Hogwarts School: A Harry Potter RPG

THE BASICS
Name: Mara Stari

Former Character's Name (if you had one): None

CHARACTER DETAILS
House Request:
None

Year:  First Year or Second Year


Bloodline:
Muggleborn

Magical Strength (pick one):
Charms

Magical Weakness (pick one):
Divination

Biography:
Mara Stari was born into wool. Mara’s father Anton, and mother Debbie were 25 and 23 respectably when she was born.  Her family owned and ran a yarn shop that had been owned by her mother’s mother originally until she passed away a year before Mara was born. It seemed to run in her family to have a passion to create. Her mother loved to spin any fleece she could get her hands on no matter how dirty or foul smelling it seemed when she bought it. She would always tell Mara that every fleece had a destiny even if it was only as a washcloth. Her father always seemed to be at the old kettle dying the newly spun wool. It just seemed to Mara that the only life for her would be to take over the shop. Her family had been running the store for two generations and it seemed to suit them reasonably enough. They had always done well enough that there were no uncertainties about money, even through hard times. The customers were loyal and seemed to enjoy watching the young Mara first learn to roll around, stand up, walk, and the run around the store. One group of retired mothers always came in to knit on Wednesday afternoons, they became her support system.  They took care of Mara when Debbie, looked frazzled after a long day of caring for a toddler. 

Picking up a set of knitting needles was inevitable. No one fought the five year old when she insisted on learning how to knit but when she started to run with the pointed needles in her hand someone always was right behind her to take them away. She learned to create scarves that kept her parents warm and shawls that left her mother breathless. When Mara needed to be punished she never got put into a corner or any other form of punishment, except her parents would take her needles away. Watching the child’s hands fidget from the lack of familiar movements, everyone could tell that was torture enough.

At ten years old Mara had learned most of the ropes of the shop and was learning to dye and spin her own yarn. She was given the cheapest fleece her mothers could find and taught the art of the drop spindle. She was not particularly graceful and seemed to always be getting caught in something. Living in the country side it was quite easy to get caught on bushes or to almost fall out of trees, or at least it was for Mara. She always managed to almost trip down the stairs if she did not have a good grasp on the railing. Being ten did not always help her to learn to slow down and have measured movements. There were always a few bruises if not a bandage on her. Her clumsiness is what stopped Anton from teaching his daughter the basic skills of kettle dying. It seemed like pushing his luck to try to put Mara near a steaming kettle of dye. She had been taught using food coloring and seemed content with it.

Her eleventh birthday was a rather big celebration Debbie had dressed up Mara in more formal blue dress to contrast her dark red hair but match her crystal blue eyes. Her hair had been put in with a white ribbon and she wore beautifully hand knitted socks made by her paternal grandmother. The party went well a few children her age came to celebrate with her. The ladies from knitting group had all shown up and given Mara their present, a knitted quilt with squares knit by all of the women in the group. Nothing really special looking to the passerby but all the love that in the blanket and the thick wool they had used seemed to keep the blanket extra warm. Kisses and hugs were given and everyone was eventually gone and as they were cleaning up, an owl dropped a small note from Hogwarts onto the table.



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Please include these sections if they are not addressed in your biography.

Personality:
She obviously loves yarn, any yarn, knitting, and learning new things. She loves to meet new people in the shop but is shy when she is out of it. Putting needles in her hands does seem to take away some anxiety. On any day she is patient and clear headed. Bad days though she seems to make quicker decisions and is a lot more clumsy. She is very happy but it is hard to tell because of her shyness. Mara enjoys being around the outside but only if she can be someone warm.

Appearance:
Mara is slightly tall and lanky. Her hair is slightly wavy, dark red, and goes down past her hips but she never seems to mind. Her skin tone is slightly golden for a child that does not leave the house much. Mara's eyes are a crystal blue.
Her hair is a way from her to cover herself. She uses it like a shield or a safety blanket. But her eyes always seemed to take people aback when they look directly into them. At her young age she does not quite get why but it makes her uncomfortable.


SAMPLE ROLEPLAY
You come across one of these three posts on the site. Please reply to one only as your character would.
*** Remember, you can only roleplay your own character's actions, not James' or Astrid's.

Option I:

Blimey, the Great Hall was packed. It seemed like everywhere a guy looked there was some clown waving around a House banner or yelling about the game.

'Can you believe it?' 'No way!' 'This must be the biggest upset in Hogwarts Quidditch history...'

Stupid Quidditch.

James flopped into an empty seat at the end of the table, shoved an empty plate out of the way, and let his head sink onto his crossed arms, squishing his freckled nose down flat against the tabletop. He wasn't sure why he'd even bothered to come here, since he definitely wasn't hungry. He'd probably never eat again, in fact. He didn'tdeserve to eat. He hadn't stopped in the locker room to change out of his muddy, sweaty uniform after the game either, because he was pretty sure he probably didn't deserve to be clean too; and anyway he couldn't stand to see the looks on his team mates' faces after he blew their chance at winning one of the biggest games they had ever played.

Just one lousy shot. That's all it would have taken. If he could have just got that one stupid foul shot to go through that one stupid hoop, they could have won and he wouldn't have been the biggest blockhead in the entire school.

As if to prove the point, half the people at the next table suddenly broke into a loud victory chant. James pressed his face further into his arms to hide the bright red blotches he could feel creeping up his cheeks. That was it. He was just going to have to run away and move to Nova Scotia. He'd just cost the three-year-in-a-row Champions the Quidditch Cup! How do you ever live that one down for crying out loud? He was only a second year and he was going to spend the rest of his life as 'that dumb cry-baby kid who dropped the Quaffle!'

It felt like every set of eyes in the room was boring into him, and James couldn't stand it anymore. He jerked himself back up from the table and stomped right back out of the Hall the same way he had come in. As he stormed into the quieter hallway outside, he could hear footsteps somewhere behind him. James rounded on the sound and began to shout, his brown eyes shining with tears. "WHAT! Haven't you ever seen a loser before? Why don't you just take a picture!"

Sample Roleplay Response: Type in your response here.

OR

Option II:

“Oh, come now!"

Astrid Bixby’s voice carried down the corridor, the tall blonde girl not far behind. Her interviewee – or victim, depending on perspective – turned a corner and she frowned. They were always soelusive when she needed them. Sure, they would talk as if there was no tomorrow during class, but once she actually needed them to say something, they were nowhere to be found. Gryffindors.

Flustered, Astrid stopped in the middle of the corridor and stared, her parchment hanging limply from her hand. She was a good reporter, really, and she always did her best to make sure that everything she wrote was accurate. She glanced down to the quill, eyeing it with disdain. It wasn’t her fault if her quill misquoted. How was she supposed to know? It made for interesting articles, at least, and if she had misquoted the Head Boy last term as saying he had a love for stuffed animals, then that gave him personality. Astrid sighed.

A pout formed on her lips as she turned away, discouraged. The corridor was mercifully empty, though the doors to The Spellbound – the school newspaper – were ominously closed. Corbridge was a mercifully sweet editor, but Astrid was terrified of disappointing her all the same. She hadto come back with quotes.
Her eyes, blue, trailed her surroundings before choosing a new path, and she turned down a new corridor. A figure was ahead, and her eyes lit up, an impossibly rosy smile blossoming across her lips.

“Hey!” Astrid called, her voice light and singsong. She trotted to catch the person, her shoes clicking on the stone floor. “Wait up! It’s for the paper!” Her legs aided her admittedly poor running, and Astrid gasped as she came closer. “What do you think about serving frog legs at lunch? Some say it’s a delicacy, but others think it’s plain gross.”

Sample Roleplay Response: Mara who had been staring up at the high ceilings felt her pulse quicken. Someone wanted to talk to her? She had been walking away from the girl but turned towards her to answer. She took a deep breath to help her calm down and said, "I personally don't like frogs legs but everyone is different."

Then Mara turned on her heels and started to walk away quickly. Talking to anyone was always a little scary but knowing that it could be for the paper made her even more weary than normal. As she started to calm down her steps slowed too. Running away from people was not the way to make friends and she knew it. Stopping at the end of a hallway she turned around and decided to go back. This time when she went back to the corridor she poked her head around the corner and said to Astrid, "Are you coming?"

Optional: If you are new to our site, please let us know how you found us.  (Ex: web search, advertisement, recommended by a site member, etc.)
I have known about the site for years but just got the courage to apply.