Izola Bellamane: Criminal, Salon Owner

Your Nickname: Hazel
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
Are you over thirteen? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Web Search
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Alexandra Carstairs, Cain Abernathy
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Izola Eurydice Bellamane
Character Birthday & Age: Born 26th July 1979, age 30
City & Country of Birth: London, England
Blood Purity: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Slytherin, Hogwarts

Cover Job (If any): Owner of "Izola's Hair and Beauty Salon," Hogsmede
Type of Criminal: Murderess, accomplice
Allegiances / Loyalties / Political Faction: None

Have they committed any previous crimes?: Yes
If yes, what were they and were they convicted?: The murder of Eva Adams and Vincent Greer, which remains unsolved. Aiding criminals avoid arrest through the alteration of their appearance while in Beijing. The Chinese authorities suspected her of doing so, but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence and Izola leaving the country.

What crimes might you commit in the future? I'm not planning on anything, but there is the potential to aid other criminals.
Are you currently under pursuit by the Ministry of Magic?: No

Wand: Alder, 10 1/2 Inches, with a core of Unicorn Tail. Despite its loyalty, Izola's wand is weak. However, as Izola is not a talented spellcaster (quite the reverse!) this doesn't concern her particularly. Its strengths are enhancement and adaptation, although it is useful for offensive magic, in other areas it does poorly.

Physical Description

Originally black, Izola's hair hasn't been its natural colour since she was 15. Varying from blue to green to red and back to green again, it's been an excellent advert for her products. Recently, however, it's stayed a white blonde, while her side fringe has been dyed pink and blue. No matter what her hair colour, her hair is always immaculate, and she regularly uses it as a testimony to the excellence of her products.

While her hair is certainly the most noticeable thing about her, Izola is relatively tall, and given her propensity for wearing very high heels, she is usually among the taller people in a room. While her physique isn't ideal, her business depends at least partially on her looking good, and so Izola exercises regularly enough to keep herself in shape. Spending substantial tracts of time in high heels means that Izola has excellent balance, and while she isn't the most graceful or athletic, she moves with confidence.

She has a number of tattoos, gained both while in Beijing and on her return to the UK, many of which relate to her astrological signs- Leo in Western astrology, and the goat in Chinese astrology.

Her love of bright colours is reflected in her wardrobe, which contains a wide range of clothes. Izola buys clothes compulsively, and many of her clothes are things she would never wear, but can't bear to throw away. Although she finds wizard robes enjoyable on occasion, Izola prefers the variety of muggle clothing, and regularly visits muggle charity stores to acquire more.

Personality Description

Generally cheery, Izola is almost always smiling. Approachable and amusing, she makes friends quickly. Although she enjoys socialising, with the exception of her closest friends, all of her acquaintances have an element of calculation in them. As well as how much she likes an individual, their usefulness to her will also be carefully assessed, and she will cut ties if she considers it to be necessary. Despite this cynicism, Izola is friendly, and slightly attention seeking. She has a wide friendship circle, and keeps in correspondence with those who she can't see regularly, along with her business associates. Because of this, Izola has gained a well deserved reputation as a gossip, and while she can be trusted with a secret, she also likes to know everything about everyone.

For Izola, self expression is a secondary aspect of art, with beauty being foremost. An admirer of beauty from a young age, she prefers design over art, although she appreciates any kind of beauty. Because of this, she tends to warm to those she deems attractive more quickly than others. Izola likes to be surrounded by beautiful things, and her flat is cluttered with useless ornaments and an excess of furniture.

Operating on the assumption that she need not do things she doesn't want to, Izola will moan constantly if pushed into doing something she finds uninteresting, and probably not do it in the end. Although she understands the necessity of doing certain things, she prefers for others to do them. However, when her interest is piqued or she enjoys doing something, she is efficient. narwhales

Although nice and generally personable, Izola is also vindictive. Any perceived slight will be remembered and revenged, no matter how trivial. Although she rarely appears to be angry, when she feels insulted, she'll laugh it off and wait for as long as it takes for an opportunity for revenge to appear, and then take it. Well aware that behaving in an obviously contentious manner will reduce these opportunities, for the most part she will behave in a civil and even friendly way towards those who have angered her.

Izola's practical side is slightly offset by a belief in omens. While not overly superstitious, Izola believes what the stars foretell and will use divination methods to try and glean an insight into her future. Although she doesn't believe everything she reads out of hand, she certainly allows the impressions given from tarot readings and tealeaves to influence her decisions.

History

John Bellamane met Melanie on New Years eve. Youth and alcohol cast their spell, and a few months later the two were happily dating. Their relationship progressed smoothly, and almost a year after they'd first met, Melanie informed John that she was pregnant. A harried rush to prepare for a family ensued, and when Melanie left the hospital holding a tiny baby, the final boxes were being unpacked in the Bellamanes' new home.

Izola grew up in a flat above an estate agents in Camden, in a tiny room with glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. Soon after her birth, Melanie informed John that she was a witch, and although he was shocked by this, he was forced to accept it when she demonstrated her magical ability. The word was never mentioned until Izola was four and John insisted that she be sent to school. The argument that followed was finally won by John, but after that Melanie began to teach Izola about the wizarding world when at home. To her surprise, John listened to these conversations carefully, learning as much as he could.

Meanwhile, Izola's muggle schooling was progressing less smoothly. Increasing numbers of altercations between her and a number of her classmates and a strong dislike of her teacher meant that she was finally excluded from the school, and John, instead of forcing her to continue her education, instead began to teach her himself.

The news of her acceptance to Hogwarts came as a delight to her, and she was ecstatic as she boarded the Hogwarts train, wand in hand, waving to her parents enthusiastically as the train left the station. Her first proper introduction into the magical world went smoothly, and, as her Mother had predicted, she was placed in Slytherin.

While not overly enthusiastic about being placed in Slytherin, Izola was at least content. She quickly made friends with those in her house, and while she didn't agree with the pureblood philosophy, quickly realised that it was easier to pretend that she did. Dedicating more time to talking than studying, Izola gained a reputation as the girl who knew everyone, and a substantial amount about them too. She performed poorly in the majority of her subjects, partially due to laziness, with Arithmancy and Potions the notable exceptions, although her marks in Charms, Divination, and Astronomy were passable. Her greatest disappointment at Hogwarts was her discovery of the Metamorphagi ability, and subsequent discovery that it couldn't be learnt. This didn't stop Izola from trying, and she made multiple attempts at learning how to be a metamorphagi, finally giving up at the end of her fith year.

Of all her subjects, Izola's favourite was Potions, the only subject in which she excelled. She enjoyed carefully following the instructions to produce a perfect potion, but as she progressed through Hogwarts, she began not only to make her own additions, but to make her own potions. The ingredients were paid for through the money obtained by offering hair cuts to her fellow Slytherins- and to those from other houses as well, although their prices were slightly steeper.

In her final year, Severus Snape was replaced as potions master by Horace Slughorn, and with his more encouraging attitude towards the students, Izola's work improved steadily. Although she never made it into the Slug Club, when she left Hogwarts she had secured a letter of recommendation vouching for her skill as a potioneer along with her O at NEWT level.

Even with such a high recommendation, however, Izola found job seeking difficult, but managed to get a job at a hairdressers in Diagon Alley thanks to a school friend, the muggle born Erica Weir. Their friendship blossomed, and Izola reluctantly realised that, even if she wasn't in love with Eric, she probably loved her.

Although the shop remained unscathed, Erica came under suspicion from the ministry, and was summoned before the blood inquisition. She refused to go, and in late March, a team of Death Eaters and Ministry officials arrived at her flat. The official report stated that Erica attacked them first, and that they were forced to kill her in defence. Izola, however, refused to believe such a story, firm in her belief that Erica had been wrongly murdered.

Although she continued to work at the hairdressers, a significant amount of her time was now dedicated to tracking down Erica's murderers. In the Battle of Hogwarts, the Death Eaters were killed, much to Izola's dissatisfaction, but the Ministry Workers who had assisted them were still alive. That they had been acting under the Imperius curse meant nothing to Izola, she knew that it was possible to resist, and in any case she'd never been a forgiving person.

Almost a year after the death of Erica Weir, Izola had her chance, and took it. Eva Adams and Vincent Greer were murdered while eating a meal at Vincent Greer's house, Izola's weak wandwork negated by the element of surprise and the substantial quantities of alcohol the two had consumed.

Fearful of capture, soon after her nineteenth birthday, Izola left the UK to visit family friends in Beijing, where her mother had lived for several years. Although their initial meeting was awkward, and Izola's Mandarin rusty, Izola's cheerful behaviour quickly eased her into the family, and using Slughorn's letter of recommendation as proof of her ability, she gained a job at an apothecary. Despite having free board, Izola's poor pay meant that she had little money, and she again turned to crime. Using her skill in altering appearance, she joined up with a forger to create new identities for those who needed them, regardless of the reason.

Together with her partner, Izola created a successful business which was far more lucrative than selling potions had ever been. Although she enjoyed living in Beijing, her day job was boring, and she planned vaguely to return to England and see her parents again. However, with a steady influx of cash and all of Beijing to explore, Izola continued to delay her plans until she heard that the Chinese Ministry for Magic was looking into her side business, and that they'd paid a visit to her associate.

She announced her return to England the same week, and after systematically destroying all evidence of her crimes, left Beijing. Although by no means rich, she had a large enough amount of money, and with a deposit from her Mother, brought a small shop in Hogsmede, and set up her hair salon. Although at first business was poor, with a school on her doorstep and little choice, Izola began to make a profit, and soon her business was successful.

Job Description

Izola's Beauty Salon is the sole salon in Hogsmede. Although it primarily functions as a hairdressing salon, a variety of beauty treatments, carefully selected to cover every eventuality, are also available. While Izola prefers her customers to make appointments, she is always prepared to try and squeeze in an extra sitting, provided the pay is sufficient. Also on sale are a variety of beauty products, a mixture of Izola's own creations and ones bought from suppliers.

Izola is the owner of the business and premises, and although she double checks the accounts and makes the important decisions, the bulk of administration is done by her secretary. Instead, Izola takes on appointments, and while she prefers to serve more interesting clients, she also shoulders the more trying requests and specialist demands. After the best customers have carefully been chosen by Izola, the rest are handed to her assistants, who Izola trusts not to make any disastrous mistakes.

The products that Izola uses and sells are made by another assistant, according to recipes that she made herself through careful trial and error. Izola enjoys refining her products, or creating new ones, and does so when her time allows her, but has been more focused on the styling element of her job recently.

What expertise makes your character qualified for their position

At Hogwarts, the one subject in which Izola excelled was potions. She enjoyed carefully following the instructions to create a potion, but began adapting them from the textbook specifications early on. This skill was later used to create new potions, which were slowly added to until she had a variety of potions and products that could be used for cosmetic purposes. These are constantly being refined and developed.

Cutting the hair of students at Hogwarts, and later working in a hairdressers in Diagon Alley, have given Izola years of experience in her main trade, and she is skilled in both cutting and styling hair. She likes to create more flamboyant hairstyles, but is aware that her tastes don't suit everyone.

Sum up your character in one paragraph

Izola runs a hair and beauty salon in Hogsmede, designed to appeal to both residents and students. Cheerful and sociable, she makes friends easily and enjoys talking to people. She is creative, and enjoys the more artistic aspect of her job, but also has a head for numbers and good business sense, despite a strong belief in Astrology. Underneath her charming talk, however, she's surprisingly vindictive, and has a mercenary attitude towards most people.

Absit Omen RPG

Izola Bellamane: Criminal, Salon Owner

Tags:

Izola Bellamane: Criminal, Salon Owner