Accepted by Sarah!

Your Nickname: evilpizza (Will)
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Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Heliotrope LeJean
Character Birthday & Age: Oct 15 1996
City & Country of Birth: Loch Lomond, Scotland
Pureblood, Halfblood or Muggleborn: Halfbreed
House & Year: Hufflepuff 1st Year

Wand: 13 inches, Black Palm, Hair from the Mane of a Kelpie

The wand is knotty and usually soggy or slimy after Heliotrope's exploits underwater.


Physical Description: Heliotrope is part merperson, specifically half-Selkie. Her skin is pale, almost grey in certain light, with stringy blonde hair and gymnast build. There is an ever so slight green tint to her hair from her merfolk parentage. Given how often it is wet it can appear jagged or snarled, as she normally has no routine treatment for it.  Her feet are big for her age but they look more human-like as opposed to fins. Both her pairs of palms and soles have thick calluses from interacting with rough terrain. She has webbed hands and feet.

She has gills on the sides of her neck that aids her breathing under water. She can hold one breath for over ten minutes.

Helio has a hidden translucent eyelid, a clear cover that blinks not up and down, but diagonal from the inside corner.  She can slide it closed when swimming, but sometimes it creeps up when she's groggy or bored. Since she can't close her eyes tight enough to make her vision go black she sleeps with a sleep mask.

Her face is normally blank but rarely, and more often as she integrates into society, the odd cute facial expression will creep onto her face. When she speaks she moves her lips as little as possible. This is due to her bilingualism in mermish, a language that uses vocal vibrations more so than breathing (this is why merfolk talking underwater make few bubbles). At times her voice can sound croaked, gummy, or backed up, typical when pronouncing new words. It’s been said to sound nicer underwater, akin to all merfolk. When speaking mermish above ground it is extra screechy, owning to her odd human/merperson larynx. She also screams in mermish, not that she’s really saying anything under the negative stimuli but it sounds much worse than your average scream. She’s accentless, outside of a wispiness to her voice that carries over from speaking mermish.

Heliotrope will take any excuse to be barefoot, liking shoes such as sandals that can be slipped on and off easily. For her other clothes she looks for comfort and texture against her skin, often gray, black, or earth tones; rotating from being completely covered from head to toe and wearing as little as decently possible. In winter she’ll stick with the fully covered wardrobe and vice versa for summer. When she wants full body contact with something, such as lying out on the grass or shore she’ll wear less and less until she is down to the fitted lycra one piece swimsuit she wears under all her clothes instead of underwear. She’s very graceful when swimming underwater. Just less so on land, not that she is clumsy but swimming is her favored form of movement. As she walks along often an arm will be free to race over the features of a wall of fence beside her, aiding her spatial mapmaking. Her hands, when unoccupied, will find an object to play with and fondle. Heliotrope, while having a sense of self, does not have a sense to maintain personal appearance or look pretty.  She thinks nothing of having the extra skin between her digits or of putting her clothes back one when she’s soaking wet from a dip, leaving a trail of puddles behind her. She takes full advantage of furniture and will slouch or twist into odd contortions that may look weird but she finds comfortable. Rather flexible, she may also curl up into small spaces, a tie over from being raised in a loch and find nooks or caves to sleep in. Her skins flakes horribly if she is left to “dry up” or have no access to water outside of drinks for over a week. A shower or bath would be helpful if this was the case.


Personality Description: Heliotrope is a fish out of water. She has little comprehension into matters that humans take for granted everyday. While she will respond and mimic others she has few thoughts of her own outside of water and texture. Her life is dominated by these two obsessions: swimming, and touching things with different textures (classified by a fictional paraphilia, thixophilia. Whereas a bibliophile likes reading, a thixophile likes touching things.)

Heliotrope expresses little emotion and has trouble determining emotional concepts. She is a doer rather than a thinker, best for physical tasks instead of mental. As such she tends to take things literally and states her observations bluntly, having no concept of deceit or "white lies". She is always direct.

If she thinks she is capable of doing something when under unique circumstances she is quick to react.

History: Heliotrope's mother was a French witch that followed the Mirabella Plunkett tradition, falling in love with a merman from Loch Lomond. She assimilated into the merfolk colony there, forgoing many wizarding traditions. Heliotrope was raised with the other young merfolk, swimming most of her days, learning mermish and English, fishing, and patrolling the waters, tangling with a variety of aquatic magical creatures.

She showed magical potential, able to confound and subdue a kelpie colt by herself when she was ten. Heliotrope was tracked down by a Hogwarts representative, giving her an acceptance letter. Heliotrope and her mother, several years removed from the magical UK, had trouble securing a wand for her given her status as a half-breed. Non humans are not permitted to have or buy wands. Eventually they came across the wandering wand tinkerer Deaglan MacDonough, who was able to make Heliotrope a wand out of Kelpie Hair.

Heliotrope has spent most of her free time at Hogwarts exploring the Black Lake and befriending the resident merfolk. She has not paid much attention to the reactions of others given her appearance and mannerisms.

How Do You Fit Into Your House?: Giving her unique backstory, Heliotrope can be seen as a marginalized member of society. She doesn't have the smarts or cleverness for Ravenclaw. Outside of swimming she has no other ambition or plans for the future, making her unsuitably for Slytherin. She can be seen as courageous, a Gryffindor trait, given she has no true sense of fear; but has no idea of chivalry. Therefore she fits in Hufflepuff. She is a good worker and will do what she is told...in fact, she never thinks of saying "no" or questioning the authority.

Writing Sample: Heliotrope walking down to the edge of the vast lake, her shoes already discarded by her steps some paces back. Her uniform was equally discarded revealing the black lycra swimsuit she wore under her clothes. Without breaking stride during this undressing she waded into the shallows, her toes curling over the grit of pebbles. The water was cool. She took a deep, soundless breath and plunged under.

She skirted the bottom of the lake bed, trailing through patches of weed, the plants brushing against her legs. Soon two shapes appeared in front of her, forms she recognized. Two selkies, female, had halted in front of her. They stared at her and she stared back. One gripped a trident like spear.

 One said in mermish.

Heliotrope replied in mermish.

 said the mermaid with the spear.

 Heliotrope replied, this information ingrained into her very being. She would have added this in her introduction had the other mermaid not interrupted.



Heliotrope understood and swam off in another tangent without reply, the mermaids swimming deeper into the lake. Heliotrope swam fore almost an hour in the murky brown water, familiar yet so different from the contours of her own loch that she had memorized. Returning back to the shore she entered from, she noticed a series of pipes opening out into the water. Those came from the school. Once Heliotrope acclimated to this new lake she would explore these pipes but now it was approaching dinnertime and Heliotrope had not put effort into fishing.

She emerged from the water, found her clothes and put them on. She hadn't stopped to dry herself off. Water seeped through the fabric making her clothes as drenched as if she had gone swimming in them. She peered for her shoes but could not find them.

"So you're the freak everyone's been talking about." said  voice behind her. It was a boy with greased back hair, holding her shoes and clapping them together.

"My name is Heliotrope LeJean, of the Loch Lomond Selkie colony." This was repeated in the same tone as when she talked to the mermaids.

"You live with Selkies?" the boy sneered. "That's rich. And they never taught you t dry off properly when wet. What a load of bull, go jump in a lake."

"I just jumped in a lake," Heliotrope said.

The boy frowned. "Okay, I'll give you that one. Had fun, did you fish freak? Ate some worms, crapped in the lake maybe?"

"I have not eaten. I was told dinner was from 6-7." Hungry, she began to walk back to the castle.

"Where do you think you're going?" the boy yelled. "I still have your shoes."

"You can wear them," Heliotrope said.

The boy flung the shoes away as if they smelled of chum. "Gross! I'm not wearing swill soaked shoes of a fish freak. Bite me!"

Heliotrope paused, then turned and walked back to the boy. He stared at her.

"What are you doing--OUCH!"

Heliotrope bit him on the arm. He swore, knocking her aside and fleeing towards the castle. Heliotrope gazed after him. Wasn't that what the boy wanted? She picked up her fallen shoes but did not put them on. Instead she carried them, letting her wet feet tread over grass and then dirt. Mud formed and clung to the soles of her feet. She entered the building and made her way towards dinner, a trail of muddy footprints and dripping water in her wake.

She entered the hall, wear pairs of eyes followed her as she walked squish-squish to a seat at one of the tables. Within a minute a puddle had formed under her. Water leached from her arms along the table top.

Oblivious to all the stares, Heliotrope selected a portion of kippers and began to eat.

Sum up your character in one paragraph: In a sentence:

A texture obsessed part-mermaid witch, very much out of her element.

Character Stat Sheets:
Physical Characteristics
Sociological Characteristics
Family/Friends Information
Educational Characteristics
Magical Characteristics
The Six Stats
Gear, Possessions, Familiars, Protectorates
What Ifs
In and Out of Character Info

Physical Characteristics

[Name:] Heliotrope LeJean
[Nickname:] Helio
[Age:] 12
[Height:] Comes up to here
[Weight/Bodyshape:] Swimmers/Gymnast build
[Ethnicity:] Central European/Scottish Merperson, Selkie (the un-pretty mermaids)
[ ] Male    [X] Female
[Clothing Style:] anything with heavy textures, often damp and clashing
[Hair Color:] Blonde, occasional greenish sheen
[Hairstyle:] Stringy, unwashed and hosting algae
[Eye Color:] Grey
[Eyewear:] Did you know her eyelids are translucent? She wears a sleep mask to bed.
[Complexion:] Grey
[Voice:] Monotone.
[Outstanding Features:] Her gills are on the sides of her neck, hidden by her hair. Her fingers and toes are webbed.

Sociological Characteristics

[Emotional Level:] Blank slate.
[Occupation:] Hogwarts Student, Hufflepuff First Year
[Income:] What is this ‘economy’ you speak of?
[Transportation:] Swims everywhere.
[Interests:] Swimming, touching things
[Quirks/Vices:] Unabashedly honest, she needs to spend her time swimming or running her fingers over something. She often walks around barefoot and dressed in just her swimsuit or soaked clothing after a swim.
[Special Talents:] Having a set of functional gills she can be underwater as long as she likes.
[Greatest Strength:] Acting on instinct.
[Greatest Weakness:] Inability to understand many human concepts.
[Favorite Music Style:] Mermaid song.
[Band:] The Loch Lomond Chorus.
[Favorite Place to Visit:] The ocean.
[Favorite Book:] One Little Goldfish; it’s short and has plenty of pictures.
[Favorite Number:] 10, that’s all your fingers and all your toes.
[Favorite Food:] Raw fish.
[Least Favorite Food:] Cheese, it gums up her gills.
[Favorite Color:] The many hues and reflections of water.
[Allergies or Physical Handicaps:]  [ ] Yes [X] No
[Chemical Dependency:]  [X] Yes  [ ] No Well, technically water is a chemical compound.
[Criminal Past:]  [X] No  [ ] Yes
[Educational Level:] 1st Year.
[Musically Inclined:]  [ ] No  [X] Yes
[What Instrument:] Sings in mermish but you might want your head underwater before hand.
[Extra Information:] Her energy level is cycled by the ambient temperature.

Family/Friends Information

[Location:] Loch Lomond, Scotland
[Marital Status:] She’s not yet of spawning age.
[Children:] Or fish…one of those biological mysteries
[Family Information:]
Mother – Danielle LeJean, a French witch that fell hopelessly in love with a merman, much like the Mirabella Plunkett story. Lives on a secluded island in Loch Lomond and adapts to the merfolk way of life, staying underwater with prolonged Bubble Head Charms.
Father, er “Spawn Chieftain” – Kulgor, the merman that fell in love with Danielle LeJean. His spawn helped conceive Heliotrope but Merfolk children are raised communally. Was part of the hunt of a Kelpie before Heliotrope started school. The hairs he pulled from its mane became the core of her wand.
[Pets:] You don’t own anything in the loch unless you need it.
[Any Family Traditions:]  [X] Yes [ ] No Weaving Kelp Whips, to snag lone fish.
[Faction:] Loch Lomond Merfolk colony
[Best Friend:] Her bunkmates in Hufflepuff include her although she has yet to know how to reciprocate the gesture.
[Nemesis:] Many find her unappealing.
[Romance:] They day she gets love sickness, it will be quite a scene.

Educational Characteristics

[Year:] 1st Year
[Learning Preference:] Heliotrope learns best with physical, hands-on practical schooling until she can commit the actions to muscle memory. Her writing is blocky, missing much in grammar or punctuation. She can read, piercing the page with her eyes for several minutes until the information is comprehended. Overall her reading and writing skills are weak. She follows directions to the letter, often obtusely as she lacks syntax, context, and sarcasm. For example, in Potions she will follow all the directions on the board, adding measured ingredients at the right time, resulting in an acceptable potion. If a student, as a joke, wrote “add a block of cheese” to the last line of the instructions, Heliotrope would add the block of cheese. Such naivety makes her gullible and easily swayed. Also fighting against her academic efforts is a Merperson perspective of the world from her younger years of education. These elements, when summed up, creates an unpredictable nature of whether or not Heliotrope will take to new coursework. The simpler the task on this roulette of topics, the greater the chances she will get it.
[Best Subject(s):] Practical Portions of Spells, okay in Potions or Herbology
[Worst Subject(s):] History of Magic, Astronomy, anything scholarly
[Learned Skills/Select Expertise:] Oh how many ways can you use Flipendo?
[Clubs/Extra Curriculars:] She attended the first meeting of the Wizarding Heritage Club, although the attendees were arguing over nationalities before they even got to the topic of half breeds. Time will tell if Deputy Head Declan Ó Móráin will try again.

Magical Characteristics

[WAND:] 13 inches, Black Palm, Hair from the Mane of a Kelpie; The wand is good for all magics. The core fits Heliotrope as she has grown up living and respecting the power of Kelpies. The wood is knotty and bumpy.
[ERISED:] Heliotrope would see herself just as she is, she has no greater wants than a life to swim.
[AMORENTIA:] Deep water, raw fish, kelp
[BOGGART:] A kelpie, her respect of the aggression of kelpies is the closet thing she has to ‘fear’.
[RIDDIKULUS:] She would more often attack the boggart!Kelpie with her Kelp Whip and look for pressure points.
[DEMENTOR:] The feeling of being anchored at the bottom of a deep lake with no light.
[PATRONUS:] The Giant Squid (once we get those “Happy Thoughts” down)
[HALF BREED:] Part Merperson, can breathe in the air or underwater, and is bilingual in Mermish. People that consume gillyweed will look similar to her for a time.
[FAVORITE SPELL:] Flipendo
[MOST USED SPELL:] Flipendo
[BEST OFFENSIVE SPELL:] Flipendo—well it’s the first thing she tries
[BEST DEFENSIVE SPELL:] Carpe Retractum, pull the offending thing away.


The Six Stats
Fans of traditional tabletop RPGs will recognize these characters stats which determine strengths and weaknesses. I do not use actual numerical values but rather use them for characteristic definitions.

[Strength:] Above Average – Heliotrope has powerful arms and legs built from a lifetime of swimming, making her slightly stronger at Upper and Lower body strength then others her age.
[Dexterity:] Very High – Heliotrope is very flexible and is known to curl up or contort into small niches, a hold over from how Merpeople sleep in rock huts or underwater caves.
[Constitution:] Above Average – One hypothetical of note: since Heliotrope is not completely human she cannot get infected with Lycanthropy, though I’m sure a werewolf scratch would still be nasty.
[Intelligence:] Sub Average – Heliotrope is a doer, not a thinker.
[Wisdom "Street Smarts":] Average – One should note that this is under a Merperson perspective. Heliotrope follows her wild, naturalistic instincts but is slow on the uptake of wizarding and human social norms.
[Charisma:] Low – Heliotrope has almost no social skills to speak of and doesn’t understand the concept of personal space.

Gear, Possessions, Familiars, Protectorates
The unique items the character has beyond standard (wand, basic school equipment, etc.) and the creatures or people they can call on for help.

Kelp Whip: Hand woven from Grindylow tempered kelp. Snatch something and then yank it back. Works best when moist, she keeps it in a pitcher of water near her bed.


What Ifs

[Where does character see herself in 10 years:] Swimming in Loch Lomond
[Oddest thing that has ever happened to them:] She doesn’t find anything “odd” (but trust me, even her existence has lead to plenty of awkward situations).
[Personal goal not yet achieved:] Swim around the world.
[Biggest Regret Mistake:] She doesn’t dwell one them (her mind is water in a strainer in that regard).

In and Out of Character Info

[Avatar:] Brooklyn Proulx

[Polyvore:] There's a Kelpie in the Lake - Collage to go along with Helio's introductory thread Muckracking. Also shows what her single shoulder black lycra swimsuit looks like.

[Helio-Tropes:]
TVtropes is a site that catalogues the many gimmicks and topics of fiction. These are not meant to be cliches; Tropes are Tools

Ambiguous Disorder – At a crossroads of human, mermish, and wizard behavior, variable mental acuity and unpredictable nature, many know what not to make of Heliotrope.
Apparently Human Merfolk – This being Potterverse, Helio looks like she’s constantly under the effects of gillyweed. So she’s human, but with gills on her neck, webbed digits, and translucent eyelids.
Book Dumb - Helio does batter with hands on learning than strictly academic.
Does Not Know How to Say Thanks
Does Not Like Shoes – Likes the feel of the ground on her bare feet, plus webbed toes makes flip-flops or socks difficult.
Emotionless Girl – Sad? Mad? Glad? She’s oblivious.
Fish Out Of Water – Figuratively and literally.
Free Range Child – Mother can’t meet her at the train station after school is out? No matter, Heliotrope will swim several hundred miles around the UK continent on her way to Loch Lomond!!
Half Breed/Half Human Hybrid – Half human, half mermish, as seen by grayish skin and gills. A biological anomaly in the wizarding world thus far, and actually not as integrated in merfolk society as believed.
Literal Minded – self explanatory.
Loaners Are Freaks – Pretty freakish enough being part-mermish, she often wonders off to swim.
No Social Skills – In regards to wizarding/human social strata.
Power Up Food – Ever wonder what happens when a half selkie girl eats gillyweed?
Pressure Points - Fights kelpies this way. Occasionally pushes some when petting animals.
Raised By Natives – Heliotrope does have a witch for a mother but she adopted the merpeople lifestyle too.
Sarcasm-Blind – About hand-in-hand with being literal minded.
Sleep Mask - Surprisingly NOT for the usual method to show class. She has translucent eyelids so she needs something to block her vision when sleeping the 'landdweller method.'
Strange Girl – If you haven’t figured it out by now.
What is this thing you call Love? – To round out the package of minimal human development.
Whip It Good – Hand made whip made out of kelp. Used for catching individual fish. Works best when wet.
Wild Hair – Never washed, only wet from swims, and hosts algae.