Florence Aurélie Mercier was born in Marseille, a city where the sea is never completely out of sight; even away from the harbour the air remains salty, the light falls in a strange way on the stones and the horizon always seems to hold something just out of reach. The house in which she grew up had the same feeling of contrast: it was beautiful, well-ordered and at the same time full of quiet contradictions.

Her mother, Élise Mercier, belonged to a traditional French pureblood family which had long-standing expectations and very precise manners. She was brought up to place a high value on appearance, discipline, and that kind of elegance which is never by chance. Her father, Julien Mercier, was a wizard who had spent most of his childhood in a mostly Muggle environment, but his family had distant magical ancestors who had remained silent for many generations. Even though Julien had been brought up outside the wizarding world for a large part of his childhood, magic had by no means been completely missing from his family lineage; it had simply been dormant until it manifested in him and then in Florence.

Florence was the couple's only child and for that reason she was kept under careful observation; not in a cruel manner, but in the way in which adults watch a child that they have already imagined as an adult and as someone complete. Élise taught her good posture, the correct etiquette, and how to remain still without appearing uncomfortable. Julien showed her how to listen to music, how to allow a melody to become feeling, and how to continue when a note was played incorrectly. Florence inherited a little of each of them; her mother's restraint and her father's gentleness, but not in equal amounts.

She started dancing when she was three years old and thought that movement had an effect on a person long before they could speak. Florence was put into dancing lessons from an early age, and although she became quite skilled, she never enjoyed dance as a form of pure play; it was something that was expected of her, constantly corrected and improved. She learned to keep her posture good, to follow the counts, and to smile when being watched. At the age of five Julien taught her to play the guitar, and this became her private retreat. Unlike with dance, in music mistakes were allowed. A wrong chord could be repeated, softened, and transformed. She liked that. She enjoyed the fact that music could still be beautiful even if it was imperfect.

She had a great affection for the sea as well. Since the family lived close to the coast, Florence was able to walk to the sea frequently when she was a child. Whenever she was upset, she preferred the sound of the waves to conversation. She appreciated the idea that the ocean could keep changing all the time and yet still remain the same. Just as with animals, she felt this way for the same reason. They appeared to live more honestly than people did. Whether it was birds, cats, sea creatures or any small and alert creature, she felt at ease in their company.

The first time she accidentally performed magic was when she was six years old, during a dance rehearsal. The episode lasted only a short time, yet it had a disturbing effect on all those present. Her mother at once realized that what had happened was magic and became more attentive afterwards, even though she was not any more forgiving. The ability which Florence developed as a seer came rather late and in an irregular, gradual manner; it was not the result of a sudden and dramatic insight. Rather, it started with dreams so vivid that they could not be ignored, with abrupt sensations that seemed to be older than memory, and with flashes of symbolism which made no sense at the time but later turned up in actual life.

Their parents reacted with caution rather than with celebration. Élise was aware of the risk involved in drawing attention to a daughter who was able to see beyond ordinary things. While Julien was less concerned about his reputation and more focused on ensuring Florence's comfort, he could not always keep her from having to bear the weight of knowing things she did not understand. As a result, they made every effort to keep the household stable around her. Florence soon learned not to speak about her visions with too much certainty, not since she had been discouraged from being honest, but because certainty was never something her ability provided.

When she'll get to Beauxbatons, Florence had planned to be very skilled at appearing composed even though she wasn't completely at ease. Although she is kind, intelligent and observant, she is also private in a manner which seems almost instinctive. She doesn't stay in the background in order to appear mysterious; rather, she does so because the world often seems too noisy, too direct or too certain and she has come to realise that silence can at times be the safest kind of truth.

WC: 857

Florence's first accidental magic happened at age six during a dance rehearsal. She had made the same mistake repeatedly and, after yet another correction, stood frozen in the midle of the studio. The room's music slowed until it became strangely warped and distant, a line of small mirrors along the wall clouded over as though covered in sea mist. The effect lasted less than a minute. When it ended, the mirrors cleared and the music returned to normal. Her parents recognized it as accidental, wandless magic brought on by distress. Florence remembered very little of the moment except feeling as though the room had become far away.

WC: 107

She is slim and graceful, with the walk of someone who has been dancing a lot, but it seems so natural that it's not forced or stiff. She has a certain poise about her that can be unnerving in a noisy place. Her hair is soft blonde, often worn loose or in simple styles. Her eyes are hazel, sometimes greener or greyer depending on the lighting and her mood; a steady gaze that lingers a little too long on people, but they'll only notice it if they look closely. She has an average height, maybe a little on the tall side for girls her age. She has an athletic figure from dancing, but she is slim. She often wears an expression that is either neutral or thoughtful; her smiles are real but rare. She dresses elegantly but in a restrained way; preferring muted colours, lighter fabrics and simple lines. She does not draw attention to herself, she simply wants to feel comfortable and composed.

WC: 164

The thing about Florence, is that she's a listener; more than anything else, she reads people. She picks up on the little habits that others have, the tells as they lie, the pauses in which they hesitate before smiling. She sees everything. She barely says anything about it. Storing the observations away in her mind. Her composure is not a mask. It's a habit. She knows it's safer to keep everything she thinks, feels and hears in, rather than deal with the chaos of it. But under it all there is a bubbling, a riotous anger at the perfection she was raised to hold herself to. She is not unemotional, in fact she feels deeply, but she feels everything from the inside, and she knows that anger is not a good thing to feel, especially if she has been taught for most of her life that it's best not to show it. She deals with it by shutting herself off, locking herself inside until she can figure out what to do with the emotions.Her Seer power makes her even more introspective. Sometimes it feels as if she has two lives; the one she is living, and the one she is going to live. It makes her thoughtful, but also moody in ways that are sometimes hard to explain. There is a conflict brewing inside her, between who she has been taught to be, and who she is. She has been brought up to be elegant, poised and graceful. But she is also moody and likes the occasional bit of rebellion in her life, not in big gestures, but in little ways; to prove to herself that she is not as perfect as she has always been led to believe. She is polite and mannerly in a group, but she always stands to one side, watching, listening, learning. She can be charming and quite witty in little doses. But she is rarely the sort of person who takes the spotlight.

WC: 330