Aoife Sayre and Max Burbage had not expected the “gift” of their pregnancy with their soon-to-be daughter; Aoife was only seventeen at the time and still a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her parents demanded an immediate marriage between the two pureblood young adults upon Aoife’s graduation and instead she fled to the United States to stay with some of her distant relatives. The day of her graduation came and as the sun began to set upon that chapter of her life, the young, newly pregnant witch packed a few of her things and boarded a boat to the United States. She said goodbye to no one and only wrote a letter to her cousin Sonya as any indication of her plans. Unprepared to give up her freedom for expectation and duty, particularly because her family was not wealthy and a life of childrearing would likely amount to poverty for the sake of reputation, she spent the next year in the U.S. working with her cousins at the Ilvermorny School.
Aoife and Max were not in a committed relationship when she discovered she was pregnant. Max’s family was far more well-off, and though his parents were informed of the development Aoife never wanted to trap him into a marriage. There was never a shortage of cruel and sexist rumors in Hogwarts, whispers of young wixen securing their places in wealthy families with “unplanned” pregnancies, and at first that was exactly what his parents believed to have taken place. Max himself was upset as well, believing his life to be cut short for the sake of duty, but when Aoife fled he finally understood that to be exactly the opposite of what she wanted. After several months of searching, and with the help of her parents, he set out of the U.S. to go after her. When Max arrived he found Aoife stable and happy in a small apartment with a 5-month-old baby. Charity. Named for the gift of rebellion and independence that the new babe was to both of her parents.
The three stayed in the United States for another year making connections with MACUSA as Max worked his way into their offices. With Max’s encouragement Aoife reconnected with her parents and they likely would’ve stayed put had Aoife’s mother not fallen ill. They returned to the United Kingdom upon her diagnosis so Aoife could help care for her mother and daughter alongside a live-in mediwitch with their family. Max began working for the Ministry of magic, and a few days after Charity’s second birthday the pair celebrated their wedding.
The Burgbages lived in this multigenerational household through the decline and eventual passing of Aoife’s mother. Charity was the sole grandchild of two only-children, and despite the dramatic and somewhat shameful circumstances of her birth she was doted upon by each of her grandparents. For the Burbages, the ends justified the means; the events that led to her birth didn’t matter as much as the fact that two pureblood families had aligned in marriage and procreation. They were strict, strong, and secretive as a family, but under the influence of Charity’s bright and curious eyes they softened into loving grandparents. The Sayres were proud and stoic, but after thinking they had lost their only child due to their haughty expectations they, too, humbled somewhat in their ideas of arrogant supremacy.
Charity was allowed the run of the house as she was raised. The Burbages moved into a larger estate when she was 5 to accommodate their needs for her ailing grandmother and the frequency of her American cousins’ visits. Aoife began running a daycare from their house and Charity would attend her primary schooling during the mornings and return home to a yard and home filled with wixen children. She met most of her best friends this way, and during the summers her mother would employ two or three Hogwarts students to help with childcare and preschool. Max and Aoife Burbage were quietly very liberal in their beliefs and instilled in their daughter a sense of justice and duty to protect the weak and promote equality. Her grandparents reminded them that secrecy in these extreme believes was paramount as the political climate fell more and more in their conservative favor. For all intents and purposes, the Burbages re-established themselves as a respectable and well-loved family in the wizarding community despite the occasional whisper that they may not be as conservative as others might believe.
Charity’s maternal grandmother passed away a few months before she began attending Hogwarts. Her personality became more reserved at the time, and her ambition and leadership tendencies placed her in the Slytherin House after her mother. She was lucky that when she boarded the train at Platform 9 ¾ Charity already knew many students in her own and older years and it seemed she would have the pick of who and what she wanted to be with those connections.
As Charity aged she grew back into her warm personality; she was obsessed with Quidditch and attended every match until she was old and practiced enough to join the team as a Chaser. She wore her house colors with pride and boasted light-heartedly before every match that Slytherin would win, but she worked just as hard on the pitch for practices to back up her claims. No matter their House, Charity was always happy, willing, and able to go to the pitch to practice with any Quidditch player willing enough to face the winds and the weather. Her skin was constantly painted with windburn, strange tan-lines, bruises, and cuts, and she wore them like jewelry; a personal adornment of her dedication. When she wasn’t with her teammates or other Quidditch players she tutored younger students or volunteered to help her professors with classroom maintenance or grading. This was how she grew close to her Muggle Studies and Arithmancy professors; she’d rather spend hours marking third-year’s papers on a weekend than playing the game of popularity that many of her housemates found paramount.
She made many friendships across the spectrum of beliefs during her time. Charity found more value in connections with those of more liberal leanings. By her 7th year, one could not argue that Charity was a Slytherin; her name was announced time and time again at Quidditch matches and she was, in essence, a walking billboard for the House. However, Death Eaters were coming more and more into their power and pureblood supremacy grew its infestation in Hogwarts. Bloodtraitor was whispered after her in the halls, though very few students were willing and bold enough to say it to her face. It was as though she’d been issued a challenge and she took that demeaning label in stride as she eventually discovered that she would live to embody that word. Traitor to supremacy, friend to equality. That was what she wanted to be.
When Charity graduated Hogwarts, her Muggle Studies professor referred her to a friend in the Ministry and she soon had a job in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. She loved her position, but the atmosphere at the Ministry was drastically changing. Her father quietly retired as the new regime took over out of obligation to protect his family as rumors that her mother’s daycare may actually be working to aid fleeing muggleborns or bloodtraitors. With both Max and Aoife home, they were able to keep those rumors minimized to the occasional whisper from a disgruntled conspiracist in the dark corners of wizard taverns. Her paternal grandparents moved to an estate next door and the Burbage Estates became somewhat of a fortress of protection. Old money, new magic, and a quiet existence promoting childcare. Their old estate was left to Charity in their will, though for now it sits mostly vacant, upkept by house elves and the occasional visit from Mrs. Burbage. Unbeknownst the Charity, they were preparing for war. While the elder generation did not agree with Charity’s parents or their politics fully, they were determined to protect their small family whatever the cost. Fear and concern were expressed nightly amongst the grandparents, though those hushed conversations never reached Charity’s ears.
Many of Charity’s friends from Hogwarts had joined the Order of the Phoenix either in secrecy at school or in the basements of political “extremists” harboring only the need to do good. Charity joined as soon as she was asked, though for the most part she still keeps her head down both at work and in public. She rented a flat in downtown London and generally stayed weekends at her parents’ estate. Through this she learned that her parents were, in fact, offering safety to some who were struggling to leave the ever increasing danger of the U.K., often even using their cousin’s visits to smuggle people out of the country. While her parents refuse to pick a side, Charity certainly has, and is determined with youthful bravery to make a change in the world for the better.
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