[This is a space for incoming first year authors to post character introduction posts. These are not yet set at school but can be a family scene, e.g. your character receiving their owl, going shopping etc. Please note that Muggleborns are visited by a liaison who explains the situation to them and their families.
This is not mandatory, and does not count as a character application, the form for which can be found here.
This is a space to show your character, either before or after submitting an application, so that your yearmates can know more about you].
Subthreads:
A Witch Called Ellie by The Alpertons
Absence may let the heart grow fonder by Holly and Anya Delachene
A Shadow Falling by Diana Pierderi with Professor Wright
The woman across from her was not saying anything particularly antagonistic. She had not tried to bodily remove her from the house or threatened to call the police. By the standards of the profession of Muggleborn Liaison, this was a pretty pleasant housecall. But Elaine Harding was tipped for danger. There was a look in that woman’s eyes. It was subtle, but after this many years on the job, she knew that look. Every time Elaine tried to tell her that her son was a wizard, something in her face said she just did not like hearing that.
Catherine Alperton pressed her lips together, trying to school her face into a look of pleasant neutrality. The woman in front of her kept using sentences involving the words ‘your son’ and ‘wizard.’ She had turned the coffee table into a pig and then back again to prove that no-one here was insane. And talked about a school. A new school. For her son. The wizard.
She didn’t like it. Here, here in their very own home- This Ms. Harding needed to stop saying things like that, and the sooner she did, the better they’d all be getting along. Except instead of stopping, she was now asking about bringing ‘the young man’ downstairs to be involved in ‘discussing his future.’
“I think I might be best if I explain first…” Catherine offered, and receiving a nod, headed off upstairs. She took the walk slowly, drawing deep breaths, wondering what she would say.
“Hi,” she said softly, poking her head around the door of the middle bedroom, where she found her child sat on the bed wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a wary expression - the result, she knew, of someone unknown arriving in the house, though the look still took her by surprise. It was so different to what she’d grown used to. She went in, closing the door behind her and settled on the bed, wondering how to explain. To explain but not to raise false hope… But at the same time, feeling her own tingling sense of optimism and excitement at this unexpected possibility.
“You know when you were little,” she began, “and you used to say that sometimes you thought you really might have a fairy godmother looking out for you because, just for a moment, things you wished for really did come true? Well, it seems like maybe you were your own fairy godmother all this time. There’s a lady downstairs. She says that was all you, and that it’s magic. Really real magic, and you can go away somewhere to learn more of it.
“I… I get the impression there’s limits. I don’t think it works like in stories, and it might not be able to make all your wishes come true,” she added, wanting to be clear that this was not guaranteed to change everything overnight - what was on offer here seemed to be exactly what they had been considering for a while now though, even if it was happening in a rather unexpected way, “We’d talked about a fresh start,” she added. “This could be one.”
“She kept saying I’m a wizard. And using my outside name.”
“You were listening?” she asked, more surprised than critical.
“I… I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even go out of my room, but… I was worried about who it was and what they wanted, and then… I could just hear. Like there was a speaker in here.”
“I suppose that was more magic then. And as for what she called you… Well, I didn’t like that either. We could correct her though. Do you want to change back into something a bit more you, while I go ask her how she feels instead about meeting a witch called Ellie?”
13The AlpertonsA Witch Called Ellie1456The Alpertons05
“Anya!” Holly called out the window without looking outside. No response. “Anastasia!” she called, louder, hitting each syllable hard so it projected better. No response.
Grumbling under her breath, Holly stepped out onto the front porch of her ranch house and looked toward the stables, hoping she’d see her youngest daughter mucking stalls and listening to headphones too loudly to hear Holly’s summons, but dreading that they’d hold only equines.
Neither was the case. Anya was there - thank Merlin; if she was out flying or climbing, it could take hours to track her down - but she was neither mucking stalls nor listening to her headphones. She was instead hanging upside down by her knees in the rafters.
Holly closed her eyes, even covering them with her hand, used a sonorous charm to amplify her voice, and called out again, in a distinctly reprimanding tone, “Anastasia Delachene!”
A startled shout and a crashing sound greeted this, and Holly winced. But she gave it a five count before she lowered her hand and opened her eyes. There Anya was, coming out of the stable, rubbing her leg and limping slightly, her curly hair looking a lighter brown than normal due to all the dust, but all in one piece. “What did I tell you about hanging from the rafters?” Holly demanded.
“Don’t do it,” Anya answered sullenly.
“And what were you just doing?”
A spark of defiance gleamed in the eleven year old’s eyes. “Hanging from the rafters,” she said confrontationally.
Holly thrust out the letter she’d just received by owl towards the girl. “I’ll be glad when you’re someone else’s problem for most of the year.”
Anya’s eyes lit upon the letter and she grabbed it eagerly, tearing it open. “I’m in!” she exclaimed in delight, barely pausing to read more than the opening sentence. “I’m going to Sonora!” Ignoring her mother, she ran past Holly and into the house, waving the letter over her head, and not the least bit slowed by her recent crash. “Jasmine! Philippe! Dad! I got my letter! I’m going to Sonora, too!”
Not that there had ever been any doubt. Anya wouldn’t have survived to eleven years old without accidental magic aiding her continued existence when gravity said death was the far more likely outcome. Holly was half convinced Anya actually knew how to harness it on purpose by now. She sighed and followed her daughter inside. Two more months. She just had to keep Anya alive for two more months.
Then somebody else could worry about her all the time.
1Holly and Anya DelacheneAbsence may let the heart grow fonder1453Holly and Anya Delachene05
Diana huddles underneath a tree, shivering. She should've known better than agree to this ridiculous dare, to sleep all night in the woods? What was she? Crazy? Meh, that could be debated. She'd forgotten that tonight was going to be a cold one, so, though she had her jacket, it wasn't enough to block the freezing weather.
She looks up, hearing the slight snap of a branch in the distance and she pulls her knees closer to her chest, her arms wrapping around them in a desperate attempt to keep warm. Her dark brown hair blows back from her face with a harsh wind, exposing an ivory, heart-shaped face, slightly red from the cold. Her green eyes dart around, trying to find the source of the noise and she wets her lips, daring to call out a soft: "Hello?"
'Hello? What was that? You sound like some drunk teenager who's about to be killed! That's how it always works in the movies!' Her mind belittles her, making her blink rapidly to stall the salty tears.
The night was cold, but Professor Wright had grown weary of looking at the same walls of his office as he tried and failed to work through the latest round of edits in the latest chapter of his novel. The night was cold, but the weather otherwise seemed clear, suitable enough for walking even though he was not assigned to patrol anything.
Once outside, he promptly began to reconsider his stance on the suitability of the weather, but pushed on anyway. Everyone said he needed more exercise, after all. He stopped, jumping a little himself, when he stepped on a twig, then froze when he heard a whispered "Hello?"
He had been a Sonora student himself once and so remembered a few facts about Care of Magical Creatures. One of them was that there were a few creatures which could produce human-sounding speech. He also remembered that they were rarely doing so in order to socialize. He put his hand to his wand, lit the end of his wand with the lumos charm and soon found a student.
"Miss Pierderi," he said. The Charms teacher squinted at her through his rectangular glasses. "What on earth are you doing out here? It's too late for students to be out."
OOC: Welcome! I'm the author of the Charms teacher, Professor Wright. Please feel free to ask any questions you have about Sonora. We're pleased to meet you!
16Professor WrightLet's bring in some illumination.113Professor Wright05