❝      ｗｉｎｔｅｒ   ｉｓ   ｃｏｍｉｎｇ.      ❞

:: 〖 ❣ 〗――— ::

            In continental Europe, there are few places that haven’t heard the name Stark. It’s said to be one of the great wizarding houses, with a lineage that could be traced back to the time of the First Men. They’re a proud family, one that upholds their traditions while maintaining honor and upholding the family reputation. Even as the world turns and civilizations rise and fall, the Starks remain true to their ways.

            It is this bone deep conviction that led them to becoming passive sympathizers to the Dark Lord during the first wizarding war. They were not followers, they had no need to fight a fight they cared little for– but the Starks understood, through their borderline isolationist ways, the need to maintain purity, to ensure the community and population at large remained undiluted. They could even respect him. But only in the fantastical way one respected great figures of history for the dark lord was not a man of honor and for that, they turned their noses at him.

            It was a slight not easily forgotten for when Voldermort was resurrected, he had the head of the house, Rickard Stark and his eldest son killed. Mayhaps, if he had wiped the whole family line, he would have spared himself the trouble; but he allowed the second son, Eddard Stark, to live. He had thought mayhaps that this show of leniency would sway them to him. The only thing he succeeded in doing was to turn House Stark away.

            Though very little was known of the continental battle immediately after the end of the second wizarding war, much has been written about and circulated, though not all texts were translated. The Starks, amongst the other great Houses, played a large role in crippling Voldermort’s reserves hidden across the channel. They were lauded as minor heroes.

            Not everyone felt the same way.

            Not the traditionalists, not Voldermort’s supporters and sympathizers, not even those who had allied themselves with the Starks prior to Voldermort. Ill-feelings abound, is it any wonder that Eddard did not live long enough to see his children grow?

                       ｗｉｎｔｅｒｆｅｌｌ＇ｓ   ｄａｕｇｈｔｅｒ .

:: 〖 ❣ 〗――— ::

            Sansa Stark was born in the years after the second wizarding war, in times of great chaos but peace. The second child and the first daughter, she was a balm to her old man’s scarred soul. Sweet, demure and so very clever, Sansa was like the winter rose that bloomed around their great keep. 

            As a Stark, she was privileged and sheltered from the war. Stories became legends and her father spoke so little of it, it was almost impossible to believe it had been just a few years ago. She was told little, and only good things, reassuring whispers and celebratory songs. Sansa grew up believing danger was buried deep underground and Harry Potter had saved them all.

            As per tradition, she was enrolled in Durmstrang Institute, following the footsteps of the Starks before her. The place may be surrounded by darkness but Sansa did not dim in its presence, rather she seemed to shine even brighter. Her future seemed inevitable, its course set for happiness and contentment. Which was why her father’s brutal murder was like a freezing spell, stopping the world on its axis and throwing her off its surface and into the den of lions.

            Ambition can drive great houses to war and though evil did not rise in the form of a snake-like ghost, man was just as capable of cruelty. What followed was a harrowing few months in captivity, a battle gone five ways and desperation clawing at the throat of a mother wanting her daughter back.

            In the end, Sansa returned home, still a great beauty but without the rose colored glasses she had left with. Rather, she was quiet, unwilling to open up and bloom, a shirking rose that did not feel safe in the arms of winter. That day, her mother sent a raven to Hogwarts.

           It returned a week later carrying a sealed letter of acceptance.