Accepted! ~Elle
~*~ I'm writing Cillian as if he's already been accepted as a Seer since there's alot of his character that is built around this ability. I'll do up an actually application for him as a Seer afterwards ~*~
About You, the Writer:
Your Nickname: Amberlee
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Absolutely
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Ad on X Generation
If you have written other characters here, list them all: Ayla Collins, Xavier Tawse, Lexus Dale, Dahlia Collins
Full Character Name: Cillian Horace Cuthbert
Character Birthday & Age: June 6th 1983
City & Country of Birth: Lisburn, Ireland
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn?: Muggleborn
Alma Mater: Hogwarts Hufflepuff
Position at Hogwarts: Professor of Divination
Wand: Cillian wields an Ollivander made 9" Bendy Fir wand with a smooth shaft and a unicorn tale core.
Physical Description:
Cillian is not a very noticeable man. Standing at only 5'5" he easily blends into a crowd and knows how to move with enough grace not to disturb those around him. He had a talent for moving quickly through the halls of Hogwarts without bumping into or tripping over his fellow students. Even his dark brown hair and hazel eyes are common enough that it's hard to pick him out. Cillian isn't built nor is he scrawny. He has enough muscle on his frame to suggest he eats properly and exercises regularly but doesn't put much effort into working out.
The only thing that's really discernable about Cillian is his voice, slightly deeper than one would expect from his small frame Cillian has a way of keeping your attention when he speaks. Being a rather average looking person it is the only real charming feature about him but since Cillian prefers to keep to himself and only speaks when absolutely necessary, it's a feature that is often overlooked.
Cillian appears to be much younger than he actually is often being mistaking for a school aged teenager rather than a man in his mid twenties. This can be both an advantage and disadvantage. Cillian believes it will hinder him as a Professor since his baby face mixed with his small stature causes him to blend in a little too easily with the students he's supposed to be teaching.
Personality Description:
Cillian is a very reserved and soft spoken person. He prefers to keep to himself and doesn't speak unless absolutely necessary. He often comes across as timid or even scared. Others have been weary about approaching him in the past. It's hard to get to know Cillian since he rarely offers any personal information about himself. It's not that Cillian doesn't get along with people, when forced into a social situation Cillian is perfectly pleasant and isn't what you would call socially awkward he just doesn't like doing it.
Before his coma Cillian was still a shy little thing but was able to obtain friends and was a little more willing to put himself into social situations. Since recovering from his coma Cillian finds it hard to relate to those around him. Being a Seer has also caused Cillian to be somewhat distant around others. Having seen so many horrible visions that have come to fruition has caused him to lose his faith in the humanity of most witches and wizards. He believes that there's a bit of dark magic in everyone just waiting to rear it's ugly head.
Cillian is very unsure of his abilities as a teacher. He understands why he would be well suited for the position but thinks he won't be able to teach his students properly especially in such a touchy subject like Divination. Being an actual seer he's not sure if he can adequately teach Divination to students that aren't seers.
Cillian has a constant overwhelming sense of guilt about him. He hates the fact that he can see events from the future but rarely has the ability to change their outcome. Although he's been told time and time again that there was nothing he could have done Cillian still blames himself for the events of the Second Wizarding War. He sees his ability as a curse rather than a gift.
History:
Cillian was born in Lisburn Ireland to muggle parents Harold and Sasha Cuthbert. He was the first and only child the couple would have since their lower income jobs didn't provide them with enough to adequately care for more than one child. Although his parents weren't rich Cillian had everything he needed and had a rather normal childhood.
Cillian was a decent student in school, he wasn't failing in any of his subjects but there didn't seem to be any subjects that he was exceptional in either. Cillian was a shy child from the start but was easily befriended by more outgoing students. Cillian's troubles in school are similar to most muggleborn wizards. He would perform some amounts of magic that got him in trouble with his teachers without having any idea how he was doing it.
When he was about six years old Cillian approached his parents with disturbing news. He believed he was psychic. At first his parents didn't believe him thinking that it was a joke but throughout the following weeks he was able to prove that he was having dreams that allowed him to see into the future. Cillian was sent to several different psychiatrists to try and figure out what was going on with him. By the time he was eight Cillian stopped talking about his visions and told his parents they had stopped not wanting to be labeled a freak or see any more doctors.
Unfortunately the visions didn't stop. When he was ten Cillian forsaw his grandmother's death. She had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. Cillian became mad with distress and tried to warn his family but his parents didn't believe him. They had been unsure of his abilities in the first place and told him that he was just being paranoid. When his Grandmother did die from a broken neck Cillian was overwhelmed by grief and guilt. If it hadn't been for his letter from Hogwarts Cillian might have slipped into a harsh and possibly irreversible depression.
With his parents by his side Cillian travelled to London to visit Diagon Alley and pick up all of his school supplies. For reasons Cillian never fully understood his parents were more open to the idea of him being a wizard than they were of him having prediction dreams. Once at Hogwarts Cillian felt a little more at home but he was still shy. He was sorted into Hufflepuff and secured a few solid friendships. He did better in his magical studies than he did at his muggle school. However the visions were still present but thankfully not as frequent as they had been when he was younger and none of them were of people dying. Which was comforting considering his first year at Hogwarts had been the year of the Triwizard Tournament.
Nearing the end of his first year Cillian's visions about the Triwizard Tournament became more frequent and he confided in his Head of House Madame Sprout what was happening. Unlike his parents Madame Sprout accepted his visions for truth and consulted Dumbledore with the possibility that Cillian might be a seer. Dumbledore agreed that he was in fact a true seer but refused to allow him to practice any skills required to hone in on the ability. He believed that Cillian was too young and that he wait until he was in his third year.
In his third year Cillian began taking Divination and although he didn't believe Professor Trelawney was the best of Professors he was thoroughly immersed in the subject and finally became comfortable with himself. He started to study the history of seers in his spare time taking particular interest in one of the most famous seers in Wizarding history Cassandra. He often wondered if the Witch Cassandra was the same woman that was spoken of in Greek Mythology who was able to predict the disasters of Greece.
Nearing the end of his third year Cillian's visions were so frequent and increasingly dark and horrible that they completely consumed him and his grades began to slip. He tried not to worry his friends with it but it was obvious that there was something wrong with him. He started to skip sleeping at night afraid of what he might see. Unfortunately after four nights of not sleeping Cillian began going into Seer trances in the middle of his lessons. Unfortunately during his trances Cillian would speak in Gaelic and so his warnings of the coming war went unnoticed. Before the death of Albus Dumbledore Cillian had gotten desperate and concocted a batch of Draught of the Living Dead. He hoped to get some dreamless sleep but only being a third year was unable to concoct the potion properly. Cillian was thrown into a full blown coma that not even Wiggenweld Potion could bring him out of. His dormmates became alarmed when he didn't wake up the next morning and took him to Madame Pomfrey.
Cillian spent the rest of the school year in the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey tried everything she could think of and even enlisted Professor Slughorn to brew several different antidotes to try and bring Cillian out of his coma but still nothing worked. With the rest of the students going home for the summer holidays Cillian was transferred to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Cillian spent an entire year in a coma coming round just after the Dark Lord had fallen and the Second Wizarding War had come to an end.
Coming out of his coma was incredibly shocking for Cillian. He discovered that the majority of the horrible visions he had had before going into a coma had come true and once again that overwhelming guilt consumed him. He found that some of his friends had been killed during the Second Wizarding War and no one at the Hospital could locate his parents. Cillian was able to return to Hogwarts having only lost of year of schooling. Cillian was put back into the Hufflepuff house but was unable to make friends again. His best friend had died during the war and being in classes with students a year younger than him made it hard for him to relate to them. His other friends were weary of him and his ability to 'See' and most of those friendships died away.
Cillian finished his magical education with E's and A's in most of his NEWTs, his only O being Divination. Thankfully since the war was over Cillian's vision had calmed to a point where the only thing he was likely to forsee was a pop quiz. He left Hogwarts with no real place to go. He had no real magical career in mind and eventually found himself in Hogsmede. Cillian began working in a shop devoted to selling supplies used in many different disciplines of Divination. After his first year at the store Cillian started doing personal readings for customers. He rarely needed to use his ability to do readings though as the average person doesn't have a destiny eventful enough for it to trigger Cillian's visions.
For the past five years Cillian's been teaching several different workshops for adults who wish to expand their knowledge and practices in Divination. He prefers to take on students that have actual seeing potential but has been known to teach those with no potential at all. Cillian was once offered the teaching position for Divination at Hogwarts when he was Twenty three but turned it down feeling that he wouldn't be good enough to teach young impressionable minds. He was asked once again at the end of the previous term and once again refused leaving way for Ophelia Grimlish to be given the job instead. It only made sense for the New Headmistress to come knocking on his door once again after the sudden and unexpected resignation of her current Divination Professor.
Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Cillian feels that being a Seer gives him more expertise in his field than is actually required. He's one of the Seers that had predicted the Second Wizarding War but only being thirteen at the time he wasn't taken seriously. He's spent the last eight years selling Divination Supplies to those in Hogsmede and the last five years teaching workshops to adult withes and wizards who seek to expand their knowledge and practices in Divination. Divination was the only subject in school that he got an O grade NEWT.
What is your teaching philosophy?: Having repeatedly turned down the Professor position at Hogwarts Cillian hasn't quite developed a teacher philosophy. He believes that true Divination isn't something that you can teach to someone unless they have a gift for the subject. However he believes that he can teach his students the theory behind how people make predictions and how each instrument is used in doing so. He feels that as long as his students understand how and why the different Divination methods are used they don't have to make any accurate predictions using them.
Sum up your character in one paragraph: Cillian is a small reserved and timid young man. He's often looked over being a small and very average looking man that appears to be much younger than he actually is. Cillian is ridden with guilt over his gift and thinks it's a curse to be a Seer and would not even wish it on his worst enemies. Cillian is nervous about being a teacher and feels it may be an unachievable challenge to teach his students proper Divination.
Cillian Cuthbert: Hall of Prophecies Curator | Secondary