early childhood
1873 - 1884
on an early, spring morning fitzwilliam and adelia would welcome a fifth child and second daughter into the world; a darling little girl they’d soon name astoria, after gazing into those bright, blue eyes and stroking those rosy cheeks of hers. she was a relatively easy baby to care for if you were to ask her nurse; soft, gentle, didn’t cry too much, and seemed to go to sleep without much fuss. unfortunately, that same year would see a great tragedy in the death of archibald, the third child and the second son, due to a horrific magic accident caused by the eldest daughter, eira. it would be a few years and two more little siblings later before astoria would even be old enough to understand what happened, why there was a brother she’d never met. when she did learn the truth about his death, she was filled with sorrow and longing for something she’d never have, as she had heard stories about him before; but, perhaps due to being so young, astoria would never blame her elder sister for the accident, unlike her elder siblings or even eira herself, who seemed to be less forgiving.

astoria seemed to get along as well as one could with her other siblings; there were fights, of course, astoria and melody being the closest girls in age would fight over dresses (which once ended in melody’s first sign of magic), and there was a point where xander and “milo” wouldn’t want to play tea party with a little girl anymore causing her to cry and cry until they gave in, but overall they got along. astoria’s first sign of magic occurred during a children’s ball with a few other upper class children; not being able to decide which dress to wear because she liked both colors, her dress began to flash between pink and blue on and off while she danced around and ate little cakes until her governess was able to come and fix it for her. she was proud of this and told her parents as soon as she could, as it took her a bit longer than even melody, who was younger than her, to display magic, and astoria was feared to be a squib for a period of time; while her parents at least claimed they would love her anyway, whether that was the truth of the matter or not, it was nice to know that wasn’t the case in the end and that was not a bridge they had to figure out how to cross when it came time for hogwarts letters to arrive.

while her two older brothers were still at hogwarts, her elder sister having gone to finishing school after leaving hogwarts early, astoria, alongside her younger sisters would focus on their lessons put forth by their governess: art, music, etiquette, etc. it was everything they would need to know in order to be successful young ladies when it came time for them to go off on their own. astoria passed these lessons with flying colors, some with more effort than others; she didn’t learn french or art as easily as melody, and she wasn’t as book smart as rosabella, but she could carry a tune with ease, play difficult piano pieces, and she never tripped over her own two feet, as she was always poised and graceful. even before it was her turn to head off to formal schooling, her parents had high hopes for her to be everything that eira, as the eldest daughter, was supposed to be, the elegant, perfect upper class young lady. astoria didn’t mind this, as it meant she was showered with gifts, attention, and praise, but sometimes the pressure could get to her and she would get overwhelmed; usually having her sisters around to giggle and play with calmed her down, as did having some alone time to spend out in the gardens.



hogwarts school of witchcraft + wizardry
1884 - 1891
it was no surprise when it was her turn to be sorted into a house, astoria found herself placed into hufflepuff, the hat picking the house rather quickly and without much consideration for another house. although she was a bit scared, nervous that she was on her own without her younger sisters (and her older brothers were protective, but not super keen on having her follow them around all school year) but, she quickly made a lot of friends. astoria was optimistic, kind, cheerful, and just someone that most people wanted to be around because she made you feel good and so it didn’t take too long before she was fairly popular in her year. astoria was the girl who made sure nobody felt left out, would help her classmates with their work, and was a hard worker at her own tasks; she was rather cowardly, however, and would cling to others if something seemed too frightening, like flying, she hated flying class, and while she had the grace to ride a broom, she didn’t like how high up they had to fly. still, she managed to get through it in the end, and she only cried a handful of times. astoria preferred going to classes like herbology, where they grew pretty flowers, or transfiguration, where you could just make stuff disappear or become random other stuff, or even potions class where she could brew the most interesting concoctions.

the following year, she would be joined by her sister, melody, who was also sorted into hufflepuff, and while astoria would always be there if she needed someone, she tended to push her to make her own path at hogwarts and to make her own friends; it wasn’t that she didn’t want her around, just that astoria felt that she ought to be given the chance to grow her own wings just as she did. in her third year, she would choose care of magical creatures, since she seemed to be a natural with animals, as well as earth magic, since she hoped it would be more in depth into things related to plants and nature. she likes the classes well enough, though she hates the gross part about caring for animals that she has to do in care of magical creatures; she would much rather play with them, pet them, feed them treats, and call it a day. as for clubs, she joins the art club, as well as taking it as an extra class, in order to improve her painting skills, and she does pretty well at scenic paintings but not much else, she also joins the music club and class and focuses on piano and choir, whichever is most needed at the time; though violin is something she plays quite well, and even enjoys from time to time, she prefers the other two instruments. in her final year at hogwarts, during its inaugural year, she will also join the french club as a founding member.

in her fourth year, rosabella, the youngest of the stanwell children, joins them at hogwarts, except she is sorted into ravenclaw, which doesn’t surprise astoria any, even if she had hoped just a little bit she would join her and melody in hufflepuff. as the years progress, she does really well on her o.w.ls, thanks to hard work and the help of her friends, and instead of dropping out to go to finishing school like eira did, astoria is given permission from her parents to continue onto her n.e.w.t. level classes. although she enjoys her lessons and does work hard, especially in her transfiguration class, because she has been studying hard for her animagus transformation that she wants to accomplish sometime after her final year, if astoria was honest with herself, she doesn’t feel it’s quite necessary to know all of this n.e.w.t. level magic. she has no ambitions to go into a career after she graduates, and she wanted to just marry a man who loves her more than anything and be a mother and a society wife; that’s what is expected of her, sure, but she’s never had a problem with that. she talks with her dreams to her sisters and they’re all very supportive of her, even if their dreams of their own futures may differ, and she vows to always support them and when it’s their turn to graduate and follow their hearts, she will do whatever it takes to help them get there.



the grand debut
1891 - present
astoria debuted into society with elegance and grace following her graduation from hogwarts and as a gift to celebrate it, her father gifted her an adorable turkish angora kitten that she would name ‘flora’ and would fashion a little collar out of a silk pink ribbon with a little cloth rose on the front for her to wear. soon her days were no longer filled with studying, assignments, and socializing with students of all walks of life, but instead, astoria was only spending time with those of her social class, going to balls, society events, and tea parties. she thrived, however, enjoying every second of it, whether it was going riding with her family where she rode on her lovely golden horse, ‘fauna’, or danced with almost every suitor in the ballroom - as she was quite popular and found her dance card full within minutes of entering an event, astoria felt like this was the kind of life she was meant for. still, she did her best to keep up with her transfiguration studies, and by christmas of 1891 she finally succeeded in becoming an animagus, her form being an adorable white bunny that kept her bright blue eyes and had pinkish markings on her neck that looked a bit like a necklace or ribbon of the color she preferred to wear all the time. she was so proud of herself, that ‘merryweather’, her snowy owl, had quite the workout flying to everyone she knew to tell them about her accomplishment, even before she had the chance to formally register with the ministry, which she did.

many girls would have killed to have a marriage proposal in their first season, especially from a man of good standing like the one who proposed to astoria first did, but she would rejected him and perhaps it was how graciously she did it that made it that much worse; if she laughed at him, at least he could’ve called her names once he returned to his buddies in their gentlemen’s club, but she was so sweet that you would just feel like a terrible person if you did that. astoria admitted he wasn’t a bad man, nor did she think that he would have made a lousy husband, and she was sure there was someone for him, but she just didn’t feel like she loved him all that much. her parents seemed a bit disappointed to hear her decision, but they respected it, as astoria still had plenty of time before she’d end up a spinster. the following year, melody joined her as she debuted, and astoria was excited to have her around this year, though she did feel bad as she wasn’t nearly as popular as she was and she would feel even worse as once again, the season would come to a close and astoria was rejecting yet another man’s proposal, while melody didn’t even have anyone interested in just courtship. this time, she thought she loved him, but he didn’t put in enough effort in her opinion, besides, he was only a second son and with her popularity she felt she deserved a first son. for a girl as kind and gracious as astoria had always been, she was growing to be prideful and vain when it came to marriage, but she wanted to make sure the man she picked was truly right for her; marriage was forever and she couldn’t just settle with any man.

after some time, during the summer of 1893, a third man would propose marriage to astoria, even though they had only been courting for a short period of time. she felt this had been too rushed, that it was improper of him to ask so soon, and when she told him this he seemed to get quite angry with her, accusing her of being a tease and that she should be so lucky to have his affections. truly hurt by this, she ended up telling her mother, who told her father, and in no longer than a few days, xander had challenged the man to a duel with pistols for daring to speak to astoria that way. of course, astoria was horrified by this and she begged him not to do it, as she abhorred violence, but he merely pushed her out of the way and told her that this was a matter between gentlemen and she ought to stay out of it. she cried in her room while her mother comforted her until xander came home again; all she knew was that he won the duel, but anything more than that she never learned and perhaps it was for the best as it has to be kept secret, being illegal. since then, although she still goes to society events and balls, always the life of the party, she hasn’t yet accepted another courtship from any gentlemen. it’s not that easy for any gentlemen to try, anyway, as xander certainly upped his level of protectiveness and is a lot more critical of who is given permission to so much as speak to her. but, astoria still hopes that she will find her true love soon and have her happily ever after.