Julietta Sakellarios
The Danish Puzzler
Deputy Headmistress • Transfiguration Professor • Head of Hufflepuff
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Appearance
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History
They were married at twenty eight, with Juliette, though often called Etta, being born three years afterwards. She was, quite literally, her parent’s pride and joy. Growing up, she was adored and was raised on a good amount of Shakespeare, seeing as her mother was a huge fan of the playwriter. This eventually contributed to Etta's own soft spot for him herself. She never felt like she was neglected and had constant attention. Of course, there were periods where Etta wanted siblings, and was quite vocal about it, however neither of her parents wanted a large family, especially not when they were juggling both of their careers at the same time. When she was seven years old, she had her first magical event. She was watching Matilda and tried to imitate what she saw on the screen. She tried to make books fly and, low and behold, it worked much to her surprise. Seeing as both her parents were muggles, neither of them believed her when she told them and they wrote her off as simply having an avid imagination. Four years later, she was given an invitation from Durmstrang and, though her parents initially harboured some doubts, she was being sent to school by eleven.
Initially, Etta struggled to adjust to the school life, struggled to be away from her family but she eventually found her feet. She wrote home often, talking about her life in the magical society. However, Etta struggled to make friends with the other people around her and never really gained any connections save for one or two teachers. Though this saddened her, she used her time to dedicate to her work, soon becoming one of the best students in the class, though she was dubbed a nerd and a teacher's pet from her peers. By third year, she found herself able to complete fourth year work, and sometimes was able to learn fifth year spells, buying advanced textbooks to get ahead. However, things took a turn in sixth year. She finally made friends, however, they weren’t the type of friends that she would have wanted. They were, in simple words, toxic. They were manipulative and rarely respected Etta and her own emotions. Not that Etta cared. She had friends, people to talk too, and they loved her, right? However, her grades began to drop as she spent more time sneaking out of Durmstrang with them, being introduced to parties and drugs. Having craved any sort of friendship for so long, Etta rarely stood up for herself. Thus, Etta barely scraped by in her seventh year and her NEWTS were abysmal, not allowing her to gain any job that she had originally aimed for.
For the next three years, Etta bounced between jobs. Jobs such as working at a fast food restaurant, working at a grocery store, working summer jobs. Nothing permanent. She was still in contact with her friends and really spent most of her money on both rent, food, drugs and festivals. Her parents were out of the picture by then as Etta stopped writing them during her years at Durmstrang and when she graduated, she followed her friends to Germany rather than Denmark. Etta didn’t particularly care by then. However, she slept around a lot by then and protection or plan B was never on her mind much and often forgot to make sure. Looking back, Etta was surprised she didn’t end up pregnant earlier than she had. At nineteen years old, Juliette Van der Hoek was pregnant. It was enough for her to try and get her life back together. Her parents refused to let her back into their life so Etta was alone. She had no idea who the father was but Etta was determined to be the best mother she could be. Naturally, her first son was named William, after Shakespeare. But her time with him was cut short. A year and a half was what she had with him, moving around a lot, working odd jobs until she got fired. Usually, it was because she kept on trying to sneak in her son, unable to find anyone to take care of him. All her friends from before had left her the second they found out about her pregnancy. So Etta eventually decided to give him up for adoption. Someone could take better care of him than she could. She had nothing to offer him.
Without the baby, she was finally allowed to move back in with her parents. After begging, of course.
For the next few years, she dedicated herself to getting her life back on track. She redid her NEWTS, passing with flying colours like she should have in the beginning, and worked a stable job in the ministry for a few odd years, though the position was nothing major or important. When she was twenty four, she met a man, quickly falling in love with him. At first, he seemed her perfect guy. Charming, funny, stable, nothing out of the ordinary. Just like Etta wanted. As a year passed by, she even began contemplating marrying him. Until the abuse started. Looking back, Etta should have seen the red flags, hell she had gone through them once before, she should know what to look for by then. Apparently, she was just as trusting as she was when she was sixteen. At first, the abuse was simply verbal. Cruel remarks that grew into yelling and screaming. Etta took it on the chin, trying to convince herself he didn’t mean it, that maybe he was right and she had done something wrong. She remembers freezing whenever he raised his voice, each time convinced that maybe this would be the time he'll snap and resort to violence. She remembers doing a lot of cleaning, washing the dishes, to distract herself. She cleaned a lot of dishes. She didn't particularly care about the boiling water when she placed her hands to this water and to this day, she still has a small scar on her hand was a result of the burns. However, there was one thing that the group of friends did help Etta with. She had learnt how to leave, how to stand up for herself, know what she deserved. So when he first laid his hands on her, Etta knew. She knew that if she didn’t leave then, then she would never leave at all. Though he had done his best to isolate her from her family, he wasn't infallible. She told her parents when he was at work, leaving all her belongings and moving into a holiday house that he didn't know the location of, and broke it off with the man. In the first initial months, it was difficult to shake him. She found him following her after she left work, stalking her. Her parents had seen him at their house, waiting for her to leave, believing that was where she was sating. This ended when she went to the officials and gained a restraining order.
Of course, this event didn't make her happy. She was free, certainly, but she wasn't happy. She struggled to be alone and was incredibly dependant on her parents for a year and a half and could barely be relied upon to survive by herself. She had to be reminded to eat, to get out of bed even. Going outside of the house was a difficult event, out of fear he'd turn up despite the security placed around her. However, when she was twenty eight, Etta knew she had to pick herself up. She travelled through Europe, got a job with a stable, liveable income, though she had moved in with her parents, and had a good relationship with her parents. This changed, however, when her father’s smoking habit caught up to him. In a matter of months from diagnosis, he died of lung cancer with his wife dying of a heart attack not even a week after his. Not having any extended family, Etta organised and attended the funeral alone, save for one or two close friends of her parents. Finding her home in Copenhagen too fraught with memories, Etta decided to move to the UK for a fresh start. She sold all of her families belongings, including the family house and holiday home, and used the money to buy a house in London, Coral Gates to be exact. Now, she’s hoping to gain a position as a teacher in Hogwarts, deciding that maybe teaching was the right path for her.
Etta has remained in Hogwarts ever since and she doesn't regret it. She also adopted a boy as well. Life is well.
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Personality However, though Etta appears to be extremely optimistic about her life and everyone around her, she tends to become pessimistic when her mood drops. Most of the time, Etta can hold her tongue, even when she disagrees with someone, though this can be broken down the more her mood diminishes and how much the other person is egging her on. Her patience, however, is extremely high and it takes a while before someone can truly get her to snap. Etta is slightly what they call a ‘mother friend’. She’s nurturing, caring, and takes pride in how clean and organised she is. She picks up on other people’s wellbeing and can become persistent if she believes someone to be unwell or hurt. However, she struggles to be firm with people and is a bit of a softie. She is firm in one area, however. Her own dreams and aspirations. Having gone through a period where she lost sight of them, she clings to them now and is a firm believer that everyone can achieve them, no matter how old they are, and never hesitates to tell people this. Etta is a heavy sleeper, though, and often spends her free time sleeping. She doesn’t mean to spend most of her life sleeping just…she feels the most comfortable and safe in her own bed. If she was allowed, she would spend her whole life on that piece of furniture. Despite her belief that life can become better, Etta’s first instinct tends to be flight whenever something becomes difficult or she feels unsafe, though she knows she needs to work on this. This can be especially hard when she feels someone becoming close to her and tries to ignore this sense of flight within her. She does feel lonely and still has the same feeling that’s been haunting her since she was a child and though she thought she had learnt to deal with it, live with it, it became slightly more pronounced ever since her parent’s had died. To deal with her own grief, she’s finding herself spending a lot of time involved in the theatre, trying to watch as many shows as she can, especially Shakespeare, as it was a passion she shared with them. Ever since she was a child, Etta had a fascination with the writer and can now quote many of his lines in a wide array of plays. In fact, when she does feel insecure, or unsafe, she tends to try and take inspiration from his characters and constantly try to do what she believed they would do. She’s incredibly smart, though, and quick minded and can often be found doing puzzles whenever she wakes up or when she’s waiting for something, such as when she’s standing in a cue. |
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Trivia
Magical Characteristics
Favorites
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Julietta Sakellarios
The Danish Puzzler
Deputy Headmistress • Transfiguration Professor • Head of Hufflepuff