Emily

The first and only child in the Shephard family born in Belfast September 8th 2011. Rather than the cliché "Pre-determined heir to the family fortune," Emily was initially the welcomed child promised to be loved by her workaholic parents. This hardly became the case when her parents started unintentionally neglecting her in favour of their work whilst she was growing up. Part of their work resulted in Emily often having to switch schools between London and Belfast whenever it was needed of her. Despite this, Emily has made good friends and has grown up as a kind, patient, friendly though somewhat shy individual, who finds value in books and nature. She is a proud bookworm and is a known regular across seven different bookshops in town. Her favourites have and always will be fictional fantasy and folklore tales. Raised by "Auntie," Emily is much more down-to-earth and casual than her workaholic wealth-wired parents; anybody who interacts with her could never assume she was from a wealthy background given her humble and selfless nature.
Emily has an adventurous and curious personality. While she enjoys taking walks in parks and hiking around mountains during the summer and finds joy in accumulating information in stories about monsters and heroes, she often looks into places that are considered spiritual - While not religious, Emily has developed an interest and comfort in finding guidance through nature and the essences of the universe. She even has a Tarot deck themed around the deep, dark and dangerous creatures of myths and legends. So during the half-term holidays and such, Emily will go to forests and fields to learn more about the spiritual side of the world. The desire to discover anything about the dark and mysterious stories of old would be amplified upon her arrival and time at Hogwarts.

Marlene Pond (maiden name) is a 33 year old global fashion designer. She is mother to Emily and the daughter of Emily's maternal grandparents, Isaac and Loretta Pond. Having met her husband Tristan for an arranged marriage, she would be pre-engaged to the precautionary partner when she was a 8 years old. However both she and Tristan grew to be inseparable friends throughout their time at school together in Windsor, almost to where an arranged marriage became genuine true love. An aspiring artist in her youth, Marlene enrolled in a prestigious Arts school, marrying Tristan upon her graduation.
Marlene is an undeniably attractive woman, with finesse and poise in her demeanour and voice. Her refined artistry garnered her unforgotten reputation, earning her numerous deals with clothing brands and fashion magazine publishers, among other prestigious offers throughout her career. Happy with her success and her marriage, she and Tristan ran away together to fulfil their dreams.
She fell pregnant with Emily when she was 21. Initially sceptical, Marlene gave birth to her in Tristan's hometown, Belfast. While she loved her daughter dearly, her work stole away her attention and she would wrongfully but unintentionally neglect her only child, as would her husband.
While Marlene loves her daughter and thinks of her, her relationship with Emily goes beyond estranged, only visiting her for a few hours once a week prior to Emily's enrolment at Hogwarts. Though aware of her daughter's attendance at Hogwarts, she still has trouble believing that Emily has been admitted to a magical school.

Tristan (Father)

Tristan Shephard is a 34 year old business man and father of Emily, as well as the son of Markus and Thea Shephard. Born in Belfast, Tristan eventually moved with his parents to Windsor upon securing a deal to an pre-arranged marriage with Marlene. With the two developing a close friendship and later mutual love for one another, he happily wed her when they both graduated from university. Both ran away from home to be together, determined not to fall into the egos of their families and instead follow their ambitions. With a clever and statistical mind, added to his academically brilliant background, he became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the UK. However his growing success and subsequent rise up the social ladder made him neglectful towards his young daughter whilst she was growing up, resulting in him hiring Nora to look after her. Tristan's work has made his relationship with Emily severely fractured, much like her mother, only visiting home twice a year and rarely sending replies to Emily's numerous letters.
While he is aware of Emily's admittance to Hogwarts, he is very reluctant to believe that magic exists, much more so that Emily has any magical talent.