STUDENT IDENTIFICATION
N A M E: Katarina Stefani Carroll
N I C K N A M E: Kat, usually. When her brothers are teasing her, she gets "Kitty-Kat", but she doesn't mind it that much.
G E N D E R: Female
A G E: 16 – to turn 17 in mid-November
B L O O D S T A T U S: Half-Blood
PRESENCE
At first glance, perhaps one would describe Katerina as small, or some other word indicating a lack of size. But this is a misconception, for the only thing one can find small about her is her height, what with barely scraping the five foot mark. In fact, Kat would be better described as full; both in her personality, and her looks.
Her figure is an ample one; enough plumpness to her thighs and stomach, and enough roundness to her bust and rump to avoid the description of being slim; her face matches this, being heart-shaped and round-cheeked. Full lips – usually painted in either a neutral or bright red colour – are commonly found curved upwards into a smile, accentuating her high cheekbones and brightening her warm, chocolate brown eyes.
Kat's skin tone was once described to her as a rich nutmeg hue – which she couldn't disagree with, partially because she really loved nutmeg. A shame her skin doesn't smell of the stuff though. As such, she makes do with a spritz of perfume every day – nothing too heavy; just as her make-up and clothes are rarely so heavy. Kat enjoys looking nice – not for the satisfaction of anyone else (Although compliments are always sweet to hear, of course), but because she enjoys the process of putting on her make-up, taming her wild curled hair, and picking a cute outfit for the day. Naturally the latter doesn't apply when it comes to the school uniform, but with the constant bounce in her step and her sweet, near-constant smile, she makes even the uniform look her own.
ACADEMICS
H O U S E: Bishop
Y E A R: 6th Year
E L E C T I V E S: Care of Magical Creatures
Apparition
Divination
B E S T C L A S S: Astronomy; She's loved stargazing and reading horoscopes ever since she was a child. Although not holding quite so dearly to the belief behind star-signs and their correlations to one's personality, she still enjoys the class, and does rather well in it.
W O R S T C L A S S: Transfiguration; Apparently metamorphmagi have an easier time with transfiguration than most students - the magic comes easily to them, of something. It seems to be the opposite case for Kat, as she has struggled with this class the most over the years. Part of her likes to think she just dislikes harming the animals, but she really just sucks royally at it.
C L U B S: Astronomy Club - President; Well, she loves star-gazing! Why restrict it just to her classes and homework when there's a club just for it?
Magical Creatures Club; Kat doesn’t need this club for helping her grade or anything – she just loves spending time with various creatures, no matter how supposedly dangerous or venomous they are!
Dueling Club; At first joining just to examine the theory behind it, Kay soon began the physical act. She tell's herself it's just for good practice in the future and for any upcoming examinations in regards to magic – but she secretly enjoys the thrill of the duel, and the sweet taste of victory upon beating her opponent. It only happens perhaps half the time, but she savours it nonetheless – alongside accepting her loss respectfully and learning from her mistakes for the future.
WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
W A N D: Vine wood, Unicorn hair core, 11", and a slightly yielding flexibility.
The druids considered anything with a woody stem as a tree, and vine makes wands of such a special nature that I have been happy to continue their ancient tradition. Vine wands are among the less common types, and I have been intrigued to notice that their owners are nearly always those witches or wizards who seek a greater purpose, who have a vision beyond the ordinary and who frequently astound those who think they know them best. Vine wands seem strongly attracted by personalities with hidden depths, and I have found them more sensitive than any other when it comes to instantly detecting a prospective match. Reliable sources claim that these wands can emit magical effects upon the mere entrance into their room of a suitable owner, and I have twice observed the phenomenon in my own shop.
Hedgehog
The first impression of an individual with a hedgehog patronus can be very deceiving. On the outside, they can first appear happy-go-lucky and kind, as well as slightly naive. They are optimistic individuals in the way they want to be happy and have the feeling rub off on others, but this is not who they are completely. Rather, they actually have a tough personality to them, and have the ability to fight and defend themselves. Do not take them for weaklings, because they certainly are not, and are much more perceptive than they appear.
A Black Hole; Being an avid watcher of the stars, Kat has delved into the more scientific side of space and it's wonders. Upon learning of what black holes were, she's attributed that sucking void in space to her own fears of isolation and the dark – as such, her boggart will appear as a vortex, suddenly appearing and beginning to suck everything into a frighteningly empty hole. When using the "riddikulus" charm, the vortex shrinks until it becomes a teeny-tiny tornado that one could fit in the palm of their hand, with miniature barns and cows whirling around it in a comedic type of manner.
F A M I L I A R: American Flying Squirrel – Ser Backstreet Boy
Called "Backsy" for short, he looks adorable enough, but that's up until he bites your fingers and steals all of your snacks. Kat wonders how he isn't so overweight he can't glide anymore, but he seems to keep the fat off him – she just dreads the day the little troublemaker will learn how to hold a knife. Or a wand. *shudders*
ESSENCE
P E R S O N A L I T Y: Despite her prudish nature when it comes to swearing and blaspheming, Kat is far from a naïve individual. She has 3 older brothers, so she's got plenty of wordly knowledge that a pastor's daughter may not usually get. Said experience with older brothers have taught her to expect mischief and whatnot from a certain kind of people, and to also learn to be brave. Nothing worse than being teased for being cowardly, in her opinion. Because while she is quiet, she is not reserved – if an opinion or thought must be said, she will take a deep breath and say it. Although the size of the group or spectators may decide whether or not there is a blush to her cheeks and a stammer to her words, she will go ahead with it. Because voices have to be heard, no matter how prim or timid they sound.
However, it would be unfair to assume she is the delicate Georgia peach that her sweet accent and dainty manner of speaking imply. Although generally non-confrontational, Kat can certainly hold her own in an discussion; however, her confidence in such matters can deteriorate rapidly if things become mean or aggressive. A debate is much different than an argument with someone you don't like. Insults, sneers, slurs and physical acts can scare her easily into submission, despite all her brother's have taught her about bravery. This can lead to her not standing up for herself in certain situations, although it has been seen she is far more likely to overcome this fear (to some extent) when helping other people or friends deal with these situations. Encouragement could aid her in these endeavours, but she has to hear it first.
One wouldn't have to gain Kat's friendship or trust to see her sunny side – she's a firm believer in hospitality and selflessness; and while the latter belief doesn't go so well all the time, she tries hard to make people feel at home around her. It may be tempting to hide that last chocolate for herself to eat later, but if you've had a bad day or are feeling down about something, she'll hand it over with a sympathetic smile, and an ear to listen to your problems. It's a great way of making friends, after all. And if you are already pals with Kat, well... that's what friends are for! She'll just tease you when you're feeling better about owing her a whole box of chocolates for her services!
R O M A N T I C I N T E R E S T S: Kat has never found much luck or luster so far in the field of love; her first crush was her brother's best friend – nearly 3 years older than her. And after some very brief and shy flirting at the ages of 8 and 11 respectively, the crush evaporated without so much as a kiss between the two. Her first real romance occurred in her second year at the institute, with a Good boy who certainly lived up to the name (the actual dictionary meaning, not the house's less-than-nice reputation), and they broke it off once the "passion" dwindled in a month or so. More serious relationships followed, with two of her own house; a boy in her 4th year, a girl in her 5th. The first wanted her to change her appearance to his own preferences upon finding out she was a metamorphmagus, and the second cheated on her. Since then, relationships have been scarce.
However, Kat remains ever hopeful of the future – just a bit more cautious in her partners from now on, regardless of gender, house or blood status.
L I K E S:
- Space The final frontier; these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise-
- Animals – most of them, anyway. They must have manners for her to really like them. So, that removes Bowtruckles and Ser Backsy from her list then.
- Nutmeg – and a lot of other spices and herbs too, actually; cinnamon, cloves, coriander, lemongrass, sage, cayenne, chamomile... you get the idea.
- Sweet iced tea – with a squeeze of lemon and a leaf of mint, just like her Daddy makes it.
- Long Island Iced Tea – Don't tell anyone! Her Momma let her try some once at the state fair, and it was divine. They made a pact to not mention the alcohol part of their trip to her Dad. She still partakes in it now, when she can – her own little private rebellion against "The Man".
- Seafood – Doesn't matter what kind, she loves shrimp to shark, crawfish to cod, and oysters to octopus. Nom.
- Heat – This girl was born and raised in Georgia; as such, she thrives off warmth, be it from the sunshine or from a crackling wood fire. With this has also come an immunity to the lethargy that often comes hand in hand with humid temperatures.
- Ice-Cream – Doesn't really matter what flavour, just as long as it's cold. She tried to make some once with her older brother; it ended up being a strawberry slop that just wouldn't set, but dang, if it didn't taste good!
- Muggle Television – She's watched a lot with her Dad, what with him being a Muggle himself. Everything from Sci-fi to romance to horror. Her favourites have been old comedy movies from Britain, like Carry On, Dad's Army, and Monty Python.
- Pecans – Terrible, really, coming from a state that loves it's pecan pie.
- Cornfields – They're creepy! And corn only tastes good when it's popped.
- Cold weather – Snow is fun, for a few days. After that the constant shivering, runny nose and numb toes begin to grow tiresome.
- Swearing – Her Daddy wasn't strict about many things growing up, but potty-language was one of them. As such, she refrains from using profanities and herself, and will scold you delicately if such words reach her ears. Blaspheming usually comes under this rule too, but she's been known to take the Lord's name in vain when she's really shocked.
- Travelling – Kat doesn't like to bounce around the country like her Momma's side of the family do. She likes to stay in one place, make connections and roots, not up and leave once you start making friends. Boarding school is about as far from home as she'd like to be, barring holidays, of course.
- Muggle Negativity – She gets a lot of this from her Momma and that branch of the family tree. Although not disliking Muggles – she did marry and have four kids with one, after all – Kat's mother keeps pressuring her to push the muggle side of her life out and enjoy all that magic has to offer. Kat remains determined she can balance both worlds, but pressure from her Momma makes their relationship strained at times.
- Guns – A laughable concept, in the wizarding world. But at home among muggles, Kat's all too aware about the gun laws in her country causing troubles, from racist attacks and school shootings. Therefore, she utterly hates the weapons.
- Broomsticks – She hates the things, hence why she's trying very hard to learn apparating. Oh, but if she could ride a griffin, or hippogriff! That would be splendid. See, it's not the flying that bothers Kat, it's the fact it's just a bumpy bit of wood keeping you from falling. A beast would be far more comfortable to sit upon.
- Singing – She has a lovely voice, and was even in the church choir back home. She has no interest in doing so now at the school, instead just keeping her singing to herself.
- Watching movies – Obviously not while at school, but when at home, it's her favourite pasttime.
- Sketching – She rarely does something from her own mind, bar random doodles and scrawls in her books. Most of the time she's copy a scene in front of her, or a decaying map, or simply an interesting font. When writing letters home, Kat enjoys incorporating such things among the words.
- Gymnastics – She was a pro at it in Elementary school; Salem doesn't have much in the way of a gymnastics program though. So, Kat just does it in her spare time; handstands, cartwheels, vaulting. Things like that. Once she tried to charm the floor to go all bouncy so that she could do some backflips. It worked... for the first five minutes. One broken ankle later, she decided not to try that one again until the charm was perfected.
- Isolation
- Darkness
- Losing her Muggle roots to her magical side.
Katerina was born In Blue Ridge; Fannin County, Georgia. With a population of just over 1,000, the community was a close-knit one. Everyone knew everyone, there were BBQ's to attend nearly every week, and they all went to church on Sunday. Kat knew that, of course – her Daddy was the pastor of the most popular church there. It was your perfect "apple-pie" life... until the truth about her mother came about.
Kat's Momma – Nadya – had met her Daddy – Patrick – at some fancy do in the capital, Atlanta. Love at first sight, and she came back to Blue Ridge with him to be the pastor's wife. Naturally, when this occurred, rumours started rolling in their small town. People saying she was a shady sort of character, and her family that visited didn't look all too nice either. When it finally came out that her family were in fact "travellers", the rumours were put to rest. The wedding went ahead, all parties involved behaved nicely (Despite certain individuals being miffed at the presence of more "Gypsies" at the function), and in no time at all, Nadya was pregnant. Their first son, Cameron, was swiftly followed by a set of twins only a year and a half later; Grayson and Nathan. 6 years after this, they had their fourth and final child – Katerina. And things seemed good; that is, until Cameron turned 11. That's when Nadya's real character came out. She was a witch.
And from the look of the letter of admission, Cameron was a wizard. Apparently Nadya had been hiding or brushing off any magical incidents from her four children for years from Patrick. All of a sudden, strange instances through the years made sense; the cat disappearing from a locked house and then reappearing a week later, now bright orange; the fire that had erupted from the toilet water when Patrick was giving Kat a bath; and of course, the candy corn incident in the Halloween of '08. All down to... magic.
Much to Nadya's surprise, Patrick took the news quite well, rather than chasing her out of the house with a cross and screaming "demon" or something. The way he put it, was that the presence of magic only strengthened his faith. Sure, people always saw witches as evil, but magic wasn't evil. There was plenty of magic in the bible, both good and bad – so Patrick was happy to discover the same magic he told people about every Sunday definitely existed in his world, rather than just parables and stories.
Despite his understanding of why she kept it secret, the pair decided it would be best if they divorced. It would make the explanation of where the children went every school year easier, and although he understand the reason behind her lies, Patrick felt something had been lost between himself and Nadya when the truth came out. It was a big thing to keep quiet – especially when it influenced their children so much. So, the two parted on good terms, Cameron went off to the Salem Witches' Institute, and the rest of the children were eased more carefully into their new life of magic. Although Nadya had left Blue Ridge, she sent plenty of letters and visited a lot to see her children; even taking them on holidays some times to see more of the magical world. And while Kat enjoyed these trips immensely, was somewhat apprehensive of going to this wizarding school. As her 11th birthday approaching, she began to wonder if she would even get into the school (that of course, was a nonsense in itself. The girl had magic, that was evident by that cow-tipping incident, and the fact she was a Metamorphmagus. By this point she could control it, but her parents had trouble hiding her changing hair colour as a toddler, or covering her up whenever she sneezed in public because she sprouted horns.), and also, if she even wanted to go to it. Especially with her Momma and her wizarding side of the family trying to get her more and more involved in the world. She was the last child of Patrick to go, and quite honestly, she didn't want to leave him all alone.
After plenty of encouragement that he could survive without her and her brother's, Kat went off to the Institute with the twins; her first year, their last. Cameron had already graduated and gone on to join the Auror's, much to their Mother's slight annoyance – but still plenty of pride. Nadya had wanted him to join the family business – which wasn't so much a business, but a collective of Witches and Wizards with Romani ancestors; too loosely collected and organised to even be called a coven, but more of a very, very extended family. A fine place to be, especially with their heritage. But the children of Nadya and Patrick didn't have many ties to their Romani blood, and Cameron was more than happy to get his own career rather than follow in his Mother's footsteps. As mentioned; annoyed, but proud. It's not an easy job to get, after all.
Kat was sorted into Bishop, much to the amusement of the twins; Cameron had been sorted into Tituba (Dashing the house stereotype to pieces with his work - or at least that's how he pictured it in his mind), Grayson had been sorted into Good, and Nathan into Warren – four kids, four houses. In no time at all, Kat settled into the new environment well. Making friends, attempting to fly (and promptly falling off the silly broomstick, vowing never to try again), learning new subjects, and finding her new passions. Now as a sixth year, she's looking towards a possible future career. That is, if these new troubles involving magical creatures blow over – they will, won't they?
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