Your Nickname: Bri
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? Friend
If you have written other characters here: No
If Yes, list them all: well, not unless you count Jennibelle Tide..... I think that was about 30 years ago, right? ~~

Bri's back older, nerdier, and college educated!
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Maurizia (Zia) Piselli
Character Birthday & Age: August 2, 1993
City & Country of Birth: Worcester, England
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Halfblood
House & Year: 6th Year Ravenclaw

Wand: 10 1/3-inch pear wand with unicorn tail hair core. Springy, just like Zia herself, with a bent shaft (a word that will never not make her giggle).

Physical Description:
The first thing someone will notice about Zia is easy to figure out: it's her hair. That long, thick, beautiful hair the shade of cotton candy. This, of course, is not her natural hair color. Like most of her siblings, Zia was born with brown hair. The particular shade, Zia would tell you, was boring brown, which inspired the change. Her eyebrows still reflect her true hair color, but hey - who's looking at your eyebrows when your hair is bright pink?

What comes with that thick, full head of pink hair is also a bunch of hair all over the place. It's an Italian thing -- all of the girls in her family inherited it. Zia keeps herself well groomed, but she knows for a fact that at least three of her brothers have unibrows and they pluck theirs too.

Though her eyes are also "boring brown," they are large and radiant. They are the true windows to her soul -- Zia's eyes give away whatever she's feeling. Zia is not a very good liar, and it's all because of those big brown eyes. (One benefit, though, is the ability to produce super-sad puppy dog eyes.)

Zia has one of those always-smiling mouths; even when she is trying to be perfectly expressionless, there's still a curl tugging at the edge of her lips. When she's actually happy, though, her entire face lights up and her very slight dimples start to show.

Though Zia is a bit fair, she tans easily -- and she love sunshine, so summer trips to Italy bring her back to England completely transformed. She has also been lucky enough to outgrow the acne problems that plagued her younger days. Zia likes to have fun with makeup and loves brightening up her face with pinks and purples and other bright colors. When she first started wearing makeup as a pre-teen, she more resembled a clown than a cute girl, but she has since refined her makeup application skills.

Something else to remind her that she is the baby of the family is the fact that she is also the shortest member of her entire family. By several inches. Zia is a mere 5 feet tall. The next shortest is her sister Lucia, who is three inches taller. Whatever! She also weighs the least, she likes to remind them whenever they tease her about it.

Zia likes to wear bright, fashionable clothes in a variety of colors and patterns with big, bold jewelry whenever she dresses up. Throughout the years (and after a lot of taunting from her sisters, mother, and aunt), she has learned to tone it down. She does have a knack for putting strange pieces together and somehow pulling it off. If she's just hanging around, though, Zia more closely represents a normal person. She wears a lot of sweatshirts (although she does quite like the ones with cat ears).

On the side of her left leg, there is a big burn mark from when a bubbling cauldron fell on her as a toddler that stretches from the top of her hip to the middle of her thigh. It's fairly easy for Zia to cover up, and has been told by her many parental figures after complaining about it that none of her clothes should be above the middle of her thigh anyway -- but she still wishes she could wear a miniskirt without worrying.


Personality Description:
Zia's personality is just as bold as her hair is. After spending years trying to stand out amongst her ridiculous amount of siblings, Zia spends a lot of time trying to be the center of attention. This does lead to a bit of melodrama on her part, but once she's called out on being a drama queen, she is (sometimes) good about backing off. And then there are times when she is frustratingly stubborn about really petty things. She loves her family more than anything in the world and adores the fact that she has so many people that she can depend on and trust unconditionally -- but also really wishes that she wasn't just one of "the million Piselli kids." For this reason, being unique is very important to her. She doesn't necessarily crave or demand attention, but she does like it when she gets it and certainly isn't trying to avoid it.

Since she is the baby of the family, everyone gets really nostalgic over everything she does ("It's the last time we'll ever get a Hogwarts acceptance letter!" "This is the last time we'll shop for a wand!" "Oh, Zia, this is the last time I'll ground one of my kids for the first time!" etc). Because of them, Zia tries to make the most of everything she does and enjoy everything. She's the girl who will try and get everyone to go to the lame school dance "for the story." She can be pretty persuasive, especially when she's really determined.

Zia is also very success-driven, also because of the overabundance of siblings. She wants to stand out amongst her brothers and sisters and be one of the family's shining stars, so she tries her best at everything she attempts and is very much a perfectionist. She likes being recognized not only by her parents, but her professors and her peers as well. Don't confuse her for being cocky, though; she also appreciates constructive criticism (but will yell at you if you're too mean). Zia really just wants you to like her, so she tries to be genuine. She's not a sensitive little baby - Zia has tough skin and is quite confident in what she does. She can be very sarcastic and self-deprecating; the entire family calls her, Nico, Alessa, and Capri the "Whoopsies," because they were allegedly "accidents." She knows how to laugh at herself, but doesn't like to be told she's being a silly little girl when she's upset. She's friendly and social and is always up for trying something new. In this sense, she can actually be quite daring -- sometimes, a little bit too much so.

Whenever she would feel lost in the shuffle as a child, Zia would hide out in some alcove of the family's large library and read books. Zia could get lost in a book for hours and would return to her family happily, not even remembering why she was upset in the first place. Strong, well-developed characters appealed to Zia, her favorite author being Jane Austen. She would encourage her brothers and sisters to act out her favorite scenes with her, but of course Zia always played the main character, regardless of gender. She loooooves babies,  just like her mother (although she does not want nearly as many of them for herself). Zia has nine nieces and nephews and loves to baby-sit them whenever she can. Since she is the youngest of her siblings, she never got the chance to be the "big sister," and always wished she could have had the opportunity. Her oldest nephew, Asher, is twelve, and her oldest niece Luna is ten, so they always felt more like siblings to her anyway. She loves to practice quidditch with Asher and give Luna makeovers.

After dealing with all different types of people growing up, Zia grew up with the mature philosophy that people are people. She's not particularly judgmental and tries not to label people based on first impressions. She loves meeting new people and doing new things and will drag whoever is with her along. She's great at making friends and does it wherever she goes. She can be a little gullible sometimes because of this, in the sense that she can be too trusting of strangers. She is fiercely protective of and loyal to her family and friends. Zia has quite a knack for Charms, but kills every plant that she looks at. She can speak two languages - Italian and English.

History:
Zia's history began long before August 2, 1993. Perhaps it starts with her parents: Francesca, a witch, currently works at St. Mungo's with babies. Her father, Giuseppe, owns a restaurant. They did not always do this, however: once upon a time, the Piselli family lived in Italy. The entire Piselli family reigns from Ravello, Italy, originally. Francesca grew up , who was one of six children in an affluent family with lots of old money, was tragically orphaned by age 15. She moved in with her stupid-rich maternal grandparents; her paternal grandparents had both died by the time Francesca was just a few months old, but they still left her just as much of an inheritance as her older brothers and sisters. (Tons of money and a few nice mansions). Zia doesn't really know where the vast riches came from. She never asked. ("Um.... they're just rich?")

Within just five years of her parents' death, all of Francesca's siblings were gone (one brother in Azkaban, one brother died, and her other sisters - twins - disappeared mysteriously) except for Gia, her younger sister, who she had to pretty much raise. Fortunately, she kind of loved it and quickly realized she wanted to be a mom- big time. She wanted lots and lots of family around all the time. She met Giuseppe when she was 19, at a muggle magic store, ironically enough. Giuseppe was there buying some things to show his elementary school students, and Francesca was there for a laugh with her sister Gia. They got so caught up talking that Francesca didn't even notice that Gia had left 45 minutes into the conversation and walked home without her.

Giuseppe had grown up as an only child in a close-knit family. Though he loved his parents dearly, he occasionally felt lonely and as if there were something always missing. He read a lot of comic books, science fiction, and fantasy novels. His mother bakes endless trays of baked goods, and his dad works hard as a mechanic. His super-mom taught him everything she knew about cooking, which was a lot, and Giuseppe developed a passion for working in the kitchen. He was working as an elementary school teacher when he met Francesca, and after the two hit it off at the magic shop, they began to date and dating quickly turned into being absolutely crazy about each other. The fact that she wanted a gigantic family only sealed the deal. After she told him that she was a witch and could do magic, she encouraged him to chase his dream of becoming a chef, and he quit his job the next day. It's Italy. Magic is real. Why not?

They married two years after meeting that fateful day in the magic shop, and a year later Francesca began popping out kids, starting with Camilla. And then came Vincente, then identical twins Margherita (Rita) and Maria (Mimi). And then, Aldo. They thought their budding family was complete and were just settling in when, shortly after Aldo was born, Giuseppe's father passed away after a longtime sickness and left him a surprisingly large sum of money. Giuseppe had never viewed his father as a particularly rich man, but apparently his father had been saving for a long time so that he could continue to support his son after he was gone. This inspired Giuseppe and Francesca to have a few more kids. They planned on having just two (or maybe three) more.

And so then Sonia was born, and somewhere between then and when Ronaldo was born, Francesca's sister Gia moved in with them to help raise the kids. And with twins on the way, they certainly needed the help. This time the twins were fraternal, thank god, because Rita and Mimi were already learning how to trick the family. Lucia and Leonardo. It was after this second set of twins that Francesca and Giuseppe again decided to stop having kids. Francesca put all of that experience with newborns to good use and got a job at St. Mungo's in the newborn care unit, inspiring the family's move to a castle somewhere in England that they inherited (yes - a castle. A small castle, but a castle nonetheless).

Time spent with newborn babies, though, quickly led Francesca to want - what? - EVEN MORE kids. Giuseppe was skeptical, but he loved each of his 9 kids - why not even it out? They decided to leave it up to chance and ended up having FOUR MORE children. Niccolo, Alessa, Caprina, and, finally, Maurizia. It was lucky number thirteen, Zia, who finally put Francesca into retirement.

As the baby of the group, Zia did receive some special attention. At first, everyone had trouble believing that the Pisellis were done having babies - but when Mimi had her son Asher when Zia was four years old, everyone realized that Francesca and Giuseppe had another way of getting cute little adorable babies: grandchildren! Mimi was only 18 years old when she had Asher and was what could be described as "the nutty one." Though their appearance was identical, Mimi and Rita couldn't have been more different. Mimi was reckless and irresponsible, and so Asher lived with the family while Mimi ran off and did her Mimi thing. She came back two years later with a baby girl named Luna. She moved out but remained in contact with the family this time, and everyone was grateful for that, at least.

A few months after Luna was born, everyone prepared to celebrate Aldo's graduation from Hogwarts. He was the first in the family to attend and had place into Ravenclaw, a very prestigious house. The day after graduating, though, Aldo announced that he was moving to Iceland and left with a single suitcase. Aldo had always been the oddball, even more than Mimi. Mimi was just unpredictable and fleeting -- Aldo was uncomfortable, anti-social, and serious. This was very unlike the rest of the loud, vivacious Piselli family. Aldo was always cooped up in his room, but the lack of his presence wasn't really acknowledged until he was gone. He stayed in touch, but was infrequent about writing.

Things stayed calm for a quite a while after that. For most of this "family drama," however, Zia was just a kid. For her, it was fun to have kids younger than her around, so that she could make them dress up in costumes to play out the scenes from her favorite books. Nobody minded a few extra people running around in a castle, and Zia certainly didn't mind some extra kids to play with.

 Mimi shocked everyone again two years later when she announced that she was pregnant again and then had Oliver. It seemed that she inherited her parents' fertility and her aunts' knack for being MIA. By this time, Rita was already taking over the role as mother figure for her twin sister. Mimi stayed in the house, but participated very little in the raising of her children and spent most nights out of the house. Nobody really knew what she was up to, but she wasn't really the type to share much. She was just a spiraling, nomadic free spirit who couldn't stay cooped up for too long. And who really needed to learn about birth control.

A year later, Zia's eldest sister, Camilla, gave birth to her first child -- a baby girl named Ava. Zia was overjoyed to have yet another little baby in the family, especially another little girl. She hoped that this one would be more accepting of hairbows and lipstick than Luna.

Everyone was thrilled when Zia was accepted into Hogwarts, but nobody was shocked. At least for Zia, everyone became nostalgic that she'd be the last of their generation to attend. Alessa and Capri were extremely jealous of all of the gifts that Zia was showered with for her first day -- an owl, who Zia promptly named Trix; enough candy to last her through graduation (but actually only lasted one month, because Alessa and Capri stole most of it); fancy quills and color-changing ink... the list went on and on (according to Alessa and Capri. That's actually pretty much where it ended.)

During her first year, Zia was excited to be among a bunch of new people. She had grown up in such a sparsely populated town that she hardly ever met new people. Her family was big enough to make her forget and things were never really boring at home -- but these people had known Zia for her entire life. They still called her Poopy sometimes from when she had a slight situation once when she was only five years old, just forget it already!!!

Ravenclaw became her house and she was thrilled, because she had been half-expecting Hufflepuff. A few of her siblings were Hufflepuffs and she had nothing against them, but she always felt like she worked a lot harder than them. She read a lot more books, for one thing. So, Ravenclaw was a relief. Zia dove into the Hogwarts lifestyle headfirst, attempting to participate in all aspects of Hogwarts life. She wanted to take all of the classes, join all of the clubs, and meet every single person there. She was the little doe-eyed girl walking down the corridor with a giant smile plastered all over her face, making eye contact with everyone as a quick hello. She was cute, but very over-eager, which led to Zia quickly becoming pretty worn out.


 Meanwhile, Mimi said she was expecting baby number four, Giuseppe lost his mind on her and told her she couldn't stay at the house anymore after an explosive argument. Rita promised that she was fully prepared to take care of the new baby as well, but a pregnant Mimi took all of her kids and ran off. It was a very stressful time for everyone, but Asher, Luna, and even 2-year-old Oliver were smart - everyone hoped they would get in touch as soon as they could.

Zia in particular grew very scared. She had heard stories of how her mother's sisters had disappeared suddenly, and how she had lost most of her family. Zia couldn't imagine losing her family. She missed Asher's goofy jokes and Luna's drawings of her, and even missed Oliver's constant crying. Aldo was already all the way in Iceland, where she was sure she would never go because she hated winter. She lived for the summers they'd spend in Italy, where she could go to the beach covered in rocks and look at the beautiful blue sea and go shopping for pretty white sundresses in Ravello. She missed hanging out with people spouting jokes in intertwining languages and fighting over whose seat was whose, even though everyone knew where they were supposed to sit because it was home, and why couldn't Zia be in two places at once?

Everyone tried to be happy when 2005 began and Camilla gave birth to her second baby, Thomas, but nobody could ignore the fact that there was a big chunk of the family missing. Life went on and Zia returned for the second half of her first year a lot less excited than she had been for her first. She still tried to say hello to new people, but she began to blend into the crowd and spend more and more time in the library.

Summer came and the family visited their home in Ravello. Zia was half-expecting the kids to come running out of the house followed by her elusive older sister, but no such luck. Rita was pretty inconsolable the whole time; it wasn't really the best trip to Italy they'd ever taken. Giuseppe didn't bring the right ingredients for any of Zia's favorite meals, and traditionally, they each got a special dinner for one night out of the three weeks they spent in Italy. In fact, he hadn't really remembered anything except pasta. Pasta, pasta, pasta.

After those miserable three weeks, everyone tried to start moving on. Giuseppe and Francesca continued, with Rita's help, to try and get in touch with Mimi. They sent letter after letter, but each owl came back with no letter. Did the letters get there? Owls don't have a lot to say. Sonia got engaged, which was a more positive way to end the summer.

Zia returned for her second year quieter than the first. She was excited to be a bridesmaid, because she was now 12 years old and definitely old enough. She wondered if her niece and nephews would be there, if Mimi would be there, or if her new baby would be there. Zia wasn't really making a lot of friends -- she focused on her schoolwork. She could say she was getting good grades, to say the least. Except in Herbology, which was the root of all evil (no pun intended).

Christmas was approaching and there was still no word from Mimi or the kids. It had been a little over a year since they had gone missing -- what was with the twins in Francesca's family and disappearing?! -- and things were still very tense at home. Not like home at all. The Christmas spirit was not alive in the Piselli house.

That is, until Asher ran into the house and Luna ran in after him and gave Zia a big hug, and they were followed by Mimi pushing a stroller containing Oliver and a baby girl. The only words Mimi could say were "This is Pippa-" before she was smothered with hugs and kisses and shrieking over how cute the baby girl was. Relief washed over every member of the Piselli family. Apparently, Mimi and the kids had spent some time in Iceland with Aldo. Everyone was pretty stunned. Iceland? Since all they heard from Aldo since he had left were letters, everyone had sort of been picturing Aldo living in an igloo. It didn't seem like there would be a lot of room for a pregnant woman and three children. At first, they had gone to the house in Italy, but felt too guilty and stupid and ashamed to return. She tried to get a job, but didn't have anyone to take care of the kids and she didn't have a Rita to take care of them, which made her feel even worse about all the times she had abandoned everyone and taken advantage of everyone and-- "We forgive you! Just shut up and stick around this time!" was the general consensus. They asked about Aldo's house, and she informed them that Iceland was actually quite nice and she wouldn't mind going to visit Iceland again. And Aldo had some high-paying something-or-other job and his house had three bedrooms in it. And a girlfriend! Who put curtains up! That hadn't been in any of his letters to Zia.

2006 felt like a fantastic, fresh new start in all of the Piselli family members. Zia returned to Hogwarts for the second half of her first year and her eyes were lit up with their familiar spark once again. She spent a little less time in the library, but she still maintained her grades and felt refreshed at the end of the year, ready for another summer in Italy, where Sonia would get married surrounded by a million beautiful flowers and all the right people. Aldo even showed up.... with a girl!

Zia's third year was fairly uneventful, which was perfectly alright with Zia. Although she liked to spice her life up with excitement and intrigue, the scare with Mimi and the kids had reinforced the value of family within Zia. She tried to express this to her family at Christmastime, trying to tell them how happy she was that they were all together again -- but Ron interrupted her speech within the first few words by  nervously stuttering and spastically kneeling down and proposing to his girlfriend. Yes, yes, it was all happy, but the attention had been off of Zia for quite some time! Everyone was growing up and getting jobs and she was the last one stuck at Hogwarts. At once, they had all been so excited that she was there! They had been more excited than any of the other Whoopsies because she was the baby, and now once again, one of her bajillion siblings was overshadowing her when she was just trying to do something nice.

After Christmas that year, Zia returned for the second half of her third year determined to prove herself to her family. She worked her butt off at school and happened upon the knowledge of a magical way to get her hair to turn bright pink. Well, wasn't that interesting? Done.

At first, her family was outraged, but Zia immediately pulled her mother into her bedroom and had a conversation with her. Yes, well, it was her way of expressing herself; she attempted to describe to her mother her feelings of being one of a billion and her struggle to feel like she was an individual. And so her mother said okay.

Pink hair? Bright pink hair.  Her siblings were ruthless about it. "Did you eat a piece of bewitched bubblegum or something?" "Lose a bet?" "You look like a potion gone wrong!" "That's a strange curse someone threw at a duel, huh?" "PUT IT BACK RIGHT, YOUNG LADY!" -- these were just a few of their responses. Each time they would try to argue with her and their faces would turn nearly the color of her hair, she would calmly smile at her mother, and Francesca would wink back.

The weeks in Italy that summer were the best they'd been in years -- back to the old traditions, plus a few new ones. Family drama was truly falling to the wayside, it seemed, and everyone was doing alright. Zia didn't want to think so, but by the end of the trip, everyone was telling Zia that she actually looked pretty cute with the crazy hair, so the impossible was possible -- that this whole ridiculous, peculiar gang could be all okay.

Her fourth year brought on many new challenges. She now had to choose which electives to stick with, in addition to her core classes. So, another year of Herbology - ugh. Zia decided on Care of Magical Creatures for no particular reason besides that she wanted to see something really interesting, and Ancient Runes because she was pretty good at it.

 Ron got married in the summer of 2008 and everything was beautiful and just as perfect as it had been for Sonia's wedding. Okay, except the dresses that Ron's wife picked were kind of awful. But it was okay -- Zia liked the color, and Ron's wife was sweet - a great addition to the Piselli clan. And Sonia announced that she was pregnant! It was strange but exciting to see Sonia glow with pregnancy.

Fifth year -- year of stress for Zia. Lots and lots of studying, for who knows what? Zia had no particular career that she was driven towards. She was just driven to do the best that she could at everything she tried. And so, she would have to study hard for all of her classes, not just the ones aimed towards a specific career, she decided. Except Herbology. That was still the root of all evil (get it?)

Chessa, Sonia's adorable daughter, was born just after Christmas, and she was probably the cutest baby that Zia had ever seen -- and she had seen a lot of them.

She worked hard all year, giving up treasured social time to study and practice her spells and occasionally trying to combine social time with study time (which only sometimes worked, because she usually ended up wanting to chat instead of study). She ended up getting Os in Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and Transfiguration. She receive Es in Astronomy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. In Divination and History of Magic, she received As. Herbology was a score she refused to tell her parents based on the fact that she did remarkably well in all of her other subjects.

That summer, Ron announced that his wife, too, would be having a baby, and there was much rejoicing. Nobody should really expect anything differently from the wacky Piselli crew.

Classes:

Core Classes Astronomy Charms No No No Potions Transfiguration No

Electives Study of Ancient Runes No Care of Magical Creatures No No

How Do You Fit Into Your House?:
The fact that Zia loves to read books is not the only thing that makes her a good match for Ravenclaw. It's also her quick wit, her dedication for success, and her passionate ambition. She's a girl with something to prove, and she's going to work hard to prove it.

Writing Sample:
With a gust of air and a slam, Zia busted into the doorway of the bedroom she shared with her sister, Capri. The heavy door bounced off of the stone wall and made a loud noise that echoed down the hallway. Capri looked up, half a pumpkin pastie in her mouth, with wide and confused eyes. Zia barely even looked at her before stomping across the bedroom and throwing herself onto her bed face-first with a loud, pointed moan/scream.

"I am done for! That is it!" she yelled. The sound was muffled, as her face was  pushed into her pillow. Zia let out another moan-scream into the pillow and then threw it onto the floor. She was pissed off, and it was all Nico's fault. She knew that she shouldn't have trusted him with a task that was so serious to her social life. He didn't want her to have any fun, just study all the time and wear skirts that hit the floor. He was worse than her own father! She had enough people looking out for her well-being, and didn't need yet another parental figure trying to control her. She could make decisions for herself! Zia figured that Capri had to be done stuffing that putrid pastie down her throat by now and was probably wondering why Zia was giving up, and probably what she was giving up on.

Zia rolled over onto her back without using her arms, which she had crossed, and glanced over at her sister to see if she was ready to listen to what Nico had done this time. Capri was still sucking on that dumb pastie, though, and wasn't even looking at Zia, but flipping through some trashy magazine. Zia felt annoyance bubbling inside of her and was just about to burst out in full-on venting mode when Capri looked up from her magazine.

"So what's up? Did you hear Ghost Talon is playing at dad's restaurant this weekend?" The sentence was barely out of Capri's mouth before Zia was squealing with joy. Capri's expression turned once again to confusion as Zia ran over and squeezed her sister in a tight, quick hug.

"You just solved all my problems, Cap! Thanks!!" she blew a quick kiss to her sister and then bolted down the hallway, running full speed towards her father's office.

"How many times have I said please don't run-"

"Dad! I need tickets to the Ghost Talon concert this weekend!!"


Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Zia's personality is just as bright as her hair. She is friendly, quirky, and excitable with a dash of melodramatic flair. Determined to stand out among her dozen siblings, the baby of the family is determined to prove herself. She doesn't quite know how or when, but Zia plans on making her name in the world one that people remember.