every voice, every dream, every story

So I had this all written out and then my internet crashed and this post didn’t save........ so ugh. Here we go again, probably missing some of the thoughts I had the first time.

Anyways, I used http://www.mrinitialman.com to compare the heights of some of my characters! (It says size comparison but that’s not exactly accurate, since you only put in a height and it has the corresponding size on a default proportion. Ideally I could toggle that, since characters like Harry or Hamza or Viv are definitely skinnier than average, whereas Ernie or Mira are much broader.) But this is the layout of my Auror characters! Or rather, the 1998 Auror trainee team. 

Out of this dozen right here, only Auror Ava Proudfoot was fully trained at the time of the war. She became head of the Auror office somewhat by default, but she was absolutely well-suited for the job and shouldering all of the responsibilities. It came about by default because she was quite literally the sole Auror who was not A) dead (like Tonks *sniff*, or many others who fought on either side of the war), B) survived but in Azkaban for choosing to side with Voldemort (obviously like Yaxley who only appointed to the DMLE in the first place to have a loyal Death Eater in charge of the Aurors and other law enforcement. But other Aurors in fact willingly cooperated with the Death Eaters, like even Proudfoot’s predecessor as head of office, Gawain Robards, who prior to Voldemort’s coup had mostly opposed him but did an about-face in loyalty when it became the easy choice to support the brutal regime - and he wasn’t alone, a number of Aurors and trainees did this and were then imprisoned for their crimes), or C) in the case of the loyal who still opposed Voldemort and were lucky enough to survive the war, they stepped up to fill now-vacant positions that were so critical to try to rebuild their society (the example obviously being Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was promoted to Minister and did a fantastic job of both undoing the damage done by the ministry completely serving Voldemort, and all of the systemic problems that their society had which perpetuated the war in the first place. A few others were also in this situation though, Kingsley just being the most prominent). Proudfoot became the obvious choice to remain in the Auror Office and rebuild it so they could be ready if a tyrant ever tried to take over again. Proudfoot had lost a lot in the war, but she agreed to this position and she became the leader of the Auror Office. Her most important task, obviously, was training all these recruits. In terms of immediate action for the end of the war, like arresting remaining Death Eaters or rounding up the Dementors so they could not harm anyone, not to mention any risk of new threats that presented themselves before there was a team of trained Aurors once again, a separate task force was also formed to begin this now. Luna, Neville, and Ginny all joined this, since this was guaranteed to be temporary and then people could eventually pursue their preferred career paths after the task force wasn’t needed. To help with this timeline, Proudfoot made a way to condense the Auror training period as much as possible, down from the standard 3 full years to somewhere between a year and a half and two years, depending on where the candidates were in readiness. For these new Auror recruits, Proudfoot wanted to make sure people who were doing it would be willing to commit for the long-term, and sustain the Auror Office for years. Anyone who did want to help in the aftermath of the war in similar work to Aurors, but in more short-term capacity, instead went to the task force instead of going through a multi-year training process.

Hamza Shafiq and Mira Hart were already partway into their training in the war, but not fully qualified Aurors (Hart had just over a year remaining, and Shafiq almost two years). Just as Proudfoot was the last remaining qualified Auror in the office, the two of them were the last of what had actually been a decently large batch - Hart was part of a large group that began training right after the Second War was openly begun in 1996, and Shafiq in fact left school before finishing his seventh year and sat the NEWTs over winter break to start training sooner, as he wanted to start training to stop the Death Eaters as soon as possible. While in the official Auror training both obviously had more experience than the new arrivals in May of 1998, there were many of the practical skills where the nine who fought in the Battle of Hogwarts were equally matched. So, in some lessons and drills, all eleven trainees would be taught together, whereas in others Shafiq and Hart continued on their own.

For the nine who entered training after the Battle of Hogwarts, eight of them began within a few weeks when Kingsley began looking for candidates - Ron, Harry, Dean, Lavender, Susan, Ernie, Padma, and Blaise. The ninth, Vivienne Beauregard, didn’t join for several more months in fact, due to the fact she was recuperating from her extensive injuries in St. Mungo’s until late autumn. She also needed to then convince Proudfoot and Kingsley Shacklebolt to approve her candidacy, since unlike the others who had all been in seventh-year, she had been only in her sixth. She successfully made her case of how Ron, Harry, and Dean had only had a few more weeks of lessons in their sixth years than she'd had, though, and none of the three of them had had any of their seventh, so their suggestion that she return to Hogwarts to finish that last year before beginning training was just unnecessary. Once deciding that like the other survivors of the Battle of Hogwarts whose NEWT requirements would be waived, Viv did not need to actually sit her NEWTs and began the Auror training in December of 1998. She still needed to continue much of her physical therapy and recovery during the process of training, but they worked out a way for her to do so due to Viv’s fierce insistence. She scoffed at the idea she “had to learn to walk before to run” - both figuratively and literally. Viv was still using a cane to walk around the day she showed up for her first training, and declined the offer to sit out on running rounds.

If I’d had room for one more person, I would have included Priscilla Wagner, since she’s the last Auror who began her training without taking the NEWTs because she was instead qualified by her fighting in the battle. However, the other nine out of the ten of them had actually been of age when they fought in the battle and Priscilla had no chance of joining when she was only in her fifth-year and hadn’t yet taken the OWLs. So, although I think of her and Viv as joining around the same time as the non-immediate recruits but still joined before the next batch from 2000 or so who had actually had to qualify the official way, it is pretty doable to break up the group by those who were in Auror training in 1998, and those who weren’t (Priscilla joined well into 1999).

so katie you sent me this ask literally MONTHS ago but bc you’re so amazing and sent me a bunch of asks i didn’t get around to answering all of them!! so here you go, questions you probably forgot you asked about my ocs (and made me decide which ones to answer for, rip im so indecisive!)

3.) Name one scar your character has, and tell us where it came from. If they don’t have any, is there a reason?

So one of the first I think of is Vivienne Beauregarde. She’s a Gryffindor who was in 6th year during the Battle of Hogwarts, but already of age so she was allowed to stay behind to fight (though obviously plenty who weren’t allowed did stay too!) Viv is…. ferocious. She throws herself full force into things, which included the fight. Her twin sibling Mallory, who she loves with all of her heart, was fighting too and happened to be one of the more skilled-at-Healing members of Dumbledore’s Army, so Mal was one of the three designated field medics in the battle. Viv devoted herself to protecting Mal in the fight - both because strategically, they needed as many Healers as possible, and because she absolutely loves her twin. This meant Viv did so much to protect Mal, at the cost of her own safety. When Mal was hit with a Disarming Spell, Viv just handed them her wand without a second thought. She then broke off a leg of an Acromantula she’d killed to use it as a weapon now that she didn’t have her wand (the leg has barbs an inch or so long so it’s a pretty damn useful weapon for fighting up close!) and uses that. It’s honestly a miracle she dodged the Killing Curses, but she was hit with a lot of spells that did damage but still couldn’t bring her down. Acromantula bites, cursed wounds, all sorts of injuries and she stayed on her feet for hours. The only reason she didn’t die is when she finally collapsed, Mal was right there to stabilize her and so she made it until the Battle was won and she got full medical care at St. Mungo’s. Now, with all that backstory, she obviously has a lot of scars. One of her big ones is a huge Acromantula bite on her arm (since she tackled a lot of those up close). She also was hit with a Reducto full in the abdomen, but Mal was able to keep that from killing her, so she just has the scorch marks and shiny regrown skin to show where it almost blew her apart. Interestingly though, for where she *doesn’t* have scars is on her face and neck. That’s because when she was being healed at St. Mungo’s, they healed a lot of the damage there while she was unconscious (one spell that had hit her in the face was possibly messing up her breathing, so understandable to repair that damage, and then they just went on to clear more of it). However, once she woke up Viv was angry they healed a lot of the superficial damage on her face. They’re her battle wounds, her marks of valor - proof of what she went through for her twin. She insisted that they be left behind. Lucky for her, the Healers hadn’t gotten around to doing the cosmetic work on scars below her neck, so she still has a huge array of scars to show there.

That turned out really long but honestly I have so many other possible scars to talk about for people rip! I’ll also talk about Lavender (who isn’t an OC but is an important character in all of this). She survives the Battle with deep scars from Greyback, mostly at her neck and upper torso. Since they’re cursed, she doesn’t have a choice of whether to heal them or not, and they are always really vivid. As soon as she’s released from the hospital, she joins the fledgling group of Aurors who are being recruited to have a defense against future dark wizards (as does Viv, since who could keep her away!? Her recuperation is way longer though so she doesn’t join until a few months after the battle, whereas Lavender and others start training within the first week). Lavender gets new scars in the future of course, but one of her werewolf-caused scars is visible on the underside of her jaw and she has them all over her neck, so they’re by far her most visible. This absolutely produces a challenge in Auror training when she and others have to pass the concealment tests that Tonks mentioned in OotP!

6.) Describe your character’s happiest memory.

Ooh this is hard to pin down just one thing! Even my OCs with the toughest lives have multiple good spots to choose from.

For Sue, her happiest memories involve her beloved partner Beck, her family, or both. Beck’s family was… not the most involved ever, and when nobody comes to pick them up after their first summer when Hogwarts ends, Sue’s mother decides that Beck is coming home with them until their mother or stepfather get their shit together and get Beck, because no twelve-year-old is going to be waiting alone at the train station obviously! That’s the first of many times Beck goes to the Li household (their flat is right in London so it’s very easy to go there from Kings Cross), and sometimes it’s hours, sometimes it’s weeks. While that’s obviously shitty, that’s the background to a lot of Sue’s happy memories where her partner (who for the first few years they know each other, they say best friend! Then girlfriend comes later) is so unequivocally welcome in her family. So many good holiday moments there, and there was one Chinese New Year celebration that fell during the Hogwarts winter holidays that Beck was able to attend, which made Sue so happy that the most festive holiday for her family was now something Beck could take part in! That’s definitely up there for happiest memory, but maybe one concrete one is right after her little brother Todd comes out to their family as trans (he’d learned it was a possibility and it was okay through Beck, who by the time they’re 16 is out to everyone including all of the Li family). Because Richard and Catherine Li are probably the best parents EVER, they accept and affirm Todd 100%, as does the oldest Li sibling, Ava. What they don’t understand yet, they ask and want to know (and Sue and Beck have done a lot of reading when Beck was trying to figure out their identity, so they have the information!) The specific memory that’s one of Sue’s favorites is when Todd gets his wish to have his hair “cut short just like Sue’s!” and she helps him buzz his hair. Their parents and older sister are there and supportive, and so is Beck, chatting with Todd in the British Sign Language that they had worked so hard to communicate well with Sue’s mother and siblings. It’s really representative of so much good in her life that she loves about her family.

Another character who does have a few happiest memories I can pin down is probably Anthony! A lot of his happiest memories were also during summer vacations, specifically with his best friends Kevin and Phoebe. There’s one specific summer day they’re all at Kevin’s house, goofing off in the kitchen (maybe helping with dinner? maybe causing more distraction than actual help?) and singing and dancing. Anthony has loved theater and plays all his life, and while he can’t sing on key at all, Kevin has sung all his life and Phoebe is pretty talented as well. He had taught them some of his favorite musicals, and Phoebe and Kevin dancing around and singing along. There definitely would have been some Into The Woods, A Chorus Line, and Anthony’s (at the time) favorite, Pirates of Penzance. One of Kevin’s dads took a break from cooking to get out the camera and snap some pictures to immortalize their fun, which were very cherished mementos later, if so incongruous to remember when they were that young and carefree… Anthony did have very happy memories even in later years in the war though, especially with Blaise when they officially started dating in the beginning of 1998. They had a ton of happy moments, like the first time they told each other “I love you”, or almost all of their spring vacation where they were free from Hogwarts and spent nearly all of their time together. Anthony really cherishes a memory from a little after Valentine’s Day when they were in the Prefects’ bathroom together (a place with decent privacy to protect their secret relationship!) and just fell asleep in each other’s arms.

8.) Day of Favorites! What’s your character’s favorite ice cream flavor? Color? Song? Flower?

Hannah’s favorite ice cream is strawberry cheesecake. Her favorite color is light green, her favorite song is Celestina Warbeck’s Could Any Seer Have Foretold This, and her favorite flower is probably a bulbous buttercup or trumpeting lily.

Phoebe’s favorite ice cream is probably chocolate but in milkshake form, and her favorite color is purple (either violet or lavender, either is beautiful). She has a lot of favorite songs, but pretty much all are from musicals - Without You from Rent always makes her cry and she loves almost every song in that show; Dust and Ashes from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 is one of the most recent additions to her favorites list. However her all time favorite might be Les Miserables’ Bring Him Home (her mother is French so she fell in love with the original Les Mis book, and knows both the French and English songs to all of Les Mis!)

10.) Can you define a turning point in your character’s life? Multiples are acceptable.

Two turning points in Padma’s life! The sad one is the Battle of Hogwarts where she lost her sister and many other people important to her. She had never imagined the war would end so soon, thinking it could stretch years into adulthood and of course it seemed inevitable that some loved ones would die, but the reality of it and the war so abruptly being over took a lot of grappling to understand. Rebuilding the wizarding world was a huge part of her life that began after that turning point of course. She also had a few lasting injuries from the Battle - she’d fought on the roof of the Astronomy Tower, which was an amazing vantage point for firing down at the Death Eaters below. However, they realized this before long and began amassing forces against it and the other towers they had strategically placed fighters. None of Voldemort’s forces were able to take the towers to then use for their own snipers, Padma and her comrades fighting them off. They tried their best though and one Death Eater who flew up on broomstick fired a Dark curse at her that cut deeply into her face, and if she hadn’t partially dodged probably would have beheaded her instead of just leaving a huge scar (I considered talking about her in the scar portion but it was already really long!) It was never fully healed because of the Dark magic, and it left her with limited mobility on the right side of her face because of the damage. Once the Death Eaters realized they wouldn’t gain control of any of the towers, they decided to just destroy them. A few of the smaller ones like the West Tower had the stone roof turned into molten lava by a powerful curse, so the fighters on that one needed to be quickly evacuated and it became useless. The Astronomy Tower lasted the longest, but its damage was most severe. While the other towers mostly just had the roof and battlements destroyed so nobody could stay to fight there, the combination of giants attacking the base and Death Eaters flying around it led to the whole thing crumbling. Padma was one of the few to survive of all of those who were on the towers, because she was already halfway down the tower from it crumbling apart, clinging to the outside for dear life, when it was all brought to rubble and so she didn’t fall to her death. She did a ton of damage to her right foot when she eventually hit the ground, though luckily for her it was a short enough drop to be survivable.

That’s long and pretty depressing but the more fun turning point in her life was the gay awakening! She was in her 20s and had spent all of her life until then thinking she was straight because she had been in relationships with guys and it was very hard to identify the lack of attraction there by its absence. She just thought other straight women had the same indifference to dating she had. It was one day when she was entranced by her fellow Auror Susan Bones working out, doing press ups and biceps showcased. That was when Padma was hit with holy fuck this is what they’re talking about when people say they’re actually attracted to someone. After that, things made so much more sense in her life.

13.) What does your character’s bed look like when he/she wakes up? Are the covers off on one side of the bed, are they all curled around a pillow, sprawled everywhere? In what position might they sleep?

Ginny steals all of the covers every time, so they’re bunched around her. Harry (or one of her other partners, since they’re both polyamorous and date other people) often has a little corner pulled back but it’s very imbalanced! She sleeps on her side and legs curled up underneath her, often turned away from her partner so that she can be the little spoon. When she sleeps alone, the sheets often get tangled because she still pulls them in her sleep! Once the kids are born, if they need to be in her bed after a nightmare or something, she’ll hold them close in front of her (which helps comfort them and keep them covered instead of having the sheets accidentally pulled off of them by Ginny!)

Priscilla Wagner sleeps on her side too, but ramrod straight. Her one hand is always under her pillow, holding her wand so she’ll be ready at a moment’s notice. Her covers are tucked in very loosely so she can kick them off easily and instantaneously, and jump out of bed unhindered by anything. She doesn’t sleep too well.

17.) What’s your character’s desk/workspace look like? Are they neat or messy?

Ava Proudfoot becomes Head Auror by default after the war, since she and Kingsley are the only fully trained Aurors who are still alive and didn’t fight with the Death Eaters when it served their best interests. Kingsley obviously becomes busy running the whole government as Minister, so training the few remaining trainees who also were on the right side of the war and all of the new recruits is a very busy job. She manages to keep her office absolutely pristine though. None of them know how she does it. Ron and Dean dare each other to make messes there; dumping untidy sheafs of paperwork or leaving crumbs from a pastry they happened to be eating while meeting with her. They keep trying to figure out how she gets everything so clean so well; it doesn’t even seem like she reaches for her wand to cast the cleaning charms. She just has everything in order and however she does it, it impresses the hell out of everyone.

Ginny has different workplaces through the years - immediately after the war ends, she works in a task force to round up remaining Death Eaters, Dementors, etc after the war (they serve basically as a short-term interim Auror squad - the new Auror trainees are being worked round the clock to get as fully qualified as quickly as they can, so there’s not much time for them to do the necessary immediate work! There were many people like Ginny who weren’t interested in joining the Aurors because that would be a career commitment of years, but she and Luna and many others work for the months that they need immediate help.) Then she’s free to go do other things, which is in her case becoming a chaser on the Holyhead Harpies. She doesn’t have concrete workspaces for either of these jobs - for the work she does to rebuild after the war, she’s basically based out of home and then meets the others on their missions. As a Quidditch player, it’s mostly just her locker where she stores all of her equipment, and then the whole sky around their pitch is her workspace! Her locker is a goddamn mess though - Harry helps remind her to bring back the dirty laundry and they figure out some good charms to clean out the pervasive odor of sweat in there. Still, her Quidditch uniform and gear is always strewn about and very disorganized. The only pristine thing is her broom, a beautiful Nimbus 2004 that she gets issued by the team and is pretty much the nicest thing she’s ever been able to call hers in her life. She polishes it every day and stores it inside her locker in a fabric case that keeps all of the dirt away from it - and is magically reinforced so if/when she throws her boots or helmet carelessly into the locker, the case will protect the broom. Later in her life, after Ginny retires from professional Quidditch, she works as a sports reporter and primarily writes from home (to nobody’s surprise, her desk there is a mess!) She has a cubicle at The Daily Prophet offices in London, but rarely works there even when all of the kids are at school and she doesn’t need to work from home. She doesn’t like it very much, not just because of how pathetic the Prophet was during the war, but also because she’s alienated a lot of her colleagues in interviews she’s given since the war! Ginny Weasley-Potter does not hold back her opinions.

27.) Pick two songs that describe your character at two different points of their life, and explain why you chose them. 

Definitely Phoebe is the best person here! I’m going to cheat and go with a few songs to describe one of the points though. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Mis is the first to describe her immediate-post war life. She loses her entire family in the war, as well as other loved ones. Dust and Ashes, which I mentioned earlier as one of her favorite songs, really reflects how she struggles in the immediate aftermath to find any purpose in living and going on (SO much survivor’s guilt…)

Later in her life, I’m trying to pick a specific point to describe… Either Another Day from Rent, or more accurately the part of the Finale B where it’s lyrics from Without You and Another Day blended together beautifully. It resonates with her a lot, when she’s finally happy with her life again and making the most of it while she can. “There’s only now/There’s only here/Give in to love/Or live in fear” describes a lot of different feelings she has, and since all of these are from musicals and she became a huge musical buff (no small thanks to Anthony for introducing her to them!) so a lot of these feelings and similarities are ones she feels in-story. There are definitely a lot of happy songs to think about for her later life when she’s living her truth, has a great support network, and lots of love, but that’s the main one I’m thinking for right now!

thanks so much for asking all these katie!!! here’s the first one, i decided to do a few different characters so sorry if it’s too many rip.

Chunky Monkey: a names, addresses, nicknames, etc. headcanon.

i’m gonna do a few headcanons for a few different characters! when beck turpin was questioning their gender and realizing they were trans, they had a few months where they couldn’t pick their name. so their girlfriend sue li started calling them “my sparrow” and eventually just Sparrow, until beck landed on their name (cycling past some other options first!) after then, she still used “my sparrow” as a pet name but used their new chosen name whenever possible.

phoebe corner needed a lot of full-time assistance due to injuries she sustained after the battle of hogwarts, so madam pomfrey arranged for one of the hogwarts house elves who was interested in working outside of the castle to help phoebe out as a personal aide. phoebe was still adjusting to coming out publicly as a girl and telling people her new name, which madam pomfrey (ordinarily #1 supporter of students who’re trans like her) didn’t happen to know. so phoebe had to tell madam pomfrey and the house elf what her actual name was, both of whom were very supportive - the house elf in particular was amazed, because she had never liked her name very much and was like…. wizards can CHOOSE their own names? i thought their parents always chose them! and phoebe explains how people can chose their own names sometimes, and things unfold and…. basically over the course of their conversation turns out she loves the name phoebe too, and decides to name herself after her - Feeby (to be more in the style of house elf names). they over time become really close and are both honored to share their name with each other - though to make it not confusing since they’re pronounced the same despite spelled differently, the two phoebes start calling each other Ms Phoebe and Little Feeby.

and one more quick hc! ginny goes by gin from a lot of her friends and family, except for charlie who calls her “firebrand” - bc he gives each of the lgbt siblings in his family a different nickname since they bond a lot over it, ginny and charlie especially since they knew about each other before they learned about the others (hint there are two others, who wants to guess which two.)

Death By Chocolate: an indulgence/guilty pleasure headcanon.

a guilty pleasure hermione has is reading books from her early childhood, which made her feel it was so appropriate she got the book of fairy tales from the wizarding world in order to experience in addition to the muggle ones she grew up loving.

StephenElise cornfoot’s guilty pleasure/indulgence is … most sweets, but especially really sugary ones. they’re not the biggest chocolate fan, but adore things from sugar quills to gobstoppers. they definitely have gotten a number of cavities throughout their life bc of all the sugar but would say #noregrets

hannah abbott is lactose intolerant but still loves dairy - she tries to limit herself but absolutely indulges in ice cream or something delicious and cheesy every once in a while - or maybe a little more than that, whoops (which, i can say is pretty much taken from my personal experience)

Espresso ‘n Cream: a coffee/tea/coffee-shop (AU)/caffeine headcanon.

not to be COMPLETELY cliche, but with the mom of one of my OCs named priscilla wagner, her mom martina met priscilla’s step-mom evelyn in a coffee shop where she worked. reallllllly gay.

minerva mcgonagall makes the best tea ever, and often her wife poppy pomfrey asks her to make tea for the students in the hospital wing if they need some.

fleur delacour loves making coffee and drinking it but………… she normally burns it. bill can drink it but is pretty much the only one who can stomach it. charlie, harry, and even dean thomas all tried giving her new coffeemakers or something in case that was somehow the problem but unfortunately not. she just doesn’t make good coffee.

Jasmine Peach Tea: a self-care/self-love headcanon.

phoebe loves self care through makeup, and also skin care!

stephen elise is a huge physical contact and touch person, so she relies a lot on their other people and loved ones specifically to help with their self-care!

Rocky Road: a difficulty or struggle headcanon.

hooooo boy. so im writing this verse focusing on the second wizarding war specifically? and because i believe in incorporating more realism with a lot of things than jkr seemed to, i actually have characters face real-world bigotry (not just the fantasy allegory lol). so. lots of difficulties and struggles all my ocs (or interpretations of non-original characters) have to face.

to pick one, i’d say StephenElise has a lot of really awful difficulties. all their family is really shitty (supports death eaters, hates that they don’t) so they had to grow up dealing with that, they’ve dealt with transmisogyny and panphobia all their life, they’re autistic but spent a long time before they knew which caused a lot of struggles with not having accommodations or understanding themself…. and bc of the battle of hogwarts specifically, they lost a lot of their loved ones. so a lot of grief and struggle just by the time they were 18. right after the war ended was a really awful time for almost everyone obviously, of course, but yeah they’re the specific person i gotta share about struggling :(((

1: their voice

2: their smile

3: their greatest achievement

4: their insecurities

5: their shortcomings

6: how they deal with grief

7: how they like to dress

8: what they like to eat

9: their theme

10: their fashion sense

11: their family life

12: their romantic life

13: their embarrassing memory from years ago

14: how they react to burning their tongue on food

15: how they react to a brainfreeze

16: their dreams

17: their ambitions

18: how they sleep

19: their reaction to betrayal

20: their reaction to a mystery love letter

21: how they react to pain

22: what they're like on two hours of sleep

23: how they act when they're sick

24: what motivates them