Background (AU!Canon; HP): Rua was born in the town of Cratloe in Clare county, Ireland. From the time she was born, many strange happenings followed her about: lights would flicker and go out without explanation, whispers of the dead would fill a silent room, and/or temperatures would plummet in a room on a warm summer day. Her parents, both wizards of rather limited power, moved to a hidden cottage in the nearby Gallowshill Woods to keep her from drawing unwanted muggle attention, where she was home-schooled and was allowed only to play with a few older children from other nearby wizarding families. Rua proved to be a very curious child who loved learning from both books and the from the world around her.
As Rua got older, she developed a strong curiosity of what was in the woods of Gallowshill, a curiosity which grew stronger as she heard tales of banshees and fairies and other things that supposedly lived within. She wandered deeper and deeper into the woods, and soon her parents forbade her to play in them. However, Rua did not listen, and would frequently sneak into the woods. When she was 7 years old, Rua came across the fugitive witch, Kel Rundamair, who used the forest as one of her hiding places from the Ministry of Magic. The naive Rua befriended Kel, and Kel, slightly mad and believing Rua to have great potential for dark magic, took an unhealthy interest in the child. Kel presented herself to Rua's parents and magically influenced the weaker wizards into accepting her as a private tutor for the girl.
On Rua's eighth birthday, Kel began "teaching" young Rua, frequently taking her on "field trips" via apparition to secret ruins in Germany's Black Forest where Kel's dark magic would not draw attention. Kel tried to train young Rua in witchcraft almost immediately, despite the generally accepted knowledge that children younger than 11 could not safely control such power. After a couple disasters that nearly scared Rua away from using magic entirely, Kel eventually accepted that Rua was too young. She convinced the girl's parents that Rua needed much more private education, and worked to keep Rua fascinated in the power of magic. Kel instead taught her magical theory (in the form of stories) and had Rua assist her in many of her black rituals and research for three years, doing what she could to give the girl a jump-start in her training in the dark arts. Rua learned what she was taught surprisingly well, and made a very clever and useful assistant to Kel during these years.
On Rua's eleventh birthday, the first invitation to Hogwarts arrived. Kel convinced Rua and her parents to reject it in favor of a "superior" private apprenticeship. Kel then took her on another long "field trip" to the wand-maker Gregorovitch, who matched Rua with a hard 13-inch hawthorn wand with a dragon-heartstring core, and began tutoring Rua in the ways of magic. She taught Rua all the basics, and then began her training as a dark witch with intensive study of jinxs, hexes, basic curses, and other spells most useful in dark wizardry. Rua had come to want Kel's approval more than anything, and that, combined with her natural hunger for knowledge, spurred her on to learn as much as she could regardless of the danger. Rua proved to be a serious studier and a fast learner, and indeed showed a talent with jinxes, hexes, and curses that Kel found encouraging.
When Rua was 13, Kel was about to begin her training in truly dark magic, but fate intervened. Aurors finally found out what Kel had been doing, freed Rua's parents' minds, and went to capture Kel. When they attempted to capture the dark witch, Kel engaged them in a deadly dual that forced the aurors to kill her. Rua was brought back to her parents, and it was recommended that she be enrolled at Hogwarts to continue her training in witchcraft properly.
Rua's parents knew that she had learned some magic, but they grossly misjudged how much because of Rua's own deceptions; Rua feared she may be killed like Kel if it was found out what dark things she knew, so she "played dumb" and hid much of her knowledge to deflect any suspicion. Her parents arranged for 13-year-old Rua to transfer to Hogwarts as a second-year student (thinking she'd fallen behind), and in her first year it seemed like even that might be too much for her. Struggling with recent traumatic experiences and hiding much of what she learned out of fear of retribution, Rua fared poorly in her early classes and mostly shunned the other students. Rua constantly saw visions of Kel as a ghost, and began to think she was haunted. The teachers and ghosts in Hogwarts could find no sign of such a haunting, and began to counsel Rua. As this counseling continued, Rua fared much better at Hogwarts, but never accepted that Rua's spirit was not with her.
By the end of her fourth year, Rua had shown marked improvement and performed exceptionally in all her classes, especially in Defense against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Potions. She still showed little interest in socializing with her peers, preferring to devote herself to studying or locking herself somewhere private where she could talk to the "ghost" of Kel. She also took a strong interest in the other ghosts of Hogwarts around this time, socializing with them more than the living, it seemed. Kel maintained her interest in the dark arts, and learned everything she could about it at the school, mostly through materials for the Defense classes (she claims to have read every book the school library has available for DaDA at least once). It was this year that she learned to summon her patronus - which resembled an apparition of Kel, and it is a charm she has practiced incessantly ever since. It is even rumored that sometimes the patronus seems to summon itself when Rua needs or wants it most.
Rua, now beginning her 6th year, is a mostly normal student, albeit an anti-social one with an unhealthy interest in ghosts (and secretly in the dark arts). She managed to get O's in all of her OWLs last year, but has tried to let as few people know about that as possible.
Re-Application of Rua (Part 5 - AU!Canon)
As Rua got older, she developed a strong curiosity of what was in the woods of Gallowshill, a curiosity which grew stronger as she heard tales of banshees and fairies and other things that supposedly lived within. She wandered deeper and deeper into the woods, and soon her parents forbade her to play in them. However, Rua did not listen, and would frequently sneak into the woods. When she was 7 years old, Rua came across the fugitive witch, Kel Rundamair, who used the forest as one of her hiding places from the Ministry of Magic. The naive Rua befriended Kel, and Kel, slightly mad and believing Rua to have great potential for dark magic, took an unhealthy interest in the child. Kel presented herself to Rua's parents and magically influenced the weaker wizards into accepting her as a private tutor for the girl.
On Rua's eighth birthday, Kel began "teaching" young Rua, frequently taking her on "field trips" via apparition to secret ruins in Germany's Black Forest where Kel's dark magic would not draw attention. Kel tried to train young Rua in witchcraft almost immediately, despite the generally accepted knowledge that children younger than 11 could not safely control such power. After a couple disasters that nearly scared Rua away from using magic entirely, Kel eventually accepted that Rua was too young. She convinced the girl's parents that Rua needed much more private education, and worked to keep Rua fascinated in the power of magic. Kel instead taught her magical theory (in the form of stories) and had Rua assist her in many of her black rituals and research for three years, doing what she could to give the girl a jump-start in her training in the dark arts. Rua learned what she was taught surprisingly well, and made a very clever and useful assistant to Kel during these years.
On Rua's eleventh birthday, the first invitation to Hogwarts arrived. Kel convinced Rua and her parents to reject it in favor of a "superior" private apprenticeship. Kel then took her on another long "field trip" to the wand-maker Gregorovitch, who matched Rua with a hard 13-inch hawthorn wand with a dragon-heartstring core, and began tutoring Rua in the ways of magic. She taught Rua all the basics, and then began her training as a dark witch with intensive study of jinxs, hexes, basic curses, and other spells most useful in dark wizardry. Rua had come to want Kel's approval more than anything, and that, combined with her natural hunger for knowledge, spurred her on to learn as much as she could regardless of the danger. Rua proved to be a serious studier and a fast learner, and indeed showed a talent with jinxes, hexes, and curses that Kel found encouraging.
When Rua was 13, Kel was about to begin her training in truly dark magic, but fate intervened. Aurors finally found out what Kel had been doing, freed Rua's parents' minds, and went to capture Kel. When they attempted to capture the dark witch, Kel engaged them in a deadly dual that forced the aurors to kill her. Rua was brought back to her parents, and it was recommended that she be enrolled at Hogwarts to continue her training in witchcraft properly.
Rua's parents knew that she had learned some magic, but they grossly misjudged how much because of Rua's own deceptions; Rua feared she may be killed like Kel if it was found out what dark things she knew, so she "played dumb" and hid much of her knowledge to deflect any suspicion. Her parents arranged for 13-year-old Rua to transfer to Hogwarts as a second-year student (thinking she'd fallen behind), and in her first year it seemed like even that might be too much for her. Struggling with recent traumatic experiences and hiding much of what she learned out of fear of retribution, Rua fared poorly in her early classes and mostly shunned the other students. Rua constantly saw visions of Kel as a ghost, and began to think she was haunted. The teachers and ghosts in Hogwarts could find no sign of such a haunting, and began to counsel Rua. As this counseling continued, Rua fared much better at Hogwarts, but never accepted that Rua's spirit was not with her.
By the end of her fourth year, Rua had shown marked improvement and performed exceptionally in all her classes, especially in Defense against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Potions. She still showed little interest in socializing with her peers, preferring to devote herself to studying or locking herself somewhere private where she could talk to the "ghost" of Kel. She also took a strong interest in the other ghosts of Hogwarts around this time, socializing with them more than the living, it seemed. Kel maintained her interest in the dark arts, and learned everything she could about it at the school, mostly through materials for the Defense classes (she claims to have read every book the school library has available for DaDA at least once). It was this year that she learned to summon her patronus - which resembled an apparition of Kel, and it is a charm she has practiced incessantly ever since. It is even rumored that sometimes the patronus seems to summon itself when Rua needs or wants it most.
Rua, now beginning her 6th year, is a mostly normal student, albeit an anti-social one with an unhealthy interest in ghosts (and secretly in the dark arts). She managed to get O's in all of her OWLs last year, but has tried to let as few people know about that as possible.