OOC

Name: Maddie
Age: 23 THE GAME STARTS ON MY BIRTHDAY THO!!!!
Email & AIM: babysonfiyah @ gmail and achr0i
Time zone: EST (GMT +5)



IC

BASICS
Name: Lydia Rose Flint
Age/DOB: 24, October 3rd
Blood Status: Pure
Residence: The Manor House, the Flint family home, in Bethel, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumbria, England. Bethel is a small wizarding community close to Wooler, home to only five or six families, where this branch of the Flints own the largest home.
Occupation: Shopgirl in the Diagon Alley Apothecary, which her family owns.
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Username: politeandpure

APPEARANCE
Height/Build: Lydia is neither overly short or overly tall at 5'5" in height, but her build is slight, with narrow hips and a small bustline. Her limbs and torso are all quite proportional, and rather than gain weight in times of duress, she tends to lose, and become somewhat gaunt.
Appearance: Lydia is small and striking, but her passivity tends to soften the severity of her looks. Grey eyes, and long dark hair stand out in contrast to her pale English skin. She does not trifle herself with very many beauty products, usually going out bare faced, but well groomed, wearing the scent of sweet violets on her pulse points. Her one more regular beauty indulgence is Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, which she often uses to straighten her gently curled hair.

Bred from a young age to be married into high society and raise the Flint family status, Lydia is poised and graceful, with good posture. Her presence does not usually attract attention, however, since she was taught to be unassuming and non-confrontational, and to submit to the will of her superiors and males. She dresses very conservatively, favoring black, grey and cream colors in her wardrobe, with modest, flattering cuts of her robes.

PB: Mia Kirshner

PERSONALITY
Personality:
There is a level of pomp and circumstance expected in the high society that Lydia is entering into, and she manages to run in these circles with docility, humility and a quiet natural ease.

Lydia is polite, and this extends to everyone, regardless of blood. Of course, pure men and older pure women get a touch of servitude in her politeness, as their position in society warrants recognition. but she sees no point in treating poorer or less pure people with disdain. It causes a scene, and it won't undo their blood, which is not something they chose. Most often, the times when Lydia is faced with people of lesser blood is while she works in one of her family's profitable Apothecary shops. Lydia enough business sense and customer service skill to know money is money.

Lydia's politeness is rarely disingenuous, as she's a rather kind, quiet young woman. Her kindness, once again, extends to all people, and she tends to follow the Golden Rule as often as possible. She is not overly exuberant or bubbly nor even particularly friendly, but when Lydia meets anyone's eye, they are greeted with a small smile at the very least. Lydia is able to make small talk with grace, but prefers to speak when spoken to, unless among family or close friends. Then, she will engage more actively in conversation, still never speaking out of turn or acting offensively- Lydia, for all her passivity, is very skilled at reading the feel of a person, or a room, and will adjust what she says as she sees fit. The goal is to never offend or seem to bold. In some ways this makes Lydia less than truthful, as she makes sure to never, ever speak her mind in a bold or unladylike fashion.

Lydia's politeness goes beyond graciousness right into obedience. She respects the wishes of her parents, her elders and betters almost without thought. She's not mindless, but has been raised to believe that her elders and superiors know better, and she's taught to trust others to know what's best for her. Lydia is even more obedient to her fiance, and in return, she knows she is more welcome to speak her mind to Peregrine than she is to her parents. She trusts him to the core, and firmly believes that 99% of the time, he will be right in his thoughts, decisions and actions. Lydia is not passively accepting an engagement to someone with whom she merely tolerates; She is deeply in love with her fiance, and is quite looking forward to each and every detail of married life. Peregrine brings out her passion and gentle sense of humor, and her love for him is coxing the woman out of the girl, teaching her to grow up.

Bigoted not the right word for Lydia when it comes to blood purity. She believes in blood purity, being taught to value her heritage and history as a core part of who she is. She is deeply, deeply biased, spending her entire life being steadfastly assured that her blood status is something of intrinsic value and a trait to cherish. Lydia believes much as her fiance does- She doesn't think muggleborns should be allowed to marry into higher families, and thinks registration is an excellent idea. She quietly harbours the idea that perhaps muggleborn children should start schooling earlier or be schooled separately, so as not to be a burden on more experienced and knowing children. Though she would readily admit that she is not entirely knowledgeable about these things, she thinks separate schooling would be beneficial to both groups, and at the end of school, everyone would, theoretically, be on the same page, learning wise. She sees pros and cons to the situation, but her mind thinks that the pros would weigh out the cons.

A lot of her bigotry is ingrained in her rather than her actively hating muggleborns- what she says has been taught to her as true, and given her level of trust and love in her family, she assumes that they are right. She is quietly abhorrent of the Death Eaters and Voldemort's regime. The level of violence and force he and his followers are applying to their society is unbecoming, inhumane and uncivilized. Unruly violence, in her mind, negates any opinion, no matter how correct. As pureblooded men (and women), she thinks change should be made through reason and diplomacy, showing these supposedly unbecoming muggleborns how a pure and true witch or wizard should behave- with dignity.

Of course, given the unstable political climate and the fact that Voldemort's regime seems to coincide with the political opinions of her peers, Lydia once again keeps her opinions to herself, and gently deflects questions with nonspecific answers.

HISTORY
Family: (please include ages, occupations, and blood statuses)
Marcus Flint III, 47 (Slytherin): Father, Owns a large chain of Apothecaries around the UK and Ireland, including the eponymous one in Diagon Alley. The Flints Apothecary company could be compared (modernly) to Walgreen's, CVS or Boots in the UK. Pureblood.

Patricia Flint nee Smith, 43 (Hufflepuff): Mother to the four Flint children. Passive to her husband, worryingly mothering over all her children, and constantly concerned with their futures. With so many girls, and her less than sterling family background, Patricia spent much of her time breeding her girls to be perfect ladies, and her son to be a perfect gentleman. Pureblood, but just barely, with some "less than desirable" family members. That family might say the same about her.

Marcus Flint IV, 30 (Slytherin): Only son, and rather mediocre at what he does. Marcus is not good at anything, nor bad at anything, he just simply is. Marcus is neither good nor bad as a person, just simply is. He's a follower, not a leader, but that's not always a bad thing. He's married and has a three year old son, Marcus V, who...well, isn't the brightest lumos spell in the class. Was being prepped to inherit the Diagon Ally branch, but instead has been given the Hogsmead branch- Still important and a successful store, but makes most of it's profits through large orders through the school, meaning most of the work can be done by the employee in charge of shipping- Meaning Marcus'll be less likely to fuck something up.

Serafina Lestrange nee Flint, 28 (Slytherin): PRESUMED MISSING/ RUN AWAY (is in fact, DECEASED). The oldest girl and remarkably pretty, but took after her mother in being a worrywart when it came to what people thought of her. Eager to please and to move up through society, she was thrilled when she was engaged to a Lestrange. Serafina did everything in her power to make her fiance happy, but one day a note was found, expounding a need for freedom and running away to god knows where. Pureblood, rarely spoken about.

Rosana Flint, 19 (Ravenclaw): Extremely bright, almost irritatingly so, and more plain than her older sisters. She can rattle off facts, figures, statistics faster than you can blink and eye, and is most likely a genius. Constantly asks "why?" of anything asked of her, and hates the purebred society her mother is pushing her towards, but half-halfheartedly goes through the motions. Currently runs the finances for all of the Apothecaries, and, while not particularly ambitious, spends countless hours pouring over runes, studying magical creatures, and creating charms and potions that occasionally explode in her face. If she had had a choice, she would have stayed at Hogwarts forever. Pureblood.

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
Years attended: 1964-1971
Activities/achievements: Potions club, (if this is okay) Member of the Slug Club out of Slughorn's hopes that she would be a major player in the Apothecary business.
NEWTs:
Potions: O
Charms: EE
Arithmancy: O
Astronomy: A
Herbology: EE
Care of Magical Creatures: A

Lydia's choices of classes happened for two reasons: The primary being practicality in relation to the family business (Apothecary carrying potions ingredients, which can come from plant and animal alike, and may need to be brewed at different times according to Astronomical events). The majority of her classes are also passive magic as opposed to active, for while she's perfectly capable and not weak magically, she simply prefers these less aggressive (for lack of a better word) approaches to magic.



History:

Baby number three and girl number two, Lydia Rose Flint was born to two parents who could afford their growing family. Indeed, the family would continue to grow, and from day one, Lydia was raised with one major goal in mind: To raise the Flint family status in society. Or rather, Society, in italics and a capital S to indicate you mean business.

It wasn't that the Flints were particularly unlikeable: They had an old name, and quite a hold on the British apothecary business, meaning they were past financially stable and right on into financially well-off. But they weren't the Blacks, the Lestranges, the Parkinson families- They had their share of 'shameful' family members, cousins and siblings uninterested in their blood or status. On Patricia's side, her branch of the Smith family was only a few generations pure, and while Patricia had her somewhat bloodist beliefs, she and Marcus had their children's future in mind at all times.

And so young Lydia grew up with good tutors, and beyond tutors, she had Lessons. Dancing lessons, etiquette lessons, additional history lessons. Lydia learned about the most favorable members of her family tree. Marcellus Flint , who established their apothecary business hundreds of years ago, her great-grandmother on the Smith side, one of the first witches in the Wizengamot. Her upbringing taught her how valuable her history and heritage was, and it was something she took to heart for the rest of her life.

With (eventually) three siblings, and a very small wizarding community around her, Lydia was never without company. Even so, she wasn't a terribly tenacious child, preferring to act the little lady, play with dolls, have tea parties, and quietly read books. She wouldn't turn up her nose to a playmate in the least, often playing dress up with Sera, or playing pretend on the whim of baby Rosana's wild imagination.

At age 11, of course, Lydia got her Owl from Hogwarts, having shown magical abilities as a young child (cold rooms when she was crying, magically breaking a portrait that always scared her [on purpose, telling her scary stories at night], getting multiple butterflies to follow her outside). Nothing was out of the ordinary, she got her robes, her books, her wand (10 inches, willow, unicorn hair, whippy). Her parents were mildly surprised when she was sorted into Hufflepuff like her mother had been, assuming that her enjoyment of books and Learning New Things would surely mean she was a Ravenclaw. However, Lydia lacked the Intense Curiosity and Wit of a Ravenclaw, and instead was simply Interested in what people had to say. Hufflepuff suited her just fine, a warm and homey place, quite cozy, among other Hufflepuffs, many of whom were as gentle and soft-spoken as she. She was rather surprised to meet Muggleborns, seeing their non-moving pictures and hearing their ridiculous talk about electricity and other things, but they were harmless enough, and she even grew friendly with quite a few, in that contradictory way humans have.

During her school years Lydia was not popular, but not unpopular. She never ruffled feathers and was usually quite generous with her time and things, and helpful whenever she could be of service to someone. At her parents' urging, she did her best to be friendly with other pureblooded children, and was relatively successful, making pureblooded acquaintances and friendships at all houses. While she was not actively a shining star or a diamond in the rough, Professor Slughorn too a liking to her during her third year, as she continued to show a good aptitude in Potions, and when he realized that she was, indeed, Marcus Flint of the Apothecary's daughter. This solidified some of the maintenance Lydia had made into more solid relationships without pureblooded students.

Lydia was unsurprised and unhurt when fifth year came and she did not make the prefect's position. Well behaved with good grades, Lydia lacked leadership or the ambition for the position. Lydia took up Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures, doing quite well in both. It was at fifteen that she had her first boyfriend, a pureblood boy in Ravenclaw. They weren't together terribly long, and she was the dumpee, almost entirely because she was too chaste for his taste.

She went on a handful of dates through her sixth and seventh years, though nothing came from them. She was taught to be reserved and pure in, er, every sense. She was not naive, stupid or a late bloomer, she was simply able to control her urges, unlike 98% of teenagers. Instead of groping in broom closets and sex under the quidditch stands, Lydia focused on her schoolwork. She was not an undeniable genius like little Rosana, but like any good Huffelpuff, Lydia worked hard and earned all passing marks on her NEWTs.

Upon finishing Hogwarts, it was now fashionable (or at least acceptable) for young women to go into the work force. Idle hands are the Devil's playing, so Lydia took to working at her father's store in London, enjoying the time in Diagone Alley, and pleased to have something to fill her time and put her schooling to good use. She was able to take time off as she saw fit, and while the job was supposed to be superficial, she was quite happy to do real work.

As Voldemort and his followers began to make themselves known, her parents urged her to remain the same- Non argumentative in regards to the beliefs of others, to keep her nose clean and her head down. Attempt life as normal, and while the violence scared her, Lydia did just that. For her, life as normal was to try to find a fiance, and make a life.

Life as normal also involved weddings, attending weddings of her own family and of others, and at one such wedding she was a member of the bridal party, along with an old school friend, Peregrine Parkinson. He kept her smiling and laughing throughout the entire planning stage, with quiet, easy jokes at the couple's expense, and remained at her side for the entirety of the wedding itself. Things did not end there, as Peregrine, or Perry as she soon began to call him, made frequent visits to the Apothecary during his lunch hours, after work. At first he claimed to be picking up ingredients, but soon it was very clear that he was only there to see her. Lydia was very, very clearly smitten with her old classmate, and lost some focus in the shop, always waiting and hoping to see him each day.

After some months, Perry arrived at her family's home on her birthday, with a gift and the news that he had asked to be allowed to court her and had received permission to do so. Of course, each visit was to be chaperoned, but of course, not all of them were. They were given some privacy, and while Lydia and Perry put the privacy to good use, he respected her boundaries. Lydia fell very much in love.

On the following birthday, Perry was present again, this time with a ring, and permission for her hand in marriage. Since then, Lydia's life has become far busier, as she works on wedding plans, joining Perry's sister in her philanthropic work, and keeping minor hours in the shop at Diagon Alley.

Samples

First person sample: It seems as if becoming engaged has made the days both three times as fast, and three times as long. There is so much to do that everything becomes a blur, each day flowing into the next at such speeds that it seems very hard to remember where one stopped and another began. I should have liked to think myself clever enough to have known what sort of effort it takes to plan en event so large, but I have been completely surprised. Attending a wedding simply does not put into mind all the details and planning that must have been done to get anything so large to happen at all. Even in the event of a simply done wedding, it seems to no detail is to minute to overlook or leave to chance. Never in my life have I seen something so innocuous and innocent as flowers send so many people into a tizzy.

Third person sample: Early mornings were not a problem for Lydia, and so she was the first to the store that morning. At seven in the morning, the sky was bright by grey, with clouds threatening to drizzle at a moment's notice. The cobblestone street of Diagon Ally was still fairly empty, with only a few merchants hustling to their stores to prepare for a busy day- Every day on their street was a busy day, there was no avoiding it.

Lydia gave a kind smile to Mr. Fortescue as the waved their wands at their locked doors and entered their respective shops. With a second wave of her wand, the lamps in the Apothecary lit up, casting a warm glow on the rows of potions books, jars, pots, tins, boxes and kegs of various magical ingredients. A few frogs croaked, and a handful or rats skittered about in their cage.

As always, the Apothecary smelled strange, a pungent mixture that some (many) might not find palatable, but for Lydia, it was a comforting, familiar scent. She made her way into the store room to light a fire in the ubiquitous fire place and to check the stock logs to see what shipments would be coming today, and what would need to be ordered.

Behind her, she heard the familiar whoosh of a floo arrival, and she turned to smile, knowing it would be her father. He stepped out of the hearth, patting at his clothes to remove ash. "Hello, my little flower." he said, coming forward to kiss her temple.

"Hello." she said, just as warmly, somewhat surprised to see him here so early. "I didn't expect you until eight."

There was a sigh as Mr. Flint shuffled his way to the counter at the front of the store, flicking his wand and activating the till, silencing the frogs, whose croaks irritated him deeply. He began searching for something behind the counter as he spoke. "Your mother left a parcel behind yesterday, and insisted she could not wait until this evening to have it back." Mr. Flint stood, holding a large package in hand, a weary but affectionate look on his face. His daughter smiled back, knowing how anxious her mother could get over the littlest things.

Parcel in hand, Mr. Flint moved past his daughter, pressing another kiss to her forehead as he went by. "Keep working, little flower, I won't be long." he said, and then he was gone, a second whoosh and a green glow coming from the stock room. Lydia smiled still, and continued through her morning chores.