✤ biography.
Alyson Striker, previously known as Alyson Murray, was once a loyal servant to the Dark Lord. She and her eldest sister joined early in their young lives, after their family's constant insistence; something purely out of fear for what might befall them if they choose to side against such a powerful threat. A coward's way out, as Alyson had always believed when her parents sent the two sisters as an offering.
Only, her sister, Lysandra Murray, had already been eager to bring pride to their family, never quite seeing the bigger picture.
And this was why, when the time came, Alyson left Lysandra behind when she escaped the Death Eaters, after saving the life of a lowly Squib named James Striker.
Her mission took her to the home of the people he worked for, having been abandoned by his own family out of embarrassment for his lack of magical talent. She had been unable to perform the curse that would end his life, or even to call upon her sister to do it for her. Instead, she let him free. He was whom she ran away with, whom she went into hiding with, whom she abandoned her sister and her promise to the Dark Lord for. He was the man she married and started her family with.
Soon after finding a safe place to hide, Juniper Ann Striker came into their lives, magic burning through her veins. A sweet child they loved dearly--loved for five short years, before it was all destroyed just nights after the young girl's fifth birthday.
Juniper was hidden away in a closet, where she wouldn't witness the battle that raged between two sisters, or her falling falling to the ground, his eyes sightless. Nor would she witness the cloaked figures with horrible masks slipping soundlessly into their quiet little home, destroying everything.
Her mother fell soon as well, overwhelmed and unable to stop them all, her own sister's curse stopping her heart and ripping her away from her life and the child she'd left behind. A child whose cries could be heard through the thin wood of her closet. Cries that led her mother and father's killers right to her hiding place; cries that revealed her terrified form to her aunt, Lysandra.
That was the first turning point for that innocent, sweet little child -- the first crack forming in her sweet little heart, as a woman who looked just like her mother dragged her from the closet, revealing the horrors of her loving home. Dead bodies lying before her, her aunt's cackling laughter surrounding her as she pulled her from that home, with a promise to her dead sister, a promise that her daughter would be everything she never could be. A child to bring the Murray name pride.
Lysandra held fast to that promise, shaping Juniper into the most loyal Death Eater she could be, punishing her when she failed and pushing her to always do better. Her entire life after coming into her aunt's care was filled with studying ancient cursed objects and spells for such things.
When she reached school age, although reluctant, her aunt sent her to Hogwarts, hoping it would improve what seemed to be a natural-born talent for making and breaking cursed objects, when it was really just a skill born from punishments and a desire to learn and perfect.
And this was why, after being placed into Ravenclaw, she dedicated all of her time into her preferred classes: Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration. Though she did have a strong interest in some Herbology as well, mostly in the darker plant uses and potions.
Now that she in in school, her talents for making cursed objects has become a well-used asset for her aunt. Her knowledge on such things only growing each year... her use to the other Death Eaters only increasing.