Beyza Mahmud

Beyza Derin Defne Yildiz Mahmud was born on 2 September 1930 at Ilksaray Castle, Istanbul, Turkey. She was both the second child and the second daughter of her parents, Miray Öztürk, a commoner, and Şehzade Mahmud, a former Prince of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had been down for eight years when Beyza was born, but she was still raised in one of two Twin Castles in Turkey. She shared a teacher with her younger sister, Esra, and the two learned to play piano, something that would be just a hobby for Esra but quickly became a passion for Beyza. Beyza and her sisters were not very close to their brother growing up as they were separated into different households. Deniz also died rather young of Dragon Pox before any of the sisters had a real connection built with him. At this time, Zehra was already married and living in Albania, but Beyza was not, and she spent her time managing most of the 'womanly' duties of the house and helping her father host events, staying by his side. Between the ages of seventeen and twenty-nine, Beyza had a number of suitors, but she was not interested in any aspect of relationships and it is now believed that she was likely on both the aromantic and asexual spectrums. Instead, when she was twenty, Beyza bought a house and named it Gerçekev. The house was rather large and for many of her family, it was a Holiday House, but it was Beyza's personal residence where she hosted many parties and art exhibitions. Beyza also ditched faith a bit and was the only woman in her immediate family to not wear a headscarf until the birth of her niece, Margaret. Beyza rubbed elbows with the high ups in Turkey, including the Prime Minister and his wife, Abdülkerim and Zeynep Soydan. She often attended the ballet with Zeynep on weekends and was a big fan of attending the Russian ballet, even playing piano for a ballet on Turkish Republic Day in 1961. In 1961, Beyza's youngest nephew Kelvin was born. She rather liked all of Esra's children and frequently invited them to come and stay with her at what they lovingly called the Holiday House, leading to its future name as Gerçekev Holiday House. As He Who Must Not Be Named was on the rise in the United Kingdom, Beyza turned her home into a refuge and spent time in the United Kingdom to help the war effort, even if Turkey wasn't one of the countries being affected by the war. Voldemort was instead targeting the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Romania, Serbia, and Greece. Turkey, Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Luxembourg became the safest places to be, so Beyza volunteered at Hospitals and opened multiple refuge houses, not only for pure and half bloods being recruited by death eaters but also for muggle borns and the families of muggle borns to escape their turmoil, even if many did choose to fight. As to avoid drawing attention to herself, Beyza's war efforts were extremely secretive and she did not put her name on anything. If Hermione Granger had known about these safe houses, she probably would've sent her parents there rather than to Australia, but Beyza's work remained relatively unknown by all those who did not meet her. In her late thirties, Beyza took a ballet training class in Russia and fell in love with ballet even more than previously. She was not the most talented ballerina, but because of not only her political and economic advantage but also because of her obvious passion. Where she lacked in skill, she made up in both technique and heart, and made occasional appearances in small ballets. Her largest ballet appearance was in the 1973 Turkish Ministerial Magic Ballet, where at the age of 42 she had a short appearance as the Regent to the Sultan in the Sultanate Ballet that was playing that year. In 1976, Beyza was one of ten women voted to plant a tree at the Turkish Witch's Natural Resources Convention, where she represented the arts alongside Antonela Hürrem Darmi, a famous quidditch player in Turkey who was representing Outdoor Activities. The two became good friends. In 1978, Beyza went to the United Kingdom where she attended her younger sister Esra's wedding to Letholdus Cromwell. She was also a witness to the birth of all three of Esra's children, Margaret, Edgar, and Kelvin. though she also called them by their unofficial Turkish nicknames. She usually favoured Edgar out of all three of the children, followed by Margaret. She was not so close to Kelvin, who spent most of his time with his father. Esra and her children regularly visited Beyza in Turkey, where they did many activities which were rich in culture and Esra also entertained the children by playing piano and taking them out to plays and ballets .The had the magic touch with children and could easily make a baby stop crying and a teenager stop pouting. Esra said that it was a shame that Beyza never had any children of her own, but Beyza disagreed, stating that she had no desire to be a full time mother and instead wanted to devote her life to herself and the causes that she believed as well as visiting children, but not making them a part of her daily life. She held out this ideal until the end of her life, making it clear that being a woman did not mean that she had to have children and breaking the stereotype that women who did not have children would not a have a fulfilled life. In fact, Beyza felt that her life was more than fulfilled. When Beyza was fifty, her father's health began to deteriorate quickly. As she was the only child that still lived in Turkey, she was the main one by his side, nursing him through his final days. She was also the one who planned his funeral, and she walked with Esra and her children at the funeral. The Prime Minister ordered a state funeral for the former prince, where Beyza was a key figure representing the former royal family, as many of the actual former royals had died out. After he father's death, Beyza renovated the Twin Castles that had belonged to he and his brother. As the only child still living in Turkey, per the terms of their father's will, Beyza inherited everything. She used her new old money to renovate the Twin Castles where she had grown up. She made the one that had belonged to her uncle a museum where she showcased jewels, paintings, and other political artifacts. Her advisors attempted to name it after her, but she instead named it The Ottoman Memorial Museum of Halime Sultan after a famous Sultanate Woman who was also her distant grandmother. In early 2002, Beyza was seventy-two when she attended the wedding of her great nephew Edward to Tracey Davis. The next year, Beyza suffered a heart attack in her home. Unfortunately, she was alone. She was discovered by Edward after he became very worried about her. The two were very close, and Edward was absolutely devastated. Margaret followed her aunt's dream to keep the holiday house in the family and turned her home into a vacation home. Beyza's funeral had a large attendance, many of them famous whilst others were just people who had admired her work for the country and the environment who were upset to see her go. Her mark is left on this world today from all of the project that she worked so hard on.