( cisfemale | she/her | kristine frøseth ) —— isn’t that GRISELDA ‘ ZELDA’ BURKE? yeah that is them, sitting there at the SLYTHERIN table with those other SIXTH years. when sybill looks into that crystal ball of hers, she sees a girl too often green with envy, a hat stall deciding the route of a snake or an eagle, long hair tied out of her face, ink smudges and dirt on delicate hands, a sharp mind demanding more, and an internal conflict breaking external walls. anyway i’ve heard they’re pretty ADROIT, RELIANT, and DIVERGENT. apparently they’re a VENIT TEMPESTAS and PUREBLOOD but i’m sure that’s not related.
as the second eldest of four, zelda is the first daughter of laertes and desdemona burke, with cleon burke as her older brother and two younger siblings.
while spoiled and sheltered during her upbringing, zelda has learned to be incredibly sneaky and seems to know a lot more than she could ever let on. however, she is an incredibly jealous person. this is because she was never involved in the things cleon was and she felt left out. however – she knows it was her parents doing and doesn’t blame cleon.
cleon is her best friend and someone she has always looked up to. blinded by his harmful ways, zelda has relied on cleon for most things during their upbringing. especially for safety.
she supports the venit tempestas and the death eater ideology, but however is not allowed to receive the dark mark per her parents request. they see it as too dangerous and want to continue to shelter zelda as much as they can.
zelda realizes that without the dark mark, she doesn’t receive as much “protection” which is why she has started to practice dueling on the lowdown. she wants to be stronger and smarter and tougher than people think she is. it’s almost as if it’s to prove to herself and to others that she is worth it and doesn’t need as much protection as she used to. it’s something she is working on.
she is incredibly talented in the realm of potions and is one of the go-to’s for a good potion. she can be found in the dungeons conjuring up something new and spends a lot of her time studying with professor slughorn who invited her to be a member of the slug club.
she’s also a prefect! having positons and being in clubs/working hard on school work helps to distract her from the things she can’t be part of or can’t control.
gemini sun: she is a chameleon, which makes her personality hard to describe since it changes all the time. those born under the sign of the "twins" have at least two personalities, but often many more. her insatiable curiosity keeps her learning new things, and this makes her like a walking encyclopedias of knowledge.
capricorn moon: she wants a steady home base and may be tradition-minded. she is determined and disciplined. she wants self-mastery, and carries a sense of the loner with her, for that reason.
scorpio rising: she has strong, churning emotions that are often kept concealed. others find her mysterious and secretive; for them, she seems to turn on the charm strategically.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
a dueling tutor! someone who is skilled at DADA possibly & can help her gain more skills
zelda has never been in a relationship before but has come to the realization that she does like girls more than guys so something playing off her realizations/coming to terms with her sexuality 👀
another figure she happens to look up to that isn’t her brother
“There ye go. It sounds better on ye then the voice ye usually use.” Emma kicked open the door of the musty room, taking immediately to the lit corridors. It was always dark down here, and the Slytherin common room wasn’t much better. Who in Merlin’s beard wanted to live in a watery basement lit with green candles? “Toss up some spell for that over yer wee head. And ye’ll be fine.”
“ hey – i only talk that way because of the house i grew up in. same as you ! so it’s not entirely my fault. ” zelda hadn’t left the dungeons in too long, besides when she needed to eat and meet aveline for lessons, she thought there was no need. as the two made their way out of the dark and closer towards sunlight, zelda herself had to squint slightly to even see. “ you can always find a solution to everything, ems, ” she smiled. “ i’ve actually been meaning to talk to you about something... ”
“Regardless, it is a dance and you always want to be in charge.” She snipped back, tilting her head, her perfect posture tense as the other girl missed all but two of the the dummies. “The whole world is a game Zelda, I might not have had to do this but I was also able to prove myself in a myriad of other ways. I’m a strong dueller, not the best and I don’t particularly like it, I would had to get blood on my robes but nevertheless, I don’t miss, unlike some.” She said with a judgemental stare. “It is better you are practicing with me then one of the boys who would equate your failure to your femininity. Again.” She ordered resetting the dummies with the wave of her wand.
aveline reminded zelda almost of her own mother. she didn’t have a very fond relationship with her and was now teetering on the same with the allaire. “ we haven’t been at this incredibly long – the least you can do is not judge me for the skills i’ve just started working on, ” she spat as she gripped her ponytail to tighten it. maybe it was her own insecurities coming into play – having grow up completely spoiled, zelda thought it was a gift during her childhood. now that she had grown, she realized it was to keep her tucked away, resulting in a fragile bird-like state. “ suppose you’re right, at least my brother wouldn’t have me dancing with dummies. ” would he ? she shook the thought from her head as she delved into the mind field again.
tarantula - when was the last time you hugged someone?
“ i wrapped my arm around emma the time i saw her last. that should count, yes ? affection wasn’t something common growing up, so i’m not quite one for hugging. ”
do your friends know what you want to be? what happens to the ones who don't fit anymore?
“ don’t have many of those – but i feel like it’d be quite plainly obvious, no ? what all with my surname and a death eater brother ? if they’re truly my friend then they will always fit. including emma, no harm will come to her. ”
teddy feigns an apologetic look, not necessarily sorry that she had fallen but that the world had let her become so oblivious to common sense. “if that’s what you think, that’s fine.” teddy holds his tongue, knowing that calling her a fool once more would not help the situation. but that sentiment slowly fades at zelda’s next words, unsure if there is a threat attached to her words. maybe he’s just over reacting. “might be a wee bit difficult when the castle can only be so big, no ? “
zelda at this point didn’t know why she wouldn’t just let her feet move her in the opposite direction and let the boy be free – something to do with her own pride, she supposed. with a false smile plastered on her lips, she uttered, “ i’m sure you’ll figure out a way. – unless there's something more wrong with you than the obvious. ”
“ WAIT - was that scene back there not you trying to do the same ? cause if not, then i reckon’ lily was onto something when she said that i had a habit of reading too deep into most things … your loss, then. i’d rather not waste my time trying to convince some other girl what she already knows. been there done that.”
“ NO – wait. you don’t need to convince me, believe me, i know. i just – i didn’t think it would be reciprocated. i’ve also never told anyone. no one knows and it needs to stay that way. it has to. ”
“ i’m no fool for acknowledging your quaint disbelief at first, but having a view like that about free will and destiny is quite skewed.” sybills adds with a pointed tone, drawing a digit across her unclothed arm before continuing. “sure, there’s always an effect but divination itself is itself a very obtuse subject. if used correctly, it has the potential to assist a person to set forth a path, but there’s almost always a ripple effect, i’d reckon. from what i have been told, my great-great-grandmother was gifted with the inner eye - a rather special gift but nevertheless, still prone to a human mistake or two. “
zelda furrowed her brows slightly, naturally skeptical seeing as how else would she react to something she didn’t understand. “ so how could one properly use divination to set forth their path, or intend to make sure it happens ? ” the girl still didn’t know if it was wroth believing, but at this point she was desperate to know anything. “ you think you’ve got the same sight as your dear old granny ? ” she questioned, genuinely curious as if this unlikely conversation might work in her favor.
❝ of course ! mum’s the word . now what torrid tale can big brother not hear about ? ❞
“ more so my entire family. i just – i want to get the dark mark. my family advises against it, but at this rate little julius will get it before me and he’s only a first year. i want to know what i need to do. ”
❝ you probably were just no one saw , i swear it’s practically mandatory . to work yourself into a tizzy over your first exams . heavens no , they’re dropping shifts left , right and centre and i can’t ask crouch to pick them all up ❞
“ i guess you may be right – i had ink stains on my hands for ages it seemed back then. quite entertaining now to see it all from a different perspective – oh, and i can do it. take more shifts, i mean. would probably be good for me, plus i’d like to help. ”
there it was. again alecto was reduced to the life sirius led, rather than her own. she would have rolled her eyes into another dimension if she were able. “ us? funny, I don’t remember you taking a certain mark alongside your brother and I.” alecto was used to people (especially those that moved in dark, pureblood circles) reducing her. her parents had been the main culprits of it for years and now it seemed that her love life was the new reasoning behind peoples need to break her down. “Do you honestly think you are the first person to say those exact words to me? What sirius and I have is no one elses fucking business. And if this is on Cleon’s behalf, I must say I expected more from him. He’s always been so creative and this is just lack lustre.”
zelda huffed slightly, choosing to ignore alecto’s comment on her lack of dark mark. the difficulty in having this kind of conversation was that the two knew almost too much on each other – even things the other didn’t realize they knew. cleon was the main denominator in probably any conversation the two would have. “ i’m here on my own accord – you should know by now that no one does cleon’s bidding quite like cleon. but color me curious, i truly wanted to understand how your brain works. i mean, how does he feel about your forearm ? ”
“So would you like a flower then? I won’t charge you for it. Actually I haven’t been charging anyone. And look at this ” She held out the item by the stem, letting it bloom before them, the petals changing between that of an iris and a lily. “See. I’ve just done transfiguring spell on them. It won’t last too long. I do not think so.”
zelda was a little lost at the girls sudden urge to offer her a flower, but at the same time she was incredibly curious – especially when the petals began to change. “ wait – how did you do that ? can you teach me ? ” she asked, never having been one who was too skilled in transfiguration.
cleon gritted his teeth; he hated it, but zelda was right. sometimes, she could see right through him. “oh, z. disdain is one of the many paths to love.” he remarked, bringing the glass to his lips. he would rather have alecto feel anything at all towards him rather than nothing. apathy was the worst of them all – cleon liked to provoke, inspire feelings in others and reactions out of them. “i’m not bossing her around. just.. giving her a little nudge in the right direction.” the more chaos there was, the better he functioned. he scoffed at the mention of love - cleon didn’t like that word and the position it put him in, but how else would he describe whatever he felt for the carrow? “you would understand if you knew alecto like i do.”
zelda couldn’t help but furrow her brows. as much as she wanted to be able to understand her brothers feelings toward alecto, she didn’t think she’d ever be able to. her own relationship with the word ( let alone feeling of ) love barely existed. nothing notable past whatever she read about in books or what she saw in their parents marriage & in cleon’s relationships. disdain didn’t seem like love, but who was she to know ? “ you mean if i was in love with her ? yeah, i don’t think i’ll ever be able to understand that part of your mind, cleon, ” she teased. “ i do wish you luck – i know you’re a good match, being death eaters and all. mum and dad will just marry me off to some pureblood man, so i don’t need to worry much on the notions of love. ”
