Accepted! ~Elle

Your Nickname: Kelly
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: 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: Dracon Towler
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Giselle Elsa Holm
Character Birthday & Age: October 12, 1991
City & Country of Birth: Gotland, Sweden
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Halfblood
House & Year: Gryffindor, seventh

Wand: Giselle's wand is inflexible, showing her  willful nature. The wand is knobby and presents her strong personality. Her wood is made from bocote wood and good for healing and love spells. Her core is a Veela hair that came from her own mother. Her father has had Giselle's wand core since she was a child and he took her to Ollivander's to be measured the first time she showed magical abilities. The wand was custom designed for her as a forever token of her mother. The length is 10 and a quarter inches.

Physical Description: Giselle is part of a creature group called veelas, but in other parts of the world they are called many different names. A veela is a species of creature that radiates beauty and entrances other people, especially males. They are a semi-magical and semi-creature race, with equal parts of natural magic and wizard magic running through the bodies. To see a group of veelas in modern times would be exceedingly rare, but at one time they were vast in number. Still, a man would always count his blessings to meet one, provided he managed to stay on her good side. Veelas all have natural beauty, gifted to them by nature. Most veelas look very much alike, since they all come from the same bloodline, and only retain any physical change when they interbreed with a human. They are all considered to be young (even an aged veela would be seen as very young in appearance), beautiful women and completely and utterly dangerous.

Giselle’s hair is blonde with a slight natural wave. It’s very thin and light to the touch. The length of her hair is medium to long and reaches down just past her shoulders. She prefers to keep it down and rarely ever puts it up or back. It does have a slight frizz, despite its thinness, when the weather is awful or too muggy outside. Giselle is very proud of her hair and doesn’t mind when it gets a little wild and crazy, although she would like it better if it was a little bit thicker. When it comes to her appearance, she’s never had to fuss or worry very much since in everyone’s eyes she always looks so stunning. Still, she takes care of herself and maintains her hair quite well. Giselle’s skin is colored with the expected color of a Swiss born young girl – very fair. Despite her light complexion, across the bridge of her nose is riddled with freckles that she got from her paternal side. It always made her stand apart from her peers and she loved it when she was younger, but as a teenage girl she’s wished she look less cute and more beautiful. The girl’s eyes are her most remarkable feature. They are startling blue, almost to the point of questioning their natural existence. Her eyes are wide at the center, and towards the tips are narrow. This is accented by deep ocean blue eyes and long eyelashes

Giselle is a reasonable height for a seventeen year old girl. She stands at five feet and six inches, containing all the length in her legs. Her shape is fairly thin, not like a piece of parchment but never athletic muscle or any stocky meat. She has always wished for more of a curvy figure, with wider hips and bigger breasts – but all girls wish for that. Her size does provide her with speed and flexibility. If she did play a sport, which she doesn’t, Giselle would be an agile player. Instead, she prefers to watch games and cheer than to actually do the playing. It isn’t that she’s lazy, but she doesn’t understand the appeal of racing on brooms trying to score to win an over-sized trophy, but she does support her house regardless.

Personality Description: With all of her beauty and grace, Giselle’s personality leaves a lot to be deserved. In classic veela fashion, and not unlike her own wand, she’s very temperamental. Her mood can shift from one extreme to another very quickly and it can be considered dangerous to be in her presence during a shift into a negative mood. While she’s funny and beautiful, Giselle is a walking time bomb. In the same conversation she can go from laughing to crying to yelling, and it comes on like a tropical storm without much warning. Veelas are renowned for their unsteady behavior and while the personality trait is no fault of Giselle, she cannot help but act on her crazy and unreasonable emotions. She can love everyone one minute and the next minute believe everyone is beneath her attention and doesn’t deserve her company. She’s had many boyfriends but the relationships always end quickly because of her instability. While she’s mainly a graceful and darling girl, Giselle is prone to let the veela blood in her take control at times, but not too often. This is because she’s a half-veela only, and the human part of her is dominant. 

Giselle’s temper deserves its own paragraph for explanation. While, like stated, she’s comprised of human and that is who she is 90% of the time, there are the other 10% that she’s dangerous. She can turn something trivial into something dramatic in only a few sentences. A veela’s temper is legendary for turning women into monsters – quite literally. A veela is known by people that if in a state of pure rage, she is able to shift her form into a monstrous being with beaked-bird heads and large scaly wings that sprout from their backs. They can even shoot fireballs at the target of their rage. This is one of the reasons why it’s believed they are cousins to the ancient Harpies or the even more ancient Furies of Hades. While Giselle has never done this, she has seen it from her mother before and has told herself no matter how angry she gets, that is not the kind of person she will be. For the most part, while her anger does have the potential for extreme damage, it usually ends with her stomping her feet and huffing and puffing. Make no mistake – veelas or their relatives are dangerous.

Not all of Giselle’s personality is negative. There are good traits about her that her father instilled since she was young. While her mother provided more examples of selfishness and vanity, her father was a quiet and intelligent man. Giselle is a clever and intelligent girl, but in school she lacks the ambition to do any real accomplishments. This is not out of laziness, but aside from her mood swings, she has a very easy going attitude. She rarely finds something worth working hard for and when she does, it’s a battle to the death. The only time that Giselle will usually stand up is if a situation is unfair, the only time Giselle will definitely stand up is if they feel something involving them is unfair. When this issue comes into play, Giselle can become courageous. She’s bold and speaks her mind at all times. Giselle loves excitement and meeting new people. Despite her sometimes bad attitude, she’s well liked and fun to be around. Gislle like to be around other people, she is all about friends and social gatherings. She’s happiest when other people are around. She can be lazy but like posh surroundings. These two extremes make it so that Giselle often finds the base of her room very artsy and nicely furnished, but the floor is coated in random articles of clothing and other miscellaneous items.

History: The Holm family has a sad and messy history. It begins in a deep forest in Sweden with Giselle’s father, Peter Holm. Peter was a quiet but intelligent man; he was born in England by a Swiss father and English mother. His mother was a muggle and his father a wizard. Peter went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A natural Ravenclaw in every definition of the house traits, Peter was a good student who received the best marks. He left school and quickly began his career of magizoology which is the study of magical animals. Sweden had always been a special place for him since he was a child and spent his summers in Maiden’s Coast, running along the coast and fishing with his friends. His heart lived in Sweden and he found his way back there over the course of his studies on the mental entrancement of some magical creatures on humans. There were many creatures that were intelligent enough to use mind manipulation and confusion on unsuspecting humans and this is where his life’s work laid. While exploring the vast regions of mountain ranges and forest areas, Peter met the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was looking at him from behind a tree, with large blue eyes and wild hair. They made love, and he begged her to return with him to his home in Gotland Island. She was curious about him and agreed to go after spending more days together in the forest. Peter wasn’t a complete fool and knew what she was, but couldn’t bring himself to deny her. Her name was Lena, and he loved her.

There are two types of veelas: those who don’t mind being domesticated and living and normal, human life, and those who are feral and unable to adapt. Our story is about the latter. Lena was the kind of excitement Peter’s life had always lacked. While he was good at words and numbers, Lena was good at living. They would swim in the ocean and she would jump off cliffs into the sea. Lena had no fear and brought out a lot of happiness that was inside of Peter. She brushes away his insecurities and made him into a better man. They lived a good life together, and when Peter traveled to do his research, Lena loved to accompany him and explore new places. He often relied on her for the understanding of nature. They shared some tough times together, but he loved her. They were together for only six months before Lena became pregnant with their child. They were both thrilled beyond belief. It wasn’t until the talk of the baby and their future together came into conversation did Lena’s personality shift. She became more distant and spent more time by the waters. He found her often staring at her bulging belly with emptiness. Peter finally asked her what was wrong, and Lena lashed out. She began to talk about crazy things, that perhaps if the baby didn’t exist they could stay how they were now. They didn’t need plans and their steady home; they didn’t need a baby to be together. Peter was stunned, and the crazier Lena began to act, the more worried he became, but he loved her. 

Despite the tears and violent fights, Giselle was born a healthy baby girl. Lena disappeared shortly after. Peter was utterly devastated, but he raised Giselle. Every few years, Giselle would reappear for a short time. She would play with Giselle and love Peter. Giselle’s earliest and happiest memories of her mother were of them playing on the rocks by their home overlooking the sea. She remembered her as a woman with a child’s imagination. Peter enjoyed these times, but was always nearby when Giselle was with Lena. He no longer trusted her temper or her emotional grasp on reality. It had only taken one time to teach him this and it happened when Lena tried to convince a three year old Giselle to jump into the sea with her. If Peter hadn’t ran out to the rocks and scooped her away from Lena, there’s a good chance she would’ve died that day. Lena had been furious, beyond rage, that this human man was trying to take her child from her. Lena screamed and screamed, chasing them towards the house, when she changed into a legendary creature and attacked Peter. The attack changed their lives forever. Lena didn’t come home again until Giselle was eight years old.

When Giselle was a child, her mother had been the perfect mother in her eyes. She played with her constantly, she was warm and loving, and she never tried to teach Giselle about manners or doing chores. As Giselle got older, she began to dislike her mother. Lena had trouble relating to a growing woman and their relationship became strained. They fought more and Lena usually fled after one of their major fights, staying away for sometimes a year before she’d come home. Giselle hated how she’d wake up in the morning and find her mother asleep in her father’s bed. She would seduce him and plead, and Peter couldn’t ever resist. He would welcome her inside and love her like he always had, and Giselle didn’t understand it at all, and it made her angry. When Giselle turned ten, Peter wanted her to be able to go to Hogwarts, as he had, and decided to move back to England. Lena had gone into a rage when she found out they were leaving Sweden. Peter and Giselle moved to London and Peter began to do work in Scotland and Ireland relating to magical creatures, like the monster in the lake. Giselle starting Hogwarts, like they had assumed, when she was eleven years old. They kept their house in Sweden as a summer home, but Giselle knew it was also so her father could see her mother.

Giselle adapted very well to English life. She has a slight English accent and views England as her home. Her father also found it easier to spend more time with his daughter now that he was only a country over during his work and it was easier and less dangerous to bring Giselle along when he did work in the United Kingdom, which happened extremely rarely but at least it was a possibility.

How Do You Fit Into Your House?: Giselle was sorted into Gryffindor, since while she is her father’s bright child; she has her mother’s ferocity and courage. She sometimes displays the downside of Gryffindor bravery with arrogance and vanity, but she is bold and unyielding, with the resilience of a boar.

Writing Sample: See Dracon Towler, please

Sum up your character in one paragraph: A half-veela with a traditional temper and graceful beauty, Giselle is a mixture of what happens when you mix a human and a veela. While her veela side rages beneath her, she tries her hardest to maintain her humanity and live a peaceful and loving life - but that can be extremely difficult.