CASSANDRA BLACK ( nee AVERY ) / GRYFFINDOR ALUMNA / FC: EMERAUDE TOUBIA / TAKEN
AFFILIATION : Death Eater (Dark Mark)
BLOOD STATUS : Pureblood
BIOGRAPHY :
From the moment she was born, Cassandra Avery was raised to be a soldier. The second child and only daughter of Eztebe and Cyrine Avery, she was the very image of her mother with all the spite and cleverness of her father. Cassandra grew up with a steep education, as her mother ensured that she would fulfill all the duties of a respectable member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, while her father focused on training her, turning his daughter into a disciplined, fierce, and obedient young soldier. Cassandra and her older brother Calisto were both prepared for the same life; their father, having been one of the original members of the Dark Lord's innermost circle, back when the Death Eaters were the Knights of Walpurgis and Lord Voldemort was just Tom Riddle, was determined to make his children carry on that legacy he and his wife had worked hard to put in place. Cassandra and Calisto were trained, pitted against each other for the sake of their education and the continued power and legacy of the Avery family. Cassandra was a quick study, unflinching and eager to learn, and quickly rose to the demanding standards set forth by her family and their legacy. She idolized and emulated her father in every way, and was desperate to prove that his approval and love were not misplaced in her. She was quick to become the favorite, her father's daughter in every way, obedient in ways that her brother would never be, loyal to her family beyond any doubt. Eztebe's standards for his daughter only grew, as did his expectations, and Cassandra rose to each and every challenge with grace and determination. At age eleven, she boarded the Hogwarts Express with Calisto, and waved to her father out of one of the open windows, promising that she would not disappoint him. There was a legacy in her family to uphold; several generations of Slytherins she was destined to follow, and she was certain that her place would be among them. She was one of the first names called at the Sorting Ceremony, and passed by the Slytherin table with an eager grin on her young face. The Sorting Hat was placed on her head, and she was already looking towards the Slytherin table, and the empty seat that Darius Mulciber had saved for her at his side. It was where she belonged, seated at that table, with her friends and with eight generations of Averys that had sat at that table before her.
But everything changed when the Sorting Hat called out "Gryffindor!". Suddenly, everything changed. Cassandra was shocked, and angry; she couldn't tell who was less thrilled by her sorting, her or her new housemates. Cassandra took her place at the Gryffindor table grudgingly, wanting nothing more than to bow her head in shame and hide from every pair of eyes that fixed on her. But she would not cower in front of them, no matter how much she wished to. She received a howler from her father the next morning, which loudly screamed at her that she had been placed in a house with blood traitors and mudbloods, and how could his daughter be a Gryffindor? She was an Avery, and there hadn't been an Avery in Gryffindor house ever. It simply did not happen. The disappointment from her father crushed on young Cassandra, and she let herself for the first time truly feel the shame that had been building in her chest since her sorting. Until Darius Mulciber came over and demanded to know why she was being so miserable. When she explained, he simply shook his head. "You're a lion," he told her. "You're supposed to be proud. So do something about it instead of just sitting here being pathetic because you're not where you want to be." Cassandra knew he was right, and so she took her time to be upset, brushed away her tears, focused her anger, and got to work.
Over the next seven years, Cassandra became a force to be reckoned with at Hogwarts. She spent little time with her housemates, and after the incident with Mary MacDonald, she was not welcome among the crowds of red and gold. She made a name for herself in all the ways she shouldn't; she was a bully, a purist, a little Death Eater long before she graduated from school and took up her place among their ranks. Her family's approval was hard won but eventually gained; her house mattered, but it did not matter as much when they saw the determination and skill with which their daughter worked. Things became easier for Cassandra as well when her younger brother Benito was born; thirteen years her junior and blind at birth, Benito became the focus of much of the family's disappointment, and the two elder Avery siblings were better off with Benito taking the brunt of their parents' disappointment. Cassandra regained her place as her father's favorite when she graduated near the top of her class, and took up her place among the Death Eaters.
Hard work and blood won her her Dark Mark, and by the time she was twenty years old, she had been branded as one of the elite. Her family embraced her ascension with pride, and her house no longer seemed to matter as much to them. Her prestige earned her more freedom than many pureblood children were able to get, and Cassandra embraced the opportunities such space provided her. It quickly became clear that Cassandra would do anything to ensure that she was the favorite child, much to the agitation of her older brother. Cassandra's parents kept suitors at bay for their daughter, unwilling to see her matched off to anyone but the best; nothing was good enough for her, in Eztebe's opinion, and her first engagement to Cornelius Flint was severed due to his family, which Eztebe deemed not appropriate for Cassandra to be part of. Cassandra continued to play the obedient daughter, happy to do so. After all, there were three things that meant the most to Cassandra-- the cause, the approval of her family, and her youngest brother. She would forsake everything else for those three things, do anything for them.
Cassandra got herself a job at Borgin and Burkes, if only to give herself something to do with her spare time, and give her something to do outside of the house besides training. Cassandra worked, and she trained, and she prepared herself. She ran missions with Mulciber and Serefina, her two mentors, she ran missions with her friends; she was the perfect soldier. And one day, she hoped, the perfect heir to her family; though not the born heir, and though she would not carry on her family's name when she married, Cassandra would always carry that pride in her, that true meaning of what it took to make an Avery, that loyalty and dedication and work, skills which she had hoped to pass on to her own children when the time came.
Her marriage to Regulus Black was too brief, though it was one that changed who she was forever. Regulus made her doubt all that she had been raised believing, and she had become a new person with him by her side. Their life was all planned out, their future certain to her, but all it took was one thing, one step he couldn’t undo, to ruin it all. Her and Regulus’ search for the horcrux was one that couldn’t have happened without her, researching and trying to discover what was happening, how to help, but when Regulus went on his own to the cave to retrieve it, their mission ended. It was over. He was dead.
Regulus left her with nothing but his last name, his family’s business, and a life as his widow. It was what she had signed up for when they’d gotten married, a possibility that she knew could happen, a path that her life threatened to take with each passing day. But he wasn’t supposed to die. If anyone, she was the one who deserved to take the fall.
Now, with war raging all around her, her husband gone and her life thrown into chaos, nothing is certain. Nothing except one thing-- she is an Avery, and she does not back down from a fight. No matter what, she'll be ready.
DETAILS :
AGE : 22
TRAITS :
+ : Vivacious, profound, persevering
– : Relentless, self-absorbed, quarrelsome
CANON INFORMATION : [x]
OCCUPATION : assistant at Borgin and Burke’s
SUGGESTED CONNECTIONS :
Severus Snape, Barty Crouch Jr. : best friends
Serefina Burke, Adolphis Yaxley : mentors
Pandora Aldridge, Greta Catchlove, Mary MacDonald : likes to torment
Sturgis Podmore : thinks he’s funny
Regulus Black : husband, would do whatever it takes to protect him











