Alasdair von Tschirnhaus-Comyn | Slytherin | First Year

𝑬 𝑨 𝑹 𝑳 𝒀 ● 𝑳 𝑰 𝑭 𝑬 | Alasdair was born into a respected pure-blooded household on what muggles believe to be the ruin of Lochindorb Castle in the Scottish Highlands. His father, Cathal Comyn, is a scion of the famous clan Comyn of Badenoch, a line of aristocrats that rose to prominence in wizarding society when they faked their extinction to avoid muggle persecution following their feud with clan Bruce over the Scottish crown during the kingdom's first war of independence. His mother, Thusnelda von Tschirnhaus, is the last-living descendant of the Silesian branch of the Tschirnhaus family. She is a direct descendant of Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, a pure-blooded wizard whose talents in alchemy introduced porcelain to Enlightenment Europe. Their union had been an arranged one, as both families harboured strong sentiments for blood purity. Despite the fact that they first met at the altar, Cathal and Thusnelda managed to build up a functioning, uncontroversial relationship, which was rather unorthodox and clinical insofar that the two never shared public displays of affection, which suited the family's stiff and stoic identity.

His early childhood was marked by his family’s immense privilege and affluence. The Comyns and Tschirnhauses had both built up considerable generational wealth, which meant that Alasdair grew up without any wants or needs. Despite his material comfort, the pressure to succeed in life weighed heavily upon his shoulders - he would have to fulfill the expectations and duties his family had thrust upon him, or spend his last days penniless, knowing that he had been unable to preserve his family’s century-old fortune.

Alasdair tried to remedy that stress by applying himself physically; his sister may have been more adept at using magic, but he would be stronger, bigger and faster. As he grew up, he became absolutely obsessed with quidditch, and tried to set up a fan club for The Prides in his native Inverness-shire, which his parents quickly forbade him to do, as they regarded fan club memberships as a gauche, plebeian pathway to hooliganism.

Nevertheless, Alasdair remained exceptionally interested in quidditch, and spent a lot of his time trying to stay up-to-date with game results, league standings and player transfers. He stuck to supporting the Pride of Portree, his local club, and frequented their home games, especially when they played the Montrose Magpies in the Highland derby.

Besides staying physically active and obsessing over quidditch, Alasdair accompanied his father Cathal on days out hunting nogtails and other pests on the Comyn estate. The two share very fond memories of wandering the length and breadth of Scotland’s moors and glens, which instilled a deep fascination and respect for nature within the young Von Tschirnhaus-Comyn.

In what remaining spare time he had, Alasdair attended balls, galas, banquets and charity fundraisers with his family. Armed with his extensive knowledge of social etiquette and a certain quick wit that he cultivated to out-do his twin sister, the young scion felt right at home at these events, delighting in the many compliments he received on his immaculate manners and courtly behaviour.

𝑺 𝑪 𝑯 𝑶 𝑶 𝑳 ● 𝑳 𝑰 𝑭 𝑬 |
The first time Alasdair ever laid eyes upon Hogwarts castle was when a small armada of rowing boats ferried himself and all the other students in his year across the Black Lake. His memories of the dimly-lit spires and sturdy castle walls are still as fresh as they could ever be, particularly now that the young Scot spends his days within the castle's ancient walls. In truth, there has been something both eerie and awe-inspiring about the vastness of the colussus that it Britain's only wizarding school. There are days when Alasdair wakes up in his common room dorm, unsure of whether he's still caught up in some kind of dream.

When he does, however, figure that he's no longer at his family's estate, he tries his best to seize every single day; Von Tschirnhaus-Comyn likes to go for walks across his native Scottish moors, spends much of his time studying in the library, and attends as many Slytherin quidditch games as he possibly can. He's had a difficult time making friends thusfar - owing mostly to a perceived sense of snobbishness and the general cultural disconnect that he might experience with students from different backgrounds. Yet, he's been trying quite hard to find a nice group of friends.

During his first year at Hogwarts, he's found he's enjoyed his lessons in Flying, Potions and History of Magic to be most enjoyable, whereas he's particularly ambivalent about Defence against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration.

𝑭 𝑰 𝑹 𝑺 𝑻 ● 𝑰 𝑵 𝑺 𝑻 𝑨 𝑵 𝑪 𝑬 ● 𝑶 𝑭 ● 𝑴 𝑨 𝑮 𝑰 𝑪 | Alasdair was particularly late when it came to showing his first signs of magic, which irritated him to no end. Aoife, his twin sister, became his parents' unashamed favourite for her affinity with magic, which had sparked an ever-lasting sibling rivalry.

Hoping to outperform his sister, Alasdair pushed himself to the very limit to develop magic, trying everything. He'd swum through lakes and bogs of the Great Glen, hoping the cool water would spur on something magical within himself, wasted hours trying to turn peat into gold upon the incantation of some imagined spell, and once even nearly set fire to his family's ancestral seat trying to conjure a ball of fire in the great hall's hearth.

In a shocking twist of irony, Alasdair would have his first accidental bout of magic at a time when he himself did not even notice it. After a long day of swimming through Loch Rutven, wee seven-year-old Allie went for some well-deserved shut-eye, drowsily stumbling into bed after which he promptly fell asleep. The boy can scant remember anything that night, save for the fact that he had a terrible nightmare.

When he was woken up by his parents, his room looked like a tornado had flown right through it. The curtains had been ripped from their poles, their fine fabric stretched and perforated by a seemingly inexplicable force. All the boy's belongings had been scattered through the room, and his priceless mahogany desk had been dented by something stronger than a lad of his age could ever be.

It didn't take Von Tschirnhaus-Comyn's parents to put two and two together - Alasdair's violent fit during his sleep must have translated to his first instance of magic. Ecstatic about the fact that he proved not to a squib after all, Alasdair's felt a sense of bittersweet relief; though he could not be happier about the fact that he was capable of magic, he could not believe that he hadn't been able to witness it himself.