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Charlie Douglas-Hall

    (08/08/2018 at 14:00)
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Application for Hogwarts School




→ CHARACTER INFORMATION.

Name: Charlie Douglas-Hall

Birthday: Mar 30th

Hometown: Beadnell, Northumberland

Bloodline: Pureblood

Magical Strength (pick one): Charms

Magical Weakness (pick one): Conjuring & Summoning

Year (pick two): First, Second

Biography:

Charlie Douglas-Hall dropped the polishing cloth into a bucket and slowly stood up, stretching his aching back as he did so. He was so close to freedom he could almost touch it, clasp it in his hands and run away… somewhere. No matter what Hogwarts held in store for him it couldn’t be as bad as the back-breaking tedium of dusting and polishing seemingly endless rows of unsold cauldrons. Unsold. That was the problem. Not the drab unadorned exterior, or the basic materials. That wasn’t the problem. A plain serviceable cauldron was the tool of choice for many wizards. The problem was that they were unsold. And unsold meant no money. Which was a problem. If it hadn’t been for the muggle half of the shop selling hardware and beach toys the Douglas-Hall family would have been penniless.

Charlie was too young to remember the prosperous years when the shop flourished under the guidance of his grandfather. Another Charles. Charlie’s mind wandered briefly. Sometimes it seemed that everyone in the village of Beadnell (pop500) was called Charles, Charlie, Jack or Jacky. More importantly everyone was either a Hall or a Douglas, and nether the twain should meet. When Charlie’s father, who was yet another Charles despite everyone calling him ‘Dunc’, met his mother Ayleen he didn’t pause to think of the consequences of a Douglas dating someone with the surname ‘Hall’. After a courtship that made Romeo and Juliet look like a Midsummer Night’s Dream, they eventually married against the wishes of both families. Result, no-one on either side would speak to them unless they had to, and they had to use both surnames because neither family would acknowledge them.

His brother Jack told him that the shop had been prosperous before his grandfather retired. Their father just didn’t have the talent of their grandfather. Instead of making custom cauldrons to order like their grandfather, their father made basic pewter cauldrons in the three smallest sizes. Unfortunately, he didn’t even do that well. At least a fifth of all his cauldrons was substandard and unsuitable for magic, which meant they had to be sold to muggles as ornamental hanging baskets and bird feeders. According to Jack, his grandfather was a craftsman who used to get at least one owl a week commissioning a new cauldron from wealthy wizards. His standard cauldrons in every material imaginable sold for premium prices in the local markets at Berwick and Alnwick every week. These days the best his father could manage was bargain basement prices once a month at each. In fact, his most profitable line was the rejects he sold as hanging baskets at a craft fair in the nearby town of Sea Houses.

In some ways Charlie felt sorry for Jack. Growing up Jack had taken the brunt of the village’s dislike. As the oldest child he had to look after his younger siblings and take the blows when they were picked on. He had also been ‘persuaded’ to learn how to make cauldrons by his father and had been pushed into related subjects had Hogwarts. Charlie had been pleased that when Jack had come home after graduating Hogwarts he had taken a job at the local Diricawl sanctuary. Jack loved birds and nature and the job was a dream job for him. Part of the year he lived in the old monastic cell on Inner Farne and watched over his charges, the rest of the time he lived with the family and paid them rent. It said something to Charlie that Jack seemed to look forward to living in a primitive stone hut on an isolated island surrounded by sea birds. At home, Jack was forced to help his father crank out barely acceptable cauldrons. Charlie supposed it served Jack right for being a doormat where family was concerned. Or was that part of him being a Hufflepuff?
Charlie trudged over to the drain in the back room and emptied his bucket. Grimacing, he rang out his cloth and hung it over the tap to dry. His sister, Marcia, and been so desperate to escape the family business that she had quit Hogwarts after completing her OWLs and moved to London to be with her fiancé. He was doing well in the ministry of magic and had got her a position as a part time clerk. Whenever she wrote it was a foot-long gush about her job, her fiancé, and house hunting. They couldn’t wait to leave ministry housing and were due to get married next year.

Flexing his fingers to ease the tension in his hands, Charlie shuffled over to the closet to collect the broom and sweep the floor of the shop. He swore that he was going to copy his sister Marcia and not be trapped in this cess pit of a village like his brother Jack. With slow resigned sweeps he collected the dust and debris off the floor and disposed of it in the bin. Going to Hogwarts was his only escape. Charlie had to do well enough at school to get a position in the ministry where he could finally forget his failure of a father and his misery of a mother. It still baffled him why they insisted on living in a village that hated them. Other couples who had broken the Hall-Douglas taboo had moved away to nearby towns or villages after the marriage. When Charlie asked all his mother did was mumble about courage and not running away from problems.

With the shop finally cleaned, Charlie could finally go and get a late evening meal with his family. The food was bland and unappetising, but that was all the family could afford. If it wasn’t for the business selling hardware and beach toys to muggles, there wouldn’t even have been that food on the table. Muggle money bought muggle food, which was filling enough. Just bland and dull. Like his family. Jack with his dreams shattered by his father’s ineptitude, his father weighed by his grandfather’s disappointment, his mother bitter over her social isolation. The only one at the table who Charlie really liked was his younger sister, Edith. At least she was cheerful some of the time. Maybe if he got a good enough job at the ministry her could lend her a helping hand onto the first step after she left Hogwarts. 

→ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
Note: This section is optional, and is up to you to complete.

House Request: I think Charlie would be best in Gryffindor or Slytherin. He’s very focussed on himself and his own goals. He sees hard work and studying as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. They serve only to provide him with the tools to achieve his aims.

Personality:
Charlie is driven. Driven to escape his family. Driven to find success at any cost. Driven to find a position of status in society where people will look up to him. He isn’t obsessed with status for its own sake. He wants the rewards status brings. Respect, wealth, and security. It’s not that he won’t help others, it’s that there must be a benefit for him in there somewhere. He makes an effort to always be courteous, even in the face of provocation, and refuses to allow his standards to slip.

Appearance:
Charlie is a slender boy with brown eyes and hair. He is usually neatly turned out. For the longest time the only way Charlie could impress anyone was by the way he dressed and comported himself. As a result, he takes care of his clothes and appearance. First impressions count.


→ SAMPLE ROLEPLAY.
You come across one of these posts on the site. Please select one & reply as your character. Remember, you can only roleplay your own character's actions, not Evangeline's or Hugh's.

Option I:

The dungeons. A place eleven-year-old Evangeline had not yet travelled since her arrival at Hogwarts.

A place she really was just fine with not knowing; but it was too late. The dare had been accepted, even if it had been done in fear of being kicked out of Gryffindor, like the older girls had said she would because Gryffindors were supposed to be brave.

The air changed instantly when she hit the main corridor of the dungeons. The dampness was almost too much for her and she instinctively took a deep breath to avoid the sensation of being suffocated. There was also a sour burning smell which Evangeline assumed was from many, many Potions lessons.

Further and further she walked, her steps so slow and gentle they made no noise against the stone walls and floor. The feeling that she wasn't alone crept up her spine and raised the tiny hair on the back of her neck. Shivering, Evangeline wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly, she missed the warmth and comfort of the Gryffindor common room. The fire was always going and it made her feel at ease.

Why had she let those girls talk her into this? She was only eleven, she didn't have to be brave. Surely the Headmistress would not kick her out of Hogwarts for not being brave.

If only she had these thoughts while being dared to search for the ghost of one Emma Birch, whom supposedly haunted the dungeons. It was not, Evangeline had learned, the place where the sixteen-year-old girl's life had ended but as she had been from the house with a snake as its mascot, it was the place her spirit had returned to. That common room was down here somewhere, she'd been told.

Something - the small blonde girl wasn't quite sure what - but something made her stop in her tracks suddenly. There was a low, dull thumping noise. Or maybe that was her heart beating so loudly she thought it was coming from outside her body.

"H-h-hello?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Remembering that she was supposed to be brave, Evangeline tried again.

"Hello! Is Emma Birch here?"

The sound of her own words bouncing back at her off the walls made her jump.



Charlie Douglas-Hall

Someone was creeping about in the dungeons. And he literally felt like a proper Charlie doing it. Whatever his housemates were up to, they had been most insistent in their request for him to act as a lookout while they did whatever they had to do. Quite noisily as well, to judge by the dull thump from somewhere behind Charlie.

An echoing voice reverberated around the corridor to Charlie’s position. Someone calling out for a friend. It sounded young and female. Who did she think she was meeting in a dungeon corridor at this time of day?

"Hello! Is Emma Birch here?"

The mystery was solved. Someone was on a ghost hunt. Charlie knew of the legend of Emma Birch. The girl ‘heroically’ who died some years ago. It appeared that this young girl was credulous enough to believe she haunted these corridors. Charlie could see no reason a self-respecting ghost would choose to haunt a dank dungeon when they could haunt somewhere more pleasant with a view. Although staying away from the conjuration and summoning classroom made sense.

Nevertheless, the girl might stumble on his housemates’ activities, and it was Charlie’s job to prevent that. It was tempting to try and scare her off, but she might run in the wrong direction. A more controlled approach was required. Charlie stepped out into plain view and said, “I ask you in all seriousness… do I look like the ghost of a dead girl?”

Without waiting for a response, he walked slowly towards Evangeline in as calm a manner as he possibly could. When he was a within a couple of paces he stopped and crooked his elbow like a Victorian gentleman. “While I have never had the dubious pleasure of witnessing the late Miss. Birch manifest herself, I am given to understand that she is most commonly observed in the corridors a little bit further along and to the right. It would be a pleasure to escort you there, so you can potentially fulfil your ambition to interview her.”

With any luck, she would accept his offer and Charlie would be able to lead her away from his housemates and their activities.




→ ABOUT YOU.

Please list any characters you have  on the site (current and previous): Just Charlie.

How did you find us?: Google



* Ella Galanis

    (09/08/2018 at 10:40)
  • ***
  • Head of Ravenclaw
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Dear Mr Douglas-Hall,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Term begins 1 September 2018. Currently, students have gathered at Camp Loki, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies.


Yours sincerely,

Ella Galanis
Head of Ravenclaw
blackbird singing in the dead of night
take these broken wings and learn to fly
blackbird singing in the dead of night
take these sunken eyes and learn to see

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