| Description: | Derina is tiny for her age, standing only 4'8" and weighing 62lbs. Her mousy hair comes to the bottom of her shoulder blades, but she always keeps it tied up to keep it out of her weigh - often in a French braid. She is extremely bony with a sharp jawline and collarbones, and has very small hands and feet. Her brown eyes are normally hooded and wary when she is with others. Her fingers are very quick and expressive when she finally feels comfortable enough to lose the intense shyness that being around strangers engenders in her. She is pale and freckless and sunburns easily. |
| Personality: | On first meeting her, most people find Derina to be overly polite and formal - a product of her upbringing by a strict elderly Potions master and an elderly French nanny. But first impressions are often wrong. Derina has grand ambitions for her life - starting with taking over her father's business, Gimble Enterprises, one of the largest potions research facilities in North America. Derina is very hot/cold with issues and people, feeling passionate about something or not caring at all; but those to whom she feels a sense of obligation will find her an incredibly diligent and resourceful ally. Cunning and adroit, she usually finds a way to get what she wants. Her drive simply won't allow her to stop short of her goals.
That being so, she is most comfortable around adults and craves their approval. Teachers who appeal to her will find her almost a nuisance as she seeks to earn their regard. Never having had any friends or even acquaintances, she doesn't have the social skills to hide her needy, greedy desire for acceptance. |
| Family Life: | Derina was raised in a muggle neighborhood in Juilette, Georgia by an 87 year old pureblooded Potions master and a 53 year old half-blooded French nanny. Her 22 year old mother was killed by aurors when she was eight months old while visiting her wealthy, outwardly respectable, but intensely biggotted Irish family. Six muggle-born wizards were found imprisioned and tortured during the Ministry raid. Derina's mother, Innocence Mallory, fought along side her parents and brothers and died for the pureblooded cause. In response, Derina's father moved to Georgia and vowed never to return to Britain- at least while Derina was young enough to suffer from the vile reputation of her mother's family. It is his hope that by avoiding even talking about it, Derina won't share her Mallory ancestor's believes that muggle-born wizards, and those that tolerate them, deserve to die. Derina's nanny, Mrs. Wilkes, however, knew the story and had filled Derina in on some of the facts, though she'd cautioned her never to speak of it. Derina's father's last bit of advice to her before she left for Salem was to tell no one of her past. Unfortunately, Derina's intense desire for any sort of knowledge about her mother is stronger than any warning that her father might give her. |
| Other Info: | Derina is afraid of her own magic, having accidentally caused an incredible explosion when she was attacked as a seven year old, for which she incurred her father's intense wrath for both doing magic in front of her muggle attacker and for being unable to control and conceal her abilities. As a result she is unable to use her wand to defend herself - or when scared. Some of her love of potions comes from the fact that it seems like a "controllable" type of magic to her. Put into a fight or flight situation, she would always run away - unless doing so would endanger someone she'd decided to protect. Her intense obligation to protect her loved ones would override any desire to defend herself. But put into a position where fighting was necessary, she would use her teeth and fists, not her wand. She is simply to terrified of killing someone should she have another outburst. |