Antimony's Encyclopedia Page is here

"Mother, why are we better than muggles?"

"They have no magic, dearest. I know they look like us, and talk like us, but they are little more than clever beasts, much like your cousin's owl. Can you imagine a life without magic? How small their world must be."

"But Mother, Pelagius's uncle is a muggle, and Pelagius says Uncle Thomas is very kind and as good as any wizard."

"Muggles may seem that way, my dear, but only daft fools believe they are truly equal. And I want you to stop socializing with that half-blood boy. His mother is a
Mudblood-- you do not need to be exposed to their drivel."

"What does drivel mean? And I like Pelagius's mum. She's nice, even if she is a mudblood."

"Merlin. The consequences for nurturing an inquisitive child."

Name: Antimony Cipriana Galanis

Appearance: Antimony is slender and short for her age, small enough that she looks younger than she actually is. Her hair is long, straight, and honey blonde. She hates to have it braided or pulled into a pony, so she keeps it down most of the time.

Bio: The Galanis family (Once called the Mardyakhor family, before they moved from Greece two centuries ago. Despite the name change, their sigil still is a manticore underneath an olive tree.) is an ancient family, almost as pureblooded as the Blacks and Malfoys. They would be considered of equal standing to the highest pureblood families, if the marriage of Lady Creola Galanis nee Burke to Amadeus Galanis hadn't besmirched the family name.

While the Burke family is part of the Sacred Twenty Eight, Creola (a distant cousin to the true heir of the Burke family) was cursed with sterility. This was a well known fact, and yet Amadeus had married her anyway. Old fashioned (and some say, outdated) Purebloods like the Galanis, who believe in blood purity, are devoted to the continuation of their bloodlines, so the marriage was not only unwise, it was practically blasphemous. Amadeus was threatened to be struck from the family line if he did not produce an heir in the three years after their marriage, and yet, he did not find a new wife to fulfill this duty. Distant heirs to the Galanis fortune waited greedily on the sidelines, waiting for the deadline of the ultimatum.

Almost exactly three years later, Creola gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Antimony. By then, however, it was too late. The Galanis family reputation was ruined. The timing for Antimony's birth was suspicious, as was Creola's disappearance in the last few months of her pregnancy. Rumors spread that Creola's curse had never been broken at all, and that Amadeus had lain with another women and Antimony had been produced out of wedlock. Antimony did not really look like Creola, save for the color of her hair-- she had her father's face, through and through. The other rumors were worse, and even more outlandish: from the rumor that Antimony was actually a muggleborn child smuggled away from her biological parents, to the absurd speculations that Amadeus had used some dark ritual to create Antimony entirely out of magic, to the extremely popular rumor (so popular it was offensive) that Antimony was really part Banshee, or Veela.

None of this would have had any serious, lasting bearing on the family if Amadeus had not been kicked out of the family estate after Antimony's birth. To many, this action proved that all of the rumors were true. Despite the speculations, however, the reason Amadeus had left the estate was because he had not had an heir that could easily carry on the Galanis name. Traditionally, witches change their last names when they marry, and the Galanis family believed that one must always give the inheritance to a male heir. (Amadeus even had two older sisters who were passed over in favor of him for the inheritance.) Fortunately, the family did not strike Amadeus from the family, because now they knew he would not have trouble producing an heir, but they were wary to let him stay at the estate when he had not yet fulfilled his obligation. Amadeus is currently being challenged by a distant cousin for the rights to the estate and family name, but he will only be denied his inheritance if he and Creole do not produce a male heir within ten years. Unfortunately, purebloods are notoriously infertile, and rarely have more than one child. The pressure is on. (Some people say the Galanis family want to disown Amadeus anyway, and that the time limit is merely a farce. He has created more trouble than gain for the family--not just by marrying Creola, but also because he is rumored to have murdered his squib half-brother, and he made a lot of enemies when he briefly worked as a liaison between aurors and illegal magical artifact dealers.)

Regardless of the family drama, Antimony's life has been fairly stable. She grew up in a small wizarding community hidden in an alley of Muggle London, and was surrounded by mostly half bloods and muggle born witches and wizards, as Amadeus and Creola did not want Antimony to have to deal with the nasty rumors about her family, and purebloods would certainly bring it up. Despite this, Antimony rarely ever interacted with the half blood children. Creola and Amadeus did not appreciate Antimony socializing with her "lessers," so the girl grew up mostly isolated, with no lasting friends and few people she could talk to besides her parents and private tutors. Because of this, she is desperately lonely. Antimony rarely left Espech Alley, only ever going to other wizarding hubs (Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic while her father worked there, and Hogsmeade, once) or to the Galanis estate to see her grandparents and cousins during family reunions or parties. (Since Antimony had to interact with pureblood children then, she is at least partially aware of the rumors about her father.)

Antimony has always been a precocious child, and more likely to boldly ask "why" than accept authority. Creola always taught her to be discerning of others, but trusting of her parents. Because of this, Antimony is fairly racist. She doesn't hate muggles, muggleborns, and half bloods, but she does think herself better than them simply because that's "just the way things are." She swallowed the pureblood ideology like any impressionable child would, and will spout it off whenever she can simply because she likes to show how knowledgable she thinks she is.

Antimony is a serious child, and much more comfortable talking with adults than other children. In fact, she thinks of herself as a tiny adult herself, and entirely capable. She likely will not bow to any authority that is not her parents. Despite Creola and Amadeus being Slytherins themselves when they were in Hogwarts, Antimony has very little cunning herself, though she would say she is ambitious. It is less ambition, however, than idle dreaming. Antimony, like most eleven year olds, has big dreams a bit too large for reality. She wants to be an Unspeakable and be an Auror and be Minister of Magic and a scholar and researcher. If anyone tells her she can't, her response will undoubtedly be, "And why can't I?"

Despite her abrasive attitude, Antimony is desperate for friends, and thus, is motivated to people please. This is not something her parents encourage or value, but since they have not seen her around other children, they merely interpret her more servile behavior as her simply being obedient to her parents. Amadeus especially tried to encourage Antimony toward leadership and more Slytherin attributes, by encouraging her to ask questions without fear and question everything, praising her authoritative and bossy behavior toward the house elves and half blood children in Espech Alley, and indulging in her childish dreams while Creola reprimanded her to be more realistic. Antimony is just not inclined that way, however. She is so desperate for companionship that while she might take charge to try to impress her peers, she's just as likely to fall prey to bullies and become a follower. She may lean either way as she gets older, depending on what she experiences through school.