Rowena Ravenclaw
"ROWENA!" Rowena Ravenclaw woke with a start. Sunlight was streaming through the window, warming her thin frame. Rowena was just a peasant girl with long, silky black hair and breathtaking emerald-green eyes. She was the fancy of many men in the village of Surrey on account of her being so beautiful; it was hard to believe she was merely a commoner. Rowena was only 16 and already she had dozens of proposals of marriage. She lived with her stepmother and her family (the stepmother's family); her mother died giving birth to her and her father was nowhere to be found. "ROWENA!" The shrilly voice shouted again.
"Anon, good mother, anon," Rowena called out, quickly getting out of bed and changing into her work clothes. Rowena was the apprentice of the village's apothecary: Gwion. Gwion was a wizened old man getting on in his years and was considered the local mad man. He believed in magic and had some knowledge of it- to a certain extent. Gwion wanted to pass on his knowledge of the touchy subject, being as he had no children, and Rowena was happy to his request of her becoming his apprentice. That was where she was heading. She went to his cottage on the outskirts of the village every day, but she needed her mother to get her up on time; she was not a morning person.
"Rowena, you toe-rag, hurry up or you're going to be late," her mother shouted.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Rowena replied exasperatedly. She took one last look at her very small room; there was nothing there but a straw mat covered with blankets and a wooden, hand-made brush (she already brushed her hair). Rowena sighed and hurried off to Gwion's.