Kassandra's background The story begins with the first meeting of Helena Termeer and Hendrik Verkooyen, a couple of Dutch wizards. Hendrik had been invited by his parents to accompany them to a wizo-ballet show in Groningen. He went with them rather discontently, but the sight of Helena beamed him into a extraordinary cheerful mood. After the show he waited for her behind the stage, got to know her and celebrated the success of the performance with the whole crew. Their relationship developed slowly but steadily and so they got married after all. Then, on November 15th, 1914 Kassandra Gloria Verkooyen was born in Ballum, which is located on Ameland, a small offshore island at the northern Dutch coast. She has been a planned child and it arose that she would remain her parents' only one. A big and rustic thatched cottage was their home in the nearly deserted town until Hendrik's parents, Wilhelmina and Gerrit Verkooyen, the proprietors of 'Lilybloom' - a beauty potions company, wanted to expand by building a factory in England to supply the market there more properly. So in 1917, they asked him to move there with his family and manage this branch of their business. The Verkooyens settled in a tiny wizard community in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire and built up an estate there as their income rose steadily, because Hendrik has been the co-owner of 'Lilybloom' and also started investing into property and had quite an appreciation of this. In her first four years Kassandra had a delightful life, with her mother Helena raising her and anticipating her every wish. Up to the age of twenty-eight Helena has been signed by a renowned wizo-ballet company, but cancelled her career to be able to fully concentrate on her daughter during her first years on earth. Then they decided to get Kassandra a governess to start educating her, because Helena felt something missing in her life. So she started practising again and, shortly after, found a new company that signed her. Kassandra's mother has always been very caring on the one hand, but she also esteemed discipline, good manners and organisation. The whole family has always been constricted into a narrow schedule. Every meal has its fixed time, every greater activity has to be planned weeks in advance and there is hardly any chance for spontaneity. Hendrik also enjoys this sort of housekeeping, because he is an archetypal workaholic. He leaves early in the morning and comes home late, usually he likes to relax reading, drinking a glass of wine or - and that is his favourite - spending time with Kassandra, but sometimes even at home some extra work has to be done. And Kassandra is especially sensible to this point. With six she accidentally turned her father's magical desk keys into roses so that Hendrik wasn't able to access some documents he wanted to review in an evening in which Helena had a major performance in Blackburn and was very disappointed about the fact that her husband would not come with her. But as Kassandra's transfiguration happened and revealed her magical abilities for the first time, her parents were greatly proud of her and stated in their expectations, that Kassandra was a wizard - as the vast majority of their family. Now Hendrik could not deny any of his daughter's wishes, gave a rose to each of the ladies to apologize and they went to Blackburn altogether. Since most of her relatives were wizards and witches, Kassandra was very eased to know, that she also was supposed to be a magician and as they now lived in England her parents told her that one day she would get an invitation to Hogwarts. There was only one thing in Kassandra's world that spoiled her forward-looking to attend school - Theodora Nailtooth, the already mentioned governess. Mrs. Nailtooth had been engaged to teach and educate Kassandra. She was very strict and implied proper manners and discipline during her lessons. First it were just the inevitable abilities of reading and writing, which resulted in lively lecturing and a marvellous handwriting. Then playing the piano and several subjects you would expect in school. Finally she embedded the introduction of perfect manners, dancing, cooking and more practical issues into her timetable. With every second mistake which Kassandra produced Mrs. Nailtooth recited: 'They would never condone this in Hogwarts.' or 'I'd be surprised to see /you/ in Ravenclaw.' But that is what Kassandra longed for the most: Being a Ravenclaw housemember. She always tried hard to tap her full potential everyday and properly managed the stringent conditions. Her parents always encouraged her in this concern and ensured that this sort of education would pay off sooner or later - though Kassandra thought it would probably be much later. The decidedly best experience was to get to know her best friend due to Mrs. Nailtooth. As the governess had a notable reputation there was another child that joined Kassandra during the lessons. From her sixth birthday on Lea Blackwood, who lived in the same community, came to the Verkooyen's estate every morning. While exercising and presenting there has always been a certain amount of competition between the both, but outside of Mrs. Nailtooth's range they were the best friends one could imagine. But their friendship has been ill-fated, because one year before Kassandra received her invitation letter Lea's family migrated to the United States and now their amity is put to test and contiues in regular letter-writing. As the invitation arrived every member of the family was very proud of Kassandra, though it was a matter of course to all of them. A big feast was held in the Verkooyen's estate and the whole family had been present, because everybody got along well with each other. Elisabeth Verkooyen, Hendrik's older sister, who still is single and Edgar and Clarence Termeer, Helena's younger brothers, of whom only Edgar, who is married to a German witch, had a child named Sebastian. Even Helena's parents, Christina and Franciscus Termeer, came to England, though they hardly left the Netherlands voluntarily. According to the circumstances Kassandra's grandparents, like the rest of the relatives, come to visit them quite oftenly. The most periodical visitors were Wilhelmina and Gerrit. In the first place because they wanted to examine their English branch from time to time and secondly because they could afford it. They had always been very fond of Kassandra, maybe even a bit too fond and overbearing. Particularly Wilhelmina always told her how wonderful it would be to get to know a wealthy wizard in Hogwarts, marry him and be a good housewife. But Kassandra knew that she wanted to get ahead and have an excellent career. Because of her soundly distinct amibition, clearly inherited from her parents, everybody expects academic success from her in Hogwarts. Proper manners always were on a high standard at the Verkooyen's and are supposed to be preserved there. That's even what Kassandra thinks herself. She wants to stand out by making good marks and getting house points, but she wants to achieve this without letting ambition interfere with her friendships. For her, Hogwarts also symbolises a chance to escape from the strict, fully organised and sometimes suffocating parental home, maybe even to indulge a bit in her freedom, without losing focus on her career. Of course every hope involves fears. For Kassandra, failure of any kind has always been a desaster, even enhanced by Mrs. Nailtooth's gibes during the lessons - that teasings even caused Kassandra to turn the governess's hairpins into spiders one day. Solitude and the continuation of strictness and constriction are also considerable anxieties which the girl worries about. As magic used to be an everyday custom at home, Kassandra has a rather neutral attitude towards it, though she is very interested in gaining control over her magic capabilities. Therefore she thinks of muggles as fancy and inventive people on the one side, but also as strange and ignorant on the other hand. One week before Kassandra's first departure to Hogwarts Hendrik surprised her with a well received present: A gracious Siamese Cat to accompany her in Hogwarts, since Kassandra mentioned most students had a pet and that she liked cats most. She instantly fell in love with her and named her Cleopatra. While shopping in Diagon Alley, packing her bags and getting Cleopatra ready for travelling, the girl realised more and more, that her life would change from the minute she passes the gates of Hogwarts for the first time, but also that she would always have a place to return to in her parents' home. She would try hard to achieve what she wants and stick to her principles without disregarding to let herself have a good time and establish new friendships. testtest