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Full Character Name: Una Sophia Freher (born Alexis Norah Zahn)
Character Birthday & Age: January 25, 1986/23 years old
City & Country of Birth: Donauwörth/Germany
Blood Purity: Muggleborn
Alma Mater: Received home tutoring.
Job/Position: Trainee Alchemist
Wand: Mahogany with Dragon Heartstring core bought at Olivander’s Wand Shop.
Physical Description: Una is 5'2'' and 102 pounds. Wavy long-length blonde hair, heart shaped face, blue eyes, snub-nose and small, delicate mouth. Una has some freckles over her cheeks and nose. Usually she wears long dresses or classical designed suits, such as high waisted skirts with long sleeved shirts, vests, tailleurs and hooded cloaks. Blue, green, black and white are her colors - she never ever wears anything red.
Even when she's using long sleeves, Una wears a shoulder high glove in her right arm under the clothes and won't take it off in public unless in case of extreme necessity, but she would be really disturbed by doing so. Her right hand and arm are fully covered and distorted by burn scars, and she never got used to see, feel by herself or let others know she has then; although her own fears about that and the lack of mobility denounces the fact more than anything.
She went to England at a young age, but she still speaks with German accent and often confuses some expressions, which embarrasses her. Una's petite body shape, naive expression and shy nature makes her looks younger than she really is and it's hard for any elder to believe that she's actually capable of doing any advanced task or complex work with accuracy.
That, with her lack of confidence, is a huge obstacle when Una wishes deeply to be a great Unspeakable as her father was. Sometimes she uses fake glasses (along with her most old-fashioned clothes) to try to add some age to her looks. She was taught to have a perfect posture and all her gesture is elegant, delicate and polite; her voice is lower and silky - at her normal mood. In certain levels of stress, she loses all her manners and get as scary as an angry Veela.
She uses make up, beauty potions and charms even at home as a form of compensation for her scars. It’s difficult for Una to find herself beautiful in her natural way.
Personality Description: Una is really shy and almost incapable of start a conversation with someone she didn’t know well, which means everyone whose not from her family. She remembers very little facts about her childhood and is disturbed by kids, childish plays and everything related.
She went to England when she was eleven with her adoptive parents and sister, but wasn’t able to study in Hogwarts because, with another impediments, she’s a Muggleborn and in that year the school was dominated by the Death Eaters, in the following it was destructed by the war and when reconstructed again, Una was already taking home tutoring and was old enough to feel ashamed of studying with kids.
Her adoptive older sister, Septima, graduated in Durmstrang and very rigid in her manners, dislikes the way Una was raised and educated. Every time she visits the family they end up arguing about the girl’s capacities and future, as Septima believes she’s spoiled and not able to do anything in the right way. That’s the only thing nowadays that can upset the balance and the inner peace Una found while awake, by the lessons of love and patient she received from her father.
Archimedes is her personal hero. She remember being in some kind of mental institution when he came and took her home. He started teaching her the art of Alchemy as soon as she was capable, putting his trust on her abilities unlike Septima. Una finds a truly release when studying, reading and taking care of the enormous garden she planted by herself. But her real sweetest escape is when she takes a Sleeping Potion and is capable of enjoy a few hours of profound rest without dreaming. Nightmares often occur when she doesn’t take the potion, making her sleepless.
She’s kind, polite, easygoing and impressionable, which makes her susceptible of manipulations. Una tend to hide her own frustrations and try hard to deal with her issues alone, but when she feels like seriously abused or being put in some stressful situation, she loses control of herself and her magic, being able to cause severe damages to anyone or anything in her way. Her adoptive father is the only one who can calm her down before something happen, but as she grew up in a voluntary seclusion, nothing serious occurred in the past years.
Una is a good herbologist, potioneer and enjoy studying the alchemical laws of nature with Archimedes. She’s not so good in charms, spells and can’t fly at all. Her relations with fire are ambiguous, by the time she’s enchanted by the light and the heat she can’t stand too near and when it’s possible, she rather to ask the house-elfs to light the fire for her potion cauldrons.
She had been adopted by a wealth half-blood wizard family, but doesn’t act like a young rich girl enjoying spending money in fashion clothes, parties or anything like that. Una treats house-elfs, creatures and all wizards as equals, but when it comes to Muggles she finds difficult to stand in their presences. She didn’t hate then, but feels somehow repelled even her being a Muggleborn.
Una can’t remember her real parents and isn’t consciously familiar to any Muggle habits, as she spends all of her time in wizarding world after the adoption, seemed like she was born in there and never went out.
History: Alexis Norah Zahn was born in Donauwörth, Germany, in January 26, 1986, fourth child of Veronika Izabel and Helmut Sigmund Zahn, Muggles. They were extremely rigid in their education and all their kids should walk straight in the line, be obedient and never question his decisions. And so Alexis did, until she was seven years old and started doing things out of her control, like making trees growing in the garden in a few minutes, snowing inside the house or setting fire in paintings she didn’t like just with the power of mind.
She thought herself able to do anything she wanted happen, because she was special. Her parents, in the other hand, tough she has a severe mental illness or was possessed by some kind of evil spirit and desperately started to seek cure. At the beginning Alexis had to make all kinds of uncomfortable exams, talk to psychologists, priests, and take impressive amounts of medicine. In some time she was taking psychiatry treatments along with exorcisms and it seemed to worsen her “problems” and her temper. The once kind and obedient girl was, at the age of nine, considered potentially dangerous and kept locked in the basement.
The anguish, hurt and desperation grew inside Alexis as she couldn’t even see the sun or breathe fresh air and in June 13, 1995 her torment has peaked when another doctor went visit her. She was rescued in that afternoon, in the middle of mysterious flames that destroyed the Zahn’s house. An explosion incinerated everything around and would have killed her parents and siblings if the neighbors didn’t go for help as soon as they saw the smoke. All her family got injured, some worse than others.
Alexis was taken to the hospital in catatonic state and with strange third-degree burns all over her right arm. Before it was reported in the Muggle’s news, the German Ministry of Magic declared the fact as a magical accident and the Aurors obliviated the memory of everyone involved and took the girl in custody. Alexis Norah Zahn was officially dead to the Muggles, a measure to prevent the young witch to suffer any more inhumanly treatments and guarantee her mental health before it was too late.
In September 1995 her right arm was complete healed, although the awful scars that remained and the motor limitations. By December 1995 she started to respond to stimulation and in April 1996 she was already talking and walking alone, acting calm and gently but without being capable of telling who she was and how did she got the scars. The memories were in her mind, but strongly blocked by the trauma. That, and her unusual historic, caught the attention of an Unspeakable. The man felt pity for the situation of such young girl and asked to the minister some way to help her. In August 18, 1996 Alexis was renamed as Una Sophia Freher, adoptive daughter of Abigail Konstanz and Archimedes Tullius Freher, and sister of Septima Lux Freher.
Except Septima, who found a work at Germany, the family moved to London in January 1997 in order to protect more Una and her new identity. None of them took place in the war against Voldemort. They kept low profile and lied about the origins of Una, what wasn’t hard once no one in Britain knew their stories. Una felt the general tension and always lamented the fact she couldn’t study in Hogwarts. It helped in making her feel misplaced, without ever belong to anything. But she happily accepted the home tutoring and her father’s lessons.
Una had to learn how to use her left hand, and Archimedes only bought her a wand when she was capable of write perfectly, being more safe to use magic without losing control of it, as happened in the past. From 1999 to 2006 she received the basic education at home, studying Charms, Potions, Herbology, Arithmancy, Transfiguration and History of Magic. From 2006 to nowadays she’s learning Alchemy with her adoptive father, and found a job as trainee on the Department of Mysteries with his help, which makes her overjoyed by getting a chance to accomplish her dream of follow his way and make him proud.
Describe your job duties and how you go about them: Una is a trainee Alchemist with deep interest in Spagyric. She used to seeks plants at her own garden to practice, and is personally interested in search a medicine capable of cure long-time injuries, like her own skin damages. Mostly Una likes to study theories very deep and carefully before trying something new, as she already did experiments that failed and felt really bad after that.
She’s doing a long research about all plants with healing properties, based in ancient texts and illustrations in order to find the right alchemical combination that can operate in closed wounds, fixing all the flaws in the healing process. Una plains to extend her studies to find a potion that can heal any body damage without leaving any mark.
Elaborate on your expertise in your field: As her father is a former Unspeakable she has access to a lot of texts, documents and knowledge by being taught by him, even he not sharing the secret researches from the Department of Mysteries. Being Una insecure, she makes double effort to be sure before experiment or concludes something, which means she’s patient, dedicated and eager to get approval in such ancient art.
Writing Sample: She was knelt in the middle of the garden, reaping Dandelion’s roots with her own hands. It was nice for her to feel the cold touch of the leaves in her left hand, the smell of wet earth rising to her nose and the smooth resistance of the roots when leaving ground. Una put the plant in the basket along with the others, before rising and seeing gladly the green vastness around her under the summer sky.
“You should wash your hands and go inside, lunch is ready and your sister is here to join us.” her father’s voice sounded right behind her, strong enough to scare anyone but Una, who was already used to his tones.
“Can I take a bath? I don’t want Septima to look at me like this...” she turned to him, her ecru glove almost as dirty as her bare hand and the long blue dress all spotted with dirt. Archimedes laughed at her, making she scratches her neck, embarrassed. “A quick one, dad, please!” she begged like a child.
“A quick bath is just fine. I can entertain her for another half hour, but no longer than that, Una!” he pointed to her, resolute, making her grab her basket and ran back to the house before him. “Thank you, dad!” she shouted by the door.
In half hour Una joined her adoptive family at the table, in a perfectly cleaned suit and fresh, radiant face. “Guten Tag, Una!” Septima greeted her, taking a good look but not smiling at all. “We can finally ask Tyer to bring the lunch?” she asked, being answered by a pop.
“Tyer heard Miss Freher called, Tyer came to see how he can be useful.” The house-elf appeared, saluting politely all the family. “Bring us the lunch, Tyer.” Archimedes gave the order and was attended right away by the elf, who filled the table with cauldrons of food and served then in the plates while an uncomfortable silence fell between the four occupants of the table.
“So, how’s your work in Germany, my dear?” Abigail asked to her daughter, trying to break the silence before they start to eat. “Great, mom, you must know how good it is to have our own house and be capable of maintain it with our jobs.” she slightly looked at Una while answering. “I bet you’re doing great, Septima!” Archimedes intervened, in vain.
“And you, Una? When will you do great too?” the woman looked straight to the sister, while cutting the meat with fork and knife, elegantly “At least you should find a wealth husband, if you’re incapable of work with your own wand.”
“Septima, watch your manners!” the father scolded her, as she defended herself without blink, “You know that’s the truth, dad. It’s your fault she’s so spoiled...”
Una was looking at her own untouched plate, breathing so hard that her father noticed and reached her arm over the table. She knew that was a sign for her to calm down and don’t let her sister put her down. Una pressed the cable of the fork between her fingers, Septima was always like that, sometimes she was in a good mood and capable of let her alone, but in that days which all the conversation seems to turn to Una in such negative way, the girl couldn’t help feel the anguish grow inside her chest in a painful way. Only the touch of Archimedes to bring her some peace.
She remembered the blue sky over the green garden, the smell of wet earth and the sensation brought by leaves and the flowers passing through her hand. It was good. It was better than look at Septima’s eyes.
“Actually...” Abigail interrupted daughter and father “...Una did this great hair potion for me the other day, she really got talent, Septima!”. The woman looked at her mother and rolled her eyes, “Ja, she must know how to something like that, but she really needs to find a job!”
“But I... I will, Septima.” Una stuttered, and felt her own body lifting from the chair while everyone was looking at her. “I will...” she repeated, before ran away from the room, get upstairs almost without feeling and slam the door of the library behind her. The smell of the books was just as nice as the earth. Inner peace, she remembered. Inner peace.
Sum up your character in one paragraph: Una Sophia Freher is the adoptive daughter of a former Unspeakable and longs to follow her father’s steps, but her lack of self confidence is a huge obstacle. Her right arm is entirely covered by scars that she hides under a shoulder high glove; Una doesn’t know exactly how did she got them, for her memories are lost and she never was curious enough to go after the truth. She’s trainee Alchemist and wishes to find the cure for her arm injuries. Her shy nature, delicate gesture and naive eyes make her presence sweet and she looks younger than actually is. Una seems to be a perfect target of manipulations, but extreme pressure or anguish can make her really loses temper, even she fighting to avoid that.