zero. biography.
character name: Winifred (Win, Wini) Olivia Wood.
age and birthday: December 1st, 2004 (17)
bloodline: Half-Blood
home residence: Hogsmeade
house and year: Hufflepuff 7th, Head of Quidditch team, Keeper
current classes: N.E.W.T.s in Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies
appearance: For a father that desperately hopes that his daughter's only interactions with men will be to knock them off their broom in Quidditch, Winifred Wood is a nightmare. Inheriting the lithe frame and charming smile that managed to capture Oliver Wood's heart, Wini has thankfully completely missed the stockiness that helped make her father into a Quidditch hero. It was often said over her cradle that she had 'the perfect build for a Seeker.' Winifred is all grown up now, standing at 5'8 and looking as though she is half leg. With an impish grin and crackling brown eyes, Winifred also has a smattering of freckles across her cheeks. She is incredibly fit, having grown up with a father who considered physical aptitude several notches above emotional and cognitive well-being. Likely able to outrun any boy in her year, Winifred exudes sportiness and the air of someone just about to head onto her next adventure. Although she is a tomboy, Winifred is naturally physically attractive and her easy-going nature seems to add to her charm. With eyes that take in the smallest nuances of action around her, and light up at the weakest joke, Winifred's expressions are fluid and seamless, and although she is taller than most of the girls in her year, no one would ever consider her gawky or awkward.
played by: Ludivine Sanger
descriptive personality:
Although Ingrid intended that Winifred be named after her beloved Grandmother, she never considered that her husband only thought of the first few letters before agreeing to the name. Even though Ingrid refused to let Oliver call his daughter 'Win' when she was a child, the 'i' was dropped by the little girl when she was seven years old in her own burst of 'ingenuity'. Winifred grew up surrounded by Quidditch and competition. Her father had long since been the starter Keeper on Puddlemere United and she was wearing a custom made jersey while she was a newborn. She learned that winning determined the atmosphere of the Wood home before she was able to formulate sentences. Winning meant that her father was exultant, easy to weedle presents from, and that she could stay up till midnight if she was on her toy broom. Losses meant that Oliver would be sulky, introverted, and spend more time taking the walk from the Wood cottage to the cemetery in Hogsmeade to visit the grave of Winifred's mother. Winifred doesn't see the world in 'good' or 'bad' but in wins and losses. The idea of losing is revolting to her. Since her father would take her out in the pram to visit Ingrid's grave when she was a little girl, Winifred associates losing with death. In her mind she knows that her mother didn't die because anything was lost but she often has an image of the grey gravestone when she is faced with defeat.
Winifred grew up without a mother, and she absolutely and completely adores her father. She is prone to call him 'Oliver' when he annoys her (rarely!), but generally refers to him as "Daddy" and will still climb into his lap to tug at his graying hair or to beg something off of him. His influence on her is unmistakable. Now that she is older, Winifred can see how difficult it was for her poor, socially-stunted father, to raise her as a single man, but she admires his determination to do the job himself instead of carting her off to be raised by an aunt or by her grandparents. Winifred knows that she probably wouldn't have been the sporty girl that she is if she hadn't had Oliver Wood for a father and loves to tease her Daddy and say that she'll drop Quidditch to pick up Potions, but the truth is that Quidditch is a much a part of her as it is Oliver.
Although Winifred knows that people see 'Quidditch' synonymous with the surname Wood, Winifred likes to believe that she marches to her own drum. She is, after all, a Hufflepuff! And she likes to think that she isn't nearly as strict or unmoving as her father can be when it comes to a Quidditch regiment. She knows that her father has hardly ever looked at any other woman except her mother his entire life, and Winifred tries to be especially sociable to compensate for the fact that many speculate that she is just a female version of her father.
While Oliver was very nervous to raise a little girl by himself, he was also petrified that he'd spoil Winifred. He took very good care of her, but he would give her a serious look when she tried to throw tantrums and cry. He never gave in to Winifred saying 'can't' and the little girl learned early on that if something needed to be done, you did it. Winifred would consider it the worst affront to be accused of being unable to manage herself. She refuses to be 'babied' or 'petted' by anyone and would rather fail than admit she needs help. While she's happy to study with other students when it suits her, Winifred would never ask for help unless it was an emergency.
The sorting hat was unsure where to put the firecracker girl at first, and Winifred didn't even realize that it was her choice to go to Hufflepuff. When it came down to the traits that she wanted to be most manifest in her life, it was to be a hardworking and productive individual. While Winifred might seem flippant and casual when she is off the Quidditch pitch, the young woman knows how to get a job done.
As sociable as her father can be taciturn, Winifred has an unconscious belief that everyone is interested in what she has to say even if they deny caring. She is incredibly confident and self-assured, and loves to joke and mess with other people. She is exceedingly sassy and always has a cheeky thing to say to someone. Her confidence and lively banter have made her into an incorrigible flirt, though Winifred is often surprised to learn that she is flirting. Even though she is an only child, she feels very 'big sisterly' to the younger Hufflepuff boys and loves to tease them, often garnering several little crushes from the ranks of third or fourth years. She loves to make people laugh and shock them. Many people know that as long as her eyes are sparkling and she is throwing her head back laughing you can't take anything she says seriously. Winifred enjoys a good snog, but is very selective in who she'll date. She has to know that they can either outrun her father or talk Quidditch enough to distract him from trying to rip them into pieces.
Though people know that they don't need to take anything that Winifred says seriously when she is in a giddy and teasing mood, she does have her darker moments -- and they are generally related to Quidditch. If her eyes aren't sparkling, you better take what she is saying seriously. She is infamous for making ridiculous threats, "If you don't improve your game I'm going to hit you over the head with your broom!" "Start chit-chatting while we're playing and you're going to wear a sign that says 'DO NOT SPEAK TO ME' at each game for the rest of the year!" or "Come to work late and I'm replacing you with your younger brother" -- and following through with them when necessary.
family: Oliver Wood and Ingrid Thisbe Wood met after the war, when Ingrid took up a position as a Medi-Witch with Puddlemere United. She had been a Hufflepuff three years older than Oliver, and while Oliver had not given her a second look when they were introduced, there came a moment when bumping into him literally stopped him in his tracks and made him stare at her after she passed him and continued down the hallway. He had to ask a teammate who she was, and, his mate laughing at him since Oliver had seen her twice in the past month for game-related injuries, reminded Oliver that she was the team medic. Oliver started watching her more closely when he wasn't in the air on his broom, and the next time he was sent to her for an injury (his left index finger had been hit by a bludger), he did his best to carry on an awkward conversation with her and asked her out on a date. She said yes, and he walked out of the room. It wasn't until the next day that the two of them realized that Ingrid had never actually fixed him up. She did what she could the next day, but since the injury hadn't been attended to immediately Oliver's finger has always retained a slight curve. Ingrid was distraught about it but Oliver didn't really care. It didn't affect his game, and whenever he looked at it he could remember the woman with the shinning face and infectious laughter.
All his friends were surprised that the two of them became so taken with each other, but it was inevitable after the first date that the two would marry. While Oliver was still socially awkward and had trouble with many types of interactions, Ingrid had the same love of Quidditch as he did, and she took Puddlemere United wins and losses to heart almost as much as he did. After dating for a year the two were married in 2002. Ingrid wanted to have a big family, and so they began trying to have children right away. Winifred was born in late 2004, and the parents were sure that she was only the first of their personal Quidditch team.
detailed history:
If Ingrid was around and you asked her, she would say that Winifred was named after her grandmother. If you ask Oliver, however, Oliver would say that it's because 'My daughter is a winner.' Both parents wanted the name for their own personal reasons, but it has been, of course, Oliver who has done the rearing of Winifred. Instead of being an artist like Winifred's Great-Grandmother, she's been shaped by her father.
When Winifred was seven months old, Ingrid went grocery shopping in Muggle London. She was distracted by a fight across the street while she was crossing, and was hit by a car. By the time Oliver had heard the news his wife was already dead. The news was blasted across the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly, and it was difficult for Oliver to mourn for his wife privately. Oliver had never, ever let another person get even half as close to him as Ingrid had been, and he was unsure if he could go on without her at first. His parents urged him to continue playing Quidditch, as it was near the end of the season when Ingrid died and they knew that, while he was upset, he needed to cling to something. Oliver did play Quidditch, although Puddlemere United lost the League Championship. He wept that night at Ingrid's grave, feeling ashamed at what a pathetic man he was, losing the game that had been the most important in his career at that date. When he went home there was a note that his mother 'would take care of Winifred for a few days' for Oliver that he realized that he did have something more important than Quidditch, and he realized that Ingrid would be more upset with him for handing their daughter over to his mother than she would be at him losing the League Championship. He immediately apparated to his parents home and took his daughter back. He knew that raising his daughter would be a daunting and frightening task, but he was not going to let Ing down.
As he was anxious to get her walking so that she could fly (his mother told him that she would take Winifred away from him if the girl was on a broom before she could manage herself on the ground), he got his daughter up and running as soon as her little legs would let her. With a long leash on her back and plenty of plushy cushions dotting the backyard of the Wood cottage, Winifred was allowed to fly on her little broom as far as she could go. When Oliver was out on his own broom she wasn't 'leashed', as he believed that any daughter of his could keep out of trouble on a broom. Winifred was able to entertain herself and, often without knowing that her father was close enough to grab her in less than ten seconds if necessary, she would explore the edge of the forest by broom and leg.
Growing up, Winifred would never hear more than a sentence or two at a time about her mother from her father. She instinctively knew that he adored and practically worshipped her memory, and so she often imagined her to be the most incredible of women. The house was full of pictures of Ingrid, and Winifred was able to gather more clues about this 'practically perfect' being from her Grandmother and Grandfather. People would sometimes pet Wini and say that it was 'very terrible' that she had lost her mother and only had her father. Winifred was prone to argue very loudly that it didn't matter if she didn't have a mother because she had a father and that was more than what some other people had. She hated it when people questioned Oliver's ability to raise her, as she saw him sometimes scratching his head in perplexity as he tried to determine how to rear her. Winifred knew that Oliver considered failure the worst possible thing, and she never wanted him to feel as though he were a failure. In a way, Winifred figures that she became 'such a completely brilliant person' to prove her father right.
She has very rarely disobeyed him outright since she was a young girl, as they were too close of friends, and his rules to lax for her to do much that could be considered disobedience, but Oliver is still adamant that by becoming a Hufflepuff she went against his rules. When Winifred points out that Ingrid was a Hufflepuff, Oliver will shut up, but bring the subject up the next time Winifred decides to use the fact that she is 'the most obedient of daughters' as a tool to get her own way. "At least," Oliver might mutter, "You made it on the house team your second year."
Winifred's early Hogwarts career certainly was interesting. Her father and his parents had all assumed that their independent and extroverted girl would be a crimson Gryffindor, through and through. When Winifred owl'd her father to tell him that she was in Hufflepuff, she was not surprised to get a one word response -- "What?" She had never been averse to being in her mother's house, and Winifred found it easy to make a score of friends in her house. Because she had been raised to be full of confidence, she never felt that she was annoying older students and became a favourite among them when she was just a first year. She loved ring-leading the gang of girls that she shared a dorm with, and people found her easy to get along with, even if she could get a temper if she didn't get her way.
When Winifred was in her 4th year she was made Captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Her father was proud of her "Didn't expect anything less," he told her. He also began sending her 'recommended' workouts for the team and gave her his opinions on how to keep the team unified. Winifred knew that it was only his devotion to her that could cause him to help Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor.
Never, ever a model student, Winifred has obviously been attending Hogwarts for the sake of playing Quidditch. She is moderately interested in Muggle Studies, as she feels that this class gives her a small glimpse into the world that her mother grew up in. Winifred is thrilled that she only has to take three classes right now, although she knows that many people might consider her lazy. At least, she says, I am doing very well in them.
A significant childhood memory:
Her grandmother showed her a box of articles that had been written about Oliver when she was fourteen and Winifred realized that her father had been scrutinized and often spoken about in the tabloids when she was a little girl. There had been several articles written about 'Who Will Be The Next Mrs. Wood?" and she even saw a newspaper article about how her father had sued Witch Weekly for posting a picture of her without his permission. Winifred came to understand that he had been unwilling to compromise the memory of his deceased wife, or even to expose their small family to publicity that could have garnered Oliver a more lucrative career. Eventually, Grandma Wood told Winifred, the tabloids realized that he wasn't the playboy they wanted him to be, and they left him alone.
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third person 'RP' sample:
journal entry sample:
Back to Hogwarts and back to Quidditch. Not like that ever stops, course, just because it's the holidays. Most of the team was over at my house practicing during hols. That's the way to do it. You get ahead. Hear that, Slytherin? You won last year but you're not going to get near the cup this year. It's time for Hufflepuff to make it happen.
Anyway, most of you are looking pretty damn dapper. Working out, Potter? I think so! How's the arm, Flowers? Didn't look very good last time I saw you. I hope you babied it through the holidays.
Private to Hufflepuff Quidditch Team, Minus Nathan
By the by, if anyone sees Boot slouching give him a kick in the knees! It's for the team, really. And once he can manage to stand up straight I'll give the poor boy a snog.