Penelope Clearwater

Appearance.

PB: Keri Russell: http://www.scribbld.com/allpics.bml?user=pennydrop

Standing at a modest 5’4” in her barefeet, Penelope has curly/wavy hair which varies at different lengths and she always has it pulled back into a tight bun when she is working at the reserve. She has intelligent, blue-green eyes and a bright, sunny smile that gives her the ‘girl-next-door’ appearance. Her face is fine-boned, and she doesn’t have much of a bust which is something of an annoyance to her. Despite her short stature, she does have long legs and overall her body is very fit - almost athletic.

Penelope has always been somewhat of a ‘tom-boy’ while growing up, and has preferred muggle clothing to witch’s robes. Thanks to her mother’s influence, Penelope can clean up and act the perfect young lady but she is more comfortable outside with the wind in her hair and mud on her boots. Most of her wardrobe consists of men’s work shirts, t-shirts (when it is warmer outside), jeans and workboots.

Her nails are woefully short and usually dirty underneath as much as she tries to keep them clean. Really, it is the nature of the job. Penelope has many burn scars on her arms and the palms of her hands are rough. Her complexion is a bit weathered from being in the elements for so long, but she tries to keep as much sunblock and moisturizer in her ‘beauty routine’ as she can. Penelope doesn’t wear any make-up and whatever make-up she does have, it consists of one pot of neutral brown eyeshadow and an old tube of pink lipstick.

Personality.


Independent, stubborn and friendly are the first three words that most people would give when describing Penelope. She is hard-working and very dedicated to her job, but also to the people who she loves. Penelope is very close to her parents, and being an only child has far from spoiled her. Her parents raised Penelope to always think for herself, to never let anyone tell her that she can’t do anything, and to be ambitious but be graceful in the face of defeat.

The latter of the above is difficult for Penelope, as she is fiercely competitive. She always strives to be the best at everything she does and does not take rejection or failure well at all. At the first when she arrived for her keeper training, her instructors and fellow keeper initiates thought she had a giant stick up her arse. Often Penelope focuses too much on work and study that she forgets about friendships and relationships.

She is a friendly person after she opens up and feels comfortable around people. Penelope has a quirky, dry sense of humor which a person will notice first to confirm that she’s actually approachable. Then, a person will discover how laid back and humorous Penelope can be.

Dragon Keepers tend to be dominantly male, and Penelope gets along well with her male co-workers. She isn’t over-dramatic, is quick to resolve a problem and tries not to hold grudges. At the end of the day, even if something happened on the job, she does her best to leave the job behind and enjoy a pint with the rest of her keeper mates. However, she will not tolerate sexism or unwanted advances from anyone.

LIKES: fresh strawberries, books, animals and magical creatures, dragons, the smell of new parchment and sushi.
DISLIKES: the ministry, prejudice against muggles or muggle-borns, chocolate, animal cruelty, laziness, those who ‘dog-ear’ pages of a book
HABITS: early morning runs, is a Pescitarian, keeping almost everything she owns in her rucksack
VICES: black coffee, staying up too late reading

History.


Matthew and Victoria Clearwater are Hogwarts sweethearts from their 3rd year. Both were sorted into Gryffindor and though Matthew was muggle-born and Victoria was pure-blood, it didn’t affect how they felt towards each other from the start.

Victoria was raised by her Great-Aunt from the age of five, since her parents were killed in an accident while they were vacationing in Greece. Victoria is an only child. As much as her Great-Aunt tried, Victoria refused to go along with her Aunt’s prejudices against muggle-borns and pure-blood supremacy. Before Hogwarts, it was mainly to piss her Great-Aunt off but when Victoria started Hogwarts and created new friendships she became more adamant that her Aunt was wrong. When Victoria fell in love with Matthew, she told her Aunt she no longer wanted to her anything about muggle-borns in a negative way ever again.

Matthew was raised by both parents in the Highlands of Scotland and has three brothers and three sisters. Only Matthew showed magical abilities and was invited to school at Hogwarts, which caused much teasing and jealousy from his siblings. As both Matthews parents were Catholic, it was difficult for them to accept that they had a ‘wizard’ in the family. The first years of studying at Hogwarts created tension between Matthew and the rest of the family, but eventually they learned to accept it and even be proud of Matthew’s talents when he grew up and became a dragon keeper in the Hebrides.

The two married right out of Hogwarts against Victoria’s Great-Aunt’s wishes. As such, Victoria was written out of her Aunt’s will and the family monies were bequest to several different programs within the Ministry. Matthew and Victoria didn’t have much, but received a lot of help from family and friends and eventually were able to buy a small two-bedroom cottage in Scotland.

The one thing that Matthew and Victoria wanted more in the world was a family. Matthew had come from a large family and Victoria wanted children as well. They had tried for many, many years to conceive, but could not get pregnant. When a new healer specializing in conception and child birth came to St. Mungo’s, the couple immediately signed up on the waiting list. It took a couple of more years, and with a lot of hope and a little magic (and after three heartbreaking miscarriages), Penelope was conceived and born in August of 1976.

By the time Penelope was five and already showed signs of magical abilities, Matthew was given the opportunity to do further research in Romania as a dragonoligist specializing in breeding. Matthew and Victoria agreed the opportunity and the pay would be too good to give up, even though it meant moving the family around a lot. Before Penelope was eleven and ready to go to Hogwarts, she had been to every major dragon reserve in the world and it was no surprise to any one that she loved dragons.

The family settled down back in Scotland when Matthew secured a comfortable position at the Hebrides Reserve just in time for Penelope to go to Hogwarts. Surprising both her parents, Penny was sorted into Ravenclaw where she excelled. Charms was, naturally, her favourite subject and also, of course, Care of Magical Creatures. She also loved Quidditch, though was no where near talented enough on a broom to try out for the Ravenclaw team.

Penelope didn’t have any close friends while in school, concentrating more on her studies. It was odd chance that she ended up dating Percy Weasley for a few years as boys and dating had been farthest from her mind when he had introduced himself.

After Hogwarts, Penelope’s grades could have allowed her to do almost anything but it was dragons she loved most. She took after her father and went to Romania to train as a Dragon Keeper. Five years later and Penelope was finally approved to a transfer back home in Britain, though on the Welsh Reserve and not working alongside her father as she had hoped.

(I know there is a large chunk of Penny’s backstory that I’ve glossed over, being her relationship with Percy. I would not be comfortable with elaborating on that until there is a Percy in game.)