting. She has one of those manners that make her incredibly easy to speak to even though she doesn’t say much herself and she will take every secret entrusted in her to the grave. It is because of the link she has with those that she is close to that makes this trait even stronger because she is privy to much more than they are aware of and so it is even more important that she stays loyal to them as individuals. She keeps their secrets whether they realise they’ve entrusted her with it or not. She isn’t however, especially loyal to Potter’s Army. Rightly so, the student based organisation does not trust her much but she has tried her best to show she is worth their trust. Mostly though, they believe that she is a spy for the Dark Followers or something of the like. Cerelia allows them to think what they like but remains loyal and obliging, on the surface, all the same.

015. Superstitious.
Despite her education and her instruction to understand and accept only what can be prove, Cerelia is extremely superstitious. She believes heavily in the idea of bad and good luck, obsessing over the former more so than the latter. She does not partake in the idea of throwing salt over her shoulder and the like because she is incredibly careful not to allow the initiation bad luck to take place. She stays away from ladders, refuses to hold her own umbrella and makes sure there is a galleon in the pocket of all of her dresses, new and old. She loathes ghosts, especially the ones that wander around Hogwarts. She is especially afraid of black cats and stays away from the Forbidden Forest, believing that the werewolves there would sooner eat her than have a sensible conversation with her. One of her more irrational traits, her superstition is something she drives herself barmy with.

016. Forgiving.
Despite the wrong doing of her father and the abuse she receives from him and abuse she knows her mother received, she cannot hate him. This forgiveness applies to everyone that has ever done wrong by her or by anyone she associates with. She finds it impossible to hold grudges against people and so doesn’t as a result of it. She never voices her forgiveness though, preferring to say nothing until it is asked of her. Though it is rare for anyone other than her father to do wrong by her, she is incredibly willing to forgive, far faster than most young women her age. She is for that reason perhaps one of the best people to befriend if you are a serial wrong-doer. She isn’t completely incapable of hate though, she just prefers on an unconscious level to do without it and consciously it has never occurred to her to hate someone. She just doesn’t see the need for it and so, she doesn’t.

017. Timid.
It is because of her less than nurturing upbringing that Cerelia is incredibly shy. She was not taught to be loud and crude and opinionated like some of the other Pureblood girls. She remains quiet and meek and certainly doesn’t answer back to her parents or grandparents like some of the girls she was brought up around do. She is incredibly shy around new people, even quieter than normal, and always waits for the other person to speak first, subscribing to the idea of not speaking until first spoken to as she was taught by her grandparents who didn’t even accept her brother’s talking avidly and they were the heirs! It is something that has followed her throughout her life and she certainly hasn’t learned to do any differently. She is for that reason and others incredibly difficult to talk to at first. She’s hard to pry out of her little shell but once she is out, she’s incredibly lively.

018. Cheerful.
Once you get to know her, Cerelia is the happiest person you will ever meet. Though she doesn’t show it outwardly, her smiles tell you everything. They range from the tiniest of twitches the widest, toothiest of smiles that are rare for anyone to see. Her smile is a glorious thing though because it lights up her entire face, making her eyes sparkle with delight. It is something that truly changes her face. Her expression can look truly miserable at times but once something makes her smile, her whole face changes and her true beauty shines through. Most of the time though, her cheeks will flush first and they will bruise with scarlet before her lips will twitch upwards. It is her smile though that makes her who she is. It is something so rare that when it does appear, it is truly remarkable. But her cheer is unlike any other. It is unrelenting and no matter what has afflicted her, she’ll always find brightness in life.

019. Discreet.
Her grace makes her unheard almost and it is that, that enables her to be as discreet as she is - it’s what allows her to go unnoticed as if under an invisibility cloak. She much prefers going unnoticed to being the centre of attention though occasionally she will watch and wish that maybe the person she’s looking at will turn their head and smile at her. She does enjoy the solitude going unnoticed gives her but it also comes with much loneliness if those she wishes to talk to don’t see her first for she certainly won’t speak to them before they do her. It almost makes her seem eternally absent and the teachers truly have to look around the room in search of her if they don’t call out the roll and base it primarily on faces. She is easy to brush over and perhaps that’s why she is so quiet, both to aid that and as a result of it.

020. Tactful.
When having to phrase things that are otherwise uncomfortable to say, Cerelia seems to have a knack for gently explaining things to people in a way that makes difficult subjects easier to swallow. Certainly she does make mistakes but that is a rare thing indeed when it comes to handling people - especially those with egos as large as the ones the men in her life have. Her brothers are especially difficult to deal with but she knows exactly what they want to hear and for the most part it is all about the tone with them. They could be told their dog died but if it was in the right tone then they would be able to deal with it. If not...well... But anyway, it’s something Cerelia knows how to do with and has yet to have any problems on that front.

SOMETHINGOFNOTE:
Her character is quite a mixture. This particular section only shows part of her, painting her almost in a suffering light. In part she is and has dealt well considering what she has had to work with. However, she is not the only light in the darkness. Light, she possesses but it is quite a bit darker than we would all like to think. She has her father’s cruel streak, make no mistake of thinking otherwise. Despite the quiet of her persona she did not escape the influence of the Pureblood way. Ingrained in her are the same prejudices that were ingrained in both of her parents and though she is not one to voice them, her body language speaks volumes. She is easily riled and is by no means a calm creature. Her manner when speaking is often quite patronizing and sarcastic and every syllable is usually dripping with disdain. Most of her emotions, especially the negative ones, are bottled and stored away so that she can remain light, airy and agreeable. However there is spitefulness beneath the insecurities, something that shines through when she duels. She has a certain amount selfishness about her and the Slytherin craftiness that makes her to the most dangerous of adversaries as the delicateness of her being tempts you to underestimate her. Her temper betrays her as her father’s daughter but her poise and countenance would not allow her to act upon her real thoughts and feelings. She is a mixture indeed, caught between her nature and what she has been taught to be.

CHARACTER LIKES:
001. Frills.
002. Light blue.
003. Tea.
004. Springtime.
005. Dresses.
006. White roses.
007. Going for walks.
008. Green apples.
009. Reading.
010. Cats.

CHARACTER DISLIKES:
001. Crowds.
002. Mudbloods.
003. Her father.
004. Wine.
005. Marriage contracts.
006. Winter.
007. Wool.
008. Family dinners.
009. Cities.
010. Thunder storms.

GOALS:
001. Please her father.
002. To graduate with top marks.
003. To go on a simply wonderful adventure.
004. Become a Professor.
005. To perhaps write a little.

QUIRKS:
001. Writes notes on her arm.
002. Picky eater.
003. Twirls hair round her fingers.
004. Left-handed.
005. Plays with necklaces.
006. Ties shoelaces cack-handedly.
007. Always has an ink smudge on her left arm from writing.
008. Collects plastic Muggle toy soldiers.
009. Involuntarily blushes.
010. Grips on tight to stair rails.

BOGGART: Falling down a staircase.
Stairs terrify her as a result of her mother’s demise. She’ll grip tightly onto the hand rail and never let go, stumbles and the like terrifying her as the image of her tumbling down plagues her mind. Rare, is it, for her to descend stairs by herself. She’ll merely stand at the top, her knuckles white with the grip on the rail, waiting for someone to go with her so if she were to fall, she’d be caught.

PATRONUS: April 12th 2016 - her fifth birthday.
It was the last birthday her mother was alive for and the only one Cerelia can recall the woman being truly involved with. This is a weak, blurry memory though that isn’t enough for Cerelia to be able to cast a Patronus. She has tried many a time but is unable to both due to a lack of a suitable memory and because of it being a light manifestation of magic. She has given up on a Patronus, resigning herself to the idea that she’ll merely be gobbled up by a hungry Dementor if it ever came down to it. She just cannot for the life of her conjure one. It doesn’t matter how hard she tries. She just can’t.

DEMENTOR: Her mother’s death.
Though the knowledge of her mother’s death was second hand, she’d never frozen up before quite as she did upon being informed of the woman’s death. Talia Eberhardt, though in the end a neglecting mother, was someone who Cerelia loved dearly and to this day, the knowledge that her mother met her end on a flight of stairs terrifies her. The knowledge that her mother is dead is something that still freezes her frame and makes her breath catch in her windpipe. Every Mother’s Day, Cerelia will leave flowers in the vault by her mother’s stone grave. On Talia’s birthday another bouquet will join the one she knows has been left there by her father. Her memories of her mother are blighted now by the depression that had consumed the woman in the last years of her life. Nothing can erase the image of her sitting in the window seat of the library - nothing. The locket around her neck that shows a picture of a smiling Talia is not one that Cerelia can genuinely comprehend. Though she adores her mother, she cannot remember a time when the woman was happy and knowing that she died in the circumstances she did terrifies Cerelia, her Boggart matching her mother’s death and her Dementor memory freezing her as the news did the day after the event.

VERITASERUM: None ‘exciting’ enough. Could be considered to be her spying on Potter’s Army, though hardly a grand secret.

MIRROR OF ERISED: Freedom.
Nothing can be simpler than this request. She wants little more than to be free to make her own decisions, to find her own path in life. However, Cerelia knows this is far from being her destiny. In fact, it’ll be the exact opposite. She’s confined like a bird in a cage and knows she shall remain that way unless she marries into a family that allows their woman to cross the world and find themselves as well as explore every corner. This is all Cerelia wants and though she knows she cannot achieve it, it does not prevent her from going on wanting.

AMORTENTIA: Hot Chocolate, fresh parchment, ink, and her mother’s perfume.

STRONG AREA OF MAGIC: Dark Magic.

WEAK AREA OF MAGIC: The light application of magic.

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FAMILY & POSSESSIONS
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BLOOD STATUS:

RACE:

SOCIAL STATUS:

HOME:

BROOM:

PET(S):

by Orla Hughes Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:30 pm

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CHARACTER HISTORY
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PRE-BIRTH:
In the wake of the First World War, Europe was in tatters trying to come to terms with what had gone on through the four years the continent had been at war. Germany had been reduced to mere ashes, thrown to her knees by the allies and the Treaty of Versailles, her position worsened still by the disastrous Weimar Government that, in its haste to pay the country’s war reparations, had sent the country and its people spiralling into economic crisis. It was from the ashes that the broken and weary German Witches and Wizards rose, brushing off their robes and brandishing their wands in order to help restore much of what in their little corners of the country had been destroyed. No one had escaped the war and in their ignorance, the Wizarding Folk had been the ones to suffer the worst. Few remained to watch the political upheaval in the country. Most travelled across Europe and settled in the surrounding countries in new Wizarding communities, safe but not entirely unable to escape the prejudice against their German blood, a Muggle hatred that had translated onto the naivety of the Wizarding nations caught up in a war they did not for the life of them understand.

The Eberhardt family had been a prominent Wizarding family that had much to do with the German Ministry up until the war. They had mostly been accountants, working in the family bank that was in the centre of Berlin. Over the course of the 19th Century the bank had expanded across Europe and the family hired Goblins to work there, similarly to Gringotts. However, the Goblins weren’t nearly as compliant’ and the Eberhardt family were far from kind to them and so a series of revolts in the early 20th Century caused financial issues for the family. When War was declared, many of them went to war with scores of young and old men alike being wiped out in shell fire at different points during the war. Those left to run the bank had to have strict instruction from the men on the Front Line and often direction didn’t come until six weeks too late. However, it all too soon became clear that the family was in trouble both financially and in terms of security. Upon the death of her husband Claus, Ula Eberhardt’s eldest son Theobold who had only just turned eleven became the head of the family and with the mess they were in, even with her son’s strong business mind their situation was to prove unsalvageable. So, in order to avoid disaster, Ula packed up their house in Munich and took her children from the country, escaping on a rickety old broomstick her mother had given her on her wedding day, originally intended for cleaning the floors but later charmed to fly.

The family found themselves in Scotland, in a field owned by a farmer named Richard Lemmings. As they disembarked from the broom, the children rubbed the sleep from their eyes and complained to their then heavily pregnant mother about the way the long grass tickled the backs of their legs. She left Theobold in charge, trusting him to keep his younger siblings under control, which he did without fail. She travelled through the field to the farm house and it was there that she found a man with auburn hair arguing with another. Later, they found that the man was called Vincent Avery but until he offered them rooms in his manor, the farmer put them up. It wasn’t until a week or so later that Avery came back and, dismayed at the sight of the pregnant woman lying upon the floor, took them in a carriage down the beaten track to his home where they once again found themselves in a certain amount of luxury and it was there that Ula was accepted into the British Wizarding World, meeting all of Avery’s friends.

For the duration of the 1920’s, the Eberhardts stayed with the Avery family much to the chagrin of the woman of the house. Vincent became quite enamoured with the woman and treated her children as if they were his own, becoming increasingly neglectful of his own who became bitter and resentful of him. Avery doted upon the seven children, instructing Theobold on the ways of a Pureblood heir as he had done with his own son who he considered to be prepared enough to need no more guidance. Of course, his own son was in need of much, unsure as to handle himself especially when dealing with his betrothed; he was especially neglecting there. During the mid-1920s, the rest of the Eberhardts joined Ula and her small part of the family in the United Kingdom, finally settling in Wales where they bought a large manor house for Ula off of a family, the owner of which had perished not a few years prior. For a long time after that the Avery and Eberhardt families stayed close but rarely did they marry into each other. It wasn’t until the 1980s when Talia Eberhardt was born that a match was made between the two families; between Talia and Adolphus.

The pair grew up together in the north of England just outside of York. For the most part, Adolphus’ father had little to do with his upbringing, having too much to do with the Ministry and his elder brothers to worry about his youngest son. He left the boy with only once piece of information: that Talia was his to do with what he wished. What is father forgot to add was that Talia would only be his when the married, which they were due to a few months after Talia graduated from Hogwarts, she being the younger of the two. Adolphus acted by the example he was given by his own parents. Talia was to agree with his every opinion and never question why he did what he did. With this barrage of rules, it soon became second nature for the young girl just to accept what Adolphus wanted of her. His foul temper was not something she wanted to endure. Their relationship was far from equal, his negative influence near enough consuming her kind nature. He created a darker side in her, one that learned exactly how to survive under him - similarly to how their daughter has now. Talia resigned herself to the fact that she would not escape Adolphus and did little to protest, knowing full well her position which was far lower than his.

Talia and Adolphus actually married a year after she graduated, Talia’s family stalled by rows pertaining to the relationship she had with a young Muggle boy who had worked the gardens through the summer leading up to the wedding. Desperate not to have their family’s reputation shattered by their daughter’s mistake, they gave her an ultimatum in the hope that she side with them rather than her childish love affair. Begrudgingly, Talia married Adolphus and became an Avery. She then learned her role. She was to provide Adolphus with heirs no matter what the cost to her personally. He became obsessed with the idea of getting heirs, putting strain on their already difficult relationship. He was expectant of children and when she disappointed him by announcing the blood had come in the months after their wedding, he grew steadily more and more frustrated. He began to question his own ability but in the late September she finally fell pregnant. He was not as overjoyed as she’d hoped he’d been. He merely said that it was “about time” and told her he was going out - no doubt to take part into a Death Eater raid. The stress of feeling obligated to produce an heir caused her to miscarry and it was a cycle until the spring of 2008 that she finally fell pregnant.

It was in the January that she gave birth to a boy, two in fact - twins. However, despite the fact that Adolphus had his heir and a spare if he was to ever be in need, he wanted another. It was until two years later that she fell pregnant with Cerelia. That was to be the last child she would ever have. Disappointed though Adolphus was to find he had a daughter, he did not press too much for another child. He spent his time with the boys, deeming them more useful than the girl that was never intended nor wanted as far as he was concerned. He sent Talia to represent their family in the social world and focused on his sons, leaving Cerelia in the care of a wet nurse, one he had been sleeping with throughout both of his wife’s successful pregnancies, finding he preferred the child-bearing curves of the nurse to the stick like figurine that was his wife. It was during the early months that the pair grew apart and from there the bridge between them widened still.

ZERO TO THREE:
Most of Cerelia’s primary needs were catered to by a wet nurse by the name of Miriam Grey who had also looked after Cerelia’s brothers and continued to do so as they remained in the nursery with Cerelia until they turned five and were deemed ready for schooling. It was rare for Talia to be allowed into the nursery but that didn’t stop the woman. More often than not she would neglect her duties and steal away for an hour or so to the nursery where she would entertain and feed her daughter by her breast until she was interrupted by a House Elf conscious of where the wet nurse was. However, Grey was not as ignorant as they would have liked. She was sensitive to the child’s feeding patterns and upon finding that she did not wish to feed, even almost shying away from the offer of it, she knew that something or someone had interrupted the routine. Those hours Talia spent in the nursery coincided with the wet nurse’s break and also with the time she and Adolphus would disappear into a different room in the house or into the gardens for a sweaty afternoon romp. Talia, naive to her husband’s infidelity, assumed that the nurse was loyal to her and would not relay to her husband where she disappeared to. Talia assumed wrongly. Grey was more than willing to inform Adolphus of his wife’s wanderings and did so the afternoon she walked in on the woman, her mind distracted by the man’s love making abilities, but she focused on the scene well enough to understand and fled immediately to Adolphus. Subsequently, the wet nurse was sacked from the household but, much to Talia’s dismay and surprise, stayed on as Adolphus’ mistress - and a child bearing one at that.

It was later revealed to a heartbroken Talia that his secret mistress had not been such a secret, members of Pureblood society having known about it since before the birth of twins. Dishonoured by her adulterous husband, Talia took her children and fled to her parents’ manor in Munich, Germany. It was there that she hired tutors for her sons and tentatively began to introduce art to an eager and messy seven month old Cerelia. It was in the safety of the manor in Munich that Talia could truly bond with her children and interact with them in ways that had been previously barred to her by Adolphus who by this time was living handsomely with Miriam Grey in the Avery family home. Grey was also reportedly with child, though this was never proved as not a year later, a nineteen-month-old Cerelia returned to the home of her birth with her mother and her brothers as well as a selection of tutors that provided the confidence Talia needed to tell Adolphus exactly how her household was going to be run. Shocked by the strength and the finality in his wife’s voice, Adolphus reluctantly agreed but soon enough Talia was broken and reduced to a mere broodmare, one that disappointed him further as she could no longer reproduce, the stress of her first attempts to do so having finally caught up with her body and culminated into infertility. What little desire he had for her, went out the window when the Healers confirmed a fact she’d known for years. This time it was Adolphus who left and he joined his mistress who he’d sent to the South of Italy, to one of the Avery properties where he intended to join her weeks before.

So once again, they were left alone but Talia’s children were not as compliant as they had been before and the woman was forced to accept the help of the eager House Elves that took the children off of her hands. But that wasn’t what Talia wanted at all you see and nothing she could say could convince the House Elves to let her care for her children. The House Elves were adamant they’d do it and rightly so because around Cerelia’s second birthday, just before her brothers started tuition in preparation for Hogwarts, their mother was almost emaciated with stress and worry - malnutrition being an apt but too light of a word here. Though it was clear she was becoming increasingly ill, the House Elves could not force her to see a Healer and neither could the tutors who had also seen the decline of their pupils’ mother’s health. All they could collectively do is distract the children and give Talia hearty meals that would return, much to the dismay of the House Elves, merely picked at or cold and not touched at all. In the end the decided it best to leave her, even the most persuasive of the tutors failing to make the woman see sense. She was the greatest example of heartbreak the Avery family had ever seen. Her parents could do little to console her and so she would sit in the library window seat, staring out into the grounds at the orange tree where Adolphus would Apparate to, waiting in vain for the day he’d return.

Cerelia meanwhile was taken under the wing of a group of younger tutors that had once been a group of thespians during their Hogwarts years. The females indulged in the young blonde while the males coaxed her on in her development, all of them making sure to always talk to her as if she were older than her years to encourage growth in her mind and her body. Desperate to learn, the girl complied and even began to show signs of magic, later than her brothers had but it was magic all the same and it was something the tutors raved about even though the way she showed examples of it harassed them more than anything else. She did not use her magic destructively and displayed an odd amount of skill in containing it, only using it when it delighted her mischievous mood. She did not have much control over it at all when she was upset and like a typical young witch, the china would break and precious items would ignite as tears flooded down her chubby cheeks; and more often than not she would find herself reduced to tears at the sight of her mother who for a good year or so did little to upset her routine of staring out of the library window; not even to console her only daughter.

THREE TO SIX:
Adolphus returned to find his children with their tutors in the summer after Cerelia’s fifth birthday. Talia appeared at the top of the staircase in the foyer, her cheeks flushed with the joy of seeing her husband again. No one knows what happened that day. There has been years of speculation since and accounts conflict but one thing has been confirmed and established: on July 10th 2016, Talia Pandora Avery fell down the grand staircase in the foyer of the Avery Mansion just south of Edinburgh. The post-mortem report found she’d broken her ribcage and her neck which resulted in the severing of a vital artery. However, what they found were bruises splayed across her stomach like scorch marks - like the impact of a spell. Similar were found on her back but nothing was ever taken further than the mere statement in the report. Adolphus quickly stifled the coroner and the healers from saying anything more and near enough a month later, Talia was buried in the Eberhardt family plot - her parents having decided they wanted nothing more to do with the ‘poisonous’ Avery family; and so in the space of two months, a friendship between two families that had lasted near enough a hundred years, ended.

At first, Adolphus was cautious about dealing with his children who had been looked after well enough by their tutors and the House Elves that had attended them while their mother had been less than useful to them. He observed them for a handful of months, learning their routines and discovering things about their fledgling personalities before overturning the routine and beginning something new for them. The boys were to receive a formal education with the rest of the Purebloods their age. Cerelia was to have their tutors and she was to also be instructed in the Pureblood way of life for women. Adolphus then set about finding a suitor for his only daughter. He found plenty of young Purebloods both older and the same age as Cerelia - unattached and perfect for her as far as he was concerned. When the families met and the children were encouraged to interact, the families of the sons in question found the girl to be far too quiet and insufferably more interested in a book than the attention of their boys. This was the cause of many arguments between the families, something Cerelia was hyper aware of. Her feelings were often affected by the extreme ones her parents dealt with and just as she grew miserable and withdrawn with her mother, she became livid and argumentative with her father’s emotions.

It fast became clear that Cerelia was not going to make a suitable wife for any of the young Purebloods. She did not stroke the egos that had been nurtured by their indulgent parents. She merely regarded them as people, and more often than not, people below her own station. Cerelia hadn’t been taught how to properly socialise and nothing her father could do could change what she’d learnt from her mother. His frustration grew, and her own emotions began to mirror his. His words were harsh and cut into her like blades but the feeling was purely emotional and it didn’t affect her much until he first took her wand to her, leaving her with scotch marks similar to her mother’s. The spell he’d used had been a favourite of his, though he regretted the use of it on his daughter as soon as he cast it: the Cruciatus Curse. He didn’t regret the cutting curses though, something he used on all his children both as a punishment and an incentive to make them work faster and do things better. He wanted the very best out of them and did anything he thought necessary to ensure that would happen.

Those years were the ones Cerelia learned the most in. She truly began to understand what motivated her father; money, mostly, but also the assurance that the Avery line would continue. It was in the summer after her sixth birthday that she realised quite how worried he was about the idea of the line dying out. One of her brother’s fell from the broom their uncle had been using to teach him to fly. Though the boy hadn’t expired because of it, Cerelia was overcome with a suffocating anxiety that she could not describe, directly from her father. Adolphus was genuinely concerned, selfishly so but his fears were not unfounded. For the next few months until his son was fully repaired, the boys were unable to leave the house without Adolphus with them and the man paid special attention to the pair, determined to teach them the necessary skills to live in the wizarding world himself - trusting that he would not see them hurt. Cerelia said nothing about her father’s emotions that day to anyone. She merely put them to the back of her mind and continued on with her studies, preferring it that way as she knew what would have become of her had she raised the subject with her father. No, she much preferred being out of sight and out of his mind - which, much to her delight, she was most of the time.

It was in the autumn that her father finally found her a suitor, late for her age but someone he approved of. However, the union of the two pre-marriage was short lived with the boy dying of Dragon Pox a few months before the official betrothal ceremony was to take place. Though Adolphus did not blame his daughter this time, he still took his frustration out on her and made sure she was aware of his displeasure. After extinguishing his frustration and his energy with violent spells, he cast her away and left her to the House Elves to clean up the mess he’d reduced her to. Adolphus, aged beyond his years, felt the stress of being alone and saw his daughter to be in need of female companionship. Despite the ill treatment towards her, he still cared and wanted to secure a future for her. He was admittedly unsure how but decided she needed female companionship and set about finding himself a young wife. His intention was to bring some life back into the home again. The boys had become what he’d expected them to be though far faster than he’d hoped and his daughter was going down the same route but was far more obedient than his wayward, argumentative sons would ever be.

So Adolphus launched himself into the Pureblood world once more and found himself a young witch from Spain who was more than happy to fill the role that had been by then empty for a year. He courted her as her parents expected him to and he found himself teaching his sons similar techniques as the process went on - explaining to them that if they wanted something, especially a woman, they had to work for it as he was doing. Finally the family agreed to the engagement and Adolphus immediately proposed, bringing the witch and her young daughter from a previous marriage that had ended in disaster for her reputation - her husband having run off with a Muggle woman far prettier and much more intelligent than she. Adolphus overlooked this of course and welcomed the pair into his home months before the wedding, hoping to coax the children together and encourage them to form a bond with his fiancée’s daughter. He hoped against hope more than anything that Cerelia would like the girl. He was sorely disappointed though, and definitely made his upset known to his daughter.

SIX TO NINE:
In the spring after her eighth birthday, Adolphus and his new wife, Adriana, moved the family yet again. This time their move was final and they settled in Southern Wales in a large Tudor-style manor house that had been in the family’s possession since it was acquired from the Muggle who’d built it in the late 1500s. Much of the house had been enlarged on the inside and Cerelia found herself with her own wing. Delighted though she was, she was by this time quite a messy child and found the upkeep of the rooms in her wing impossible. The House Elves that had gone with the family also found it difficult to keep up with the house and so Adolphus travelled to Knockturn Alley where he got ten more house elves, three of which were Cerelia’s. The four of them managed to keep the girl’s wing semi-tidy with Cerelia making a mess, the Elves clearing up behind her and she behind them making the mess again. That was her only freedom of expression, really. The art book her tutor had given her was swollen with sketches depicting her thoughts and feelings - some good, some not so good. She soon grew out of it though, especially upon finding she had to share her wing with Adriana’s daughter - an attempt to have the two girls bond, she’d been told. If anything, her father achieved the opposite.

Where Cerelia fell behind, Adriana’s daughter overtook. Cerelia was quiet and submissive, Erica was loud and hard-headed, refusing more often than not to do as Adolphus instructed. Determined to placate her father, Cerelia did nothing to encourage the lively creature that she was forced to house in her rooms. The wedding had been lavish enough and the house was certainly big enough for Erica to have her own wing. Adolphus refused to convert the guest wing though and so Cerelia found Erica to be her roommate. Needless to say, it drove the blonde mad with a mixture of frustration and jealousy. Cerelia had failed to impress Adolphus for much of her childhood and continued to leave him without much to show for in the way of the daughter. Erica was everything he wanted. Though still young, she managed to secure a suitor within a few months of being in Wales. She’d managed to impress her step-father to the point where he would instruct Cerelia to retire to her room far earlier than her headaches would, preferring to be in the company of his sons, his new wife and her daughter rather than his sons and his own wife and daughter.

It was during that time, the four hour window between being told to retire and the headaches reaffirming that fact, that she would begin to explore the house. Rare would it be for her to find a trace of her mother but it was in the winter before her ninth birthday that she finally found something worthy of being called something other than a trace. Her father had Erica’s betrothed in the house along with all of his family. Cerelia had remained tight-lipped, reluctantly indulging the boy’s younger siblings before leaving just as Adolphus had taken in the breath to tell her to do so. She disappeared upstairs, not showing her face to anyone until Erica returned to their rooms to gush about how wonderful her life would be later on. It was during those hours that she stumbled across a trunk that with a little prying magic she found she could open - so she did so, not expecting quite what she found inside.

Love letters packed out most of the trunk, then pictures, then jewellery that looked to be decades, if not centuries old. Everything smelt exactly as she remembered her mother to. Lavender and something fruity she couldn’t quite place. Cerelia poured through the trunk, squinting at some of the letters in order to read what appeared to be her father’s jottings of affection, and attempting to fit as much as possible into the pockets of her pale blue dress in terms of jewels and trinkets. She was determined to have something that would remind her of her mother and managed to make away with a locket and a handful of rings that her tiny fingers were sure to grow into, her father having mentioned once while more than a little bit intoxicated that she had her mother’s hands. That was the only time he’d be even remotely affectionate towards Cerelia, after a few too many Firewhiskies. It was then that he was overcome with a guilt that would buckle Cerelia’s knees as he peered at her with love hidden behind his pitiful gaze.

She learned much about her father in these interim years. She wasn’t yet old enough to learn to fly as her brothers had been and she had certainly not proved to be at all useful in terms of securing a husband-to-be so Cerelia was left to her own devices for much of the time, her tutors forever hanging about the house like the post-university layabouts they were waiting for the House Elves to hurry up and fetch them the wine they’d asked for twenty minutes or so ago. Cerelia was forever asking questions but more often than not she would pout and complain to her favourite of all of the tutors, the artist Edgar Graves, who listened attentively to her as she implored with him to understand her frustration with not being able to draw as close to reality as she would like. Taking this on board, that Christmas, Edgar presented her with a camera that took both wizarding and muggle photographs. Overjoyed, the girl set about photographing everyone, much to the delight and dismay of some of those in her household.

During the New Year, Adolphus gave one last go at trying to secure his daughter a husband for when she was of age. He tried every Pureblood household he knew of, even going so far as the continent but stopping there, knowing that there would be more Purebloods born to witches on the continent - he didn’t, after all, want to lower his standards. He tried, Merlin knew he tried but no family wanted to subject their son to the boredom of the girl that seemed to lack the charisma of her father and her step-sister. In fact, numerous offers were made to Erica instead, much to Adolphus’ mixed pleasure and dismay. In the end, he was forced to admit defeat and at the advice of his father, began setting away money for Cerelia for when she was of age. His sons hadn’t been such a difficulty, with them having the pick of the litter. Despite being tied down, Erica had numerous offers still. Cerelia, however, was impossible to sell off. So Adolphus merely set the money aside until the time came that she turned seventeen and he could be rid of her; which, as far as he was concerned, couldn’t come fast enough.

NINE TO ELEVEN:
It hadn’t been a difficult decision for Adolphus to make in the end, to right it in his mind that once she came of age he would be rid of his useless daughter. Crushingly, Cerelia was becoming increasingly aware of her father’s distaste of her and found that even her coming to dinner seemed to be an inconvenience for him. It seemed as if he functioned better without her presence, or that is how he portrayed it to be. Cerelia had merely learned to accept it and tried to please her father in any small way possible, even making him cards for the day dedicated to men like him, fathers. He’d been disgusted by them, delighted at her brother’s intuitive ways of spending his money, but disgusted at the ‘Muggle’ gift that Cerelia had tried to give him. It was from that point on that she began to take her meals in her rooms or in the library with the tutors who were more than happy to hold her company. They had long since figured that even if they could not speak out against Adolphus, they could at least try and help the girl. Cerelia didn’t want it though. By the time she’d turned eleven, she’d learnt well enough what it meant to be an Avery - and a disappointment at that. She just wasn’t moved by it anymore; nothing her father did shocked her.

Her brothers went to Hogwarts and Erica followed them, her expensively tailored robes swishing out behind her. It was on Platform 9¾ that her father informed her that she would not be attending the same school as her siblings. At that she could not mask her horror and her eyes flitted to Adriana who merely continued plaiting her daughter’s hair as the girl attempted to struggle away from her mother and join the boys on the train. Adolphus was matter-of-fact and even went as far as to light a cigar with the end of his wand as he told her. She could only swallow, wrap her cloak tighter around her and nod her head once in comprehension. He then went on to tell her that along with attending Durmstrang, she was to stay with his parents in Austria. Again, all she could do was nod and accept it. Content, Adolphus shot her a sardonic smile and patted her on the shoulder before leading the way off of the platform. Cerelia could only follow, sure she saw Erica smirk at her as she left.

Despite it all, really Adolphus was helping his daughter. He knew what a poor education the others were destined to get at Hogwarts and he was hoping to produce something great in his only daughter. Durmstrang would help her, he was sure of that. It was a school that could nurture the dark he saw in her, that he was sure she knew was there but she would not allow. So, after contacting his parents, he Apparated with his daughter across the Channel to France where they spent a week in the capital buying her school things before again Apparating, this time to Austria where his parents waited. At first, Cerelia was unsure of the couple that were waiting on the large doorstep of the castle-like manor in the north of Austria. The woman was slender, and quite tall with a long neck that bore the most beautiful jewels. Her hair was twisted up onto her head with pearls decorating the plaited bun. Her robes were of a purple hue and her husband’s were much of the same. Her husband, Cerelia noticed, was a softer version of her father; her father’s pointed features having come from his mother. They were kind enough, and kinder still when her father finally left.

Bernard and Astrid Avery had not been blighted by the influence of Tom Riddle as their son had been, Astrid was quick to inform the young girl. Cerelia was appraised by both of her grandparents, both looking upon her with approval when they saw more of her mother in her than her father. Her grandmother sat with her for a very long time, just looking, Cerelia not quite able to meet the woman’s gaze. Astrid finally came to the conclusion that Cerelia “would do” and smiled at the girl before flooing her tailor. Cerelia, her grandmother declared, was to be dressed in the very finest, and cursed her wayward son for not dressing the girl properly sooner. Cerelia was transformed, almost. Her hair was cut and tamed with magic and product that would take away the frizz and much of the curls to leave her with soft waves so long as she continued with the treatment of it. Her clothes were replaced with robes and Muggle outfits approved by her grandmother and she was paraded in front of all of their friends, for the first time the centre of attention. Several offers of betrothal were made during those months though Astrid accepted none of them, making sure to keep it from her son also.

A few months before they went to buy her school things - Cerelia having read ahead and in need of more material and also because she no longer fitted the robes her “stupid” father had gotten her - Astrid and Bernard took her to Norway where she first came in contact with Durmstrang. The towering structure dwarfed the young girl who had grown to a height that made her far taller than those her age. The Professors there, as Bernard informed Cerelia, were all Dark Arts practitioners but they taught not to use it destructively but to use it only in times of great need and to study it if do nothing else. The visit had terrified Cerelia but she found she liked it well enough and began to look forward to attending it. She found that Durmstrang had something else to offer her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but she supposed it was just the emphasis on the practice of magic both in the practical and theoretical sense.

It was after that visit that they travelled back to the mainland and into Germany where she acquired her wand. The wand maker, an elderly man named Franz who specialised in wands for students looking to attend Durmstrang. Impressed with the blonde before him, he poured through his stocks, most of the glassware in his shop being reduced to mere shards, before he settled on a Yew wand of 13 inches with a Doxy Wing Core, the combination strong with the Dark Arts. Overjoyed, Cerelia didn’t notice the warning Franz gave her, to trust in the wand everything but light intentions. She merely smiled at him, jumped up and kissed his cheek before darting from the shop, her amused but ever so slightly apprehensive and incredibly proud grandparents following her having paid the man who reiterated the warning to them. Astrid merely smiled indulgently at him but paid little notice, trusting in the strength of her granddaughter’s core. She could handle the wand, that Astrid was sure of.

DURMSTRANG:
Her first year of formal education was one she’d been waiting for since she’d gone to live with her grandparents. Dressed in richly tailored Durmstrang robes and further wrapped in a thick fur coat, Cerelia found herself stood on a dock waiting to board a large galleon that bore the colours of the school. Her luggage was put in the stomach of the ship by some dawdling young wizards and she exchanged hugs and kisses from her grandparents before following a friendly young Prefect called Katrina whose younger sister Elsa would be attending her first year at the school also. Cerelia was taken up on deck and then down into the ship where she was shown the First Year level which was the nearest to the top deck. There she was shown a room where Elsa and a handful of other eager looking girls were sitting and Cerelia allowed Katrina to introduce her before taking a seat beside Elsa and smiling at the Prefect as she left the room. The girls were telling stories about their summer, one having travelled “all the way” to Scotland where she saw Hogwarts. The girls laughed as she reported on her distaste for the “shoddy excuse for a castle” and Cerelia found herself smiling also.

The ship transported itself underwater and rose again in the large body of water that it had come from in the first place. It dropped its anchors at the port and deck by deck the students tumbled off of the ship, their sea legs not quite allowing them to walk in straight lines on solid-ish land. They were warned by smirking prefects of the fearsome creatures that inhabited the water and the girls hurriedly made a pact not to go into the water as they watched others jump in and come out screaming. It wasn’t until later that they discovered that some upper school students had hidden beneath the surface of the water, having cast Bubble-Head Charms and were hexing the cocky young wizards that were jumping into the water while the Prefects dried them off and consoled them. Initiation was what they called it. The girls were just glad they hadn’t been foolish enough to jump in because for all they knew, they could’ve had their legs chomped off by a famished young shark.

Similar traits were found in all of the girls, so much so that they were sorted in to the same house and so the five of them took their seats together at one of their house tables which, opposed to Hogwarts, had several large round ones instead of four long rectangular ones, each one for the corresponding year group. The girls ate more than their fair share once the feast had begun and after it was over, they were shown to their rooms. Their house was situated in the west wing of the castle and their room was occupied by them and two more girls, twins, called Heather and Henrietta. They did not get on quite as well with the latter of the pair as they did the former, Henrietta believing that twins should just stay twins. The girls didn’t seem to care either way, preferring their company to that of the twins’ anyway.

Their education began without delay and they were taught in the space of a few days the charms they needed to get them by in the castle. Those that fell behind were given extra lessons and that made every student learn faster - no one quit wanting to spend more time than necessary with the slightly terrifying Professors. Cerelia did not find much problem with the spells, much of what she’d learned both from the textbooks and from her tutors enabling her to use the spells effectively. Her wand was difficult for her to control though, that much was sure. It was forever trying to access a power that she wasn’t sure whether she possessed or not. This was something she protested about to her Head of House, a middle-aged wizard called Alexi Volkov. He seemed to be the least threatening of all of the teachers and seemed to understand what the wand desired, his father having been a wand maker and he himself training for a few years to be one before diverting and becoming a potions professor.

What Volkov explained to Cerelia still makes little sense to the girl but what she did comprehend was that the wand had strength about it, one that could only be allowed to flourish if she allowed all of her core to be channelled through the wand. She was, however, too young to understand her core let alone open it up enough for the wand to reach its full potential. She was offered lessons on how to calm the wand, and also in the Dark Arts. He understood almost immediately upon handling the wand that it seemed to thrive on dark energy and so, despite Volkov’s reluctance, he began to teach Cerelia about the Dark Arts. At first he struggled with her through theory but then he realised that it would not be enough for the impatient wand. Though it was compliant and performed well there was not enough strength behind the spells. It did as was asked of it but what it produced was effective but lacklustre. In the end he told her just to persevere as there was nothing else she could really do. She wasn’t suffering because of the wand but it didn’t seem to be as free as the other wands. Not yet, anyway.

The girls remained firm friends for much of their time at Durmstrang, each one showing proficiency in a different area of magic. None of them were as good as Cerelia in the practice of the Dark Arts, though. It was no secret that her abilities unsettled the girls somewhat. Every area of magic had a dark edge to it when Cerelia practised it. The girls were advanced in their abilities, that much was clear, and so their Professors banded together and began to teach the girls more advanced skills. This took place in their second and third years, the latter being when they attempted to teach them the Patronus Charm. Three of them were able to cast it, Isla included, but Cerelia for the life of her could not. She had the memory, weak though it was, but she couldn’t force it into fruition, her wand just wouldn’t allow it. Anything with a dark edge to it though, she couldn’t be anything other than successful with.

It was during the summer of her forth year after four years of Durmstrang that her father returned. He hadn’t once visited her in the four years and the letters he’d sent had been few and far between. Cerelia had long since resigned herself to the idea that her father would never be someone she’d set eyes on again. She’d accepted that so when he appeared with a crack on the drive of her grandparents’ Austrian home, Cerelia was less than impressed. Her brothers were pleased to see her. Erica didn’t even bother trying to hide her disdain for the blonde. Adolphus didn’t waste time. He sent the children and Adriana off to enjoy the town and took Cerelia inside to the parlour where he found his mother already pouring out tea for them, her displeasure written across her features. The argument that ensued between mother and son consisted of Astrid condemning Adolphus for daring to bring his whore and her daughter onto her land. Adolphus bit back with the same amount of acid in his tone and the arguments only ceased when Bernard was forced downstairs from his study to sit the pair down. Only then did Cerelia leave the corner she’d placed herself in to protect herself from the arguments.

Adolphus didn’t ask for much, really. He wanted her pre-O.W.L test results and then he said he would make “his decision.” At the time, they did not know what the decision was but Astrid and Bernard exchanged a glance before the latter rose to collect the parchment that had her scores emblazoned across it in the elegant script of the Headmaster. The tests were designed to be harder than the O.W.L’s, almost of N.E.W.T standard but hovering somewhere in between. It had been no secret that Cerelia had done exceptionally well in all of her classes but notes were made in her end of year report that she seemed to stutter in the light application of magic, something elaborated upon by her Head of House who explained her wand to Astrid and Bernard and then in turn, to Adolphus. They spoke of how she bloomed and how she carried herself around the school, praising her at every turn. This was something that did not sit well with Adolphus, the twins’ and Erica’s reports a far cry from Cerelia’s.

Finally, of course, they came to the scores which were as follows:

Ordinary Wizarding Level
PRE-EXAMINATION RESULTS
O - Outstanding E - Exceeds Expectations A - Acceptable
P - Poor D - Dreadful T - Troll

DARK ARTS - O
POTIONS - E
CHARMS - E
TRANSFIGURATION - O
ARITHMANCY - O
ANCIENT RUNES - O
CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES - E
HERBOLOGY - E

Cerelia’s Dark Arts score was one that Adolphus paid particular attention to. He regarded her coolly over the top of the sheet of parchment and the other three waited with baited breath for his conclusion. Adolphus discarded the sheet of parchment and reached for the glass of Firewhisky that his father had given him, knowing his son would be much easier to influence if he had a few drinks. Adolphus didn’t need much more to put him in the wrong kind of mood for what he wanted from his daughter. He was brief, as brief as he’d been when he told her she’d be leaving. After downing the Whisky, Adolphus told her in short to pack her bags - that she’d be attending Hogwarts in the autumn. Cerelia didn’t have to build up the courage to refuse because her grandmother did it for her, picking up the argument with her son where it had left off; screaming at him that Cerelia was better off with them; and while that may have been true, it wasn’t in Adolphus’ nature to take much notice of his mother and so he merely reiterated what he’d told his daughter, adding this time that she could join them on the Platform come September 1st.

Within the next week, Cerelia had her things packed, additional, recently tailored items going into trunks that her grandmother had procured from the local village. Then, on the twenty-third of August, she left the country and headed for Britain with her grandparents. There she found herself in a different house on the south coast for a few weeks before she travelled back up to Wales and moved into the newest family home, one Adolphus had decided to stay in. It was there that she became privy to the family politics that was blighting the perfect life Adolphus had created for himself. Erica had bombed out spectacularly with grades so dismal that they weren’t even worth marking, or so her Head of House had said. Adriana had done her best to try and console Adolphus but once he announced Cerelia’s grades, things had spiralled out of control from there, ending in his decision to send Erica to Beauxbatons where she “couldn’t do much more harm.” Livid, the pair left, taking with them as much money as their lawyers could give them and thus ending yet another marriage.

To Cerelia it seemed to abrupt and too foolish a thing to separate over; later though she was informed that the arguments, most of them in reference to Erica, had been going on for months. Finally, her dismal grades and the way he ripped apart the girl before her mother was enough to convince Adriana that Adolphus was just really not worth her time and energy. So, she left and did not return as her predecessor did. No, within a week of her leaving, the divorce papers arrived and Adolphus signed off an eighth of his estate to her, complaining for weeks afterwards about the loss of his Italian villa. He was, however, oddly affectionate towards his daughter. He took her into Diagon Alley, making sure to buy her the finest as per the directions of his mother. It was then once he was sure of her appearance, the hairdresser in Austria having cut her hair back to something stylish, that he allowed her into Pureblood society. Well, not ‘allowed’ as it was phrased, just...took her.

It was there that, ahead of Hogwarts, Cerelia entered again the lives of those she’d left behind when she was moved so abruptly to Austria by her father. She found herself surrounded by the offspring from all of the Pureblood families again - every family from the Rookwoods to the Goyles. It was there that she was reunited with those she’d missed and those she hadn’t so much - in preparation for Hogwarts, her father said. Much of the summer as a result was spent in the various homes of the Purebloods that were more than willing to house her as their own children had befriended her. There was also, she was sure, an alternative motivation for doing so. She was sure by the way the Purebloods - known Death Eaters - looked at her that they expected something great of her. It was only later, in the quiet of her father’s study that it was explained to her what she was to go to Hogwarts to do.

The union between the Death Eaters and the Order was a rocky one and the Death Eaters were not prepared to come out of it the fools and as a result they were placing moles both within the light faction but also the school-based one and Cerelia was to fill this. She was apprehensive at first, untrusting of her father and what he wanted her to do. His words were soft and pliant though and slowly she began to lose her reluctance and his explanations began to make perfect sense. It was then that he employed wizards from Knockturn Alley that were paid one-hundred galleons an hour to teach her two things: Leglimency and Occlumency. At first, they tried to teach Cerelia the soft, ‘light’ version of Occlumency and Leglimency that she would be able to bend to keep out and access those in the light. It quickly became apparent though that her magic was not responding to that way of teaching and Adolphus sacked them immediately, employing instead Apolline Goyle who taught the girl the same method of Occlumency and Leglimency she taught her step-daughter: an aggressive, attacking form of the two branches of magic, one that destroyed aspects of instead of plying the mind in question; and naturally, her magic responded much better to that.

It a long time to control the magic though, far longer than Adolphus expected; and as a result, it wasn’t until after Christmas that Cerelia joined Hogwarts.

HOGWARTS:
Upon joining her classmates at Hogwarts, Cerelia wasn’t sorted right away. The Sorting Hat needed time to deliberate, casting her away and leaving her to sleep in the guest rooms the castle provided. She spent a good couple of days there before the Sorting Hat finally met with her again, telling her of its verdict. It was, so she told her, very close to picking her father’s house but instead picked her mother’s graduating house: Ravenclaw. It was there that she found herself fitting in perfectly. The Ravenclaws all shared a desire to learn and to understand magic. Cerelia did feel oddly out of place though. She understood much more about magic that her ever persevering friends did and she found that none of them would touch Dark Magic unless they came from the old Purebloods families but even then they were apprehensive about the whole idea. Of all of them, she found the company of two girls the most agreeable - Gisele Delacour and Katarina Rookwood, the latter being her favourite. It was with Katarina that Cerelia found she had the most in common - the girl reading as much as she did, if not more. It was that, that the two girls bonded over more than anything else. Gisele, however, was a different kettle of fish entirely but Cerelia found the girl charming all the same.

Classes weren’t as difficult or demanding as the ones at Durmstrang had been. She received more than her fair share of stares and many students plucked up the courage to come and talk to her. That was of course until they realised just who her brothers were. Bastien and Caius made short work of scaring away the male population of Hogwarts. Protecting their baby sister was something they’d been intent on dong since she was set to arrive and they were glowing at finally being able to do so. The duels that ensued because one or two cocky Gryffindors wouldn’t back down horrified Cerelia but she learned from the barrage of spells that were hurled back and forth. It was through the assaults of magic that she learned the theory of duelling and began to read up on it, hoping that perhaps she could join the duelling club. Instead though, she joined Potter’s Army.

The members of the secret light organisation made no attempts to hide their distaste for the Avery in their midst. Yet they put up with her and together they all learned to duel and cast spells previously unknown to most of them. It was all defensive magic, some of it Cerelia knew but most of it she did not - only being really well versed in offensive Dark Magic. She did turn out to be a formidable dueller once she mastered the shield spell. She was definitely not someone you wanted to meet in a duel and many buckled under a handful of spells. They were, however, far superior to her in terms of blocking her magic and so she returned to the library to study defensive magic, something further reinforced by her Defence Against the Dark Arts classes as opposed to just bog standard: Dark Arts. Cerelia knew she preferred the latter, the new lesson showing you not how to fight but how to fly. She did however find the combination of her offensive and defensive magics useful. She knew which one she found the easiest to wield, however.

What she found upon joining Hogwarts was that the school, though “a shoddy excuse for a castle” was quite a bit bigger than Durmstrang and so Cerelia was forever getting lost. She found that if she kept with Katarina or Gisele though she was unlikely to get as hopelessly lost as she would have been had she been alone. She also found finding the Room of Requirement to be a challenge and so Gisele’s betrothed, Sevastian Krum, would often take her up there so she wasn’t spending the meeting time patting at the wall like some sort of nutcase that belonged in the mental ward of St. Mungo’s rather than school. She found it was a lot easier to make friends with those who had already been vetted by her brothers rather than complete randoms. She didn’t go out of her way to befriend people though. She didn’t speak until spoken to and it was rare for her to be spoken to in the end - her brothers having scared every potential friend - or boyfriend - off, screaming and crying in the opposite direction to her.

There was a lot to learn about Hogwarts though. The castle and its occupants was a riddle that Cerelia was determined to crack and isn’t about to give up on that endeavour any time soon.

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BEHIND THE CHARACTER
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YOUR NAME: Eli!

RP EXPERIENCE: 2 years.

HOW YOU FOUND US: Affiliates.

OTHER CHARACTERS:

PURPOSE OF CHARACTER: To ensure deliberate creation of character

RP SAMPLE:

Spoiler:

by **Khaat Lupin** Mon Apr 02, 2012 11:39 pm

you do realize it might take a week or three to read all this, eli? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

no, seriously, i'll do it tonight.

k.

by **Sophia Granger** Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:43 pm

*dies* OMG! After taking forever to read this I say accept and sorted into Ravenclaw!

rules	plot
application	guide
canon list	ic news
claims	casting call
rp request	help

AVERY, Cerelia Araminta

AVERY, Cerelia Araminta

Re: AVERY, Cerelia Araminta

Re: AVERY, Cerelia Araminta

Re: AVERY, Cerelia Araminta