Absit Omen RPG

Cosima didn't move immediately to the typewriter. The cast of characters at Hogwarts, their rogue's gallery of teachers seemed to line up on stage in Cosima's imagination. By now, she knew many of them very well.

"Where to start..." she breathed. "You'll have Professor Storm. Ignan Storm. He teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. German. Very intimidating. But it's because wants to be, if you know what I mean. He's very strict and secretive. You'll meet him straight away as he coordinates the Sorting Ceremony."

"Um, and ... the nicest teacher is for Transfiguration, Professor Singh, who's also in charge of Gryffindor house. He's been everywhere in the world and he's tiger Animagus. Do you know about Animagi?"

Samantha was clever, Cosima knew, and from a partially magical family, but she didn't want to assume. "I don't want to assume. It's okay if you don't."

Cosima returned to the typewriter and had a look at what Samantha had written. She sucked in a little air at the opportunity to introduce a new character. But Samantha had asked her a question. Cosima only glanced at her long enough to offer a little smile and a bit of eye contact before turning towards the typewriter. Samantha seemed to Cosima really shy and she didn't want to deluge her with a river of information.

"It's big," she said thoughtfully. "In a few ways. The castle is bigger than any you've visited, far bigger than a school has any business being. You can literally get lost on your way to class or the bathroom. And the grounds are vast. Also, very get-lost-able."

Neologism. A word for making up new words. Like get-lost-able.

"And there's a lot of people." 

Samantha, Cosima knew, had been to both muggle school and a small local one, but Hogwarts would likely be bigger. There was so much to say about Hogwarts, about learning magic, about being away from home, about the professors, but Cosima thought that the scale of the place was most relevant for a first answer.

She typed out another few lines.

reached for her umbrella, the only half-deadly thing nearby. The person knocked on the door again, this time harder. A man's voice followed and Brenna recognized it. It was the guy from the train. The man with the bag.

"Okay," she said. It was hard to stop writing, but that was part of the fun - the pulling away. She glanced at Samantha again, hoping she was having an okay time.

18 August 2012
2pm on a Saturday
A park in Cambridge

The two girls were sitting under a tree. It was hot, nearly 30 C, but there was a breeze and the shade made it tolerable. Louder than their chitchat was the sharp, percussive clacking of typewriter keys. The older of the girls, Cosima Early with her red hair and freckles, was crouched at it typing deftly, though the clunky mechanism didn't really allow very good speed.

Cosima was fifteen and she and her mother were down visiting the Riddles in Cambridge for the weekend. Cosima's single mum Torrence had told Cosima how she'd come to know the Riddles at some point, but Cosima mostly only knew them to be a constant but distant family friend. She'd played with Samantha before, but being so much younger, they'd never become fast friends. But with the school year coming up, Torrence had set Cosima to the task of strengthening the connection so Samantha would have someone at Hogwarts come September.

They were writing some original fiction featuring muggles, taking turns, an activity Cosima had chosen. They'd already filled two pages which were weighed down under the typewriter so they wouldn't blow away.

"Oh, I know..." she said. Clack! Clack-ack-ackity! Clack! Clack!

The woman's face was lit up in the dark by the blue glow of her mobile screen. She'd received a text. As soon as she read it, her all the blood drained from her face. Then, all of a sudden

"Okay, your go."

9 Aug 2012
Thursday @ 1pm
Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream Shop
Diagon Alley, London

"Now look off over my shoulder. Look pensive."

Cosima had a large camera up to her face and was directing her friend Ascella Gamp in a casual photoshoot in Florian Fortescue's on a Thursday afternoon. Cosima and Ascella were fifteen years old and off on their own. The camera was brand new, just bought, and Cosima couldn't have waited to try it on her glamorous friend.

Click! Fwoosh!

The camera flashed and Cosima waited a few seconds before opening a little door to fetch the photo. It faded into life. It had caught Ascella's long-lashed blink. There was a glare from the windows behind her though, and it kind of messed up the picture.

"Oh, bad lighting. Even with the flash. Bollocks," Cosima said, her red eyebrows cross. "Here."

She gave the photo over and took another bite of her sundae.

The letter is hand-written in smart cursive that while neatly done is clearly a young person's doing.




To whom it may concern:

My name is Cosima Early and I am a Hogwarts student and independent journalist. I have seen the article in the Daily Prophet about your organization and am doing my own story. Please send me any literature you have about your organization. I would also like to request an interview with one of your organization's leaders. I live in Slandermouth.

Do not worry. I am a fair and objective journalist. But also, I have learned about having a healthy skepticism and to learn about different perspectives before publication. (There are often more than two sides of a story, so that is why I didn't say both sides.)

Sincerely,
Cosima Early

The letter is typed on a typewriter with a fading ribbon.


Greer, hi, it's me, Cosima - I just got back from two weeks with my grandma who lives near Brighton now. Sorry for no letters. I forgot to bring my notebook with me[1] and got very disillusioned with writing anything at all.

Do you keep a journal? I find it a very crucial exercise. In related news I'm so close to having enough for that camera. If I can't get it in time for school I'll just combust!

The scones in the tin are from Bakebrew here in Slandermouth. There's a pistachio and an orange cranberry. Keep them both for yourself - no sharing!

How's Hamish? Is he coming to Hogwarts this year?

Your friend,
Cosima

1.	Cosima Early's Notebooks

Cosima Early's journals are small moleskine-like notebooks with twisted covers and struggling elastic. There's nothing on the outside, but the first page designates them as belonging to Cosima Hazel Early and then the dates of the journal. She has five now - they're small and easy to fill.

---

3 Jul 2012
New notebook. Watched Mrs. Cally's dogs for her today while she's on holiday in Italy. Went to the beach and gave them a bath. I'm being paid five sickles a day, so by the end of this week I'll be another two G closer to a new camera.

13 Jul 2012
My theory about the attack at Elder Kulkarni's last March was incorrect.[1] It was Theodora Kingstreet. This blows everything wide open. She must have had inside help in Azkaban. Mum said there's no place for Azkaban in a modern society. Investigation and reform is needed. Saw Ms Crowe at Bakebrew. Nothing for me.

4 Aug 2012
Back from grandma's. Can't believe I forgot my notebook! My freckles are at maximum.

5 Aug 2012
Begging Torrence to let me go to Spellpunk on my own.[2] Fifth year is supposed to be mental and I think we all need to let loose. I could take the Knight Bus.

1.	13 July 2012 - Kingstreet Behind Wizengamot Letter Attacks
2.	7 Aug 2012 - Come On and Dance All Night

Full Character Name: Cosima Hazel Early
Character Birthday & Age: 23 Feb 1997
City & Country of Birth: Slandermouth, England
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Halfblood
House & Year: Ravenclaw Fifth Year

Wand: 9in, maple, unicorn tail hair

Physical Description:
Cosima has shoulder-length brown-red hair, pale skin, and freckles. She has a pert little nose, thin lips, and dark eyebrows. Puberty is upon her and she's not sure what to do with her new curves - definately in an awkward phase. Lately she's dressing in oversized sweaters and is into colorful leggings. She carries her entire life with her in a satchel.

Having been raised in Slandermouth, Cosima has a Northern accent. She walks fast and speaks quickly. She narrows her eyes when she's thinking.


Personality Description:
Cosima is inquisitive, curious, and unafraid. Her mother raised her alone and taught her everything about being independent, vocal about her needs and boundaries, and to never be satisfied with superficial knowledge: there's always more to know.

Her mother did not shelter Cosima from adult topics, so Cosima is more knowledgable than many of her peers about things like sex.

Like her mother, she has progressive values in so far as her privilage allows her to have a sophisticated (or not) understanding. She supports free werewolf rights, the gay rights movement, racial equality, and social justice. She is still struggling with the role of objectivity in truth.

Her aspiration in life is to be an investigative journalist but she's not willing to wait until she's an adult to begin. She is on staff of the Hogwarts Howler despite her low opinion of its quality. She types her stories on an old mechanical muggle typewriter, although it is difficult to find ribbon and she has to cut parchment to size when she runs out of real A4. (She secretly writes Slither Girls fanfiction, but has no one to share it with.)

Cosima is kind to most people but doesn't feel like she has any close friends, just regular friends. This bothers her, but she's not sure how to change it.

She enjoys Quidditch and she got onto the team as a second-string Chaser last year.


History:
Cosima is being raised by single mother Torrence. Cosima didn't meet her father until a couple of years ago. Her mother and father (wizard George Tally) had grown to be friends again. Cosima hasn't yet resolved her feelings about having her father back in her life, and George following her lead.

Torrence is a fortune-teller slash therapist, providing for the emotional health needs of her clients through a mixture of traditional divination practices and conventional talk therapy. She and Cosima are very close and hides nothing from her. The two speak frankly on all topics.

The two have lived in the same house in Slandermouth since Cosima was little.

Cosima was very happy to go to Hogwarts and pleased to be sorted into Ravenclaw. As a little girl, many would have called her strange, a sort of only-child home-schooled old-soul syndrome. As the years went by, she got much better finding her place and fitting in with her peers.

There is nothing drama-free about attending Hogwarts in the late 2000s and 2010s. The Tetrawizard Tournaments, werewolf injustices, fail-struck Quidditch matches, kidnappings, dementors, Magical Measles - every day it seemed there was some new breaking story to nose into. Cosima decided that her role was to be an outside observer, diligently recording everything that happened. This was when she decided her destiny in life was to be a journalist.

Academically, Cosima has middling marks. She's a fair student and well-behaved, just not very interested in the hands-on and messy. She doesn't plan to pursue very many NEWTS because she wants more time to focus on her career.

She wants to take over the Hogwarts Howler.


Classes:

Core Classes Astronomy Charms Defense Against the Dark Arts Herbology History of Magic Potions Transfiguration No

Electives No No No No Muggle Studies

How Do You Fit Into Your House?:
Cosima is the textbook Ravenclaw - curious and conventionally smart. She couldn't really imagine herself in any other house.


Writing Sample:


Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Teenage witch Cosima Early was raised by a single mother to be curious and independent. She gets on well with others but doesn't always feel like she fits in. She is very interested, to the point of obsession, in journalism.

Professor Malfoy was very similar in class and out of class, speaking little, lacking in warmth, and even young Cosima could sense a deep insecurity. Her mother was a therapist, so she understood the nature of deep insecurity. Perhaps what Professor Malfoy needed was a good fortune-teller to give him some validation and encouragement.

He prompted her for a reason for her visit and Cosima thought carefully for a moment. Then she said, "I wanted to see if you were alright after that Dark Mark at dinner."

She wasn't afraid to name it. They'd learned about it in History of Magic.

Cosima startled with a little gasp when the door unlatched and moved ajar. She hadn't done it - she was insightful enough to know this was as much of a welcome she could expect. She pushed the door open all the way before entering with peering eyes looking all around the room. Only after she'd seen everything from floor to ceiling did she look to her Potions teacher.

The wizard with the blond hair and reddened eyes was sitting at his desk, his normally neat clothes unbuttoned and rolled up in a more casual fashion. The room held no evidence that there'd been a ruckus just a few minutes ago but there was a heaviness.

"Hello, Professor," she said, finding her spot on a worn rug in about the middle of the space. The red-haired, be-freckled Cosima held her arms comfortably at her sides like her mother had taught her.

"Remember me? Cosima Early? From class? How are you?"

She was from Slandermouth in the northwest of England but her accent was diluted by having spent so much of her life around peers. Cosima was not overbearing or impetuous or simpering. Precocious a bit maybe, but only because she found it easy to speak with adults. Whether adults found it easy to speak to her, well, that depended.

After another minute, Cosima became confident that there was someone in that office. The light twinkling sounds, the scrape of shoes on the stone floor, the creaking of a chair, were each evidence that more than a mouse was stirring. She licked her lips and, still listening, rapped on the door perhaps too gently.

Nock, nock, nock.

In Professor Malfoy's class, Cosima was attentive and studious. Other students were wary of him and worried about a temper he'd never really shown, but Cosima watched him carefully. She didn't understand him, not in the slightest. She didn't understand why he'd done what he'd supposedly done, and why he'd dare coming back to Hogwarts after all these years, knowing that everyone would hate him. She wondered if it was bravery, or what her mother called self-sabotage.

She knocked again a little louder.

Knock, Knock, Knock!

Dungeons

Cosima Early of Ravenclaw considered herself intrepid and had been brave enough to have been a bit of a hatstall. She didn't buy into the hokey so-called prophetic magic of a ratty old hat, but regardless, its mumbling decisions set your course for years. Today, she was being all Ravenclaw though - curious.

Sometime after the provacative prank in the Great Hall[1], Cosima broke off from her friends and went down to the dungeons. It was after dark now, and classes were long-past over for the evening; she encountered no one in the subterranean halls. She was looking for Professor Malfoy. That Malfoy.

As she approached the Potions classroom she heard a ruckus a little further on towards the office set aside for the Potionsmaster. But as soon as she'd begun to hear it, it stopped. She continued foreward on tip-toe and pressed her ear to the door. Someone was moving around inside, and she could hear the faint clattering of objects being handled - nothing like what she'd just heard.

1.	30 Mar 2012 - Haunted by the Past