Maria Camila Da Silva Povoa

(quick summary about the character)

## Personality

Maria is, at first glance, a flamboyant and outspoken girl. She's intense and loud, rarely keeping anything to herself. She'll speak her mind plainly and abruptly.Not only that, she's like a storm when it comes to emotions. Strong, wild, intense. She feels everything so strongly, and she isn't very good at controlling her emotions. So, she's emotionally explosive and has a tendency to act solely on her emotions.

The girl is extremely vain. She cares more about her physical appearance then almost everything else. She avoids activities that could ruin or mess up her appearance in anyway. Not only that, she's half Veela, giving her that same natural charm for enchanting another's heart. She knows it too, and uses that ability to her advantage. She's an extreme flirt, with both boys and girls, and a major manipulator. She likes getting people to do what she wants, when she wants it.

Maria loves control, and power. She'll do anything for both of those, as well. She was raised in a very controlling environment. Always being controlled. Always with less power. Her grandparents are very controlling, and demanded compliance to their rules. Unfortunately for them,  Maria is not a very 'complying' person, and hates following rules she doesn't agree with. So, she wants to gain enough power in her life where the only one she has to listen to is herself. To gain control over her own life.

She's very guarded, and doesn't like people trying to learn about her. She's grown up in a society where you keep your secrets, and don't tell them to anyone. So, she, likewise, doesn't take kindly to prying. In fact, she hates people trying to get to know her. Because of this, she has very few 'true' friends.

Maria has severe abandonment issues. From losing her parents, to being raised by Grandparents that believe her only worth is in getting married, to losing Elias...  She's spent her whole life feeling as if she herself is disposable, and that everyone will leave her. So when someone does get close to her, her attachment is almost unhealthy, the girl becoming so possessive and afraid that they'll leave her like everyone else...

Approved custom ability: Maria is half Veela. While most part Veela's only inherit their mother's good looks and attraction powers, Maria is one of the rare few that also inherited her mother's ability to create fire in the palms of her hands. She doesn't necessarily control it though, because fire isn't really something you can control. But she requires only a thought, and her hands being free to create it. No wand, no spells.

## History

Maria's father was born Shea Mizan, a Romani man that's whole life had been planned out for him.He was engaged to marry a girl his parents had chosen, and it was expected of him to take his rightful place as a 'man'. There was nothing wrong with this girl. In fact, Shea liked her company. You see, arranged marriages are pretty common in Romani culture, but it isn't to make alliances. The parents look for someone that will suit their child. Shea could have been happy with her. Raised a large family. And then done the same for his own children. But, unfortunately, Shea had always felt something was missing. At least until he met Evangeline. She was beautiful. Stunning, actually. And he found himself falling head over heels in love with her. The feeling was mutual. Rather then attempt to convince his traditional family to end his engagement and permit him to marry outside their culture, he and Evangeline chose to run away together.

They traveled for many years, before finally settling down in Brazil. He changed his name, and they were soon married. They were truly happy, and life couldn't get any better. Well, until they welcomed their first child, Maria. From an extremely young age she showed signs of magic. Shea, now named Josue, was a Wizard, though he'd never used magic much. He didn't even own a wand. Thankfully Evangeline, while no witch, had.... experience. See, Evangeline was a Veela. A full blood Veela. Between the two of them (mostly Evangeline) they were able to contain and help Maria with her rather explosive magic. Just like her emotions, her magic was intense. She had a natural affinity with fire especially, something Evangeline was always proud of. It is exceptionally rare for a part Veela child to inherit the ability to create fire, but Maria was one. And Maria had a nasty habit of setting things on fire when angry. Evangeline was the only one able to ensure muggles didn't see her daughter's ability, and to also extinguish the fires she started...

They were a happy family. Living in Brazil, making it through each day with laughter and smiles. But, as fate would have it, their time was cut short. There was a bus accident, and Maria's mother was killed when she was seven. Her father, devastated by the accident and unable to mentally cope with the loss of his wife committed suicide a week later. Maria was left totally and completely alone. The local authorities were able to discover that 'Josue Da Silva Povoa' was an alias, and his name was in fact 'Shea Mizan'. Through investigations they were eventually able to find Maria's grandparents who were living in Sweden at the time and contacted them about the accident. Her grandparents, grief stricken by the news, immediately requested custody of their newly discovered grandchild, Maria. And so, off to Sweden she went.

The transition was... difficult. From the temperatures, to the customs, and her grandparents... It was a big adjustment. Especially her Grandparents. Maria had always known what she was. Her father had always taught her to be proud of being Romani, but he'd never been.... traditional. Her grandparents were different though. They were traditional. They wanted Maria to follow all of their rules and customs, and weren't forgiving to her mistakes. While Maria learned to embrace more of her culture there were some things she'd just never agree to, and it caused a lot of friction between her and her grandparents.

It didn't help that, as she got older she grew magically stronger. When she was little she'd started fires only when intensely angry, but the older she got the more frequent the fires became. Like her father, her grandparents were magical. But did not own wands, nor had they even gone to school. They believed, as many Romani, that it wasn't necessary, and sending their children to school would expose them to impure ideas and people. But they'd never experienced anyone like Maria in their family. A 'half breed'. Someone that, with a thought, could start a raging fire. Even with these circumstances her parents were stubborn. They didn't want to change long standing traditions. Until her tenth birthday. One of the neighborhood boys had been harassing her. The bullying was so extreme that Maria finally retaliated and set the poor boy on fire. Magical authorities in Sweden came immediately and wiped the boys memories. They didn't blame Maria for using magic. She was only a child, after all. But they did blame her grandparents for not properly training her. They gave her grandparents two options. Either send her to Durmstrang next year, or she'd be taken away and placed with a family that would ensure she was properly trained. Her grandparents chose the first option.

School was one of the most amazing experiences Maria had ever had. She loved to learn everything she could. At first, she was considerably behind her classmates in regard to reading and writing, making it difficult for her to keep up in classwork. She was bullied that first year severely, called slow and dumb. She spent the next few years working harder then anyone else, catching up to her classmates. Using her Veela charm, she manipulated her persecutors to her side. By her fifth year, few dared call her slow or dumb. It was also during her first year she met 'Elias Greyback', who had a very intense familiarity. Over that first year they discovered that his mother, and her father were siblings, though Maria's father had never told her about having a sister. Over the years Maria grew quite close to her cousin, and became extremely protective of him.

By the end of her sixth year she'd proven herself as a dedicated and determined young woman, capable of doing anything she set her mind to. Maybe that was why she was chosen to be one of the students to travel to Hogwarts for a chance to participate in the Tri-Wizard tournament. Alas, she wasn't chosen, but her cousin Elias was. She tried to stay by his side, to be a support for him during the intense challenges. While Elias didn't win, he'd done his best.

During the journey home though, the Durmstrang ship exploded and many of Maria's friends and classmates died. Including... Elias.

Now legally an adult, Maria chose to stay in England. Far from her crazy grandparents. And maybe... close to whoever had killed her cousin.