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Desirae Rousseau was the right hand woman of Elaine Dupree and one of the founding members of the Purifiers. She assisted Elaine in many of the murders. She also infamously "killed" her sister, Braelynn in a duel, and organized the vampire attack that turned her sister, Cecilia into a vampire. Desirae was tracked down by auror Claire Slater and killed in a duel in November 2023.
Personality
Desirae likes to pretend that she is a total sweetheart when you meet her for the first time. She pretends to be your best friend, especially if her spider friends have told her that you have a useful or nasty secret. She has the ability to communicate with Acromantula and spiders, a talent she uses for her own blackmailing purposes. She is amused with others pain and will use it to her advantage or just for a good laugh. She loves nothing more than to have fun, even if that fun is watching someone else suffer. Well, especially when that's the case.
Her callousness comes with her lack of sympathy for others. She'll pretend to care about how you're feeling though, but that doesn't mean she actually cares. Though she loves secrets and spinning webs, she isn't a gossiper, unless it is to her advantage. She loves keeping her secrets to herself and using them for herself alone.
Desi is a lover, not a fighter. She likes to use charm and sneakiness rather than aggression and pain to get her way. Ever since killing her little sister, Desi has been a different person on the inside. To others, she still seems to be the same minx that she always ways, nothing looks to have changed but her eyes are dead. If you look close enough, you can see that she really doesn't remember how to feel anything anymore. She still has her fun with people, sure, but she never enjoys it like she used to.
History
The sound was that of a thousand legs, crawling and crashing through the trees. The little girl with the wide eyes stared straight into the clan, not afraid. Soon the spiders would be under her control, and she knew that. She had been experimenting for years, ever since the first time she told a spider to “go away” in fear and it listened. Ever since then she had been experimenting on the spiders ability to obey everything she said. Or was it an ability to control them? Now, the eight year old Desirae, had finally decided it was time to test her theory with acromantulas. Somehow, she found herself being able to know and sense where they would be. With her two sister’s help, she snuck out of the house and into a forest nearby. She went in as deeply as she felt comfortable and stood there, whispering calls for the spiderlike creatures to come to her.
She smiled, a devilish little smile, as the acromantula gathered in front of her. She spoke up, her voice low for an eight year old, ”Hello friends, my name is Desirae Minette Rousseau, and I expect you all to bow.” The girl was brave and confident. The creatures didn’t even hesitate as they slowly bent their front legs and bowed to her. Desirae let out a wicked little laugh that echoed through the trees, even if the spiders were the only ones who could hear. That was the moment she knew she was special. She was meant for a specific purpose. That was the moment she started referring to herself as Arachne, Goddess of Spiders.
Desirae was born first to the famous Rousseau family in France. The family has been deeply involved with politics and the dark arts for generations, but did well at hiding it and taking seats of power and adorning public appreciation. The family considers themselves monarchists and is traditional and old fashioned through arranged marriages and finishing schools for the women in the family. The men are known to be the power, and marriage is merely used to make important mergers and alliances between families and companies.
During the first fifteen years of Desiraes life, her family lived in France. Desirae and her two sisters attending the Beaxbatons Academy of Magic and were highly respected among the staff and fellow students. Most of that respect came out of fear, however. Fear of the girls themselves and fear of the family. The sisters traveled through the halls arm in arm as the other students parted the like the red sea.
Whispers of the infamous Arachne spread throughout the school as Desirae secretly asked spiders to do her bidding. She soon found out what her passion was, besides spiders, and that was secrets. She quickly learned she could use her spiders to spy on people and then use the secrets she learned against them. Secrets are powerful, she soon found out, and she wanted to use them the best way she could, so, of course, she got into blackmail.
During her time at Beuxbatons she was still working out what the best way to use her secrets would be, so she didn’t do much writing then. She mostly used secrets for witty comebacks, snarky insults and just to have a general hold over people. A special form of blackmail. When she transferred to Hogwarts, however, she quickly learned that those secrets could be used to control people’s lives for her benefit. Her parents always taught her to put herself before anyone else, even her sisters, and to compete as much as possible.
Her parents moved to England when her father had business there the summer before the girls fifth year of school. When Desirae was sorted into the Ravenlaw house, she wasn’t surprised. Witt was her poison, knowledge her power and words her webs. She was happy to be accepted into a house of people who possessed and treasured knowledge as much as she did, even if the knowledge they loved was a different kind.
During her three years at Hogwarts, Arachne became more infamous than ever. Desirae started using Arachne as her anonymous name as she sent letters and blackmailed people who were of use to her. People with special abilities, people with power and people with secrets. Desirae finds extreme joy in using others, especially her spider friends, and would do anything to get ahead. This is now her seventh year, and once she graduates she plans on joining whatever force is out there reeking havoc and seizing power.
2022 - Death
Desirae was one of the founding members of the Purifiers under Elaine Dupree and was Elaine's right hand. While Desirae did not deliver the killing blow she played a role in the murders of the two students and attempted murder of Ethan Johnson. She was a heavy recruiter for the students at Hogwarts. Desirae also forced her two younger sisters, Cecilia and Braelynn, to be members of the Purifiers and used blackmail, threats, and manipulation to keep the twins in line.
During the April Fool's day attack Desirae was one of the students "kidnapped", though it was a ruse to get her out of the castle safely. That was when she was finally introduced to Alastor Draven, the man behind the Purifiers. Unfortunately the Purifiers were betrayed by none other then Desirae's sister, Braelynn. In the ensuing duel Desirae "killed" Braelynn. This was her breaking point. The betrayal of her sister, losing control. It would eventually lead Desirae to making Cecilia making an unbreakable vow never to betray her.
Desirae was forced to lay low after the events, as her involvement with the Purifiers and murder of her sister were all over the news. She took up dancing at Club Indigo, and doing Elaine's dirty work from the shadows. Even though she used a disguise, Desirae's identity was eventually discovered and the Ministry set up a sting operation to confront and capture the Purifiers.
Claire Slater tracked her down and Desirae refused to come quietly. There was a duel, and in the end Desirae was killed.