Retired June 2017Approved! -- SparkyCharacter's Full Name: Elixa Violetta Mordent
Birthday and Age: February 9th 1976, 35 (turning 36 Feb 2012)
City, Country of Birth: The family were living in Värnamo, Sweden, but born in the hospital her parents work for: Frolich Institute of Wizarding Medicine in Småland.
Blood Purity: Half-blood, both parents magical
Alma Mater: Durmstrang
Job/Position: Apothecary, come healer in training
Wand: 6 3/4 inches, pear, unicorn tail, straight shaft, lightly decorated handle.
Physical DescriptionElixa takes after her mother for her genetics. 5ft 3 in height, she is nimble enough. Her time at school and her hobbies, combined with a job that keeps her on her feet on the shop floor have kept the weight off her as best she can, along with trying to keep up running when the weather isn't lethal. It would be handy to be taller, but she has her wand.
She has long dark hair which falls in rough, untamed curls, more often drawn up in a bun or ponytail as she works. Some mornings it seems to take a life of its own, refusing to co-operate and instead resembling a birds-nest.
Inheriting mediterranean colouring from the Duerr family side, mixed with the Italian wizarding lines, and an altogether softer facial structure than some in her extended family. She favours to accentuate her brown eyes with smoky colours, not overbearing while at work, but on an evening out or a social occasion her eyes are shadowed.
Having grown up in the wizarding world with limited Muggle interaction, Elixa still favours wizarding fashion. Trousers are practical at times, but her apothecary uniform was a little more traditional, with long skirt, boots and apron, She prefers clearer colours than muted ones. To dress up, she favours the more gothic edge to wizarding fashion, and enjoys the attention to detail of fabrics.
She has little ticks such as drumming her fingertips while reading instructions, reciting mental arithmetic aloud as she converts measurements - keenly staring at anyone who happens to be nearby as she does, as if it's written on their forehead.
Personality DescriptionElixa is a generally happy soul. She does enjoy the easy life, determined through short term challenges, but her resolve fails her longer term, resulting in frustration and in the case of her training, results in her giving up altogether in pursuit of an alternative, easier route.
She is often quick with her tongue, either to quip a joke or a tease with a grin, or in defence of herself. She relishes in pleasing others, and as such finds dealing with customers who need her help rather fulfilling. When faced with life or death, she can freeze, but her increased age and personal confidence in her knowledge has reduced the likelihood. She tries not to let people who are upset or injured take centre stage, appreciating confidentiality and some privacy.
Elixa's sense of humour keeps spirits high with her team. She made for a pleasant manager, patient, turning criticism to a constructive statement or suggestion in front of customers, and a quiet but firm word behind the counter later to her colleagues. At work she is rigorously organised and neat, keeping up with the ebb and flow of demand, whereas at home she is a little more laid back, most of her energies devoted to work than the cleanliness of her rooms. It's not unlike her to let it get to a point of clutter and then spring up and clean like a woman possessed.
She keeps a group of regular friends, socialising and remembering birthdays. At times she wishes she was closer to one person, perhaps a lover. Ultimately the person she feels able to settle down with will be her closest friend. Male or female, it doesn't much matter. She's always the one bolstering up others when they're down, with a cup of tea, and a listening ear, though she's actually surprised people want to talk to her, as she doesn't often go out of her way to pry.
Elixa enjoys being outdoors, unafraid of bad weather from family trips at Christmas up north, and travels and exploration over with the Duerr extended family in Italy. She learned to ride as a child, and takes pleasure in continuing the hobby when she can. Sledging is a thrill, especially with a charmed sled, and a decent hill, of which Sweden can provide.
She was taught the viola by a next door neighbour before going to Durmstrang, and although she kept up lessons during her summers, she has not played since leaving, content to understand the basics of music theory, but not fussed with pursuing it as a creative outlet. However, this childhood and teenage hobby prove to be a great irritation to her childhood friend, and third cousin, who was unable to master music at all. On a good day she can be caught singing along to the wireless, though her voice is nothing special, it is at least, in tune.
Owing to the parental fascination in the subject, Elixa is well informed on werewolves, as the study and discussion of the curse is considered a family hobby. All three children were raised to be particularly respectful of those with the curse, and she is more likely to enquire on how the bite was received, and any other symptoms, than any fear or disgust. This can be a little unsettling for werewolves she is only recently acquainted with. Elixa has quite a morbid fascination of the bite scars, if the victim is willing to show them.
Her interest and studies in apothecary mean that Elixa is not against trying the odd brew on herself for experimental reasons, which comes with all the amusing side effects. It is not uncommon for her to belch loudly out of habit, though she tries not to in polite society, or if she knows someone else is nearby.
She exchanges regular letters with Belarius, and exchanges postcards to Benedick without fail every month, despite the fact they both lived in the same country for much of their twenties. Elixa cheated occasionally by begging Johann to buy her a bulk set of postcards when he was abroad and owl them to her. Each April it is tradition to exchange a postcard with a scantily clad person on the front. Both siblings keep the postcards in a collection as a set of memories recording the years.
HistoryJames Mordent, of Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts, is the son of Rebecca Glass and John Mordent, two healers who lived in Cambridge. James, like his parents, trained to be a healer at St Mungo's Hospital in London. The Mordents and the Glass family are both English halfbloods who often marry Muggles, other halfbloods and squibs. (Rebecca, a half blood is the younger sister of Arnold Glass, father of Edwin Glass, making them first cousins once removed.)
James developed a particular interest in the healing of werewolves, whether the bite could be counteracted, the side effects of bites outside of full moon were all incredibly interesting to him. Subsequently, James elected to practise healing at Sweden's Frolich Institute of Wizarding Medicine, which had been particularly active in the studies.
In Italy, Violetta Duerr attended Beauxbatons for her education. She also chose to be a healer, keen to find answers when her father was turned to a werewolf while she was still studying at school. Violetta also headed to the Frolich Institute, keen to continue the development of wolfsbane. The Duerr family have roots in France and Belgium, and Violetta's branch of the family had moved into the Italy area and married into Italian wizarding families. (The Duerrs are the family of Camille Storm)
It was there that the two met, fell in love, and were married in 1974.
The couple had three children, Elixa, and twin boys, Belarius and Benedick, in the years that followed.
ChildhoodElixa arrived February 1976, born at the Institute, rather than at home. Full moon was due on the 15th, and 4 days before, Elixa arrived on the 9th. Her birth at the Institute was advantageous that her father was able to be there, the days leading up to the full moon were always busiest as they administered experimental potions to willing werewolf candidates, with varying success.
In 1978 Elixa's twin brothers arrived, again, at the Institute, and luckily so. Belarius was born first, older by two minutes than his brother, Benedick who was the weaker of the two. He was a worry during their childhood in Sweden, generally always the one to get ill out of the three children. It was an upset, but not entirely surprising when Benedick did not exhibit any magical tendency, and was therefore ineligible to go to Durmstrang with his siblings. Brother Belarius and sister Elixa were both greatly upset, and tried to include their squib sibling as best they could.
Benedick remained at home with their parents to be taught as far as possible, and was taken to work at the Institute and given unpaid jobs to keep him busy. As such, he gained more of a paid administrative position when he became old enough, stocking the Institute's stores, and doing rounds to visit the patients, reading books and keeping up their spirits.
Elixa's childhood memories include the house being rather empty on a full moon. Her parents were always at the Institute, and they would be babysat by their parent's friends, generally witches. There was always an abundance of silver items in the house, a precaution with working with werewolves, should a patient discover their home address and cause trouble.
At Christmas they would often go north into the dark to stay on a friend's farm. Elixa enjoys Swedish magical culture, snow, and the rugged life that comes with being so remote, but she admits to preferring a slightly easier, urban life on a day to day basis.
Every few years the family would travel to Italy for a warmer holiday stay with Violetta's family, and the next year to Britain to see the Mordent family. A mixture of wizards and muggles, the family are also a mixture of healers, doctors and surgeons. The statute of secrecy is upheld, but on occasion came close to being rather bent. The Mordents and Glass family are intermarried along the way.
DurmstrangElixa arrived at Durmstrang to be put into the dregs straight out. She was unsure what she had done to deserve it, but she lacked both blood status and family lineage. Although her parents were both healers, and respected at the Institute, the assistance of werewolves at that time was still a little sceptical amongst elders at the school.
The same year she arrived, her third cousin, Johann Storm also began his studies. The two knew of each other distantly. Storm was related to the Duerrs though his mother, a Belgian. Both children had been told by their mothers that the other would be attending, and it might be a good idea to get to know each other. Elixa didn't have too much interest in this since Johann was classed a oberteil, and appeared a bit of a swot in her eyes.
However, resigned to Dreg status, her only option was to work hard and appeal to her professors to elevate her. This frustrated Elixa hugely. It wasn't until the first summer that during a trip to Italy for a family holiday that it coincided with her third cousin's visit with his parents, an arrogant father called Wolfgang, and his kinder mother, Camille, who implored Elixa to talk to Johann, explaining he was shy. Not quite accurate, but it had the desired effect.
The two struck up a deal in the week their time in Italy coincided, and when they both returned to school in northern Europe, Johann began to help Elixa on the sly to improve her marks and study. She was still very frustrated at being in the lowest strata, and her outbursts with Professors did not help her, so it was not until the third year that she was finally allowed to join the Zufrieden.
Elixa gained a few friends, feeling obliged to help some of her former Dreg companions, though it seemed many had resigned themselves to being there for the duration. Once a Zufrieden it was easier to socialise, although she found herself somewhat excluded in the pureblood's courtship rituals in the later years due to her late promotion and her unclear blood status, her father's family being mixed heritage.
Meanwhile, the two third cousins had become better acquainted, and Elixa proceeded to borrow or try to steal Johann's homework on the subjects they shared until the two split into different disciplines.
Elixa followed Tangibles, the study of naturally-occurring or nature based magic which included herbology, potions, healing, astronomy and such, with the thought that she might become a healer. Certainly her upbringing and the family support was there, and she'd not considered what she might like to be, which was probably a mistake in the career-oriented school she resided within.
Johann followed intangibles, but relented to continue to attempt to help her towards the date of examinations. They would spend long hours in the library with hushed voices, Johann testing Elixa from her notes, while she was sometimes reduced to tears, unable to recall it all. Further irritation came when Johann would soak up the contents of her text book, while she tried to cram facts and numbers into her head. She always learned by doing, by using her hands and experimenting and trying. It wasn't until her last year that she really understood this, and was able to use it to improve her memory.
In 1993, the last summer before Elixa graduated, she stayed three weeks with Johann, Camille and Wolfgang, owing to them kindly offering her an unpaid internship at Chrysopoeia, a well respected wizard bank with branches in many Northern European countries. Whereas Elixa got on very well with Camille, the days she worked with her in personal banking, able to fulfil the simple jobs and handle money with ease, the days she spent with Wolfgang were a disaster, and by the end they both wanted to kill each other. A grudge has remained ever since.
To make matters worse, Johann's grandparents, Medgar and Erika insisted on coming to stay the final week she was there while their house was treated for an inconvenient magical pest. They occupied the spare room, and Elixa ended up on the floor in Johann's room to sleep, discovering her cousin barely did sleep. She was glad to return to Sweden, having overheard the adults discussing her suitability as a wife for Johann. She couldn't imagine anything worse!
Belarius followed Elixa into Durmstrang, but unlike his sister, managed to begin as a Zufreiden and maintain that throughout his time there. He graduated, and joined the Swedish Ministry, pursuing a career as an obliviator.
They were all taught along the way by the Einsenbergs, Elsie and Auberon.
Leaving School, 1994In the summer of 1994, Elixa finished her studies as a Zufreiden. The following year, Durmstrang were to compete in the Tri Wizard Tournament which finished Cedric Diggory off. At the time of hearing that the tournament was to be held, Elixa was disappointed not to still be at school, but on hearing about the death and the trouble around it, counted herself lucky.
The pair went travelling, but Elixa reluctantly had to return home to Sweden after a matter of months. She had not been able to scrape together nearly enough as she had needed to keep up, not realising how expensive it would be. Coming down to earth with a bump, and back with her parents and one of her brothers, she was unemployed for some months until it began to irritate her parents so much they threatened to drag her to the hospital to work the wards with her squib brother.
Indecisive about her career, and supposing she had followed the correct path at Durmstrang, Elixa relented, and enrolled in healer training at the Frolich Institute in 1995.
Her mother and father were still healing at the Institute, and were on duty the night Jan Friedson broke loose at full moon in 1997. Elixa would help her father occasionally on a full moon to monitor the werewolf patients. The transformation was terrifying to observe, and she was glad not to have been there on the night of the incident.
Elixa trained until 1999, but did not complete her final assessments. Losing two patients in quick succession, and unexpectedly, owing to mistakes, she failed her assessments and exams in her final term and did not complete. Convinced she would make a disastrous healer, she resigned her place and sought out a career in apothecary, dispensing simpler healing under the employment of Drammes Apotheke.
Drammes Apotheke, 1999Apothecary suited her. It was lower risk, people didn't die as easily, she could build up relations with regular customers and study ingredients and their properties to a far deeper extent. She became manager of the branch nearest the Institute in 2004 owing to her accumulated expertise and dedication. The position allowed her to pass her old school friend Johann names of useful contacts at the head offices in Germany.
Life was rosy, comfortable and financially stable for the years that followed. Elixa held down several enjoyable relationships, admittedly not too bothered which gender or breed, but each faded away for different reasons. Underneath the steady professional dedication, Elixa rather regretted not travelling as much, and when Drammes contacted her about the possibility of a trip to Britain on business, she almost bit their hand off.
Business Trip to Britain, 2008In 2008, she visited Britain for a few weeks, inspecting and meeting with different apothecaries in the country. Saleswizards had previously been but had been unsuccessful in helping Drammes break into the market with its own shops. This was owing to the numbers of independent family retailers not interested in selling their souls to the big European company, and the lingering Worshipful Society of Apothecaries that united them beneath. Elixa rather respected their position, and the uniqueness of each shop she visited. Some agreed to stocking the supplies, after she was able to demonstrate the quality.
During her visit, she stayed with a cousin, who she more considers an uncle due to the age and relations - Edwin Glass, Department Head of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. He lived alone, and offered her a room when the family relayed she would be visiting for a few weeks.
Towards the end of her visit she spent a few days observing at St Mungo's Hospital. Her father had trained to be a healer there, and her extended family of Mordents were still healing in the wards in various capacities. When writing up her observations on the visit for Drammes, she reflected on how much she now regretted having given up so close to the end of her healer training. She was older now, wiser. If not healing, she felt ready for a challenge of sorts.
Having seen the St Mungo's apothecary at first hand, she sent a letter to the hospital in 2009 while back in Sweden, explaining her position and enclosing details of her professional history. She thought nothing would become of it necessarily. Healer training was for young people, and she was a decade older than most.
However, in late 2009, she heard back, confirming the possibility. The board of Warlocks remembered her visit, and they would be very interested to recruit her into their staff, if she felt prepared for the change in pace.
The final months of the year were spent in Sweden recruiting a new manager for the branch and wrapping up her responsibilities with Drammes Apoteke, allowing her to make the move to Britain shortly after the new year. She was greatly amused to discover her friend's photograph pinned to the wall beside the door of the hospital apothecary.
Job Description & What expertise makes your character qualified for their position? Elixa has followed the tangibles path through Durmstrang which focused on the foundations and related subjects for healing. Followed by initial healer training at the Frolich Institute in Sweden, which she regrettably did not complete, Elixa became an apothecary for Drammes Apoteke. She was promoted up through the ranks to managing a branch in Sweden, and was sent to Britain to report on the apothecary market there. She has spent the past 10 years in apothecary and the 3 or 4 years before that studying healing.
Her role in the St Mungo's apothecary is to stock regular healing potions for each of the floors, and also brew the more specialist potions for use on the floors, although often the very rarely used or specially prepared brews are produced by healers on the individual floors, Elixa is rather prepared to help or prepare them on their behalf.
She dispenses run of the mill healing advice, rather like a pharmacist, from the apothecary, dispensing regular prescriptions. Although apothecaries up and down the country will dispense prescriptions, they will not always have stock, and the hospital has the most comprehensive and wide range of preparations.
When not on front line duty, Elixa involves herself in keeping up to date with latest developments in healing, and will sneak up to the floors above to question or discuss things she has read in journals with particular healers it may interest.
She has not ruled out restarting her training, but in the short term she is happiest to find her feet and make friends amongst the healers, and do a great deal of observing and assisting. She has the feeling that her circumstances will put undue burden on the healers who involve themselves in training, and instead involves herself in personal study on an evening.
RP Sample n/a
Paragraph SummaryElixa is a witch in her mid 30s, an apothecary for a good part of her career, she is now returning to healing training which she abandoned. A graduate of Durmstrang, she spent the first few years as a Dreg, eventually raising to a Zufreiden. An upbeat person generally, she is particularly dedicated to her role within St Mungo's hospital, which she begins in earnest in January 2010.
Elixa Mordent: Apothecary; Healer