Today Sara & Chris got married. I thought
that I'd want to write about the ceremony and reception, but I've
decided that I'll save that for tomorrow. I feel like writing some
fiction right now. Actually, I sorta feel like writing about Sylvia, my
HP fanfiction character. This won't really be a story, more like
background information on her.
**************
Sylvia grew up in an orphanage after her mother was killed. She met Harry when they started primary school and became fast friends. They never saw each other outside of school (Sylvia tried once but the Dursleys punished Harry and she never asked to visit again), but it didn't seem to dampen their friendship. Sylvia had a strong protective instinct and she stood up for Harry (and others) when no one else would. At the orphanage the older kids made fun of her for spending time with animals. She got picked on a lot and the staff didn't care enough to stop them from mistreating her. Despite the fact that she would defend Harry, or anyone else who got picked on, to the ends of the earth, she never had much to say when it came to defending herself.
Sylvia was always able to talk to animals but she learned at a VERY early age that the ability was a secret best kept to herself. However, it never occurred to her that this talent (and the other things that happened around her) were magic and not just her being a "freak", as she was often called by the other children in the orphanage. Then she received her Hogwarts acceptance letter, and her whole world changed. One visit from Professor Kettleburn later, she had supplies, a wand, and a tiny kitten all packed and ready to head to Platform 9 3/4. Her only misgiving was that she couldn't tell Harry or her few other friends and she was hesitant to leave them without her protection. Her animal friends could follow her, her human friends could not. Imagine her incredible happiness when she arrived on the train to find Harry already seated.
Sylvia actually managed to thrive at Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Gryffindor after the sorting hat debated the positive qualities of Ravenclaw. Although she still didn't tell anyone she could speak to animals, since no one was telling her that they could either. She found that she loved the classes and the students and especially the creatures in the Forbidden Forest. Harry didn't need her protection anymore, it turned out that in this world he was famous. He found some great friends and while Sylvia was still involved in his life and helped him with trials, she also found friends of her own. She met Fred and George Weasley on the train, and found it easy to fall into their world of tricks and pranks, especially since speaking to her animal friends gave her an edge in their prank wars.
When it came to classes Sylvia did decently well for a child raised in the Muggle world. She loved to read and found that despite what everyone said, she rather enjoyed History of Magic. Sylvia found making potions to be very relaxing, but she found facing Professor Snape and fighting down the urge to hex him over the way he treated Harry and the other Gryffindors quite stressful. Charms was fun and she found that she had a natural talent for the protective spells they learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Astronomy wasn't particularly interesting, but it did happen outside, largely at night, and got points in Sylvia's book for that. Transfiguration on the other hand was an entirely different beast. She wanted so much to please the professor, but try as she might Sylvia couldn't bring herself to transfigure any living creature. Often she would sneak the creature away and transfigure something from her bag instead. This only proved to be an issue when McGonagall decided to reverse the transfiguration. Herbology was also a challenge for Sylvia. She had a natural knack when it came to animals, but plants seemed to go out of their way to mystify and annoy her. Sylvia discovered early on that Neville Longbottom was good in the greenhouse and worked her way to sit next to him.
Outside of classes there were many things that Sylvia loved, starting with the fact that mail was delivered by owls. She didn't have anyone to send her packages, but she found out she could order Wizarding newspapers so that the owls would visit daily. Then there were all the creatures that lived on the grounds, the students she met, and all the adventures she could get up to while at school, but more on that lately.
Until tomorrow.
**************
Sylvia grew up in an orphanage after her mother was killed. She met Harry when they started primary school and became fast friends. They never saw each other outside of school (Sylvia tried once but the Dursleys punished Harry and she never asked to visit again), but it didn't seem to dampen their friendship. Sylvia had a strong protective instinct and she stood up for Harry (and others) when no one else would. At the orphanage the older kids made fun of her for spending time with animals. She got picked on a lot and the staff didn't care enough to stop them from mistreating her. Despite the fact that she would defend Harry, or anyone else who got picked on, to the ends of the earth, she never had much to say when it came to defending herself.
Sylvia was always able to talk to animals but she learned at a VERY early age that the ability was a secret best kept to herself. However, it never occurred to her that this talent (and the other things that happened around her) were magic and not just her being a "freak", as she was often called by the other children in the orphanage. Then she received her Hogwarts acceptance letter, and her whole world changed. One visit from Professor Kettleburn later, she had supplies, a wand, and a tiny kitten all packed and ready to head to Platform 9 3/4. Her only misgiving was that she couldn't tell Harry or her few other friends and she was hesitant to leave them without her protection. Her animal friends could follow her, her human friends could not. Imagine her incredible happiness when she arrived on the train to find Harry already seated.
Sylvia actually managed to thrive at Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Gryffindor after the sorting hat debated the positive qualities of Ravenclaw. Although she still didn't tell anyone she could speak to animals, since no one was telling her that they could either. She found that she loved the classes and the students and especially the creatures in the Forbidden Forest. Harry didn't need her protection anymore, it turned out that in this world he was famous. He found some great friends and while Sylvia was still involved in his life and helped him with trials, she also found friends of her own. She met Fred and George Weasley on the train, and found it easy to fall into their world of tricks and pranks, especially since speaking to her animal friends gave her an edge in their prank wars.
When it came to classes Sylvia did decently well for a child raised in the Muggle world. She loved to read and found that despite what everyone said, she rather enjoyed History of Magic. Sylvia found making potions to be very relaxing, but she found facing Professor Snape and fighting down the urge to hex him over the way he treated Harry and the other Gryffindors quite stressful. Charms was fun and she found that she had a natural talent for the protective spells they learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Astronomy wasn't particularly interesting, but it did happen outside, largely at night, and got points in Sylvia's book for that. Transfiguration on the other hand was an entirely different beast. She wanted so much to please the professor, but try as she might Sylvia couldn't bring herself to transfigure any living creature. Often she would sneak the creature away and transfigure something from her bag instead. This only proved to be an issue when McGonagall decided to reverse the transfiguration. Herbology was also a challenge for Sylvia. She had a natural knack when it came to animals, but plants seemed to go out of their way to mystify and annoy her. Sylvia discovered early on that Neville Longbottom was good in the greenhouse and worked her way to sit next to him.
Outside of classes there were many things that Sylvia loved, starting with the fact that mail was delivered by owls. She didn't have anyone to send her packages, but she found out she could order Wizarding newspapers so that the owls would visit daily. Then there were all the creatures that lived on the grounds, the students she met, and all the adventures she could get up to while at school, but more on that lately.
Until tomorrow.
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