Name ❧ Beatrix Xiaofen Lou (羅小芬)
House ❧ Gryffindor
Age/Year ❧ 13 14 / Third Year
Appearance ❧ Beatrix stands at a height of 5'1". She has brown eyes, short black hair, and is generally very plain in appearance, only dressing herself in simple loose-knit sweaters, jeans, and sneakers whenever she is out of her uniform. She has only a few articles of clothing, no piercings, and no accessories. Because she is missing her canine tooth, her whole front row of teeth is shifted over, resulting in a funny, asymmetrical smile. Prior classmates have laughed at her caterpillar brows, which she has begun to pluck. Her eyes always look as though they are smiling.
Speaking Style ❧ Despite having spent her first seven years in a poor village of Guangzhou, China, Beatrix can speak British English quite fluently. She does have a bit of an accent though. When she speaks, she tends to be very expressive with her face.
Demeanor ❧ Beatrix has a bit of a mischievous streak and a flightiness about her that leads to her frequent truancy, making it unusually difficult for others to locate her.
Although Beatrix is soft-spoken, she is also friendly in the sense that she is genuinely curious about others. However, it doesn't concern her to make friends as most of her hobbies are solitary anyhow. She is characterized by naivete and a knack for speaking brazenly. She tends to do things her way and ignores tradition whenever it pleases her. This - along with her intense engagement with her own projects of drawing, sculpting dolls, and directing puppet plays with herself as the only audience - makes her a bit of an oddball.
When she is excited, her face lights up in the way of wide eyes and a goofy, crooked smile. But these are silent expressions rarely accompanied by words, like those in silent films. Her over-enthusiasm also leads her to feel frustrated with naysayers. Bedazzled by a sunset, she might try to walk off a cliff while protesting with those trying to stop her. She is always attracted by novelty and is simultaneously impractical. Others accuse her of wasting time and effort on things that don't matter.
In physicality, Beatrix is naturally agile, giving others the impression of a nimble monkey. With ease, she weaves through crowds, climbs trees, and exhibits quick reflexes. She is a daring, if not erratic, flier. Beatrix is also never squeamish as she is attracted to all things novel, bizarre, and grotesque. The world to her is a place to be explored, but she is also prone to getting lost in her own inner world.
Best Qualities ❧ Beatrix is very open-minded. Due to her animistic beliefs, she sees even animals & inanimates as having as much integrity as people, and so treats them as such. Aside from her openness, she also possesses enthusiasm and an independent will, such that she is always prepared to torch any new idea or risky escapade. Her motto is to do everything with passion; otherwise, do not do it at all. She may have good hindsight due to her many moments of quiet self-reflection, but she is terribly lacking in foresight due to her impulsivity. Despite her intensity, she is not easily angered.
Worst Qualities/Flaws ❧ She is flighty and irresponsible. She always seems to be constantly changing gears and losing track of time. She is stubborn in disguising personal vulnerability---a trait acquired from growing up in an environment where crying was forbidden, and so, often times, Beatrix may come off as emotionally distant. In addition, she lacks confidence in her abilities, which is perpetuated by her constantly poor academic performance; however, this does improve over time as she matures. Beatrix is a bit oblivious to employing tact when speaking as well. Her impulsivity and her desire to leave nothing unsaid may be the reasons why.
History ❧
Part I.) Guangzhou, China
Born as Lou Xiaofen on February 12 in a village of Guangzhou, China, Beatrix was a difficult child who proved to ask too many questions and went around the family shack causing mayhem. For example, she would cut up her own bedsheet to create scarves for her stuffed animals during wintertime. As she grew older, this altering of family possessions for her crafting needs continued, although she would later learn to ask for permission first.
At school, Beatrix fared little better as she found herself constantly distracted and falling behind. School had become solely a place for her humiliation where her only friend was the local farmer's son, whom she can now only remember as Ma Diao.
Ma Diao was a quiet and bookish boy with asthma. Classmates liked him because they were impressed by the way he recited poetry and that his father would often bring watermelons to class during the hot, summer days.
Ma Diao did not think Beatrix was stupid like everyone else did. Instead, he liked listening to her stories and bringing her to his father's farm where they swam with the salmon in the nearby river, climbed trees, trekked the outdoors like expedition explorers, and played treasure hunt. Even though Beatrix rarely read, she did enjoy wuxia fiction (adventure stories) and she and Ma Diao would talk about their favorite Condor Heroes trilogy, sometimes acting out scenes from the heroes' adventures.
Life was nearly perfect until Beatrix's mom became pregnant. With the one-child policy in effect, Mrs. Lou knew she would have to give up one of her children. At four months, the fetus was determined a boy. Beatrix knew that boys were preferred over girls, and so she feared that her parents would give her up. She loved her parents despite the fact that they were poor, despite her father always treating her like a boy. He always advocated toughness in Beatrix by never allowing her to cry, condemning her girl tendencies such as playing with dolls, and by forcing her to "speak up and quit whimpering." Whenever she listened to her father speak crudely, Beatrix would imagine how differently Ma Diao would have said it in his own words. He didn't believe in cursing.
Six months into the pregnancy, Mrs. Lou suffered a miscarriage when the public library's bookshelf had collapsed onto her while trying to retrieve a book for Beatrix. Beatrix had ill-wishes toward her unborn brother right before this had happened, and would later learn that it might have been her accidental use of magic that had caused the bookshelf to fall. Every night thereafter, Beatrix had trouble sleeping. The guilt of killing her unborn brother remains with her still.
At seven, Beatrix was forced to say goodbye to Ma Diao as she would be leaving for England with her parents.
Before departing, Beatrix had said to Ma Diao without crying, "I'm going to come back." And he had smiled. He had told her that he wasn't going anywhere. When Beatrix got home, she let herself cry.
Part II.) England
In England, Beatrix was initially unhappy in the city where she lived. The buildings were too tall and there were no creepy crawly surprises, like lizards or white moths at night. She lived on Whimple Street.
One of her teachers had suggested she come up with an English name for herself. As her favorite book then was The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, Xiufen adopted Beatrix as her own name to her parents' protest. "B-Bie-chick, I cannot even pronounce it," they would lament. "Why not Julie or Ellie?" But Beatrix was going to be her name, and that was that. Besides, she liked that it sounded quaint, like seashells in the countryside.
It wasn't long before Beatrix made a redheaded curley-haired friend named Cartier, who doted on Beatrix's long, black hair. When Beatrix went home that day, she began snipping away at her hair until it was shoulder-length and kept it that way since. It pleased Beatrix that Cartier did not like her just for her hair. From then on, Beatrix would stay at Cartier's house afterschool every day, and they would sing Emilia's song that began like this: "I'm a big, big girl in a big, big world!"
In actuality, Beatrix felt small and insignificant in the city. The feeling frightened her. Ever since then, she developed a preoccupation with a desire to feel larger than life. She wanted to feel like the eye of a tornado, and that was precisely the way her life spun out of control the older she grew. Strange things occurred around her that couldn't be explained, but she reveled in it - letting saucer pans of food she disliked clatter to the ground, willing all the chalks in the classroom to break when she became frustrated with the lesson, and watching as chicken pox burst all over a bully's face after he'd try to throw sticks at a stray cat. Things broke, flew, and tumbled around her and she did not try to control it at all.
But back in her bedroom, she would hand sculpt her first clay doll which she named Ellie May. She would go on to sculpt more of these dolls with joints and would move them as in puppet plays. This was where she had control.
Ellie May remained as her favorite, for that doll always had such a pensive & attentive look about her that it convinced Beatrix that Ellie was always listening. Thus, Beatrix often practiced English with Ellie May. By this time, Beatrix's English had surpassed her Chinese. As Beatrix's Chinese continued to remain at a seven year-old level, communication became difficult between her parents and herself. It would only be later in the future when Beatrix and Ma Diao's paths cross once more that they both realize their communication is strained by that very language barrier. As such, another piece of childhood flitters away...
Part III.) Hogwarts
The day Beatrix discovers that she is a witch.
Her parents had initially refused to let her attend Hogwarts, but would give in a year later to Beatrix's constant defiance and justifications as to why a magic education would garner a better future for her (Beatrix fabricated tales of healing magic and conjuring things out of nothing to her parents, saying that they would never have to see doctors or save money to buy furniture anymore if she could just do some hocus pocus).
Beatrix would indeed go on to attend Hogwarts, albeit one year late. During the sorting ceremony, she was met with a Gryffindor-Ravenclaw hatstall.
Upon putting the sorting hat on, Beatrix immediately wondered whether the boy before her had washed his hair recently. She wondered if someone had lice. Do you ever get put in the washing machine? What do you do in your free time? Her heart sank upon thinking about how the hat must sit on the stool all day every day. How did they put a brain in you anyway? And she began musing about how she could put a brain in Ellie May. At that moment, she noticed her hands sweating like mad. The anticipation! Beatrix could barely stand it. She thought she was going to suffocate in the hat. She despised wearing hats.
It took awhile before the sorting hat finally spoke:
"My! What a cluttered mind! Volatile, very volatile, indeed. But you see, it's there, the drive for knowledge. Stupid? You don't really think so, do you? Ahh, but hold on, allow me to finish before you protest - such strength of will... and idealism... ah, also courage. Gryffindor, yes, perhaps. Hmm, it's curious, you see loyalty as a reign on your freedom. And how combative you are! You will not fit in with the Hufflepuffs, no, but... Hmm, certainly not with the Slytherins either. Well, then--- Gryffindor!"
Wand ❧ Beatrix's first wand (11 inches, Pine, Phoenix core, & very flexible), which she named "Plain Jane", was broken when she tried to carve a design onto it. Her new wand is 11⅓ inches, made of Ebony and a Phoenix core, and is surprisingly swishy. As the handle of this one looks like a chunk of aa lava, Beatrix resolved to name her new wand "Pocky Lava" and has since been itching to polish it down.
Hobbies ❧ Reckless flying, tree-climbing, exploring the castle, practicing new spells---especially those of Transfiguration, crafting clay dolls and using magic to move them around as if directing a play, aimlessly hopping from project to project, being a quiet busybody
Patronus ❧ Monkey
Extra ❧ Under the guidance of Professor Saoirse, Beatrix becomes an animagus by the end of her third year. Her animagus form is a small Black Titi Monkey. (Will be further updated in the future.)
Oh... hi!
Go away! My hiding spot!
