Desdemona/Backstory

The magical society of France has a rather unique type of government. Like in most modern monarchies, the royal family doesn't have too much to say when it comes to really important cases. One could argue, though, that it's still more than, say, in Britain. The real power is held by the Magenmagot: a council of ten. It consists of the dauphin (the eldest child of the ruling monarch) and the heads of each of the nine noble families. There are the neutral families: Houses Montbelliard, Artois and Courcillon - the swing votes, always somewhere in between the two sides of the Magenmagot, and, essentially, of magical France. These sides are: the light wizards (Houses Évreux, Delacour and Châtillon) and the dark ones (Houses Maizière, Dampierre and La Trémoille).

The last of these mentioned houses, La Trémoille, was headed by Hubert La Trémoille for a very long time, as he and his wife Alice had trouble conceiving an heir. Finally, after years of therapy, a breakthrough occurred. The couple had not one, not two, but five children: Desdemona, Pharamond, Valentin, Isidore and Titania. The eldest - despite being a girl, which could be considered untraditional by some - was set to become the new representative of the family after her father's death. As he was already past his prime when she was born, he began preparing her for it immediately. Her ambition and determination were, as such, endorsed since she was little. Desdemona was taught about the complicated relations between the Houses as soon as she could read. She played only with her father's guests' children to secure future "friendships".

During one of these visits, when Desdemona was five, a rather unpleasant incident took place. A girl, just a year older than her, was staying with the La Trémoilles while her parents discussed business with Lord Hubert. Desdemona was tasked with maintaining a friendly atmosphere between her and the guest. She showed her new acquaintance around the estate and introduced her to the staff. She prepared all the toys she could find. However, the girl wasn't neither amused nor scared to openly express her boredom and distaste. The next thing the grown-ups knew, she was crying, curled up in a ball on the floor. Her hair was burned entirely. Desdemona was, of course, punished as soon as she admitted it was her who caused this "accident", and she did so immediately. She wasn't scared or upset with this fairly violent first use of magic. On the contrary, she seemed pleased with herself. When asked about the reason, her reply was simply "she deserved it".

Since her earliest years, Desdemona was incredibly anxious to finally attend Beauxbatons. It might seem strange for a child to expect school with such excitement. However, under those particular circumstances, it wasn't that weird. She was always an intelligent and ambitious girl, and eager to learn. It was to no one's surprise that the Silver Arrow she cast on her first day of school manifested in a deep blue form, placing her in the cunning, resourceful house Ombrelune. Desdemona fit in with her classmates nicely. She remembered her father's instructions, given just before she left. She wasn't just supposed to make normal childhood friends, like one would normally do. She was going to look for potential future allies. She fulfilled that purpose well - her innate charisma and influential parents provided her a place in an important and rather powerful clique.

That is, until her sixth year, when she got, well, sidetracked. Maybe not entirely *sidetracked*, but... disctracted. Desdemona fell head over heels for the youngest of the Dampierre brothers, Rémy. The three brothers were members of her group, of course, as they were heirs of a Dark Magenmagot family as well. But it wasn't until they were both sixteen that she saw Rémy as anything more than a friend-slash-ally. Fortunately, the girl's feelings soon turned out to be requited. The two began dating, and both their families approved of their relationship. As such, they soon got engaged and planned to be wed seven years after graduation, which was majorly postponed by both of Desdemona's parents' deaths. The highly contagious Dragon Pox turned out to be lethal when experienced at a certain age. After adjusting (only a little, to be fair) to being a member of the Magenmagot, she finally married her beloved fiancé.

Two years later, when Desdemona was twenty-nine, another joyful event occurred. After quite a long period of trying, the couple were finally expecting. The woman insisted on keeping her duties as Lady until the very late stages of her pregnancy. The job was temporarily passed on to her brother Pharamond. Without any major complications, Rémy and Desdemona's beautiful baby son, Prosper, was born. He was even healthier and more adorable than they could dream of. Just months after labor, Desdemona returned to the Magenmagot. It's not like someone made her - she wanted to work again. Her job was, essentially, her life. In spite of her spending most of her days at work, taking care of politics and the law, she still managed to find time for Rémy and Prosper. The three were happy and content with their lives. However, as it was soon to be revealed, this state wasn't to last.

Two years after Prosper's birth, Desdemona was attending a Magenmagot meeting, as usual. In the middle of the trial that was taking place, something most unexpected happened. A silver hawk landed in front of the young Lady. Knowing it to be her husband's Patronus, she knew something bad must have been happening. But her fears grew exponentially when she heard the message the Patronus was carrying. Rémy's hushed, scared voice informed her rather incoherently that some creature was chasing him and Prosper in the forest, a few miles away from their home. Immediately rushing out of the meeting withour any explanation - the others heard the message anyway - Desdemona had a very bad feeling about what she might find when she apparates in the woods.

In the movies, people cry when they find dead bodies of their loved ones. They scream. They sob. They faint. This wasn't the case. In fact, Desdemona's first reaction to this horrible sight wasn't one of fear, disbelief or despair. The Lady La Trémoille, after seeing her two most important people in the world's corpses, threw up. It took her hours search for any clue about what happened between the trees, bushes and general vegetation of the forest. Eventually, she encountered the single worst, most cruel and gut-wrenching sight of her life. She would never speak of it in her life, later on. Her husband and infant son were indoubtedly brutally murdered. It may have been a werewolf - looked a bit like it - but it may have been someone who wanted her to *think* it was a werewolf. Maybe the Light Families. If she was able to think straight at the time, she would've known that the Light Families probably wouldn't murder a child and his father for political reasons, but it wasn't a time for reason.

Desdemona never fully recovered. Three years later, she's still psychologically damaged, as one would probably think she would be. But she is also desperate for revenge. Against werewolves, half-breeds, the Light Families - whoever. Whoever could have murdered them. Whoever could have done more to protect them.