Accepted ~ Analiza Snark

About You, the Writer:
We will never ask any member to disclose any personal information.
Your Nickname: Greg.
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? A friend who doesn't play here as of yet...
If you have written other characters here, list them all: This will be my first.

Full Character Name: Scarlette Regine James
Character Birthday & Age: 23rd of May, 1991. Age 17.
City & Country of Birth: Dúlainn, Ireland.
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Pureblood
House & Year: Slytherin, Seventh year
Wand: Hawthorne, 13 ½", unicorn tail. Brittle, but not rigid.

Physical Description:
Scarlette James is of average height and slim, never really being anything more or less than that. She considers herself rather unremarkable, though it's quite untrue. She's pale, but freckled, and has lovely blonde hair with a natural gloss and curl.

The corners of her mouth are downturned ever-so-slightly making it even less likely one would see a smile cross Scarlette's face. She's not a fan. She is every bit her mother's daughter [barely recognizing any paternal traits, though one look at her unplucked eyebrows would quickly resolve that issue] from her shoe size down to her mother's family's trademark blue-green eyes [the only thing about her appearance that Scarlette appreciates].

Scarlette is a very attentive caretaker of her appearance, but has been known to slack off if in a particularly down time in life, or if in the middle of a very interesting potions session.

Personality Description:
The Scarlette James that you would see walking down the hallway is a shell that hides the real Scarlette James personality beneath it. It is unknown as to what happened in her life to make her feel the need to be a blank canvas to the eyes of everyone else, but that's mostly what she thinks about as she walks through the hallway - what everyone else sees.

She's insecure and very unsure of herself. The thought that propels her out of bed is how to make herself a better person today [of course, that's relative, and mostly what she considers to be 'good' doesn't really matter after all] and if she loses that focus, it makes it hard for her to do anything else.

Scarlette is not content unless she has at least three ongoing projects along with a large amount of responsibility. She can't be happy in an untidy place and tends to be extremely uncomfortable around untidy people. Due to the fact that she's so focused on herself, she tends to misjudge people and their true intentions [all while believing she knows everything].

There are a few good qualities to this girl that don't revolve around her glaring self-hatred. She's extremely dedicated. When there's a problem that needs to be solved, one could look to Scarlette after all of one's other ideas have come up fruitless. She has a remarkable skill for absorbing any and every memory and she's also a bit of a work-a-holic - in a good way.

History:
Scarlette James was an accident. Ever since she was a wee lass, it was obvious to her that she was unwanted. Although occasionally Scarlette has been known to wallow, it isn't naturally built in her programming. So, instead of resolving to be an unwanted brat, she decided to make herself into something that was worthy of attention and love.

For as long as she can remember, the ingrained desire to please anyone and everyone has been the most prominent feeling that could be recognized. Doing quite well with private tutors all her life, the day she got her Hogwarts letter was a very relieving one. Of course her parents showed snippets of pride throughout her life, but her opportunity to go to Hogwarts was just another way of molding herself to be the perfect daughter.

Emeline [her older sister] was kicked out of the James' household right before her sixth year due to the fact that she wanted to live as a muggle in Paris. Scarlette and her sister had been close as children, and she really took this hard. Not knowing whether to stick to what her parents would like, or what her heart felt, Scarlette decided to communicate with her in secret, possibly the only rebellious thing Scarlette would ever do.

First and second years at Hogwarts were just what any normal person would have expected. She got into Slytherin [much to her father's dismay - he wanted her to be a Ravenclaw as he was] and jumped head first into her studies quickly securing top marks in nearly every class. Always the over-achiever, she barely spoke to any of her peers, preferring to eat solitary meals accompanied by books and school work.

Third year for Scarlette was one of the most important years of her life. Not only was she exposed to the non-core classes [which she took all but Muggle Studies], her younger cousin Orlaith Dewar's first year was at hand [and she met one of the most influential people in her life, Callisto Amoris]. This gave her an ego boost and an opportunity to branch out from what she would usually do [exchange nominal small talk with her dorm mates and head to the library for the umpteenth time that day] and maybe talk about something other than schoolwork and what the weather was like outside.

During fourth year, she tried out for the Quidditch team and made it, being the overachiever that she was. She somehow managed to squeeze her athletics in just barely, and continued to spend at least a few hours a week with her cousin, tutoring her [mainly in Potions] and drinking tea [her favourite beverage]. This was probably the most content year Scarlette had had as of yet.

Fifth year marked the breaking point. She had met an older year who was deeply interested in her looks - and not much else. Scarlette snogged him a few times and wasn't much interested in anything he had to say, but it got her parents off her back about dating and nonsense. Lasting about three months, Scarlette decided she didn't want to focus on boys. Ever.

Not only that, but Scarlette was offered a prefect position - accepted, and still had to excel through everything else. Spread so thin, her apparent lack of anything more than appearance caused her great distress and eventually led to a nervous-breakdown shortly before exams. Luckily, the marks didn't show it.

How Do You Fit Into Your House?: I think that Scarlette James fits into Slytherin over Ravenclaw because of the reasons behind her studying binge. A Ravenclaw would love to study for the sake of learning new things. Scarlette, on the other hand, has one thing in focus as she collects the information - approval. Her ambition to be perfect for her parents fuels her studying [which she might not otherwise enjoy doing...]  and that's what makes her a Slytherin.

Writing Sample:
It was a lovely day until her curious little eyes seemed to wander to the door and see him walking in. Oh no. She was almost glad to see Osiris after so long. It'd been almost all summer and she hadn't even spotted him on the Platform before returning to school. This was when he stopped. And Scarlette found that a bit odd. Why would Osiris suddenly stop upon noticing her sitting there? The sixteen-year-old mulled over it a bit and then as if the rising blush on her face indicated her memory lapse she remembered.

That blasted letter. Why had she sent it? What had she hoped to accomplish by destroying such a beautiful friendship with such embarassing words. There was a slim chance that he hadn't read it, right? Maybe the school owl thought the parchment was an owl treat and snatched it up after she sent it off. Yeah! Totally plausible.

But than his greeting faltered, and instead of striking up a lovely small-talk conversation about summers and Potions, he retrieved a few books from his bag and started reading. Scarlette's blush deepened. Oh, dear. She just wanted the Earth to open up and swallow her whole. Doing the only thing she could do in such a situation, Scarlette clamped the book she was reading over her face to a reading distance that could most definitely turn a person with the best eyesight blind.

This had quite possibly been the stupidest thing she'd ever done.

"What?" Scarlette's voice came soft and muffled through the pages of her book at his request. Of course she heard it, but this would mean she'd have to lower the book and possibly look into his eyes? Merlin knew that wasn't going to happen. The Slytherin prefect lowed her book down and set it neatly next to her plate. She gathered up the tea pot and took to averting her eyes from his direction. "Here." And if it was possible, the blush deepend even more.

Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Scarlette James is a very interesting individual. Her extreme desire to live up to nearly everyone's expectations [whether imagined or not] makes her who she is and if she could just see herself through someone else's eyes for a while, maybe her self-doubt and insecurities would be diminished, though they run deep. Everyone's lucky that Scarlette isn't self-confident as she'd be the worst kind of control freak.