Julie Richmond
Age: 25
Graduation: 2011

OWLs
Transfiguration - O
Charms – O
Potions - O
Defence Against the Dark Arts - O
Herbology - E
Astronomy - A
Care of Magical Creatures - E
Ancient Runes - O
History of Magic – A
Arithmancy - E

NEWTs
Transfiguration – O
Charms – O
Potions – O
Defence Against the Dark Arts – O
Herbology – E
Ancient Runes – O

History: Most of Julie’s childhood was a pink cloud of care and love and even during the first five years of her life, the family lived almost in a bubble of their own. The sole daughter in an otherwise crowded family, she was born to James and Margaret Richmond, owners of a modest manor house in Kent. The first years of her life, living was a little hectic, troubled by the difficulties arising from maintaining a rather spacious house and raising a child. James owned a little bookshop in Diagon Alley, earning just enough for a life of one-step-away from comfort. Julie’s mother, interested in books as well, dreamt of one day publishing her own and sharing some of her special expertise in Herbology.

Julie was mostly left to her own devices, playing with the family cats and exploring the surroundings, only to find there were no other magicals for many miles around their peaceful abode. A lively and optimistic child, she was saddened by the lack of company and by the time she was nearing her sixth birthday, a means of entertaining the little girl had been devised. Every now and then, Julie’s parents would send her off to one the numerous aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and grandparents. The little girl seemed to enjoy it immensely, seeing most of the relatives had their own peculiarities, including a Puffskein breeding enterprise of her mother’s cousin and an unarguably mad great-uncle who took tiny doses of poison with his morning tea, certain that someone would try to murder him one day (ironically, he managed to die from food poisoning caused by Brussels sprouts when Julie was twelve).

There was a particular relation that Julie liked especially. Auntie Clarisse positively doted upon the lively and energetic child, often causing talk of her spoiling the girl. She had a strong liking for some tenets of muggle life and started taking the now seven-year-old Julie to London, showing her around the streets, the museums, the cafes and most importantly, the theatres. A single night of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was enough for the girl to decide she was going to be an actress, despite being duly informed that as a witch, she’d find it somewhat complicated. With years her ambition to walk the stage receded, although her first infatuation with the grandeur of drama turned into a strong passion for watching plays.

School was quite a change of scene for Julie. Wide-eyed and amazed, she immersed herself in it and soon discovered that unlike many of her housemates (for she was sorted into Gryffindor), the girl could do her homework on time and work her way around quite a few subjects, although Transfiguration and Charms, closely followed by Potions, remained her favourites throughout the years. Julie's immense love for her parents and extended family relieved her of a need for a second one - she never strove to be the centre of attention, although her open nature made her a few close friends. She never did form a particularly strong attachment to Hogwarts, however, always feeling there was rather more outside the castle's walls. It was then that she started developing her responsible attitude towards work and duty, because school was rapidly becoming more of a responsibility and less of an entertainment.

By the time many of her classmates were forming clear ideas of whom they wanted to become, Julie had only a collection of vague ideas and lots of doubts, the options ranging from Healing to Muggle Relations. In the end, she settled on the shy thought of aspiring to be an Auror. It was her joking argument that if she couldn’t become an actress, she'd be a spy - or at least the nearest equivalent to it. The girl started focussing on the subjects she needed to qualify, as well as trying to explore other qualities the Ministry might seek and ought to find if it was indeed Julie’s intention to fulfil her goal. She started dedicating more time to Quidditch, hoping it would help her master her body, dabbled in watching people and pulling faces.

Qualifying in her exams, she started her training right after graduating. Everything was new and odd, but tiring as well – Julie’d often apparate home only to rush off to bed and fall asleep instantly. In a year’s time, the training became somewhat easier as the young woman started nearing her current method of working. Particularly keen on concealment, disguise, espionage and intelligence, these became the fields she felt most comfortable with. It was then that she found a liking in exploring the city on her own, regularly visiting theatres and slowly making new acquaintances.

Personality:

A quick summary:
Strengths: high professionalism; willpower, perseverance and rational thinking in work matters; impersonation; spying; discernment; strong sense of duty; evasion & relative spontaneity (she’s not the one to start every crazy enterprise, but she’ll join one gladly); warm-heartedness; a rather passionate disposition; caring.

Likes: music; dance; theatre; letting go; warm and passionate people; rich colours; freedom.

Weaknesses: paperwork; making quick decisions (especially concerning people); being quite as suspicious and far-sighted as her profession requires & trustfulness and failure to realise that even out of the work hours, the world’s full of ‘suspects’; vulnerability; inability to deal with malice, cold-heartedness and abuse; a rather poor command of (dry) sarcasm and no defence techniques against it; a tendency to walk away from conflicts; high expectations to surrounding people.

Dislikes: pettiness; snobbism; conceit; waiting without action; childish behaviour; low moral standards and lack of ideals; mundane things.

Fears: harm coming to her family, especially due to her being an Auror; having to choose between duty and personal life; being crippled or rendered in some way unable.

In full
Julie’s personality is all about two polarities – the work and the fun. It would be unfair to say that being an Auror has made her such, however - the girl started displaying two apparently contradictory patterns of behaviour already during her wee years of school. She could be all business and will when it was needed and then transform into an adventurous and mischievous girl when all the studying was finished. The quality never left her and is still there, defining her personality.

Whatever may seem, Julie is a very mature woman. At her twenty-five, she knows what matters and why. Pettiness and childish behaviour she steers clear of, because in the end she knows that the world gains nothing from it. When on duty she is able to focus entirely on what she is doing and bring it off with high efficiency. Immersed in work, she proves herself to be a capable rational thinker and a promising Auror.

Duty, in fact, is something Julie cannot ignore. Be it to work, to her family or to herself, the last drops of common pettiness and ego seep away as she immerses fully in what she is doing, imagining that everyone else does the same and being disappointed by the contradicting truth. She is a highly professional individual and her personality encompasses everything inherent to that. He work has forced her to become proficient in impersonating someone else, hiding her real intentions, controlling her body language and most importantly, reading people. Julie finds the latter the hardest, because she tends to be rather trusting by nature and ‘weeding out’ this quality is no easy task. Capable of focussing, she tends to be very sharp and intelligent with anything to do with work.

And then it’s seven o’clock in the evening… and Julie’s free. She lets go of her discipline, her rationality, her uprightness. Her professional accomplishments are achieved only through sheer willpower and concentration, so it’d be downright suicide to not let go. Julie finds being energetic and wild miraculously healing. She loves attending parties and meeting new acquaintances, joking, often being silly and mischievous. Jumping headfirst into the unknown is her favourite pastime and all shreds of precise judgement seem blown away.

Immensely curious about everything, she loves to explore, be it places, activities or people. Fascinated by eccentricity and extravagance, she favours the artistic circles and does not suffer the mundane too gladly. It is, of course, a matter of definition – what Julie values most is apparent character and ideals, even if they oppose hers.

She is thrilled by everything spontaneous and is likely to be the third person to volunteer on a karaoke night or to do charades. During her school times, she liked to play Quidditch, just for the thrill of it, although nowadays her duties and the confines of the city prevent her from keeping up the hobby.

Despite all of this, she is nevertheless a compassionate and caring individual. She cannot stand heartless and cold people and tends to stay away from them when in company. Arrogance and superiority earn her disapproval and she finds that all the snobs out there are missing out the huge and glorious truth sitting right under their upturned noses.

Whatever impression she might leave, Julie is easily hurt – menace and malice do not bound off her, lack of loyalty shakes her thoroughly and accusations and blames to her persona often result in her fleeing. She also tends to keep away from the subject of conflict between her two polarities. Imagining heself being forced to choose between work – duty, that is – and love, ideals, life, always send shivers down her spine and makes her quickly change the subject.

This is also why the occurrences of the last month have put her under immense strain. However dedicated to being an Auror, she's often felt herself incompetent, the shady circumstances of murders and disappearances suggesting that she should be always on the lookout, constantly suspicious and mistrustful. Hardly having the time to let go and immerse herself 'in the other her', Julie has been very much on edge of late, nervous and rather agitated.

Appearance: Julie is the typical red-head - pale-skinned, green-eyed. Her slightly wild and frizzy mane of shoulder-length hair isn't a vibrant orange or fiery red, tending rather towards the muted shades of auburn or sepia. Although plagued by freckles and horribly sensitive skin, she is generally quite content with her appearance, having in her work ample opportunity to try out different looks. She prefers rather conservative clothes, although sometimes sporting unusual earrings or a necklace to liven things up a little.

OOC Info--
Name & Contact Information: Mary-Ann
Previous Roleplay Experience: Er... well, lots various sites over the years. Have had a bit of a pause from RPing, but before - about three years I suppose?