APP/BACKSTORY

[toriagrey]

Character Information
Name: Victoria Anne Grey
LJ Username: toriagrey
House: Ravenclaw
Year: (1st - 7th) 5th
Age: 16
Birthdate: Sept 23
Zodiac Sign / Description: Virgo

Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac and governs the nervous system and the intestines. Positive traits include a keen intellect, attention to detail, imagination, politeness, disciplined work habits, realism, practicality, skepticism, organizational skill, curiosity, and modesty; negative traits are anal-retentiveness, anxiety, hesitation, an inability to see the forest past the trees, insecurity, and obsessiveness.

Ravenclaw Virgos are skeptical, analytical, mathematically oriented, and sharp witted. Many become great magi, alchemists, and astrologers. These people love ideas and theoretical discussion, and their leaps of intuition can be uncanny. The Earth element makes them shrewd and pragmatic, and keeps them from flying off into cloudcuckooland.

Bloodline: Halfblood, sort of. Her parents are both magical, but neither of them is pureblood.
Heritage: British

Mother: Elanor Lynn Carver, 42, Halfblood Witch
Elanor is a former Hufflepuff and a complete sweetheart. She doesn't work, but now that her children are mostly out of the house (or away at school, in the case of her youngest), she does a lot of volunteer/charity work. Having her first child so soon after school (and then having three more) somehow derailed her dreams to become a healer or mediwitch and while she doesn't have the full training, she spends a lot of time visiting some of the more long-term residents of St. Mungo's, especially those who don't get visits from friends or family for whatever reason. A big part of Victoria's caring nature comes from her mother's example. Elanor always taught her children to believe the best about people and help them out whenever you can.

Father: David Alan Grey, 45, Muggleborn Wizard
David is a former Ravenclaw and a lot of Victoria's love of literature comes from him. He has an extensive library of literature, accumulated since he was a boy and he has always encouraged his children to love books as much as he does. David works in Charms research and while he can't help feeling a little disappointed that his youngest doesn't love Charms the way he does, he is very glad they share a love of reading and research in general.

David wasn't very social as a student, either, and it was by chance that he and Elanor met. Elanor was actually his sister Rebecca's roommate and the pair first started to get to know each other when Rebecca begged and whined until he agreed to actually go into Hogsmeade together on the last trip of his 7th year. After he left school, he kept in touch with Elanor, sending regular OWLs and shortly after she graduated, he began courting her and eventually married the girl, much to his sister's delight. Elanor and Rebecca are still close friends, too, and as a result, David and Elanor's children spent a lot of time growing up with Rebecca's only daughter.

Guardian: N/A
Siblings: She's the baby of the family with three older siblings who have already left Hogwarts. She's not extraordinarily close to any of them, due partly to the significant age gap between them.

Personal History:
Victoria is the youngest of four children. Her older siblings are all out of school by now, so she doesn't see them very often at all, which makes her sad, because even though she isn't super-close to any of her siblings, she loves her family and likes having them around. It's kind of a security thing. Toria still has a cousin at Hogwarts, though, which is nice, because it gives her a regular familial connection nearby. She'll be sad when the girl graduates and she is left all alone at school.

Most of Victoria's childhood has been spent with books. It sounds sad to say it that way, but she doesn't regret it for a moment, because she loves learning things or losing herself in a completely fictional world. The list of things she's read is quite extensive and that's something she is quite proud of. Her father has gladly kept her supplied with a variety of reading material, ever since she was old enough and some of her happiest memories are of sitting in the family library with him discussing whatever book she was reading at thee time.

Victoria's childhood has been mostly a happy one. She has two parents that love her and have always supported her, even if they do wish she'd be a little more social. Her family isn't rich, but they're well enough off that she's never really wanted for anything. Toria is a little spoiled, but she's too sweet and innocent to ever really realize that.

Right now, Victoria is very focused on studying for her OWLs. She's starting to freak out a little, which means she's putting in extra time studying and being even more non-social than usual. She can most commonly be found in the library or her common room, nose in a schoolbook. She's a bit of an idiot about it, actually, often forgetting to eat meals or not giving herself enough time for sleeping, but if asked she will insist that she is fine.

Personality:
Though she is rarely one to initiate a conversation with someone she doesn't know well, Victoria is warm and kind to almost everyone she meets. She's very naive and trusting and it takes a lot to make her hate someone. She might be put off by brashness or seeming lack of class, but she'll still be friendly or at te least polite. It's very unsual for Victoria to be mean, unless it's to someone who has wronged people she loves.

Victoria is practical and usually level-headed when it comes to other people and things. She likes things that are easily explained. She likes structure and schedules. She's a fastidious note-taker and is very nearly obsessive about keeping up with her schoolwork and maintaining near perfect grades. Only getting an E on an assinment is grounds for some major sulking. An A will see her holed up in the library for weeks. Of course, that whole level-headed thing doesn't apply to her studying habits and she'll often take her obsession with her grades a bit too far. Silly girl. She seems to think she doesn't need things like food or rest when they get in the way of her achieving perfect marks.

Victoria hates thinking anyone doesn't like or approve of her. She's confused by it, because she would never willingly hurt anyone and she'll often do whatever she can to rectify the situation. This makes her pretty easily to manipulate, because a good disappointed pout will likely get her to do whatever it is you want her to do. This happens especially easily with family and close friends, because Victoria feels a strong sense of loyalty towards them that makes it even more difficult to say no to whatever they ask of her.

While she's not exactly shy, Victoria is relatively quiet and reserved and isn't one to approach others. She can have her silly moments, but overall, Victoria's idea of a good time is to curl up with a cup of tea and a nice, long book. She doesn't go out of her way to socialize much, preferring the company of books to that of people. She'd also rather die than break a rule. Skipping class? Bringing sweets into the library? Staying out a millisecond past curfew? These are all things that Victoria would never, ever consider. Suggesting she do those sorts of things would probably give her an aneurysm or something.

Physical Description: Her hair is dark brown, but it tends to get a few subtle lighter streaks in the summers, though it is still mostly dark. It's long, hanging well past her shoulders and usually worn usually straight. Sometimes she pulls it back into a loose ponytail. Sometimes she charms it curly. But mostly she just wears it down and straight, a very simple style, though she does usually streak it house colours for quidditch matches.

Her eyes are large and innocent, blue in color, and she has a round face that sometimes makes her seem younger than she is. Her style of dress is mostly casual, though even her casual clothes are neatly pressed and she has the appearance of being well and carefully groomed, even if she is lounging around in sweats.

Victoria's face is very expressive and she really does wear her heart on her sleeve. It's very easy to tell what she is thinking or feeling just by looking at her and she's really a bad liar because of the way her face always shows what's in her heart.

She has a small frame, standing at about 5'1 and weighing around 120 lbs. She's not unhealthy, by any means, and her weight is proportionate to her height and bone structure, but she definitely appears more delicate that she actually is, physically.

(height/weight info from here)

Preferred Body Model: Alexis Bledel


Hobbies and talents:
+ Drawing/Art - Toria loves to draw/paint, etc., and she's not great at it, but she's not bad either. It's just an idle hobby and something that relaxes her.
+ Reading - Victoria is SUCH a bookwoorm. She loves books and she'll read pretty much anything she can get her hands on.
+ Dance - Her parents had her taking dance lessons at a young age and she is naturally graceful enough to be good at it. She doesn't necessarily enjoy it, though. It's just one of those things she does without complaint because it's expected of her.

Weaknesses:
+ Naive - Victoria is extremely sheltered and naive. There is a lot she doesn't know about how the world works and she tends to have a very foolishly optimistic view of things.
+ Pushover - This connects to her naivety and her blind loyalty to loved ones, but Victoria doesn't really know how to say no to people. Especially people she is close to. She'll do almost anything that is asked of her, so long as it doesn't break the rules in any way and she's very easily bullied.
+ Perfectionist - Everything she does has to be perfect. She hates scoring less than an O on anything and hates finding things she doesn't do well at. She spends way too much time obsessing and studying, trying to make sure she can do her work flawlessly and gets very easily frustrated when she can't do it right the first time. This especially affects her in classes like Transfiguration where the magic is usually pretty difficult.
+ Fear of heights - Victoria is deathly afraid of heights. I don't know how she made it through first year flying lessons, but she definitely would never get on a broom now and she has to sit as close to the ground as she can get when attending a quidditch match.
+ Quiet/Reserved - Victoria isn't she, but she is very quiet and reserved. It would be easy for people to assume she is either shy or snobbish, because she is rarely the first to approach anyone to talk to them, unless it's someone she already knows well and likes.
+ Stubborn - When Toria gets an idea into her head, it sticks. It's really hard to change her mind once she's made it up. She's stubbornly insistent when it comes to following the rules, too, and no amount of reason will convince her that she should loosen up. She'll insist on following those rules, even at the expense of her own life or happiness.
+ Bad Liar - Victoria can't lie to save her life. She definitely doesn't have a poker face at all and her expression will nearly always give her away. The girl has a tell the size of J-Lo's ass. She doesn't try to lie often, of course, because it goes against her sense of morality, but when she does try, she is painfully bad at it.

Best subjects: Potions
Worst subjects: Transfiguration

Broom: No broom. She's terrified of heights.
Wand: 11 inch olive with a unicorn hair core

List of classes for current year:
Astronomy
Charms
DADA
Herbology
History of Magic
Potions
Transfiguration
Divination
Ancient Runes
Arithmancy

Magical Stuffs
Patronus (for fifth years and older):
A swan: The Swan holds a multitude of representations including love, grace, purity, beauty and sincerity. Another attribute of Aphrodite, the Swan also symbolized chastity. The Celts believed the Swans were benevolent dieties and legend has it that their images were forged into silver medallions worn around the neck for protection. In Hinduism, the Swan is known as the Hamsa bird and signifies the divine mind and the breath of spirit. The Swan is also another symbol of the Virgin Mary and the purity and love she symbolizes. (taken from here

What would your character smell if they sniffed Amortentia (the love potion)? A mixture of sunflowers and daisies - her two favourite flowers.
Do you think your character is capable of successfully employing a Cruiciatus Curse? Why or why not? No way. The idea of breaking a school rule terrifies her enough. There's no way she'd ever manage something as bad as an Unforgivable.
Describe how your character would react, in the form of a sample RP, if faced with a Dementor.
It was an odd, cold feeling that overcame Victoria as the.. that thing crept toward her. Despair and hopelessness were mostly foreign emotions to her, because Toria always tried to look on the bright side. Suddenly, though, every insecurity, every doubt she'd ever felt and pushed aside was rushing at her, so powerfully that she couldn't seem to move.

Victoria struggled to regain logical thought, to remember what it was she should do right now. Her every instinct told her that she needed to get out of there - and quickly - but even if she could move, she knew she couldn't outrun it.

Think... think... think...

She remembered, then. "Patronus, of course," she whispered, mentally kicking herself for having forgotten, even for a moment. She nearly cried in frustration when her first few attempts fell flat before she shook her head and forced herself to focus.

Victoria didn't even wait long enough to see if this fourth attempt would be good enough before she turn and ran as fast as she possibly could, hoping desperately that she'd be able to get away.

Alignment: Pretty much good. She wouldn't take an active stand or willingly take part in a battle, but if it came down to having to choose a side, she'd side with Dumbles.

Requests: None.