Callidora Ismene Black

callidora @ 2008-04-26T14:02:00

2008-04-26T18:05:43Z

[Private to Harfang Longbottom]

We might as well make the best of a bad situation

That is to say

If you were the sort of gentleman I should be marrying, I wouldn't have to be the one to

We should have lunch. To discuss our situation. If it pleases you to do so.

Do please let me know if you're so inclined, and if so, a good day for you.

~~Merlin, this is humiliating.~~

[C3]
There. I've done it. I am going to discuss things with Mr. Longbottom. Perhaps we may reach an accord.

Wish me luck?

callidora @ 2008-03-11T17:01:00

2008-03-11T21:02:51Z

[Private to Charis. Originally hexed to Cedrella too, but then Dora remembered that Ced doesn't want to talk to her and canceled that part of the charm.]

Harfang Longbottom.

[Private to Harfang Longbottom]
~~Do you know about this?~~
~~I feel that I must assure you, I have no hand in~~
~~You'll tell your parents you don't want this, won't you? Surely you can disobey them, the Longbottoms haven't even got a tree!~~

callidora @ 2008-03-03T23:05:00

2008-03-04T04:08:07Z

[The hex is now fixed, and is strong enough to make your teeth fall out if you try to break it.]

It's not fair! It's not a name on a stupid rotting tapestry that makes her my sister and I won't listen to any more of mother's ranting and this is absurd! I can't do this! I always thought the family was the most important thing and it would take care of us and it was right but if it wants me to abandon my sister! I just don't know any more.

callidora @ 2008-03-01T11:12:00

2008-03-01T16:17:56Z

[Private]
I've had an owl from mother. I've- I've seen her angry, of course, but never incoherent. I knew she'd be...but I didn't expect she'd be quite like this.
She says Cedrella is no longer my sister and if I have any respect for the family I'll never acknowledge that she ever was.

I don't think- no, I know I can't do that. I can hardly just- but what if she means it? What if she disowns me, too, for caring about Ced anyway?
I wouldn't have anywhere to go.

[Private to Charis]
Did Mother owl you?

What on earth are we going to do?
I can't do what mother wants, Charis, I can't, Ced's my best friend, she's my only friend besides you, but I can't-
I have to be a Black!

Where are you? I need you, Charis.

[Public]
No running in the corridors! We are students, not hooligans!

callidora @ 2008-02-20T09:50:00

2008-02-20T14:53:30Z

[Charis]
I'm so scared for her, Charis.

[Cedrella]
I know it's not about me. I'm only scared, Ced. For you. And I'm going to miss you so much.

callidora @ 2008-02-04T21:12:00

2008-02-05T02:14:25Z

[Private to Harfang Longbottom]
Mr. Longbottom,

It seems Miss Riley has come down with some sort of muggle disease an illness and is spending the evening in the Infirmary. Obviously, she won't be able to do Rounds with you tonight. I thought it prudent to let you know that I'll be picking up the assignment instead.

I shall see you at seven-thirty at the staircase.

-Callidora Black
Head Girl

callidora @ 2008-02-01T10:51:00

2008-02-01T16:03:47Z

[Private to Nolan Avery]

It has come to my attention that you apparently took my request not in the spirit in which it was meant, but rather as an admonishment to end your discourse with my sister. I would hardly presume to such, Mr. Avery. I merely wished, for her sake and yours, that you would keep any commentary that might be deemed inappropriate by the majority between yourselves. If concern for the reputation of a sister who has quite enough said about her by the rest of our peers without throwing more fuel onto the fire doesn't seem sufficient motivation, perhaps you'll take into account that I meant only the best for your reputation as well.

I would deeply apologise that you had found my request impertinent if not for the much greater impertinence you showed in airing your grievances with my sister rather than me. Believe it or not, Mr. Avery, I'm not an unreasonable person; I'm merely trying to protect those I most care about in the best way I know how.

-Callidora Black
Head Girl

[Private]
[The ink is smeared or watered down in several spots, presumably by tears.]

I'm only trying to keep everything under control! I don't want her to do anything irrevocable just to spite Mother, that's all, but she treats me like some sort of horrid monster and her friends go and defame me when they'd feel exactly the same if they cared for her at all! It's as if everybody but me wants to see her disgrace herself! And they would enjoy it, I'm sure, to see one of the daughters of the House of Black falter. Well, they can go after Cassopeia, then, or Lucretia, I don't care, just not Cedrella!

callidora @ 2008-01-13T19:31:00

2008-01-14T00:39:06Z

I would like to issue a gentle reminder that all students are expected to be in their respective Common Rooms by eight o'clock pm. Students caught in the school proper or on the grounds between the hours of eight pm and seven am will be turned over to the caretaker for discipline. If you wish to avoid throwing yourselves upon Mr. Pringle's mercy, do respect the curfew.

[Private to Blacks]
I'd also like to mention that petty <i>public</i> in-fighting is extremely damaging to the family entire. Our fathers and mothers would be ashamed! It's exceedingly simple to hex things private; I suggest that, if you've something to discuss with a Black within the confines of these journals, you use those hexes rather than exposing us all, yourself included, to the censure of the less fortunate by causing the family Black to seem ill-bred.

[Private to Cedrella and Charis]
Maybe Cassiopeia will get the hint. I'm sure she won't stop being utterly vile at every opportunity, but maybe she won't publically embarrass the name with it.

[Private to Charis]
I'm getting very worried about Ced and that Weasley boy, aren't you? If she doesn't start paying more heed, the parents are going to find out and you know what will happen the

callidora @ 2008-01-03T19:10:00

2008-01-04T00:12:50Z

B A S I C S
NAME Callidora Ismene Black
NICKNAME Dora, please; she does not overly appreciate ‘Cal’ or ‘Calli.’ The first is masculine, the second childish.
AGE/YEAR 17 / 7th
HOUSE Slytherin
POSITION Head Girl
BIRTHDATE 15 August 1926
BLOODLINE Pureblood
HOMETOWN Hertfordshire, England
HEIGHT 5’4”
HAIR Long, unruly and a rich chocolate brown; Callidora is excessively proud of her hair.
EYES Large, long-lashed, and as clear a china blue as ever seen in a human face.
WAND 9 ½ inches, willow, female unicorn tail core. A particularly docile wand, good for charmswork.
H I S T O R Y
If you asked Callidora, she would undoubtedly tell you that it's no mistake that she entered the world on a bright, beautiful summer morning. Whether the world was celebrating her birth or whether the beauty of the day was a portent of the beauty of the girl, that's up for debate, but there's no doubt in Dora's mind that it was significant.

Preceded into the world by an elder sister, Callidora never experienced the joys of being an only child. Right from the start, she was- well. Arcturus Black had been perfectly accepting when his firstborn turned out to be a girl- after all, an elder sister could only benefit a familiar Heir. Callidora, however, was a bit of a disappointment. In true aristocratic fashion, Arcturus had expected an Heir from this birth; to see another girl, a child who could not carry on the family name and was good only depending on the caliber of marriage she managed to make, was discouraging.

As a result, where Arcturus spent time with the elder Cedrella, he largely ignored his second daughter. That left her to her mother. For her part, Lysandra doted on the child. The first baby was difficult, fussy, noisy, hard to care for; Callidora was sweet, usually quiet, easy to sate. Before she could even talk, she was her mother's pet, a status which she has retained throughout the years.

Charis came along soon after; there's less than a year between the two, and yet Callidora has always had a driving need to mother and look after her little sister. In the same way Lysandra doted on Callidora, Dora has always doted on Charis, treating her as much like a particularly wonderful doll as like a girl in her own right. The relationship between the two younger girls is easier and more affectionate than that which exists between the two elder; Callidora loves Cedrella, certainly, but Ced's rebellious, vivacious nature has always made her nervous, and she absolutely hates to see their mother upset- which is, of course, one of Cedrella's specialties.

The tutors that Callidora and her sisters had during their youth- the best money could buy, of course- instilled in the middle girl not so much a love of learning as a love of her status as a young lady. From a young age, Callidora had a sense that the word 'lady,' with all its implications, entirely defines her. With it comes social grace and charm, and social obligation. Everything she does is in the interest of living up to that. It's important, her destiny, her self. It makes her haughty, of course, but at the same time it instills her with a sense of duty to society, and she's not willing to shirk that for any reason.

This is likely why she was made a prefect in her fifth year. It goes without saying that Callidora was sorted into Slytherin and has done well enough in school, although she's far from academically outstanding. She gets by, and the more refined the subject, the better she is at it- Charms is her best class, and Transfiguration isn't far behind. Divination is a close third. At Potions, she's passable, but distasteful, as Potions seems like cooking and that seems terribly uncouth. Everything else is, in her words, little more than scrabbling around in the dirt, and she wants nothing to do with it. Still, her deeply ingrained sense of noblesse oblige means that she does her best to help everyone else, and she's very civic-minded (and least, when it doesn't interfere with her comfort or hairstyle.) As these things go, she was a very good candidate for prefect, and performed the job with such dedication that she managed to be appointed Head Girl this year, a position which she wears like a pearl necklace- beautiful, respectable, and important to pay attention to and care for.
R E L A T I O N S H I P S
FATHER Arcturus Black; Arcturus has always treated his middle daughter more like a porcelain doll than a person- with almost excessive kindness but absolutely no regard for her intelligence or abilities.
MOTHER Lysandra Black (nee Yaxley); Callidora is Lysandra’s favourite child, and a majority of what she does is an attempt to please her mother.
SIBLINGS Cedrella Black; Dora's relationship with Ced is and has always been strained. There are deep bonds of sisterly affection here, and Dora, in true Black fashion- true, not the perversion of the familial ideal that some of the relatives hold dear- would do nearly anything for this closest relationship. Still, Cedrella makes her nervous, with her temper and her histronics and her refusal to act in a way proper to a lady and a Black. And, truth be told, Ced's increasingly rebellious behavior embarrasses her somewhat, simply because she DOES love her sister; how can Ced's actions fail to reflect on her? As neither sister is particularly shy or withdrawn, conflicting worldviews lead to a lot of arguments and a lot of rivalry.
Charis Black; Dora's relationship with Charis is much easier and more pleasant than her relationship with Cedrella. She adores and coddles her little sister, fussing over Charis in the same way that their mother fusses over her.Insulting or upsetting Charis is pretty much the only way to get Dora to drop her carefully cultivated 'ladyhood' and fight a little bit dirty; she's like a mama bear when it comes to her little sister, and woe betide the wretch who thinks to make Charis unhappy- to do so is to face social suicide, because Callidora will do everything in her power to ruin anyone who hurts Charis.
ETC If you’re a British pureblood, you are almost undoubtedly related to Callidora by blood or marriage. Or both.
ROMANCE Past and current romantic interests to come.

P E R S O N A L I T Y
Callidora is, simply put, a girly-girl of epic proportions. She's somewhat prim, rather proper, and definitely a princess. She likes dresses, and jewelery, and getting flowers from boys; she does not like dirt, or running, or anything that makes her physically uncomfortable for any period of time whatsoever, or actually allowing those boys to get anywhere with her. One might call her a drama queen; she enjoys attention, and what's more, she believes that attention is her due. She's a daughter of the house of Black! How could she not, then, be the prettiest and most fascinating girl in any room?

Not that she's completely obnoxious; in fact, it's quite easy to please Dora, and as long as you don't upset her, she'll be completely pleasant and jovial with you. She's very outgoing and has enough of the Black charm to often make her likable in spite of her demanding, somewhat spoiled nature. For a Slytherin and a Black, she's quite accepting- she certainly thinks half-bloods and muggle-borns are inferior to herself and her pureblooded peers, but she has a certain sense of noblesse oblige that means she pities those of lesser blood rather than scorns them, and wants to help them be all that they can be, even if the highest they can aspire to is far lower than herself. As for the battle of words that some of her peers get into with the lesser students- well! That's a sign of bad breeding! A true lady would never use the lower class's inherent inferiority as an insult or a weapon, and Dora prides herself on being a true lady.

She does have a temper, of course, and one that even rivals her older sister's; but with Callidora, that temper tends to manifest itself in tears, somewhat manipulative recriminations, and whining rather than in fury or shouting. It's not that she wants to use tears to get her own way, it's just that she sees no reason to refrain from being obvious when something has upset her. After all, throughout her childhood, her father would hem and haw and offer sweets and her mother fly to her rescue at the first sign of tears. And in Dora's mind, she deserves no less.

Always her mother's favourite child, Callidora is long-used to being fussed over and, as well as simply expecting everyone to fuss over her, she has taken that behavior and made it a part of herself. At first, it was her younger sister Charis that bore the brunt of her mothering tendencies; now, however, Dora tends to spread those favours around, largely to the younger Slytherin girls. She has several special favourites in the house, invariably girls two or more years her junior who she treats almost as pets, cooing over their hair and giving them trinkets and begging that they come to her with all their problems. Again, she sees this as a very Noble and Ladylike thing to do; she sees it as taking proteges and training them up to be beautiful, accomplished ladies themselves. It's part of her duty as a pureblood woman to ensure the gentility of the younger generations.
Z O D I A C
Leo: Slytherin Leos can be either very good, or very bad. At their best, they exemplify all that "nobility" is made of: confidence, openness, charm, initiative, generosity of spirit, wisdom, judgment, and poise. At their worst, they become elitist, bullying bigots. How they end up depends on the company they keep, and how they are encouraged to act early in life. Either way, they never lack attention - it's hard to ignore a Slytherin born under this sign. These Slytherins usually end up in positions of responsibility and leadership, because of their charisma and natural ability. Their creativity and drive also makes them very resourceful
O O C
MUN Sara @ baobabble
PORTRAYED-BY Alexis Bledel
DISCLAIMER Icons by baobabble. Profile layout stolen from ~~wifey~~ Cassie. The name ‘Callidora Black’ and recognizable details are the property of JK Rowling. Alexis Bledel is her own, or maybe her agents’. No profit is being gotten from my portrayal of Callidora; I do it all for the lulz.