BLACK, andromeda calliope

ANDROMEDA CALLIOPE BLACK

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INTRODUCTIONS

FULL NAME: Andromeda Calliope Black

NICKNAMES: Dromeda, Meda, Andy

AGE: Seventeen

ALLEGIANCE: The Order, though she is yet to announce her loyalty officially

PROFESSION OR YEAR GROUP: Sixth Year, Slytherin House




SKIN DEEP

DESIRED PB: Natalie Dormer

HEIGHT: 5'7

KEY FEATURES: Icy blue eyes, slim nose, crooked smile

DESCRIPTION: In terms of looks, Andromeda has all the classic Black family features. She has very dark brown hair, though a slightly warmer shade than her older sister Bellatrix's. She also has the same icy grey-blue eyes, though hers often seem to hold more of a smile than either of the other Black girls. She is average height and has a slightly slimmer build than most girls, as her parents always psuhed the Black girls to be aware of their appearance at all times. Her skin is pale but generally blemish-free, apart from a couple of beauty marks on her right cheekbone. She does wear a little make-up, but not much as she feels like her skin cannot breathe properly when wearing it. However, she does always make sure she appears at her best, as she has been taught. She has thin lips that, when amused, will curve into a slightly crooked smile, with the right side of her mouth rising slightly higher than the left. This is particularly exaggerated if she is being sarcastic or false.

Because of years of training, Andromeda carries herself appropriately for a young lady of the magical equivalant of aristocracy, She walks with her head high and proud, and walks gracefully. When not in Hogwarts uniform she will usually be in high-quality robes, and on formal occasions wears traditional full dress robes. This is the way she also always dresses at home, more because she has to than that she wants to, as well as when being 'introduced' to other magical families her parents seem keen to marry her off into.




PERSONALITY

LIKES: Reading romance stories, a gentleman, snowy weather, sneaking time with Sirius, Ted Tonks, angering her family, quick wit, tidiness

DISLIKES: Dark magic, Pureblood supremacy, formal parties, arranged marriage and the idea of it, her parents, not being brave enough to stand up for what she believes is right like Sirius

STRENGTHS: Considerate, sharp wit, the ability she shares with her cousin to sneak off from people she's trying to avoid

WEAKNESSES: Standing up to her family, living up to expectations, a true gentleman

BOGGART: Andromeda's greatest fear is growing up to be just like her mother - arranged to be married off for advancement of the family to some Pureblood snob who expects her to be the pretty little wife who stays home, stays quiet, and stays loyal to nobody but him. In other words, she fears treading the same path of every Black woman who has gone before her.

PATRONUS: Andromeda's Patronus takes the form of a swan. Slightly clumbsy looking but elegant and graceful in it's element. It also represents how she feels - the ugly duckling is her childhood, being raised in the Black family and having Pureblood values drummed into her, which at a younger age she repeated without thinking. Now she is becoming her own woman and realising that her family have got things all wrong, her transformation into the swan of her Patronus is really beginning to pick up pace. However, she wouldn't dare tell anyone what thought brings on the spell for her - it is the memory of Sirius finally escaping the family and being able to be who he truly was. She nvies his bravery, and would like nothing more than to do the same, but is still a little frightened of the consequences.

DESCRIPTION: Andromeda is very much a case of someone with two faces, reserved for different groups of people. The one that most people know and see if the quiet middle sister. Having been a disappointment to her parents from the start, Andromeda has learned to keep her opinions (mostly) to herself. She is quiet in class, though a good student, always getting work in on time and getting consistently good grades. She's never been top of her class, but the magic she seems to excel in - healing and housekeeping spells - are ones that aren't really assessed when in school, and have much more of a practical application. She is very well-spoken and, like the rest of her family, does take some pride in her appearance. Though she disagees with the way her family conducts their business, she does feel that a girl should be ladylike and not pass herself about for any boy who shows an interest. She has a very quick, sharp wit and doesn't hesitate to use it when someone is annoying her to get them to leave her alone. In this way, she and her sisters are similar. She has a very small group of people she would honestly call her friends, along with a much wider group of family acquaintances who she socialises with purely because she has to. However, she is quiet even in these gatherings, and does not make herself the centre of attention like Narcissa. She will speak only when she thinks it necessary, and only if she thinks the person she is speaking to is worth it. The only thing is, she has a very different opinion of who is worthy of her time than most of the rest of her family.

The other side is one rarely seen by people other than Sirius or a few very select friends. Andromeda is actually very compassionate, and will help those she is close to in any way she can. She is not a very brave person, and will more often than not be passive-aggressive in confrontation, either slipping out of situations she doesn't enjoy or insulting someone tactfully enough that they leave without causing much of a scene. She is a romantic at heart, which is very frustrating for her parents. They have tried a couple of arrangements for marriage for Andromeda, none of which have worked out due to her own sabotage. She wants to marry for love and wants her future husband to be kind, honest, and equal to her, not expect her to be a doting little housewife (though she does have a certain skill for keeping things neat and tidy). As she has grown up and spent more time with a variety of people in Hogwarts, she is feeling more and more estranged from her family, and seeks company more frequently now from her cousin Sirius. He is the only one she feels truly understands how she feels at the moment, as he was there himself only a couple of years ago. She just hopes she can find the strength soon to watch her own face be burned from the family tree, as it inevitably will be when she opens up about her real opinions.



HISTORY

FATHER: Cygnus Black

MOTHER: Druella Black

BROTHER(S): None

SISTER(S): Bellatrix and Narcissa Black

OTHER: Sirius and Regulus Black (cousins), the Rosiers, the Weasleys

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOMETOWN: London, England

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Hogwarts/Black Manor

BIOGRAPHY: Andromeda is the second and middle child born to Cygnus and Druella Black, one of the most powerful wizarding families in England and - through their connections through marriage - most of the magical world. After the birth of their first child, Bellatix, Cygnus had hoped that their second child would be a male and an heir to the family name and wealth. Unfortunately, Andromeda arrived into the world a disappointment to her parents. Where Bellatrix at least had their mother's favour as the firstborn and a quiet and magically gifted child, Andromeda had no such luck. From the beginning her father cared very little for raising her, seeing her as simply another girl to get married of when she was old enough to be rid of her, and focused all his discipline on trying to make sure she was raised a lady from a young age. She was born a short while after her cousin Sirius, and as such often spent time with him in their younger years. Having had this boyish influence, Andromeda was a lot more prone to misbehaving and causing mischief as a child than Bellatrix had been, meaning their mother never took a shine to her either. This became increasingly so after the birth of Narcissa, who became the jewel of their father's eye with her platinum hair and easy countenance when they taught her what being a Black lady meant, and who they kept away from spending too much time with their male cousins for fear she would turn out like Andromeda.

She lived most of her years in the shadow of Bellatrix, and when she was younger this came as jealous fits and tantrums, which didn't serve to endear her to their parents. It was after one of these tantrums that their father took Andromeda to his study, and proceeded to punish her with hexes that left marks on her back for weeks, which were hidden well by all the gowns his girls were expected to wear day-to-day. It was after this that somewhere in her head Andromeda realised that quiet, even silent, rebellion was going to be the best bet. She was nothing like Sirius, who as they got older and began attendig Hogwarts made his displeasure at being a member of the Black family quite clear to anyone. He would often encourage Andromeda to act in the same way, but she never had the strength to do so. Instead, she insulted the family in her own, small, subtle, but just as infuriating ways; sneaking out of parties where they were trying to introduce her to eligible young men from other Pureblood families, letting rumours get back home that she spent time with Sirius rather than her own sisters, using sharp sarcasm to turn away anyone in the Pureblood society that tried to approach and persuade her.

Now in her Sixth Year of Hogwarts, Andromeda is realising more and more that the path her family are heading down is one that terrifies her. Narcissa seems to be being prepared to marry into the Malfoy family, who she knows are as interested in Dark magic as her own. Bellatrix is becoming more intimidating the older she gets, and Andromeda herself is beginning to worry where that will lead for her older sister, though she knows it is far too late to change. Though she has admitted it to nobody - not even Sirius, with whom she still sneaks off to have the odd evening conversation - she has taken a liking to a boy who sits as her partner in Potions, Ted Tonks, a Mugg;e-born wizard and from what she can tell a real gentleman (not the false manners most Pureblood boys are forced to used when addressing her). She is sure Narcissa, also in her Year, must have noticed something by now, and isn't sure what's stopping her from telling their sister or parents.

[N.B. I know Ted isn't on the canon list as in some books he is referenced as a muggle, but in later ones it's clarified he's a muggle-born wizard, so I'd assume he'd have attended Hogwarts!]



SAMPLE POST: The Black family home was a sea of colour and silk. Men in their best dress robes stood in corners and hallways, tumblers of whiskey in one hand and cigars in the other, laughing at some offensive and vulgar joke. Groups of women stood on their own around the main dining hall, the house elves having cleared the table and chairs to make room for the guests. They twittered away amongst themselves about the latest fashions, gossip from their circles of friends, and how wonderfully their husbands were getting on in the Ministry. It was like a contest to them – whoever had the most successful husband was automatically the alpha female of the group. All the others fell into line, gasping about how wonderful it was for her whilst equally wishing her husband would fall prey to some terrible accident so her own could take his place and move up the rankings. So went the parties thrown by Pureblood families time and time again whenever anything of importance took place.

The happy event this time had been the seventeenth birthday of the Black’s middle daughter, Andromeda. She was of age, which meant that – in the eyes of Pureblood society – she was now eligible prey for the multitude of young bachelors seeking a wife of good breeding. Watching the crowd below as she stood at the top of the staircase, careful to stay out of view, Andromeda felt her stomach turn at the thought. She felt like a prize mare getting sent to market to fetch the best price, despite the owners knowing she was the weakest of their lot. The brunette had already noticed Bellatrix charming a few members of the Rosier family with her jokes about Muggle-borns, and had since seen Narcissa swishing her gowns about and flipping her hair in the direction of Lucius Malfoy. Every Pureblood family had been invited to celebrate her birthday, it seemed. It seemed such a waste of an occasion, since it was the last thing she herself wanted to spend her evening doing.

“Mistress Andromeda” she heard a small. nervous voice say, and glanced down to see one of the family house elves wringing it’s bat-like ears as it avoided meeting her eyes as it was trained to when speaking to her, “your f-father requests your p-presence in the dining hall immediately”

“Of course he does,” she replied carefully, emptily, once again casting her gray eyes across the crowd. The one person she wanted here – her cousin Sirius – would never attend. He was the only person that may have given her the courage to simply refuse, to return to her room and charm the door locked so that nobody could come barging in. It would throw things into disarray if the other families knew the Blacks couldn’t control their daughters and drag their reputation a little bit further down. She wished she could do just that, but her feet wouldn’t allow it, instead carrying her gracefully down the staircase, her hands lifting the edge of her silver and green gown instinctively as she dipped to a small curtsey to the applauding crowd as she reached the bottom, noting that neither of her sisters were joining in the congratulations. Narcissa was doubtlessly jealous that the evening was not about her for a change. Bellatrix, though, Andromeda wasn’t sure about. In the past few months she seemed to have given up on trying to persuade Andromeda to follow in her footsteps and restore the family name after one member was blasted from the tree. She wasn’t sure why, and it set her on edge to see the cold, calculating look in her eyes.

“Thank you all so much for coming,” she began, ensuring to catch her older sister’s eye as she spoke, the familiar sarcastic smile rising on the right side of her lips, “I’m sure my parents must have granted a few of your sons ample time to court myself and my darling sisters, but I am quite certain they will both command much more of their attention. Please, do excuse me, but I am so overcome with your affections I feel I must take some fresh air.”

With the outraged look on her father’s face, and her mother’s immediate attempts to reassure the guests her daughter was such a joker, Andromeda quirked a brow quickly at Bellatrix as she left the room and took to the grounds of the manor, her expression quickly falling as she grasped onto a rail circling the pond for support. It was as though this minor act of defiance alone had physically exhausted her, and she wondered who she would have to face first coming to search for her.




OC:

YOUR NAME: Kezz

RP EXPERIENCE: Many, many years!
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