Accepted! - Erika/Grace

Your Nickname: Neesh
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: No
If Yes, list them all:
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Elizabeth Shaw
Character Birthday & Age: July 17, Age 15
City & Country of Birth: Sevenoaks, Kent
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Muggleborn
House & Year: 5th Year Hufflepuff

Wand: 10 and 7/8 Inches Apple Wood, Unicorn Tail Core, Smooth and Pliable

Physical Description: At 15, Elizabeth (or Liz, to her friends and family) is short for her age, with a female figure that’s just starting to bloom.  Her soft curves and delicate hands and facial features make her as non-threatening as her personality. 

Her hair is naturally straight and sometimes is styled curly, a feat that she can only achieve by magic.  When she was younger it was much lighter.  As she's grown older it's turned a rich dark brown color.  Over the summer, or the more time she spends outside, the lighter her hair can get, looking almost dirty-blond from where the sun has bleached it. 

From birth her moss-green eyes have always been wide, bright, and inquisitive, giving her a fairly easy perception of people and things around her.  Her smile, by far her father’s favorite feature, tends to endow trust and lighten the heart of those around her, causing her to equally trust and be trusted in most social settings.


Personality Description: Liz has a very quiet and sweet personality.  Some might call that “vanilla,” whereupon she can be in most social settings and fit right in.  Those that meet her tend to find something about her that they like and something about her personality that matches with their own, whether that means she makes a new friend or simply fades into the background.  She rarely gets into trouble and is very diligent with both her relationships and her studies, mostly because she only stays in that place which she feels most comfortable. 

She has a high tolerance for mess and chaos, owing much to having a little brother who loves to make messes.  But she’s always there in a capacity to keep things tidy when the situation requires it.  Her mind is very well organized and she tries to make her surroundings the same.

Her personality being quiet and collected, she’s often mistaken as someone who is a doormat.  She certainly has a harder time standing up for herself than she has standing up for others.


History: Her mother died when she was nine through complications in childbirth.  That bereavement left Elizabeth with a strong sense of responsibility and family.  Being “the woman of the house” at a young age, she takes it as her responsibility to keep her family together, especially with her father commuting from their country home to his barrister job in the city and especially now that she’s spending most of her time at Hogwarts. 

Six years ago her mother died and six years ago her brother Aedan was born.  It was as if her mother left all her light and goodness in the form of this silly little boy.  Her love for her brother carried over to a lot of how her personality has developed.  She tends to see underlings in a motherly light, finding her courage most when defending those younger than herself.

When she first got her letter of acceptance into Hogwarts, Liz feared going off to school so far away.  But she’s not one to stick to her fear for long.  Soon after it takes hold of her, courage and determination strengthen her resolve.  For this she is quick to fear and cautious in her actions, but courageous to do those things which she knows must be done or to stand up for those who, like her brother, may have no one else to stand for them.

Her years at Hogwarts became bitter sweet.  She loved everything to do with magic.  She loved her teachers and her friends.  She got fairly good marks across the board, only struggling at those subjects, like Defense Against the Dark Arts, that tended to falter from her gentle personality.  But her time at school inevitably made her miss her family, particularly Aedan.  In her fifth year, he is just learning to read and write well, so that they each start to regale each other with their tales and antics at school.  She keeps closer to her family and the Muggle world not only because of her mother but also to keep a close watch on any early signs of magic her little brother might have.


How Do You Fit Into Your House?: Once she establishes friendships, Liz treats those relationships as seriously as she treats her studies.  Having a little brother and a father who’s job is to defend others and uphold the law, she often stands mediator for her friends, being patient and just.  She doesn’t see herself as “choosing sides” so much as standing up for what is right and true in her eyes.  When one of her friends is against impossible odds, however, her loyalty and sense of justice supplies her with the courage to do what is right at whatever cost to herself.

Writing Sample: Elizabeth took the silver picture frame in her hands, tracing the intricate molding with her fingers.  A pair of soft, brown eyes stared up at her through that frame, smiling at her.  She looked in the mirror and saw that same smile, the one she shared with her mother.

The picture of her late mother was the last thing to be packed in her trunk at the end of every summer.  This would be her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  She had her school robes tucked around all her books, her cauldron filled with spare ink bottles and toiletries.  She packed her old quilt on top of it all and her mother’s portrait stowed safely in-between the folds.  With a sigh, she shut her trunk and started to put on her jacket when she heard shuffling feet behind her.

“Why can’t you take me with you this year, Lizzie?”  Aedan began to whine, like he did every year when it was time for her to leave.  “I would fit in your trunk, I won’t take up much room!”

Liz smiled at her younger brother, sat down on her trunk, and beckoned him to give her a hug.  He was getting so tall!  He had their mother’s brown eyes and their father’s squared chin.  Soon he would be too old and too big to cuddle with his sister.

“Remember what I promised?”  Aedan nodded his head under her chin.  “We’re going to write to each other every chance we get.  That’s why you worked so hard over the summer to learn your letters, remember?  Next time Wooly comes swooping in he’ll have a letter in his beak just for you.”  Aedan pulled away from her, looking up with a pout.  She mimicked him and began tapping his out-turned lower lip with her finger.  He giggled and his sadness was momentarily gone.

They chatted as she let him help her pull her trunk down the stairs for Dad to take it out to the car and laughed as he playfully stuck his finger into Wooly’s cage.  He road on her back through the barrier on the platform and hung on tight while she waved at her school mates.  “What will you learn this year?” he asked.  He was always eager to see what charm or spells she had learned when she came home for break.

Last year she had bought him all sorts of sweets from Honeydukes and the year before that she had learned how to make photographs move and sent him an album full of the wonders of Hogwarts.  He was especially fascinated by the thought of the ghosts.

“I don’t know,” she said.  She craned her neck to give him a mischievous grin.  “But whatever it is, it’s going to be tons of fun.”


Sum up your character in one paragraph: Elizabeth, or Liz for short, tends to be well-liked among her school mates, making friends very easily and keeping her studies and her social life in balance.  She still has very strong ties with the Muggle side of herself; her mother dying when she was young and having a younger brother gave her a stronger tie with her Muggle family as well as a soft heart.  One of her flaws tends to derive from her love and loyalty to others, because she tends to overlook her triumphs, pay attention to her flaws, or completely ignore her own discomfort when it comes to the comfort and triumph of others.