Application for Hogwarts School
→ CHARACTER INFORMATION.Name: Nicholas Eugene Nightingale
Birthday: 8 September 1946
Hometown: Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England
Bloodline: Halfblood
Magical Strength (pick one): Transfiguration
Magical Weakness (pick one): Divination
Year (pick two): Second/First
Biography:Nicholas Nightingale’s parents divorced when he was six. His father moved on to his third marriage, picking up a couple of stepchildren while he was at it, and Nick’s mother continued on much as she had been - running the small bed and breakfast she and her (now ex) husband had bought together a decade earlier.
For what it was worth, the divorce was an amicable one, and though Nick still lived with his mother and though his father had moved to Birmingham and tended not to write much, he managed to come out of it feeling much the same as ever, that is to say - generally content, and a bit distracted by other more interesting things.
Interesting things were in no short supply at Dahlia Lane Bed and Breakfast.
Esmerelda (Ezzie) Nightingale had always dreamt of a house filled with people - and though she had intended for those people to be her many children and family members, having more than one child was not in the proverbial cards, so she found a different way. When Ezzie and Bernard bought Dahlia Lane six months after they were married the stately manor-turned-inn was dilapidated and failing. (Consequentially the old estate was neither located on a lane nor did it sport any Dahlia flowers anywhere on the property.)
A labor of love, the newlyweds were short on money but long on time and did the majority of the refurbishing work themselves. The result, after months and years of work (some of which is still ongoing), was a bed and breakfast that was nothing short of charming and which quickly became a regular stopping point for witches and wizards (and the very occasional muggle who wandered in by accident).
The work was hard and never quite stopped, but it afforded the little Nightingale family a comfortable lifestyle and provided no end of novelty in the stream of colorful guests who stayed with them. Even after the divorce, Nick’s father would come and take care of projects around the property like the door on the horse barn that, no matter how hard she tried, Esmerelda could never quite charm the squeak out of.
Bernard Nightingale had attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Hufflepuff House) and Esmerelda Nightingale, the daughter of a Ministry ambassador, attended both Hogwarts and later, Ilvormorny in America from which she graduated (Ravenclaw and Pukwudgie, respectively). The owl carrying Nicholas’ letter of invitation was an expected pleasure and they celebrated it with a big dinner with their guests at the inn and a cup of butterbeer for Nick.
The sting of impending separation was soothed by the promise of Christmas at home with his mother (the inn crowded with new and familiar faces as always) and the annual camping trip he and his father took every summer to watch their favorite quidditch team - Puddlemere United - during summer training.
Nicholas only wished he could take his collection of Puddlemere memorabilia to Hogwarts with him, but when he arrived - first at Camp Loki and then at Hogwarts itself for his first year of school - he realized quickly how many diversions the castle offered, and only remembered to write home to his mother once or twice a month at best.
→ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.House Request: Gryffindor
Personality:A side effect of being both an only child and growing up surrounded by adults and guests to whom he was a novelty, Nicholas often assumes that everyone around him will be interested in what he’s doing and what he has to say. Self-centered in the way many young people tend to be, Nicholas is often a bit of one-upper, though he means well; this tendency is compounded by his natural aptitude for picking up new things - skills, hobbies, information. Hogwarts will be a welcome and a much-needed challenge for the precocious boy.
He is particularly fond of animals, Puddlemere United, his mother’s victoria sponge cake, and a particular spot on the property of Dahlia Lane he christened The Garrison -- for the remnants of what may have been a pig stye remain in low stone walls that are rather fortress-like -- at age seven and still likes to visit to this day.
Appearance:Nicholas is of average height and weight for a boy his age. He has green eyes and short brown hair and by all accounts favors his mother far more than his father in looks - if that trend continues he cannot expect to be a very tall man, something he is still too young to be especially concerned about.
→ RETURNING STUDENTS.Link to your last levels request (if you never posted one, link to your last accepted student application): Levels,
Previously Accepted ApplicationNumber of New Levels Requested: none
New Levels Request: n/a
How your character kept up with their studies: n/a. Re-applying due to missed check-in, didn't miss any of the term.
→ SAMPLE ROLEPLAY.Option 2:Whack!Nick used his wand like a sword - or machete? - to whip an offending palm frond (he didn’t really know, a big leaf, anyway) out of his way as he ventured deeper into the greenhouse than he’d ever been before. That wasn’t saying much, considering he’d hardly ever foot into the greenhouse at all.
(He’d been telling a third-year about Dahlia Lane and she’d mentioned seeing dahlia flowers in the greenhouse and he figured he ought to get his hands on one and send it to his mother, since she’d sent him three letters and he still hadn’t replied to them and by the time he’d arrived and realized he didn’t know what a dahlia even looked like it was too late and he was committed.)
He whacked another couple of big leaves then pointed his wand at an offensive little cactus-thing that was covered in spines. “Not today!” Nick declared, attempting a complicated little flip of his wand he’d once seen a particularly dapper gentleman execute in the foyer of the Inn and been deeply impressed by. His wand slipped through his fingers, fell to the path, and rolled until it bumped into the leg of a potting stand.
"You blasted rat! Where are you?"Nick’s fingers scooped up his wand and he rubbed it against the leg of his pants to get off a bit of dirt and turning toward the voice just in time to witness an enormous sneeze and a particularly wet nose-wipe.
"Can I help you with something? It is not polite to stare."Nicholas was indeed staring, and he continued to do so but a bit of a bemused smile caught on his lips as he shrugged. “No I’m good, but I think you might have a bit of -- um -- “ Nick vaguely gestured to his own face “-- just there.” Either that or the boy’s face just always looked like that.
"And if you're looking for a rat the best way to lure them is with food, you know? Like, some cheese or bread or anything really. Shouting will just scare them, yeah?"
→ ABOUT YOU.Please list any characters you have on the site (current and previous): Edmund Wolffe, Cecelia Bramston
How did you find us?: Returning player