JUDITH ELEANOR BAINES

The Basics
Age: 21, born March 31st 1997
Blood: Pure
Wand: 10 inches, ebony, unicorn tail hair
Appearance: 5'4". Blonde. Blue eyes. She's classically pretty and thus needs very little make-up, which is good for her--being athletic and active doesn't always mix well with foundation and sticky lip gloss. Her hair is normally pulled up or back so that it doesn't get in her face. When it comes to clothing, her wardrobe is full of simple and comfortable pieces. She wears little jewelry and never wears heels.

School and Work
Graduation: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor class of 2014
OWLs/NEWTs:
OWLs
Astronomy EE
Charms O
Defense Against the Dark Arts EE
Herbology A
History of Magic A
Potions O
Transfiguration A
Care of Magical Creatures O
Ancient Runes A

NEWTs
Charms O
Defense Against the Dark Arts O
Potions O
Transfiguration EE
Care of Magical Creatures O
Ancient Runes A
Current Occupation: Copy editor at The Daily Prophet

Judy Baines
History:
Childhood
Judy was born to Marcus and Gretchen Baines, a middle-class wizarding couple living in Godric's Hollow in 1997, the tumultuous year of the Dark Lord's second rise to power. Though her parents were respectable purebloods and generally overlooked, they were afraid that living in Godric's Hollow—birthplace of Harry Potter—would get them killed out of spite. To avoid this, the family fled to France to live with one of Gretchen's cousins. They stayed out of the country for three years just to ensure that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was really gone. Judy learned to speak in both French and English, and Gretchen continued to teach her daughter French after they moved back to England, feeling it would be useful for her to be bilingual.

So, Judy didn't have a birthday on English soil until she turned four, and her party did not go well. She was not pleased to be away from all her French friends, and stubbornly refused to speak to the other Godric's Hollow children. She was a social, energetic child, however, so she was eventually forced to find a playmate or two.

Because of her energy level she was pretty much given free reign by her working parents. She developed an insatiable curiosity and, along with it, a knack for getting into trouble. She always managed to find ways out of trouble again, though, and was more often than not also able to avoid parental detection.

Schooling
Judy was sorted into Gryffindor when she started at Hogwarts. She made a few friends--the weaker types who didn't necessarily mind being pushed around by someone with a bit of bossiness in their demeanor. She wasn't necessarily the best student scholastically, but she had a good memory and was usually able to get by without much studying. She was also very good with practical things where she could use her hands. She excelled at Care of Magical Creatures and especially Potions.

Her time at Hogwarts was overall very average. She spent her time exploring the school, annoying people with her nosiness, and playing Quidditch; she spent four years on the House team as a Chaser.

Growing Up
During her career counseling, it had been recommended that Judy go into magical medicine, specifically formula development, because of her skill in potion making. Though she enjoyed potion brewing, she wasn't as enamored with it as a pharmaceutical career required. Another recommendation had been a job in the Ministry working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, which Judy wouldn't have minded so much--however, she had discovered a new calling that would allow her to satisfy all her nosy needs:

Journalism.

She applied to The Daily Prophet right after graduation, but wasn't hired. She worked odd jobs around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade after that, but continued to resubmit applications to the newspaper. She wasn't hired until she was twenty years old. To her dismay, she wasn't even hired as a journalist, but as a copy editor. Loathe as she was to spend hours a day just checking grammar and mechanics, she knew it was an opportunity to learn from the other reporters and someday become one herself. There was one in particular she admired, and that was Carmen Snidgeton, the Junior Editor.

Personality: Personality is something Judy has a lot of—too much, some would say. The girl is someone it's impossible to ignore, but there are few who are as pleased with this as she is. She has a constant need to be the center of attention, and usually has no problem procuring that spot, whether she unblushingly shoves herself into a conversation or causes a scene with her clumsiness (which is a chronic and incurable disease from which she suffers constantly). However, her enthusiasm is not always a bad thing. She is always the first to take initiative and get things done, and she has a knack for leadership. She welcomes challenges and dives into problem-solving headfirst. She may not be clever enough to solve them quickly, but her drive often spurs others with quicker wits to find solutions. Judy works best in a group, where she can give energy and feed off the energy of others.

Judy is not an academic, but she has good common sense. She's not a very thorough person, though, and though she's quick to accept a challenge she usually has to back-track at least once before she has all the information or tools she needs. She is aggressive, but not violent--she actively pursues whatever cause or interest consumes her at the moment. She can be argumentative at times, and still has a degree of naivety in her actions. She's restless and enjoys almost constant activity; only her ambition allows her to tolerate the tediousness of copy-editing. She also likes to always have a goal to work towards or a cause to follow, whether it's something long-term like becoming a reporter or small like petitioning for reporters to cease using Quick Quotes Quills because they make too many grammatical and mechanical errors.

She is generally a friendly person and is great to be around if one can tolerate her frankness and honesty. She is a loyal person and a sort of "great protector" type; she's very compassionate and likes to take care of people, feeling that because she can care for them and protect them it is her duty and obligation to. Her friends either need to be "weaker" or more mellow than Judy, and thus content to follow her, or they must be just as high-energy and spontaneous as her, else they'll be left behind.

Judy is also a hopeless romantic, but her relationships are all on fast-forward. She falls hard quickly and loses interest almost as soon as the conquest has been made. For her, the romance is in falling in love, rather than being in a stable and comfortable relationship. She's never been short admirers, being a pretty and vivacious girl, and it wasn't long before she got the label "heartbreaker" in school. It's not that she's fickle, though--she just needs someone who can keep up with her.

OOC Info--
Name & Contact Information: Spiv...again. *smacks*
Previous Roleplay Experience: Plenty

Asked the girl what she wanted to be

• Alain Walmsley: Sure, Judy felt bad taking Alain's spot in the Saturday paper when he didn't have an article ready...but she's been very nice to him to make up for it. [x]
• Carmen Snidgeton: Judy's superior at The Daily Prophet and one of the girl's heroes. She admires Carmen's forceful personality, her ambition, and the fact that she finally allowed one of Judy's articles to be printed. [x]
• Kiyoshi Komatsu: Kiyoshi and Judy went to school together until he dropped out, and they had plenty of interesting times involving love notes and nude swims in the lake at night in winter; they recently reconnected over Quidditch at sunrise. [x]