Dione Sayer

Dione Olivia Sayer
Biographical Information
Born	3 March 1998, 20
City of Birth	Queensferry, Flintshire, Wales
Residence	Sayer Estate, Flintshire, Wales
Blood status	Pure-blood
Physical Information
Gender	female
Height	4'11"
Hair Colour	Brown
Eye Colour	Hazel
Skin Colour	Pale
Relationships
Father	Dayton Sayer
Mother	Eirian Sayer (nee Mulciber)
Pet(s)	Echo, a kitten
Magical Characteristics
Wand(s)
Acacia and phoenix feather, thirteen inches. Like Dione herself, this Olivander original is thin and appears delicate, but displays a surprising rigidity when put under pressure. (Made by Ollivander)
Education
School	Hogwarts
House	Slytherin
Class of	2016
Classes Included
Character Information
Playby	Rhiannon Leigh Wryn
Biography Threads
Gemini

Dione Sayer is a Slytherin Graduate (Class of 2016) and only grandchild of Idwal Mulciber, one of the Dark Lord's earliest followers. Though rendered mute by a childhood potions accident, Dione is highly ambitious and has her sights set on nothing less than a position of utmost power, which she believes will win back her family's prestige.

Physical Description

Dione a bit mature-looking for her age. She has brown hair and large hazel-brown eyes that manage to make her look thoughtful, rather than exceptionally young. She is of average height but particularly impressive posture, always sitting and moving with her head held high, which makes her look taller than she actually is. Every move she makes carries a dignified air. She is graceful, deliberate, and refined. She dresses neatly, color-coordinating even her most casual outfits and making sure her school uniform well-pressed every morning.

And yet, it doesn't take long for people to notice that there's something odd about her. Even though the formidable intelligence behind that pretty face is clear, Dione doesn't speak. In fact, she almost never opens her mouth at all.

Those few times she does, the reason becomes clear. The interior of Dione’s mouth is black and scarred, rendered useless by a childhood potions accident. Though her tongue is shrunk magically to avoid getting in the way or drawing unwanted attention, the tissue damage extends deep into Dione’s vocal cords, leaving her completely mute.

Because of this, Dione communicates primarily through British Sign Language. To ease communication with others, she always wears a translation artifact made up of two hand-flower bracelets and a matching choker. The magic gems set throughout the artifact translate Dione’s signs into "spoken" words.

Those who don't know her very well would say that Dione looks sickly or weak. Partially, this is because she doesn't eat as much as she should, due to her lack of taste buds. But partially, it's a purposeful distraction.

Personality Description

At her heart, Dione is the product of her mother's teaching. Eirian Sayer desires nothing more than for her daughter to grow up a proper pure-blood lady of enormous magical power, so that she might reclaim the glory their blood purist family lost in the Wizarding Wars. To this end, Dione's personality might be summed up in a single phrase: "Silk hiding steel."

For the most part, particularly while interacting with her peers, Dione appears gentle and vulnerable, particularly because of her disability. She will often sit and listen to her classmates talk, adding only polite conversation. Her presence sparks a number of protective instincts in those who like to care for others, but she does not ask for help, only accepting it gracefully when it is offered. At these times, she is humble, well-mannered, and polite.

But this is all mask.

Beneath her delicate disguise lurks a sharp mind as ambitious and conniving as any Slytherin has ever seen. Even though she can't talk and has no artificial charm such as those born with Veela blood, she exudes charisma and can, if she puts her mind to it, dominate a room at a whim.

Her humility is also an act. Since people expect the poor, pretty mute girl to be quite and demure, Dione gives them what they want while enjoying her own smug sense of superiority in the safety of her own mind. She's got no doubt that she's the most brilliant witch in the year. Even as a fist year, she's got her eyes on the position of Head Girl. And after Hogwarts, well, nothing less will do than the Minister of Magic position -- or even better, a position of power among the masses like the dark wizards who came before her.

She certainly has the skills to accomplish her goals, if only in her own mind. Dione is highly intelligent and naturally talented at the magical arts. Because of her disability, she can only perform spells non-verbally, a skill she picked up only because of two years of constant instruction. Since she was only ever authorized to practice with the most basic of First Year spells, such as the Levitation Charm, Dione is not ahead of her classmates in terms of learning new magic.

Of course, non-verbal magic is tricky even for NEWTS-level students and, as a result, Dione’s first several attempts at spells are often weak compared to an average first year. She spends much of her free time practicing in order to overcome that and, when testing days roll around, is rarely satisfied unless she oustrips the class average by a wide margin.

Like her mother and auntie before her, Dione is a blood purist through and through, but she's learned the importance of putting up with mudbloods in order to succeed in the current political climate. Thus, she keeps her disgust for muggleborns under wraps, even counting a few of them among her 'friends,' though she's not above playing cruel pranks on them, so long as there's no way to trace it back to her.

In short, Dione is very much a poisonous friend. She delights in the power that she holds over people and will even use the sympathy her disability garners in order for further her ambitions at the time.

Because most of her tastebuds are long dead, Dione can't be picky about her food. But when she can get it, she loves the spiciest of spicy cuisine, everything from Indian food to Tex-Mex -- it's only thing she can really taste now.

If there is one thing in the world that she is genuinely afraid of, it is anything that cuts off her ability to breathe -- smoke, water, choking, etc. It reminds her subconscious of the potion that ruined her voice. Because of this, she never learned to swim and refuses to take baths, only showers.

History

Dione‘s history, as far as she’s concerned, begins with her grandfather Idwal Mulciber. Born in 1923, he attended Hogwarts alongside one Tom Marvolo Riddle. A talented pureblood Slytherin, Idwal became one of the future Dark Lord’s earliest followers and a founding member of the Knights of Walpurgis, who later became the first Death Eaters.

Though killed in battle during the First Wizarding War, Idwal lived long enough to father four pureblood children, all of whom went on to attended Hogwarts and become Death Eaters themselves. His only son – who inherited all of his father’s ambition but neither his cunning nor his skill – was eventually killed at the Battle of Hogwarts, while the youngest daughter was captured alive and sentenced to life in Azkaban.

Idwal's remaining children – Eirian, the eldest, and her sister, the third of four – escaped capture by covering up their roles in the Dark Lord’s regime. They managed to obscure the truth enough to keep themselves out of Azkaban. However, their family’s reputation was utterly destroyed and their assets frozen, leaving them with nothing to their name.

Salvation came in the form of half-blood wizard Dayton Sayer, a classmate of Eirian’s who’d always harbored a somewhat foolish crush on her. Since their school years, Dayton struck it rich inventing a number of household potions and, while it wasn’t quite up to snuff with the vast riches the Mulcibers once owned, it was enough that Eirian deigned to charm and eventually marry him. As a wedding present, Dayton built an elaborate estate for her and her sister. This is where Dione was eventually born.

In spite of the long and twisted history that led to her, Dione is was (and indeed still is) truly adored by all members of her family. Her father doted on her from the day she was born, blissfully oblivious to the things that mother and auntie filled her little mind with behind closed doors. Dione grew to love all her immediate family members, but her grandfather and his Dark Lord were especially revered. Full of her mother’s hopes to restore the Mulciber name, Dione would have grown up into a normal, if very Dark, Slytherin witch if it hadn’t been for The Accident.

Somehow, when Dione was two and a half years old, she wandered away from her nanny and stumbled upon what she believed to be a bubbly drink suitable for tea with her dolls. In truth, it was an experimental Scouring Serum not meant for consumption by anything, let alone a small child. But by the time her nanny returned, it was too late.

Though rushed to Saint Mungo’s for the best care wizards could afford, the Healers were unable to repair the damage to her mouth and vocal cords. Dione survived but was rendered entirely mute, an irreparable condition that would shape her entire life from thereon out.

To ease his daughter’s struggle, Dayton contacted his mentor, Niamh Stendahl, and commissioned a special translation artifact from her sister-in-law Sabia Norling. The artifact provided Dione with a new ‘voice’ through sign language. By the time she was five, she and the entire household was fluent.

The disability also threatened to hinder Dione’s development as a witch, which of course world never do. The family called in many favors throughout the ministry to obtain permission to begin Dione’s magical training early, with home-schooling under the best tutor that money could afford. For these lessons, Dione used a practice pine-wood wand without a core and was limited only to the most basic of basic first-year spells, focusing exclusively on the development of non-vocal magic.

Thanks to this training, Dione was able to enroll in Hogwarts on schedule and participate in all classes on an equal leaving with her peers. Having started her first year in September, she has been sorted into Slytherin and mostly kept to herself around the dorms while she got a feel for the school. But now, she’s settled in and is ready to start building a reputation worthy of her illustrious grandfather.