Your Nickname: SJ 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: Macaulay Nettlebottom, Isadora Elphik, Sophie Flickwick, Stella Elphik, Waverly Roh-Ballentyne Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Fionnuala “Nona” Beitris Sprectre
Character Birthday & Age: July 28th, 1986 (24)
City & Country of Birth: South Queensferry, Scotland
Blood Purity: Pureblood (Spectre & Canterbury lines, cleared with Nuri & Thea)
Alma Mater: Slytherin, Hogwarts
Job/Position: Werewolf Wing Case Worker

Wand: 13 inch supple decorated Apple wood wand with a Dragon Heartstring core.

On the surface Nona appears to be every inch a Spectre, with her red hair, bright eyes, and wily smile. Her skin is fair and eyes a rich brown. She is a slight woman which might belie the true nature of her personality. She appears to be very much a buttoned up Princess type, never a hair out of place or a crease to be found in her robes or starched dress shirts. She moves effortlessly in ridiculous heels, but most of this is a public façade, if you were to find her at home on a Sunday you’d see her well-loved jeans and cozy boots that have carried her on many a misadventure in the Highlands. Likewise if you were to get a few drinks in her, the ridiculous heels would come off in favor of stocking feet, ginger hair left to fall from the endlessly styled braids or bun, fair skin flushed pink with raucous laughter and pure joy. She is someone who puts a lot of stock in appearances, not so much in others, but for herself (in her endless search to do good and be taken very seriously).

First things first, while her birth certificate might say Fionnuala, it is very very very very extremely important that you call her Nona. The only person who doesn’t receive a painfully withering look for calling her Fionnuala is Gran Sprectre. She has always been Nona and frankly feels her parents should have just named her such if that’s what they were going to call her from the get go. She also happens to have a younger sister nicknamed Finn and feels there are too many “f” sounds in the family as is (another mistake Mum and Dad). The second thing to know (really it should be more like 1a) is that she is your classic middle child, but she also has the added burden of being the first born girl. It should be a truth universally recognized (at least in Nona’s estimation) that the middle born first girl has a certain extra sort of pressure placed upon her. There are expectations, and a whole host of new things to learn how to do with a girl-child you don’t learn with a boy. She tries to shoulder this “burden” with grace but her bossy pants nature nearly always shines through.

Hopefully this bossy-pants-ness is tempered by the fact that she always means well. She has the best of intentions, but is often blinded by her need for praise and approval from those she admires. In her inner depths is a free spirit just dying to get out, but since her 24th birthday she seems to have instated severe restrictions on her natural effervescence in the hopes of being taken more seriously. While she loves her siblings she also believes herself to be in direct competition with them for the love and admiration of not only her parents but the rest of the Clan (who can compete with redheaded twins?!). She has an inherent desire to be the apple of everyone’s eye, to do good work, to be important, indispensable. This might be most evident in the way she has been more than a little bit clingy with her cousins Balfour and Knox Spectre. Her fascination with the pair started at a young age and at times had bordered on Idol Worship (though less so since becoming an “adult”).

If we set the negative aspects and implications of clingy bossiness, one might note that these traits also feed themselves into Nona being an extremely loyal and loving person. Her heart is big and it beats for the betterment of the Wizarding world on the whole, but also for the home fires. She is happiest when the Clan is all together, enjoying the bustle and inherent loudness of gatherings. She is a caretaker at heart, and adores the days of prep work that go into family festivities. Not surprisingly, this is something Nona feels helps her greatly in her work, the ability to remember the humanity of those many in Wizarding society consider at best beast at worst monsters. While she is new to the team she has long considered herself an activist, lobbyist even for the fair, ethical, equitable, and humane treatment of not only werewolves but all Magical brethren. At one point she very seriously considered going to work as a Centaur liaison despite the reputation of said Ministry branch.

Childhood:  The second born of five to Cailean Spectre and Abigail Canterbury Nona’s childhood was rather picturesque, a mix of mud pies and foofy dresses worn with shiny shoes. As the daughter of one of the Mrs. Canterburys who failed to take, her mother Abby often felt inherently separated from the goings on of the Pureblood world. When she was a child herself it hardly mattered, but upon marrying into the most noble clan of Spectre she vowed her own children would never feel that same alienation, which lead to a lot of traditionally Pureblood-y type lessons, though Cail and Abby are not themselves remotely purist. Nona grew up believing all little girls went to charm school and read volumes upon volumes of poetry to tame what might otherwise be a ridiculously thick accent. As a naturally exuberant sort she often found herself on the receiving end of scolding for running around stirring up mischief (at home anyway, most of the Spectre clan appreciates a certain amount of spectacle in their wee ones). She was five the first time she fell helplessly in love (the way little girls do) with Cousin Balfour. She holds the exact moment memory close to her heart even now at the age of 24. It was Burns Night and he was reciting verse and in that moment he was the most perfect thing she’d seen in her life (all whopping five years of it). After that she sort of became a one girl fan club, religiously writing him extremely lengthy letters. All of this is important to note because her affection for the man has influenced her life greatly.

Hogwarts: For instance, though her father had been a Ravenclaw and her mother a Hufflepuff Nona was positive she needed to be a Slytherin. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a Slytherin, they’re a highly underrated house in her estimation (why everyone assumes they’re evil she will never understand), but that wasn’t why she wanted sorted into the house of Salazar. No, she wanted to follow in her cousin’s footsteps and that’s exactly what she did. Always an astute person she learned early the nature of the Pureblood game, her mother had laid excellent framework for her really. As a student she excelled in most subjects but focused her energy on CoMC, Herbology, and Defense (Divination was thrown in for good measure). It was in this time that she first became fixated on the plight of Werekind and wanted to devote her life to bettering their standing in Wizarding society. She thought of it as her calling, her purpose. Obviously the tiny Ginger was a little addled headed and… naïve at that time.

Post Grad: Upon graduation she began an internship with the Werewolf Registry. As an 18 year old with more experience planning parties and wearing pretty dresses she was not exactly prepared for the poverty and discrimination she saw daily. It was a harsh awakening for the generally positive and upbeat Nona. She became acutely aware of how sheltered and previledged her life had been up to that point, which sent her into a shame spiral the likes of which she had never known. Upon seeking counsel from both her favorite cousin (role model really), and her father she decided at the end of her internship to step away from the Ministry for a time to travel and gain a greater insight into the plight of Weres everywhere, not just the United Kingdom. She spent time in Brazil, Portugal, and South Africa over the next three years, trying to distance herself from the old money and blood status she had grown up with. At twenty-two she came home and rejoined the Ministry as a Registry Clerk, hoping to change things in the UK from the inner workings of the Ministry. Six months ago she was prompted from Registry Clerk to JCase Worker – which is basically like every other liaison except she has a babysitter mentor for another six months before she’s allowed to work cases herself.

Describe your job duties and how you go about them:
As a Case Worker, Nona works as a sort of bridge between her cases and the Ministry, less paper pushing and more involvement with actualy Werewolves. She helps them find jobs, housing, and other community support when available (which is not often). She’s also in charge of orchestrating safe houses for those who can afford it and making sure those who can’t have and use their access to the Ministry cells. Currently she isn’t allowed to do much of this on her own, instead working with a mentor for the first year to learn the ins and out and all the schmoozing involved in trying to get newly registered Wolves fair treatment. In the case of a Registered Were committing a crime, she may also need to find them counsel willing to represent a Werewolf.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field:
The point in being a Case Worker is that she has not reached a level of expertise beyond being well spoken and incredibly devoted to the cause – without the inflammatory intent of “fixing” Weres. She is passionate and empathetic, two traits she felt would serve her well. Other than that, she worked building safe houses in South Africa for nearly two years, working with some of the native tribes, trying to increase her understanding of the cultural implications of the infection in other parts of the world.

Writing Sample:
See Dolly St. James

Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Nona is a girl of contradictions, to look at her off the cuff you might peg her as a spoiled Princess more concerned with appearances and upward mobility within the Ministry (and the land of Purebloods) to be taken remotely seriously. This goes double once you realize how desperately she wants to be taken seriously coupled with her natural desire to be the center of attention. Under that though, deep down, she’s the sort of girl who loves a good pint, a better story, and is not above dancing through the Highlands with flowers in her hair. She’s the sort of girl who decries smoking, then you catch twenty minutes later sneaking a cigarette in the bathroom, blowing smoke out the window. Her laugh is loud and her accent naturally thick but she’s tamed both since adolescence in the hopes of being taken seriously.