INPC
Name of your PC: Zephyr Deakin
Link to the iNPC encyclopedia: Clicky!
School: Beauxbatons
Year: First Year
Nationality: Irish
Former Residence: Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Current Residence: Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands
Sport (if applicable): Quidditch player (Second String Keeper)
Special Race (if applicable): N/A

Physical Description: Elodie is an average height girl, slender and has a fine boned build. She has a fair complexion with warm and neutral undertones. Her face is oval which narrows toward a rounded chin, has a delicate feature and has a straight, slender nose, full lips with a defined cupid’s bow and prominent dark eyebrows. Her hair is dark brown, sometimes appearing black. It is thick and voluminous, with layers and a wavy texture toward the ends. She likes wearing it loose but when annoyed because it keeps falling into her face, she ties it back. Her eyes are her most distinctive feature, they are amber-brown and appear warm brown from afar, but turn gold and copper around the pupils in direct light, like a sunburst when looked at closely. Her eyes are large and almond shaped with raised outer corners. Combined with her dark eyebrows, they became expressive despite her best attempts not to be. She discovered that keeping silent does not work well when her eyebrows could communicate her opinion for her.

Mental Description: At first meeting, people would think Elodie as quiet, composed and observant. She's not really particularly shy but once she's comfortable, she laughs easily and can be very competitive. She gets excited and talks fast, sulks and gets jealous, makes sarcastic remarks and regrets them afterward. She a dry sense of humour and often says funny things with unreadable expression. A curious soul to a fault.

She has British accent having born and raised there for the last nine years of her life, but it's not that strong. Her father’s Dutch accent influenced certain pronunciations when she was young, and after moving to the Netherlands, her speech began picking up small changes again. English remains the language she automatically uses when frightened, hurt, or emotional. She tends to speak more formally than other children her age because she spent so much of her childhood around adults. She doesn't speak loudly but when angry, she could talk faster in Dutch. There were times she begins a sentence in English and finishes it in Dutch unconsciously.

Biography: Elodie came from two established magical families but both weren't extraordinarily wealthy or politically powerful. Their reputations come primarily from their professions. Her father’s Dutch family, the van Aelsts, was associated for generations with magical preservation, historical research and magical artefacts. Her mother’s British family had worked with magical plants, ingredients and cultivation. Both families are pureblood but she was not raised to believe their blood status makes her superior. Her parents’ attitude when it comes to ancestry is straightforward--for them it's history that is worth knowing but it shouldn't define you as a person and it's certainly not an achievement either.

Her father, Matthijs Willem van Aelst is a Curse Breaker who grew up in the Netherlands. He specializes in old magical objects with enchantments that are damaged, unknown or potentially dangerous. For Elodie, his job was very boring since on most days, it involved paperwork, research and testing. She imagined it's more of inspecting and battling cursed objects. He and Elodie share the same attitude when it comes to investigating everything. They also share the unfortunate conviction that they are always right so arguments between them can therefore last a very long time be that serious or simple bantering. She's a daddy's girl. Her mother Maeve Bell-van Aelst is an Apothecary and Herbologist from County Antrim. Her family deals with magical plants used by apothecaries, healers and potioneers. Her mother is more spontaneous than her father, warm, practical and talkative. Her philosophy about her children is that they should be allowed to make mistakes provided the mistake is not going to poison, disfigure or eat them. And this belief conflicts with her father's definition of things Elodie shouldn’t be allowed to do.

Her parents met while on the job. A Dutch magical archive acquired magical artefacts that are contaminated by an unknown magical plant. Her father was responsible for assessing the artefacts while her mother was called in to identify the organism. Their first meeting ended in an argument due to their own beliefs and conclusions and both didn't want to admit the other may have been the one who was correct. They married several years later. After their wedding, her father moved to Northern Ireland. They settled in Newtownabbey, where her mother's relatives were close by until Elodie was born a year after. She grew up in an old house on the outskirts of Newtownabbey. From the outside, it was just a simple detached house, nothing was remarkable but once you're inside, it was a magical household. She grew up around magic, witness them regularly like it's part of her life.

Elodie was homeschooled from early childhood as it was part of the family tradition and practicality. Both her parents worked unusual schedules, travelled a lot and lived within magical society. Being homeschooled has it's advantages and disadvantages for her, academically, she was well prepared, but socially, not so much. Her lessons were usually one-to-one. There was not one else to interact with aside from her tutors. She had cousins who visit their family, but most interactions were occasional. Because of this, she became excellent at entertaining herself and could happily spend hours alone. This was also the main reason why she's comfortable talking to adults. What she never learned in actual was how to deal with a large group of children her own age.

When Elodie was nine, her paternal grandfather retired from his position that oversees private magical conservation archive in the Netherlands. Her father was approached as the new Head Conservator which was essentially the position he spent his career preparing for. Her mother was worried at first that moving would require her to sacrifice her own career but she was also offered a research position she couldn't decline. The move benefited both her parents, it was her who was the complication. She hated the idea but didn't dare voice her opinion. The night before leaving, she explored their house for the last time and memorized the things and places she already knew. The Netherlands was not entirely foreign to her. She and her family paid a visit occasionally since her grandparents lived there. Her father speaks Dutch to her since she was young but being told this is home now was a different experience. She noticed that her Dutch was not the same as the Dutch spoken by children who lived there their entire lives. Her accent was obvious that she grew up elsewhere. For a while, she compared everything with Northern Ireland out loud to her parents until she stopped because there's nothing else she could do.

First Instance of Magic: When she was ten years old, Elodie was not supposed to enter her father’s study while he was working. But when he left the door ajar one day, she saw it as an opportunity to explore. There was a small silver jewellery box on his desk and a tiny bird was engraved in the lid. Just as she was about to grab it, she heard her name being called. Her father's voice startled her and she accidentally knocked a pile of parchments, sending them falling onto the floor. "Oh no!" She instinctively reached for them but missed. What happened next was something she didn't expect seeing, the parchments were floating in midair and all she could do was stare at them in shock. His father did the same and both of them didn't move at all until the parchment started falling one by one. She turned to her father, still in shock as she asked him if it's because of her. Her father nodded calmly but there was a smile playing on his lips. Suffice to say, that incident resulted to simultaneous excitement and disciplinary action for going in his study without his permission. Needless to say she never attempted going in there again.