Margaret Harkiss
 | ||
| Margaret Harkiss | ||
| Biographical Information | ||
| Full name | Margaret Eleanor Harkiss | |
|---|---|---|
| Born | December 23rd, 1930 | |
| Birthplace | Oxfordshire, England | |
| Residence | Knockturn Alley | |
| Nationality | English | |
| Blood Status | Halfblood | |
| Education | Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry | |
| Class | 1949 | |
| Physical Information | ||
| Gender | Female | |
| Hair colour | Dark Brown | |
| Eye colour | Brown | |
| Skin colour | Fair | |
| Family Information | ||
| Parents | Petra & Howard Harkiss | |
| Siblings | Helena Harkiss (23), Anduin "Andy" Harkiss (21), Elizabeth "Betty" Harkiss (19) | |
| Magical Characteristics | ||
| Wand | Flexible 10" willow with the core of Hippogriff | |
| Patronus | Swallow | |
| Affiliation | ||
| Occupation | Herbology Professor | |
| Former Occupation(s) | Community Liaison for SRC, Policy Associate for Inter'l Magical Cooperation | |
| House | Ravenclaw | |
Margaret Harkiss, better known as "Maggie" to many of her close friends and family, is a caring, introverted, Ravenclaw that came from a background of a farmer family. Up until she started going to camp prior to her Fourth Year, Maggie was a very withdrawn, quiet, wallflower. Camp opened her up to become friends with many Gryffindors, namely people like Bianca Carstairs, Charlotte Sinclair, and James Knight and Hufflepuffs like Edmund Wolffe, Irma Lycoris Scrivner, Jamie Duncan, and Tempest Northcutt.
Contents
Biography
Childhood
Margaret Harkiss was born to Petra and Howard Harkiss in a quaint magical village in Oxfordshire. The Harkiss family came from a long line of farmers stretching back at least a hundred years and have grown to up keep a 5 acre space in their small village. The family, despite its conservative setting, was very open to engaging and interacting with local folk, both magical and non-magical. Her grandmother was a Muggle for this reason and despite 75% of the rest of her immediate family being witches and wizards, still upheld some traditional muggle values and customs. Margaret was the first of four children who would be raised on the farm for her first eleven years of her life. Sadly, due to the time warp and changing circumstances, the economy that sustained the farm had collapsed, plummeting the prices of their crops and sending the Harkiss family to the brink of bankruptcy. Half of their five acre farm had to be sold in order to make ends meet and being frugal became the children's most frequently occurring pastime. Growing up, even drinking straws were washed and reused, not wanting to waste a single resource or knut. As a child, Maggie would find herself wandering the fields after a chore in search of a rare stone or jewel to bring back to her parents or share with her siblings. It is there that she picked up the habit of holding rather strange and seemingly useless items in her pockets at all times. After getting her wand, Maggie (as most people close to her called her by) had a natural knack for transfiguring pebbles and objects into something else entirely, simply for play. To her siblings it would be one of the most annoying aspects of being around Maggie, equivalent to a person tapping their foot on the floor repeatedly. To some of her peers, it was an indication that she was close by and present.
When she received her letter to Hogwarts, Maggie was more than thrilled. After years of spending life in a small community farm, where all the neighbors and family members knew each other and their business, it was a dream for Maggie to be more independent and go to school to finish off what little education she had. She loved her family, and when push came to shove, she could be swayed to return to her quiet home to spend the rest of her days, but being young and intensely curious, Maggie couldn't help wonder what it was like outside the borders of Oxfordshire. Her parents were students but they reminisced on their time at Hogwarts as more of a stepping stone to their true passion of starting a family and raising their farm happily. They were Hufflepuffs content with their life of singularity, rather than her grandmother who was as fierce as a firecracker, not letting anyone stand in her way. Conversely, Maggie was curious and probing, always wondering about her surroundings in the bounds of her comfort zone. Going to Diagon Alley and to experience the full scope of the magical world was enchanting. Her wand, a flexible 10" willow with the core of hippogriff, seemed large and as daunting as the school year in front of her. However, as the years went on she grew (physically and mentally) into her powers and skill. She has quick wit and fierce devotion to her family and transfiguration became one of her favorite subjects to tackle in school. The silly objects that she once toyed with in her hands for fun now became her test subjects for the latest Transfiguration spells taught in class. She enjoyed learning and becoming immersed in the world of Hogwarts, just as she predicted.
As with any child in a school setting, Maggie endured her fair share of bullying, and her charms and courage did not catch up with her enough to defend against the waves of students who found her upbringing curious and strange. They made fun of her rural attitudes, her frugality, her ignorant views. The way she dressed was looked at strangely, even scoffed at. As a First Year she came to think of herself as an ugly and tried to push herself further away from her rural upbringing. Peer pressure shaped Maggie more than she would like to admit. When Fifth Year rolled around and her full height and beauty came to realization, it was a bit too late. Her surroundings had hardened her to be closed off, quiet, and darker. Maggie had a tight knit of friends and although would be kind and poised to anyone who spoke with her, her preference was to stick to her close knit group of friends. Although she still loves her family and her farm, she now prefers to spend summers at the Summer Campus, expanding her vast knowledge and experience that she didn't get in her little village. Her mother finds it inappropriate, Maggie finds it practical if she is to fit in with the other students. A product of her times, Margaret Harkiss simply longs to belong, be tied to something meaningful in the world, and do something worthwhile. Currently, with war amongst the country, Maggie is trying to figure out where she fits in the spectrum- Where her friends lie, and of course, her family.
Hogwarts (1947-1948)
Maggie's sixth year was defined by Edmund Wolffe. Having met the Hufflepuff early in the year from an unfortunate Quaffle to the face, the pair became instantly inseparable. Unlucky for her, she had no idea he was secretly in love with Irma Scrivner and it all came to a huge hault when, at the Valentine's Day Dance when he was paired with both Irma and Rin as the couple of the night over herself. Utterly embarrassed by the event, adding the humiliation of losing to Slytherin in Quidditch with Maggie as Keeper led to the two breaking it off in April 1948. She stuck with her small group of friends, consisting of the likes of Zoella Mertz, Mirella Appleton, and others until time for camp came around.
Courses
- Transfiguration
- Divination
- Herbology
Camp Loki (1948)
To distract from her first real relationship and heartbreak, Maggie became Camp Counselor for her final summer at camp. She had a falling out with best friend Zoella Mertz after failing to keep in touch with the Gryffindor and naturally growing apart as they grew up into adults. Maggie also had a some snogs with Thomas Ellwood-Luxe and Jamie Duncan, the former being kept relatively secret and the latter leading to a fight with Edmund Wolffe.
Hogwarts (1948-1949)
Courses
- Transfiguration
- Charms
- Potions
- Muggle Studies (Val)
Post-Hogwarts (1949-1956)
Margaret Harkiss currently resides with Addie Ross on the second floor of a bookstore in Knockturn Alley. It was a space she had seen in a classifieds ad that was relatively cheap and close in proximity to her workplace: The Ministry of Magic. She was training to be Community Liaison for the Department of International Magical Cooperation under Abraham Creighton until she got pulled to work on policy under Salazar Ricardus. This miserable task lasted for the better part of a year until she transferred to head part of the Social Reconstruction Committee Project.
Social Reconstruction Committee (1952-1956)
In the four years she worked in the SRC, Maggie worked mostly in Community Liaison. This consisted of soliciting wealthy wizarding families and various businesses and establishments for money to continue to fund the program for disadvantaged and underprivileged wizarding folk. It was grueling, especially someone as introverted and withdrawn as Maggie to knock on the doors of strangers, but in time, helped her grow more confident in her capabilities to garner attention towards a cause she cared about and gave her a voice to speak up for herself. She became more assured in her abilities, even if the bureaucracy never progressed at a pace she was happy with.
In the fall of 1955 she decided to participate in the Hogwarts Outreach/Mentorship program where she was introduced to Lysander Stone, a First Year Hufflepuff with learning troubles. Despite her best efforts, Lysander ended up repeating his year which spurred Maggie to take a more proactive approach in the program. She applied to be the Herbology professor at Hogwarts and in the summer of 1956 was accepted.
Professor at Hogwarts (1956-)
Margaret Harkiss has been the Herbology professor for Hogwarts since 1956.
1956-57
During her first year as professor, Maggie taught the students various applications of Herbology which can be useful not only to those interested in plants and botanical life but also in other areas of the wizarding world. This includes pruning, weeding, and disarming magical pests, imbuing tea with magical properties to help with divination, and plant extraction and cultivation for potions. Students who attended class this year took a field trip to The Soviet Union early in 1957 via portkey.
1957-58
For her second year at Hogwarts, Maggie decided to experiment more with the plants with which the students would be working with. Mainly bioluminescence and other magical properties. She opened the class at the Lake where they used gillyweed to collect glowing algae and extracting the bright and glowing properties naturally found in the plant. The class took another field trip at the start of 1958 to Brazil in conjunction with Potions to learn about poisonous plants and their various properties. After a poor effort on part of what she believed to be the student's lack of enthusiasm for the course, she finished off the rest of the term indoors. The greenhouse was tarped most of the year, and they wrote many essays and took plenty of quizzes in between. The final for the exam was plant identification using the floslumo spells learned throughout the year.
1958-59
To be added!
Spells Created
Personality
When Maggie is with her family and close knit group of friends, that is when her true personality shines through. She is laid back, silly even, to the point where she can be funny and clever. Maggie finds anything funny if it comes from the right person. She is loyal and devoted to people through thick and thin, putting no judgement forth if they have known each other long enough. Maggie is loud, fun, and most importantly, herself. Beyond the circle of close friends and family, is a completely different person. Outside and in more formal classroom settings (like Divination or Potions, two of her worst subjects), Maggie is quiet reserved, even stoic. Furthermore, to people Maggie dislikes or has a bad first impression of, it is hard to get back on her good side. Too many people have given her judgmental looks and side comments for her not to do the same. Those who are indecisive, ditsy, clueless about mundane aspects of life especially infuriate her. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Maggie always wants to know more and learn more, and finds it inexplicable that people are content to be in the dark about a certain subject. The reason she is so weak in Divination is became there is no logical explanation to the skill- It is an innate feeling one has to grasp and hone rather that learn and develop.
It is this kind of frustration over a subject, a person, or a situation that can cause Maggie to become quiet, cold, and unappealing to the stranger. Her physical stance becomes closed off and unwelcoming, giving off a sense that she would rather be anywhere but there. The only people who she does not have this attitude for, are kids. This is because she has 3 younger siblings below her, all at various stages of their lives, all adorable. Maggie is a sucker for children and their naturally curious tendencies, unsure of the world because it is so vast and big. Another part of her own motherly sense of wanting to having children in the future makes her nurture rather than judge and yell at those who are younger than herself. Those of the same age of older students, especially ones in her own house, should know better. And an even smaller part of her likes to think that she could mold and shape the younger minds of those below her. Not as manipulation, but as a good influence. She never liked the idea of tagging muggleborn children, as they had no choice or say in their upbringing or care and finds it barbarous that any tagging had to be done at all. This was another influence of being raised with parents in a village that contained both muggleborn and magically-descended families prior to the warp.
Maggie also, although she denies this, also changes when she is around others. Whether for good or bad, her peers have changed Maggie's behavior and personality immensely. As someone who was called out for being an outsider due to her rather closed off upbringing, she did the opposite and tried to participate in more activities, extracurriculars, clubs, and visit the city as often as possible. Maggie more often than not, tries to be independent but often finds herself following trends and the interest that her friends partake. Whether it be the clothes and fashion styles that her friends get her into, or the way her professors encouraged her to embrace her love of Transfiguration into other areas of her life. She is, if anything, adaptable and flexible. Part of it also stems from her meager upbringing. Frugality was a game Maggie played over and over in her head and carried over to her regular life, even when her family didn't have to struggle to put food on the table. Although not present anymore, her muggle grandmother had a heavy influence in their family's life before they were swept away to another time. She wears her clothes until they're worn through, only takes and eats what she can to avoid leftovers, and dislikes waste in general.
Being adaptable, and constantly exposing herself to new things, there aren't many things Maggie is afraid of. One thing though is mistrust and dishonesty in people. While she can be cordial and polite to everyone, making small chat isn't her favorite pastime but she is good at it, no one would really know the true Maggie unless she felt she had someone's trust. Maybe because her family had put trust in the government and a higher power to take care of them and they failed, maybe it was just the pessimism that comes in a time of war. Either way, Maggie places trust in her family, herself, and her knowledge very highly. It is only because she is solidified in her values and who she surrounds herself with that she is able to bend to the changing times.
