Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2018 21:20:52 GMT
CLEOPHEA LIELLE MEIER
** 24 -- BAKER -- SWISS -- SINGLE **
"I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me"
Cleo was always a very precious child. Her family was one that had suffered greatly - her Muggleborn mother was the daughter of Polish Jews who managed to escape the Krakow ghetto in 1941, fleeing to the relative safety of Switzerland, whilst her father was one in a long line of pureblooded German wizards. Her father’s family opposed Grindelwald, and they suffered for it, with many of their number decimated. They, too, fled their home and spent many years travelling across Europe, trying to keep themselves safe. It wasn’t until Grindelwald’s defeat in 1945 that they finally settled - also in Switzerland.
Her parents met in 1978, entirely by accident. They had both been educated separately, her mother sent to a wizarding school out of necessity and her father home-schooled, and so they did not meet until they were adults. It’s always been Cleo’s favourite story - how her mother had been stood up on a date and then, to add insult to injury, have some wastrel of a man attempt to pick her up, only for Cleo’s father to sweep in and save the day, pretending to be her date. From near enough that day on, the pair were inseparable, marrying a year later and welcoming Cleo into the world barely twelve months after that.
She grew up loved and adored, and never knew the troubles her grandparents had faced. The haunted looks in their eyes troubled her as she grew into her teenage years, but they never told Cleo the full extent of what they had been through. Her parents, too, were left in the dark, and when her grandparents eventually passed on, it was only through journals kept by her Bubbe and her Opa that Cleo and her parents began to fully understand how lucky they were compared to their forebears.
It was because of those journals that Cleo’s parents were reticent to allow her to move to England, as she had planned to for so many years. As a teenager, Cleo had expressed a desire to attend Hogwarts - something which was quickly shot down. Her mother had not wished to send Cleo away to Beauxbatons when she began her secondary education, much less Hogwarts, and so Cleo had been educated by private tutors with a handful of other young witches and wizards. Though Cleo wanted to see more of the world, the rise of Voldemort rapidly put a stop to that, and she agreed with her parents that England would wait for as long as it took for Voldemort - so reminiscent of the men who had caused her grandparents such pain - and his reign to end.
Still, when the war ended her parents were unconvinced, and Cleo thought better than to fight them. Also she still wasn’t comfortable with her grasp on the English language, and figured it would be better to wait until things over there were more settled. So instead she got a job in a bakery in the wizarding district of Zurich, where she could honour the memory of her grandmothers. She had always loved to bake with them as a child, and over the years had memorised many of their favourite recipes. Following the passion she'd inherited from them both brought her great joy, and she knew that one day she wished to open her own bakery,
It wasn't until she was 23 that this became a possibility. She'd inherited enough money from her grandparents that it had always been almost feasible, but she wasn't willing to start up entirely on her own. But she'd gotten onto the topic with a co-worker, the two of them expressing dissastisfaction with their current jobs and lack of advancement, and desire to move away from the quiet, peaceful and dull Switzerland - and, well. That was that. They found premises, put down the deposit for the building, moved into the flat above and set to work. Whilst the British Wizarding World was putting itself together, Cleo and her new flatmate were starting their new lives.
In the last year, The Dough Knot has gone from strength to strength. Its magical bakes and delightful selection of tea have given it quite the reputation, and the pale green shop front with its large window displays in the centre of Hogsmeade has become quite the attraction for students and locals alike. Cleo floo calls home regularly, and occasionally goes home on Sundays, when the shop closes. She's happy with her life, and feels more fulfilled and content than she has in a long time.
OOC NAME: bea
