Catch The Snitch

Basic
Full Name: Integra Constance Sigma
Age: 89-90 (as of 2005)
Birthdate: 7th February 1915
Relationship: Married to Norman Holt (widowed)
Hometown: Kingston upon Hull, England
Residence: Hogwarts and London, England
Blood: Muggle-born
Wand: Aspen with phoenix feather core, 10″, brittle
Patronus: Lioness
Boggart: Fading away without leaving behind a legacy
Certifications: Apparition
Skills: Arithmancy, non-verbal and wandless magic, cryptology
Occupation: Arithmancy Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (1968–1989, 1999–present)
Member of the Wizengamot (1992—present)
Head of the Department of Magical Education at the Ministry of Magic (1989—1999)
Researcher and official at various departments in the Ministry of Magic (1936–1939, 1945—1968)
Former cryptanalyst at the Government Code and Cypher School during WWII (1939—1945)

Appearance
Height/Build: 1.55m (5′ 1″) / Average
Hair/Eye Colour: White / Blue

Family
Biological Parents: Mr and Mrs Webb, further details unknown
Adoptive Mother: Yvette Sigma, deceased (1948, aged 78), arithmancer
Brother: Magnus Sigma, deceased (1977, aged 64), professor at a Muggle university
Spouse: Norman Holt, deceased (1996, aged 78), official at the Ministry of Magic

Hogwarts
House: Gryffindor
Years: 1929–1936 (started attending Hogwarts at age 14 instead of 11)
Best Class: Arithmancy
Worst Class: Herbology

O.W.L.s
Arithmancy – O
Astronomy – E
Charms – O
Defence Against the Dark Arts – O
Herbology – E
History of Magic – O
Potions – E
Study of Ancient Runes – O
Transfiguration – O

N.EW.T.s
Arithmancy – O
Astronomy – E
Charms – O
Defence Against the Dark Arts – O
History of Magic – O
Study of Ancient Runes – O
Transfiguration – O


History

Family, Early Life, and Hogwarts
As far as Integra could remember, the spectre of war has hung over much of her life. Born Constance Webb to a Muggle couple, she had no recollections of her parents: her father joined the Volunteer Army when the Great War broke out shortly after her birth and never lived to see his wife and two children again, while her mother perished when the German Zeppelins bombed her hometown. The Webb siblings were subsequently sent to an overcrowded orphanage, where they remained largely neglected. Eventually they ran away and lived rough on the streets for a while.

When Constance was ten, her magical abilities manifested for the first time and led to a major accident which she has no recollection of. One of the Obliviators who was dispatched to respond to the accident decided that it would be better to find a new family for the orphaned Webb siblings, and eventually they were adopted by Yvette Sigma, an arithmancer and a childless widow. Mdm Sigma renamed her newly-adopted children Magnus and Integra respectively to mark the start of a new chapter in their lives, and upon the children’s insistence she allowed them to use their original given names as their middle names.

As Magnus and Integra had never attended school before and could not even read or write, Mdm Sigma hired a home tutor to educate them, and requested for Constance’s enrolment into Hogwarts to be delayed until she had caught up to her peers. Eventually, she was able to start her magical education at Hogwarts at the age of fourteen. Magnus, who had no magical abilities, continued to be homeschooled.

Integra was sorted into Gryffindor and became a brilliant student. She also developed a strong interest in Arithmancy, most likely due to her adoptive mother’s influence. Her thirst for knowledge was unquenchable, and sometimes frighteningly so. After all, it hadn’t been too long ago when she was still an illiterate street urchin scavenging for food scraps in the back alleys of Hull, and she wasn’t going to waste a single moment of this opportunity to study and turn her life around. During her days at Hogwarts, she also met and fell in love with a fellow Muggle-born Gryffindor boy named Norman Holt. He was her senior in school, but younger than her by two years. They shared similar interests, and coincidentally both of them had lost family members as a result of the Great War.

Another Storm of Blood
In 1936, Integra graduated from Hogwarts and joined the Ministry of Magic as a researcher specialising in arithmancy. Norman, who had graduated the year before, found work as a Healer at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies. Shortly after that, they wedded. Though they were excited to start a new chapter in their lives, there was something looming on the horizon, a brewing storm that threatened to upend their lives again. The dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was converting more and more wizards and witches to his cause. Even Mdm Sigma, who disagreeed with his extreme methods, confessed to be sympathetic to Grindelwald’s view that humanity was best ruled by a select group of benevolent leaders. Meanwhile, in the Muggle world, Nazi Germany was growing more aggressive and militaristic, and Integra was worried that her brother would be conscripted if another war were to break out.

Soon, Integra’s worst fears were realised when the Global Wizarding War and the Second World War broke out one after another. After Integra and Norman’s brothers were conscripted to fight in the war, they too decided to join the war effort. Norman served as a healer near the frontlines, while Integra put her knowledge in arithmancy and mathematics to good use by working as a cryptologist at the Government Code and Cypher School.

The war had a profound effect on Integra and Norman. While working closely with their Muggle counterparts, they came to realise that wizarding folk and Muggles were not all that different after all, and that wizarding folk were in no way superior to Muggles despite the greater power that they wielded. After all, had they not made the same mistake as the Muggles by starting a global war of their own? Integra and Norman also came to the firm belief that humanity itself was flawed, and that mankind would one day sow the seeds of its own downfall.

Career, the Salisbury Fools, and the First and Second Wizarding Wars
Upon her return to the Ministry, Integra came to know a few other like-minded Ministry employees who too felt that something needed to be done to prevent horrific wars from breaking out ever again. Clearly the current system was not working out well: the wizarding world had allowed Grindelwald to rise to power and even contest the position of Supreme Mugwump. Once, over a round of drinks in a Salisbury pub, they swore that they would do their best to change the Ministry from within and put in place policies and safeguards to keep the populace safe. Calling themselves the Salisbury Fools in acknowledgement of their naive idealism, they commenced the first part of their plans: gathering allies and pushing for positive change. A few years later, Norman successfully applied for a position at the Ministry of Magic, and became a member of the Salisbury Fools as well.

Over the years, Integra steadily climbed up the ranks of the Ministry, and deliberately moved from department to department to broaden her horizons and expand her professional network. Eventually she rose to become the Deputy Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, where she cemented her reputation for being an uncompromising hardliner, often proposing or supporting heavy-handed policies that were unpopular but, in her opinion, necessary. 

Unfortunately for Integra, when Nobby Leach was forced to step down in 1968, she was unceremoniously asked by her political opponents to relinquish her position and head the Magical Maintenance Department instead. Utterly outraged, she left the Ministry in a fit and joined Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she served as the Arithmancy Professor. There, she swiftly became one of the most feared professors due to her strictness and sharp tongue.

As Lord Voldemort publicly revealed himself and the First Wizarding War begun in earnest, despite the efforts of the Salisbury Fools – many of whom were prominent officials in the Ministry – to lobby for more to be done to protect the wizarding community, the ineffectual Ministry of Magic still struggled to combat the threat posed by the Dark Lord. When Albus Dumbledore established the Order of the Phoenix in 1971, the Salisbury Fools risked their careers and reputations to support the Order even though the Ministry officially viewed the organisation as a renegade outfit. Integra and Norman joined the Order as well, and joined the fight against the Dark Lord and his followers. Unfortunately Norman was severely injured just before the war ended, and became a permanent resident at St Mungo’s until his eventual passing in 1996.

Integra continued to teach at Hogwarts until the late 1980s, when she was asked to head the Department of Magical Education, and some years later she was inducted into the Wizengamot. When the Second Wizarding War broke out, she was among the last of the original Salisbury Fools who were still capable of rejoining the Order of the Phoenix, and even participated in the Battle of Hogwarts alongside many of her former students.

Following the end of the Second Wizarding War and the demise of the Dark Lord, Integra pushed hard for the tightening of security at Hogwarts, and the school was able to reopen in 1999. That would be her final act in the Ministry; her health was beginning to fail, and she was intending to retire from the Ministry and the Wizengamot to live out the rest of her days peacefully. However, she soon heard that Hogwarts was in need of an Arithmancy Professor. At the same time, her colleagues at the Wizengamot tried to convince her to stay on, saying that the organisation would have much to lose if such an experienced and respected member as herself were to leave. Eventually a compromise was made: she remained a member of the Wizengamot, but she vacated her position at the Department of Magical Education to take up her old post as Hogwarts’ Arithmancy Professor.

Present Life
Since 1999, Integra has been teaching Arithmancy at Hogwarts. Having lived through five different wars, she is certain that she will not survive to see the sixth. Nonetheless she regrets how the Salisbury Fools had remained nothing more than naive and idealistic dreamers to the very end, for they never were able to make the positive changes they swore they would implement. Still, that has not stopped her from trying, and she still does whatever she can to influence the younger generation to build a brighter future for both the wizarding community and Muggles.


Personality

No-nonsense, uncompromising and logical, Integra has earned the fear and grudging respect from her subordinates and students over her long and illustrious career in both the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. She always conducts herself in a dignified manner, and – having seen so much over the course of her life – is rarely surprised or fazed by anything. Despite her good intentions, most people find it difficult to look past her biting remarks and seemingly unfeeling personality. Not that Integra feels bothered by any of that: if they were so easily cowed by her tough love, how would they be able to survive in the harsh world?

That said, she does have a gentler side – relatively speaking – that few will ever see. Having outlived many of her friends, her family and even her beloved husband, she does feel a little isolated and lonely at times. It is only in the presence of the few close friends she still has where she drops her tough exterior, revealing a more motherly or grandmotherly side of herself that is kinder, more introspective, and somehow more self-critical.


Face Claim: Judi Dench