| “ | It's my life. I make my own decisions. And no one will ever take those away from me again. Not even you. I'm not cowering anymore. Not to you. Not to Elaine. | ” |
–Braelynn to Desirae Rousseau | ||
Braelynn Lloyd, formerly Braelynn Rousseau, is the youngest Rousseau child. She was a 6th year during the Hogwarts murders, and was an unwilling member of the Purifiers due to Desirae Rousseau's involvement. Braelynn played a critical role in the students being rescued after being kidnapped in April 2023 and was almost killed by Desirae. The world believes her to be dead. She is currently living in Brazil with her husband, Zander Lloyd.
Personality
Braelynn is a lady, plain and simple! She has a very strong opinion on what is, and isn't acceptable for girls, though she will typically keep that opinion to herself. She refuses to do anything she feels isn't proper, out of fear of how her parents would react.
Her manners match her proper exterior. She is incredibly polite to everyone she meets, never interrupting someone when they speak, never raising her voice. Even if she hates you, she'll put on that charming smile of hers and go out of her way to at least sound and act pleasant. Slow to anger, her patience is unrivaled. She can tolerate most anything thrown at her with that same grace and poise. She doesn't forgive easily though, and her unusual patience gives her the ability to wait a very long time before finally getting even with someone.
She does have a slight... dark side to her. She just can't stand people getting away with things. So, if you do manage to strike a nerve with her, she will get you back eventually. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or even this week, but she will get back eventually. She tends to stick to the shadows for this, so no one will ever know it was her. With a family like the Rousseaus, she's learned her fair share of curses and jinxes. Thankfully, it takes a lot to get this sort of reaction out of her...
The girl's emotions are incredibly difficult to read. She always comes off as calmly happy, just happy enough that she is approachable, but never to much that it'd come off as excited. She just has to keep her emotions under a tight leash. Growing up, she'd gotten in trouble quite frequently for acting out, and so... She'd learned to control herself. She does have a very hard time making deep and lasting relationships with people, never trusting people enough to let them in. She is a very social girl though, and with her polite nature, she makes shallow friendships with ease.
Braelynn is a Rousseau, which, to her, means she has to work harder then anyone else. With a name like that to live up to, the girl refuses to accept anything short of perfection. Her deepest desire is to truly be worthy of the name, and she'll do just about anything to prove it. She is naturally very clever and bright, with a sharp mind. She picks things up quickly. But to her, simply being able to do something isn't enough. She has to be flawless. And so, she will work herself to the bone to perfect everything she encounters. Basically? She is a very well rounded witch.
She sees her naturally impish nature as her biggest flaw. When she was a child, she'd often acted out. She'd thought it was funny, and always had a contagious laugh. Her parents didn't feel the same way.... They'd done everything they could to squash this behavior. So, she learned to control it. She learned to restrain herself to avoid her parents wrath. But... at times it is very difficult to ignore...
The events during her sixth year have helped Braelynn grow up quite a bit. She is still very reserved and quiet natured, but she'd started to be more open with her emotions to select individuals like her husband and best friends. Before she was almost killed by her own sister though she was incredibly loyal to her family, to the point where her loyalty overpowered her own sense of right and wrong. Since the duel with Desirae though Braelynn has had to learn that blood didn't mean anything if that wasn't what her heart was telling her. She learned to listen to herself instead of the influence of those she'd known her entire life.
History
Braelynn is the youngest of the Rousseau girls, born only a few minutes after her older twin sister. The Rousseau were one of those families. You know, the ones with power, money, fame... A well known and respected family. From a very young age Braelynn knew what was expected of her- uphold the family name. Stay in line, put on a pretty little smile, and be the perfect daughter.
The only problem? Braelynn wasn't perfect. She didn't want to wear pretty dresses, she didn't want to put on an act, and she certainly didn't want to be a lady. She was testing her limits as soon as she could walk, not only getting herself in trouble, but seeing what sort of damage she could cause before she was caught. This behavior was.... frowned upon. Her parent's punishment was always severe. After years of this, she slowly began to bend to their will. She learned how to become the perfect little girl, and the older she got, the stronger this training took hold. Braelynn learned to control herself, to hide the undesirable traits to avoid getting in any more trouble. Despite this, rather then resenting her family, she latched onto them even more. They only had her interest at heart, right?
Braelynn attended Beauxbatons her first 3 years of school, sticking close to her two sisters. While she was a social, and charming girl, she didn't make lasting friendships at the school. She did amazingly well in school, her teachers often praising the girl's skill, and willingness to learn. You could say she was a bit of a teacher's pet, often asking them what she could do to improve.
And then... the move. The family left France, Braelynn's home since birth, and moved to England. The move wasn't... easy for Braelynn. She had a hard time adjusting to life in the new country, though she did her best to hide her discomfort and unease. Before the start of her fourth year, she'd tried to convince her parents to allow her to continue her studies at Beauxbatons, it hadn't been a good conversation... So, like always, she bent to her parents' wishes.
She was sorted into Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, a natural fit for a girl as clever as her. Being surrounded by students like her, students who thirsted after knowledge and perfection pushed Braelynn to work even harder. What would her parents think if she came in second? She's spent the past 3 years doing everything she can to try and get to the top of her class.
The events of her sixth year were.... traumatic to say the least. Her sister Desirae was in League with Elaine Dupree, and by default so were the younger Rousseau girls. Forced to cooperate with the murdering psychopath and keep what they knew to themselves. It didn't matter if she knew Elaine was behind all of the student murders, if Elaine found out she blabbed, she'd be good as dead. But, after the first attack on Ethan Johnson failed Bay knew she needed to do something. She was going to act, letting him know that she was aware of all the events and begging him to tell someone about her. She couldn't work up the courage to go to an authority figure herself, but they could force her to talk if Ethan told someone she knew.
As fate would have it though, she was never able to enact that plan. During the course of the year she fell head over heels for a Hufflepuff boy a year above her. A quirky boy, and so very different from herself, but oddly adorable and endearing. It wasn't long until she was deeply in love with him, and Desirae knew it. She used Zander Lloyd as a bargaining chip to keep Braelynn in line. The night of the kidnapping Ethan died (a fact that Braelynn still has nightmares about, and heavily blames herself for because she could have prevented it.) and Zander found out about her (forced) involvement with the Purifiers. Both were kidnapped (Zander to keep her line.). The events of those four days are still a blur to her, due to many gaps in her memory but she knows something terrible happened during the days. A man masked in shadows. Just how much outside help Elaine had. Maybe it was stupidity or bravery but Bay broke out two students (Zander and one other) and let them go call for help while Braelynn dueled her oldest sister. Bay was an avid dueler in school but she was unprepared for an actual life or death duel and was almost killed by Desirae.
Braelynn's injuries were so severe that she almost didn't even make it out of the house, let alone the night. The world was told that she had died though, and the girl was hidden away by Carson Abbott, Zander's uncle, to try and heal. Even Zander was told she had died. Except for Carson, his wife, and her two best friends (Andromeda Lestrange and Sybil Windsor), no one else knew of her survival purely for her own safety. If Desirae or Elaine had discovered her survival they never would have stopped hunting her. But due to the emotion and physical trauma of it all the road to recovery was almost impossible without Zander's assistance so he was finally let in on her survival a month after the events. With his aid Bay was finally able to emotionally accept what had happened to her and started to accept the physical aid to heal her body.
The months that followed were some of the most confining of her life. Obviously she couldn't return to Hogwarts to start her seventh year. She wasn't permitted to leave the small apartment unless she was in her animagus form (fennec fox), pretending to be Zander's pet. No one could know that she'd survived expect those that already knew. Even Zander's own siblings didn't know. During that time though she and Zander did sneak off to Brazil to get married in a very private ceremony. They returned to the UK for a short time after the wedding but under the guidance of Hermione Granger-Weasley (who they finally let in on her survival) they were advised to return to Brazil and live with Carson and his small family there. They would be safe, no Purifers to chase after them.
She and Zander currently live in Brazil as an adorably happy couple, living their happily ever after.