Beatrice Woodstoke | First Year | Slytherin

On the 28th of January, 2013, in a small cottage on the edge of Monmouth, Wales, Beatrice Elizabeth Woodstoke was born to Paul and Arawyn (wyn) Woodstoke.

For two years Beatrice grew up surrounded by nature and the love of her family in their little cottage and that love only grew when a new addition was added to the family. Her little sister, Eowyn, was born in early summer and the family moved to a bigger house across the border in England.

They settled in a small village on the edge of the River Wye called Symond’s Yat and the girls spent most of their time exploring in the forest and making mud pies.

At four years old, Beatrice’s mother had been cooking dinner when her sister, who was messing around in her high-chair, tipped her chair over and just before she hit the ground, she stopped falling, levitating as Beatrice’s hands were held out in front of her on the other side of the room, subconsciously using her magic to catch her sister from falling.

When they were old enough, the sister’s attended a small muggle primary school that was walking distance from the house and during the holidays they visited their grandparents at their cottage in the South Welsh countryside.

Beatrice was a shy but intelligent girl and spent most of her time studying and reading up on all things magical and muggle. She was tutored by her mother and grandmother in magical studies and had an unrivalled sense of curiosity about anything and everything. She always adored helping her mother with making healing potions for her accident-prone sister, in-awe of how a few ingredients mixed together could create something so magical and found the process very calming. She was a very empathetic person and always helped people even if she didn’t particularly like them and spent a lot of her time nursing ill animals back to health. She was a highly sensitive child and always felt the burden’s of others as if they were her own. In social settings, she preferred to observe from the sidelines while her peers played games in the playground and always chose the company of her teachers and other adults to that of other children. She kept the same one friend that she made when the family first moved to the village and otherwise stayed in solitude. Her parents encouraged her to make friends and engage more with other children, fearing she was lonely and would become isolated and while sometimes she wished she had more friends, most of the time was content with animals to keep her company. She always seemed to have a unique connection with them. They didn’t judge her and didn’t mind her ramblings and long bouts of silence.

She was always a very aware child, able to pick up the moods of people surrounding her even if she didn’t understand how to interact with them. She noticed things others did not. A teacher constantly checking their phone, biting their nails anxiously, awaiting news. A classmate that always spoke a little too loudly, like he was afraid that if he didn’t make a scene that nobody would notice him and he would fade into nothingness. An owl that seemed to follow her around the woods by her house, beady eyes shining with the knowledge of something only they knew. She was aware of herself too. Her emotions, her actions, the way she presented herself. She was aware but she couldn’t change it or understand why.

At 9 years old her mother dragged her to a psychologist after months of tears after school and refusal to go to the school she had once loved and after a long conversation, multiple doctors appointments and her mother’s refusal to let her child suffer, she was diagnosed with autism and anxiety. It took 2 years for the diagnosis to come through and a lot of denial on her family’s part but in the end she finally had access to help and answers as to why she was the way she was.

After finding a therapist who was right for them and helped her understand her mind better, she seemed to be a bit more confident in her own skin and that summer her Hogwarts letter arrived. While being extremely nervous to be in a new environment so far away from her parents, she had dreamed of attending the school since her mother had first told her about it when she was four. She studied hard that summer, wanting to be ready for classes and on the 1st of September her whole family drove down to London with their newly acquired do (her sister’s new best friend to keep her company whilst Beatrice was at school) and waved her off (with many tears) as she departed King’s Cross Station on the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts and the start of a new chapter of her life.