Hogwarts School: A Harry Potter RPG

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character name:  Hollis Thornton

Previous and/or Current Character(s) if applicable:  Dienne Orellana, Benjamin Orellana Jr.

Character age: 26

Character education:
Homeschooled | < 2nd
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry | 2nd - 3rd year | Ravenclaw
Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft & Wizardry | 4th - Alumni | Thunderbird.
Ph.D. in Sociology

Strength and weaknesses (details please): 
Strengths:  Hollis is a loving individual.  He cares more about people and their happiness than he does about his own.  He grew up with the mindset that building relationships and making everyone feel at home and comfortable was more important than his own personal comfort.  Hollis is very giving, quite sensitive to how people are feeling, and tries to help others as much as possible.  He has a weak spot for children, animals, and families.

Weaknesses:  However, this nurturing nature harms Hollis.  At times, he is very much on the outside looking in, like someone watching a movie and feeling emotions through the perspective of others.  He is nearly incapable of taking a side, always trying to appease all sides that often he appeases no one, and is criticized for his shallow behavior.  He is not a leader where it matters.  If trouble occurs, his true cowardly nature may arise.  He's a short-term, instinctual social creature, and has difficulty dealing with long-term plans, focus, and repetition.  He can be the entertainer, but it's difficult to pin him down for the long game and to really understand what he's going to do in the future.

Physical description:  Hollis has dark hair, dark eyes, and lightly tanned skin.  His eyes carry wrinkles at the edges from ready smiles.  Always well dressed with styled hair and crisply pressed professional clothing, Hollis cuts an attractive figure.  Just above six feet tall, Hollis is of slender, athletic build.  When out and about, Holllis is often found wearing his favorite watch for the week and carrying a travel notebook. 

Personality (nice, rude, funny etc. Paragraph please.):  Hollis is extremely nice and warm.  He entreats all with a bright smile and is the first one to offer help.  He's polite, never rude, and actively tries not to say anything that would be construed as negative or offensive.  He's very aware of every person he interacts with, and he's great at anticipating needs or steering away from conflict.  These are all for his own personal benefit, as he is very likely to cringe at the first sign of an argument or fight, and has a hard time deescalating scenarios.  He agonizes over negative criticism and cows before anger.  He never yells (unless it's cheering) and is in general just a softie.  Despite this, Hollis is still a nosy busybody and likes to get involved with everything.  He's a natural extrovert who would rather be the cause of or in the thick of happy moments rather than on the sidelines.  This tendency conflicts with his need to stay objective when indulging in his people watching hobbies.

Hopes and dreams. Why are you teaching at Hogwarts?:  Hollis loves simply existing and being a part of the lives around him.  He loves kids and taking care of others.  Teaching growing students at Hogwarts seemed like a good opportunity for him to get first hand knowledge of the mindset of growing wizarding youth as well as hope to shape them to look less for career or magical skill growth, but at eachother and their contributions to their communities.  He liked his teachers well enough in school, but he'd like to help foster a positive social environment at Hogwarts, as school is where he made his friends and felt most at home.  Especially since he feels unique in that he's embraced tons of places around the world, and feels he can try to open their minds to diverse perspectives.  He's not hurting for money (thank you to MACUSA and the Ministry) but he's never settled in one place for long, always on the go, so he's hoping teaching can give him a reason to anchor him more to this region of the world.

Biography (500 words minimum. There is never such a thing as too much.):
The apartment was filled with the latest pop music on the Muggle radio propped up on the kitchen counter.  At the stove stirring a pot of delicious Korean stew was a tall, dark haired man, wearing a frilly apron over his pressed slacks and crisp button up shirt.  The crest of the pureblood Thornton family glittered on the chest of its last surviving member, loose on its chain and freed from its usual confines.  Humming along with the music, Hollis Thornton sipped another taste of the stew.  A tiny wince, as it still didn't quite taste like how his mother used to make it, but with a shake of hot chili flakes, he figured it would do for the get together he was throwing.

When had he last tasted his mother's cooking, he wondered, pulling the pot off the stove and setting it on a rest in the middle of the dining table.  He was turning twenty-six in October of that year.  Had it really been over twelve years since he last enjoyed his mother's cooking?  He couldn't remember if it had been raining the night he'd gotten into the worst argument with his parents, chafing at the leash they'd tightened around his neck that tried to focus on traditions and academics over having fun with his friends.  Had there been lightning?  Or perhaps it had been perfectly sunny, not at night at all.  His memories were a fog of that time, of total unanswered questions and a huge sense of loss drowning out all other feelings.  He remembered being bundled up and shipped to America.  He remembered dragging his trunk up the tiny driveway of a tinier Cape Cod-style home housing his last living relative.  To his intense disappointment, that relative had been a hard lizard of a man who had no space left in his heart to deal with a grieving teenager.

Hollis laid out the grill and miniature stove onto the dining table, flooded by recollection as he puttered about organizing the settings so his friends would have an enjoyable time.  Barely at his Great Uncle's for the remainder of that summer, Hollis had been shipped to his next school of Ilvermorny, the wizarding equivalent of Hogwarts in America.  There, he'd plastered a smile on his face, tried to diminish his accented English to fit in as much as possible, and prioritized making lasting friendships over achieving any kind of academic success.  His mind was interested in knowledge, sure, but knowledge of people?  Of life?  Wasn't a thirst that could be easily explained to the more bookish sorts.

The dinner party he was hosting now in his London flat was similar to ones he'd thrown in his New York apartment when he'd joined MACUSA as a Field Researcher after graduating.  He'd made endless dinners and coffee dates to get to know his colleagues at work and his fellow students at the Ivy League where he earned his Sociology doctorate.  But New York couldn't hold his attention no more than Morrocco, Vienna, or any of other places he'd been to could.

He'd moved to London on a whim, as typical of all of his travels.  He'd moved country to country, exploring like a local, for his entire adult life.  What difference was a stint at London?  The Ministry of Magic could use his reports (when he actually wrote them) to gain understanding for legislature.  Sure.  He told himself he was useful, as he filled his mornings walking through parks and listening to the local news.  He told himself he was content, as he volunteered for charity work and helping those in need.  He told himself he knew what he was going to do with this life, as he stood in his kitchen cleaning up the dirty dishes he'd made.  He was going to host a party, and not think about the next few months, years, or decades of his life.  Much like he tried not think about that one night, ages ago, that told him he should have been with his family rather than out.

SAMPLE ROLEPLAY
(Please respond to to this in third person past tense. Do not write the other characters' reactions. Only your own.)

It was the largest office in Hogwarts and, perhaps to students and newcomers, the most intimidating. The shelves were filled with various odds and ends, with a place of honor for the Sorting Hat, and the walls held all the portraits of past Headmasters and Headmistresses.

In the middle of the room sat a large desk. Everything was in order, for the current occupant had always despised a messy desk. It was the sign of a messy mind, and she had always favored neatness.

A clock sat on the desk, which currently showed the time to be 2:05. The meeting was supposed to begin at 2:00 precisely.

Along with order, Anneka valued punctuality. She was a very busy woman these days. Even during the summer, she had a number of matters to attend to. Interviewing and hiring staff was only of those matters. The newest potential member of her staff wasn't making a good impression.

She paced the room, black heels clicking against the stone floor. When the door finally opened, Anneka turned, her expression reminiscent of a Russian winter. "You are late."

Explain yourself was what her face said.

Roleplay Response:
He really thought he'd be on time today of all days.  As every minute ticked past two o'clock, anxiety rocketed up Hollis as he hurried down the halls towards the Headmistress' office.  He had woken up early to make a fresh batch of fruit turnovers for today's meeting as gesture of friendly greeting.  But an accidental mixup with baking soda had led to rushing another batch, which had led to an accelerated shower as he had dumped a bowl of sugared apples onto himself and the floor, which had culminated in him running unacceptably late for possibly the most important meeting of his life.

He clutched the cardboard container of turnovers with a sweaty grip, trying to banish imaginative thoughts of annoyance and judgement from the Headmistress.  His eyes, blinking fiercely in time with his rapid breathing, took in the once familiar halls of Hogwarts as he rushed past windows and classrooms once adored.  The meeting was to be his chance at wandering the halls once more as an educator.  Dread mixed in the cocktail of uncomfortable shame swirling in his gut.  Had he ruined his chance here?  At three minutes late, when he normally was ten minutes early, would Professor Ivanova just dismiss him from the meeting at first greeting?

Hollis stopped in front of the door to the office.  He had to calm down.  With a hand over his chest, Hollis breathed in deeply and exhaled.  He repeated it once more, trying to find that chipper attitude he normally had to make a good impression on the Headmistress.  It barely flickered to light beneath the oppressive dark that was his fear of disappointing the Headmistress.  He wiped his sweaty palms on his pressed slacks, swept up his button up to make sure it was tucked in and smooth where it needed to be, and adjusted his watch on his wrist, the picture of a professional.  His watch now marked him at five minutes late.  He swallowed down a moan of despair before bolstering his expression into a sheepish smile and ducking inside.

"You are late."

Hollis winced, smile cowed in the face of the wintry expression.  "I'm very sorry I'm late, Professor.  I wanted to offer snacks in appreciation for this meeting--" he held up the box of turnovers in helpless appeal.  "--but one thing led to another, and now it's just unexcuseable."  He lowered his chin more towards his chest in further apology, that candle flame of cheer slowly sputtering out.  "But I had ideas for food tied in with my lesson plans, if I could still have your time to discuss them?"

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In addition to posting a completed application in this forum, we also ask that you submit a PM to Anneka Ivanova with details of your class and with the lesson plans for that class (include at least a minimum of 4 lessons). Also, please be sure to check the Available Positions thread located in this forum to make sure the class you want is available before applying.

Lesson Plans sent to Anneka Ivanova by PM?:  Sent 7/31/22!