Your Nickname: Sawyer
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: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Verity Bell, Callum Asher, Evangeline Verglas, Madeleine Whitman, Nico Zacharias
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Imogen Sofia Alvarez
Character Birthday & Age: March 1st, 1993 (age 17)
City & Country of Birth: Southend-on-Sea, UK
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Halfblood
House & Year: Slytherin 7th year

Wand: 10 ¼” sycamore wood with a phoenix feather core. It is rather springy with a slightly bent shaft.

Physical Description:
The first thing that people generally notice about Imogen is her hair. It’s her pride and joy, though she can get frustrated with it from time to time as it is exceptionally curly. She stands taller than average for a woman at 5’8”, and has a rather average build wearing the nebulous size 8-10 dress (whatever that means). Her weight fluctuates slightly depending on the day or week, but her parents are quick to comment if she gains too much. She receives her tan complexion from her mother who is Dominican, and can almost always be seen with a bright smile on her face (though she frequently uses substances to place it there).

Due to years of playing the violin her fingers are calloused, but she likes them as they remind her of her sister. When she plays for herself, one can see her entire body shed off the stress she holds onto and it’s one of the few times when her emotions are completely open and raw. It is one of the factors why there is rarely a dry eye in the audience during her performances, and she has a habit of fully diving into the music and practically dances as she plays.

Her personal style incorporates tight-fitting clothes in bright colors, making her easy to spot in a crowd which is just the way she likes it. Some might label it as gaudy, but haters gonna hate.

Personality Description:
The life of every party, she thrives in clubs where the house music prevents her from having to dwell on less pleasant thoughts. Imogen is extremely outgoing and is known to always say “yes” to new experiences and challenges, and loves the people in her life freely. However beneath the polished veneer of popularity and cheerfulness hides an incredibly self-deprecating girl. She uses escape as a coping mechanism from the incredible pressure placed on her by her ever-disapproving parents, and it is a rather rare sight to see her completely sober.

Charitable to a fault, she would give the shirt off her back to someone in need, and will always take time out of her day to help a friend in need. She does not envy others for what they have, instead being sincerely happy for them and knows that someday there will be a silver lining for her. She just has to make it.

Her biggest fault is her independence. She bristles against people trying to mold her into their image of who she should be or what she should think, and chooses to live her life her own way. Regardless of whether others approve of her decisions or not. In addition, she doesn’t ever want to feel indebted to another, and so refuses to ask for help and has difficulty accepting help from even her closest friends. The rare occasions where she does allow someone to assist her, she makes sure to pay them back as soon as possible so that she doesn’t feel that she owes them or is a burden to them.

Her older sister had a heavy influence on her, and she was the one who told her to always be herself and not succumb to pressure from their parents to follow in her footsteps. Even so, Imogen feels that she will never measure up to the example given to her by her sister. Her hedonistic tendencies partly stem from her not wanting to even attempt to reach the bar set, and by refusing to participate she feels that she can’t fail.

She will never argue that she isn’t a total screw-up, but she is going to slide the downward spiral to the bottom with her hands in the air.

History:
Being the younger sister of Rosalind Alvarez was never something that young Imogen disliked, as her older sister was her best friend growing up. There was the pressure from their parents, of course, to live up to her example, but Rosalind told the little girl that she should follow her heart and be true to herself. A musical virtuoso who graduated as Head Girl, Imogen looked up to her sister and every time that they hung out was the best day ever for the young girl.

Then she turned 9. Rosalind was performing onstage when she paused with a bemused expression on her face and blood trickled down from her nose before she collapsed. The healers at St. Mungo’s told them that she had a brain hemorrhage, and the family entered a state of shock for a year, until the letter from Hogwarts came telling them that Imogen had been accepted. Her parents remembered that they had another daughter, despite her not being their pride and joy, and placed all of their hopes and dreams for Rosalind onto their younger child. Suddenly simply placing in musical competitions was no longer acceptable, and they would discipline her if she didn’t win. Under their strict watch, Imogen eventually learned to rebel against rules and simply stopped following the sheet music, her free spirit refusing to conform to the rules others placed on her.

At Hogwarts she fared only slightly better. A bright and optimistic student, she had no difficulty making friends but classes proved less successful as professors who had remembered her sister expected her to be a younger clone, and they got a vastly different individual who felt rules were only meant to be broken. As such, she became a common sight in detention, which her parents inevitably would always find out about. And then send Howlers to express their disappointment. By this point, her Howlers are practically a weekly occurrence that she pantomimes at breakfast.

When she entered her 3rd year and got to go to Hogsmeade, she made contacts with some of the people who would have one of the biggest impacts on her life up to that point. They introduced her to the party scene, and she found a group of people who didn’t expect anything from her other than having fun. While she didn’t initially partake in anything that was passed around during those parties, in the middle of her 4th year Imogen went against the sheet music during a competition, and while a large portion of the audience was enthralled by her performance, her adlibbing cost her the prize. Her parents were livid, and when she returned to Hogwarts after winter break she went to Hogsmeade as soon as possible and had her first experience with pixie dust. And then billywig stings. They made her forget that she was a terrible disappointment and pissing her life away, and she could lose herself completely in the music while using them.

She escapes the castle most every weekend to attend parties in Hogsmeade, and has managed to skate by with her academics on a mixture of dumb luck and natural talent. Imogen maintains her sense of optimism that her situation is not permanent, but now in her 7th year the pressure from her parents is threatening to drown her.

Classes:

Core Classes Astronomy Charms No Herbology No No Transfiguration No

Electives No No Care of Magical Creatures No No

How Do You Fit Into Your House?:
Imogen seems an odd choice for Slytherin as she appears to sabotage her own ambitions. But truly, her goal in life is to simply be unequivocally and unabashedly herself, and at that she is succeeding marvelously. Her rebellious and headstrong nature also influenced her placement. It may have also been one of the first instances of her giving the metaphorical finger to her parents, as they had both been in Gryffindor and hold strong views on their rival House.

Writing Sample:
Please see Verity Bell

Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Imogen is a virtuoso living life in the fast lane, and will not apologize for being herself. She knows that she has made mistakes, but wants the room to be able to make those mistakes and desperately wishes for people to see her as she is, and not try to mold her into someone she will never be.