Valkyrie Skandul | First Year | Hufflepuff

Valkyrie Skandul First Year Hufflepuff Age: 11 Gender: Female, she/her Birth Date: April 13th, 2013 Species: Human Blood Status: Pureblood Occupation: Student Home: Athlone, Ireland Boggart: TBD Patronus: TBD

Wand Length: 33.4 cm Wood: Mayhaw Core: Unicorn Hair

Pre-Hogwarts
You could say that Valkyrie grew up in a stereotypical Slytherin household, and yes she does come from a long line of Slytherins. Her father, Althalos Skandul, is a big burly man. Her mother, Roselia Skandul, on the other hand, is a petite blonde-haired woman. She learned early on that her family dynamic was a tough-love situation. While she knew her parents loved her dearly, they rarely showed or expressed it.

They didn't teach Valkyrie about expressing love, but they did teach her to respect those in authority and to stand strong and challenge those who go against her beliefs. Those who Valkyrie had accepted into her inner circle of friends shared this same quality, as well as lived in the higher society that she was born into. It was only natural for her to grow close to the kids she was forced to hang out with anytime her parents attended some event. Out of all her friends, Valkyrie was closest to Scarlet. She was kinder and more caring than Valkyrie and that is what drew Valkyrie to the girl. While she was still far from being an emotional person, it was with Scarlet's help that Valkyrie is not a cold and stand-offish person.

Before receiving her acceptance letter from Hogwarts, Valkyrie was under the teachings of her private instructor who thankfully allowed her to spend most of "class" outside in her family's garden. Neither of Valkyrie's parents cared much for the garden. They simply kept it for the looks and the "character" it added to the house, as her mom would say to those who commented on its beauty. To Valkyrie though, it was a wonderland of excitement. Even her friends, apart from Scarlet, of course, found her love for the garden rather odd. She couldn't explain it, not that she ever tried, but she felt at home amongst the flowers in the little haven she had created for herself.

The times she wasn't in the garden, Valkyrie and her friends would play in the woods near her house. They would even play quidditch in a clearing they had found. On a couple of occasions, someone would get a bloody nose or black eye from a lucky aimed bludger, but the kids never fessed up who was responsible. Mostly because the culprit's mother would have gone ballistic to know that her daughter was the cause of all the injuries. Roselia Skandul was an elegant woman and did not care for quidditch saying it was no place for a lady. It was only thanks to Valkyrie's father that she was even allowed to play at all. He would simply wave a hand anytime she requested to play and say it was just kids being kids, and that was that.

First Instance of Magic

Reducio

Some may say that Valkyrie’s obsession with plants and more particularly her family garden came from her first instance of magic. When Valkyrie was but a couple of years old, her mother brought her out into the garden. She let her crawl around on the ground and play in the dirt surrounding the flowers. Scolding her whenever she would try to pluck a flower from the ground. One of the times Valkyrie reached for a flower, Roselia's eyes were focused on something going on in the house and the young girl was able to break the flower off the stem. When her mother saw what she had done, Roselia raised her voice at the girl telling her she had just killed it. Valkyrie looked at the poor flower in her hand and began to cry. Much to Roselia's astonishment and pleasure, for she had hoped for this moment, the broken stem began to grow and a new flower appeared in place of the old one. This was the day the Skandul's knew that their daughter was a witch.