Professor Anette Winters

Annette Winters started at Hogwarts a couple years before the beginning of the Second Wizarding War and graduated a couple years after its end. This put her academic career squarely centered around a very chaotic time in the magic world. In addition, she was a Winters, a family with a long and proud history as seers. With this renown came the pressure to perform and Anette felt that pressure acutely, particularly from her mother.

For centuries the Winters’ family tradition dictated each child attempt to open their ‘third eye’, an extra sense only seers receive, on their 15th birthday. As that day approached Anette felt nervous, worried she would not have the ability and be a disappointment, but scared of what she may see if she did. When the chosen day arrived Anette readied herself and concentrated as she had been instructed. At first, everything was vague, but as the images grew clear so did her horror. Visions of murdered corpses, mangled bodies, atrocities beyond measure flooded her ‘third eye’. As horrible as those visions were, they were nothing compared to what was to come. Suddenly, the emotions of thousands of broken lives, torn apart in thousand of ways, came crashing down on her soul. Pain, death, despair, sadness, all multiplied by millions weighed on her until she thought her body would break. She was in pain, but as suddenly as the torment had began it ended, leaving Anette with effects which would last a lifetime. Her mother cared not for Anette’s pain for she was just happy to have another seer in the Winters’ family legacy, but Anette found compassion from her father, who was extremely concerned about her reaction. Still, the brutality of her visions scarred her deeply, and her mother’s lack of empathy opened a permanent rift between the two.

Despite the war and her difficult seer experience Anette excelled in her classes, particularly Transfiguration, and was asked to join the three year Auror training program upon graduation. Her Auror training went well and she scored top marks in almost every category. As her career began she met another Auror and fell in love, having a son, Sebastion, five years into her career. Life was going well for Anette. She had a young son she loved, she was engaged to be married, and she had been promoted in rank as an Auror due to her high profile Death Eater captures. But fate was about to take her down an unexpected path.

One of the Death Eaters she had captured swore revenge and his comrades would honor that oath, finding Anette’s residence and killing Sebastion, who was 4 years old. Anette was devastated. She turned to her Fiancée for solace but would find only betrayal for shortly after Sebastion’s death he left her for another woman. Heart broken and grieving, Anette shut out the world, trying desperately to get away from her pain.

After five years Anette decided she needed to honor Sebastion’s memory, not by locking herself away, but living life to the fullest and helping to prevent any such tragedies from occurring again. She decided to teach Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, a school known for its constant brushes with tragedy.

## Personal Life

She works part time as a seer.

Auror Abraham Winters is her twin brother.

Anette received a scar while defending students at the masquerade attack and was unable to use healing magic to mend it.