mericlecure | Anaïs Yaxley for classphoto

OOC

NAME: meRi
TIMEZONE: US/Eastern
CONTACT: Dropbox || OOC Info

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PB: Katerina Graham
JOURNAL TO BE USED:

Basics

NAME: Anaïs Atalanta Yaxley
NICKNAMES: The privileged few close to her get to use nicknames: "Nes", "Nessie", "Ani", etc.
BIRTHDAY/AGE: 30 August | 16
BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood, indubitably.
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual
HOUSE: Ravenclaw | 6th year

Personality

WAND: 12 1/2", sycamore, dragon heartstring core, slightly swishy

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: Prefect, Slug Club, Charms Club president
EXTRACURRICULARS: Charm Club, Slug Club, Chess Club, Dueling Club

DETAILED PERSONALITY: Anaïs is intelligent, vain, and meticulous in her determination and strategy. She’s cool, if diplomatic, to those outside of her circle and yet fiercely warm and loyal to those within it. She comes from pureblooded stock -- the best kind of stock there is -- and intends to be the best at everything and earn the best of everything, in every stage in her life. While there was certainly some level of expectation bestowed upon her as a bearer of a prestigious pureblood name, her family has always been supportive and the pressure Anaïs puts upon herself is almost exclusively internal.

She had always been a passionate child, driven to learn about her world and be a master of her knowledge, and that aspect of her nature has single-mindedly magnified in defiance of not being sorted into Slytherin. Anaïs isn’t just determined to be make a perfect pureblooded marriage and be a mother to three future sharp-minded pureblood children (no more, no less), she’s determined to do that and rise to the top of whatever field she chooses and be an extremely involved and influential member of the wizarding community. Before she does that she has to be at top of her class, be president of the Charms Club, excel in her extracurriculars, attend Slug Club functions, be Head Girl, be at the top of the social ladder, and master her pre-career networking all in her time at Hogwarts and all while keeping her skin flawless and her accessories coordinated.

Emotionally, she relies heavily on those close to her. Incessantly running on all cylinders striving for perfection is exhausting, even for her, and without help Anaïs is often incapable of pulling herself away for a breather before she drives herself crazy. Obsessively working toward excellence in everything is a guaranteed rocky road because, well, Anaïs isn’t perfect at everything. She isn’t going to achieve every single goal she sets for herself, and she takes each setback and ‘failure’ hard. She doesn’t need everyone or even a significant minority of those she meets to be her friend, but she does need the support and connections of her family and of those fortunate enough to be considered just as good as.

Outside of her loved ones, Anaïs is diplomatic and disciplined in her words and expression. It’s not because she worries about outsiders' perception of her -- she’s intelligent, beautiful, and a Yaxley after all -- but rather because she considers her private self as something valuable enough to be selectively shared with those she loves and trusts. (Why should mudbloods and mere acquaintances even get to be privy to that?) Those connections are extremely important to her, and around them Anaïs allows her many masks to drop and “lets her hair down”: she’s incredibly open, laughs without reservation, and doesn’t worry about revealing weaknesses and insecurities. For those she leans on emotionally Anaïs reciprocates in kind. She’ll stop what she’s doing -- regardless of how important -- when someone needs a listening ear or needs her to come to their aid. Of course, Anaïs will forego sleep if necessary to continue her previous work once the crisis is over or the person’s been helped. Her pursuit of knowledge and ambition are important to her, but Anaïs values her family and friends above all.

THE CAT-KILLER: Possibly the thing that hinders Anaïs’ plans and self-discipline the most his her curiosity. Its prevalence just outweighed her ambition enough to sort her into Ravenclaw when all her family and friends were sorted into Slytherin, and it is the trait she struggles with the most and is often harassed by. Nothing is more frustrating than having her self-discipline and current plan subverted because she "simply. HAD. to know!" A sure way to tax her to no end is to play the singsong game of “I know something you don’t know~”, and that desire for knowledge is what pushes her toward experiences outside of her comfort zone. Not any mission for tolerance or open-mindedness. While her ambition drives her to work toward the top of things, it is her curiosity that has pulled her into getting involved with so many things and thus being active in so many directions -- to her credit and detriment.

It is also this curiosity that has prevented her from really feeling certain about what she wants to do after graduation. She performed extremely well on her O.W.L.S, and thus still has a full spectrum of career opportunities available to her. While this should be wonderful in theory, Anaïs herself has actually found it incredibly frustrating. She feels indecisive enough, and having her choices limited a bit more would have been helpful. She thinks, though, that she would like to travel.

Relationships

FAMILY: The Yaxley family is a wealthy, pure-blooded family. Give it up for nice clothes and silver spoons! Her father had siblings, and through her aunts and uncles Anaïs is connected to other Purebloods by marriage. Her oldest brother, Anton, is married.

CATO YAXLEY
FATHER -- B. 1924 -- SLYTHERIN -- PB: SEAN BEAN

A senior official in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Tenacious in climbing up the Ministry’s ranks and even more tenacious in removing those poised to overtake him. Too ambitious to broadcast Purist ideology outright, but he'll turn a blind eye toward the plights of ‘mudbloods’ when he can get away with it. Although family is important to him and he’ll enact swift justice against any who try to harm his, he’s refused to use his influence secure Ministry positions for his sons or to expedite their promotions. Cato expects his sons’ careers to advance based on their own talent or conniving merit. Though he's been relatively softer on his youngest child and only daughter, as a father he’s still stern, involved, and supportive. The relationship between him and Anaïs is a close one.

YVONNE YAXLEY (Deceased)
MOTHER -- B. 1930 -- BEAUXBATON -- PB: NAOMI CAMPBELL

A Beauxbaton alumnus, Anaïs’ mother came to Britain as part of a diplomatic exchange program immediately after graduation. Her own pureblood family being well-travelled and already familiar with those of British pureblood society, it was among the pureblood functions that she became familiar with and married Cato. She remained in Britain since then, often travelling between home and her native France, raising her children and working with the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Yvonne passed away in 1962 when Anaïs was three. Anaïs doesn’t remember her mother, but she sees her mother’s side of the family frequently -- especially during the holidays. She loves her mother’s memory, but with being well-loved surrounded by her immediate and extended family Anaïs doesn’t feel like she’s lacking because of Yvonne’s death.

ANTON (B. 1950), ANDRÉ (B. 1952)

Her brothers, all former Slytherins and all working for the Ministry in different departments.

EXTENDED FAMILY

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She regards them just as closely as immediate kin.
Evan Rosier (first cousin, paternal), Emmeline Vance (distant cousin, maternal)

CONNECTIONS:

Sage Brown (BFF), Damien Travers (childhood acquaintance)

SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Hah! Too busy to date.

History

CHILDHOOD: Anaïs was the child that Cato Yaxley wasn’t quite sure what to do with. She came at a time when he and his wife, already having two perfectly healthy sons, had determined they were finished with new children. Yvonne passed away when Anaïs was three, and after the grieving lessened Cato realized he really didn’t know what to do with his young daughter. Were you supposed to raise girls differently than boys? At what time were they too old to be taken into the Men’s? And what, exactly, was the best spell to get gum out of hair because the child was simply bawling at the mere mention of her hair being cut off? Needless to say he recruited a significant amount of help in raising his daughter from his female relatives -- both biological and in-laws.

The age difference between her brothers and herself was significant. By the time Anaïs was four both were away at Hogwarts, sorted into Slytherin House. Even if she missed them she never got a moment to feel lonely. Between her cousins and the other pureblooded children, there were numerous close-aged kids for her to play with. There were also always grandparents, aunts, or uncles around, and while Cato himself may have been a busy man he was in no way an absent father. All these factors (along with some genetics) resulted in a sharp, curious, and driven young girl who thankfully (for Cato) was more mature than her brothers at her age.

HOGWARTS: When Anais was first sorted into Ravenclaw she was Not. Happy. Since her last name began with ‘Y’, she got to see all of those that she cared about who came in with her sorted into Slytherin before she donned the hat and it shouted out: “Ravenclaw!” To be blunt, the girl who was always so composed (even at eleven) and wasn’t prone to tantrums even among her relatives threw one big Temper Tantrum right there in the Great Hall. She came from a family of Slytherins and had never considered any other House to be worthy of her!

During the first few weeks she railed against the Hat for its error and then railed at herself for clearly ‘failing’ in some way and then railed at Dumbledore for not letting her try again so she can get it right this time. Obviously, it didn’t make her very popular among the Ravenclaws when she first came in. But Anaïs was a girl built for persevering, not for forever losing herself in self-pity and gnashing her teeth against an unjust universe, and by the end of the first month she finally accepted her Sorting -- though she was determined to out-ambition any Slytherin, just as a matter of principle.

Once she got over her “Not in Slytherin” hangup she found that Ravenclaw fit her quite well: she admired the intelligence of her housmates (even if she didn’t admire some of their bloodstatuses), she adored the accomplishment that came with figuring out the eagle knocker’s riddles, and she wouldn’t change the view from the Tower for any other in the world. She’s now a sixth year Prefect with a healthy helping of House spirit, and she will amicably snark back-and-forth with friends and family about which House is ‘best’. ...At the very least they can all can agree that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff aren’t in the running.

Anaïs is still extremely close to those she grew up with who were sorted into Slytherin, but now she doesn’t feel the envy or inadequacy she felt the beginning of her first year. She wouldn’t go back and re-sort into Slytherin if she could. What she would re-do is ‘The Temper Tantrum’. Not only because she’s come to love Ravenclaw House and the spirit it represents, but also because a public temper tantrum is just so completely beneath her.

Misc

• Coupling her homegrown prejudices with Ravenclaw House’s superior attitude toward Hufflepuff, Anaïs is extremely haughty and disdainful of Hufflepuff House.

• Dueling is one of Anaïs’ weakest areas. It’s not even an academic subject, but the fact that she’s so in nonproficient at it despite working so hard gets to her. She’s used to picking things up very quickly, so trying three times as hard to only make about half her usual progress is aggravating. She’s tried at it for years now, and through sheer persistence has managed to get pretty decent at defensive spells. But her offensive skill remains at average which just isn’t good enough.

The main problem is that she just doesn’t do well with purely thinking on her feet. At least on the defensive end there is some split-second forethought that she can grasp: the opponent tries for Spell A, so she should go for Spell B. But if Anaïs has enough time to distance herself enough to analyze the situation, analyze her opponent, and strategize? Then she’s a force to be reckoned with.