Paris' story is a trickier one, if only because his conception was by no means considered 'legal' nor is he still living with his parents. You see, he's biologically the son of Princess Sophia of Windsor, but was born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean - as far from the rest of the royal family as she could handle. Like so much of Sophia's life, she kept her vulnerable moments away from her family and those she loved, sans one person. But like Paris, that person was kept separate from her life as a royal princess. It was this person that acted as Sophia's saving grace. What should have been her final year at Hogwarts was instead spent half in St. Mungo's, half in the confined of the royal castles. The public were told she was being homeschooled, which was a carefully devised lie to protect the true problems that surrounded her. As a means to protect her from nosy reporters - and of course, to keep her distracted - Sophia hired a body guard. She didn't want the royal guards and their habit of telling her business to her grandmother.
Going down the private lane got her assigned someone who she, at first, ignored her attraction to. He was more than a decade older, and at that time, was engaged to be married. To this day, Sophia still struggled to remember whether their affair happened prior to the wedding or otherwise. Regardless, it happened. She began to find herself falling further for the older man, getting closer to him beyond what was appropriate for a professional relationship. By the time she was about to turn eighteen, they'd already slept together. She was wary at first, but eventually found herself ignoring preset boundaries, strongly believing she'd never fall in love with him. She couldn't.
Except...Sophia realized she was pregnant two months later. She couldn't face her mistakes or the consequences that came with them, so she fled to Canada, not telling her family about her extramarital child or the baby's father. As far as she was aware, there was a chance she wouldn't carry to term. But she did. She lived in non-magical Toronto, where Sophia faced the urge to enlist in the military. It was a bad idea, she knew, but it'd keep her identity a secret. By means of falsified identification and extensive magic to keep her pregnancy a secret, she enlisted. It was during her training period in the CAF, she met Alexandra Warner. The military, even in the 2030s, were still a largely male populated career with woman only taking up 25% of the total number in the CAF. Thus, when Sophia met Alexis, the two stuck to each other, eventually becoming best friends.
Even through the budding friendship, though, she never uttered a word about her pregnancy and did what she could to keep the secret. Even bunking together and becoming joined at the hip, no words were exchanged about the elephant between them. But as time progressed, it became abundantly clear Alexis was also a witch and was fully aware of Sophia's identity and (part of) her predicament. By that point, Sophia was at her best; she'd been focusing on her health and ensuring that, even though it wasn't necessarily very smart, she hardly showed any stomach. It was very difficult and an arduous process, involving too many vitamins and supplements, but she succeeded. Until everything came crashing down.
To Sophia, the incident is still a blur. She struggled to remember who was flying the plane, who was in the back, who was her co-pilot. All she remembers is a loud boom and a lot of blood. Whoever was flying at the time and whoever it was that found them, though, did a good enough job that she and the newborn survived. Nearly sixty hours after the airlift, Paris Mercutio van der Hoek came into the world. Of course, that wasn't his real name, not at first. Luckily for him, Alexis was around and saved him from being named anything too... ridiculous (such as Prince Mango Strawberry Peach) and instead was named Casey. Prince Casey of Windsor. Or what it should have been. Of course, Sophia became a reserve after that, moving into a house not that far off from the base. Naturally, Alexis moved in with her. The two, having started dating – though it wouldn't last – raised the baby for the first four and a half years of the child's life. Sophia had initially placed him up for adoption a few months following his birth, but found herself declining each application that came through. None of them were good enough for him. But Casey cried a lot. Sophia remembered that. Always crying and Sophia would stay up for hours trying to get him to calm down.
After his first birthday, Sophia went back to work. Alexis and Sophia alternated their shifts. However, by the time Casey was four, Sophia had another incident in the military which left her with severe PTSD. Honourably discharged, Sophia was often left alone with the child, even though she was unstable. It became clear that Sophia couldn't be around Casey for the child's own safety. Consequently, she went back to England, breaking it off with Alexis and leaving her with the baby, though not without forcing her to promise that the child would be given to someone appropriate. (As if his biological mother had been.) Alexis kept him for another year until she found someone capable of raising him in the environment he deserved while still allowing her to visit and maintain 'aunt' rights. Maybe in another life she could have been his mother... but it wasn't meant to be. So she let him go with a heavy heart, ironically enough in England itself. It wasn't until she was certain it'd be safe for him that she stopped visiting, but by then, she'd fallen in love with the country. So she stayed. Not for Sophia, but for herself. She had family there, and between them and the memories of her life in Canada, she knew it was wrong to go back. And if out of nowhere Casey needed her... she just couldn't go too far. Not that it was of any use, though. Casey doesn't remember her. He doesn't remember his life in Canada, who Sophia was, or what Alexis meant to him.
It all worked out in the end; he found his way to his mother
Etta, who dotes on him and makes sure he has everything he needs. For years, it's been just them - with babysitters here and there - and he wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks to her, Paris fosters a passion for the arts, although throughout the years, he's learned to love other facets of wizarding life. He didn't quite devote much of his time to learning about magical theory, but once his magic manifested itself (he was six and turned his mother's hair blue for a week straight), there was no stopping him. He's eleven now and obsessed with the culture of the wizarding world. He's ecstatic to be joining everyone else at Hogwarts, to tap into his magic and learn how to use it alongside all his mates.
