Penelope Clearwater (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pennyathought) wrote,@ 2022-02-12 16:08:00 |
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 { P e n e l o p e C l e a r w a t e r Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. | |
NICKNAMES: None. She’ll go by Penelope, please. AGE | DOB: 21 | 18 February 1976 HOGWARTS HOUSE | YEAR: Ravenclaw| 1994 BLOOD STATUS: Muggleborn RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single SEXUALITY: Heterosexual OCCUPATION: Sales clerk at Page Turner Bookshop, Oxford LOCATION: A flat in Oxford that’s been taken over by books. They breed and multiply when she’s not looking. FAMILY BACKGROUND: Father: Robert Clearwater, doctor at St. John’s Hospital, Bath Mother: Diane Clearwater née Cooper, curator and docent at the Roman Baths, Bath Siblings: None Other Family: A whole host of muggle ones. Robert and Diane met each other, as so many do, by chance. Robert had just moved to the city of Bath after obtaining a position at St. John’s hospital. Wanting to get acquainted with his new home, he took a tour of one the city’s most famous attractions, given by Diane, a recent PhD candidate of classical studies. Attracted by the pretty brunette’s wit, Robert hung back after the tour and asked her to tea at nearby Sally Lunn’s (he really was trying to do and see all the sights). Flattered, Diane accepted the young doctor’s invitation. A simple afternoon tea turned into a date the next evening. Before long the pair were dating and eventually married (at Bath Abbey). Penelope was their only child. | physical appearance “Only your friends steal your books” _______________________________ Standing at 5’4”, Penelope is a perfectly average height, which suits her just fine. She has brown hair, typically worn about shoulder length, and brown eyes. Her nose is pert and tends to be dusted with freckles during the summer when it isn’t burnt and peeling. (Penelope does not tan.) Blessed with a generous figure, Penelope has no problem finding clothes. She likes the soft and classic when it comes to her wardrobe. Clothes tend to be well tailored, flattering, and rarely revealing. While she would like to say that absolutely fastidious when it comes to her appearance, that truly only applies while at work. During the work week, Penelope takes the time in the morning to do her make up (tastefully, thank you very much), style her hair, and make sure her clothing is crisp and cat-hair free. Penelope wants very much to be taken seriously and is usually quite aware of her surroundings. She doesn’t fidget, play with her hair, or nibble the end of her quill. Her voice is almost always level at a conversational tone and speed. The only way that one would see her anger showing through would be the sharpening of her gaze and the slight clipping of her words. If you happen to catch her with her hair down you may glimpse the honest Penelope: the unabashed and sometimes untidy geek. When at home, Penelope doesn’t care much about her appearance. She will go without make up, her hair a mess, and it doesn’t matter what she’s wearing. Her hair is thrown up in a messy ponytail as she’s curled up on her couch with a book with a cup of tea nearby. When getting to a really good part of the book, Penelope had a tendency to play with a lock of loose hair. |
personality “We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.” _______________________________ Books, and the worlds within, were always easier for Penelope to understand than the actual people that surrounded her. Hogwarts was an easy adjustment as it was like living within a storybook. Life after, however, was a little more difficult as she had to navigate the adult world, a task she wasn’t always capable of. Easily charmed by an older man, she allowed herself to get caught up in the romance, even if common sense said otherwise. Though bruised around the edges, the whole experience left her stronger and more on a course she should have started on. Penelope does not suffer fools easily. She has gotten better at holding her tongue over the years, but a tiger cannot change it’s stripes. She feels very strongly that ignorance can be educated, but there is no cure for stupidity. Penelope has no problem telling you what you are doing wrong and how you ought to do things. While not the sort to make close friends immediately, once you have wormed your way though Penelope’s initial defenses you will find a person who is intensely compassionate. She has thoughts and feelings on almost everything, something she will freely share with friends. She gives wonderful advice, thinking about things in a very logical manner, but will rarely take her own. Though a little gun shy thanks to previous experiences, Penelope needs to be reminded that sometimes it doesn’t hurt when you take a leap of faith. In recent months, Penelope has learned how to relax a little. She is not on the Ministry ladder, trying to race to the top and beating out her competitors. As a result she has become a better person for it. Individual competition was never her strong suit. Likes: Quidditch, collecting perfume bottles, Dislikes: Raisins, olives, people who spit in public, insects and other creepy crawlies, thunderstorms, and complete mess (which is sometimes a direct contradiction of how her flat appears) Astrology: Aquarius is the eleventh house of the Zodiac and rules the circulatory system, shins, and ankles. Positive traits include brilliance, innovation, individuality, openness, social consciousness, inventiveness, practical skill, and self assertion; negative traits are eccentricity, lack of attachment to people and the "real world," over-intellectualizing of the emotions, a crotchety temper, rigidity, intellectual arrogance, and stubbornness. The stereotypical geeks of the magical world, Ravenclaw Aquarians are noted mostly for their genius. They are gifted theorists and inventors, and highly talented students. Most wind up doing pure research after graduating from Hogwarts. Their noses are always in books of esoteric lore. Some people may laugh at them, either for their unconventional lifestyles or (more commonly) because they are obvious nerds, but they don't care. While they can have sharp tempers, especially when they encounter ignorance or stupidity, these wizards generally mean well, and have a "live and let live" philosophy. Their wit is legendary; not everybody gets the Ravenclaw Aquarian's jokes, but those who are subtle and intelligent enough find conversation with an Aquarian Ravenclaw to be quite funny, in a satirical and ironic and irreverent sort of way. | ‹‹ Penelope has a ridiculous fear that she will grow up to be a crazy cat lady with far too many cats that will eventually eat her when she falls dead to the floor. This is highly unfounded as she only has one cat and she is quite healthy. (Also, Fezzik prefers chicken and seafood above red meat.) ‹‹ Penelope cannot cook. Either by muggle or by wizarding means. It’s a bit of an embarrassment, really, and she has several cookbooks, bought with dreams that she would be able to create a magnificent feast, but she’s never been successful. Penelope lives mostly on take away, sandwiches, and other foodstuffs that do not need any actual cooking. ‹‹ Penelope enjoys quidditch, but unfortunately for her, she was never meant to be on a broom. She’s gotten better at flying over the years, but she focuses too much on trying not to fall off to even consider playing the game. That being said, she has become a fierce supporter of Appleby Arrows and if she ever goes back to the Ministry, she thinks she’d like to do something in Magical Games & Sports. ‹‹ Her parents dislike the fact that she is working in a bookshop. They much preferred it when she had a position within the Ministry (once she explained what she was doing), but they obviously do not know the circumstances under which she left. Penelope much prefers it that way. They do, enjoy, however, being able to come visit her in her workplace when they visit Oxford. ‹‹ During her seventh year, Penelope started an independent study with Professor McGonagall to learn the animagus transformation. Unfortunately she did not achieve the full transformation by the end of the end of the year and had to put it aside. She would like to pick it up again. ‹‹ Penelope doesn’t see herself as spectacularly pretty. She’s no hag, to be certain, but she could probably stand to lose a few pounds and take care of her skin a little better. She’s better than she was in Hogwarts, after learning how to use makeup appropriately and how to dress her figure. She is not a natural flirt and probably doesn’t even realize when she is flirting. ‹‹ Unlike many of her peers, Penelope enjoyed dealing with the younger years during her years as prefect and head girl. An only child, it gave her a chance to play big sister. She has kept in contact with many of them over the years, with the journals making communication much easier. ‹‹ Her OWL Scores: Astronomy: A ‹‹ Her NEWT Scores: Ancient Runes: E |
biography “Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.” _______________________________ The only child of Robert and Diane Clearwater, the doting parents always knew their little girl was special. Only they didn’t realize how special until shortly after her eleventh birthday, but that’s skipping nearly half of Penelope’s life and that’s not doing anyone any favors. Despite the fact that both parents held full time jobs, thus requiring a full time babysitter in the afternoons, Robert and Diane were quite hands on. Penelope grew up in Bath, the wonderfully preserved Georgian city where weekend outings with her parents often turned into something educational at one of the many museums. By the time she had gone to Hogwarts, Penelope thought she quite grown up because she had walked almost all over the city with her parents. Both of her parents had their doctorates (though one was a PhD and the other a MD) and education was always valued over anything else. Books were all over the house and the television was rarely turned on except for the evening news (and only the BBC, never anything else). Penelope doesn’t remember when she learned how to read, but one day she assumed it just sort of clicked. Penelope was, and still is, a voracious reader. she read whatever she could get her hands on, even if it wasn’t considered “appropriate” for her age. One of her fondest memories of her childhood was taking a trip to Beatrix Potter’s cottage, Hill Top, in the Lake District, where she was the only child that was able to get one of the bunnies to come over for a pat. At age five, she was enrolled in St. Stephen’s Church of England Primary School. Penelope did well in school, though her teachers often remarked that she seemed more content to live inside the world of books than to join the rest of her peers in playing at recess. For Penelope there was a simple explanation: as an only child raised by two parents who did not have time to put up with childishness, books were more interested most of the time. Besides, none of her friends could make the words light up like they did for Penelope. Shortly after her eleventh birthday the letter that would change Penelope’s whole life arrived. Nobody could believe it’s contents, but the more they thought about it, the more it made sense. There had been several unexplained moments in Penelope’s life: the time a book followed her out the shop, hopping along like a bunny, when her mother wouldn’t purchase it for her (it was meant to be a birthday present) or when even the freshest brussel sprouts would become spoiled just as his mother was about to cook them. Her parents were understandably suspicious, but they took her to Diagon Alley and bought her her wand. Hogwarts was a revelation for Penelope. When she first laid eyes on the Castle, she knew this was what she was searching for in all her books. Sorted into Ravenclaw (the whole ordeal couldn’t haven taken more than forty-five seconds), Penelope settled easily. Flying amazed her, though she wasn’t very good at it, and she became enamoured with Quidditch, though again not very good at it. She did well in her classes, much more interested in these than those she took at St. Stephen’s, even History of Magic. Her hard worked paid off, as she was made prefect in her fifth year. Penelope was not all work and no play. Her fifth year also brought her first boyfriend: Percy Weasley. The pair continued to go out for the next three years, though they tried to keep the relationship quiet as Percy didn’t want his siblings scaring her away. It turned out Penelope had bigger things to worry about than her boyfriend’s younger siblings. In the middle of her sixth year she was petrified by the basilisk roaming and terrorizing the halls of Hogwarts. It was singularly the most disturbing and frightening thing she had ever experienced. It was like how she imagined a stroke would feel like: she had no control of her body yet her mind was complete there. Though she was only petrified for three weeks, Penelope developed a fear of being immobilised and tight spaces. Despite the disruption in her studies (or possibly because of it), Penelope was awarded the position of Head Girl. The first few weeks were rough as she tried to adjust to her additional duties, classes, and an independent study with Professor McGonagall to attempt the animagus transformation. Upon completion of her Hogwarts education, Penelope took a job with the Ministry in the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee. Unfortunately, her relationship with Percy did not continue after Hogwarts. Both were too busy with work that they did not get to spend much together. Their breakup was amicable and while Peneleope regrets its’ termination, she does believe it had reached its’ natural end. Life was going well for Penelope. She had a job that she was doing well in and enjoyed (after all, as a young muggleborn she knew much more about the current muggle world than some of her coworkers); she saw herself making a real difference in the world. Then of course, over a late night of paperwork and lukewarm tea, she shared a kiss with her boss, Sebastien Crawford. Not only were inter-office romances improper, Sebastien was a married man. Penelope tried to apologize, but he would not let her. He was the one who kissed her and Sebastien would not hear of Penelope blaming herself. They kissed again and nearly had sex on the conference room table that night. It wasn’t a single night of weakness. Stolen kisses were traded when nobody else was in the office and slowly it turned into a full blown affair that lasted nearly two years. But there are no happy endings for relationships born out of secrets and Sebastien was up for a promotion and he did not want any sign of impropriety. He promptly broke it off. Hurt and heartbroken, Penelope probably did the rashest thing she could think of and put in her two weeks’ notice. She had saved up enough to create a little nest egg for herself, but she was in desperate need of job . Seeing an advertisement for a small bookshop in Oxford, Penelope decided that it was exactly what she wanted: something the completely different. She applied and got the job. Penelope has been working for Remus Lupin for the past four months and couldn’t be happier. | |
writing sample Please choose one of the following scenarios and write a 100-250 word first person POV journal entry in the voice of the character you're applying for. ‹‹ About one of the 5 random facts. ‹‹ Something just went horribly wrong. I don’t understand. I made it exactly as the book described. I read and reread. Checked my measurements twice, but my chicken is burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. It makes no sense. And it’s smoking. Luckily I was able to open up a window before my whole kitchen the whole flat filled with smoke and set off the alarm. Blast. I suppose I will have to ring for Thai takeaway. Again. Mr. Gason already knows my order by my phone number. [Private] Eating that much take away cannot be good for my health or weight. Maybe I’ll ask for steamed vegetables and sauce on the side. I won’t eat all the noodles. Maybe. I still have to fit in that dress for the dance at Hogwarts. I don’t have to go, but this would be the last year I’m eligible. I would be a fool not to go, if only to see my old professors and see my friends. I don’t have to stay long. That is worth it getting dressed up. | |
