Childhood
1862 | A young Trojan Valenduris meets Miss Angela Bianchi at a ball. She is from a noble wizarding family in Florence, and has few preconceived notions about the Valenduris family. The pair have easy conversation, which soon blossoms into courtship, then marriage. The two are wed within the year.
B. 1871 | Sabine is born into a nursery full-to-bursting with siblings as the youngest of eight. Due to this, her first years are lost to the chaos of too many voices, too many people, too much everything. She is a quiet child as a result, observing more than participating, and grows quickly attached to Cassian, the eldest. His calm demeanor and the fact that he is away at Hogwarts most of the time makes it easy for Sabine to miss him.
Her first burst of magic is perhaps her most dangerous to date. Most of the Valenduris children have rather strong latent magical abilities fueled by emotion and Sabines’ strongest emotion has always been anger. She’s five when the incident occurs. Her governess had just announced they were all due to go up and change for supper. Sabine, for her part, was in the midst of brushing one of her dolls’ hair for bed. The governess tried to take it from her without giving the toddler a chance to react and instantly Sabine let out an angry cry. Flames burst from her core in a ring, singing the doll and setting her governess aflame.
A year later, in 1877 the family moves to an estate in Wellingtonshire, Hogsmeade. Sabine is abstractly aware of the fact that her father died this year. She is aware of how sad everyone is, but it doesn’t strike the chord with her that it does the others, especially Cassian. (She never really knew him.) Still, she spends a tremendous amount of time clinging to her brother’s coattails when allowed. This is also the year she meets Vincent, a new friend of Cassian’s. She finds him quirky, and amusing, and likes the fact that he goes out of his way to pull faces at her and make her laugh when Cass isn’t looking.
Around the age of eight, she meets Reginald Alderton (13). He’s friends with her brother Leander and had comes to visit with the family over holiday break. It’s a ridiculous little exchange really: he catches the cat she is chasing, and she tells him he has jam on his face instead of saying thank you. It’s the beginning of an exchange that continues in a similar fashion over the next few years, not quite friends but certainly friend-ly.
Hogwarts
First Year | 1882-83 Sabine is incredibly excited to go off to school for her first year. She’s nervous to be sorted. She wanted to follow Cass into Gryffindor but instead she lands in Slytherin. Her stomach curdles when the hat whispers in her ear, but it reassures her that this is the house that will teach her who she really is. The only small comfort is that her great-grandfather is her Head of House and, she supposes, she does love him a great deal. Perhaps it all won’t be so bad. (To date, Sabine still fears that she will turn into a proper Slytherin, and she tries her best to be more like her brother wherever possible.)
Second Year | 1883 - 84 Second year brings with it new friends and a few new challenges. One of these is her History of Magic class, ugh. Sabine struggles through the first semester, just barely, and then for the second manages to enlist the help of an upper class student to help tutor her. Low and behold, it’s Reginald Alderton. Now a fifth year, he still doesn’t have time to be friends with a measly second, but Sabine has a way of wearing him down. Eventually he becomes... almost like another brother (as if she doesn’t have enough of those.)
Third Year | 1884-85 In Sabine’s third year, she meets Odessa Sidonia. A fellow Slytherin who moves into their dorm. At first, Sabine isn’t sure how to feel about Odessa. She’s… prickly, like most Slytherins, but there’s something enthralling about her that draws Sabine in. They become friends.
That summer, the Laughing Plague hits the house and every one of them is infected, including Sabine herself. The Valenduris family loses two children, Demetria and Jethro.
Fourth/Fifth Year | 1885-86-87 Fourth and fifth years don’t have much notable to them. Sabine drops History of Magic thankfully, and Arithmancy because - how dreadful - and she focuses her talents on more practical magic. Her favorite subject has always been Herbology (even though she’s quite gifted with potions) and as a result, she doubles down more intently on them both. She finds herself spending more and more time in the greenhouse too as she feels less at home in the Slytherin dormitory. Something about the place just doesn’t sit right, and the hat’s comment to her that first year still floats about in her mind. She pesters Professor Skeeter likely more than she should but… he reminds her of what a father might have been like. And, though Cassian is more than enough, she cherishes it for what it is. Hers, and hers alone.
Sixth Year | 1887-88 In sixth year Sabine focuses her studies a bit and battles some rumors about her brother and the Ministry debacle he was involved with. She’s proud of him, always, and beams just a little bit brighter when it comes up that he’s a hero. Because he always has been, to her. Sabine notices, oddly, that Vince’s name is absent from the articles and commentary though. It doesn’t sit right in her stomach. She knows what Cass told her actually happened. She knows that Vince was there, too.
Seventh Year | 1888-89 Seventh year brings with it more studies and turmoil than Sabine could have prepared for. She is determined to do well on her N.E.W.T.s and as a result spends a lot of time alone. When she’s not with Odessa, she’s either in the greenhouse or on the grounds somewhere like a lost sprite. Things… have started to change with Odessa though. Where before a hug or simple brush of hands reaching for a quill meant laughter and a small tease now… it brings butterflies to her stomach and a warmth to her cheeks. A few months of this soon sees Sabine growing closer, more attached to her friend and then… the unthinkable.
It’s a silly thing, really, in the grand scheme of - well - life. She and Odessa, as so many times before, are sprawled in the library over the winter holiday. Sabine is pouring over her Herbolgy text, scribbling something out, and Odessa is sighing about boredom. It’s snowing, again, and they’re virtually trapped inside. One thing leads to another and the butterflies from earlier in the term float to the surface. Evidently Sabine is not the only one to have experienced them. She has her first kiss that afternoon, sitting on a piano bench in front of the fireplace. Her first kiss, and perhaps a touch more.
The floo goes off at precisely the wrong moment. Low and behold, who deigns to find them but Cassian and Vincent. The silence is deafening before excuses tumble out. Vince excuses himself, tossing a weary look in her brother’s direction that Sabine - to date - has been unable to forget. She doesn’t see or hear from Odessa again. Her last term is a lonely, confused one, spent mostly in avoidance. She tries to branch out and make a few last minute friends but… it’s not the same. It could never be the same.
Post-Graduation
Summer 1889 - Autumn 1892 | Sabine leaves for Italy shortly after graduation. She manages to convince her family to allow her to debut on the continent and has her ball in Verona, June of 1889. From there, she completes her first season with her mother and remains the winter with a colleague of her great-grandfather’s, assisting with research and other academic pursuits. She returns to the continent a few times throughout the season to visit the family and attend a handful of events, but soon scampers back to Italy.
Winter 1892 | As her third debut season comes to a close, Sabine finds herself longing for home and the familiarity of family and friends she left behind. She’s frankly tired of hiding and has determined to take her life back into her own hands. Travel was a distraction that allowed her to focus on writing and artistic pursuits but now… Mama has decided it is time for her to find a husband. Sabine on the other hand, has decided it is time for her to find a publisher. She returns to England officially just in time for the upcoming holiday season.