Vivian Pasternack
Age: 14
Year: 4th
House: Aquila
Wand: Cedar, 10", dragon heartstring, inflexible
Patronus: Mongoose
Familiar: A common barn owl called Sebastian. Often temperamental, though, reasonably affectionate towards Vivian as needed.
Personality
Shy and soft-spoken, Vivian will, more often than not, keep to herself altogether. Being among crowds gives her a sense of being watched and, in worst case scenarios, can cause her to panic. A fear of rejection prevents Vivian from instigating most social interaction, creating a self-replicating cycle that feeds off of while being fed on by her incapability to speak to people effectively. Though she is not poorly spoken, Vivian perceives herself as having a persistent stutter, only making the situation even more difficult. She will almost always enter rooms in as quietly as possible out of habit. Only on very rare occasions will she speak up despite her fear, and usually she will self-criticize her way of speaking her mind afterwards. Generally, situations such as these will only occur if Vivian is in the presence of blatant injustice or if an especially powerful party is abusing a much weaker party.
History
Born in Connecticut to a muggle family, Vivian is the younger of two siblings. Vivian's older brother, Damon, was born three or so years before her. The two never quite got along, and Vivian usually ended up on the receiving end of verbal and occasionally physical maltreatment from her brother. To Vivian's great relief, he has almost completely ignored her after her first year at Gaol and is soon to go abroad for his college studies.
Late in her primary school career, Vivian started to display especially high levels of introversion. She stopped trying to talk to others without provocation, only giving an occasional apology or a nod of acknowledgement to those she was not already familiar with. Her academic achievement stayed steady, but the amount of time she spent alone concerned both her teachers and her parents. Around the same time, she also began exhibiting unusual abilities. At one point, she caused the glass of a fish tank to shatter while being made to see a therapist. During an especially loud shouting match between her and Damon, her brother suddenly lost his voice without clear reason. Frequently, objects or occasionally people within Vivian's vicinity would break, collapse, or even catch fire if she felt especially humiliated or angry after feeling wronged by a peer.
Receiving a letter from a school that teaches magic was more than a bit of a surprise for Vivian's family. At first, the message was taken as a particularly bizarre and elaborate piece of junk mail, but after doing a bit of digging, they concluded that the invitation was, in fact, completely legitimate. While Vivian's parents were dumbfounded by the revelation that magic exists, the invitation increased tensions between the two siblings.
Having little to no prior experience with magic, Vivian stumbled her way through classes for a while before adjusting to the flow of the school. She found a particular interest in transfiguration and, to a lesser extent, potions, and generally is competent in most of her classes.
Likes
- Peaceful environments, especially those with very few people
- The appropriate use of justice or mercy depending on situational context
- Transfiguration
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Cheese of any kind
Dislikes
- Crowds
- Abuse of power
- Intense motion and high speeds
- Water deeper than her waist
- Her older brother
Password: Specialis Revelio