Post by Lizette Odell on Sept 16, 2008 1:05:00 GMT
Getting Comfy
Lizette Aileen Odell, a unique girl like all the others.
[Goes by Izzy or Zett, never Liz]
Seventeen years spent making mischief, seven spent at Hogwarts.
An emerald snake marks her robes.
A witch born of muggle parents.
Her wand of choice is seven inch yew, with a core of acromantula silk. It has a web design carve into the handle.
She casts a spider patronus when she can think happily enough to build more than a puff of silver mist.
She fears deep water and any creatures in it (mostly it's a fear of dying underwater), but her worst fear and boggart is becoming weak and unable to care for herself.
Growing Closer
Initially: Lizette comes off aloof to many people. She doesn't have any close friends, the friends she does have don't know very much about her personal life, and she's never been particularly curious about theirs. Izzy likes to take things at face value; evaluate the obvious, draw conclusions from what people want, or let be seen. She figures if they let the world see it, that's probably how they want to be seen, and it's the easiest and quickest way to get to know a person's immediate thoughts. She doesn't see a whole lot of use in getting caught up in deep, close relationships because such things are rather fleeting at this point in life. One year a person's at school, the next year they're not; from graduation or transfer or death at the hands of whatever creature happens to be invading the school at the time. Rather than let herself get attatched to people who might get taken away, she simply passes up relationships in search for whatever higher calling there might be in the world.
Eventually: Any one willing to wait through the immediate freeze of Izzy's personality [of which there are few, and a very few indeed. It takes a while for her to thaw] will see that she's quite a firecracker. Because of her snap-to observation judgements of people, she has quite a little bit of knowledge on quite a lot of the patrons of the Hogwarts halls. She keeps a little notebook of observations with her at all times, and tracks her favorite Hogwarts dramatics in it, in exaggerated detail. She loves to watch how student relationships grow and fade, simmer and explode, and she especially loves knowing all the dirty little secrets that other people overlook and don't notice. Anyone who waits long enough for her to pull that little book out in their presence is in for a treat; she has a brilliant sense of over-dramatic humour that makes a third-year hufflepuff's trip to the water fountain seem like a conspiracy against Headmaster Hubbles himself! Lucky be the student who catches Lizette in a moment of observation revelry.
Consequently: Truly, Miss Odell is a very deep thinker. Her brain is always working, and it's very rare that she hasn't got a book or newspaper or magazine of some sort with her, to brush up on the latest news from around the world, revise her opinions of Muggle authors vs. Magic ones, or just find a new spell to melt a first-year's shoes to the floor. She finds great joy in using basic magic spells in new, perhaps slightly twisted, ways; taking something easy and using it to accomplish a complex (or funny) task. She doesn't like to cut corners, but she likes to find the easiest and most efficient way to do things. If it takes three hours and five hundred safety pins to hang twelve dozen flower arrangements and a 'Welcome back to Hogwarts' sign, she'll do it, but she'd rather use an hour and a half to find out that charming a flock of birds to do the job is far quicker and more effective.
Finally: In the extremely rare instance that someone actually manages to truly befriend Izzy, she's the sort of friend that everyone wishes they had. If you bring her a problem, she'll either find a way for you to fix it, fix it herself, or tell you it's a stupid problem to have and to get over it. She's extremely blunt, and does not beat around the bush for anything. She still calls things like she sees them, but it becomes more personal. Lizette is loyal unto death, part of why she keeps people at a distance. If anyone messes with someone she cares about, it becomes her sole mission in life to ruin that person. Oh, maybe she won't hurt them, but she will make their life a living nightmare. Whether it's spreading a reputation crushing rumour, or framing someone for staining Miss Hundar's favorite set of robes Hot Pink, she will find a person's weakness one way or another.
It's What I Live For
Lizette loves her family with all her heart. What's left of it, that is. You see, her mother and father grew up on the Irish Coast together. They were childhood friends, who became adolescent rivals, who became teenage sweethearts and eventually got married. Izzy's father, Peirce, was a fisherman. Her mother, Eanna, was raised by a fishing family, and as such would often join her husband on expeditions.
Not long after they married, Peirce and Eanna gave birth to their first child, Lizette Aileen. Two years after that, twins Avalon and Parley were born, and another two years after that the youngest little boy Bran came along.
Growing up, strange things always happened in Lizette's family. Whenever they were in dire straights for money, the family would go on a fishing trip, and suddenly their nets would be over flowing with cascades of wriggling silver fish. If ever any of the children got mad at each other, suddenly they'd all be stricken with unexplainable illnesses. Sometimes, Lizette would even be caught in the yard building daisy chains... in the middle of winter. All was explained when she turned eleven and recieved a letter from Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At first the family thought it was a joke, but Zett knew better. She had always known she was different from her playmates in school, and now she knew why. She was a witch!
When she got to Hogwarts she was amazed by everything; the portraits that didn't stay in their frames, house elves cleaning the rafters, owl mail! The thing that amazed her most, though, was the Sorting Hat. When her name was called and she went to sit on the stool underneath the ancient headpiece, all she could think was 'How does this even work?'
She and Mr. Hat, as she began calling him, carried on a lovely conversation... for close to an hour, she learned, when the hat finally barked out that she was to be put in Slytherin. No one had been quite certain how to react to her after that. No one could remember a time that it had taken the hat so long to sort someone. People weren't sure if it was because she had so many strong qualities, or if it was because she didn't really belong anywhere. She was okay with that though. She was so fascinated by magic that she didn't have time for frivilous things like sociality.
Two years later, the twins were accepted as well! The family was thrilled, but also shocked. A muggle family with not one or two, but three wizards born into it? And for bonus points, Eanna was pregnant again! Nine months later, Izzy and her siblings got a letter saying that they had a new baby brother, Seaton. The whole family was thrilled! For one thing, they had a new family member, and for another, they couldn't wait to find out if the rest of the kids were going to be magical, too!
Unfortunately, tragedy struck the Odell house a year after Seat was born. Peirce and Eanna and Bran and Seaton all went on a fishing expedition; just a basic throw and catch, easy. But out of nowhere, a squall caught the boat unawares! It was a terrible storm, everyone was hanging on for dear life... and two of them made it out alive.
A week later the broken fishing boat washed ashore, with Eanna and Bran weather beaten, bruised, and half dead laying inside. Word was sent to Hogwarts immediately of the situation, and the siblings were devastated. Eanna was definately the worse for wear; she was in a mild coma for almost two months, though she would wake up every now and again screaming about the "yellow-eyed demons". Their brother Bran didn't talk for a good six months after the accident. It was a life altering experience.
When Bran turned eleven and recieved a letter from Hogwarts just like his Brother and sisters before him, Eanna decided that with all these wizards in the family, they ought to move to a wizarding community, and soon they did. The whole family moved to Scottland and continued their lives in a little village called Owl Wood. The Odell's avoid talking about their lives before the move, and nobody talks about Seaton or Peirce. It's a quiet life now, but it's a good one as far as Izzy's concerned.