Writen 2004, © Erica 2005

Profile for Hogwarts: Spirits of the Dead v2 - Board (RPG is now dead)

Basic Info

Ezboard Name: Lady Alastrina
Email Address: [email protected]
IM Screen Names: MSN: [email protected]
Name you want us to refer to you as: Erica
Were you accepted to the old SotD board?: Nope

Character Info

Name: Eleanor Rhian Branstone
House: Hufflepuff
Year: 4th
Place of Birth: Conwy, Wales
Place Where She Grew Up: Conwy, Wales
Financial Situation: Upper-middle class

Physical

Age: 14
Birthday: April 30
Blood Line: 3/4 blood (maternal grandfather muggle)
Description of Physical Appearance: At 5' 5" and 125 lbs, Eleanor is about normal sized for her age and is built rather slight and willowy. Her eyes are a medium blue, "like the sea on a sunny day" her father once stated. When Eleanor was younger her hair was a dark blonde, but now it's begun turn more of a medium brown. Straight and somewhat limp, her hair falls to about the middle of her back. Eleanor usually wears it in a ponytail to give it some volume. Her face is oval-shaped with a semi-clear light complexion. Eleanor is diligent in keeping her face clean, as she's somewhat prone to acne. Eleanor also carries a number of scars. There's a three-inch long scar on her upper right arm, a six inch long scar on the back of her left leg and a two inch scar between her shoulder blades, all from when she fell into a well as a child. Despite this, for the most part, Eleanor isn't someone most people would give a second look, and she likes it like that. Eleanor prefers to dress sensible and simple, but when she needs to be fancy or formal, she can pull it off. And no matter what, Eleanor always has a few items with her, namely her wand, some parchment, quill and ink, and her inhaler. Eleanor was still wearing the tracking necklace until only recently, as her mother still wouldn't let her take off. It took Eleanor a while, but she managed to convince her mother that the necklace was no longer necessary. So instead her mother gave her a necklace with a Cross of Bridhe pendant for protection. The pendant itself isn't magical, though it is said the Cross of Bridhe design invokes the protection of the Celtic goddess Bridhe.

Emotional

Parents and Siblings Names and Ages: Parents: Evan Richard Branstone (45) & Matilda Elaine Ashton (43)
Sibling(s): Jestin Henry (21), Joan Tristana (19), Gareth John (19) Trent William (9), Alix Maelona (9)

Family History: Evan Richard was born to Amren Emrys Branstone and Avenable Bodicea Sambrook in Holyhead Wales. Both Amren and Avenable came from old Welsh wizarding families. Amren's parents were herbologists and Avenables parents were apothecary owners. The two met in childhood because their parents had business together. While they were friends as they grew up, nothing really serious happened between Amren and Avenable until they went to Hogwarts. During their seventh year Avenable lost her father and two brothers to Grindelwald's reign. She ran to Amren for comfort and the two suddenly realized they'd been in love for the past year and a half without really noticing it. After graduating, they were married. Amren became a herbologist like his parents and Avenable went to become an auror. After Grindelwald's reign ended Avenable finally consented to settle down completely and raise a family. They had eight children, of which Evan was the youngest. Isolde Adriana, Blaise Daned, Jenifer Anne, Cian Bryant, Saeth Amarina, Dylan Monroe, Tarian Alanna, Evan Richard. Amren and Avenable instilled a sense of loyalty and appreciation for hard work in all their children, as well as a love of learning. Evan had a pretty much normal wizarding childhood. He caused what spontaneous baby magic he could and waited eagerly for his Hogwarts letter. When he finally got to Hogwarts, Evan was sorted into Hufflepuff, like his parents and all of his siblings (except Jenifer and Dylan who were both in Ravenclaw).

Matilda was born to Taryn Craig Ashton and Ganieda Morwen Warlow in Llanddona Wales. Taryn was a muggle journalist and Ganieda was a pureblood witch. The two met about three years after Ganieda graduated from Hogwarts. She was working as a waitress in the Leaky Cauldron when Taryn saw her heading home after her shift. Taryn wasn't completely muggle though. There were a few drops of wizarding blood still in his family. Taryn came from a line of wizards that had pretty much completely intergraded into the muggle world; culture, blood and all. Taryn wasn't a wizard, but he wasn't totally magic-less. The few drops of wizard blood he had were what was responsible for his heightened intuition. When Taryn got a hunch, he was usually right. And when he saw Ganieda that night as she walked by the coffee shop he was sitting in, something told him there was something different about that woman. So, the next night, he went to the coffee shop at the same time, and once again saw Ganieda as she walked by. Again he felt there was something different about her. So a week later he waited outside the coffee shop. As Ganieda walked by, he "tripped" and "accidentally" spilled his triple latte all over her. After apologizing profusely, Taryn offered to by her dinner at a small café just down the street from the coffee shop. Charmed by the polite young muggle, Ganieda accepted. The two started going out, and a year later they married. But Ganieda was hiding something from her husband. He still didn't know she was a witch. Of their six children, four were magical, the middle four. Gavin Duglas, Matilda Elaine, Morgaine Liona, Morgause Lorinda, Meghan Siobhan, Blair Myrddin. Ganieda finally told Taryn that she was a witch after Matilda's birth. Taryn took the news rather well, as he was a journalist and was somewhat used to hearing odd things. After a few months he rather warmed to the idea of having a witch as a wife and became rather fascinated with the magical world. So Matilda grew up in a mix of the wizarding world and the muggle world. Needless to say, it gave her a very interesting outlook on life. It made her inquisitive and curious, a sometimes dangerous mix for a child, but a mix that landed Matilda in Ravenclaw when she went to Hogwarts.

Evan was two years older than Matilda and actually never met her in school. After graduating, Evan went to college to become a healer and after finishing his education he got a job at St. Mungos. After graduating, Matilda got a position at the Daily Prophet as a reporter. For a while she was simply a column reporter, but the head of her department recognized her writing and reporting skills and gave Matilda her first big article, on the intern healers at St. Mungos. Evan was one of the healers she interviewed and the only intern that asked for her number. The two started going out and after a couple years of going steady, Evan proposed to Matilda and they were married. They bought a small house in Conwy and started a family. Matilda quit her job at the Daily Prophet because she wanted to stay at home with her children. But then she was approached by a representative of Witch Weekly who was looking for young witches that wanted to write a "in the life of a young mother" column for the magazine. Matilda had been suggested because she was also a reporter. Delighted that she would still be able to write and stay at home with her kids, she took the job. After the first set of twins was born, Evan and Matilda realized that they might need a slightly larger house, so they sold their small house and, using the raise Evan had just gotten at St. Mungos, they bought a larger house on the other side of town.

Eleanor was the fourth child of six. From the start, Elly had a strong bond with her older brother Jestin, even though she was six years younger than him. It was probably because it turned out that they were the only two that weren't twins. The Branstone family was always very tight-knit and close, but the children each had their favorite sibling. In the cases of the twins, it was their counter-part. With Jestin and Elly, they stuck together because they weren't twins. Or maybe it was because Elly had been born on Jestin's birthday. Either way, this was a good arrangement because Elly was a rather curious child, like her mother, and tended to get herself into all sorts of mischief. Elly was like Jestin's shadow, for the most part. But Elly occasionally got it into her head to wander off. Jestin was always there to make sure she was all right. That is, until he got his letter to Hogwarts. Then the real trouble began.

Eleanor missed her older brother horribly while he was at Hogwarts, and would wander off constantly, somehow having developed the notion that if she wandered far enough, she'd be able to find Jestin. When she was five she fell into the stream and almost drowned. When she was six she fell down an old well. When she was seven she got lost in the woods and stumbled into a bat cave. By the times she was eight, Elly had figured out that Jestin was too far away for her to walk to. So she took her pocket money and rode the bus all the way to Cardiff before her mother managed to fetch her. After the first accident when Elly was five, Matilda had bought a locator clock (like the Weasley clock) and also a necklace that had a long term tracking charm on it. Elly was forbidden to take the necklace off, for anything. After the bus incident, Matilda asked Jestin to talk to his little shadow. The next break, Jestin took Elly to their special spot at the top of the old oak tree in their yard and explained to her that she had to behave and stop wandering off. Since it was Jestin telling her this, Elly listened, and stopped wandering off.

But the damage had been done. Several of the accidents that had happened to Elly had remained with her as fears. Because of the stream and a few other almost drowning incidents, she was terrified of bodies of water. Because of the old well, she was terrified of small dark spaces. Because of the bat cave, she hated bats. Elly has tried to overcome each of her fears, but can't seem to shake them. And unlike all her other siblings, Elly is the only one with asthma. Probably her greatest fear is having a major attack without her inhaler.

Matilda first noticed that Elly had a breathing problem when her daughter started wheezing after running a short distance. Elly was nine. At first, Matilda brushed it off because of the running. But then other things started sticking out to her. Like how Elly would wheeze when she dusted the house. And how in allergy season she not only had a constant cold, but also complained on being short of breath. But when Elly suddenly collapsed after running down the dirt road in front of her best friend's house. Matilda took Elly to see the family healer. Along with a few other conditions, asthma isn't treatable magically. So Elly was prescribed two inhalers (a fast acting and slow acting) and cautioned about sports and large quantities of dust. For the most part, Elly only has one or two major attacks per year, generally during winter or pollen season, or when she's extremely frightened. She has occasional small attacks if she runs too hard or opens a really dusty book, but those are easily taken care of with her fast acting inhaler.

Eleanor was ecstatic when she received her Hogwarts letter. It came as no big surprise when she was sorted into Hufflepuff like her father and older siblings. For the most part, Eleanor was simply part of the background of the school. No one paid her any mind, except the Slytherins when they were taunting her. Eleanor's mild manner kept her from rising to their bate, and as a result, she tends to be pushed around more than insulted by the Slytherins. But even this hardly bothers her. An accident-prone childhood means that little pushes and shoves are like blows of a feather.

Eleanor's years at Hogwarts were alarming from the start. First the business with Sirius Black in her first year. And then the Triwizard Tournament in her second year. Like most Hufflepuffs, Eleanor had really looked up to Cedric as the epitome of Hufflepuff House. Then with the apparent defeat of You-Know-Who in her third year, it seemed the coast was clear. Except then the Heiress cropped up. And then she was killed. But not before killing Dumbledore as well. Evan and Matilda were very distressed by this piece of news and considered withdrawing Eleanor from Hogwarts, especially when they heard that Lucius Malfoy was going to be the new headmaster. Matilda was a journalist and it was simply her nature to hear tidbits of information that most didn’t. And Evan simply didn’t like him because he was a Slytherin, despite the fact the Malfoys had made substantial donations to St Mungos. Snakes always have ulterior motives. But Eleanor adamantly refused to go over seas to another school or to one of the smaller schools. It was too far for one of the foreign schools and she’d get homesick. Plus the smaller schools didn’t have as good a reputation as Hogwarts. Eleanor assured them she’d be fine.

Phobias/Fears: Having an attack without her inhaler, loosing her family, large bodies of water (like the lake), small dark spaces, bats. Most of these fears stem from the accidents she had as a child. Her fear of losing her family, especially Jestin, comes from the fact that her family is very close.

Hobbies/Interests:Eleanor has an extensive Chocolate Frog card collection, which she is still adding too. A few of the more rare cards still elude her. Eleanor is also an avid reader and deeply enjoys history books and fantasy books. And while she doesn’t place quidditch, Eleanor loves flying. She just feels she’s too accident prone to play the wizarding sport without getting hurt every single game. So stead, Eleanor loves to step dance. She doesn't complete but she took lessons as a child, and still likes to dance when the occasion arises. She also has a tentative hobby of singing. Eleanor doesn’t think she’s very good at it, though she’s actually quite decent. And because of her mother, Eleanor has a certain interest in journalism, true journalism, not the sort of trash Rita Skeeter writes. (Her mother has quite a grudge against Skeeter for giving journalists a bad name.) Eleanor is still deciding whether to be a healer like her father, a journalist like her mother, or maybe even an Auror like her grandmother…

Good/Bad Habits: Whenever Eleanor wears her hair down, she can usually be seen twirling her hair with a finger while taking notes, a habit some people find very annoying. She also sticks her quill behind her ear if she's in the middle of writing and has to pause for a moment to do something else. Eleanor also bites her nails, which she’s trying to stop, as she knows it makes her hands look disproportionate. Eleanor can also be seen playing with her necklace when she’s thinking, usually when she’s thinking of home. One of Eleanor's most embarrassing habits is that she tends to snort occasionally when she laughs, something the Slytherins in her year take great pleasure in making fun of.

Strengths/Weaknesses: Eleanor's loyalty and honesty are probably her greatest strengths, along with her determination. Once she stars something, she’s going to finish it. Eleanor's honesty can be a bit of a problem sometimes. While she does try to be tactful in how she words the sometimes blunt things she finds she has to say, sometimes her message comes across as a bit harsh. And some people have gotten irritated with her because of this. Also, Eleanor does crack under extreme pressure. Also, when she’s faced with one of her fears, Eleanor tends to come completely unglued.

Cognitive

Attitude Toward School and School Work: All of the Branstone children were taught to value hard work, dedication and fairness. Because of this, all of the Branstone children (except Trent and Alix) have been sorted into Hufflepuff. Eleanor may not make top grades, but she puts as much effort into her schoolwork as possible.
How Does She Do in Classes: Eleanor doesn't make top grades, but she does well enough. She has the potential and determination to meet just about any goal she sets for herself.
Favorite/Least Favorite Subjects: Fav: Herbology & Potions / Least: Transfiguration

Social

Personality: Like one can expect, Eleanor is extremely loyal, to her friends, to her family, and to Hogwarts. Eleanor will stand up for those she’s loyal to, even if she’s alone in her stance. Eleanor's determination is usually what keeps her from giving up. Once Eleanor starts something, she doesn’t stop until she has finished it. Eleanor's not afraid to dig in to her elbows and get a little dirty. Good honest hard work is its own reward was something her father always told her.

Patient almost to a fault, Eleanor can hold her tongue and temper longer than most people. She does have a breaking point but little results from it as her temper is quite mild. A good shout and a possible slap is the rise all anyone can get out of her. Eleanor is also a very honest person. She is extremely straightforward and will tell you exactly what she thinks, though as tactfully as possible. Eleanor does not like confrontations and tries to avoid them at all costs.

This is mainly because Eleanor doesn’t always do well under stress. The stress of a project or paper she can handle, as it’s only short term and for a reasonable small thing in the whole big picture. But something as big as the OWLs could completely unhinge her. While she can normally keep a pretty level head, things that could potentially affect the rest of her life, like the OWLs, can increase the level of stress she’s feeling.

Past Relationships: None really
Other Characters She MAY BE Associated With: Most Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaw & Gryffindor 4th years
Familiar: Her calico cat, Sakhmet.
Other: Wand: Black elder shaft with Hawthorn grip, Unicorn tail hair, 11 1/2 inches