Eupraxia Wandsworth
 | |
| Eupraxia Doris Wandsworth | |
|---|---|
| Biographical Information | |
| Born | 11 June 1933, 79 |
| City of Birth | Isle of Wight, UK |
| Current City | Hogsmeade, Scotland |
| Blood status | Half-blood |
| Physical Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Height | 4’4” |
| Hair Colour | blonde |
| Eye Colour | blue |
| Skin Colour | Pale |
| Relationships | |
| |
| Pet(s) | Pyewacket (cat)
Greedigut (cat) Jarmara (cat) |
| Magical Characteristics | |
| Wand(s) | |
| |
| Education | |
| School | Hogwarts |
| House | Ravenclaw |
| Class of | 1951 |
| Occupation | |
| |
| Character Information | |
| Playby | Carol Kane |
| Niklas | |
The slightly eccentric, and extremely optimistic, Charms professor at Hogwarts is a recognisable old witch. Her blonde curls and crystal blue eyes are easily recognisable, and her classes are often filled with fantastic feats of magic and spells. Yes, she can sometimes lose her train of thought and go on tangents about the proper way to hold your wand, but she is still very liked. And don’t forget to grab a sweet from the jar on her desk before you leave class.
Physical
Eupraxia doesn’t stand very tall, and is dwarfed by most other witches and wizards. But even though she’s only reaching 4’4” off the ground, she is easily recognisable. She has a spring in her step, despite her age, and her large mane of untidy and incredibly curly blonde (slowly turning into white) hair are her trademarks. She is slim, her hands almost skeletal in their shape, and she is often dressed in a way that gives the impression that she put them on in the dark.
Her face is gaunt, and her clear blue eyes often have a wild look about them. She usually wears dark make-up around her eyes, and big earrings that stretch her earlobes to the full can often be heard clanking as she walks. Wrinkles have set in on her face, her porcelain-coloured skin feeling the pull of gravitation. She would easily look eerie and malevolent, if it wasn’t for the bright smile that often played on her lips.
Personality
Eupraxia is full of high spirit. She always tries to see things on the bright side, and is never far from a smile or a kind word. She is extremely open-minded, and often supports people with whatever they put their mind to. It is what makes her a good teacher, and what often makes her well-liked. But this personality can often come across as annoying and fake to people with a more cynical world-view, and a lot of people can’t stand her optimism. Of course, Eupraxia never notices this.
Some more ill-spirited people would call Eupraxia eccentric, thought it has never bothered her. She does enjoy spending days upon days locked in a room, with books on spells and charms, experimenting with what new ways she can bend magic. She still connects very well to the child within her, and is very playful. Yes, her knees might groan and her back might ache, but she’ll-be-damned if she can’t join the students in their adventures.
However, she often digs herself too deep into whatever she talks about, and can often lose her original train of thought. More often than not, her lessons turn into discussions about the intricacies of a specific flick of the wand, or from what source a certain spell gets its power from, than on how to actually perform said charm. When it comes to magic, she often becomes ecstatic, as nothing excites her as much as magic.
History
Eupraxia Wandsworth grew up as the younger sister to a wizard father and muggle mother on the southern coast of the Isle of Wight. Her father was a journalist for the Daily Prophet, and her mother was a preschool teacher. Her older sister never received her letter for Hogwarts, and Euprixia’s mother was at first terrified that her second daughter would also turn out to be a squib, but her fears were soon disappearing when Eupraxia started showing signs of magic from a very early age. Their neighbour’s cat turned pink; toys floated into Eupraxia’s arms when she wanted; and when she once crawled out of the window on the second floor, she bounced all the way down to the beach.
Eupraxia couldn’t wait to attend Hogwarts after all the stories her mother had told her, and she really couldn’t wait to get a wand. The hat didn’t take long to decide, and she was placed into Ravenclaw, where she instantly felt at home. Here she was amongst other witches and wizards eager to explore just how far you could stretch magic, and what you could make it do for you. She quickly showed prowess in her wandwork, and Charms quickly became both her favourite and best subject.
She graduated with an Outstanding in her Charms N.E.W.T.s, and after school she was offered a job in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. She turned out to be good at her job, and enjoyed it in the beginning, but after a year or so she felt herself grew tired. She wanted to do magic, not just fix mistakes that others had done. But she wasn’t sure where to go, or what to do next, so she stayed.
It was during her work at the Ministry where she met Howard Cobb, a Department of Magical Transportation employee, and the two fell madly in love. Many would liken their relationship to a stormy sea, and the couple broke up and got back together more times than anyone cared to keep track of. Eupraxia fell pregnant, and the couple had a little boy, but even that couldn’t save them, and soon after they split for good. Howard was still in the picture for her son’s upbringing, but him and Eupraxia weren’t really on amicable terms, so when Howard died in ‘92, Eupraxia politely, but firmly, denied the invitation to his funeral.
It wasn’t until her son went to attend Hogwarts that Eupraxia decided to leave the Ministry. She had been there long enough, and could feel herself getting too restless to stay. So she bought a little shop in Diagon Alley with some money she had saved up, and set up Wandsworth’s Helping Wand. Her plan for the store was to help customers with tricky requests when it came to charms and spells, and to have her own place where she could spend whatever free time she had to see if she could invent some new ones.
But then the Wizarding War happened, and times became uneasy. The customers weren’t there, the rent still needed to get paid, and she started getting visitors who demanded she’d come and work for You-Know-Who. The visitors became more and more frequent, until Eupraxia didn’t see any other choice but to go on the run. For years she was running from the Death Eaters, cleverly avoiding capture and outspelling whatever unfortunate soul that had been tasked with following her. This continued until You-Know-Who’s downfall, and when she finally could return to Wandsworth’s Helping Wand, the store was in ruin. It was with a broken heart she sold the property (for half of what she had paid for it), and moved back to the Isle of Spright.
There she became somewhat of a recluse, keeping to herself, tinkering with spellbooks, and playing with her cats. Even her son, who previously she had maintained a somewhat sporadic contact with, stopped visiting, and before long people forgot about her. Now and again she ventured to Diagon Alley to top up supplies, and if she ever ran into someone she knew they would be surprised to see her. For some reason, most people had thought she had died at the hands of the Death Eaters.
So when rumours that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had returned first started circulating, Eupraxia first decided to lay low. She remembered vividly the broken life she had had to endure during his first reign of terror, and she didn’t want to get involved. And since she was quite far removed from the wizarding society at large at that point, she got most of her information through the Daily Prophet, which at the time was not very reliable.
It wasn’t until an old friend of hers, Professor Filius Flitwick, came to visit her at her little cottage that she realised how grave times had turned. You-Know-Who had indeed returned, and things that had been brewing were now bubbling at the surface. On the professors request, she packed a small bag and rented a room at the Three Broomsticks. Whenever Flitwick could escape from the castle, the two of them spent the nights in the little room, plotting and scheming, coming up with the best protective charms to keep their students safe.
When the Battle of Hogwarts happened, Eupraxia was one of the first ones to arrive. Her wand at the ready, standing beside her old friend, she took on Voldemort’s army. She was surprised to see her son, now a grown man with children of his own, stand there as well - back straight, one arm around his mother. The two fought alongside each other, valiantly, but before the battle was over, her son passed away. It was a night that would live forever in her memory. The heartache, the twisted adrenaline, and the bloodthirst of the battleground.
After the War was over, and You-Know-Who had been defeated by the young man with the ruffled hair and lightning scar, Eupraxia made a decision. She had spent too long time away from wizarding society, and she felt the world had more to offer than her little cottage on the Isle of Wight. So she decided to stay in Hogsmeade, and before long had befriended most of the people in the village. She became a prolific writer for Challenges in Charming, and during the weekends when the students of Hogwarts came to visit, she spent as much time as she could getting to know the new generations.
Years later, when the position as Charms professor at the school became vacant, Eupraxia finally knew what she was meant to do - teaching. That way she could not only share her love of magic and spellwork, she would also be able to surround herself with the young witches and wizards who eagerly wanted to know more. And that’s where she is now. She moved into the castle with her three cats, and feels like she’s finally found home.
