InsaneJournal

Mafalda Hopkirk @ ohmymod.

OUT OF CHARACTER.
PLAYER : Tyla.
AIM : ohmyposh.
TIMEZONE : GST + 12, I think.
EXPERIENCE : Um um, Pansy + Garrick.
DISCLAIMER : Nothing except the writing is mine. Images are owned by their respective artists/photographers/icon-makers. a_caveat provided the profile picture, themisproject provided the journal layout. PB is Andi Muise and terrible manips at the bottom are made for (super-bad) amusement purposes only.

BASICS.
NAME : Mafalda Wilhelmina Zhu Hopkirk.
NICKNAMES : Hopkirk. Malfada doesn’t answer to any cutesy versions of her name.
BIRTHDAY : September 7, 1961.
WAND : 10”, elm, inflexible-- core of unicorn hair.
WAND HAND : Left.
HOUSE : Ravenclaw.
YEAR : Seventh.
SIGN : Virgo.
BLOODLINE : She will answer with “Halfblood” if she’s in the uncomfortable situation of needing to label herself. However, in actuality, Mafalda’s family is dreadfully mixed on her mother’s side, both with blood purity and in terms of ethnicity, so her percentage of wizarding heritage is actually closer to three quarters.

HEIGHT : 5’10”, probably. Mafalda refuses to measure herself.
BUILD : Thin.
EYE COLOUR : Dark brown.
HAIR COLOUR : Dark brown.

APPEARANCE : Mafalda has the look of a girl who would have probably been a plump child, until Mother Nature decided to grab her by the head and stretch her as far upward as she could. She’s a little too tall and a little too thin, and she has a habit of hiking her shoulders up and slouching at times to better hide the fact that while many other girls her age can strut around the place with their bosoms bouncing, she is not quite so fortunate. Some may think her face “pretty”, in an unusual way, but boys generally prefer the curvaceous or athletic girls, and Mafalda is neither. Her only saving grace is that her height has given her a long pair of legs, really. Her facial features are the result of mixed ethnic heritage; it’s obvious enough in the catlike shape of her eyes and mouth-- as well as the olive tones to her complexion, which certainly strays from the typical British pale-- that her genetic make-up must be more colourful than the norm. However, her tendency to walk around with a quietly expectant look on her face, and the despairing rarity of her smiles, eliminates whatever initial charm this may conjure in a stranger looking upon her.

DRESS SENSE : The best way to describe it is casual, but quite quirky. Mafalda doesn’t get much pleasure out of fashion, but because of her indifferent attitude, she usually gives off the opposite impression. In the weekends, she’ll put on the nearest clean garments at random, but as she avoids looking awful and has a penchant for colourful nail-polishes, it simply seems as if she’s one of those annoying wannabe-fashionistas who try their hardest to think outside the square. Her uniform, however, is always worn well. She sometimes charms her cardigan to be a size or two larger than her usual; she just finds it more comfortable. Most of the time, she wears her hair out, and it frames her face rather nicely in a pencil-straight fall to her shoulder-blades. Her bangs have a tiresome habit of obscuring her eyes.

HISTORY.
HOME : ?
BIRTHPLACE : Pretoria, South Africa.
FATHER : Priam Hopkirk.
MOTHER : Susanita Hopkirk, née Asamoah-Pitti.
SIBLINGS : One older brother, Emory (class of ’69) and an older sister, Brigida (class of ’70).
RELATIONSHIPS : The Hopkirks are a very, very loving family. A small amount of damage has, over the last few years, expectedly come from younger members refusing to travel with their parents; but Mr. and Mrs. Hopkirk expect reunions during the Christmas seasons, whereupon all ego-injuries are forgotten, and the dinner-table becomes alight with conversation and intellectual discussions. While much like her siblings, who are both incredibly bright and book-smart, Mafalda is the least outspoken and hip. When surrounded by the academics of her family, who enjoy overpowering each other with their repartee, she usually takes the role of quiet observer-- nothing she's not used to.
PETS : One (vicious) cat, Mox.

HISTORY : Born the last of her parents’ small litter in 1961, Mafalda grew up thinking it wasn’t odd for a family to spend less than a year in any one country. Permanent settlement, what was that? Neither of her parents, adventurous and kooky linguists-- both with muggle languages and otherwise-- had the expensive backgrounds of many other wizarding couples, but their line of work provided well enough for themselves and their children. Mafalda, as far as she knew, never wanted for anything-- getting one present at Christmas never felt strange, and didn’t everyone eat very simple meals for dinner? Her parents’ business was in learning the complexities of different languages and then dumbing them down into easy-to-digest manuals for others, but though it was certainly their passion and meant travelling was constant and usually free, the pay, of course, was not necessarily that fantastic. Their genuine thirst for knowledge did affect their children in the best of ways, though; Mafalda, like her older brother and sister, took to literature and artistic creativity and philosophy like a fish to water. There couldn't have been a more encouraging family for her to have been placed in as a budding scholar.

While her parents loved their nomadic existences, each of Mafalda’s siblings, in their own time, came to resent the repetition of it all. She was no different, suffering the phase earlier than they did, when she became rather attached to Mesta, a small town her family had settled in, in Greece-- during which time her English-bred father was forcing himself to learn the first language of his more exotic wife. Mafalda had gotten used to making temporary friends to play with for the short time she was in town, but there were a group of children she bonded with instantly, whom she was exceptionally enamoured of. A chipper, flamboyant child at that stage; when her parents refused to halt their following trip to Germany and beyond, Mafalda’s heart broke a little, and bit by bit, she naturally grew more reclusive. She was never unfriendly, but she came to realise it was much better to stay by her siblings’ side, for they were, really, the only playmates she’d never have to part with.

Until they’d leave her to attend Hogwarts, that is.

Those were the miserable times. Alone with Priam and Susanita, Mafalda inevitably began taking on their traits as an impressionable youth-- especially those of her father, who outside of his dorky mannerisms, usually had an ever-serious and broody way of dealing with people. Because of his occupation, Priam, born of a middle-class pureblooded family who had managed to scrap along to the best of their abilities after one of his forefathers gambled their family inheritance away through unwise business ventures, had grown to have a high tolerance and understanding of muggles. However, Mafalda was always told that she was different, and that if ever sides had to be picked, she would, in all fairness, not be standing with them. While never a bigot, for she didn’t have the influence of pureblooded friends to affect her, Mafalda was always aware that there was a world she wasn’t completely apart of-- that she felt she should have.

When it was her turn to attend Hogwarts, it didn’t take Mafalda long to realise that world she’d been kept from was not as large and wondrous as she thought it was. Surrounded by children of all bloodlines and variations of purity all of the sudden, while she conceded that she was certainly more of a ‘purist’ than a ‘muggle-traitor’ in some ways, she suffered none of the delusions that many of the wealthier children had fallen pray to. When she was sorted into Ravenclaw, the house that her graduated brother and sister had each been placed into, Mafalda thought it suited her-- and though initially she was a little more than a paperweight in the commons, incapable of making friends or approaching others, over the years, she’s managed to get on in that arena well enough. At 17 now, she’s still a good and honourable friend, although still more used to parting with people than most people her age. The day she was appointed as a prefect was among the top ten best moments of her school-life-- Mafalda was overjoyed at the thought of that being on her resume for future employers to see-- but the most of her time has been rather cookie-cutter. She’s made mistakes, she’s done well, she’s made the odd enemy, she’s attended parties, she’s fallen in love, she’s been broken up with, she has pulled a prank. It’s all been rather standard, really.

Outside of Hogwarts, Mafalda does her best to avoid returning parents’ side, as she is still rather disillusioned with the gypsy’s way of life. Instead, if she does not remain at school, she prefers to take her pick out of staying with her older brother, an intern at a wizarding law firm, or her sister, a journalist for the Daily Prophet. Sometimes she's allowed, sometimes she isn't. Both of their houses are situated in London and they are certainly enjoying, for the first time in their lives, having an actual point on an atlas which they can call ‘home’. Once Mafalda completes her studies-- she hopes, with immaculate scores-- she has every intention in becoming a lawyer and doing the same thing. Her parents are, of course, very pleased and encouraging of her ambitions, but a little disappointed she’d rather not trot around the globe with them anymore.

PERSONALITY : The first impression people get from Mafalda is usually that she’s one of those dullard teenagers that grew up too fast, to the point that being around them is about as interesting as hanging with a 40-year-old. While that’s not necessarily true, to a stranger, the idea isn’t all that strange to come up with-- Mafalda has always been a very serious girl, and now in her late teens, her behaviours have darkened rather than lightened. She’s animated in her own way but certainly not in the traditional sense-- she very rarely laughs, and her smiles are just as scarce and lightning-quick in their arrival and departure. When Mafalda speaks, it is generally in an even-pitched monotone, and despite being, in actuality, a very pretty girl, people don’t often notice that much, as she doesn’t present herself with any vivacity whatsoever-- unless it comes to her studies, which is a completely different ballgame altogether. It perplexes many, straight off the bat, that she has friends, when she hardly seems like a social person at all. At heart, she truly isn’t, but she’s extremely loyal and thankfully not too horrible to be around the most of the time; for a lot of kids, that’s enough.

To be fair, Mafalda would be quite a dish were she a boy-- the atypical wallflower, borderline loner, who prefers the company of books over people a great deal of the time, and has to sweep heavy bangs from off their eyes every ten minutes-- but because she isn’t, she can come across as obliviously awkward and emotionally repressed, instead of mysterious and charmingly reserved. It’s not really so. Mafalda isn’t a shy person-- she says things how they are, as a personal rule, but she knows where honesty begins and where offensiveness starts. She can get along with many people, but she can’t suffer idiots for long; she has a good bullshit-radar, and like anyone else, she can send the missiles off now and then to combat it. She has a weakness for younger years-- for the children of the school who find themselves helpless amongst their elders, especially-- as well as others in different walks of life who find themselves in similar circumstances. Because of this, with her friends-- and surprisingly she’s apart of a group far more sociable than one would expect-- she can take on a strangely maternal role, though without any of that overt coaxing warmness usually associated with the position, and sees to it that they’re always alright.

There’s a softness to her, one might come to find out. Her complete genuineness, after a while, can win people over-- and has done, with some. While Mafalda’s facial features rarely favour the extremes, it does mean that when those sweeter fixtures take hold, something is clearly exceptional. She never fakes it. And despite what people may assume upon meeting her, she is a great enjoyer of witty people; the only difference is that she doesn’t often feel the need to giggle in order show appreciation, and a lot of her jokes go unnoticed. Mafalda can bust out some pretty fabulous one-liners when she wants to; one just has to be familiar enough with her to spot them out, since she doesn’t decorate the statements with a change in tone. She’s understated and actually rather wonderfully sarcastic to the trained ear-- hers is a very British sense of humour.

Mafalda adds to the typical Ravenclaw stereotype-- as her receiving a place as senior prefect suggests, she’s very much the intellect; if one cannot find her in the Commons and the Great Hall, she’s likely to be in the library. The scientific artist, but never the dreamer; escapism is very much one of Mafalda’s best sought-after treats, and she finds that release in reading, writing, drawing-- and, horror of horrors, studying. Notorious for answering questions in class in a manner that’s accurately described as robotic, as well as for having incredibly well-ordered notes on each of her subjects, Mafalda can speak Afrikaans, German, Portuguese and Italian fluently, and on top of her already-packed schedule, her parents see to it that she reads through pamphlets they send to her monthly to perfect her Japanese. She forces herself to like being a hard-worker. She knows her family isn’t like some other ones, she’s hardly some heiress to a large estate-- all she has is herself and her brother and sister and her parents, and all she can amount to is what she creates for herself. It’s a lot of pressure, and despite her unmoving expression, it affects her very much. It’s the reason why she shrugs off many social get-togethers-- the pretentiousness of which makes her uncomfortable, anyway-- to get homework completed on Friday nights, and requests tutors for subjects she feels ‘unsure’ about, only to usually find herself on equal footing with whoever is paired with her. She frets a lot about success. Some people have it easy, and despite being in a house of mentally gifted people, Mafalda doesn’t consider herself one of them. She would be lying if she didn't admit that, once in a while, she feels a stab of envy toward those schoolmates born into wealth and opportunity.

Still, she can relax once a millennia. As a prefect, a position she obtained with amazing personal satisfaction, she’s not incredibly nitpicky and she isn’t quick to dock points or call rank or any of that other garbage a lot of others are-- people do like her for her lack of ridiculous power-lust. It’s rather well-known to those amongst her year that she overlooks smoking over other contraband uses, as it is the only rule she regularly breaks herself, and while she doesn’t engage in the juvenile rite of passage that is ‘pulling a prank on someone’, there have been rumours that she has assisted a friend or two in theirs. The result of a time where she was a little more impressionable, Mafalda regards her addiction to nicotine as a reminder of the losing situation one is in when they conform to others’ perceptions, but for the most part, eh, it’s just one of those everyday things. It’s certainly not some spark of burgeoning rebelliousness; not every smoker is a renegade. Mafalda can enjoy a drink or two now and then, also, just to clear the chaotic mess of words that is her head, although she’s wary of the repercussions of getting caught. These little things do surprise those who think her a complete square, and really, there are many.

In many ways, Mafalda is a rather complicated girl. She’s not an openly expressive person, but indeed, she can be decidedly receptive to people’s feelings and wit beyond-- and is, conversely, always very aware of her own mood. She’s remarkably straight-laced about schoolwork, but despite her social oddities, she has managed to make enough friends to keep her from being a complete hermit and has built herself a good, honourable reputation-- and she has even bagged a boyfriend or two throughout her career at Hogwarts, both of whom she probably watched out the corner of her eye for months before anything was ever done about it, for romantically she is susceptible to pining but never initiating.

More sensitive than she’s probably able of letting on, unless she’s exceptionally comfortable with someone or she’s exceptionally drunk-- which is a little sad; in a way-- Mafalda has all the fears and natural insecurities of any other girl. She doesn’t know why she can’t change this, or can’t change that. But that’s life, unfortunately.

MENTAL HEALTH : Perfectly stable, she supposes.
HERO : Heroes are for children.
BOGGART : The giant squid-- pissed off and hungry for human flesh.
PATRONUS : A hippopotamus. Awful.
ANIMAGUS : N/A.

MISCELLANEOUS.
FAVOURITE BOOK : It’s pretty impossible to pick just one, but if Mafalda had to, it’d probably be “Wide Sargasso Sea” from Jean Rhys.
FAVOURITE COLOUR : Red.
FAVOURITE SCENT : Jasmine.
FAVOURITE ACTIVITY : Reading.
FAVOURITE FOOD : Samoan Sapasui (Chop Suey).
FAVOURITE MUSIC : Mafalda might not seem the type, but angry music with blaring guitars can suit her as much as soft-core singer-songwriters that play with acoustics in their laps. She is not opposed to muggle music, at times; she sees the charm in Led Zeppelin and David Bowie.
FAVOURITE PLACE : The library. She’d live in there, if she could.
FAVOURITE ANIMAL : Koalas.

OTHER FACTS :

· She’s been susceptible to eczema since she was a child. Her sister sends packages of shampoo and soap, modified with a very basic cosmetic potion, to prevent speckles in the summertime or when stress is prompting outbreaks. Sometimes if there’s a lag in the deliveries, it is not unusual for Mafalda to be absent from class.

· If too fearful of the consequences of being caught with alcohol on any particular weekend, Mafalda is known to go through the trouble of preparing kava instead.

· Mafalda’s accent is, in its natural form, a big bloody mess; she effectively mimics her father’s Standard English dialect most of the time. After a couple drinks, however, Australian and Caribbean twangs jump in and out at random and she begins to involuntarily roll her r’s. It’s unintentionally comical.

· She is an avid board-game enthusiast. Wizard’s Chess and Mahjong are her favourites. She and three other geekshousemates often get together for impromptu playoffs.

· She generally dislikes and does not participate in the Halloween season. “Too gimmicky.”

· Bully a first to third year-- who has done nothing to deserve it, that is-- in front of her, to your own doom. It’s about the only thing that Mafalda’s prickly about as a prefect, and will have her giving out detentions.

· She’s fine with heights, but not a big fan of flying. Mafalda’s only involvement with things likes Quidditch is as a spectator and bit-part critic, and she likes it fine that way.

ACADEMIA.
NEWTS : Defence Against The Dark Arts - History of Magic - Ancient Runes - Potions - Transfiguration - Charms.
STRONGEST SUBJECT : History of Magic.
WEAKEST SUBJECT : Defence Against The Dark Arts, just slightly.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR : Slug Club.

Mafalda Hopkirk - Class Schedule
Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
07:00 - 07:55	Breakfast
08:00 - 09:40		DADA	Transfiguration	Study Hall
10:00 - 11:40	Study Hall	DADA	Charms	Charms
12:00 - 12:50	Lunch
13:00 - 14:40	Potions	Study Hall	History of Magic	Transfiguration
15:00 - 16:40	Potions		Study Hall	Ancient Runes	Study Hall
18:30 - 19:30	Dinner
23:00 - 00:00

FIRSTS.
FIRST KISS : Hunter Leland (2^nd Year)
FIRST LOSS : Marcus Emmerich. Presumably, he desired to date other people once he was released from the bubble that was Hogwarts. Mafalda, for a time, was quite crushed.
FIRST SEXUAL ENCOUNTER : TB f’ing A.

ROMANCE.
STATUS : Single.
PARTNER : None.
SEXUALITY : What?
TURNONS : Always changes.
TURNOFFS : Disloyalty and dishonesty.

TIES.
LIAM SELKIRK : Considering the boy was weedy, heavily freckled, white-haired and ridiculously shy, most people thought he made a perfect first boyfriend for Mafalda. Both Ravenclaws, they dated for no more than a month during fourth year; however, someone would’ve had to have been in their house to hear about it. Liam and Mafalda barely spoke to each other in public. No one even saw them hold hands.
MARCUS EMMERICH : In her fifth year, word eventually got around that Mafalda was seeing Marcus; a rather affable Slytherin boy, two years her elder. He was, unlike Liam, not particularly bookish, but probably the closest thing Mafalda’s had to a ‘first love’. She dated him for four months, until he graduated. Quite a few people saw them hold hands.

~

CARADOC DEARBORN : Mafalda doesn't mind Caradoc at all, but the questions he has constantly hit her with over the years makes her, more often than not, feel like a bit of a science subject being examined and prodded at while in his presence. She enjoys his sense of humour, in her own way, when he isn't using it to flatter himself, and thinks him rather trustworthy. Trustworthy enough that Mafalda goes to him for her smokes and such, which is a rather big deal to her. His lack of discipline and restraint can put her off at times, but she thinks him a likeable loose cannon.
GIDEON CRUMB : Gideon has never been an unpleasant person for Mafalda to speak to and she has appreciated that immensely over the years. He's bookish and seemingly considerate without being over-the-top-- she likes him around, even though she thinks his friends a little strange. On a completely aesthetic note, she quite likes his glasses. She doesn't understand how some people find them unbecoming.
GLENDA CHITTOCK : Strange how serious people draw in others more quirky than themselves. Glenda and Mafalda's unusual friendship began in second year, when they were paired together for a History of Magic paper. They are not particularly alike, but they get on just fine; when Mafalda is being too great a downer, Glenda can say so. And when Glenda is being a little too ignorant of those with a less expensive background (such as Mafalda's family), Mafalda is unafraid of telling her to be more thoughtful.
JULIA DONALDSON : Mafalda has grown relatively accustomed to being around people much different than herself-- and Julia is very much the embodiment of what Mafalda isn't. Loud, flighty, sociable. It goes without saying that they didn't get along at the beginning of their careers as room and house-mates, but over the years, they've grown a great understanding of each other's ways. Julia pushes Mafalda to be less withdrawn-- in return, Mafalda acts as a stabilizing force, keeping Julia on a more narrow path.
REMUS LUPIN : Remus is clever and can read Mafalda rather well, and for the most part, she can do the same-- so, they make a jolly match for friendship. She enjoys being in Remus' company; they often refer good novels to each other and discuss their favourite pieces of literature after classes. Secretly, she is very irritated that he is taking seven classes when she is only taking six. Why didn't she do that?
YOU :

YOU :