NAME: Daphne Libena-Catrine Greengrass.
AGE/BIRTHDATE: 17; July 12th, 1980.
YEAR/HOUSE: 7th, Slytherin.
BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood, of course! Well, fullblood in reality, but pretending to be pure has worked quite well enough. Greengrass isn't a name that stretches back to Merlin himself, as much as they wish it did, but Daphne can at least state that neither her parents nor grandparents nor their grandparents are Muggles.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Very heterosexual, thank you!
LOCATION: Hogwarts, Scotland during the school year, but London, England is her home otherwise, specifically the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
AFFILIATION: The Death Eaters are just super! Of course, the fighting and all the hard thinking is for the men, so she's content to sit back and let the Dark Lord's impending new regime serve life to her on a silver platter.
APPEARANCE: Daphne Greengrass is many things, but the first thing one would most likely notice is the fact that she's the tallest of her group of girlfriends, standing at around 5'8" to 5'9", and and has the waifish figure of a dancer to boot. The fact is that when you get down to it, she's not the prettiest girl in the school, and if there's any way to make sure she stands out from the crowd, you can bet she'll exploit it to the fullest. For this reason she'll often strap on a pair of heels, despite the fact that she looks like she's on top of stilts whilst wearing them. Practicality is rarely, if ever, a concern of hers. Likewise, the word "overdressed" isn't part of her vocabulary. Appearance-consciousness was further inevitable with company like Pansy Parkinson, and Daphne is acutely aware that clothes and grooming are absolutely invaluable in putting forward a good impression. It goes without saying that she's a slave to fashion, but her personal style could pretty well be summed up by "I want to be a pretty, pretty princess!"
She has a thin, oval face and overly large features like a long, sometimes horse-like nose, heavily-lidded round eyes and fine mouth. Her hair is a nondescript dirty blonde that she wears artifically dark (brunettes look smarter, thank you!) and usually flowing down her back, though she'll sometimes opt for a simple, intentionally messy up-do. (Any attempts to convince her that those are not, in fact, the pinnacle of casual chic will be met with a quivering of the lower lip and Olympic-standard whine.) While she could be considered cute, and perhaps even pretty, she's aware more than anyone else that she's still not the face that launched a thousand ships. Her large eyes can look buggy instead of alluring, that nose definitely has its good, bad, and ugly moments, and her real, uninhibited, very much lopsided smile--well, "awkward" is putting it nicely. She's miles away from perfect, and it leaves much to compensate for.
PERSONALITY: Her namesake is a nymph, and indeed Daphne Greengrass still possesses much of the naivete associated with a symbol of eternal youth. She grew up obscenely pampered and sheltered in the bubble of a city; she might not see the world through rose-coloured glasses, but they're definitely Daphne-coloured nevertheless, and she's hardly an informed or objective source. On the contrary, an 'outsider' asking her opinion will usually be left wondering what planet she comes from--"surely she can't still believe that?". She stubbornly adheres to the idea of the inherent superiourity of the pureblood aristocracy to the point of romanticising it and her unwillingness to step out of her personal safety zone has greatly limited her worldview. Add to that the fact that she's also quite certain she as well as her associates are right, and you get a bullheaded young thing. The only people who can insert a new opinion into her head are her family or her friends, who she will believe without so much as a second thought. Her worldview is depressingly black-and-white for a Slytherin, usually a House with members more aware of the world's shades of grey. Not in her case--there's "us" and there's "them." She might have a less rigid, skewed perspective if she had any interest at all in stepping out of Daphne-land, but she doesn't. It's been so kind to her all these years; whyever would she want to leave?
However, despite that as well as her House's numerous negative stereotypes, she's not a difficult person to deal with. If you can put up with her, she can be very pleasant company indeed. She can adapt to situations and people when need decrees, and she's also nonconfrontational and prefers to just get along with someone rather than fight it out. This makes Daphne rather passive-aggressive. As painfully stubborn as she is, she hates arguments in equal measure, which often puts her in a sticky situation because she's quite outspoken. Roadblocks in her path are there to be daintily sidestepped if at all possible, not obliterated. In this sense, she does have that Slytherin cunning to some degree. She might stick her foot in her mouth sometimes, but one way or another, she can manage to weasel out of a tight spot. If she can't manage it herself and smells inevitable defeat, she runs immediately to one of her male Housemates, usually Crabbe and Goyle, and requests that they pound the offending party into a pulp. Lucky for her, she has those big, strong men to hold her hand and punch the Bad People, lest she have to do any of the dirty work herself and chip that brand new manicure. (Never mind the fact that her own magical ability is thoroughly unreliable, ruling out using her own wand to defend herself.) She wouldn't be a very valuable person to have at your side during battle, but for idle chatter, she'd do just fine. In fact, one should generally keep the word "idleness" in mind when trying to understand Daphne: it's what she's best at. That, and fickle follies. Try to pin her down for any length of time and you'll come up empty-handed--she's the perpetual tease and has a habit of both disappearing and reappearing at inconvenient times.
The fact that she's 17 and still living in la-la land probably has a lot to do with the fact that she isn't the brightest crayon in the box. Common sense? That's a new clothing label, right? To Daphne, the "real world" is still tea, crumpets, and knights in shining armour. You turn the typical dreamer's worldview backwards, and you get Daphne's--people like the Death Eaters are noble and exalted and Dumbledore's folks are the bad guys, working tirelessly to ruin everyone else's lives. She isn't nasty or evil, she just sees the nasty and evil people as, well, not. She honestly gets offended when people call Draco and Goyle bullies; they just haven't seen their sensitive sides! If they say someone deserves deserves their ridicule, it must be true, right? Why ever would they lie to her? They've never lead her astray, and she doesn't see any reason to believe they would until they do. Well, more accurately, until she notices they have, which is unlikely to ever happen. She's gullible, and the more shrewd of her associates undoubtedly know just how easy it is to pull the wool over her eyes.
She's conflict-phobic and fiercely attached to her friends, which feeds off one another. She doesn't secretly think Pansy is a pug-faced, heinous cow--no, the fearless leader of her group of friends is a wonderful girl who deserves admiration and respect! She's actually rather clingy to the other girls and requires their guidance much of the time, be it with homework or what she's supposed to think of someone else. Daphne would never dare think of abandoning them, because she's aware of just how lost she would be without them. She loves The Girls, as she's come to know them (capitalisation and all), and can be terribly, terribly cliqueish regarding the "outsiders." Gang is a little harsh of a word to her, but she won't deny that someone needs to prove themselves before they get the official stamp of approval. Though she'll be plenty polite to most everyone, she'll never call someone "friend" unless she has Pansy's permission to do so. Likewise, if Pansy has declared someone an enemy, Daphne would never dream of challenging her.
By now, you might be wondering how on earth someone like Daphne ended up in Slytherin, home of the ruthless. First, there's the fact that she wanted to be, and the Greengrass name has been notoriously all-Slytherin throughout Hogwarts history, but a life around other snakes was bound to rub off one way or another. She has a certain amount of cunning, if only because no one actually expects anyone with a head full of fluff would be capable of pulling one over on them, and she's ambitious. Stereotypically, ambition--especially with Slytherins--brings to mind people conquering Fortune 500 companies. World domination isn't Daphne's style (she'd bring on the apocalypse if it were,) but she is constantly setting and achieving goals and that, too, is ambition. She dreams up elaborate schemes and works to actually make them happen. Her success rate is, admittedly, pretty low, but the fact that she's constantly striving for things still counts for something. She wants more than anything to be part of something bigger than herself, and that burning, fervent desire to succeed is something that the other Houses just don't have. She lacks the Slytherin pragmatism, but she's also aware of this on some level, and lets other people hold her hand and be practical for her. Isn't it street smarts in its own way to know you haven't any? She has a lot to compensate for, and she does her best. The unfortunate part is that, admidst all the clinginess, she often loses her own identity to that of the group. She thinks in terms of "we" much more than "I"--it's how she best succeeds, yes, but success is not always what counts, and her (slightly warped) Slytherin mindset has prevented her from seeing it.
It's been established that Daphne has her fair share of insecurities, and that "we" mentality is how she compensates for them. She loves attention and she loves compliments. The more she gets, the more her self-worth inflates; if left alone to do some real introspection, Daphne would be reduced to nothing. If she's doing her social butterfly schtick, she doesn't need to to think about the bad things in her world. Predictably, she has a compulsive need for stimulation and boredom is just about tantamount to death. She is what people tells her she is. If the boys call her pretty, she thinks she's pretty--if they call her ugly, she thinks she's ugly. She's like a giant, fussy baby, and she's quite fortunate that Slytherin thus far has been willing to take care of her and assure her that no, her hair isn't lacklustre at all.
Daphne is also agonisingly shallow, and it's one of the main reasons why people dislike her despite the fact that she's not as toxic-tongued as some of her friends. She's not mean about it, however, and the resulting condescension is even worse. She doesn't like ugly people, so she'll constantly try to pass along helpful beauty tips to the 'less fortunate', and even offer to share some of her skincare products. For the badly-dressed, she'll tear out a page on personal style from Wizarding Vogue. Anyone with a spare ounce of fat on their body gets diet tips. Daphne is also very fond of giving makeovers to males and females alike; her trunk of cosmetics makes its way around Hogwarts quite often, and cosmetic potions and charms are the one thing she has a bit of a knack for. She honestly sees herself as a good Samaritan and it baffles her to no end when people don't react too kindly to her interference and insisting they try this new lipstick or stop eating carbs. It goes without saying that she fiercely adored Professor Lockhart. Anyone who wants to make the world a more beautiful place is just fine in her book, and she still writes him letters.
In sum, Daphne is sugar, spice, and everything nice with a decidedly bitter aftertaste. She can be very childish indeed, and with that comes both the charming innocence and royal temper tantrums. Underneath the pleasant, often vacant smile, she does have buttons that can be pushed. She's good at getting her way when she's slighted, if only because people are desperate to shut her up when she starts pouting, crying, and stomping. (If that fails, the "kicked puppy" look usually does the trick.) She won't exactly destroy your life herself, but she has her connections, and even the unwilling can often be persuaded with a discretely-handed over bag of galleons. She thrives on revenge, and in turn is quite happy to help her friends dispose of any troublesome sorts. She doesn't have the stomach to relish the sight of a broken nose she's indirectly responsible for, but the fact that she brought about their suffering will have her bouncing around the common room in a much better mood nonetheless.
What, exactly, she'll amount to is limited, but she intends on milking her potential for all its worth. She has her money, her connections, her bloodline, and her surname, even if she's rather lacking in what most people generally deem important qualities. Despite the nickname Queenie, she's much more the pampered Princess to Pansy's Queen. Not the top of the ladder, but she's still royalty in her own mind, and to Daphne, that's all that really matters.
THREE THINGS AN ACQUAINTANCE WOULD KNOW:
1. The names of all of her pets. She loves animals, even though she refuses to clean up after them herself. After 7 years, she's still heartbroken every time she has to choose only one to take with her to school.
2. She likes to dance. A lot. It's the only way she keeps active, because Merlin knows the day you get her up on a broomstick is the day Voldemort turns violent pink and declares his love for the blood traitors.
3. There's one definite way to set off a temper that's usually well-hidden under her ditzy, benign exterior, and insulting her rather dippy, germaphobic younger brother from Slytherin 5th is the way to do it. She can care about people other than herself, and he's chief among them.
TWO THINGS A CLOSE FRIEND WOULD KNOW:
1. Blaise, Blaise, lovely Blaise! She's quite smitten with her Housemate, based entirely on what he looks like rather than anything to do with his actual personality. Of course, if she can't have him, any other decent-looking and well-bred man in the House will do. She has her companionship prospects all mapped out according to a variety of factors, such as hair, posture, and ability to sweep her off her feet. The only one off-limits is Draco, for very obvious reasons.
2. This is less known to her close friends and moreso anyone who knew her when she was very young and happened to see her feet, but she had a 6th toe on her right foot until she finally got the problem fixed at age 7. She didn't know anything was wrong until her playmates screamed when she took off her socks one day. You can't hide all evidence of inbreeding!
ONE DEEP, DARK SECRET: As much as Daphne enjoys simply being Daphne, underneath it all, part of her is horrifically jealous of her best friend, Pansy Parkinson. The ability to lead and stand out in a crowd like Pansy does is something a person is born with, and the fact that she wasn't leaves the big open question of "what if." What would life be like if she weren't the sidekick? In a more simple sense, what does it feel like to be Pansy? The exceptionally shrewd and observant might notice that occasional fleeting frown that occurs when she's forced to the side of the limelight, but otherwise, it's certainly a secret she wouldn't even share with Tracey.
HISTORY: The Rosier family had a long tradition of devastatingly beautiful women, such as their prized gem Druella, but there is always an exception to every rule. In this case was Virginie Rosier, a rather dumpy, nondescript woman, always in the shadow of her older brother Evan. The reason she eventually found herself married to an impressive man like Sebastian Greengrass was because the Rosier family did happen to be impressively pure. Having extended family like the Blacks did have its perks, even if they weren't quite as glorious as they were during their heyday. The Greengrasses weren't quite so finely-bred, but money bought silence. Their finances made up for their diluted blood; Sebastian didn't work so much as he did continue to invest and network, and he was good at what he did. The skeletons in the Greengrass closet were effectively buried, and the Rosiers' financial mediocrity of recent years was neutralised.
Sebastian had inherited a very well-kept piece of prime real estate in the heart of London, located in Kensington right near Knightsbridge. It was not ideal for entertainment like a sprawling mansion in the countryside, but it had more than enough room to house a family nonetheless. It was in this home that Virginie gave birth to their first child on a swelteringly hot late spring night, a daughter whom they christened Daphne Libena-Catrine. Libena was Sebastian's choice, and Catrine was the name of Virginie's extremely overbearing mother who thought it a crime that a girl descended from the Rosiers shouldn't share a name with the member of the family. (It should be noted that arguments between the two families were numerous enough that Sebastian and Virginie took any opportunity to avoid new ones when they could.) Young Daphne was always just a little bit ignored since she was female and not a suitable heir, but even as a toddler that simply wouldn't do. She developed a habit of acting out to get attention and her way early on, seeing as simply batting her eyelashes didn't do the trick--hence the moniker "Queenie." She was very skilled with dramatics.
She also quickly learned how to exploit available weaknesses. Her father was strict not to spoil her--oh, he was fine with teaching her the importance of the finer things in life, but she wasn't due to have them yet.If Daphne complained, the phrase "when you're older" often came up. Daphne's mother, on the other hand, always had a bit of a soft spot for her daughter, and Daphne zeroed in on her behind her father's back to support and already-budding shopping addiction. Sneaky, yes, but it worked, didn't it? Her parents did fail to teach her priorities and she was much more effete and precious than an effective future businesswoman. In addition, the extensive private tutoring and homeschooling she received focused little on the realities of life. Young Daphne knew history, art, and literature--albeit in a very limited sense--but not at all about the world's horrors and difficulties. She was impossibly sheltered and convinced that the trials of not being catered to by her every whim was the world's worst possible plight.
The second daughter of the Greengrass family was born two years after Daphne, and she was named Astoria. As the entire point of their existence was to get married and bear children, the two girls automatically had something in common, though her younger sister was much more docile from the beginning than Daphne ever was. The apple of the Greengrass parents' eyes was born a year after that, and received very different treatment than his sisters. Cletus Greengrass, the heir and pride of the family, also had a myriad of health conditions, and so what time wasn't spent lavishing gifts upon him was spent at St. Mungo's. The situation could have easily been ripe for sibling rivalry, but Daphne instead clung to her brother fiercely; his frail condition appealed to her mothering instinct. A lot of her early childhood was spent pulling the heads off dandelions and reading nursery rhymes together. The Greengrass children were also well-acquainted with the other children of pureblooded families, including Pansy Parkinson.
She threw a great fit about having to leave her siblings behind to attend Hogwarts. That was, of course, the only option for Daphne's schooling, as much as she protested about how she ought to go to Beaxbatons; both the Greengrasses and the Rosiers were lines of Hogwarts alumni, Slytherins to be specific. It was natural that Daphne, too, would follow in their footsteps, despite the fact that the ancient school had gone downhill in recent times under Albus Dumbledore's care. She was also quite scared to leave the comfort of the city for a giant castle essentially in the middle of nowhere. She'd heard country folk were a bit odd. And what if there were bears?
After being sorted into Slytherin, just like the rest of her family, Daphne fell into Hogwarts' social scheme quite naturally. The rest followed in due time since it was all secondary to the social empire. Being there wasn't that bad, after all; in fact, she quickly learned to appreciate it. Her life even at school continued with her blinders on, due in no small part to the company she acquired. She'd known Pansy growing up, and the loud and overbearing girl was the natural leader of the newly-formed clique of girls that also included Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode. They were to the girls of Hogwarts what Draco Malfoy and his cronies were to the boys--complete tyrants. Daphne's friends more or less carried her throughout the entirety of her education up until the present day. She was never the best student, and likely would have sunk a long time ago without their help.
Daphne undoubtedly had a good time during her first five years of school, blissfully unaware of the consequences of Voldemort's impending rise back to power. On the contrary, the more powerful he gets, the better life is for her (and even better for Daddy Greengrass.) She managed to keep herself quite busy even when not gossiping, studying, or begging her friends to do her studying for her; she's an avid participator in extracurriculars, despite being complete rubbish in the subjects they're dedicated to--with the exception of Quidditch. Only ladylike activities for her, thank you very much! Quidditch was for those uncouth, butch Gryffindor girls of poor breeding who reeked of too much testosterone and loose morals.
  
the Greengrass siblingsWhat the future holds in store for Daphne very much depends on who gets to her. She's very impressionable indeed, and the people in her life are the ones who've shaped the person she is today; the people she meet today will shape the person she is tomorrow. Not that she's ever going to change the world--oh, no, it's more the choice between mother and socialite back in Britain or mother and socialite abroad. Daphne's career goal is future "It Girl", and whilst it's not quite up to par with being an accomplished Healer, perhaps, the ladies who lunch are a fierce bunch in their own right. She already has several burgeoning businesses and charities to found in mind, ranging from fashion houses to animal shelters. One musn't forget the future hordes of well-groomed and pampered babies to carry on that lovely legacy, either! |
