Father: [Aedan Sayre];[Forever 40]
Mother: [Nadya Sirakov];[36]
Sibling: [??];[??]
Other: [Seamus Sayre - Uncle];[??], Christine Sayre - Cousin; 17, ??, ??

Elara Samain Sayre was born a month early on November 1st, 1958 just a few seconds after midnight. Her middle name is a reference to magical holiday Samhain’s night (the night she was born); those closest to her call her Sam. Few proud papas could rival Aedan Sayre’s joy on the night his daughter was born. Aedan was unusual in that, not only did he – a prominent and wealthy pureblood wizard – not care about Elara’s gender, he was utterly in love with the child he helped create. His wife – Nadya Sayre nee Sirakov – was less taken with the squalling infant. To her immense relief (and astute planning) the healer recommended for Nadya to terminate any future pregnancies. Elara would be Aedan’s heir.


Elara, along with her dearest friend Nik, and Nik’s sister, Vanessa, discover Nadya and Gaius (Nik and Vanessa’s father), in bed together during one of their annual summer trips to the cabin. Even though Elara’s young, she understands that the only person who should be kissing her mother is her father. She – being the absolute daddy’s girl that she is – runs and tells her father what she saw. Aedan is furious at his wife and his best friend. In true Irish fashion, he uses his fists to talk with Gaius, before taking Elara back home. Aedan eventually files for divorce, but he does not expect Nadya to file for custody – as she does not care too deeply for Elara to begin with. Nadya wins sole custody. Elara’s mother moves them to Bulgaria to be with her mother’s people.

Elara is taught very early how to behave perfectly. She is constantly belittled and berated into performing. Her schedule is always full – Music Lessons, Art, Dance, Entertaining, Deportment et cetera, ad nauseum. Her mother likes to parade her around as the “perfect” child. She is always monitored by the staff and tutors on what to eat, how to behave, what to say. She follows a strict schedule that begins at dawn and ends when and *if* she accomplishes her tasks for the day.


Being away from Nadya is like a breath of fresh air. Having Nik shower her with affection and attention as a first year, clears a path for her to be accepted immediately. The only person irritated with Elara’s instant approval and fame, for lack of a better word, is Lynnea Holt – Nik’s girlfriend.

Nadya, while apart from Elara, is no less involved in her life. It is expected that Elara secure position and status at Durmstrang. Elara strives to make the right contacts as well as set herself apart and above her peers. With Nik’s help she easily manages to succeed in all areas of her mother’s concern, except one: Lynnea Holt. Nadya sees Lynnea as a rival for Nik’s affection and she refuses to lose the advantageous match between Nik and Elara to something as ordinary as “teen love”. Nadya is prevented from direct interference as the children spend most of the year at school.

During Christmas break however, Nadya convinces (threatens) Elara to take care of Lynnea by reminding her of what's at stake. Nik is Elara's ticket to freedom, he's the only one that cares for her, and eventually - if she’s smart – she’ll earn a marriage proposal from him. Elara long got over any sentimental notions of love, but the closest thing she can imagine is being safe. Nik makes her feel safe. Lynnea was an obstacle to that security, Elara just had to be willing to take what she wanted.

It didn't take long. Getting Lynnea to cheat on Nik was surprisingly easy – stupid cow. Arranging for Nik to discover the betrayal was slightly more complicated – Elara loathed hurting the one person she considered friend. But her guilt was overcome by the ease in which Lynnea spread her legs for someone else. So much for love.

In the end, orchestrating Lynnea’s fall from grace was only the beginning of Elara's reign, and Lynnea was only the first to fall. All was fair in love and war and Elara had learned an important lesson: Win or Die.


Aedan Sayre, Elara's father, dies - and any hope of redemption or peace dies with him. Elara would never admit it, but somewhere deep inside herself where she still believed in things like happy endings, she thought that maybe Aedan would come for her. He would save her. With his death Elara realizes that there is no happy ending, and no one's coming to save her. She's going to have to save herself, no matter how many people she has to throw under the bus to do it.

Aedan lists Elara as the heir to the Sayre estate, but she has to wait until she's of age to inherit. Until then her uncle Seamus is responsible for the estate. Nadya decides to uproot Elara from Durmstrang to Hogwarts much to Elara's chagrin (she had worked so hard to climb her way to the top, now she would need to begin again).

Her one saving grace is that she will be closer to Nik, now that he's graduated at least they would still be able to see each other often.


It's even easier to wrap her peers as well as the staff at Hogwarts around her finger. Despite being sorted into Slytherin, Elara is seen as ambitious and cunning, rather than devious or deceitful. She's far too "nice" to fellow students, even Gryffindors. But not everyone buys her act. Lynnea had transferred the year prior after the scandal at Durmstrang. She's fully aware of what Elara is capable of, but Elara scares her, so she stays out of the way for the most part.

She does warn a few students, and her warnings fall on deaf ears.

Her mother isn't quite as involved in her life as before - still suffocatingly watchful - but seemingly preoccupied elsewhere. Elara's cut throat ways are tempered somewhat by her mother's absence as well as the presence of her uncles and cousins in her life.

She's conflicted by a recent frenemy: Lyra. Ordinarily the plan is executed flawlessly - destroy the reputation, destroy the heart, destroy the girl. Everything went perfectly according to plan, but Elara did something new. She used her "powers" or influence for "good".

At first she convinced herself she was merely testing her skill at damage control, seeing how far her influence went and how potent her persuasion could be. She couldn't admit - even to herself - that she had a soft spot for the vivacious blond, or that she was growing more conflicted about her own sense of self having returned to her father's household. The initial salvage of Lyra's reputation was indicative of Elara's influence, but the subsequent rise of Lyra's status in society the second time Elara tried her hand at damage control was nothing short of masterful.

Nadya returns from her travels during Christmas break. She does not stay at the Sayre estate, but occupies a comfortable Chateau in France. She instructs Elara to get close to a boy at her school: Rafe Colby. Reading between the lines Elara deduces her mother wants her to gather as much dirt on the young man as possible. It's far from the first request, but Elara is frustrated by her mother's reappearance and presumption. She refuses. A mistake. Her mother reminds her - by way of the cruciatus curse - that Elara has always been, and will always be Nadya's puppet. The contest of wills is short lived and Elara begins the new year with a singular intent: Rafe Colby's destruction.

Things take a dangerous turn when Elara's seduction - part of her ploy - exceeds her expectations. Rafe exhibits signs of obsession and - though she would never admit it - he begins to scare Elara. Elara pretends to have control over the situation. She doesn't seek help. Rafe escalates his attacks and his obsession. He convinces one of Elara's dorm mates to charm a mirror in their dorm so he can watch her while she sleeps. He corners her whenever she's alone. He receives a suspension after attacking a boy for touching his Elara.

Rafe's mother thought it might be better to remove her son from the school and have him finish his education else where, he threatened to kill himself if he couldn't be near Elara, but soon changed his tune after she got him a therapist.


She was found at the Shrieking Shack. Bound and gagged with tears streaming down her face. She wore a muggle t-shirt and shorts - that didn't belong to her obviously - and bruises were easily visible against her porcelain skin.

The official story was that during a Hogsmeade weekend a kidnapping attempt was made against the Sayre heiress. Rafe followed the assailant and Elara out to the shack. He was able to shoot a warning flare from his wand, but tragically lost his life while defending Elara. The assailant fled when he heard others approaching.

Some of the details did not match up, but with Sayre money and Colby's connections in the ministry no one asked questions.

Regardless of the truth, Elara held a vigil for Rafe's heroism at the school.

Nik returns home from a self-imposed isolation. Elara has missed him, but she's noticed the closeness between him and Lyra. She's only mildly jealous - actually a part of her is entirely threatened by Lyra's position in Nik's life - but she is incapable of expressing or understanding her emotions. He apologizes for leaving her irrationally assuming blame for not being there when she needed him. She's just vulnerable enough to allow Nik to comfort her. He has more than comfort in mind.

They had cajoled one another in the past about their inevitable marriage. It had been a source of humor between them, though he had little idea of how much Nadya had pressured or coerced Elara to secure his hand (Elara never mentioned it). The coercion only stopped due to his consent of Nadya's ridiculous betrothal contract. Still he had yet to reveal that contract to Elara, he didn't want to force her hand, and he wanted to give her time to grow up and experience love - if it was out there for her. He also wanted to give her a romantic proposal that she deserved in addition to a long engagement to make sure she was happy with the idea.

Instead his fear at recent events led to a rushed demand: to get married upon her 17th birthday in six months.

Unexpectedly, Elara said no to their mutual shock.

Elara couldn't explain to Nik that she was responsible for Rafe's death, and that he deserved someone better than her. She couldn't put into words her own guilt and frustration, but Nik was too good for any of that.

Upon realizing that her mother would have her head at her answer, she swallowed whatever guilt she felt and tried to buy herself some time.

She would marry him - after graduation.

She has a year to make him see reason, or a year to become someone worthy of his hand.