Lia Grace Callahan
PLAYER DETAILS
Name (or alias): Caitlyn
LJ: cherrysk8fan
AIM SN: Flute1285
BASE CHARACTER PROFILE -- PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE SHOULD ONLY BE ONE WORD ANSWERS (Except for the last one... and use your common sense for others too.)
Name: Lia Grace Callahan
LJ: liacallahan
Played By: Melissa Gallo
Birthdate: January 17, 1991
Age: 15
Gender: female
Wand: Nine and a half inches, walnut, with a core of unicorn hair
Blood: Muggleborn
Birthplace: London, UK
Location: London/Hogwarts
Status or Class: Upper-class
Race/Culture/Religion: Caucasian; English of some French background; non-practicing Catholic [as in, her mother's family is Catholic, and will always claim to be Catholic, but in reality, Lia attends church for major holidays and milestone ceremonies and that's it]
Family:
Guardian #1's Name/Age/Occupation: Benjamin Callahan, 46, lawyer
Guardian #2's Name/Age/Occupation: Nathalie Callahan, 43, professor of French
Siblings' Names/Age/Occupations: n/a
Pet Name/Species: Soleil, barn owl
OWL Scores: [anticipated]
Astronomy: E
Charms: O
DADA: E
Herbology: A
History of Magic: O
Potions: E
Transfiguration: O
Ancient Runes: O
Arithmancy: O
Divination: E
NEWT Scores: (Put N/a if it is not applicable): [anticipated]
Astronomy: n/a
Charms: O
DADA: A
Herbology: n/a
History of Magic: O
Potions: n/a
Transfiguration: E
Ancient Runes: O
Arithmancy: O
Divination: E
10 Words to describe your character: intelligent, studious, serious, shy, naive, independent, nervous, awkward, dedicated, ambitious
EXTENDED APPLICATION -- PLEASE DO AT LEAST A PARAGRAPH ON EACH OF THESE, UNLESS THEY ARE STATED TO BE OPTIONAL
Personality:
Lia is probably a parent's dream child - she'd never think of disobeying her parents, ever, and as the only child of two very well-educated Muggles, it's only natural that her obedience (though really, it's more a desire to not disappoint) extends most fully into her schoolwork. She is quiet, studious, and quite serious; her studies are top priority, ranking higher than anything else in her life on any given day. (Granted, there are emergency situations with close family and friends that might temporarily take precedence over schoolwork, but only in an absolute emergency...and even then, it would be in the back of her mind.) She is a worrier - not just about schoolwork, but her family especially, and the state of her place in the wizarding world.
Lia wants to be successful, and she sees adults' opinions as being a better gauge of her success than other students' opinions ever could be. She has a definite sense of propriety (what's right and wrong, yes, but also what is proper) -- she's certainly polite, she knows how to behave in formal social settings and around adults. Had she been born a pureblood, she would throughly be one of those society types. (Thankfully, she was not, and is not...instead she's just overly polite and can be too formal at times.) Therefore, she's polite and reasonably friendly to everyone until they give her a reason otherwise, but would rather keep people at a bit of a distance. She doesn't even tell her closest friends everything about her life; she's a rather private person and doesn't feel the whole world needs to know what she's doing and thinking at any given time.
Probably as a result of that, Lia deals much better with the adults in her life than her peers. She'd have no trouble asking the professor for help, but couldn't figure out for the life of her how to ask one of her classmates to come visit...or, heaven forbid, on a date. She doesn't quite understand certain interpersonal relationships on the level she probably should, which comes across as being dense as a brick (at least if you ask Naia). This is not to say that she's completely socially awkward, she's just more likely to take statements on their face rather than see hints that are being dropped. Besides that, she'd usually rather be on her own anyway -- Lia can be quite competitive and usually feels like she has something to prove. Whether this is the product of her parents and their accomplishments in her eyes, or of being an intelligent, capaple Muggleborn in a very discriminatory world, or simply of being backstage at a few too many ballet auditions, it's impossible to say.
Strengths: Both magical and personality:
Lia is very intelligent and is also a hard worker - she has standards to maintain, after all, and she knows what needs to be done to do so. She is a very focused student and usually has little trouble paying attention and sticking to the task at hand. As a result, she's a very good student. Lia's strengths, magically, are in written subjects and some wandwork, particularly ancient runes, arithmancy, and charms.
Lia has an excellent memory when it comes to what she reads, so any subject that's based in simple reading comes fairly easily to her - similarly, theoretical stuff makes sense. (Lia isn't necessarily naturally gifted at transfiguration, but she really enjoys practicing it, and because she understands the theory extremely well, her grades are quite good.)
Outside of magical strengths, she's quite good at ballet and would have tried to dance as a career had she not been magical. She does play Quidditch, as everyone needs to have some form of stress relief (and dance isn't really an option for her anymore). When you're stressed out, nothing could possibly be better for that than using a bat to hit things at people, right? Lia isn't a bad flier - not excellent, and if she doesn't make the Quidditch team again next year, she won't be terribly upset - but she loves to do it.
Weaknesses: Both magical and personality:
Magically, Lia struggles in Herbology. Try as she might, the best she can hope for is to simply pass and then give it up, which she really can't wait to do. She doesn't like plants, and they don't really like her. She would have been awful at Care of Magical Creatures, but knew better than to take that in the first place. Lia is quite delibrate and has to think everything through before she does something - she doesn't think well on her feet, and she's often slow to react. (She would be pretty terrible in a duel.) This causes plenty of headaches for her in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The theory makes sense, and she can do the spells in a nice, controlled environment (like a classroom situation), but in an actual situation, she'd probably have trouble. She'd prefer to drop that class too, once she takes the OWL, but she recognizes that it's especially important because it doesn't come naturally to her - she knows that she'll have to be able to defend herself, even if the class takes a lot of effort on her part and isn't particularly enjoyable.
Lia hates to take sides and is awful in confrontations. When it comes to "fight or flight," she will flee almost every time, even if it would be to her benefit to stay and fight (or even stand up for herself). She tends to be nervous and is definitely a worrier. She doesn't take risks.
Because she was homeschooled and dealt more with adults than people her own age, she can deal brilliantly with professors and figures of authority - but has an absolutely terrible time communicating with other students. As another part of that, Lia is pretty dense in catching hints or picking up subtleties. She doesn't always understand why people are doing or saying the things they are, even if it looks obvious to other people. She tries, but inevitably gives up and makes someone (usually Naia) explain other people to her.
On the whole, Lia really is a nice person, she's just not at all social - obviously, she knows the other students in her year and quite a few of the other Ravenclaws, but she has very few close friends. Study buddies, maybe, but the girl doesn't get out much. She really does care about her friends, but oftentimes lets personal relationships take a backseat to schoolwork. (There will always be time to go out and be social after she becomes successful in magic, thanks.)
Fears:
First and foremost, Lia fears that she is (or will be) a disappointment to her parents. She hates that she had to choose between the world they live in and the one she lives in now, especially because she knows that her parents weren't really happy with her decision at all. She thinks they had big expectations for her in the Muggle world (which is true), and that they won't be able to accept her accomplishments as a witch (which isn't really true anymore). Lia is very afraid of losing a family member - namely one of her parents, but also any of her grandparents - whether by their death or by simple alienation. (This is what drives her to do so well in school: she can translate Hogwarts grades over to grades her parents will understand, and still make them feel like they understand some part of her life.)
As such, Lia is afraid to fail, and she always has been. It's actually a frustration to her parents, because they don't expect perfection from her at all, but Lia is so focused on succeeding at whatever she's doing that she completely panics when she can't do it well. (In a way, it's not a bad thing - she'd probably be failing herbology otherwise - but it's far too much stress on her.) For all that she will have had to work her tail off to manage that A on her Herbology OWL, and for all that it's a pass, she's going to see it as quite unacceptable. Instead of "well, I worked really hard and I passed," her attitude will be more along the lines of "well, I worked really hard and I nearly failed."
Obviously, she also has a wellfounded fear of the entire idea of the Death Eaters and what they stand for, which grows a bit more every time something awful happens. And because she worries, she's terrified that they'll figure out her parents have a magical daughter and target them somehow. Lia is scared for herself, of course, but she's even more concerned that something will happen to her parents - and that it will technically be her fault for bringing them in contact with that world in the first place.
History:
Lia is the only child of Benjamin and Nathalie Callahan, both of whom are Muggles with no history of magic within their families (except for Benjamin's younger sister, but they didn't know about that, it was kind of a big family secret). Lia grew up in a Twickenham neighborhood in London and was homeschooled by her parents (mostly her mother, whose schedule was more forgiving for that sort of thing). They had been planning to send her to a secondary school where she could live at home, or possibly a dance conservatory if things were looking that good, but obviously, her Hogwarts letter got in the way of that. Lia took ballet classes from the age of 3, as her parents figured she should get out and meet other kids, but it didn't really work quite as they'd planned: after a few years, she ended up being one of the youngest in her class, and got so competitive about it anyway that she didn't quite see the other girls as friends so much as potential competition. Besides, she honestly preferred spending her time by herself reading or working with her parents on school stuff.
Lia, however, never really saw a problem with being an only child or with being homeschooled - she rather liked keeping her parents to herself, and when they'd go to parks and things when she was small, the other kids were pretty ridiculous. She didn't understand why they'd rather throw sand at each other than just play nicely. Plus, it was more fun to impress the adults anyway, right?
When Lia got her Hogwarts letter, her parents gave her the choice of whether to go learn magic or stay home and have a normal life. She didn't really even have to think about it, because the idea of her fairytale magic books actually coming to life - well, and learning about something hardly anyone else knows - was worth it, no matter what. She was incredibly excited, but worried about leaving home more than anything else.
Once she arrived at Hogwarts and was sorted into Ravenclaw, she eventually became friends with Naia (and presumably other 4th year Ravenclaw girls as well). She was painfully shy for at least her first year, if not much of her second, and still isn't particularly talkative unless approached by someone else.
Lia found magical school to be everything she had hoped it would be, until she realized that people didn't want her there on the basis of who her parents were (or what they weren't, as the case may be. She unfortunately overheard a conversation in the library between some seventh years that introduced her to the term "Mudblood". (Plus, remember that she's been in school with shady characters like Adrian, as well.) That turned into a sort of motivation for Lia - she knew full well that she was just as smart as the purebloods and just as capable of performing magic as they were, so she worked even harder to prove them wrong.
At this point in her Hogwarts career, she's officially reached the halfway point and has already started to zero in on her OWLs - how to prepare for them, which ones she thinks she'll need, and so forth. She knows where her strengths lie, but is still trying to figure out what she can do with that.
Physical Description: At the least, provide base details of build, height, eye/hair colour, and complexion. About 5'1"; small, light build; light olive complexion; brown eyes; shoulder-length, straight brown hair; wears glasses occasionally for reading
Significant Relationships:
Family: Lia's family is relatively small, especially as she is an only child. However, she is very attached to the family that she does have, especially her parents, which is to be expected considering she had them pretty much to herself for 11 years.
Her father, Benjamin, is a partner at a law firm, and though he was often working while Lia was younger, she is very much her daddy's little girl. Benjamin has two siblings: his brother Jacob has three young daughters, and his sister Anita is witch. (This is largely unknown to most of the family, as she is 18 years younger than he is; Lia hasn't seen Anita in many years, and finds out about her magical ability over Christmas. That relationship is going to be MUCH FUN to develop!) Though his parents [Lia's paternal grandparents] do live in England, this side of the family is not particularly close. Lia sees her uncle, cousins, and grandparents on major holidays, and of course always receives a birthday card from them, but...honestly, she hadn't seen her aunt in several years and wasn't particularly concerned about it. There is obviously a low level of communication on this side of the family, but since that's normal for Lia, she doesn't really mind. She secretly thinks her grandparents prefer her three cousins, who are younger, more adorable, and live nearer to them, but she prefers her maternal grandparents anyway, so she figures it balances out.
Her mother, Nathalie, teaches French at London Metropolitan University. Nathalie was the one who did most of Lia's homeschooling when she was younger, and it was Nathalie that signed Lia up for dance classes to try and get her three-year-old to learn how to play with the other girls. She convinced her husband to homeschool Lia through primary school, under the idea that the two of them were the most equipped to prepare their own child for secondary school.
It is Nathalie's family that Lia is closest to, particularly her grandparents. Nathalie was born in England, but her parents were from Rennes, France and moved to England before Nathalie was born. They returned to France after their retirement, settling in the southern part of the country where the climate was more favorable. Lia has significant memories of visiting her grandparents in France during holidays as a child, and up until this Christmas, that tradition had continued while she was away at school. She hates that she has to lie to these grandparents about the school she attends and has seriously contemplated telling them about her magical abilities. Nathalie had a younger sister named Rachel, who unfortunately died in a car accident about ten years ago. Since Lia was four at the time, she doesn't really remember this aunt at all, but knows what she's been told by her mother and grandparents. As a result, Nathalie is now an only child, and since Lia is her only child, her grandparents have nowhere else in the family to focus their energy -- they might spoil her just a bit.
Friends: Lia's best friend is Naia Bergren; they met on their first night of Hogwarts, when Naia noticed Lia was standing strangely before the sorting ceremony and asked her if she was a ballerina. Naia is one of the very few people that Lia completely trusts, and one of the people she worries about most (especially when Naia is off trying to be stealthy or some nonsense).
Lia is good friends with/possibly kind of maybe dating Cody Nelson, which may possibly be one of the most awkward relationships on the PLANET. Though they've obviously been acquainted since they started at Hogwarts, being the same year and all, they became friends during third year divination (as Naia didn't take divination, Lia was forced outside her normal bubble of sticking to Naia and find new people to work with). Lia feels that, for all their relationship has turned rather awkward (and she has no idea what do to with it), Cody is someone she can rely on, and is a much more stable presence than Naia.
On a totally booknerd level, Lia and Bri Richards get along really well; they trade books back and forth every once in a while, and Bri was really supportive to Lia while Naia was in the hospital wing. Lia has a great deal of respect for the fifth year.
Amelie Asawenth is another good friend of Lia's - they both tend to keep to themselves quite often, and have recently made a joint vow to start getting out more. Whether or not that actually happens is another story, but it's the thought that counts...right?
Other: n/a
Special Considerations: Such as broom ownership, being an animagus, famous in some form, or a metamorphmagus. All are subject to mod approval.
Lia owns a Cleansweep, which was in part an early Christmas present from her parents this year. Other than that...there shouldn't be anything in this category.
COMMUNITY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS -- ONLY ANSWER THE SECTION APPLICABLE TO YOUR CHARACTER
Hogwarts:
Year: 4th
House: Ravenclaw
Why are they in that house? Simply put, Lia loves to learn, and about nearly anything, too. She values knowledge and her intellect above nearly anything else. And honestly, she wouldn't fit in around people who aren't constantly curious about something. All Ravenclaws aren't necessarily bookworms (though Lia certainly is), but the desire for knowledge is obviously an important trait, and Lia would probably struggle to have conversations with people if they weren't interested about something...otherwise, what would they even have to say? She might have a few traces of Hufflepuff kindness, and certainly her share of Slytherin ambition, and maybe even the Gryffindor sense of morality, but ultimately, the Ravenclaw traits far outweigh everything else.
Postion: beater on the Quidditch team
ROLEPLAY SAMPLE -- PLEASE ENSURE THAT THIS IS IN THIRD PERSON NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW
Lia was ridiculously thankful for the after-lunch break in her class schedule. She'd never skipped class before (unless she herself was physically sick) and didn't plan to start now. Although, if she was honest with herself, the tiny amount of sleep she'd gotten the night before could be a fair justification for skipping class. No matter, she'd managed to avoid that, and her day was done...thankfully.
The common room was rather deserted, as it was, after all, Monday afternoon, so Lia had no trouble finding a rather isolated chair in which to curl up and stare out the window and contemplate her afternoon. Homework was completely out of the question, though a nap was rather tempting. She knew she should visit Naia in the hospital wing, but she was kind of scared to go alone. She thought about finding Cody to take with her, but decided that would just invite awkwardness.
So with no decision made, Lia pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her robes tightly around herself, and returned to staring out the window.
MOD-ONLY QUESTIONS -- THESE WILL ONLY BE KNOWN TO THE MODS
Character Secrets: Not really any? No secret, sordid past; no traumas; nothing crazy.
Character Alliance: Definitely on the side of good, but not willing to stick her neck out for it. She knows that, as a Muggleborn, she's at risk to begin with, she doesn't want to draw attention to herself. (There isn't a trace of Gryffindor in this girl, seriously.)
Name (or alias): Caitlyn
LJ: cherrysk8fan
AIM SN: Flute1285
BASE CHARACTER PROFILE -- PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE SHOULD ONLY BE ONE WORD ANSWERS (Except for the last one... and use your common sense for others too.)
Name: Lia Grace Callahan
LJ: liacallahan
Played By: Melissa Gallo
Birthdate: January 17, 1991
Age: 15
Gender: female
Wand: Nine and a half inches, walnut, with a core of unicorn hair
Blood: Muggleborn
Birthplace: London, UK
Location: London/Hogwarts
Status or Class: Upper-class
Race/Culture/Religion: Caucasian; English of some French background; non-practicing Catholic [as in, her mother's family is Catholic, and will always claim to be Catholic, but in reality, Lia attends church for major holidays and milestone ceremonies and that's it]
Family:
Guardian #1's Name/Age/Occupation: Benjamin Callahan, 46, lawyer
Guardian #2's Name/Age/Occupation: Nathalie Callahan, 43, professor of French
Siblings' Names/Age/Occupations: n/a
Pet Name/Species: Soleil, barn owl
OWL Scores: [anticipated]
Astronomy: E
Charms: O
DADA: E
Herbology: A
History of Magic: O
Potions: E
Transfiguration: O
Ancient Runes: O
Arithmancy: O
Divination: E
NEWT Scores: (Put N/a if it is not applicable): [anticipated]
Astronomy: n/a
Charms: O
DADA: A
Herbology: n/a
History of Magic: O
Potions: n/a
Transfiguration: E
Ancient Runes: O
Arithmancy: O
Divination: E
10 Words to describe your character: intelligent, studious, serious, shy, naive, independent, nervous, awkward, dedicated, ambitious
EXTENDED APPLICATION -- PLEASE DO AT LEAST A PARAGRAPH ON EACH OF THESE, UNLESS THEY ARE STATED TO BE OPTIONAL
Personality:
Lia is probably a parent's dream child - she'd never think of disobeying her parents, ever, and as the only child of two very well-educated Muggles, it's only natural that her obedience (though really, it's more a desire to not disappoint) extends most fully into her schoolwork. She is quiet, studious, and quite serious; her studies are top priority, ranking higher than anything else in her life on any given day. (Granted, there are emergency situations with close family and friends that might temporarily take precedence over schoolwork, but only in an absolute emergency...and even then, it would be in the back of her mind.) She is a worrier - not just about schoolwork, but her family especially, and the state of her place in the wizarding world.
Lia wants to be successful, and she sees adults' opinions as being a better gauge of her success than other students' opinions ever could be. She has a definite sense of propriety (what's right and wrong, yes, but also what is proper) -- she's certainly polite, she knows how to behave in formal social settings and around adults. Had she been born a pureblood, she would throughly be one of those society types. (Thankfully, she was not, and is not...instead she's just overly polite and can be too formal at times.) Therefore, she's polite and reasonably friendly to everyone until they give her a reason otherwise, but would rather keep people at a bit of a distance. She doesn't even tell her closest friends everything about her life; she's a rather private person and doesn't feel the whole world needs to know what she's doing and thinking at any given time.
Probably as a result of that, Lia deals much better with the adults in her life than her peers. She'd have no trouble asking the professor for help, but couldn't figure out for the life of her how to ask one of her classmates to come visit...or, heaven forbid, on a date. She doesn't quite understand certain interpersonal relationships on the level she probably should, which comes across as being dense as a brick (at least if you ask Naia). This is not to say that she's completely socially awkward, she's just more likely to take statements on their face rather than see hints that are being dropped. Besides that, she'd usually rather be on her own anyway -- Lia can be quite competitive and usually feels like she has something to prove. Whether this is the product of her parents and their accomplishments in her eyes, or of being an intelligent, capaple Muggleborn in a very discriminatory world, or simply of being backstage at a few too many ballet auditions, it's impossible to say.
Strengths: Both magical and personality:
Lia is very intelligent and is also a hard worker - she has standards to maintain, after all, and she knows what needs to be done to do so. She is a very focused student and usually has little trouble paying attention and sticking to the task at hand. As a result, she's a very good student. Lia's strengths, magically, are in written subjects and some wandwork, particularly ancient runes, arithmancy, and charms.
Lia has an excellent memory when it comes to what she reads, so any subject that's based in simple reading comes fairly easily to her - similarly, theoretical stuff makes sense. (Lia isn't necessarily naturally gifted at transfiguration, but she really enjoys practicing it, and because she understands the theory extremely well, her grades are quite good.)
Outside of magical strengths, she's quite good at ballet and would have tried to dance as a career had she not been magical. She does play Quidditch, as everyone needs to have some form of stress relief (and dance isn't really an option for her anymore). When you're stressed out, nothing could possibly be better for that than using a bat to hit things at people, right? Lia isn't a bad flier - not excellent, and if she doesn't make the Quidditch team again next year, she won't be terribly upset - but she loves to do it.
Weaknesses: Both magical and personality:
Magically, Lia struggles in Herbology. Try as she might, the best she can hope for is to simply pass and then give it up, which she really can't wait to do. She doesn't like plants, and they don't really like her. She would have been awful at Care of Magical Creatures, but knew better than to take that in the first place. Lia is quite delibrate and has to think everything through before she does something - she doesn't think well on her feet, and she's often slow to react. (She would be pretty terrible in a duel.) This causes plenty of headaches for her in Defense Against the Dark Arts. The theory makes sense, and she can do the spells in a nice, controlled environment (like a classroom situation), but in an actual situation, she'd probably have trouble. She'd prefer to drop that class too, once she takes the OWL, but she recognizes that it's especially important because it doesn't come naturally to her - she knows that she'll have to be able to defend herself, even if the class takes a lot of effort on her part and isn't particularly enjoyable.
Lia hates to take sides and is awful in confrontations. When it comes to "fight or flight," she will flee almost every time, even if it would be to her benefit to stay and fight (or even stand up for herself). She tends to be nervous and is definitely a worrier. She doesn't take risks.
Because she was homeschooled and dealt more with adults than people her own age, she can deal brilliantly with professors and figures of authority - but has an absolutely terrible time communicating with other students. As another part of that, Lia is pretty dense in catching hints or picking up subtleties. She doesn't always understand why people are doing or saying the things they are, even if it looks obvious to other people. She tries, but inevitably gives up and makes someone (usually Naia) explain other people to her.
On the whole, Lia really is a nice person, she's just not at all social - obviously, she knows the other students in her year and quite a few of the other Ravenclaws, but she has very few close friends. Study buddies, maybe, but the girl doesn't get out much. She really does care about her friends, but oftentimes lets personal relationships take a backseat to schoolwork. (There will always be time to go out and be social after she becomes successful in magic, thanks.)
Fears:
First and foremost, Lia fears that she is (or will be) a disappointment to her parents. She hates that she had to choose between the world they live in and the one she lives in now, especially because she knows that her parents weren't really happy with her decision at all. She thinks they had big expectations for her in the Muggle world (which is true), and that they won't be able to accept her accomplishments as a witch (which isn't really true anymore). Lia is very afraid of losing a family member - namely one of her parents, but also any of her grandparents - whether by their death or by simple alienation. (This is what drives her to do so well in school: she can translate Hogwarts grades over to grades her parents will understand, and still make them feel like they understand some part of her life.)
As such, Lia is afraid to fail, and she always has been. It's actually a frustration to her parents, because they don't expect perfection from her at all, but Lia is so focused on succeeding at whatever she's doing that she completely panics when she can't do it well. (In a way, it's not a bad thing - she'd probably be failing herbology otherwise - but it's far too much stress on her.) For all that she will have had to work her tail off to manage that A on her Herbology OWL, and for all that it's a pass, she's going to see it as quite unacceptable. Instead of "well, I worked really hard and I passed," her attitude will be more along the lines of "well, I worked really hard and I nearly failed."
Obviously, she also has a wellfounded fear of the entire idea of the Death Eaters and what they stand for, which grows a bit more every time something awful happens. And because she worries, she's terrified that they'll figure out her parents have a magical daughter and target them somehow. Lia is scared for herself, of course, but she's even more concerned that something will happen to her parents - and that it will technically be her fault for bringing them in contact with that world in the first place.
History:
Lia is the only child of Benjamin and Nathalie Callahan, both of whom are Muggles with no history of magic within their families (except for Benjamin's younger sister, but they didn't know about that, it was kind of a big family secret). Lia grew up in a Twickenham neighborhood in London and was homeschooled by her parents (mostly her mother, whose schedule was more forgiving for that sort of thing). They had been planning to send her to a secondary school where she could live at home, or possibly a dance conservatory if things were looking that good, but obviously, her Hogwarts letter got in the way of that. Lia took ballet classes from the age of 3, as her parents figured she should get out and meet other kids, but it didn't really work quite as they'd planned: after a few years, she ended up being one of the youngest in her class, and got so competitive about it anyway that she didn't quite see the other girls as friends so much as potential competition. Besides, she honestly preferred spending her time by herself reading or working with her parents on school stuff.
Lia, however, never really saw a problem with being an only child or with being homeschooled - she rather liked keeping her parents to herself, and when they'd go to parks and things when she was small, the other kids were pretty ridiculous. She didn't understand why they'd rather throw sand at each other than just play nicely. Plus, it was more fun to impress the adults anyway, right?
When Lia got her Hogwarts letter, her parents gave her the choice of whether to go learn magic or stay home and have a normal life. She didn't really even have to think about it, because the idea of her fairytale magic books actually coming to life - well, and learning about something hardly anyone else knows - was worth it, no matter what. She was incredibly excited, but worried about leaving home more than anything else.
Once she arrived at Hogwarts and was sorted into Ravenclaw, she eventually became friends with Naia (and presumably other 4th year Ravenclaw girls as well). She was painfully shy for at least her first year, if not much of her second, and still isn't particularly talkative unless approached by someone else.
Lia found magical school to be everything she had hoped it would be, until she realized that people didn't want her there on the basis of who her parents were (or what they weren't, as the case may be. She unfortunately overheard a conversation in the library between some seventh years that introduced her to the term "Mudblood". (Plus, remember that she's been in school with shady characters like Adrian, as well.) That turned into a sort of motivation for Lia - she knew full well that she was just as smart as the purebloods and just as capable of performing magic as they were, so she worked even harder to prove them wrong.
At this point in her Hogwarts career, she's officially reached the halfway point and has already started to zero in on her OWLs - how to prepare for them, which ones she thinks she'll need, and so forth. She knows where her strengths lie, but is still trying to figure out what she can do with that.
Physical Description: At the least, provide base details of build, height, eye/hair colour, and complexion. About 5'1"; small, light build; light olive complexion; brown eyes; shoulder-length, straight brown hair; wears glasses occasionally for reading
Significant Relationships:
Family: Lia's family is relatively small, especially as she is an only child. However, she is very attached to the family that she does have, especially her parents, which is to be expected considering she had them pretty much to herself for 11 years.
Her father, Benjamin, is a partner at a law firm, and though he was often working while Lia was younger, she is very much her daddy's little girl. Benjamin has two siblings: his brother Jacob has three young daughters, and his sister Anita is witch. (This is largely unknown to most of the family, as she is 18 years younger than he is; Lia hasn't seen Anita in many years, and finds out about her magical ability over Christmas. That relationship is going to be MUCH FUN to develop!) Though his parents [Lia's paternal grandparents] do live in England, this side of the family is not particularly close. Lia sees her uncle, cousins, and grandparents on major holidays, and of course always receives a birthday card from them, but...honestly, she hadn't seen her aunt in several years and wasn't particularly concerned about it. There is obviously a low level of communication on this side of the family, but since that's normal for Lia, she doesn't really mind. She secretly thinks her grandparents prefer her three cousins, who are younger, more adorable, and live nearer to them, but she prefers her maternal grandparents anyway, so she figures it balances out.
Her mother, Nathalie, teaches French at London Metropolitan University. Nathalie was the one who did most of Lia's homeschooling when she was younger, and it was Nathalie that signed Lia up for dance classes to try and get her three-year-old to learn how to play with the other girls. She convinced her husband to homeschool Lia through primary school, under the idea that the two of them were the most equipped to prepare their own child for secondary school.
It is Nathalie's family that Lia is closest to, particularly her grandparents. Nathalie was born in England, but her parents were from Rennes, France and moved to England before Nathalie was born. They returned to France after their retirement, settling in the southern part of the country where the climate was more favorable. Lia has significant memories of visiting her grandparents in France during holidays as a child, and up until this Christmas, that tradition had continued while she was away at school. She hates that she has to lie to these grandparents about the school she attends and has seriously contemplated telling them about her magical abilities. Nathalie had a younger sister named Rachel, who unfortunately died in a car accident about ten years ago. Since Lia was four at the time, she doesn't really remember this aunt at all, but knows what she's been told by her mother and grandparents. As a result, Nathalie is now an only child, and since Lia is her only child, her grandparents have nowhere else in the family to focus their energy -- they might spoil her just a bit.
Friends: Lia's best friend is Naia Bergren; they met on their first night of Hogwarts, when Naia noticed Lia was standing strangely before the sorting ceremony and asked her if she was a ballerina. Naia is one of the very few people that Lia completely trusts, and one of the people she worries about most (especially when Naia is off trying to be stealthy or some nonsense).
Lia is good friends with/possibly kind of maybe dating Cody Nelson, which may possibly be one of the most awkward relationships on the PLANET. Though they've obviously been acquainted since they started at Hogwarts, being the same year and all, they became friends during third year divination (as Naia didn't take divination, Lia was forced outside her normal bubble of sticking to Naia and find new people to work with). Lia feels that, for all their relationship has turned rather awkward (and she has no idea what do to with it), Cody is someone she can rely on, and is a much more stable presence than Naia.
On a totally booknerd level, Lia and Bri Richards get along really well; they trade books back and forth every once in a while, and Bri was really supportive to Lia while Naia was in the hospital wing. Lia has a great deal of respect for the fifth year.
Amelie Asawenth is another good friend of Lia's - they both tend to keep to themselves quite often, and have recently made a joint vow to start getting out more. Whether or not that actually happens is another story, but it's the thought that counts...right?
Other: n/a
Special Considerations: Such as broom ownership, being an animagus, famous in some form, or a metamorphmagus. All are subject to mod approval.
Lia owns a Cleansweep, which was in part an early Christmas present from her parents this year. Other than that...there shouldn't be anything in this category.
COMMUNITY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS -- ONLY ANSWER THE SECTION APPLICABLE TO YOUR CHARACTER
Hogwarts:
Year: 4th
House: Ravenclaw
Why are they in that house? Simply put, Lia loves to learn, and about nearly anything, too. She values knowledge and her intellect above nearly anything else. And honestly, she wouldn't fit in around people who aren't constantly curious about something. All Ravenclaws aren't necessarily bookworms (though Lia certainly is), but the desire for knowledge is obviously an important trait, and Lia would probably struggle to have conversations with people if they weren't interested about something...otherwise, what would they even have to say? She might have a few traces of Hufflepuff kindness, and certainly her share of Slytherin ambition, and maybe even the Gryffindor sense of morality, but ultimately, the Ravenclaw traits far outweigh everything else.
Postion: beater on the Quidditch team
ROLEPLAY SAMPLE -- PLEASE ENSURE THAT THIS IS IN THIRD PERSON NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW
Lia was ridiculously thankful for the after-lunch break in her class schedule. She'd never skipped class before (unless she herself was physically sick) and didn't plan to start now. Although, if she was honest with herself, the tiny amount of sleep she'd gotten the night before could be a fair justification for skipping class. No matter, she'd managed to avoid that, and her day was done...thankfully.
The common room was rather deserted, as it was, after all, Monday afternoon, so Lia had no trouble finding a rather isolated chair in which to curl up and stare out the window and contemplate her afternoon. Homework was completely out of the question, though a nap was rather tempting. She knew she should visit Naia in the hospital wing, but she was kind of scared to go alone. She thought about finding Cody to take with her, but decided that would just invite awkwardness.
So with no decision made, Lia pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her robes tightly around herself, and returned to staring out the window.
MOD-ONLY QUESTIONS -- THESE WILL ONLY BE KNOWN TO THE MODS
Character Secrets: Not really any? No secret, sordid past; no traumas; nothing crazy.
Character Alliance: Definitely on the side of good, but not willing to stick her neck out for it. She knows that, as a Muggleborn, she's at risk to begin with, she doesn't want to draw attention to herself. (There isn't a trace of Gryffindor in this girl, seriously.)