Logres, Isolde: History, Etc.

[Isolde Logres]

Character History:
Isolde was born to Lothian Logres and Lady Amestine-Logres (who was something like his second cousin once removed). While the birth of a child should be a joy to any parent, hers was more of a cause of disappointment and mourning. Buried in the rocky soil overlooking the pounding waters of the Atlantic were the four brothers who had come and died before her, not a one living to see their first birthday.

The birthing process was especially brutal for Lady Amestine-Logres, who was told on no uncertain terms that one more attempt at producing an heir would destroy her already ravaged body. For Lothian, the last existing direct male descendant of King Lot of Orkney and King Arthur's own half sister, Morgause, the future was bleak. The prestigious line of pureblood wizards closest to Arthur would die with him. He lost all hope for his precious lineage the moment the mediwitch proclaimed that the child wrought from his wife's womb was a healthy, if small, baby girl.

It was at that moment when Lothian lost all love for his wife, as well.

Her parents had taken a specific set of wedding vows that constituted a binding magical contract; Lothian could no sooner take a mistress and father an illegitimate heir than he could dissolve the marriage. It was an age-old tradition since King Lot's time, ensuring that none of his line to come would befoul the family name with impure heirs. There was nothing in their vows, however, that said he actually had to suffer his wife and abhorred daughter's presence; so shortly after Isolde came bawling into this world he left them at the familial Tintagel castle, seeking to enjoy what pleasures life could give him in Rome where the family had long owned a summer manor.

Isolde's mother never quite recovered from the harsh pregnancy or her husband's ill regard: the Lady's parents came to Tintagel to watch over their granddaughter, taking over the duties of raising the infant whose parents were so obviously not up to the job.

Isolde was very young, indeed, when her education began. She was taught to hold a quill before she could properly walk - around the same time she was learning to take her first steady steps she was also learning to pen her name in a childish scrawl. Her grandparents were omnipresent and strict with her in the castle of Tintagel at Land's End.

They were not overly affectionate with her, something that would prove to their detriment years later when Isolde realized the gaping hole in her life that none of her family had ever bothered to fill. Hers was never an upbringing of love, not this child who had earned the shame of a father, blame of a mother and the adequate but callous care of her grandparents. They cared for her, in their own way, but more than anything they cared for their agenda.

She was a tool to them, a tool to exact vengeance on the man who had ruined their daughter's life. By the time Isolde was eight years old, she had learned enough basic education to begin the studies that would last for the next twelve years.

"Slit the throat and throw the body on the fire," more than one lesson began as her grandmother would hand her a squirming puppy or a mewling kitten. Blood magic, as she learned, was powerful, but it so often required sacrifices that Isolde was too tender hearted to pursue on her own.

But there was more to learn than just blood magic. Soul magic was just as powerful, if infinitely more evil in Isolde's eyes. "Nimue used soul magic to bind Merlin to the glass tower," her grandfather had said, holding up a small glass bead for her to see. "You can bind a soul fragment to an inanimate object, much like a charm to an amulet."

There was love magic - "See the way that village girl looks so tenderly upon her child? Today we will practice using that love to our advantage," - and lust magic - "This man lusts for his brother's wife. Powerful emotion, lust. Let me show you..." - and moon magic - "No moon in the sky, just like the night of your birth. Your auspice moon is powerful, we will use it to our advantage," - and many, many others.

She learned these ancient branches of magic long before her grandparents actually took her to buy her wand and taught her how to use it. Wand waving was always secondary, in their opinion, while a witch worth her salt learned everything she could about the old ways.

Isolde enjoyed wandwork, however; she delighted at transfiguring mice into teacups and conjuring birds to sing for her. She was deeply interested in Charms and grew to loathe the rocky soil that surrounded their castle on the peninsula that refused to yield the sort of plants she wanted to learn most about in Herbology.

And in those first twelve years of her life, the only times she ever saw her mother was during meals, or catching a glimpse of the frail, miserable woman looking out her window while Isolde picked herbs and flowers for a potion her grandmother was making.

Isolde was thirteen when her mother finally died, consumed by her grief, shame and loneliness. A month later, Isolde received word that her father was remarrying, but neither she nor her grandparents were invited. Her grandmother was furious.

"He will die before his wedding day, child, make no qualm or mistake about it."

Three nights before his wedding day, Isolde assisted her grandmother with a Dark ritual that still to this day gives her goosebumps just glossing over the memory. Explicitly told not to bathe after completing the ritual, she went to sleep with blood drying on her hands, forehead, and navel. The next morning, she woke up to find a grave visitor in the house, telling her grandparents that their son-in-law had died in his sleep from what appeared to be a sudden heart attack.

The Ministry representative said Lothian had not suffered, but somehow, Isolde could not believe him. The Ministry representative said the will needed to be looked over by his department and the items examined before being released; her grandmother's understanding smile haunted Isolde's nightmares for months after that day.

Isolde's lessons continued, though never again was she asked to participate in such a vile ritual. An unspoken accusation and an equally unvoiced measure of fear separated Isolde from her grandmother more than she ever had felt, and while she mourned the loss of the closest thing to a mother she'd ever had, there was no love lost between them when her grandmother died seven years later.

The Tintagel castle was left to her, but her grandfather was more interested in staying there than she was. He could not leave the place that still held shades of his wife and daughter, so Isolde left him, inwardly grateful for the chance to be free not only of the cold, perpetually damp and drafty castle with the sea always banging against the cliffs, but also of a family that had never loved her.

Her inheritance had left her three estates - the villa in Rome, the castle in Tintagel and a manor on the outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was to the last that she went, glad to be free of Tintagel and unwilling to go to the place where her father had fled to be rid of her.

Now, a year later, she's finally getting the hang of living alone, though she wouldn't have made it for so long if it weren't for the house elves she had also inherited. She hasn't yet gotten comfortable enough with her newfound freedom to secure herself a job, though she is slowly building up to the level of courage and confidence it will take to get there.

Likes:

• Sunshine, because she experienced so little of it in Cornwall
  
• Playing wizard's chess for hours and hours.
  
• Being warm, because she was always cold in Cornwall.
  
• Feeling wanted, appreciated and of value to others.
  
• Being noticed at all by others.
  

Dislikes:

• Feeling insecure or out of place.
  
• Endless cold and rain and the crashing of waves into cliffs.
  
• Disappointing someone she cares about.
  
• Being ignored or looked over because she isn't worthy.
  
• Puppies, kittens, and any other small, warm blooded animals - they make her feel intense guilt.
  

Fears:

• Drowning: Despite growing up on a peninsula, she never learned how to swim.
  
• Becoming just like her parents or her grandparents on her mother's side.
  
• Never being good enough... for anyone.
  
• Dying at Tintagel just like her mother.
  

Goals:

• Finding a real-life, honest-to-Merlin friend.
  
• Making herself useful to someone, someway.
  
• Being her own person.
  
• Living up to her own expectations for herself.
  

Skills:

• Isolde is almost invisible, in a manner of speaking. Not obscured by any magical methods, but... in the most vague sense of the term... see-through. Like the muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron, people's eyes just slide over her without noticing or giving her a second thought. Maybe its the plain cut of her robes, or the fact that her fair hair and skin just get washed out as part of the scenery. It could be that she's just so shy that people automatically discredit her. Whatever the reason, it's a blessing as well as a curse. While it may hurt to be overlooked, there are times when her strange way of sliding out of notice come in handy.
  
• Isolde is full of heart and determination. If she believes that something is worth doing, she'll put an entire arsenal of efforts into it. While this may not be a magical or even special skill, there's still no reason to discredit strength of character and willpower.
  
• Isolde is aware of and schooled in very old branches of magic. Her grandparents made sure that she paid attention to things most wizards pay very little heed to, such as the powers of conception and pregnancy, lust and rage, love and hate. There is magic in this world that is older than wands, and she has a surprisingly strong grasp of it for one so young.
  
• Isolde's greatest strength is her intuition. She has strong instincts, even if she doesn't always understand them, and a keen sense of self preservation.
  

Quirks:
A socially inept girl, her eyes are the window to her soul. Any fear, hurt, surprise, joy, or shock is written there for all to see. Similarly, her hands are a dead give-away to her current state: When she's nervous, she wrings them; when she's scared, they tremble; when she's angry, they clench; when she's excited or nervous they shake. A textural person, she very much enjoys touching things, and the very act seems to reassure her in some way.

She flinches, however, when people try to touch her, blue eyes hooding with mistrust.

Isolde has a bright, clear laugh, her favorite game is wizard's chess, and her greatest weakness is in her desire to be praised and accepted.

BOGGART
Her grandmother kneeling in a circle made of complex lines, angles and symbols, with a quivering rabbit or puppy in one hand, a knife in the other, waiting for Isolde to join her next to a bowl and bundles of herbs. To banish it, the rabbit or puppy would suddenly sprout huge fangs and breathe fire on the woman, burning her into a crispy pile of ash.

PATRONUS
Bafflingly enough, at least for Isolde, her Patronus would be a duck.

ERISED
She would see a younger version of herself sitting on her father's knee while he hugged and praised her. Her mother, healthy and vibrant, joining in to hug and adore her husband and daughter. And surrounding them, a group of friends and family who loved and admired Isolde for herself.

Personality:
Isolde is, despite her upbringing, a sensitive young woman who is full of heart. She is beyond her years in many ways, but is also emotionally and socially underdeveloped. For 20 of her 21 years, she was kept mainly in the company of her grandparents, making it impossible for her to make friends or interact with people her own age.

She suffers from a huge sense of guilt, responsible for the death of many a small animal and suspicious that she is also responsible for her father's death. She may not have ever known a reason to love the man, but that still does nothing to assuage the guilt.

She's a wallflower who wants a spot in the sunlight, but when she finds herself the center of attention the immediate response is to wilt with fierce fears and overwhelming insecurity. If someone were to value her and put their trust in her, such a gesture would be tremendously motivating; her desperation to earn the affection and praise her family never gave her makes her ridiculously vulnerable to manipulation.

Year:
Non-applicable.
Preferred House:
Home schooled. She knows very little about Hogwarts, though if she had gone there, her father would have been very disappointed if she were Sorted into a house other than Slytherin.
Classes:

• Ancient, arcane and Dark magics: Blood magic, emotional magic, soul magic and scrying.
  
• Common Magic: Transfiguration, Charms, Defensive, Herbology, Astronomy, Divination, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy.
  
• Non-Magic: Reading and writing, arithmetic, as well as a passing knowledge of ancient Greek and Latin. She can read Gaelic, but cannot actually speak it.
  

WAND
Ironwood, 13 inches, sturdy yet supple, with a unicorn hair at its core.

BROOMSTICK
Isolde does not own a broom, nor has she ever ridden on one, since she was home schooled and neither of her parents thought that flying was a skill worth wasting time on.

OTHER MAGICAL DEVICES

• At her home in Tintagel, she has a vast library of books and heirlooms, many Dark and dangerous.
  
• She has a wizard's chess set and board that shrink to fit a snuff box when put away.
  
• A very soft, very fine moleskin cloak dyed a vibrant scarlet with a built in warming charm, with matching gloves.
  
• An enchanted watch, a gift from her grandfather, that not only shows what alignment the planets and moons are in but has an extra hand which points always to her wand.
  
• A charmed moonstone amulet, a gift from her grandmother, is supposed to help her focus in times of adversity.
  

Affiliation:
Unaffiliated
Why:
In Tintagel, she was so far removed from the rest of Britain that she might as well have lived on another continent, if not in another world. The matters of the wizarding world were considered trivial and unimportant to her grandparents, and her mother was too absorbed in her own despair to so much as consider that life might be miserable for someone else.

Since coming to England, of course, the community is rightfully fearful to so much as breathe a single word condemning the Ministry, lest its many eyes and ears detect it. As such, she's horribly ignorant of the stigma surrounding Voldemort and the mysterious tale of the Boy Who Lived.