Accepted! ~Elle



Physical Description
Juliette stands between 5'4" and 5'5", is possessed of a somewhat pear-shaped torso with a noteworthy hips-to-waist ratio, slender shoulders, and soft, satiny arms. Her chest is ample, but not overly so, and looks appealing in both highly tailored clothing and less-than-demure lingerie.

A natural redhead, Juliette is unsurprisingly fair-skinned and light eyed, with feathery, wan lashes and delicate brows. She has a high, aristocratic brow and cheeks, like most of her family, but her nose is petite and far from aquiline.

Juliette’s eyes are round and bright, and can transform surprisingly fast from heavily-lined and blase to impish, almost childish. There is a sort of comical grace that catches her in the right light, though she usually appears quite self-possessed and aware of body language. Still, there is something youthful attached to her, which never quite leaves, even a dusky, female-domineering atmosphere.

Personality Description
Had she been schooled in Scotland, Juliette would, without doubt, have belonged to Slytherin. Determined in both her professional and personal paths to get exactly what she wants, she has become frighteningly attuned to reading people. She even flirted with the idea of giving up potions for advanced Legilimancy, but simply loved her cauldron too much to part with it. Teaching seems to the perfect medium between creating and excavating.

A coy young woman, she can be quiet, but never alarmingly timid. She simply does not believe in wasting words; this is not to say she’s a poor conversationalist. On the contrary, Juliette has been born and bred to master the art of conversing, and has few qualms delving into a good discussion with someone who seems worth the time. She’s a crafty witch, and arguably a craftier woman. She enjoys banter, but is weary of being caught.

Where one must be conscious of time, one must also have patience. Juliette’s dedication to her field has sprouted a certain admiration for a clock’s hands in the young woman’s heart. She will spend obscene amounts of time perfecting the most seemingly simple of elixirs. Perfection is not a goal, but a requirement.

That is not to say Juliette’s patience doesn’t test her sometimes. Indeed, such an ambitious woman is bound to compete with the depths of her own temperament on more than the rare occasion. But these instances frustrate her in the aftermath, as Juliette enjoys being in control, and secretly fears giving it up. She thus uses her workaholic adeptness to keep her private life subtly shielded. Sometimes simply to amuse herself and fluster others.

Having been born the girl in an old-fashioned family, Juliette is unsurprisingly at odds with her identity. She knows who she wants to be, and will stop at nothing to be that person, but there always a tug on her heartstrings when it comes to pleasing her parents or living up to her eldest brother’s heir apparent status. She will not settle, refuses to become a drab society wife like her mother, but is also steadfastly devoted to keeping certain traditions alive.

History
*Note: The Vaillancourts are an old French family who relocated to England. They are closely tied to the D’aubignes, from whom Juliette’s mother hails. This connects their bloodline to the Snarks.


The third child of four, and the only girl at that, Juliette was often let be by her parents, who spent more time polishing her eldest brother, coddling the youngest, or berating the perpetually-straying Thomas. Despite having been born in Paris, Juliette was raised a secluded countryside manor in Southwest England, where she learned to walk, speak, and read. An old and close-knit aristocratic family, the Vaillancourts boasted four generations of expats on the bustling but sprawling estate. Juliette was most enamored with her great grandmother, Maire, the only person in the family to speak French exclusively.

It was thus Juliette was raised bilingual. Not that her parents tried to keep their native tongue away from their little girl’s lips. Proud Frenchman, they flitted between the two languages like hummingbirds in a frenzy, picking up the Romantic language when their conversations crescendoed. For this reason, Juliette has always been prone to speaking her more passionate words in a tone eerily similar to her mother’s.

Despite strong familial ties to a branch of equally ancient wizards in the United Kingdom, Juliette’s family did not anticipate the war to escalate to the degree it did. Sure, they were staunch Purebloods with headstrong tempers and fervent Purist holier-than-thou attitudes, but they were also wary, and living in a new societal circle. It took little encouragement from Madame Vaillancourt for Juliette’s father to agree to send the children back to France for school.

It was not hard for Juliette to adjust to life in a French-speaking world, having spent most of her time with her father’s proud and vociferous family. It was more a disappointment that she couldn’t escape the family’s thumb-- namely, a few cousins, whose presence in Beauxbatons was never forgotten, least of all because they cooed over her brother, had been Head Student before Juliette even began school.

Juliette spent years avoiding his shadow, walking a strange sort of tight-rope between rebellious little girl and dedicated student... anything, really, that would make her her own. And that she did: once in school, she'd escaped. At least in the literal sense. Sure, the chatter was still annoying. The professors' comparisons were stiffling. But the golden boy was long gone, having secured a job with Gringotts and more than one rendezvous with beautiful women. However, it wasn't until his uneventful marriage to a mild-mannered bride, his disappearance from the market of bachelors whispered about in giggles at the academy palace, that Juliette truly flourished in her new freedom. She became particularly engaged in Potions, promising a delicate talent to the Parisian upper crust who visited the academy annually to mark the students’ progress. In her final semester, Juliette was invited to apprentice a top potioneer in Paris, and quickly accepted the job, both ensuring continued distance from her lovable but somewhat stifling family, and a growth place for her ambition.

Juliette spent five years climbing the ladder of success, until she was offered a position as partner and a share in the centuries’ old business. Her father was proud, her mother pleased but fretting that the girl would become an old maid before her prime, and her great grandmother died happy.

Juliette, however, was bored. She missed the English rain, the dark pubs, the narrow, cobbly streets. Paris was too beautiful to bare any longer. She wanted something new, something dark.

And so she turned down the job, leaving mouths agape as she packed up her office and bought a one-way train ticket to England. Setting up flat in London’s boisterous Diagon Alley, Juliette took a nearly-two-year-long sabbatical to hone her skills and brew her own concoctions, legal and otherwise. Merlin knew Papa had provided her enough money in her trust fund. During this time,  she blissfully ignored her mother’s pleas to water herself down and join the other society girls for days of mindless shopping. She was plenty attractive on her own, and dated a string of men with few actual strings attached. She also freelanced for many a prestigious publications, staying up late to press quill to parchment, spouting theory concerning potions and the human senses.

At twenty-five, finally settled in and happy with her detour, Juliette accepted a job for a perfumer. The witch who ran the place was something of an ex madam, and the staff leaned heavily on the female side. Juliette found it a refreshing breath of deeply fragranced air. Her Parisian pedigree offered a slight advantage, what with the avenued city being home to the most famous of perfume houses.

But only six months into the job, the young woman received rumor of a job opening at Hogwarts. She loved the perfume house, and would miss the girls, but she could not turn down such an opportunity. Even her mother agreed, though Juliette did not ask her permission.

Anticipating a chilly January, Juliette has once more hauled the contents of her life across country to Scotland. She has redecorated the Potions laboratories to her liking, and is settling into the castle nicely with much thanks to the lovely Headmistress, who happens to be a distant cousin.

Career

Describe your job duties and how you go about them.

Juliette is the newly appointed Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, having stepped in to replace the previous professor half-way through the school year.

As Potions Master, she anticipates drawing up lesson plans, lecture notes, and various hands-on activities to measure the skill level and understanding of her students before plunging into the Ministry-appointed curriculum. Juliette has a very nature-focused approach to disciplining others in her field. She enjoys pulling students out of their comfort zone of classroom and cauldron to understand the properties and dangers of what they are doing, and to make the pupils aware of the intricacies involved in Potions brewing.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field.

While she has no teaching experience, she has much experience in the fields of Potioneering and Potions theory, and has given a lecture or two based on her own pieces in various academic publications. She has also worked for a highly regarded perfumer in England, where she further honed her skills in handling raw ingredients and measuring the effects of various magical substances on the human senses.

Sum up your character in one paragraph.

Juliette is a confident but self-kept woman who is attempting to gauge the balance between family and becoming her own woman, between creation and teaching, and between ambition and patience. She is neither, strictly speaking, a protagonist or an antagonist. She is just Juliette. While she is not accustomed to living where she works, the young woman is excited about the prospect of beginning a new chapter of her life, one that includes confronting young minds on a daily basis. Though she would never admit such a thing, she is also a smidgen anxious about having to divulge more of who she is to those around her.

Career Change
Character Name: Juliette Vaillancourt
Character Biography: http://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=5482.msg37964#msg37964
Previous Job/Position: Potions Mistress
Position Applying For: Potions Professor

Why have you chosen to change careers?:
After an unexpected personal matter forced Juliette to leave her post at Hogwarts last school year, the potioneer has now settled back into a daily routine and is ready to resume a teaching role. In her year off, a broad range of freelance brewing and new research have made her all the more capable a potioneer-- and all the more eager to mold young minds.

Elaborate on your expertise in this new field:
Juliette previously taught at Hogwarts, and also has an extensive resume that includes freelance and private potioneering, magical perfumery, and apprenticeships with potions masters of varying styles in France and England. Her skill with a cauldron is excellent, but she also has a great foundation in potions theory.

Describe your new job and how you go about doing it:
Juliette sets lessons, gives lectures and class discussions, and oversees practical lessons, which include group and individual laboratory projects. She also assigns homework and designs quizzes based upon potions theory and lab results. It is her job to prepare students for their annual exams, as well as to prepare fifth and seventh years for their standardized exams. Juliette also tutors students in remedial potions, as well as those who have a special interest in the field.

 Juliette impart this sold foundation on her students, as well as sharpen their basic practical skills and train up the future potions masters in her OWL and NEWT classes.