Penelope Strawbridge

[Penny Strawbridge]

THE BASICS​

Character's Name
Penelope- meaning “weaver”, as derived from Greek mythology. Mythological Penelope was cared for by a duck as an infant, and later was known for delaying her suiters by pretending to weave a garment while her husband was at sea.
Margaret- meaning “Pearl”, as derived from the Latin name Margarita.
Strawbridge- an unusual, habitational name thought to originate in a “lost” midland region of present-day Britain. Though married to Roger Millar, Penny chose to retain her own last name as a link her father and her magical heritage.

Character's Birthdate
February 27th, 2018 (currently 35)

Hometown: Hutton Le Hole, North Yorkshire, England.
Currently lives: Millar road station, Awatere valley, Marlborough, New Zealand. Millar road station is Penny’s husband Roger’s farm, which has been in the family for three generations. It is located in South Marlborough, and known for being sunny and dry.
Blood Status: Mixed Blood; Penny’s father was a mixed blood wizard, who married a muggle woman.
Nationality: English


Wand: 12.75” Vine, with Hippogriff feather core
Vine: Strongly tied to the witch and wizard they choose, vine wands are often held by witches and wizards who dream of something bigger beyond the mundane for their lives.
Hippogriff feather: Just like the animal from which it comes, hippogriff feathers being used as a wand core produce wands that are stable and versatile; however, they must be respected by the wand caster or risk having this wand turn against them.

Educated At: Hogwarts Scotland
Ravenclaw- the sorting hat also considered placing Penny in Slytherin due to her ambitious streak, however placed her in Ravenclaw, the house her father was in.

Occupation: Formerly employed at Ministry of Magic (UK), in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Currently a stay at home mum/ farmer’s wife.

APPEARANCE

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Penny is 5’10 (177.8cm) and has a slender build. She has always kept her wavy strawberry blonde hair medium-long, and used to wear it curled however has stopped styling it since moving to the farm and having children. Her eyes are a mix of hazel and grey, depending on the light and whether she is wearing makeup. Penny used to enjoy muggle makeup and spent a lot of time perfecting her eyes in the mornings, when she used to work for the Ministry of Magic. She has light skin which is now freckled most of the time, as she spends a lot of time out in the sun helping on the farm.

Penny’s style has changed since moving to New Zealand and having children. She used to adore fashionable robes and office wear when she worked for the UK Ministry of Magic, and before having a family a considerable amount of her paycheck went to fashion. Out of the office she used to keep up with muggle fashion, favouring sun dresses, high-waisted pants and feminine blouses and tops in her everyday wear. Now, however, she generally dresses practically for farm and house work, including faded plaid shirts, worn jeans and gumboots.On the rare occasion Penny goes out, particularly on solitary excursions to the Wizarding world (such as nearby Makutu mall, or Obsidian Harbour) she likes to dress more like her old self, putting on her nicest clothes and robes, and adding some lipstick.

A LITTLE DEEPER

PERSONALITY​

Penny is a complex, emotionally-intelligent and emotional person who tends to change parts of her personality to meet the needs of her surroundings. Before meeting her muggle husband and moving to New Zealand to have children, Penny was an organised, vivacious and ambitious, though introverted, young witch. Now in her late 30s she remains very organised, however has buried her ambitious, magical identity to raise her family and conform to the expectations of her non-magical husband and his family. This part of her personality, though she has tried to extinguish it, has been manifesting in the desire to connect with magical people and craft once again.
Penny is very attuned to the emotions of those around her, and often changes herself to try and meet their needs. She is also very emotionally sensitive herself, which sometimes results in her taking other’s actions and words extremely personally. This trait makes her seem both wise beyond her years, and childish and insecure at times also.
Though Penny enjoys being a mother, she increasingly craves creative and mental stimulation. She uses potion-making as a creative outlet, and has a secret collection of magical books which she reads when no-one is home. Her deepest desires are for her children to discover the magical world and their magical identities, and to contribute something meaningful to the magical world herself. These desires are at odds with her reality and her wish for a happy marriage and family life with her muggle husband. This internal conflict, which has caused her to turn inwards and keep to herself more and more.

Pisces Traits

Pisces is a Water sign and as such this zodiac sign is characterised by empathy and expressed emotional capacity. Pisceans can sometimes come across as airheaded or forgetful. This is not due to mindlessness, but because of the particular orientation of their mindfulness. They are easily overstimulated, and have learned to cope by turning inward. Misplacing their wand or getting lost aren’t signs of their stupidity, but are instead a result of their detachment from the external world.

It is easy for a Pisces to lose themselves in other people. Creative work grounds them. Pisces must learn that a main contributor for their happiness is finding an outlet for their creative expression. Pisces are always looking to the future and they always have hope. They don’t dwell on the past too much. They put things behind them and move forward.

Pisces weaknesses: The true Pisces weakness is that they’re often the cause of their own turmoil. They’re a little bit addicted to melancholy. They want to feel things intensely and there is a poignant side to sorrow that Pisces actually find pleasurable. They would rather marinate in a voluptuous pit of despair than have no feelings at all. The search for heart-rending emotional experiences sometimes causes Pisces to seek out situations that are subconsciously self-defeating, and then paint themselves as unwitting victims.

It is sometimes hard for a Pisces woman to tell the truth. The uncertainty of reactions of some people can be very disturbing to her, and her introvert, fragile nature gives her this inner feeling that she won’t be able to protect herself from someone’s anger or sadness. Because of this, she will often feel the need to be dishonest, especially when she has been burned by aggressive outbursts a couple of times. The main problem here is that she doesn’t trust anyone, so she cannot be trusted.

Pisces likes: Being alone, sleeping, music, romance, visual media, swimming, spiritual themes

Pisces dislikes: Know-it-all, being criticized, the past coming back to haunt, cruelty of any kind


Myers Briggs Personality

INTJ (the Architect)- is a person with the Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging personality traits. These thoughtful tacticians love perfecting the details of life, applying creativity and rationality to everything they do. Their inner world is often a private, complex one.

Architects can be single-minded, with little patience for frivolity, distractions, or idle gossip. That said, it would be a mistake to stereotype these personalities as dull or humorless. Many Architects are known for their irreverent wit, and beneath their serious exteriors, they often have a sharp, delightfully sarcastic sense of humor.
But as anyone with this personality type would tell you, a new idea isn’t worth anything unless it actually works. Architects want to be successful, not just inventive. They bring a single-minded drive to their passion projects, applying the full force of their insight, logic, and willpower. And heaven help anyone who tries to slow them down by enforcing pointless rules or offering poorly thought-out criticism.
This personality type is full of contradictions. Architects are imaginative yet decisive, ambitious yet private, and curious yet focused. From the outside, these contradictions may seem baffling, but they make perfect sense once you understand the inner workings of the Architect mind.

HISTORY​

Penny grew up in the muggle village of Hutton Le Hole, North Yorkshire, England. Her father, Adrian, was a wizard who had fallen in love with a muggle woman, Laurel, and they had settled in the small village where Penny grew up. Adrian was able to maintain his occupation in the Department of International Magical Cooperation with the UK Ministry of Magic, while Laurel worked as seamstress and weaver alongside raising their three children, creating beautiful clothing and hangings, which by the end of her career were quite well known in the muggle fashion industry. Overall, Adrian and Laurel were able to balance their magical and muggle household quite well, though with the occasional hiccup as the children grew up and discovered their magical abilities. Penny’s parents maintained their love for one another and have both retired, now living a comfortable life in the same house that Penny grew up in in Hutton Le Hole.

Penny’s first year at Hogwarts Scotland was 2029. She was sorted in Ravenclaw house, the same as her father, though the sorting hat considered placing her in Slytherin due to her ambitious drive. However Penny thrived in Ravenclaw, achieving top marks in her OWLs and NEWTs, particularly excelling at Potion-making, and finding a group of close friends. Directly after finishing Hogwarts Penny took an internship with the Department of International Cooperation, however not wanting to work in father’s shadow she took a graduate role with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement instead and spent the next 7 years there, working her way up the department’s positions.

When Penny was 22 (2040) she took a two week summer holiday to Ireland in June, where she explored the country, visiting both magical and muggle sites and staying in muggle backpackers. About three days into her trip Penny went out to a muggle bar in Galway, where she met a group of Australians and New Zealanders who were also travelling in the area. In this group was Roger Millar, a young farmer from New Zealand who was on his OE (‘overseas experience’, common for young New Zealanders). Penny and Roger were instantly attracted to each other and hit it off that night, walking around Galway and talking long after the bar had closed. Penny and Roger travelled together for what became a passionate and romantic two-week trip, ticking off sights and going hiking across Ireland. Throughout these two weeks Penny hid her magical abilities from Roger, pretending to be a muggle and travelling by train and bus with him. On the last night before Penny was due to return to London and Roger back to New Zealand, Penny revealed the truth to Roger, as she was convinced he was the love of her life and she couldn’t stand to hide it from him any longer.

Roger did not react particularly well to this revelation, and Penny was devastated on her return to London, convinced she had just let her one true love get away. Never one to let romance go, Penny travelled by magic to visit Roger in New Zealand, where she convinced him that they could be together. Roger was at first unsure of the idea that their two worlds could mix, stating that maintaining and growing his family’s station was his life’s purpose and he wasn’t willing to compromise on it, however that he still loved her and had never felt that way about anybody. Penny said she would move to be with him, and could work for the Ministry of Magic New Zealand. She returned to London and promptly quit her job with the Department of International Magical Cooperation, announced to her shocked family she was moving to New Zealand to be with a muggle man, and left. Penny and Roger married soon after, and spent two blissful years on the farm, however before Penny could secure a job with the Ministry of Magic NZ, she became pregnant.

Their first child, Finn Millar was born on January 12th, 2043. Penny devoted her time to raising Finn and helping on the farm, as the Millar family had bought more land and it had expanded quite significantly. As is common in muggle farming families, Penny was also expected to help in the nearby home of Rogers’ parents, though this relationship has always been strained. Roger forbade Penny from ever revealing to his parents that she was a witch, as he was convinced they would disapprove and choose his brother John to take over the farm instead if they found out. As Penny has always felt the need to pretend to be someone else around Roger’s parents, she has never quite relaxed around his family and there have been many disagreements, particularly around the raising of the children.

Penny and Roger’s second child, Felicity Millar, was born on December 2nd, 2045. At this point Penny had been living on the farm for four years, and she and Roger were still in love, though cracks were starting to show in the relationship. The children’s magical abilities were very concerning to Roger, in part because he was scared of his parents finding out, and because he worried for the future of their family farm if the children were to grow up in the magical world and choose other careers. He also didn’t like the idea of not being able to contain the children, nor the feeling of powerlessness in the times they accidentally produced magic. Penny started slowly, subconsciously hiding and muting her magical qualities and habits. Her long-held love of potion-making has been the only thing she has continued to do, along with simple household spells that Roger doesn’t seem to mind. When Finn became school age Penny wanted to homeschool the children, so that they could grow up like she did, learning about both the magical and muggle worlds, however Roger’s parents protested this idea. Roger agreed with his parents, saying it was best that the children receive a proper education. Penny felt extremely hurt and disrespected through this time, and briefly considered taking the children and returning to England so that they could be raised around magic. However she preserved, not wanting her children to grow up cut off from their father, and holding onto the fierce love she and Roger had shared at the beginning of their relationship.

In the 6 years since, Penny and Roger’s relationship has become increasingly strained and divided. Penny is adamant that her children will attend Hogwarts New Zealand, however Roger is thoroughly against the idea. They have had many arguments, usually with no real resolution, though Roger has conceded a couple of times, recognising he is powerless against the will of witches or wizards. He has resorted to taking Finn out on the farm with him as much as possible, trying to impart his love of the land and agriculture onto his young son in the hopes Finn will choose to take on the family farm once he is old enough to decide.

Currently Penny is slowly and secretly reconnecting with her magical identity, making more frequent trips to Makutu Mall and Obsidian Harbour, taking the children with her whenever possible. She is also craving the company of other adult wizards, having isolated herself on the farm with only other muggle farmer’s wives for friends. She enjoys their company, however is craving connection with the magical world, where she can truly be herself again.

FAMILY​

Finn Millar- Penny’s oldest child (born January 12th, 2043). Finn is very quiet and shy around kids his own age. In Finn’s first 5 years of life he was glued to Penny’s side, wanting to do everything with her. However Penny is finding it increasingly hard to connect with him or get any kind of emotional response from him the older he becomes. Finn has showed signs of being magical from a young age, though in the last few years he has repressed this as it is obvious his father does not approve, and is struggling with his magical identity.

Felicity Millar- Penny’s second and youngest child (born December 2nd, 2045). Felicity is an absolute wild child. She is extremely social and active, and adores caring for the animals on the farm. The only thing that depletes her seemingly endless stores of energy is being allowed to help on the farm, where she runs after her father’s motorbike, helping to herd the sheep. Felicity, being much less inhibited than Finn, accidentally produces quite explosive magic at times, much to the disapproval of her father. Penny struggles to connect with her daughter, who’s love of the outdoors and the farm is a bit of a mystery to Penny.

Roger Millar- Penny’s husband of 13 years (married September 20th, 2040). Roger is a muggle farmer, working the large station that has been in his family for three generations. He has taken over the running from his father, who has slowed down due to health problems. Roger and Penny fell instantly and deeply in love, however the strains of mixing the magical and non-magical worlds is putting a lot of strain on their relationship. Roger is prone to becoming extremely and uncontrollably angry, often when something goes wrong on the farm. Roger does not want his children to grow up magical, and is becoming increasingly critical of Penny’s magical identity.

Adrian Strawbridge- Penny’s father, retired member of the Department of International Magical Cooperation with the UK Ministry of Magic. A kind, yielding man, Adrian fell in love with a muggle woman and worked very hard to provide for their family and ensure successful mixing of his magical life with his wife’s muggle one. Penny has always adored her father and looked up to him in how he has handled his career and family.

Laurel Strawbridge- Penny’s mother, a muggle woman who worked throughout Penny’s childhood creating custom clothing and weaved hangings. She became successful and well-known for her work throughout England. She was quite a strict and regimented mother, wanting her magical children to grow up with discipline, though she was also very maternal and tended to the children’s emotional needs well. Penny’s relationship with her mother was loving, though slightly more distant than her relationship with her father, as she took on a strong magical identity in early adulthood.