Anahera King

[Anahera King]

General:

Name: Anahera King
Birth date: 2 February 1974, which makes Anahera 41 years old.
Country of residence: New Zealand.
Languages: Native speaker of English, with an understanding of Maori.
Living conditions: Anahera has never been rich, but she has always had clean clothes, a roof over her head and food in her belly. She grew up in a modest household but with parents who loved her and spoiled her as much as they could afford to. She currently still lives in the house she used to share with her ex-husband, and makes enough to provide herself and her daughter with all the necessities and the occasional something extra, without having to worry about her finances.
Blood line: Muggleborn
Wand: Anahera’s wand is made of apple wood and contains a core of acromantula venom. It is 13 inches long and supple.
Pet: A raven called Poe.

Personal:

Appearance: There is nothing physically remarkable about Anahera. She is neither ugly not exceptionally beautiful, has an average height and weight, and an elegant but not very extravagant fashion style. She keeps her hair short and her eyebrows trimmed, and does not wear a lot of make-up. She enjoys jewellery, but in moderation, and does not mind spending a little extra on clothes that she likes. At Huatahi, she usually wears simple but elegant robes and cloaks in a variety of colours, but during school breaks, she prefers to wear muggle clothes.

Personality: Anahera is kind and warm, and exudes an inviting vibe. Most people respect her, but few fear her. Yet wise people also know not to mess with her, and students would do best to respect the school rules. Anahera may be impressively calm and collected most of the time, but she can be extremely intimidating when angered.

She is also ambitious. Not in a pompous, arrogant way, but more subtly so. She goes after what she wants and will not rest before she has achieved her goals, but she does it in such a way that others are rarely alerted of her ambitions. A big part of that is that she does have a great deal of empathy for others, and that she would rather look for alternative ways to get what she wants than to be responsible for the pain of others, but it is also true that Anahera knows how to plant seeds in people’s minds and leave virtually no trace of her involvement, and she is not above using this ability when she feels it’s appropriate or necessary.

Anahera can be intense when she feels passionate about something, and is not always good at taking a step back and letting things go. She thinks rules and laws are important, but also has a strong sense of morality and will work to abolish anything she finds unjust. She has always been a fervent proponent of the abolishment of the statute of secrecy, for instance, especially since the death of her father. In her role as headmistress, she has done, and continues to do everything in her power to bring an end to stereotypes and improve Muggle-wixen relations in as far as the law allows her to.

Relationships:

Anahera’s father was called Terrance. He was a kind and generous man, never very talkative, but always listening. He felt his age more than his wife in those last few years, but still tried his best to keep up with her during the numerous activities they did together. Terrance died of a heart attack four years ago, at the age of 61. Anahera feels extremely guilty and resentful whenever she lets herself think about it, knowing that she could have saved him with a single swish of her wand. She tries to remind herself that she couldn’t have known, and so there was nothing she could feasibly have done, but she has grown more fervent in her wish for the abolition of the statute of secrecy. If only Muggles had access to wixen medicine, so many lives could have been saved.

Anahera’s mother is a woman called Ngaio. She’s 64 and works as a museum guide. She is sweet and very motherly, but it’s never wise to test her patience. She gets bored easily, and despite her age, she’s very active, and more often than not is doing at least three things at the same time. Since the death of her husband, Anahera has noticed that she tries to avoid quiet, lonely moments even more than before. She’s a very cultured and well-read person, having converted Anahera’s old room into a library not long after she left the house, and the only time she ever seems to sit down, she’s got a book in her hands.

Jade is Anahera’s only child. She’s thirteen years old and is entering her second year at Huatahi. Their relationship had become a bit strained before Jade enrolled at Huatahi, because of Anahera’s absence in her life, but their bond has started to mend over the last year. Anahera sees in her some of the best qualities of both her parents. She’s quiet and attentive, but also active and very likeable. She’s clever and resourceful, but also easily distracted by new and more interesting things. Her overall grades are average, but she excels at what truly interests her, and is very involved in Huatahi’s extracurricular activities, having begged her mother multiple times to please let her join the duelling club already.

Anahera’s ex-husband is called Darius. He’s a smart and interesting man who is passionate about cats and board games, and Anahera still understands what she saw in him all those years ago. Sometimes she wishes she was still in love with him, but she also knows that would not have solved anything. Not when, if given the opportunity, she would never choose to reverse her decision to go work at Huatahi, which was, in the end, one of the main factors to their eventual divorce. For seven years, she spent only weekends at their home in Greymouth, and when she was offered the position of Headmistress, three years ago, Darius knew it was over. She could never refuse such an offer, but it would mean even less time at home, and an ever-diminishing chance to save their failing marriage. So they split up, and filed the necessary paperwork not long after. They still see each other sometimes, mostly in relation to Jade, and their interactions are friendly, if a bit awkward.

Personal History:

Anahera was born as the first and only child in her family. She was raised to be polite and kind, but also independent and strong. She was taught not to let others take what was hers or convince her they were better than her in any way, but also to treat others with the same respect she expected from them. As a child, Anahera did not always see the importance of such life lessons, but it was this sort of thing she would take to heart later on in life.

She went to a primary school not far from where she lived in Queenstown, and was fully expecting to stay in her town of birth for the entirety of her secondary education, when a person showed up at their front door one Saturday morning. She couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, but Anahera knew instantly that there was something a bit off about this strange woman. She asked to speak with Anahera and her parents, and presented her with a letter. In it was an invitation, to a school of magic. Because Anahera, explained the mysterious woman, was a witch.

The next few weeks were a blur. Her mother was the first to accept the validity of the woman’s claims. Her father took a little more convincing, but even he could not dispute the practical demonstration offered by the representative of the school. Anahera, for her part, was nervous, and a little scared, but honestly not all that surprised. There was a substantial amount of initial shock, of course, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She recalled a fair number of weird and unexplainable events throughout her short life, and despite her apprehension about entering this whole new world, she could not deny that she was excited at the prospect of learning to master these powers of hers.

So she went off to this school of magic, hidden inside a mountain on the northern half of the island, and made new friends – some like her, children whose eyes had just been opened to the world of magic, while others had grown up in the midst of it all – and she learnt all that she could learn, and she loved it. She loved magic, how powerful and happy it could make her feel, and how much good she envisioned doing with it once her schooling was complete. But she was not blind to the downsides of this new world she was beginning to explore. She can still remember the shock on her history teacher’s face when she reacted to his lesson about the statute of secrecy with clear indignation. Here were these people with all this power, power to do great things in the world, and instead of helping those they called Muggles and learning from them in return, they hid away from them, refusing to share their knowledge and abilities, because it was supposedly safer that way. But it wasn’t right, Anahera thought.

So she developed a newfound sense of pride in being a Muggleborn. She began to bring Muggle utensils to school, and focused nearly all her projects in her Magical Research and Creation classes on adapting Muggle technology and appliances to the magical world. She wasn’t allowed to use magic outside of school, but she found ways around that. Whenever school breaks neared, she would brew potions to cure common illnesses, and made protective talismans, and she would bring them home to give to those who needed them. Nobody had to know they were magic – it’s not as if anyone would have believed her anyway – and she was not technically using magic while she was with her parents, so she was not breaking any laws at all.

Anahera went into politics for a little while after school, working for the Ministry and trying to improve wixen-Muggle relations, but the magical world is stubborn, and she found that international policies were nearly impossible to change. So she left, disillusioned but no less determined. She married a Muggle soon thereafter, someone who understood and showed no fear, and she was happy.

They had a daughter two years later. Anahera adored her, and her husband, but when she got the opportunity to work at her former school, she knew she could not pass it up. She came home every weekend, and this was mostly enough. She wished dearly that she could spend more time with her family, but she was needed at the school five days a week, and tried to make the most of what time she had with her husband and daughter.

Anahera was overjoyed when Jade showed her first signs of magic, but this was mostly for selfish reasons. She knew life as a Muggle was by no means a lesser one, but if Jade was indeed a witch, she would be admissible to Huatahi, and Anahera would be able to see much more of her during her teenage years. She hoped that they would be able to make up for lost time.

Jade was ten when Huatahi’s headmaster retired and the position was offered to Anahera. She hesitated, but in her heart she knew right away that she would accept. What she also knew, however, was that it was a very demanding job, which would limit her time at home even more. Anahera was uncharacteristically nervous when she told her husband. She expected frustration, even anger, but he was only sad and resigned. He told her he was happy for her, but that they needed to split up.

It came as a shock for Anahera. She knew their marriage was not what it used to be, and she knew that her limited time at home was a large part of that estrangement, but she did not think it was bad enough to separate over. She tried to negotiate with Darius, get him to reconsider, but he had made up his mind. In the end, Anahera knew that it was for the best, but it still hurt.

For all his sadness, Darius was no less of a good person, and they resolved to work out everything they could without lawyers or custody battles. Darius would have Jade, and Anahera would see her every other weekend. As soon as she was old enough to be admitted to Huatahi, Darius would have her all of summer and winter break, except for Yule. Anahera offered to move out and leave the house to Darius, but he refused. He needed a change of environment, he said.

Anahera drowned herself in work. Which was not very hard, to be fair, because being headmaster was indeed a very demanding job. She had to meticulously plan her schedule around her weekends with Jade, but she made it work. She had to. And eventually it became easier. Jade turned twelve in the spring of 2014, and was admitted to Huatahi a few months later. Anahera was overjoyed to finally be living full-time with her daughter again, and they spent every bit of free time Anahera could afford and Jade would allow together. Summer break was all the more lonely after this newfound closeness, and Anahera found herself looking forward to the start of the school year more than ever before.