[BEAUXBATONS] [ADULT] Sofia Leroux

NAME: Sofia Leroux
NICKNAME: N/A
AGE: 28 years
BIRTHDAY: February 17th
PLACE OF BIRTH: Paris, France
BLOOD STATUS: Half-blood
WAND: 10 1/2 inches, Ebony with dragon heartstring
SEXUALITY: Pansexual
PROFESSION: Auror for the French Ministry
AFFILIATION: Order of the Phoenix


FACE CLAIM: N/A
APPEARANCE:
Sofia has olive skin, mostly clear of marks and blemishes. Her hair is long, straight, and black in color, and she usually keeps it tied back in a braid or ponytail. Her eyes are wide and dark brown in color. She is of European and Middle Eastern descent, her father a member of a French pureblood family and her mother the muggleborn daughter of immigrants. She's 5'4" (~1.625 meters), and about average weight-wise. Apart from three vertical, claw-like scars on her left cheek, her face does not have many defining markings. She doesn't tend to stand out in a crowd, and looks rather unassuming.

After studying muggles for several years in school and applying her knowledge practically, Sofia is quite adept at hiding among the muggle population, and has quite a few "muggle outfits" consisting of casual t-shirts, jeans, and jackets. She undoubtedly prefers the traditional wizard robes, however. She speaks both French and English fluently, although she is easily identified as a non-native English speaker by her accent, however understandable it might be.

Sofia is an animagus, and her her secondary form is that of a Black Flying Fox bat. In this form, as one would expect of a Black Flying Fox, she is a large, black bat, with a five foot (~1.5 meter) wingspan. She has a white stripe down her abdomen, visible in flight if one were to look clothing, which allows others to identify her.


PERSONALITY:
When someone first meets Sofia, more often than not, she comes off as distant, as someone who doesn't really want to talk or has somewhere else she'd rather be. In reality, she's just not very good at meeting strangers, and doesn't know how to start a conversation with someone she doesn't know well. However, it's true that she isn't the best at understanding her own emotions, and when something makes her even slightly uncomfortable, she tends to withdraw from whatever is causing it.

She's afraid of failure and rejection, and tends to shy away from situations that might cause those, even moreso than most people. She is naturally suspicious of people, and sometimes tends to assume worst intentions without even really realizing it. She doesn't feel comfortable sharing what she thinks and feels with people, and oftentimes withdraws from conversations when they come to such topics. It's completely subconscious- she does honestly want to talk and share with people, but she just doesn't realize what she's doing.

Sofia is stubborn- some might even say hardheaded- and fiercely loyal to her ideals. She might pretend to give up what she believes in, or pretend that her ideas have changed, but it's very rare for either of those situations to actually happen. She'll put aside disagreements in serious situations, such as when she disagrees with her superiors on how to track down a particular dark wizard, knowing that it's foolish and potentially dangerous to refuse orders out of stubbornness or pride.

Sofia works very well under pressure- in fact, as her Beauxbatons professors would agree, even better under pressure than normal circumstances- a major contributor to her success as an auror. She's resourceful, and more importantly, she's able to think on her feet and quickly adapt to changing situations. Despite her difficulties connecting to people, she does honestly enjoy working in groups, and does very well in situations where she has to collaborate with others.

She's known to be less than fond of and have little patience with children (which she defines as those under the age of 13).

BOGGART: Being desensitized to more "normal" fears like Death Eaters, Sofia's greatest fear is rejection. If she were to face a boggart, it would likely take the form of any friend she has at the time (especially a significant other, if she has one), telling Sofia that they don't actually care about her.
DEMENTOR: When she was 26, Sofia's fiance called off their wedding a week before it was set to take place, saying that they were too young and that he "tricked himself" into loving her. The conversation in which he told her this is her worst memory.
PATRONUS: Sofia's best memory is of the small party she had with her friends after passing her training and being taken on as an official auror. Her patronus is a large bat, like her animagus form. She is able to cast a corpreal patronus, and has done so before in high-stress situations.
ERISED: Sofia is more than happy with her life and her job, thrilled to be working as an auror to protect the people of the Wizarding World like she'd always dreamed of. As such, her greatest desire would simply be for the war and all the death to end- nobody wants to see the sort of slaughter and torture that Voldemort and the Death Eaters have brought forth.
AMORMENTIA: The smell of her own apartment and a particular brand of women's perfume.
VERITASERUM: The fact that she works for the Order of the Phoenix.


SCHOOL: Attended Beauxbaton
HOUSE: Douxéclat
YEAR: Graduated
NEWTS: Transfiguration (O), Defense Against the Dark Arts (O), Charms (E), Potions (E), Muggle Studies (E)


MOTHER: Amira Leroux, 62 (deceased), Muggleborn, Bred Abraxan horses
FATHER: Gérald Leroux, 67 (deceased), Pureblood, Bred Abraxan horses
SIBLINGS: None
OTHER: Several cousins, aunts, and uncles in Paris, France, and a few in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

HISTORY:
Sofia's parents first met to benefit their own businesses. They both bred Abraxans, a particular breed of winged horse, and their first interaction was when they offered to trade breedings to their best stallions. The foals all turned out very well, and were sold for large amounts of money to various owners. Their business relationship only continued to grow, eventually trading not only breedings but mares and foals, and the two Abraxan breeders grew close first as friends, and then as lovers. They married and joined their two businesses together, renting an apartment in Paris.

Her mother was in her mid-thirties and her father in his early forties when Sofia was born. The Leroux family, while purebloods, had been considered blood traitors for many generations now, and Sofia's father was not particularly concerned about having a muggleborn wife or a half-blood child. Sofia was raised in a life typical for magical children, and her main exposure to muggles was when she visited her mother's side of the family. Due to the danger of having a small child around massive, magical horses, Sofia was not exposed much to her parents' Abraxan breeding business. As a child, Sofia's mother would occasionally lend her her wand, teaching Sofia basic spells, in spite of the legality.

When she was eleven, Sofia began her first year at Beauxbatons. She quickly proved herself to be one of the brightest students in her year, especially excelling at Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. She wasn't quite a child prodigy, but she certainly had an aptitude for practical, hands-on magic. While Potions was perhaps not her favorite subject, Sofia still performed well in that class, having more success than most of her classmates. On her first year examinations, Sofia received Os in Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Es in all other subjects.

Her excellent academic record continued into her next few years, and in her third year, she selected electives, including Muggle Studies. While it didn't involve the hands-on magic Sofia had grown so fond of, she thought the class was charming, for lack of a better word. Sure, maybe it was boring sometimes, and certainly easier than the rest of Beauxbatons's classes, but Sofia was willing to admit that she was fond of it.

Sofia had always tried to avoid thinking about her future, and what she wanted to do for a living. When it came to her fourth year, like many of her classmates, she was forced to think about exactly what she wanted to be as an adult. It was around this time that she really began dreaming and setting her sights high- she wanted to be an auror, she decided. Admittedly, at that time the decision was based on a romanticized idea of what exactly an auror was, but it was a decision made nonetheless.

When the students began discussing career options with their teachers, Sofia expressed her desire to become and auror. For the most part, adults simply shrugged, remarked something to the effect of "you certainly have the grades for it", but warned of how difficult and how much time, effort, and work would be involved if she was serious about becoming an auror. It was around that time, with the aid of her teachers, that Sofia recognized that her idea of an auror was romanticized, and began to study what being an auror was actually like.

It was the middle of her fifth year, in addition to her normal coursework, that she began studying the process needed to become an animagus, and it continued into her sixth and seventh years. This was in part due to simple curiousity, in part because she thought that, depending on whatever animal she became, it might assist her if she were to actually be an auror. Towards the end of her seventh year, with the assistance of her transfiguration professor, she had managed to complete the process and become a full-fledged animagus. Her animal form was that of a black flying fox bat, a large species from Australia. She hadn't quite expected that, and would be a liar if she said she wasn't a little disappointed, seeing little use in the form.

Ultimately, she went into her sixth year with her decision unchanged, still committed to her dream of becoming an auror. Her NEWT level classes included her four favorite subjects in Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Muggle Studies, along with Potions. While she'd never been particularly fond of potions, it was undoubtedly useful and would be preferred if she were actually to become an auror. At the very least, taking those classes for her NEWTs would guarantee that she had many options, even if she didn't become an auror after all.

In her final year at Beauxbatons, she continued to do very well in her coursework, although her grades were not quite as perfect as they once were due to the increased difficulty and workload. She graduated with all Es and Os, putting her in a good position to apply not only to be an auror, but to try for many other positions if she so chose.

After graduating, for her next few years, she spent time preparing for the extensive testing required to become an auror, while working part time at a textbook shop. It was around this time that she honed her skills and really became fluent in English- she worked with some British wizards to prepare for the testing, and few British wizards understood French well enough to explain complex spells and potions. Ultimately, when she was 20 years old, Sofia took the test to begin formal auror training, and was lucky to pass and be accepted in the program, especially at a relatively young age.

Auror training was far, far more difficult than her NEWT classes had been. Sofia was very competent in what they taught at Beauxbatons, but when it came to a few subjects in auror training, she definitely struggled at times. Ultimately, she was able to find something, try a bit harder, figure out what she was missing, and pass all her subjects to become a full auror.

It was also around this time that she discovered just how useful her animagus form really was. Bats weren't very uncommon around European cities (granted, Sofia's animagus form was around five times the size of most of them), and her particular species of bat had an excellent sense of sight and smell, even exceeding humans when it came to seeing at night. Using her animagus form as well as more traditional magic, Sofia was able to do very well on the Stealth and Tracking part of her auror training.

Sofia was a full auror at age 23, a relatively young age considering the difficulty of the profession. It was around this time that she met a young wizard at a shop, a half-blood like her, who she took a liking to. The two began to date, and found themselves quite compatible with each other. Sofia had always been a bit of a loner at Beauxbatons, and had not kept in touch with many of her classmates as a result; shops, bars, and the like were mostly were she located potential partners.

For the next few years of her life, Sofia's life was that that you'd expect of an auror working for the French Ministry. She worked long hours tracking down dark wizards, and didn't always get out unscathed. She owes the scars on her face (rather embarassingly) to a particularly sneaky kneazle under the effect of the Imperius Curse, and she's ended up in the hospital quite a few times over the years. Ultimately, however, she wouldn't have changed it for the world. She felt like she was truly fulfilling her life's purpose, utilizing her talent to protect the muggle and wizarding world alike.

At the age of 25, she became engaged to the young wizard she'd met at the shop a few years ago, even if relationships could become a bit awkward at times due to her job. She was thrilled to plan her wedding, thrilled to plan the rest of her life with her fiance. Then, a week before the wedding was scheduled, her fiance sat her down and said that he couldn't do it. He said that they were too young, and that he felt he had "tricked himself" into loving Sofia, that he couldn't marry her, that he never really loved her.

First, there was grief, then there was anger. A sense of betrayal. Sofia swore and yelled at him, and had to throw her wand to the side to restrain herself from hexing him into oblivion. Why did he have to pretend all this time, why couldn't he have told her sooner? Shortly thereafter, her parents died in an accident involving an Abraxan stallion. After that terrible year, she changed; she became much quicker to anger, much more disagreeable and more withdrawn from people. And then, with time, she went back to normal. She was never able to really talk about it, but everyone she worked with had heard and knew exactly what was wrong.

For a while, she focused almost all her effort on her work, working on honing her skills even when she wasn't actively chasing down a dark wizard or otherwise serving the French Ministry. When Voldemort and his Death Eaters returned, for the aurors, that was all hands on deck. For Sofia, however, strong in her convinctions and disgust towards the Death Eaters' ideals, what the French Ministry did was not enough. She did not act on this urge to do more, however, reluctantly sticking only to the duties she was assigned.

When Beauxbatons was destroyed, however, that was a turning point. The school that Sofia had studied in and loved so much was completely gone, destroyed by Voldemort. Already angry about Voldemort's policies on muggleborns, and being the daughter of a muggleborn witch herself, Sofia felt that the fight had turned personal. One of her fellow aurors with whom she was close to invited her to join the Order of the Phoenix, seeing that Sofia could be a helpful and loyal asset.

Ultimately, both because of her skillset and fluency in the English language, Sofia ended up working more closely with the British Order than the French Order. In all honesty, she feels much more loyalty to the Order of the Phoenix than the French Ministry, feeling that the French Ministry has not been doing enough to counter Voldemort, but continues to work for both. She deals primarily with monitoring the activities of the Death Eaters and gathering information, although she has assisted in locating muggleborns on the run when needed.


ANYTHING ELSE: According to my math (in which my skills are questionable), Sofia would've still been in school during the First Wizarding War, so I omitted most details related to that because there's not much information on what happened in France at the time. Also, I'm applying for her to be an animagus; the form is in the appropriate claims thread.


There he was, walking along, plainly visible under the streetlight. He was clearly nervous, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed. Of course, he didn't look up. They never look up.

When he was far enough away that he wouldn't hear the wingbeats, Sofia released her grasp on the pipe, soaring upwards so she could circle from above to watch him. There was no doubt that she had the right man. Only a wizard would go out wearing jeans and a neon pajama shirt, and only someone who had something to fear would be so nervous. The periodic glances over his shoulder were what gave him away. Now, all she had to do was wait for him to pass into a quiet alley or the like, and it would all be over.

Sofia circled overhead, tracking him closely. It could not have been more than five minutes before he turned away from the streetlights, in a poorly-lit area between two muggle establishments. Seeing her chance, she flew ahead of the wizard, scanning ahead for anybody in the alley. It was deserted. He won't be much of a problem, she realized. The more experienced dark wizards would never do anything so stupid. They usually stick to the places with muggles, they usually know we won't break the Statute of International Secrecy.

The dark wizard had stopped in the alley, going through his bags and fidgeting with something within, holding a wand in his other hand. Sofia swooped down, shapeshifting back to her human form, and pulled out her wand. The dark wizard, clearly taken off guard, hardly had any time to react.

"Expelliarmus!" she said, her wand aiming directly at the wizard.

It worked perfectly, his wand flying out of reach. As he moved to grab it, Sofia muttered another spell under her breath. The wizard, wandless and powerless to stop it, fell to the ground, his muscles locked and unable to move. Sofia walked over, picked up his wand, and pushed his body over so he faced her.

"You are under arrest by the French Ministry of Magic for use of an unforgiveable curse," Sofia said, pulling away the dark wizard's bag and setting it off to the side to look through later. Then, she looked to the sky, awaiting the arrival of her colleagues to help take the wizard away.

If only it could always be that easy.