InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "We're all MAD here."

Melinda Bobbin is a Slythindor. (mellifluously) wrote,
@ 2012-07-02 09:28:00

000//Profile

melinda imogen bobbin.

details.
Preferred Name: Melinda, Mellie
Date of Birth/Age: 17 July 1981/16 years old
Blood Status: The Bobbins have been pureblood back six generations: everyone considers them Pureblood, and they are in no hurry to remind anyone of the Muggleborns in the ancestral closet.
Former affiliation: Nothing: the DA was chockablock with ragtag Gryffindors on a sugar rush of COURAGE and LOYALTY and blah blah blah; the IS was full of self-righteous wankers desperately clinging to any shred of importance; the Carrows dressed badly and smelled worse; and the Order was clearly pathetic since they did absolutely nothing to improve the situation of anyone. Given the paucity of possible option, Melinda staked her flag for Team Bobbin and chose no one at all.
Work Programme Assignment Preferences: Department of International Magical Cooperation
Occupation: Student
Classes: In her sixth year, she took Muggle Studies, Herbology, Potions, Divination, and Care of Magical Creatures
Sexuality: Straight, though she's been known to kiss other girls at parties to get attention
What are your character's thoughts on blood status? Muggleborn money is just as good as purist money. In fact, sometimes better, since they are so clueless about what to buy, you can sucker them in for more. Without the naive and goggle-eyed Muggles buying Hogwarts supplies this past fall, the Bobbins took a great financial hit. Who cares what is in your blood--it's what is in your wallet, k'thanks
How does your character feel about the new Ministry under Kingsley Shacklebolt? Given that he won't be throwing potential customers in prison or outright killing them, Melinda has a positive view. She's not exactly a fan of his "I'm a common man, let's journal and say shiiiiit to buddy up to the hip young kids" deal, because old people need to act like it, but he should be good for commerce, and what is good for commerce is good for her.

appearance.
Melinda is adorable. Well, honestly, what do you want her to say? She's taller for a girl at five-six, and reedy and slim, except for just enough chest to get attention (though she is very interested to know if you can charm your bosom larger, and if you can, happy eighteenth birthday to her, eh?). But while her figure might be fine, it's her heart-shaped face (pale, since Melinda would never get a tan, how common), with two large blue eyes that sparkle just right when she smiles, all framed with a tumbling mane of blonde hair. Adorable. Sweetness personified. What, like someone like Melinda would be ugly. Melinda is charming; ugly girls have nice personalities, thanks.

When not in her school robes, Melinda does dress in the latest Muggle designer fashions, liking her purses and sunglasses to have large labels declaring who made them. She tends to dress in a lot of Chanel, though she likes some of the more preppy elements of Alice + Olivia--and honestly who can ever go wrong with YSL? Melinda insists on shopping in Paris; sure, she'll pick up a scarf or some shoes in London, in a pinch, but why buy the milk from the market when you can go to the farm and get the freshest pint direct from the source? She's always in heels. Always. Yes, even during CoMC class--and to be honest, she thinks that's why she got along fine with the hippogryffs: they clearly got good fashion!
PB: Cariba Heine

personality.
At first blush, you might think that Melinda is a nice Slytherin, one of those rare finds, like a flower on a cactus. A sweet Slytherin, what a gem!

Please, get over yourself. If Melinda's nice to you, it's because there is utility in the kindness, and the only reason she doesn't outright tell you that your clothes are bad, your hair is shrub-like, and your personality is dingier than the Weasleys' robes is because you are more than likely going to need to purchase items from an apothecary often throughout the year, and the idea of losing your profits to some other store because Melinda told you the truth about your patheticness is just something she will not bear. Melinda more often than not just ignores people underneath her until utility dictates that she acknowledges you: a smile for all, spending time on a few.

And being truthful with less. Professors, to a man, fall over themselves saying how charming Melinda is; her fellow classmates that aren't in Slytherin praise her sweet temper. But really, her housemates know just how bored Melinda is. It's not hard to be this charming girl, really, but she does far too easily disengage. Her nice facade isn't an act, but it covers up a void: Melinda cares about money, she cares about success, and she cares about status, and these superficial things have created a vacuum where her personality is crafted to promote these interests. In the privacy of her own house, with her friends, there's no promoting to be had: Slytherins are all motivated in their own self-interest, you can't exactly persuade them to back someone else unless there is something in it for them, and Melinda's money and status and stylishness are all inherent. She doesn't have to charm them; she just has to be who she is, and who she is...is someone just so bored with it all. She likes to sit on the sidelines and gossip and provoke in the hopes that something interesting will happen. She runs a black market ring of apothecary products out of her dorm, not just to make money, but because it was something exciting. She flirts with the boys not because she likes them, but because it's something to do--and really, hooking up is fun. Could it be that the money and the status and always putting the appearance of the apothecary, keeping the sweet smile on, no matter what, isn't worth it? That if Melinda was more real, she'd be more engaged?

That's nice, Dr. Freud--and maybe true, but, really. Thanks but no. Melinda might not be happy with who she is, but she's pleased as all get out with where she is, so, she'll just stay with how it is, thanks.

history.
Melinda's first memory is of money, standing on a stool at the Diagon Alley branch of the apothecary, holding a galleon in her hands and then tossing it into the drawer of the register and staring at the pile of gold with wide eyes. They sparkled! They shone! And her father was smiling, proud and satisfied as he looked at that gold, too. Her family believes in destiny--her older brother will was destined for potions, since he was always playing with his toy cauldron, her younger sister will clearly work with charms because she was twenty months old and fascinated with making the mirror fog and then clear, little charms all around the house. And Melinda...Melinda's life was destined to revolve around money. A trip to Gringott's was like Christmas Day.

Her childhood was uneventful in the way that the well-to-do can create an uneventful childhood--there were nannies, there were tutors, there were trips to the most aesthetically remarkable places in Europe, the indulgent holidays to the wizarding-only enclaves in Monaco and Greek isles. When luxury is a way of life, can anything stand out? Don't be mistaken, the Bobbins didn't teach their children excess--Mr. and Mrs. Bobbin had met at the apothecary, and he had fallen for her because of her work ethic, and the children, while not having to do traditional chores, were pushed hard to be smarter, more polished, more cultured than their peers, and to learn that success is earned, it is an achievement. With their parents not emotionally distant but physically distant because of their workaholic streak, the three children learned to compete with each other for that precious attention. Wills by being the most clever; Melinda by being the most charming; and Athena by being the smartest. It was this childhood, of constantly jostling for her parents approval and time, that taught her that she could catch more flies with honey...and the benefits that came after.

Going to Hogwarts was actually a touch anti-climatic: how could you compare to the life she had led? Going to classes, no field trips to Rome to look at ancient architecture, no going to the apothecaries and playing with the products (or manning the register for just a moment)? How dull! At least Melinda was sorted into Slytherin; they kept it interesting. In a way, it was like being back at home with her siblings, competing with them; now it was just on a larger scale. It did get a little interesting, though, when the Heir of Slytherin seemed to have returned, stunning boring Gryffindors and that mangy cat. Would it really be so awful if the Heir came back? Not that Melinda ever found out, stupid Harry Potter ruining all the fun. Honestly, what a killjoy. It always seemed that when things got interesting, either Harry Potter was the instigator--or the end of it. Like when Sirius Black was stalking the castle: fun! Excitement! Someone bothering the Gryffindors while the Slytherins sat around and snarked on it all! Then it all had to end, of course. Merlin forbid things stay interesting for long.

The death of Cedric Diggory did mark a turning point, though. Until then, Melinda rather thought that things happened to the Gryffindors; the rest of the houses were almost left to be, since they seemed to lack Mr. Excitement. But if a Hufflepuff--the fluffy bunny rabbits of Hogwarts--could be killed...was anyone safe? It's why Melinda actually welcomed Umbridge in her fourth year: Cedric was dead, and people in Slytherin were whispering with some degree of confidence that the Dark Lord was back, he was just biding his time. Well, then, if so, maybe some order, some real protection and structure would be nice! Besides, for a change, Gryffindor wasn't the most favored house in the world.

Through all of this, Melinda had been her usual sweet self, finding professors lathering her with smiles and approving nods; her schoolmates were drawn to her; boys wanted to be around her. But while that was nice and good, it was making prefect and Professor Slughorn not just noticing but then rewarding her, finally, for all of this charming shite by putting her in the Slug Club. Finally! Validation! Elevation! All of her hard work to make the best persona to prop up her status, confirmed! Of course, on the heels of the best year yet...the Headmaster had to be murdered. And by her Head of House? Melinda felt conflicted--for all of her complaints against Dumbledore for his rampant Gryffindor favoritism and Harry Potter wanking, she didn't want him to die. But then again, with how much she liked Professor Snape...he had to have a good reason...right? Maybe Dumbledore was trying to kill him! Who are they supposed to believe, Potter?

With the rise of the Death Eaters, Melinda and her family felt a little torn--on the one hand, her family had no qualms with muggleborns, since their money was just as good as any pureblood. On the other hand, since the Bobbins were considered "pure," they were the favored shop for the pureblood set...all in all, the rise of Death Eaters weren't all so bad, and Hogwarts wasn't all so bad, either: besides, there were some nice perks! How could that be so bad. Melinda was her usual self, but then her jarvey went missing and was then tortured and killed; her defenseless jarvey, why. And there did come a point where she was asked by the Carrows to engage in the mistreatment of her fellow Slytherins; in that aspect, Melinda was lucky that most of her house did follow the Carrows loyally, and she was able to talk her way out of it by getting someone else to do it. It was the punishment where purebloods and Slytherins were taken to the Forest that made her realize: she could charm her way out of only so much. They were hanging bodies in the Hall, they--

They were all in trouble--the Carrows weren't Death Eaters. They were insane.

And you might not believe it, but if Melinda had been of age, she would have stayed for the final battle. Partly because she was certain that if the Carrows stayed in charge, they were all doomed. And partly...because a battle. How exciting! But she was sixteen, and she was underage, and as a prefect, it was her job to lead the House to safety. And...safe she is.

Now what?

Family:

Father: Tobias D. Bobbin, CEO, Bobbin Apothecary; Slytherin, Pureblood.
Mother: Felicity Smethwyk Bobbin, Director of Product Development, Bobbin Apothecary; Ravenclaw, Pureblood.
Brother: William (Wills) John Bobbin, Junior Potionmaker, Bobbin Apothecary (London Research and Development Office); Slytherin '96, Pureblood.
Sister: Athena Anne Bobbin; Ravenclaw '00.