First and Last Name: Willa Romley
Bloodline: Half-Blood
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Green
General Build: Petite
Height: Average
Birthplace: Durham, County Durham, England
Brief Childhood History:
Durham – a bustling and lively English city, full of character and style, it could be considered an exciting place to live for almost anyone. This particular city is not too crammed as some more populous cities and yet not so isolated and small, a good blend. Ormond Romley did not think of this when he chose to settle here, for he had been merely nineteen years old when he moved to Durham. Motived by a desire for familial independence and fueled by the rash, rebelliousness of youth, he migrated out of the heart of London, away from his family business with the sole purpose of creating his own legacy. Where his parents desired for Ormond to use his intellect somewhere in the Ministry or as a Healer neither of these suited his fancy in the slightest. And much to their disappointment he took the generous sum of money, some that he’d earned and some he’d inherited, to open a shop of his own - a shoe shop. Having apprenticed in an aged old shop in Wizarding London, during the summers while he attended Hogwarts, Ormand had acquired a skill and with his flair for whimsicality yet sophisticated styling his shoes became popular quite quickly in the area. It was during the early days of the start of his business when Ormond met Solange Bouchard.
The pair fell in love in a very short span of time, perhaps it was her flirtatiousness, how adorable and awkward her broken English was through her heavy French accent, or the childlike wonder and adventurousness that exuded from her – perhaps all the things that made Ormond Romley fall in love so rapidly was what made him miserable in the end. For everyone told him that a girl with a free spirit like that could never be tethered down and as fast as they were in blissful love they were put out and she was gone but in the wake of her departure Solange Bouchard left Ormond with one thing – a daughter. Willa Romley became the center of Ormond’s world. It was evident that this little girl was now the most important person in his life. In the beginning he dotted on her endlessly, while simultaneously trying to protect her from any and all outside forces that he felt could harm her which needless to say was everything, therefore Willa had a very sheltered life in the early days of her youth and spent a lot of time solely with her father at their home. However as his business expanded (to London and Dublin) and work needs became pressing Ormond started to loosen the reigns a bit.
Eventually he started to take Willa to his shop, she spent a lot of time playing make believe in the back of his workshop while he made shoes , then slowly after that they would spend time in the shop front as well and this was where she began to become quite exposed to the outside world. She would see people from all walks of life, all with very interesting stories. In this time her father had less and less time to spend with her but it did not affect her so severely for the pure fact that she was getting to explore an environment outside her home, allowing her for her imagination and social skills to slowly climb. She never really got too many playmates her own age and therefore relied heavily on entertaining herself. After the passing of her grandfather, Ormond would send Willa to spend the summers with her grandmother at her cottage home in Newborough, on Anglesey Island. Willa was about eight or nine at this time but it would be the first time she would have a female role model in her life, someone to genuinely spend a lot of time with and though her grandmother loved her she was quite stern. She lived a seaside country lifestyle and in this time Willa got accustomed to a lot of chores and homely activities, while still getting to explore more of an actual wilderness outside the city limits. It was a constant summer adventure that the girl cherished greatly.
Coming from a wizarding family, on her father’s side, Willa grew up accustomed to magic and when the odd sign of magic ability started to show through Willa the family was not surprised nor worried about it. She was raised with the expectation that she would attend Hogwarts like the rest of her family so naturally upon her eleventh birthday when her Hogwarts letter arrived the family was eager to send her off and Willa was eager to go, looking at the experience as just another life adventure.
Strengths (Including Personality and Academic):
Willa Romley is not the sharpest tool in the shed, brightest crayon in the box (…you get the drift here I’m sure) and while that’s not a strength in the slightest, what is a strength is her desire to learn, she wants to be good at everything really, and she will do whatever it takes to get there. She’ll sacrifice the hours of sleep to get the work done, she’ll bend over backwards find every opportunity she can. Willa may not have the brains but she has the drive. With a constant change in scenery growing up and a multitude of different people walking in and out of her life, Willa is actually quite creative. She tries to supress this aspect of herself but it tends to let itself be known in the small things that she says or does. Ironically, while Willa desires nothing more than to blend, she has an insane curiosity when it comes to differences, the little quirks that other people have is the most alluring thing to Willa and therefore she’s very open to what other people might find strange or “uncool” and she gives chances to anything.
In terms of her academics, Willa has taken a particular liking to History of Magic and Potions class, with exact measurements or memorization of facts, these classes fall in line with her dedication to study and her precision when it comes to following directions, which allow her to pick them up quicker than most other classes.
Weaknesses (Including Personality and Academic):
Due in part to the heavy influence of her grandmother, there’s a certain rigidity that’s been ingrained in Willa and because of this Willa is one of those people that needs things done a particular way, to her liking, she doesn’t stray from this nor will she let anyone who has to participate in an activity with her stray from it either. Control issues are one way to put it but a particular obsessive nature is another way to think of it. When it comes to doing anything particularly “fun” Willa would be the one to say “But why would we want to do that?” if it doesn’t serve a particular purpose, like for her to achieve any of her goals, then she doesn’t get it. However when it comes to people she trusts she won’t think twice before going along, coercion is not a necessity when it comes to Willa and it can often get her into some troublesome situations. Due to her desperate desire to fit into a mold she’ll never quite be a part of socially, anyone that makes her aware of this or makes her feel inferior will be on the receiving end of her surliness, she can be quite unpleasant and doesn’t bother to hide it if she’s not on terms with you.
In terms of her academics, Willa does not particularly care for Charms or Transfigurations, her wand work is pretty weak and she finds the motion of incantations to be a bit random, which makes it hard for her to get a grasp of them, no matter how hard she tries.
What House You Feel Your Character Belongs In and Why: Hufflepuff. Willa has an incredible work ethic, she wants nothing more to succeed and even if she's not the brightest or the most talented (etc.) she never stops trying. It's this in combination with her open mindedness to all kinds of people and things and her genuine honesty that I think would make her a pretty good fit in Hufflepuff.
