Post by Shiloh Ollivander on Jan 19, 2024 17:45:21 GMT -8
SHILOH GAIA OLLIVANDER
BASIC INFORMATION
Age and Birthday: 23; August, 31, 2000
Year and House or Profession: Apprentice Wandmaker
Canon: Yes (Canon child, non-canon character)Special Abilities: None
FAMILY & HISTORY
Place of Birth: London, Saint Mungo's
Notable Relatives: Hermione Granger (mother); Garrick Ollivander (Great Grandfather)
Character History:
Family History
Immediately after the Battle for Hogwarts, Harry and Ron insisted they go with her to Perth, Australia to find her parents and see if their memories could be restored. Hermione successfully reversed the obliviate spell. Confusion very quickly gave way to hurt and her parents asked for some time to come to terms with what was done to them. Several weeks later, they moved back to Great Brittan and reconciled with Hermione. Lasting hurt and mistrust still lingered between them.
Hermione was feeling a little lost after the war. She wanted to finish her education and take her N.E.W.T.s so she decided to return to Hogwarts September 1998 for her seventh year. There was one thing she needed before she could get on the Hogwarts express. A new wand. Her wand had never been recovered from the chaos of the escape from Malfoy Manor and she wasn't comfortable continuing to use Bellatrix's wand. Walking into Ollivanders shortly after the Battle for Hogwarts, she was saddened to see the shelves were nearly empty, their stocks destroyed by Death Eaters when Garrick was kidnapped. As she stood there, trying to decide if she wanted to walk over to Carkitt Market to see if Gregorovitch's faired better, Garrick caught sight of her. He insisted that she let them craft a new wand for her, out of gratitude for her efforts to free him. He introduced Hermione to his oldest Grandson, Gavin. It was Gavin's last year of apprenticeship. He was skeptical they'd find a wand in their limited stocks, he insisted that he and Hermione spend some time together so he could get to know her. It would give him a better chance of making a wand that would pick her if he had an understanding of the types of components to consider.
They spend several weekends over the summer meeting for coffee or ice cream. It felt a bit like therapy. To live life in the open took time to adjust to again. Even though Gavin was supposed to be learning about her, she got to know the young Ollivander too. He was expected to run the business in the future and had been groomed his whole life for that responsibility. In his heart, he wanted to be a adventurer, traveling the world in search of new knowledge. His dad never encouraged those desires, and often reminded Gavin of the legacy that would one day be entrusted to him. Because of his experience, he made a conscious choice to never put such pressures on his own children when he had them.
Rising to the expectations placed on him, he followed his father in the family business of wandmaking straight out of Hogwarts. The apprenticeship phase was the most demanding of his life. Especially after the war. They had managed to secure the rarest wands before the Death Eaters attacked the shop, kidnapped his grandfather, but their stock was severely depleted as were their materials needed to craft new wands. The pair bonded over their shared experiences. Hermione was dealing with the fallout from the war and the trauma she suffered, while he was trying to help rebuild the shop after spending nearly a year in hiding and worrying over his grandfather.
The week before she was to get on the Hogwarts express, she set out for their weekly meeting when Gavin showed up with a single wand box in hand. He was certain he'd made the perfect wand for who she was... who she had become. The wood was vine, like her previous wand, but it was from a special reserve. It was ancient vine gifted to Geraint Ollivander by the druids. Specially blessed and cared for meticulously by every apprentice that came before Gavin. The core was phoenix feather. A symbol of how much she had overcome. Rising from the ashes of war and coming out stronger for it. Slightly stiff, in honor of her conviction that seemed so certain on most every topic they discussed. Eleven and one-half inches, slightly longer, a correction of the measure of her character. When he opened the box to show her, the wand turned within the velvet to offer its handle to it new owner it seemed to recognize even before she touched it. The warm that ran up Hermione's arm as she picked it up spread over her chest. The strength of the connection was overwhelming. Her fondness for Gavin grew in that moment and the pair promised to stay in touch.
Back at Hogwarts, Hermione found the seventh year class was a strange mix of students from her year doing the same as her and the class one year below her rightfully starting their seventh year. It was a comfort to return to the familiar halls of Hogwarts. As Ron and her life took different paths, their relationship that had always been ill defined seemed to fall away too, although they remained fierce friends. During her first Hogsmeade weekend, Hermione was thrilled to find Gavin checking in on the Ollivander branch in the small village. He admitted he was aware of the weekend, all shop keepers got a list of dates to make sure they were prepared for the influx of students.
That year she helped rebuild the castle, helped the house elves get the resources they needed, and aided Hagrid in assessing the damage done to the creatures in the forbidden forest. After getting outstandings on all her N.E.W.T.s. she accepted a position in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She focused on House Elf rights, but helped improve policies for other beasts and beings. She was especially proud of the development of an anonymous wolfsbane potion service for werewolves. A population which had grown during the war thanks to Greyback's efforts to infect as many people as he could. During that time, she and Gavin married in December of 1999. When she became pregnant in with Shiloh, Hermione took a short leave of absence wanting to finally enjoy the next phase of her life. Shiloh was born August 31, 2000.
Hermione went back to work a year after having Shiloh in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and assisted Minister Shacklebolt in eradicating the old laws biased in favor of pure-bloods. Gavin assumed primary child care responsibilities and took Shiloh to the wand shop with him every day. She literally grew up around wand wood, learning from three generations of wand makers from a very young age.
When Hermione found out she was pregnant again, she requested permission for a sabbatical to study international law through correspondence. Gabriel was born July 27, 2004. Hermione's parents approached her and Gavin asking if they could help with the baby, feeling guilty over the lost time with their family over the hurt from Hermione's actions before the war. Glad to make amends with them, and not wanting to send two children to the wand shop, Gabriel took to life with his grandparents quickly. It wasn't long before Hermione discovered she was pregnant again. Despite being in the hardest year of her studies, she felt it was the best time to have their third child. Hermione was looking forward to continuing her career when the timing was right and not before. Her pregnancy with Willow was exceptionally hard on her. There were moments where she thought the baby might have been manifesting magical abilities before she was even born. They welcomed their third and final baby the last day of 2006.
Hermione passed the magical bar exam in 2007. Minister Shacklebolt asked her to return to the ministry as the Deputy Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Ready to continue her career, her parents volunteered to take Willow as well as Gabriel; however the arrangement was short lived when Willow's magic started to manifest itself at a very early age, Hermione and Gavin decided to get a magical nanny for their youngest.
Character History (early years and school years)
When Shiloh was old enough to understand her family history she realized she was the oldest of her generation, but she hadn't been given a first name that started with a G. Her younger brother had been given that honor while only her middle name followed the tradition. She let that bug her for weeks. Finally, she got up the courage to ask her parents if they planned for Gabriel to take over the wand shop, skipping her because she was a girl.
Gavin and Hermione never considered how her name would be perceived by Shiloh. They told her they purposefully picked her name because of the peace they finally found in making a family together. They didn't want Shiloh to think she had to be a wandmaker if she didn't want to be one. They purposefully picked Gaia as her middle name in case she wanted to claim her place in a traditional way. When they had a boy, it felt more like tradition to pick a first name that started with a G but not because he was the heir apparent, just the oldest boy of the generation. Even Garrick assured her that she could run the shop one day if she applied herself in her apprenticeship appropriately; being a boy or a girl or a Shiloh had nothing to do with it. She needed to be a master wandmaker. From that point on, she was locked on to the goal.
Year 1 (2011-2012)
Shiloh had never really considered the strong resemblance she had to her mother until she got on the Hogwarts express. It was the first time she felt like she was being stared at. She always thought that her last name would be the thing that made her recognizable. Yet there she sat in her train car alone, no one knowing her name, as other students made excuses to walk by the glass and get a peek. She didn't really understand the fascination. She wasn't a Potter or a Weasley. Apparently all the pictures and publicity her mom had gotten with uncles Harry and Ron was enough to give away her identity.
Things only got worse from there. When her last name was announced to step up for the sorting hat she was marked as not just the daughter of Hermione Granger but the Ollivander heir. She suddenly understood why her parents had been so dedicated to ensuring their privacy was maintained at home even though they were both constantly attending social events. The hat took some time to place her, likely due to her discomfort from the attention causing her mind to race. Finally, she was placed in Ravenclaw. Her housemates were nice enough, but she kept to herself, not really sure how to figure who was a genuine friend verses those who just wanted to get information about her family. She joined a few study groups, but kept to herself.
Even though she was the youngest student at Hogwarts, having turned 11 the day before the term started, she was certain she was one of only a few first years who already knew what profession she was born to pursue. Despite her parents encouragement to consider other career paths, she wanted to be a wandmaker. That meant she needed to excel in charms to master the spells required, herbology to understand wand wood cultivation and selection, and care of magical creatures to identify the higher quality core materials and bowtruckle-inhabited trees. Those were her highest priorities. Her dad told her transfigurations was useful in order to master switching spells and potions was a excellent discipline to practice the precision needed for wandmaking. Everything else was noise to Shiloh.
Year 2 (2012-2013)
Over the summer holiday Shiloh shared some of her insecurities with her parents. They encouraged her to find friends that she could be herself with. To look outside her year and her house. Her mom specifically encouraged her to not be so limited by the sorting. Shiloh thought it was too bad she was the first of her siblings to attend Hogwarts. Her brother was much more extroverted than she was. He wanted to be noticed. She got on the train with confidence, but it hadn't even pulled out from King's Cross before she was seeking out an empty train car. She didn't have to make more friends right away... In class she met a muggleborn witch, Sameera Astor. She was quiet but once she opened up, Shiloh found her attitude to be contagious. She felt happy just being around Sammy. She could say she increased the number of good friends she had from zero to one. That seemed like mathematical progress. Shiloh grew very fond of Sammy, appreciating her quiet happy nature and wonder of magic. She enjoyed watching her friend discovery so many things Shiloh had taken for granted.
Year 3 (2013-2014)
Feeling comfortable at Hogwarts, Shiloh spent more time outside of the house common room. Interacting with students in the common areas and at Hogsmeade. The weekends in the wizarding village were her favorite part of her third year. She could visit the wand shop and feel a bit closer to home or interact with other students in a more casual environment. She felt like she was coming out of her shell a bit. She curated a small group of really close friends and finally understood why her parents had been so insistent. It was a amazing to just be herself with people who liked her for her not who her family was.
Year 4 (2014-2015)
The summer between her third and fourth year, Gabriel was relentless with his questions about Hogwarts. She tried to be patient but just wanted to read for fun and spend time at the wand shop, working part time to clean, update inventory, and get ready for the rush on new wands that came every year before the start of the new term. Thankfully, Hermione intervened on several occasions to explain some of what he would experience, although both her parents insisted that some of the joy of the first year was discovery Hogwarts independently. That quenched some of the questions. Not surprisingly, Gabriel was sorted into Hufflepuff. Shiloh decided he embodied that personality she often associated with the house, in fact, she was a little relieved she was older and didn't have to overcome whatever reputation Gabriel was about to forge.
Knowing her fourth year would be a formative academic year for her O.W.L. exams, Shiloh really buckled down. She spent most of her free time studying or meeting with her professors to get pointers on practical application of the theory. Gabriel thought she was taking everything too seriously and Shiloh thought he wasn't. Still, it was fun to watch her brother experience life at Hogwarts. He embraced the social aspect with gusto.
Year 5 (2015-2016)
As the O.W.L.s inched closer, Shiloh essentially lived in the library or the training grounds. She was dedicated to mastering both theory and practical spell casting in charms and transfigurations. When she had free time, she signed up for extra practice with the Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures professors. When she sat for her first written section of her exams all her anxiety melted away. The answers came easy in the subjects she cared about.
O.W.L.s
Ancient Runes: E
Astronomy: A
Care of Magical Creatures: O
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: E
Herbology: O
History of Magic: D
Potions: E
Transfiguration: E
Year 6 (2016-2017)
When Shiloh's O.W.L. results came, Hermione gave her a long lecture about the importance of History of Magic. She didn't really see how it would help her be a better wandmaker, she just needed to know the history of wand components and wand development. That was the Wrong thing to say, with a capital W. The lecture had almost been over. In the end, Shiloh agreed to restudy and retake the O.W.L. but convinced her mom that it wouldn't be the end of the world if she didn't take the N.E.W.T. course. Well, she hadn't convinced her, Ron had been visiting and reminded Hermione that she once walked out on a class in the middle of the term and didn't return. The look on her mom's face was priceless. Shiloh gave Ron an extra scoop of ice cream with his dessert.
O.W.L. Retake
History of Magic: A
Year 7 (2017-2018)
Hermione hadn't been very impressed with Shiloh's retake results but it wasn't a dreadful and it certainly wasn't a troll. Shiloh tried to loosen up more in her seventh year, knowing she only had six N.E.W.T.s. Using her free time, she decided to experience student life the best she could to enjoy the end of her time at Hogwarts.
N.E.W.T.s
Care of Magical Creatures: O
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Herbology: O
Potions: E
Transfiguration: E
Character History (adult years)
Almost immediately after Hogwarts, Shiloh started her apprenticeship at the wand shop (July 2018). Almost immediately, Shiloh struck out on her own. In a hurry to have her own private space, Shiloh found a cozy cottage in Godric's Hollow she could afford with a little help from her parents. The place needed serious renovation, but it was all hers and established herself in the small village. It took some time to master spells make the necessary repairs and she cursed Hogwarts several times for not teaching domestic-style spells. The mending charm only got her so far.
One day on an outing with Sammy, Shiloh ran into her brother Danny. Sammy suddenly had to run off and return to work, leaving Shiloh awkwardly with Danny. Deciding to go with the moment, Shiloh wasn't about to miss out on enjoying her day off, she invited Danny for a coffee. The pair had a good time debating topics, Shiloh ended the interaction surprised by how much she had enjoyed herself and invited him to her place to for dinner sometime to make up for the terrible coffee she had suggested.
A few weeks later, he took her up on the offer. By the end of the night they both had a bit too much to drink and several repair projects Shiloh had left undone were completed thanks to Danny's spell work. The following week she send a few owls, following up on topics they had discussed or telling him about a new brewery she heard about. He didn't respond. Shiloh tried not to take it personally and told herself he was just really busy working on his case. It wasn't until she ran into him at Slug & Jiggers Apothecary that she confronted him. He looked like he was in pain and she was worried. He pushed her away. It hurt and she tried to get away from him. He followed her explaining to her that his growing feelings he had for her was actually a terrible thing and how she distracted him from his work. Not one to be around someone who didn't want to be around her, Shiloh took off to the wand shop and was relieved he didn't follow. That night, Shiloh went to her mom, tearful and hurt. She let it slip who had broken her heart.
The next day, Danny showed up at her door to explain himself. Shiloh wasn't inclined to make it easy on him. She was confused by his reaction and swore long ago to only allow people close to her who didn't make her life more complicated. Something about him though drew her to him. She didn't understand. That night, they shared their first kiss together and Shiloh's first kiss ever.
Shiloh hadn't been able to tell her mother that she and Danny had made up before Hermione ran into Danny at the ministry. Despite her mom's efforts to not interfere directly in her kid's lives, there was time that just the nature of Hermione being Hermione was an interference. Danny mentioned to confrontation to Shiloh over dinner. She vowed to set it right and to make sure Danny's job would be jeopardized. Also during that dinner, Shiloh found the nerve to confess to Danny that she had never in her life dated anyone, let alone kissed anyone in any way other than platonic. Danny himself was a bit of a playboy and the couple agreed they take the relationship one day at a time.
It turned out telling her parents she was serious about a boy wasn't the worst experience. That was reserved for telling her best friend Sammy she was dating the brother who never treated Sammy with the unconditional love she deserved. Alcohol was involved, words were said and Shiloh worried she'd have to choose between her best friend and man she was falling in love with. Unfortunately for Shiloh, Sammy wasn't the problem. Danny was married to his job and eventually she suggested they take a break. Their future is unsure.
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name or Alias: rouch
Pronouns: she/her
Experience: 2 years
Other Characters: Nicole Halley
Role Playing Sample: n/a