yolanda hooch

THE PLAYER
Name: Dex
Age: 25
Contact: email preferred: dexslytherin@gmail.com
RPG Experience: about a year’s worth; someday I will make a cdj.


THE CHARACTER
FULL NAME: Yolanda Hooch
BIRTHDAY: January 17th (age: 17)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: She thinks she might be bisexual, but she’ll get back to you on that one, once she’s experimented a bit.
BLOOD STATUS: Half-blood
THOUGHTS ON BLOOD PURITY/MUGGLES: With a Muggleborn mother and a wizard father, Yolanda has absolutely no blood prejudice. She has never really heard much about it, mutterings from Slytherins, maybe, but that’s it, and she thinks they’re silly, placing worth in someone’s blood over what they can do. And she says if anyone thinks she’s lesser of a person, because her blood isn’t pure, well, she’ll hit them in the nose and see if that doesn’t change their opinion.  

HOUSE AND YEAR: Hufflepuff, 6th Year
WAND: Chestnut, dragon heartstring, 10 inches, firm. Yolanda is right-handed.
♦ Chestnut: This is a most curious, multi-faceted wood, which varies greatly in its character depending on the wand core, and takes a great deal of colour from the personality that possesses it. The wand of chestnut is attracted to witches and wizards who are skilled tamers of magical beasts, those who possess great gifts in Herbology, and those who are natural fliers.
♦ Dragon heartstring: As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner. The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.
information from Pottermore, because I like their descriptions of wand woods.

BOGGART: An acromantula. Although she’s not a girly girl who is scared of bugs, Yolanda has a fear of being trapped in a life-sized spiderweb, unable to move or cast a spell to free herself.
PATRONUS: A hawk, cast with the memory of her first ride on a broom, how free she felt, soaring through the air, even though her dad was the one steering the broom for her because she was only six.
CLASSES: Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Charms
POSITION: Quidditch Chaser, Dueling Club

PERSONALITY:
Yolanda is the type of person that always has to be on the move. She’s always looking for her next adventure, and she’s not shy about getting into trouble. She’s not a troublemaker, but she won’t pass up a dare to go into the Forbidden Forest, or to see how many times she can fly through the goal hoops without getting sick.

Although she’s somewhat of a daredevil, she’s also a Hufflepuff to the core. Her dad instilled in her the values of working hard, and she would do anything to help her housemates, whether it be extra flying practice of filching food from the kitchens if someone in her dormitory’s had a bad day.

Yolanda has a bit of a rough exterior at times, but that’s a leftover of attending Muggle schools until she was eleven. Her father chose not to homeschool her, thinking that it would be good for her to socialize with other kids her age, even if they were Muggles. But Yolanda never quite fit in, with the weird things that would happen -- her hair growing suddenly, or her papers turning blue, and she quickly turned into a target of bullies. Once her dad found out about that, he showed her how to protect herself, and she got a reputation for being a tough little girl who wasn’t afraid to whap boys. Fortunately she never got into trouble for that -- Yolanda was very careful never to let the teachers find out, and the boys were too embarrassed about being hit by a girl to complain.

At Hogwarts, she immediately felt more welcome, as she was with kids who were just like her. Even though she grew up in Ottery St. Catchpole, she and her father lived on the edge of the forest, and didn’t see other wizarding families very often. Her prickly side still comes out at times, usually when she feels like the other houses are making fun of Hufflepuff, but she’s very open and easy-going with her housemates.

She’s an okay student. Academics aren’t her favorite thing -- she’d much rather be flying than doing homework, but Yolanda is smart enough to know that her dream of being a professional Quidditch player might not become a reality. The team she really wants to play for is the Holyhead Harpies, but she would put up with even the Chudley Cannons, if it meant she got to play. Her backup plan is to write Quidditch articles for The Daily Prophet, and failing that, she figures she’d do a stint at Quality Quidditch Supplies. Anything to be around brooms and flying, and witches and wizards who love the sport.

Yolanda believes in living in the moment, a phrase she picked up from a Muggle book she read one summer. If there’s something she wants to do, she’s gonna do it, or figure out a way to make it happen. That goes for anything -- finding time to fly after a long day of classes, snogging someone, or getting to a new kitten. The possibilities are endless.

STRENGTHS: Excellent flyer, good hand-eye coordination, protective of her friends, hard worker.
WEAKNESSES: Impatient, gruff at times, impulsive, likes to push boundaries and get into trouble (but never anything too bad).
LIKES: Quidditch!, the Holyhead Harpies, flying, archery, cats, animals in general, going to Hogsmeade, butterbeer, being in the woods, the smell of rain, the scent of pine trees, reading about her favorite Quidditch players, Quidditch playing blokes and birds (those she finds attractive are the other students who take care of their bodies), and sleeping with her bed curtains closed.
DISLIKES: being girly, sitting still, being bored, homework, mediwitches and nurses, the infirmary, spending time in detention (a necessary evil sometimes), people that make fun of Hufflepuffs, the color pink, big spiders, and wood lice.
PERSONAL GOALS: To play for the Holyhead Harpies!

PARENTS:
♦ Alan Hooch (father, half-blood), Gryffindor
♦ Ella Hooch née Smith (mother, Muggleborn, deceased), Hufflepuff
THEIR RELATIONSHIP: Yolanda is extremely close to her father. Her mother died when she was a baby from cancer, so she and her father have relied on each other since then.
SIBLINGS: None
FAMILY DYNAMICS: Yolanda adores her father and thinks he’s the greatest person in the world. She misses him when she’s at school, and always sends him at least one letter a week, detailing her latest exploits and adventures. She’s not afraid to tell him when she gets into trouble, and if she has to serve a detention. Alan Hooch was no angel at Hogwarts in his day, and he would never get upset at his daughter for following in his footsteps a bit. He supports Yolanda in everything she does.

PERSONAL HISTORY:
Yolanda grew up with her father, Alan Hooch, on the side of the forest just outside of Ottery St. Catchpole. Her mother, Ella, died when Yolanda was two, from cancer that the mediwitches at St. Mungo’s couldn’t cure with magic. Yolanda has no memories of her mother, other than an inherent fear of mediwitches and hospitals. When she broke her arm in fourth year from falling off her broom, she nearly had a panic attack in the Hogwarts infirmary.

A tomboy from the start, Alan took his daughter everywhere with him, even hunting. He supported them by supplying animal parts for apothecaries, and taught Yolanda how to draw a bow as soon as she was strong enough. While Yolanda hates sitting still, hunting is the only time she can manage to do so. Target practice is one of her favorite ways to burn off stress or anger, other than flying, that is.

Up to the age of eleven, Yolanda attended Muggle schools. Her father thought it would be good for her to be around other kids her age. She hated being separated for him for hours every day, but she hated the kids the most. Whenever something weird happened in the classroom or on the schoolyard, she was always the one blamed for it, and bullies took to her as an easy target. That didn’t last for long, as when Alan found out, he taught his daughter how to protect herself.

When she got her Hogwarts letter, Yolanda couldn’t wait to start. Alan had told her stories of his days at Hogwarts before bed every night, and she thought it would be a magical place. For the most part, it is. While she was sorted into Hufflepuff, Yolanda is a spitfire, one of the most outspoken of her house. That might come from her days at a Muggle school, where she felt so out of place; she hates to see her housemates looked down upon just because they’re Hufflepuffs. She wanted to be a Gryffindor, like her dad, but the Sorting Hat thought Hufflepuff was a better match, and she’s been pretty happy there, and now couldn’t imagine being in a different house.

Yolanda is a very hard worker, one of the things Hufflepuffs are known for. When she wanted to try out for the Quidditch team in her third year, she practiced practically day and night, until she had to brave her fear of the infirmary and get a potion for sore muscles. The hard work was worth it though, and she’s been on the team since then. She’s very big on doing better than boys -- if a boy on the opposing team makes five goals, she does her best to make six. She just sees it as doing her best.

Her first two years at Hogwarts were normal, full of classes, homework, and exploring the castle, and sometimes dipping her toe into the Forbidden Forest. Yolanda isn’t really scared of it, since she knows her way around in the woods, and she likes accepting dares to skirt the edges of it. She didn’t care if she got a detention either, as it wasn’t a big deal to help Professor (Helga) Hufflepuff take care of sick unicorns and irritable knarls.

In her third year, she went out for and made the Quidditch team, and also joined the Dueling Club. Again, she likes besting boys, and she relishes the chance to get some practical application of the spells they learn during class. That’s one reason homework bores her so much -- it’s almost all theory. Yolanda would much rather learn the use of spells, and try them out, than write an essay on what a Summoning Spell is and what it’s used for.

Fourth and fifth years passed in a blur of Quidditch, practice, and just generally enjoying herself. Well, fifth year wasn’t so much fun, with cramming for O.W.L.s all the time. Yolanda put a lot of effort into her O.W.L.s, even if she didn’t like studying, because she knew she needed to have a backup plan if her dream of making the Harpies doesn’t come true.

Now in sixth year, Yolanda is going to spend it having as much fun as she can, especially after the stress of last year. She’ll worry about N.E.W.T.s next year, and she’s not planning on taking a lot of them -- just the subjects she enjoys and thinks will be useful, like the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. And Care of Magical Creatures, which is probably her favorite subject. Even though she hunts with her father, helping him with his business, she is still an animal lover, and likes learning about them and how to take care of them. She thinks animals are pretty lucky, that they don’t have to go to the infirmary when they get sick, but get to be in their natural habitat, or a nice nest in Professor Hufflepuff’s quarters.

Sixth year is important in another regard. Yolanda has recently begun to notice boys -- and girls, much to her surprise -- and she’s going to barrel on full speed ahead, like she does with everything else. If she sees a cute bloke, and he wants to invite her into a deserted classroom, she’s not going to say no. Neither is she going to go all the way, but she sees nothing wrong with exploring and finding out what she really likes. She’s not sure if it’s blokes or birds at the moment, but she has the rest of her life for that.

APPEARANCE: Yolanda is a bundle of energy. She’s 5’4”, slim and muscled from playing Quidditch and archery. She’s usually tan from spending as much time out of doors as possible, but her color fades quickly in the wintertime when it’s too cold to be out except for practice and matches. She has shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes -- well, her eyes are actually yellow, but she hides that with a glamour charm, as it made other people uncomfortable and she didn’t like the weird stares people gave her because of it. She doesn’t know why her eyes are yellow, and her dad can’t remember any relatives with the same, but it’s something that makes her special, and even though she hides it, she likes the uniqueness of it. Her pouty lips are her other standout feature, and in the last year she's begun thinking of them as 'very kissable.'

She always has to be fiddling with something, whether it’s cleaning her broomstick in the common room or jingling change in her pocket. She hates having her hands empty, so she always carries something to toss around.

Yolanda is most comfortable in clothes that are easy to move in, such as denims and a jumper. Robes restrict her movement, but she does think the Hufflepuff team robes are pretty snazzy.
PB: Anna Popplewell (example icons these aren't the best quality, but most posts with her are locked, and I wanted to link to something you'd be able to see)


THE ROLE
First person roleplaying sample:
[Private to the Hufflepuff Quidditch team]
What do you guys say to a party after the next match, win or lose? It’s been too quiet around the common room, and I’m sure that as long as we mostly behave ourselves, Prof Hufflepuff won’t mind.
[/Private]

[Private to Rose Zeller]
Want to get in some extra goal practice with me?
[/Private]

Anyone up for some dueling practice before the next club meeting? We learnt a new spell in Defense the other day that I’ve been dying to try out!


Third person roleplaying sample:
Yolanda hovered in the exact middle of a goal hoop, in the same spot a Keeper would be waiting if this was a match. When she was flying on her own, or at the end of practice, she liked to spend a little time in that spot, to see the other side of the field. She also thought it was helpful in figuring out new ways to get past the Keeper, if she could imagine every way he could dodge or knock her Quaffle away.

Now that she was still, the wind was quiet in her ears, the soft breeze ruffling her hair, pushing some into her eyes. Balancing effortlessly, she used both hands to scrape her hair back into a ponytail. She wasn’t sure why she kept it long, other than her dad liked to tug her ponytail. She liked long hair on other girls, but it was too much trouble for herself. Maybe she would cut it … that could be her next crazy stunt. It had been a while -- too long -- since her housemates had shaken their heads in amazement at her.

Down on the pitch, she could see Cedric putting the balls in their trunk, and she grinned to herself as he whacked a Bludger hard to get it to sit still, so he could chain it in. Some people thought she should have been a Beater, as she was a bit physical at times, but the position wasn’t for her. Yolanda loved the quickness required to be a Chaser, to weave in and out of the other players, Quaffle tucked under an arm, and trying to make a goal. It was almost like being a Seeker, but she thought that searching for one ball the whole game would be boring. No, being a Chaser was perfect for her.

Cedric saw her watching and waved. She waved back. Practice had been over for a while, but she had needed a little more time on her broom and in the air before she went back inside. A pile of homework was awaiting her, rolls and rolls due for Transfiguration and other things she had already forgotten about. After last year’s massive cramming, she had hoped to get a break this year, but it apparently wasn’t to be. Next week was a Hogsmeade weekend, though, which was good. Maybe she would even ask someone to go with her....

Plot Ideas/Pairings/etc...: Not offhand, but I’ll be sure to update when/if I do get some.