Yeah, I can't resist this one. I guess days off are meant for writing up character profiles. *g*
About You, the Writer:
Your Nickname: Sparky
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Of course!
How did you find us and decide to write with us? One of the roleplaying advertising sites a few months back.
If you have written other characters here, list them all: Jonas Trevelyan, Noriko Wakahisa, and Terry Katsaros as a secondary.
Full Character Name: Charlene Malone
Character Birthday & Age: April 7, 1980; 31
City & Country of Birth: Hogsmeade, UK
Pureblood, Halfblood, or Muggleborn?: Halfblood
Alma Mater: Ravenclaw, Hogwarts
Job: Chief of Staff, Wizengamot Administration Services (Formerly: Auror)
Wand: Nine and a half inches, almond wood with a unicorn tail core, springy with a smooth surface.
Physical Description: Tall for a woman but short compared to many of the others in her department, Charlene stands just under five foot nine inches tall. She has warm brown eyes, sepia brown skin, and dark brown, nearly black hair that she keeps in tight, springy curls.
Charlene dresses for the practical - she keeps wears simple clothing under her Auror robes that won't hinder her movements and keeps her curls short, using magical products to aid in their care. Like many others throughout the law enforcement business, she also suffers from the unfortunate curse of never being able to not look like an officer. Even when not working, Charlene has a watchful air about her and she wears her wand in an easily accessible holster on a belt.
Personality Description: Whatever one may say about Charlene Malone, it is certain that she will never be accused of backing down from a challenge. Enthusiastic and dedicated, Charlene genuinely wants to change the world for the better and puts great stock in the importance of her work. In her mind, being an Auror is the first step on the road that will empower her to make a difference.
The treatment of Muggle-borns (including her mother) during the second war impacted her greatly, and she still firmly holds that she is one of the few who is capable of fixing a broken system. After the end of the conflict, Charlene developed a strategic plan to guide her on her quest to make things better. Ten years later, she still lives her life with this plan as her guiding tenant. Aware of the challenges that she faces as a Black woman in the mostly white, male Auror Corps, she can be extremely competitive with the other Aurors, jostling for the best assignments and seizing any opportunity to prove that she is just as competent as the veterans.
Always happiest when dealing with adversity, Charlene loves challenges and takes great pride in never stepping away from a confrontation. She finds most conflict to be extremely entertaining, and will sometimes harry an argument for hours just to needle her opponent for a reaction. On investigations, she openly looks forward to the rare moments when all of the cards are thrown down, especially if it gives her an opportunity to confront an adversary head-on. She favors a very black-or-white view of the world, and nothing pleases her more than being able to bring in someone that she sees as a villain.
Unlike some of her coworkers, Charlene is still very certain that there is a proper way to go about being an Auror. Though the nuances of magical law sometimes frustrate her, she believes in working within the system until she has the power to change it. Her less by-the-book colleagues can irritate her, especially when they take advantage of their positions or ignore policies and procedures that could potentially let a dangerous criminal slip through their grasp.
Both as an Auror and in her personal life, Charlene loathes asking for help. Though she is able to think quickly on her feet and deals well with short-term pressure, dealing with the high-stakes, long-term stress that has recently become a permanent companion in the Auror office has been a personal challenge for her. She has struggled to find appropriate outlets besides snapping at those colleagues who engage in banter to blow off steam, and has been trying to come up with new techniques to let her deal with the tension more effectively.
History: Charlene was the second child and only daughter born to Roger and Angela Malone. Though her mother was Muggle-born, the Malone offspring were not exposed to very much Muggle culture during their childhood. Roger's parents owned a store in Hogsmeade, and when his father died unexpectedly, the entire family moved to the wizarding village in Scotland so that he could help his mother tend the shop.
Charlene grew up as an enthusiastic and rough-and-tumble child, perfectly capable of keeping up with her brothers. When the time came for her to enter Hogwarts, her parents were a bit surprised when she was sorted into Ravenclaw. They had predicted that their tomboyish daughter was destined for Gryffindor, but it soon became evident that Charlene's determination to keep up with her brothers stemmed from her desire not to miss a single instant. She loved learning, and plunged into the books and lessons of Hogwarts with the same determination that she had once put into tackling her siblings.
After seven years at Hogwarts, Charlene graduated near the top of her class. She had taken the summer after graduation off and was in the process of applying for work when Voldemort's final rise to power began in earnest. Though Charlene's father came from a long line of wizards and had the Hogsmeade storefront to prove it, her mother was Muggle-born and was one of the first to be called before the Muggle-Born Registration Committee. Faced with a sentence in Azkaban, Angela Malone considered faking her credentials, but she tearfully decided that the risk to her family would be too much if she were found out. When Angela appeared before the Registration Committee, she was convicted of stealing magic from a wizard and was sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban.
Roger Malone was distraught at his wife's arrest. He insisted that Charlene move home, and pulled her two middle brothers from Hogwarts. The entire Malone family moved back in with Roger's mother in Hogsmeade, where they quietly went into hiding. The months that they spent hiding in the family's shop were hard on all of the Malone siblings. Dementors were ever-present and Death Eaters lurked about, keeping watch for any sign of resistance. Charlene and her brothers were kept inside, forced to hide away and left with no power to make a difference in the fight.
Their grandmother did her best to keep up the younger children's schooling, but their father had a difficult time dealing with the stress and anxiety. When word arrived that Angela had died in Azkaban, Roger broke down. His children were left struggling to deal with the death of their mother and the severe changes in their lives, but their father only pulled himself together the night that the cry went up across Hogsmeade that reinforcements were needed at Hogwarts. After making Charlene and her brothers promise to stay where it was safe, Roger joined in the battle and was struck down by a Death Eater's curse.
The Malone children were now left without either parent, and Charlene grew increasingly desolate that both parents that she loved had been taken by an unfair, deeply prejudiced world. The war had left her with the intense belief that the system of governance in the wizarding world was broken. No one should have been cast aside the way that her mother and other Muggle-borns were, and no one should have been able to just give up on making things better the way that her father had. Charlene turned her anger and frustration toward what she perceived as the problem as best she could and began to determine how to fix it. Obviously, something would have to change at the top; for that to happen, she was going to need to put herself in a position where she'd have the power to make a difference.
And so Charlene devised an intricate plan to set her on the path to becoming Minister for Magic. Since both of the last two Ministers at the time had come from the Auror Office, Charlene determined that joining the Aurors would be her first step. She entered the training program in 1999, and became an Auror just before the Azkaban Uprising. Since then, she has become a reliable member of the department, though her ambition and constant vying for the best assignments have surely irritated some of her colleagues.
What is your job description? How do you go about your job? How did you get your current job? How does your past and abilities justify your position?
Charlene is an Auror within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She is enthusiastic, hard-working, and diligent, though she can sometimes be very competitive with her colleagues. Charlene is very thorough in her casework, always taking care to complete the necessary forms and follow any established procedures. When faced with a conflict, she favors charms and defensive magic, though she sometimes gets carried away by her enthusiasm for confrontation.
Charlene entered Auror training after the end of the second war. She scored extremely well on all of her NEWTs in Hogwarts (four Outstandings and one Exceeds Expectations that she still is extremely bitter about) and participated in the mandatory three-year training program. Since becoming a full-fledged Auror in 2003, she has been a reliable member of the department. Though she is not nearly as battle-hardened as many of her co-workers who served during the war, she does not shrink from challenges and considers herself more than capable of facing down any problem that comes her way.
Sum up your character in one paragraph: Charlene has turned her determination to make a difference in the world into enthusiasm for her work as an Auror. Though she can be overly competitive and has yet to be exposed to the kind of danger and hardship that many of her co-workers dealt with during the war, her dedication means that she will see any case through to its end.
Charlene Malone: Chief of Staff, Wizengamot Administration Services; Secondary