Gabrielle Renard
 | ||
| Gabrielle Renard | ||
| Biographical Information | ||
| Full name | Gabrielle Adele Renard | |
|---|---|---|
| Born | 31 October 1920 | |
| Birthplace | Hogwarts Castle | |
| Residence | Hogsmeade, Scotland | |
| Nationality | French / British | |
| Blood Status | Pureblood | |
| Education | Hogwarts (1932-1939) | |
| Class | 1939 | |
| Physical Information | ||
| Family Information | ||
| Spouse | None | |
| Children | Imogen Miranda Renard (adopted) | |
| Parents | Malcolm Matheson (pureblood), Chantal Renard (pureblood) | |
| Siblings | Patricia Sanders Renard, James Emerson, Brayden Emerson Renard | |
| Magical Characteristics | ||
| Wand | 13 1/2", alder wood, unicorn hair core | |
| Affiliation | ||
| Occupation | Muggle Studies Professor, Dueling Referee at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry | |
Biography
Leave it to her mother to try and get the class done before going into labour. Unfortunately, Gabrielle decided to abruptly interrupt the Transfiguration class and caused a mad dash towards the Hospital Wing to get herself born. It was Halloween of the year 1958 when the first child of Chantal Renard saw the light of day. Well, technically, the lights of the Hospital Wing, since it was already evening when Gabrielle came into the world.
Initially, she spent most of the time at the castle, with her being either in her mother's quarters or in her office. Either under her mother's supervision or under the eye of various student babysitters (who were either doing it willingly or forced into it through detention). After a few months though, Chantal began bringing her home more often. The fact that the woman's cousin moved in with them as well helped that, since Adela would be able to help out Gretchen the nanny to oversee the infant, while the others would be out working.
The months began going by slowly but surely, making up the first year. Gabrielle began developing a liking to plushies and pampering, after realizing, in her baby mind, that the grown-ups would like to give her that in exchange for her not screaming all the time. Unfortunately, the youngster had another problem. She didn't seem to know who her father was because she wasn't getting to see him much. Even more when Chantal started keeping her daughter to the castle, with the exception of weekends, after the woman's own mother had manifested some malicious intentions towards the infant, wanting to kidnap her. Gabrielle did not understand what was up with that though but she did not seem to mind spending so much time with her mother. But the 'who is the father' problem grew ... and the infant started to mistaken various men for her father. Including the Hogwarts Headmaster. Until she finally figured out what her father looked like.
Soon enough though, unfortunately her mother's marriage deteriorated and ended in a divorce. Gabrielle remained with her mother but still did not understand where her father was. Had he gone somewhere on a trip or what? It took her a long while to realize that she did not have a father anymore. So she began spending time with the man who was the closest he could be to fatherly figure: her godfather, Sergei Vasilijev. Besides hanging around with her mother, her aunts Adela and Mireille and Gretchen, of course, plus her godmother Nellavie and her own kids.
Meanwhile, the young blonde started developing a curiosity for potions. Mostly because she was finding vials of funny-looking liquids around and started asking questions about them. One day, she caused a little incident with a vial whose contents turned her mother's hair color to red. Gabrielle hid the entire day until her mother said that it was alright but that she needed to be more careful with those vials. Of course the incidents continued to happen, but also did her curiosity towards making these intriguing liquids.
One more year flew by. Gabrielle already knew the castle inside out from her many strolls around it with either Gretchen or her mother. This castle knowledge at one point intersected with her need to get a father in her life. Because one late evening Gabrielle decided to go for a rather desperate measure and sneaked into the Courtyard, wishing upon a shooting star. For a father, of course. As time passed by, she insisted that her mother would get a new father. As if they could have been purchased at a shop designed for such stuff. Chantal understood Gabrielle's point of view but she struggled to get something done in her personal life on that matter.
The young blonde's little incidents did not stop at spilling potions around though. At one Opening Feast, when the Minister of Magic had showed up to speak, Gabrielle promptly mistook him for a plushie salesman and the Wizengamot was changed to Wizercamel. Much to her mother's pleasure, who really did not like the man and thought this had been a rather amusing moment.
Speaking of potions, Gabrielle slowly began to learn how to actually create some simple concoctions, under the watchful eye of her mother. Often, the young blonde could be seen with her nose in potion books, reading attentively the instructions for various liquids. Her mother's hair color suffered one more change during this time, getting a slight nuance of pink in all that blondness. Naturally, the work of Gabrielle and her new adopted sister, Patricia.
Outside the castle, the young blonde started looking into Quidditch, much to her mother's displeasure. Chantal really disliked the sport and hoped her younger daughter wouldn't develop much interest for it. Unfortunately, that was not the case. However she did promise to her mother that she would be careful. Not that this eased her mother's fears much.
But there was more on the way for Gabrielle. On her fifth birthday, she got a green kitten as a present from one of her mother's former students. And then, on her sixth ... she got what she had wanted for a long long time: a new father, when her mother married Julian Emerson. As an addition to that, she also got an older brother from her stepfather's previous relationship. A younger brother also came into the family when her mother gave birth some 6 months later. And, at long last, her grandmother's spirit joined them ... thanks to the help of one of her mother's colleagues.
Then years started flying by quickly. Gabrielle's interest into Quidditch started to slowly be supported by her mother, who bought her a broom and taught the diminutive blonde how to fly. Also the youngster began actually creating simple potions by herself, handling them with much more care than before, without any further spills. As her knowledge developed in the matter, she began spending quite a bit of time at the Hogsmeade bookstore, becoming well acquainted with the owner, Etain Battersea, a good friend of her mother's.
After getting a wand with her mother from the Diagon Alley wandmaker, Gabrielle also tried her hand at actual simple spells but those weren't too successful, only producing sparks in the process. Gabrielle was disappointed by that, but did not give up. After turning 11 though, she managed to cause a change in the color of a chair for a few moments. Thus proving that her magical strength would probably be heading towards the subject that her mother had taught several years ago.
Only one question remained now, with the start of her first Hogwarts term fast approaching. What house would she be in? Slytherin, like her birth parents? Ravenclaw, like her older brother and sister? Hufflepuff, like the son of the creepy-looking Elizabeth Birch, whom she knew quite well (both the son and the woman)? Or Gryffindor, like the house once supervised by her godfather and now watched by another good acquaintance of hers, Anneka Ivanova?
Only the Sorting Hat would have the answer. And the answer was ...
Gabrielle wasn't happy at all with that answer. Slytherin? Why? Because of her mother? But even her mother resented that house nowadays. Most of the time, anyway. There were some good apples in there. But most of them were bad. As for her House Head ... Georgia Darcy, she proved to be a murderer in Gabrielle's first spring as a student at Hogwarts. The victim was a student from her mother's own class ... The ickle firstie was seriously affected by the event and hadn't dared to get out of the commons except for classes for the rest of the term.
Time passed ... The Slytherin House Head changed to someone 1,000 times more pleasant than Elizabeth Birch-Hurst and Georgia Darcy. Anneka Ivanova was definitely someone with whom Gabrielle could talk to in a friendly manner. The two knew each other pretty much since the youngster's birth. Well, Gabrielle didn't remember Anneka all that well in those years but she still remembered the former Slytherin ... 'Auntie Anneka' or 'Annie'. Obviously, Gabrielle couldn't call her House Head that nowadays but at least it was a better relationship than with the former House Heads.
The young blonde started developing a knack for reading and studying a lot, spending large amounts of time in the library. Her mother began wondering, for real, if Gabrielle didn't belong in Ravenclaw. But too late to argue with the Hat. In any case, the young Slytherin began getting good grades in her classes, excelling particularly in Charms, Transfiguration and Potions, the latter being her favorite subject by far. At the end of her 4th year, Gabrielle also began studying Legilimency, after becoming fascinated with the subject and getting support from her mother to go ahead with this rather difficult project.
As far as Quidditch was concerned, her passion for the sport suffered a serious rupture when she got in a conflict with their House Team's captain, Lysander Ellwood-Luxe, someone whom Gabrielle despised a lot. After her patience glass got full and began overflowing, she ditched the team in the middle of a game and never looked back, until the individual in question graduated from Hogwarts. This allowed her to dedicate more time in the Hospital Wing, putting her Potions knowledge to good use, becoming Chief Assistance Nurse in her 6th year.
At the same time, she also began thinking about her career after Hogwarts. When hearing that her mother was thinking of leaving Hogwarts after her graduation, Gabrielle began to seriously plan to apply as a professor after finishing her studies. Her subject of choice: her mother's own class, Muggle Studies. The Slytherin girl began attending her mother's lessons, partially to observe how things worked out during this particular class. But she also dedicated time to learn the subject and even got an Outstanding in her Muggle Studies OWL examination.
As the whole muggleborn/halfblood badge issue appeared, Gabrielle decided to take a stand and assist any student that would get bullied just because they were wearing those 'stupid badges', as she called them (this was later followed by her joining the student organization called FEW - For the Equality of Wizards). This only increased her interest in Muggle Studies and now she was determined more than ever to become a professor for this subject after graduation. However, real world events were starting to move along very fast and this dream was severely threatened by the Ministry's pressure to get rid of the class. Perhaps with the help of the new Headmistress, none other than Anneka who replaced Elizabeth Birch-Hurst after the Ministry decided to dismiss the latter (well, more like attempted to arrest her), Gabrielle would be able to keep Muggle Studies afloat until these unfavorable views would go away and things would get back to normal.
