NAME: Dawn
AGE: 32 -- jesus, I hate writing out how old I am.
PRIMARY E-MAIL: spoilsofwar@gmail.com
MESSENGER SERVICES: AIM - doctorplusone
OOC JOURNALS: randomfact
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Can I just point here?
WHERE DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US?: I CAN HAS LAURA?

NAME: Melissa Grunnion
AGE: 18 (May 15)
HOUSE/YEAR: Gryffindor / 13th
SOCIAL STATUS: So completely new money that it hurts. The Grunnions were very middle class, until World War II. When most people tanked, they got rich since the American, British, and French military opted for the stink bomb patents to use on the Germans. Military accounts (especially from the Americas) has been very good to the Grunnions. Like all who gain new wealth, the family is flashy. Everything is big, as if they're TRYING TO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW they have money. The best car, the biggest house, the best cello, etc. They EARNED their money, and they're going to make sure you know it.

SEXUALITY: "Erm, that's when someone insert parts of himself inside you, right? It's messy, right? OH. MY. GOD. GROSS. NO THANK YOU!" (She's straight, however.)

APPEARANCE:
Melissa Grunnion is about as tiny as she could be, standing only 5 foot and wearing exactly ninety-five pounds. Her long brown hair is always parted on the same side, her left, and is straightened every morning until it's as flat as paper. She is blessed with her mother's Mediterranean (French) skintone, and rarely wears make-up to cover it up. She has soft brown, expressive eyes, a round face, and a button nose. She'll never win any beauty pageants, but she's cute in her own way.

When it comes to clothing styles, classic stands the test of time. In the winter (and casually) she wears solid-coloured, plain shirts, beneath solid-coloured vests, fluffy vests... However, she refuses to wear jeans. In the summer, she switches to vintage-style sundresses in bright colours. Her Hogwarts uniform is always pressed, neat, and free from lint. The crease is always just so.

DESIRED PB: Shiri Appleby / Journal: ironyinherent

PERSONALITY:
Some might call her off-putting, some call her crazy. "I pity her room-mates," is often whispered in her wake. Ever since she was a child, there's always been something off about Melissa. Her dolls always had to be facing a certain way in her doll house. Coat-hangers held clothing facing her left. Everything about her is meticulous, right down to the arrangements for her bobby pins and barrettes. She has to make sure all the doors are closed and locked three times before she can get comfortable in bed. She routinely writes her homework out three times: once for the correct answers, twice for editing, and the third time for penmanship. Her pencils must be exactly five centimetres from the metal and the sharpest it can be. She brings a ruler with her everywhere she goes for such a thing. She only use Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball pens, extra fine. She has every colour they make, and uses them for highlighting specific information.

Needless to say, she compartmentalizes everything she can into neat, organized, and labelled nooks that can be monitored easily, whenever the need arises. This goes not only for her material things, but school work, extracurriculars, family, friends, and her thoughts. She is stubborn, demanding, and is not above temper tantrums. She will often continue stubbornly on a topic, until she is completely satisfied before moving on. Many find this behaviour intolerable, as she comes across as demanding and attention-grabbing because of it. If she doesn't understand something, she will push and prod until she does, never mind that you'd like to put your eye out with a spork. She abhors foul language; not because it's foul or improper, but because the sound of it grates like nails on a chalk board.

She tends to wander around behind her fellow Gryffindors, picking up their messes and straightening the common room. Whenever anyone has an issue with their uniform, Melissa is the first one there, with her little sewing kit. She'll mend the tear/rip/whatever and probably fix a few other things that you didn't even know were wrong with your uniform. She gives unsolicited advice on how to better manage your time and efforts, as well as romantic advice (which is a laugh since she's never, EVER had a crush on anyone, and never been anywhere NEAR dating someone). She has an annoying habit of writing without pronouns due to her obsession with Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary at times.

Melissa does not go out of her way to make friends at all. If someone cannot fit into her schedule, she simply won't make time. She tends to dismiss people with a wave of her hand if she's not interested, in a hurry, off schedule. She comes across as extremely abrasive and rude, but the fact is that her OCD is just THAT BAD.

Whenever her routine and compulsions are compromised, prepare for a massive panic attack.

DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS:
Two words: Panic. Attacks.

She's a rather gifted cellist. She gives impromptu concerts quite often, and they are literally the ONLY thing that she will do spontaneously.

Did I mention she's severely Obsessive-Compulsive? She sees a shrink once a week on the Hogwarts grounds, and takes Prozac every single day in an attempt to fend off her tendencies, but unfortunately, it doesn't really work. In the future, Anafranil will help, but it hasn't been invented yet.

LIKES: Routine, cello, her calligraphy lessons, cleaning, general advice-giving, Bridget Jones's Diary (as well as the new wave of Chick Lit out there), quilts, sewing, freshly pressed laundry, real Christmas trees, anything you can cut with a butter knife, Royal College of Music, classical music, organising binders, organising tabs, organising folders...

DISLIKES: Mess, disorder, the words 'vulva' and 'vascular' -- they just sound gross, cheap perfume, cold floors (in the winter)/hot floors (in the summer), stink bombs, scratch-outs, white-out ("Just take your time and do it right!"), "fresh rain" scent laundry detergent ("It doesn't smell ANYTHING like fresh rain; where's the OZONE scent?!").

INSIDE SCOOP:
--She once took a few too many (read: a handful of) Prozac pills because she thought it might curb her tendencies when she overheard her parents complaining about the amount spent in therapy and shrink bills. She thought better of it and forced herself sick, then decided not to take her Prozac anymore. There were a lot of panic attacks and broken vases in the Grunnion house that month.
--She has never had a crush on anyone.
--For real.
--The idea of having sex is just utterly revolting to her.
--No, you can't convince her.
--She made the quilt on her bed; she knows it's so plebeian, but she likes to sew.
--She hates that her great grandfather created the stink bomb. Really, truly. But she won't tell anyone, considering that patent is what holds the family in such esteem.

A-Levels: Music, Performing Arts, Performance Studies

HISTORY: (Detail is your friend! How has their life progressed and furthermore shaped the kind of person they are?)

Long before Melissa was born, the stink bomb was invented by Alberic Grunnion. Since then, the Grunnions have held the main patent on the odorous concoction, but it wasn't until World War II that their patent really proved financially fruitful when the US and French Armies purchased rights to use the noxious bombs against German forces. This led to miltary grade stink bombs and riot control chemical agents, and Melissa's father became the first Grunnion that could financially belong to the hallowed halls of Hogwarts.

Melissa Grunnion was certainly born with her Grandfather's sense of the ridiculous, but her parents (Jonas and Elisabeth Grunnion) could not have expected their darling, little girl to turn out quite so oppressed. By all accounts, Melissa was an exceptionally bright child who would rather clean than dig in the dirt, rather pick up a musical instrument (eventually, she would come to love the cello) than to play with her dolls. Her obsessive nature manifested at the age of three when she was forming her personality. Unlike most children, she didn't try to mimick her parents. Instead, she chose the Grunnion's head maid, following her around on her rounds as best she could, mimicking her movements and gaining meticulous habits along the way.

You can't help those who don't want to be helped. From an early age, Melissa was shunted from one expensive psychiatrist to another. Doctor after doctor grew frustrated with her lack of trying to get better with her mental instabilities. She eventually learned to lie about them, and soon her parents had to go to counseling to verify/deny her claims. Her parents highly doubt that their daughter will be able to stand on her own, when she goes off to college next year, but Melissa will vehemently argue with them. She's FINE the way she is, and there is NOTHING anyone can do about it.

In 11th year, she once ratted out Harold Dingle to the Headmaster for his illegal dietary supplements. Ever since then, the pair have never gotten along. Harold goes out of his way to taunt her, and, in turn, Melissa has absolutely NO IDEA why he hates her so badly. In fact, she has no idea why ANYONE would hate her; she's just the way she IS. She is mostly oblivious to the whispers behind her back, and even when she does hear them and get upset by them, very shortly after, she shrugs it off. It's the way she is, and if they don't like it, they can shove off.

Her one claim to any fame is that she been proclaimed a cello prodigy. After going through several temper tantrums at a young age while her parents forced her to learn instruments, Melissa discovered a love of cello, and classical music in general. It quickly became the focus of her drive, and outside of school work, it is the ONE thing that Melissa will MAKE time for. She can often be found behind her cello in the common room, the music room, or any place that's available (and clean). She was accepted to the Royal College for Music at the end of her twelfth year for early admissions.