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Character name: Orsolya Tarnay
School Year or Adult Level: Adult I
Does any Profile Card info need changing? Blood status to Half-breed; Function to Headmistress of Ilvermorny, I
Link to the character page: Accio
Character Statistics: Stamina 8 | Evasion 10 | Strength 10 | Wisdom 20 | Arcane Power 2 | Accuracy 10 (Total: 60. Intending to take an ability for Adult I.)
Character Special Race/Talent: Dhampir

Reducio

Mina Lahaie's whole world collapsed three months before her twenty-third birthday.

The daughter of two accomplished wizards, Mina had gotten almost everything she wanted since childhood. Smart, self-disciplined, the forever golden girl, she had always held her head up, and so easily became the centre of the crowd wherever she went. She had dedicated herself to the art of Duelling since her Ilvermorny days, and it was only natural for her to step into professional Duelling after graduation. Talented, Mina soon became a rising star in the Canadian Nationals in her early twenties, and was considered to have a bright future. There were certainly ups and downs, yet in her twenty-two years of life she hadn't really tasted failure.

She had been planning a trip across Eurasia with her school friends since graduation, but they had only found a time suitable for everyone until then. Starting from the west of the continent, they went east, enjoying their quality time off from work. Despite loving her career as a professional Duellist, Mina adored every second of the trip with her lifelong friends, and sincerely hoped that it would never come to an end. Yet everything changed when they reached Romania.

Spending their night in a local hotel, Mina left her group of friends and went out to the night street to search for a late-night snack. She might have been a little tipsy that night, because she did not take her wand with her, thinking that it would be a quick return from a little 24-hour shop at the end of the street. And this, turned out to be completely unacceptable for a Duellist. Having just arrived at sunset and unfamiliar with the surroundings, she turned at the wrong corner, and went into the darkest of alleys, where she was attacked by a bloodthirsty vampire.

Worried by her long-time absence, her friends went out searching for her, and arrived at the scene just in time. Startled and interrupted by the group of wizards directing their wands at them, the vampire fled the scene, leaving Mina lying on the cold ground. It was still too late. The vampire had already bitten her. A failed turning.

After the incident, no one had any interest in continuing the trip, but Mina insisted that they should. Refusing to return to North America right away, she decided to stay in Europe for a bit longer, where she would take a break and think everything over. Recently turned into a dhampir, Mina had no idea where her future lay. Vampires and dhampirs were not a species suitable for precise casting, and with the discrimination on them, she knew that she would no longer be able to pursue Duelling and rise to the very top of the world like once she had dreamed.

Yet she was a strong woman. She had always been so, and she knew that there was no point in mourning for the things that had already gone. Mina rented a small house in Bucharest, and tried to get used to her new life. Upon connecting with the local wizarding dhampir community, she did make a few friends, including a Hungarian dhampir who was introduced into their circle almost the same time as her.

Tarnay Benedek's whole world brightened four months after his twenty-seventh birthday.

The son of a human and a vampire, Benedek had never met his mother. Bred in the vampiric House of Tarnay in Hungary, he was the only dhampir around the manor, rumoured to be born out of a shameless affair of his father. He had never known much about his mother, except that she was a witch and "freaked out" when she learnt that her lover was a vampire. The Tarnays claimed that she was more than willing to get rid of the newborn child and leave him with them, but Benedek had always suspected that it was untrue. He could never find out the truth, though, seeing that he did not even know what her name was.

So, Benedek grew up as the outsider of the family, the quiet, sullen kid who always occupied the darkest corner of the library. He was surrounded by wealth and power the moment he was brought into the ancient castle of the vampire house which had been accumulating for centuries, yet there was always subtle malice and disdain towards him, and even his father acted as if he didn't even exist most of the time. Benedek was impure. The prominent vampire lineage was something the Tarnay family prided themselves on.

He was packed off to Scotland when he was eight. The days spent with his mother and posing as a normal wizard made his father aware of the possibility of his half-breed son manifesting magic. Durmstrang was not really an option, and on tops of that his father had no interest in meddling with "that woman's alma mater". They said that Hogwarts accepted half-breeds with welcoming arms, and thus he arrived in Scotland, patiently waiting for that first magic to knock on his door. Benedek was a late bloomer, and it eventually came when he was almost ten. His father checked on him a few times upon business trips to Britain, and he mostly spent his time before school with a private tutor.

He once thought that everything would be much better upon entering Hogwarts, yet Benedek soon found that he was wrong. Dhampirs were very much looked down on by human beings as well, and sometimes it wasn't even implicit. Benedek told himself not to pay attention to them, and spent his seven years as a nerd who tirelessly absorbed knowledge. His social circle was limited to a few people who were really warm-hearted and truly cared.

History of Magic had been his favourite subject since his childhood and school days, and he stepped into the professional field after graduation. Benedek returned to the family estate in Hungary, and spent his days dedicating himself to doing historical research as well as roaming in the ancient streets of Central and Eastern Europe. Through work connections, he got to know a dhampir from Romania, who then introduced him to a little salon hosted specifically for dhampirs in Bucharest. That was when paths crossed and he met and befriended a newly turned Canadian dhampir.

A born dhampir and a turned dhampir. An understated young man and a self-assured young woman. The rest was history.

From friends to lovers, from Bucharest to Grand Falls. The newlyweds moved to a small town in New Brunswick, Canada, where, under the encouragement of Benedek, Mina returned to the duelling piste she loved so much as a coach. Her friends who travelled with her helped hide her new identity, and she always tried to maintain minimal media exposure and wore a mask when she had to face close interactions, while Benedek continued to work as a low-profile historian. It wasn't long before they had the joy of welcoming their newborn daughters, a pair of healthy twin girls whom they named Orsolya Marie and Sofia Lahaie.

From a young age, Benedek and Mina made sure that their daughters were familiar with both their lineage and how to hide their race from prying eyes. To some extent, the girls were luckier than their parents; Mina made extraordinary efforts to adapt to her new dhampir self after the turning in her adulthood, while Benedek had never received such care and support when he felt confused about his in-between identity as a child. Unnaturally pale-skinned, averse to sunlight, and having a love for blood pops, Orsolya knew that she was different from the time she was old enough to understand things. She wouldn't say that she was particularly proud of it, but that was what she - and her whole family - was, and that was already enough for her to feel like she belonged.

Character Backstory:

Reducio

Orsolya Marie Tarnay was born on October 2nd, 2001, to Benedek Tarnay and Mina Lahaie in Grand Falls (Grand-Sault), New Brunswick, Canada. Seven minutes older than her twin sister Sofia Lahaie Tarnay, Orsolya was the firstborn of the wizarding couple. Hailing all the way from Hungary, her father worked as a Historian, while her mother was a professional Duellist turned Duelling Coach.

The family of four was well-off, and lived a modest life away from the bustling streets. This was because they were no ordinary human beings. They were a family of dhampirs. Growing up, Orsolya was more than aware of her identity, and she learned from her parents both to recognise and hide her lineage. Due to the family keeping a low profile and her own aversion to sunlight, Orsolya mostly grew up indoors away from peers, only going out when the sun wasn't so scorching. She spent much of her childhood living up to her parents' - mostly her mother's - expectations, learning various subjects from her parents and private tutors, including basic wizarding world prep knowledge and arts, sports, etc.

But Orsolya had never been a lonely child, because she had always had Sofia. From the time she could remember, Sofia had been by her side. And no matter how hard she tried, Sofia was always the perfect daughter. Lovingly nicknamed Zsófika by the family, she was cheerful, charming, and intelligent, and could easily draw all the attention when she wanted. On top of that, while both girls carried the deadly, vampiric traits from their parents, Sofia had always looked a little bit more "human", less pale, more active, and generally livelier and brighter than her twin sister. Orsolya had always suspected that their parents were more biased towards Sofia because of this, especially her mother, who, despite having accepted her dhampiric self well, had always been secretly reminiscing about her human days. Orsolya had constantly tried to get the better of her sister ever since her childhood, but was still a step behind most of the time. Indeed, she couldn't imagine a day without Sofia and if really given the chance she definitely wouldn't let her go, but it was a child's naïve wish that her sister might disappear and she could thus become an only child and get hold of everything. This sort of love-hate relationship between them continued for years afterward, even when they stepped into adulthood, and it was way beyond what words could describe.

Mina expected her daughters to receive proper wizarding education, and she trusted her alma mater, Ilvermorny, to be the perfect place. When she was still in school, she had been a full human being, but Benedek knew the difficulties of being one among humans, and thus expressed his concerns. Mina reassured him that they would be hiding it anyway, and it was nothing like when Benedek's lineage was practically public knowledge when he was at Hogwarts. So, while Benedek wasn't exactly keen on the idea, because of Mina's insistence, it was settled. At the age of eleven, the Tarnay girls boarded the underground train to Ilvermorny, and were sorted into Horned Serpent House. They were known as "the nerdy twins", quickly rising to the top of their grade, but seldom socialising with others and preferring to stay by themselves. This was mostly because they feared that their dhampir identity would be discovered. As any other eleven-year-olds, both Orsolya and Sofia wished to fit in. But they had to do so for the sake of keeping their places in the school.

They slowly got used to it - it wasn't too different from when they were kids, keeping away from other kids and staying together for the whole time. As relatively young dhampirs, it was easier to hide their unnatural traits, but as they grew older it became way more difficult. When they reached their third year, the Tarnay girls did make some friends and tentatively started socialising through the school years. However, with them trying to blend in and their visibility increasing, rumours began to spread. They were suspicious. They might be ineligible. They could be...dhampirs. Considering that they could not continue their education well in this case, their parents pulled the two girls out of Ilvermorny. After discussion, the family then relocated to Aberdeen, Scotland the summer before the girls' fourth year, and enrolled them in Hogwarts.

Although there were still many distrustful eyes and hurtful whisperings directed at them in Hogwarts, at least they wouldn't have to intentionally hide it all the time. When the secret's leaked, then let it be. Both sorted into Slytherin, they were finally able to study and socialise above board, with those who were open to accept them as they were. While Sofia preferred Charms and Transfiguration, Orsolya, influenced by her father, was more interested in Ancient Runes and History of Magic. Both completed their studies with perfect grades, and their parents couldn't be more proud. They would certainly become accomplished young witches as they had expected since they were young, and oh, everything was so promising.

After the girls' graduation, the family moved back to their house in Grand Falls. Graduate school was obviously the one and only right thing to do, and again they set out on the path of further education together. Yet approximately a year later, to everybody's astonishment, Sofia dropped out. She only informed the whole family after she went through all the procedures, claiming that she had had enough of academia and that attending the Wizarding Academy of Visual Arts and Design was her longtime dream. Her parents were shocked, and so was Orsolya. The perfect little Zsófika, always ahead of her in terms of meritocracy, now announced her withdrawal. Intending to pursue an academic career, Orsolya, for once in almost a score of years, got rid of Sofia as a competitor, and suddenly became the better daughter in their parents' eyes. Sofia would become a Stylist, while she would spend her life dedicating herself to research institutes. Her shadow, or rather, the person who had shadowed her, was finally gone as they embarked on different paths, and her childhood wish had absurdly been fulfilled. She would be lying to say that she could resist a touch of schadenfreude, but without Sofia by her side, something certainly felt off. Orsika and Zsófika. That was how it was meant to be.

Orsolya, at first, did not understand Sofia's choice like their parents, having grown up in a family aiming for elite academic research. However, she did admire Sofia's courage and determination to pursue what she genuinely wanted - while she had never regretted devoting herself to academia, there were certainly times when she wished to release her true self. After all these years, the sisters finally managed to engage in heart-to-heart conversations and open up to each other. From there, Orsolya became one of the firmer supporters of Sofia, helping her when their parents voiced their disapproval, before they gradually came to accept it.

Orsolya, on the other hand, quite enjoyed herself in her studies of runes, history, and related subjects, and continued to work in these fields after graduation. She found a job in the Canadian branch of a North American research institute where she worked for two years, and when there was an opportunity to join a dream team in the United States, she did not hesitate. Thanks to the encouragement from Sofia, Orsolya arrived in New York City, ready to start a new life. It was a lovely experience, and at an annual review meeting, a friend of a friend told her about an opening to teach an elective course at Ilvermorny.

So, Orsolya applied for it and returned to Ilvermorny after a decade. The school was exactly as she remembered, yet everything had changed. Teaching was much different from researching, but Orsolya found it equally intriguing. She meant to stay on this post for a few years before she returned to academia, but somehow she was miraculously put into consideration as the next Headmistress when there was a vacancy. Orsolya, despite feeling a bit nervous, was not going to let the opportunity slip through her fingers.

And so, she said yes.

First Instance of Magic:

Reducio

Almost a year after her twin sister's first accidental magic, Orsolya still hadn't displayed hers. Well, it wasn't like she would turn out as a squib for the rest of her life as she was barely five, but her parents were starting to worry. Another day of them chanting about it at the dinner table, Orsolya retreated to her bedroom while the rest of the family stayed in the living room, hopping onto her bed and grabbing her favourite storybook. It soon turned so dark that her reading couldn't continue, but Orsolya was not in the mood to light the candles or retrieve an oil lamp. She genuinely hoped that someone would peek in and ask what she was doing, and maybe kindly bring her a source of light. But perhaps it was because the topic that day was just engaging or they thought she was already asleep, as nobody showed up. Waiting in vain, Orsolya felt so frustrated, and all of a sudden somehow all the candles in the room lit up for a brief moment, making the room bright as if it were daytime.

STATUS: Approved, Nadira, Oct 9th