Your Nickname: Sunny
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? Other
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Bethan Ellis, Brynn Ellis, Emilia Hatherly, Evelyn Grimlish (Secondary)
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Jonquil Enright
Character Birthday & Age: December 29th, 1985 (24)
City & Country of Birth: London, England, UK
Blood Purity: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Hogwarts (Ravenclaw)
Job/Position: Healer

Wand:  Jonquil's wand is finicky – the sort of wand that could be said to have a very distinctive personality. Not anyone could pick the thing up and get it to produce magic and, in fact, toward the beginning of Jonquil's own magical education, she faced a steep learning curve as she bonded with the prissy thing. Now, however, there is no more ideal pair, and if something were to happen to her most beloved magical conduit, the unsinkable Jonquil Enright might very well find herself in shambles. The very slender wand is tall, like it's owner, at 12 and ½ inches exactly, and despite its persnickety nature, is actually a rather flexible thing – snaps back like it's nothing. The wand itself is of Willow, which is helpful in producing Jonquil's favored brand of non-verbal casting. With the addition of a dragon heartstring core it is, without a doubt, a healer's wand.

Physical Description:
When she was small, Jonquil Enright was like a weed – all long legs and tousled hair. Back then it was difficult to tell whether she'd grow to be a funny looking sort of weed, strange and gangly and deceiving nobody, or if she might blossom into something sweeter. Nature was kind to the girl in the end – a girl who, after all, was named for a flower. The mouth that appeared a bit large and gaping on a child was much more becoming on a woman, accentuating plump lips that would come to be slathered in color.  The funny dimples, which were one the centerpieces of a babyface, would one day sit atop the delicate arches of feminine cheekbones. Does she meet everyone's definition of a classic beauty? Perhaps not, but what a dank and boring place the world would be if every flower looked the same!

Jonquil is, however, quite striking in her way. She is tall, which means she has a certain presence upon entering a room, even before she has opened her mouth – and once she does begin speaking, her naturally loud, sure, and declarative voice rings clearly. This flower is no shrinking violet, and she tends to present herself with a certain confidence. Jo keeps her dark hair medium-long, and tries to embrace the slight natural wave. She often finds the need to pull it back for both leisure and work, but if she had her way, she'd wear it down all the time. The dark color compliments her light but olive-tinged skin tone, and softens the severity of the angle of her chin. Her eyes are, likewise, a rich brown in color.

Dressing up is one of Jonquil's many frivolous luxuries, and any dress that shows off her long legs is a favorite in her wardrobe, as is a fabulous lipstick. The truth, however, is that more often than not she can be found decked out in either some sort of active wear or her lime green healer's robes, paired with sensible makeup. If any part of her is a striking bright red during her workday, it's probably due to human blood, not lipstick. She leaves plenty of room in her life for dress up and good times, but she takes her work seriously. Dreaming about more glamorous occasions is what her lunch hour is for!

Personality Description:
Jonquil Enright is, immediately, and without a doubt, a thoroughly manic personality. She is always moving, always has plans, and is constantly ready to jump straight into the next undertaking, often without so much as pausing for a breath. Her greatest strength in life is her ability to Carpe every drop out of her Diem. She is exhausting to watch, but seldom seems tired. The only thing that truly exhausts the witch is slowing down for any reason – boredom is one sensation she cannot and will not abide. The pursuit of excellence is a full time job!

And it is excellence that she has her eye on at all times. It's not that she's particularly ambitious (though she has made a friend or two hailing from House Slytherin in her two dozen years of life – her sorting was a tricky one), but she is constantly striving to get the most out of the things she chooses to pursue. She doesn't need to be the best and the brightest, and doesn't flounder when she isn't, but she needs to know, without a doubt, that she is doing all she can in her quest for a good life. She wants to know things and feel enriched! She wants the joy that comes from knowing she has improved! She wants the satisfaction that comes from knowing she is imbibing the best that can be bought! She wants to take pride in knowing she has accomplished something hard! She does not expect anything in life to be handed to her. She works and she struggles and she sweats and she enjoys every blessed moment of it. She was, after all, a sort of middle child – the third youngest out of four, and the second girl. The best she could do in that position was watch the older ones and emulate them – and then go a step further. After the first two, her parents made a concerted effort to raise the younger set to be independent, and it worked. Jonquil has never needed another soul to tell her she should be craving more. She has always known it intrinsically.

Jo is certainly intense in the abstract, but up close and personal she may not always come off that way. She is a smiling, highly social, rather brainy buffoon with a loud voice and a louder laugh who enjoys good times and the company of others – an excellent addition to your pub quiz team. Though she wakes up before the birds on a regular basis to go through her rigorous health and wellness routine and finds great joy in both fitness and nutrition, she is also massively fond of fine food and drink. She is no homebody – in fact, she'd probably do fine living in a hostel, given how little time she actually spends at home. She doesn't cook, doesn't clean (doesn't have to – she's never home to make a mess!), and has pretty much no interest in domestic life. She eats out, travels whenever she can (Why not spend a few hours in Paris or Barcelona on your day off?), and is constantly making plans. As a young, single witch with no children working in a professional field, she can afford some luxury – but she also tends to be rather thrifty and inventive when she can. Even so, buying a very nice, very expensive bottle of wine with her hard earned paycheck is, perhaps, one of her favorite feelings. She loves treating herself. All work and no play makes Jo a dull witch!

But work is work and, as a healer, she takes her job seriously. Healing never seemed like her calling, at least when she was young – she was the child who had a different answer to 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' by the hour. Like her very particular wand, the profession was one that seemed to have chosen her. She was a strong student, and fairly talented when it came to the sort of intense, tedious wandwork that had her classmates groaning. Having grown up with a mother who knew every mundane fact there was to know about plants and their uses, her potions skills were often on point, if not quite as impressive as her delicate wandwork. Healing seemed both admirable and interesting to her, and she had some healers in the family – whenever she brought it up as a potential career choice, people seemed to smile. Now it's a field that she's comfortable in... for the most part. Her greatest struggle as a healer is the way her brain polarizes socialization and work. Meeting a patient, she is just fine. Working on a patient, she is spectacular. Interacting with a patient while working on them, however? That's a skill that's still in development, and she's well aware of that. She doesn't like it when they writhe about – she likes it even less when they scream. Naturally, Jonquil began auditing evening psychology courses at a muggle university in an attempt to fill in the gaps – because whatever would she do if she actually went home after work?! Are the courses helping? She's not sure... but she enjoys it. She'd taken a dozen courses at once if she could fit them in! 

All in all, Jonquil is passionate – perhaps she is passionate about too many things. While she feels that she gives all of the endeavors in her life her full attention, not everyone would agree. People, for example, don't necessarily want to be given the same exact weight as her career, or her fitness goals, or her classes... and she does have the tendency to 'pencil in' her relationships at times. She is still learning that you can't check 'being there for someone' off of a to-do list in the same way you can check off picking up a loaf of bread. She'd be hurt if she knew that this was a common perception of her, just as she was hurt when her ex-fiance broke off the engagement for just that reason. She needs a lot of reminding – sometimes a nudge in the right direction is enough to set her straight.

History:
Early Family History

At one point in the distant past, a destitute wizarding family from the countryside split up – one half heading for the Americas with their English-bred Hippogryffs, the other half remaining in Britain and moving toward opportunities in the city. The Hippogryff-toting Enrights would ultimately settle in rural Maine, where they'd expand their trade to thoroughbred winged horses, maintain a staunchly pureblooded line, and gain notoriety as an example of the American Dream in action in Wizarding society. The Enrights who remained, however, would not find gold or glory immediately. They intermarried with muggles, and though they never quite severed their connection to magical society, didn't see the need to maintain purity above all else. They would, however, find some success, as they were situated in a cultural center, and moved up from destitution. They were no longer a rural people, but a thinking people, and the family would go on to produce a number of professional witches and wizards who would contribute to both scholarship and society in a variety of ways.

Eventually the family would produce George Enright, a Ravenclaw brain whose passion for education would lead him on the trajectory to becoming a curriculum consultant, exam developer, and proctor for the Ministry of Magic. He would meet and marry Althea Hughes, a rather cerebral former Gryffindor whose own passions lead her to work as a plant archivist for the National Museum of Wizarding History, where she would curate and consult on the flora in the Natural History collection.  They would go on to have four children together: Cameron, Rosebud, Jonquil, and Lucas, in that order.

Childhood

The Enrights grew up just outside of London, in a fairly small home, given their family size – they would have lived in London proper, but the pull of having a yard for the children was just too great, and Jonquil has many fond memories of spending hours 'in the back,' which seemed like a much larger place back then. Her parents were very much involved, and incredibly family oriented, though never overbearing. They were the rolemodels that all four children would come to depend on – hardworking, intelligent, and quite fond of books.

Their household had four bedrooms. One was the master, for mum and dad, two were for the children, and one was transformed into a very quaint library. Despite having to grow up sharing bedrooms, nobody ever complained that the library shouldn't be there, because they all spent more time amongst the books than they did amongst the bedsheets, anyway.  Her parents were clever, you see. They turned books into a reward for good behavior, threatened to take away reading time for poor behavior and, as a result, made reading seem like the greatest privilege of all. They read aloud to each child every night, until they were old enough to read on their own – at which point they pretended not to see the flicker of clandestine candles under the cracks of bedroom doors as the children squeezed in one more chapter before they slept. They succeeded in raising nerds. To this day, Jonquil literally cannot sleep without calming her mind with a book first – there is always something on her night table and, in fact, it is occasionally the only proof that a human lives in her flat.

Most importantly, however, the Enrights spoke to their children – which one might think is a natural, automatic thing, but is certainly not the case. They were the sort of family who had debates at the supper table, and long, serious chats about life when it was time to be tucked up into bed. This, of course, meant that they were raising a collection of precocious children with opinions, Jonquil included. She both asked questions of adults, and questioned those adults when something seemed funny or off. Certain adults delighted in spending time with their brood. Others – most, in fact – couldn't stand them. It turned out to be a good thing, however. The children all had interests, and could entertain themselves with or without company. Jonquil has spent the better part of 24 years unabashedly talking to herself. This would prove to be an excellent skill when her sister Rosie, her childhood best friend, went off to Hogwarts, leaving her with her baby brother Lucas, who was just getting annoying at his age. She was excellent company for herself.

It was during the later years of her childhood when it became impossible to ignore the fact that Voldemort had risen again, which was something she knew and knew well – she was raised in a household where they talked to the children, after all. It was hard, however, for a child to reconcile that it was real, and happening in her world, and to people she knew. Luckily, there weren't any muggles in very recent lineage, so in the beginning it touched her life very tangentially – with her parents worrying about the older children at school (who were never hurt), and family friends. There came a point, however, when the threats were too dire, and her parents considered removing the children from the school. Coincidentally (or, perhaps not) that was the moment when attendance at Hogwarts became compulsory. It was also the moment when Jonquil received her Hogwarts letter.

Hogwarts

Though there had been trouble at the school for as long as Cameron and Rosie had been there, they were just as myopic in their youth, and came home spouting stories of only the very best and the very worst - things to make the younger ones jealous. Thus, even as her parents dragged their feet about getting her ready and enrolled at Hogwarts (her father in particular, who felt like a puppet at work, but wouldn't dare say a thing in fear of his family becoming a target), Jonquil was excited for school, and wanted to go. She wanted her very own wand! She'd been waiting all her life! And she wanted to study magic, because she wanted to be able to do spells (which, really, is all magic is to an eleven year old who hasn't studied it yet). And she did get a wand, and new books, and new robes, and she barely slept for the excitement.

She may have been better off getting the sleep. Hogwarts under Headmaster Snape was not the school she had imagined in her dreams – it was hardly a school at all, more like an indoctrination facility... where a child who'd been raised to question authority did not do well at first. It wasn't just that she did poorly in classes (although that was absolutely the case) – it was that 'talking back' meant detention, and detention meant corporal punishment. Jonquil was lucky – as far as 'not becoming subject to the cruciatus curse' could be considered lucky. She learned to be quiet. She stopped asking questions. She stopped saying anything at all. They'd only had to chain her to the wall overnight once.

She spent the entire first half of the school year waiting for Christmas holidays – normally the best time of the year, for Christmas and her birthday were within a week of one another. It was not a particularly festive year, however. She spent all of her time at home asking the same question over and over again, until her voice was hoarse: “Do I have to go back?” A child who loved learning and growing, who craved knowledge and experience, who wanted to do nothing more than ask questions and grow to be as smart as her mum and dad one day, refused to return to school. And they didn't force her. Although her father was a 'stiff-upper-lip' sort of former Ravenclaw, her mother had been a Gryffindor, and decided that, if the time came, she'd fight for her children. It may have come to that, had the Battle of Hogwarts not taken place when it did. Luckily, the family was spared more trauma – though the scars that were already there would take some time to heal.

She would be homeschooled that next year, too afraid to return to Hogwarts upon its re-opening, despite the promises that it would be different. Her introduction to school hadn't made a good impression, and it had colored her perceptions of the institution as unsafe. She hadn't learned anything, because how could she really learn when she was terrified that she'd be subjected to unforgivable curses by the individuals who were meant to be teaching her? So she studied at home – her father knew many phenomenal tutors, and at least a few of them were still alive and in the country – and her drive to do well, which hadn't been extinguished, helped her make up for that first useless year. She'd regained some of her trademark unsinkable confidence, and she started to pine for more – for exams, and friendly competition, and exposure to other techniques and styles. She was pining for school, the way she'd imagined it in her head before her tumultuous first year. Reluctantly, she returned to Hogwarts for her third year – what she counts as her first real year at school. It was the year her rigorous magical education truly began.

She worked hard – at first because it was in her to work hard, and then because she realized how cheated she felt having been deprived for two years. She was a passionate witch with a chip on her shoulder, and she pushed herself harder than she thought possible... and loved every second of it.  She finally felt safe, so the mature, manic Jonquil could finally break through, and she was off like a flash – running in the mornings, pushing herself in class, pulling all nighters, snogging boys, hosting truth or dare – her days were as full as you could get. She felt mature for a fourteen year old, and she felt she could be doing more... so she did more. She didn't have any particular goal in mind except for the pursuit of excellence. 

She was never made a prefect – her professors probably assumed it would kill her if she was... and  she was a far better academic student than she was a rule-abiding one. She'd go on to do well on her OWLs, despite the circumstances, and would begin NEWTS during her sixth year, which was when she began to truly consider healing as a career option. It seemed right up her alley, plus she certainly had the stamina for it! While in school, however, she focused on school – perfecting her advanced wandwork was her greatest joy, as was snogging. By now she was in a serious relationship with her adoring beau, Louis Shanahan, who was as smitten with her as she was with school. She felt as though her life was more or less sorted – that she was definitely headed toward the best days of her life!

She'd finish Hogwarts with NEWTs in Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Arithmancy, and Astronomy – and a massive grin on her face.

The Trainee Healer Days

With her academic record and her drive, Jonquil was able to land a position as a trainee healer straight out of school, and she was as bright eyed and bushy-tailed as ever, ready to take on the new challenges. She had to be convinced that, no, she should not consider getting a second job to make a little extra cash while she was in training... and she's still not entirely sure why everyone was so against the idea.

She entered training without much of an idea regarding what specialty she wanted to pursue. Like usual, she had all of the passion in the world without any specific goal in mind, so she did a lot of floating in the early days, trying things out and testing the waters – she wanted to find a niche and, as always, be excellent. Her skill with a wand was noted early on – she was delicate and specific and focused and steady. Her knack for very focused, non-verbal casting – even, and especially when it came to longer, sustained incantations – was an asset. It was clear that she had a knack for wound healing, and would begin to shadow a healer whose focus was on just that. She had good instincts when it came to avoiding scarring, and even fixing scarring in some cases. Though Creatures were never her interest or her focus, she became a great asset when bites were involved – she developed a talent for maulings in particular, as horrific as that sounds. She had a lot to learn about bites... but considering who we're talking about, that only motivated her.

She was in training for four full years, during which time she'd move in with Louis, accept his engagement, and finally receive her green robes as a fully-fledged healer at the hospital.

Post-Training and the Present

Jonquil thought that all was well. She had a fulfilling physical relationship with Louis, had found success at work, was enjoying her free time and using it wisely, and had even enrolled in university courses in an attempt to better her practice (because healing may have come naturally, but being a healer was clearly going to take some extra effort). She was pushing herself to the limit, stretching her days as wide as they would go, and feeling content.

So naturally, this past June, when she was certain that life was reaching a crescendo and she was at a climax... Louis broke off the engagement. He didn't feel fulfilled he said. He wanted more of her, and he'd thought that after she finished training life might calm down... but it hadn't, and he was unhappy, and he was unwilling to go through with it. She didn't understand. He was her partner and, she was pretty sure, the love of her life – how could he be unhappy with their relationship? Apparently he wanted more than a bedmate.

Well, she thought – without planning a wedding, and without having to come home to see Louis - her days had just became even freer. She buried her crushing despair in activity. She took more shifts... upped her drinking game... wrote a term paper for a course she was merely auditing for absolutely no credit.... you know, the usual. She has been stopped from cutting all of her hair off on three separate occasions, and all questions that sound vaguely like “How are you doing?” are answered with something like maniacal laughter. She's fine, guys. She's fine.

She's fine.

Describe your job duties and how you go about them:
After four long years as a trainee, Jonquil has finally earned her lime green healer's robes – a massive rite of passage in the profession. It was clear early on in her training that her greatest asset was her wandwork. Her hand was proven to be delicate, precise, and clean enough to work on even the most mangled human flesh, which meant that her skill set is often the most useful on the Creature Induced Injuries floor. Her interest prior to training did not even tangentially revolve around magical creatures which, ultimately, ended up being a good thing – she doubts that she would be able to reconcile a love for creatures with all of the damage they do. Plus, her passion for thorough, shotgun research on any subject meant that she was able to dive into the required knowledge base with no holds barred! She occasionally consults on patients on the Artifact Accidents floor, where someone will occasionally come in with complicated gaping wounds caused by heaven-knows-what... which is nice, because it's enjoyable, every now and then, to not have to factor in poisons, embedded spines, or saliva-derived infection (and, you know, that whole lycanthropy thing).

Her technical skills are excellent. While her favored technique for wound healing is not new – in fact, it's about as ancient as magic gets – she has a specific style while working with flesh. She favors non-verbal magic in almost all cases, healing included... only when mending flesh, especially in complex cases, she holds the incantation in her head and hums as she works. It's the best way to keep her focus and maintain a steady flow of magical energy, even if she looks and sounds mental while she's doing it. She prefers to work in the surgery when she can, as opposed to right on the ward. It's all very clean and ritualistic for her. She is, essentially, the magical equivalent to a plastic surgeon.

As far as bedside manner goes, however... well, it's still very hit or miss for this fledgling healer. She's a very warm and open person in general, happy to talk to patients and their families... but she struggles very much to reconcile socialization and work. Once she's in 'the zone' or so to speak, she tends to lose most of her bedside manner and enter a hyper-clinical mode of operation, in which she forgets that she's working on a person. She's not entirely oblivious – she is aware of the problem (it was very firmly, very clearly pointed out to her that one time she thoughtlessly 'shh'ed' a six year old), but she merely views it as another roadblock to be conquered on her journey toward excellence in the field. She has been taking university-level muggle psychology classes in the hopes that they might help, but so far that has done more to open her eyes to the fact that she is a member of a generation of trauma survivors than it has to... well... teach her compassion in all situations.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field:
Prior to applying to the training program, Jonquil received NEWTs in Astronomy, Arithmancy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, and Transfiguration, witch the highest marks in Charms and Transfiguration. An incredibly motivated learner, Jonquil jumped into her training with both feet and searched in earnest for a specialty that suited her. That her skill set would be the most useful on the Creature Induced Injuries floor was a surprise to her and everyone who knew her, but clearly serendipity was in play, and she proceeded to train on the floor for the large majority of her four years as a trainee. She has been in possession of her lime green healer's robes for a little over a year, and the fact that she is considered qualified in the public eye still hasn't entirely sunken in. In many ways she's still an overeager student, trying to suck up all of the knowledge she can – and there's a good chance she'll always be that way.

Writing Sample:
See Bethan Ellis

Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Jonquil Enright is a giddy geek who never pauses in her pursuit of excellence and a good life. A recently qualified healer, her strengths lie in her ability to mend flesh, if not in a constantly comforting presence (though she's working on it, she swears). Jo is a commanding presence, a bibliophile, a health nut, and is mighty fond of fine dining and exotic locations. As a lifelong learner, she is always improving herself – though she is beginning to recognize that memorizing facts and procedures is nothing compared to the challenge of learning how to slow down and really be a dedicated friend and partner.