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Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Bridget Nilson
Character Birthday & Age: January 31, 1993
City & Country of Birth: Clipstone, England
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Pureblood
House & Year: Hufflepuff, Fifth year

Wand: 11 inches, Hawthorn. Kelpie mane. Knobbled and inflexible.

Physical Description: The first thing anyone notices about Bridget is not the color of her eyes (blue), the desperate need of some cheeseburgers in her diet, or how she could really use new clothes. No the most eye-catching thing about her is probably the white-girl dreads followed by the realization that she's glaring and/or sneering at you. The dirty blonde dreads have been around since she was 13 and decided she was done with trying to fight the knots in her hair. The glare has been around a lot longer. In fact, speculation has it that Bridget was born with that particular facial expression  and her face as been stuck that way ever since.

Her hair, usually pushed back and up with a headband adds a good couple inches to her natural 5'6".

Bridget tends to look taller that she is, both because of the hair and because she's built like a toothpick. Not in a way that makes her body enviable- she's training bra flat and she'd look awkward if she wasn't so aggressive.

She's boney as only a teenager growing into their body can be. Her cheekbones are sharp and high with a faint trace a childhood roundness and her face is heart shaped. Her lips are a little big for her face and very expressive though usually twisted up in a grimace or sneer. Her eyes are usually framed by a great deal of dark makeup that helps the look.

Her frame usually incites a reaction of "Oh honey, have a piece of cake or something." She won't take the cake- she has a very strict no-sugar policy, which includes being called sickly sweet names.

No sugar is the only dietary restriction Bridget has- she eats more fruits and veggies than half the kids her age and won't hesitate to down a good 12 ounce steak if she's in the mood for meat. She just does a lot of hard work mixed with an inherent distrust of anyone cooking for her but her.

She does things herself, a philosophy that extends to her clothing. A lot of things like her jewelry, headbands and socks are made by her own hands. The stuff that she buys is worn until it's worn out and then patched up to get another five years use out of it.

Her usual look can be described as somewhere between hobo and swamp witch. Mix the dreads and kholed out eyes with furred boots, thigh-high stockings, beaded jewelry and leather bands, baggy tank tops and shorts (unless a temperature drop or uniform forces otherwise) and throw a few facial piercings into the mix (one lip and three on her right brow) and there's a girl that fell so hard off the proverbial fashion plate that she can make a gathering of hundreds look trashy just by showing up.

Personality Description: Bridget is not a very nice little girl. And that's being polite. She's abrasive. She's rude. Cuddly as a cactus and charming as an eel, etc. etc.

A simple greeting is usually something along the lines of "Why the hell are you talking to me," "Your breath smells like dung" or if she's halfway fond of a person: "Hey dumbass"

Don't take it personally- Bridget assumes she's going to hate everyone she meets and that they'll hate her right back. It doesn't bother her- her favorite living organisms are plants and the occasional animal that isn't fluffy and expects love and attention because of said fluffy 'cuteness.'

Bridget doesn't trust anyone further than she can throw a full grown dragon. This often even extends to her sneaking down to the kitchen and cooking her own meals or using her own cauldron to whip up a bit of soup or stew in her dorm (she bought her own secondary one just for that purpose).

Does she really expect everyone to stab or poison her in the back. No. But she does believe in the idea that if you want something right, do it yourself. And she's just not a people person and doesn't see the point in making an effort when they're just going to disappoint her anyway. Okay- so maybe she's a little paranoid.

She's likely the kind of kid that gets labeled a as a bully at school and not unfairly. She's blunt on top of everything else. She doesn't sugarcoat her words or pull punches when she says what she thinks or what she feels. If she makes some kids cry, well they can put on their big girl panties and deal with it. Be nasty back, she'll give as good as she gets and get in your face. Touch her, hassle her, she'll lock you in the broom cupboard. Break her heart (assuming she'd ever let someone get that close), she'll break your legs.

This isn't to say that she doesn't have friends or wouldn't care about them. She does, but in her own special Bridget way. If she ever greets someone with "hey dumbass" it really does mean she consider you a friend. She might heckle, but she'll share in a laugh just as easy and if you're one of the few that takes the time to get close to Bridget, you'll have her complete trust and she'll have your complete back- even if it means locking you in a broom closet while yelling expletives so you don't do something stupid. She won't ever say she cares about someone, in fact she'll deny it with a heated "shut up, I don't even like you"
but gifts, little affections and occasional hand grabbing ("you walk crooked. I'm making sure you don't run into a wall dorkfest") might suggest otherwise.

As a side note- she's got a little pyro tendency so hide your flammables.

History: You know those dirty poor pureblood families that aren't talked about at high-society dinners? Meet the the Nilsons and perfect example when all those twisting branches  don't have enough sap for the 4th son of the 3rd daughter. And then what does said son do? Marry another dirt poor pureblood and make babies. And so Bridget Jennine Nilson came into the world, the second child and only daughter, growing up on the outskirts of the small village of Clipstone near Sherwood Forest, making their living by growing their own food and caring and training albino bloodhounds for the Ministry.

It wasn't too long before Bridget's mother became frustrated at her husband's lack of ambition to reattain social status and she left when Bridget was five. Her father remarried three years later to a halfblood with a modest family inheritance. Too bad she wasn't a mothering type and she was disowned for her ideas on blood purity, sending the family even further into poverty. Suddenly linoleum was swanky.

With just enough income to avoid homelessness and Bridget's older brother turning 10, their father send the two children to live with an "Aunt" a distant relation who turned out to be a hag, though apparently not one of the rumored children-eating kind.

Like the Nilson, Auntie made a living with animals, only she leaned toward breeding, often venturing into illegal crossbreeding of magical creatures from the safety of her little cottage hidden from Muggles in Sherwood Forest.

Bridget and her Aunt aren't exactly close, at least not as close as her brother is, but they tolerate each other's presence and Bridget will often sleep outside in a tent by her own choice (she's a nature girl- sleeping under a gilded canopy bed doesn't impress her nearly as much as sleeping under trees and starts). She often ventured out on her own and picked up a hobby of archery that she would like to perfect for no other reason than to say she had.

By the time Bridget was old enough to start Hogwarts, she was already fiercely independent and often classed with professors, prefects and any authority figures telling her what to do when she was so obviously capable of managing her own affairs. She's always worn second hand clothing and makes no secret about her poverty. Anyone that tried to reach her through sympathy was quickly shut down and anyone that tried to insult her even more so. Suffice to say detention and letters home were common and she didn't end her first year with a lot of friends.

Despite disciplinary and social troubles, her grades were actually quite good and she demonstrated she had a sharp mind and almost photographic memory. The fact that procrastination was a foreign idea to her also helped. Her favorite class by far was Herbology with DADA a close second.

Second year was similar to the first, but third year was when she could finally start taking some of the classes she desperately wanted to, like Care of Magical Creatures.

Now in her fifth year, Bridget hasn't decided how badly she wants to pass her OWLs. She has a budding interest in the DMLE, but is doubtful that she would fit into Ministry life or regulation. Part of her thinks she could make a living perfectly fine on her own and that NEWTs might not even be necessary.

How Do You Fit Into Your House?: Though her temperament may have some jokingly put her in Slytherin (and to be fair she leans toward the ends-justify-the-means philosophy), Bridget's most dominant trait is her work ethic. At home she will frequently get up at four in the morning to get to work around the house and at Hogwarts she's one of those rare students who do their homework the day it's assigned to get it over and done with. She'd also love a bit of garden of her own on the grounds to work with while at school. She's dirt poor, but she won't take handouts and is just fine working for what she's got with her own two hands, thank you very much. And while she may come off as especially verbally abusive to her brother or stuff is lard-butt in a closet and throw away the key so he doesn't sneak off and do something stupid, it's because she (almost) cares. She just won't vocalize it. Ever.

Writing Sample:

Sum up your character in one paragraph: A fiercely independent young woman who doesn't sugar coat anything (yes that dress does make you look fat), Bridget's got "all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile." Develop a thick hide and stick around through the jibes and insults and you'll find a friend that will stick with you even when no one else will. Just remember- she doesn't really like you. Dumbass.