I said I would never write my own character into Hogwarts. I lied.
@-'-,-'-,--
- Book One - Lola -
"Our Story Begins"
Maurice was tall, lanky but muscular. Expressive brown eyes with long lashes and a handsome face he was blessed with; his bright smile was rare but could light up any room. His hair was dark, like his eyes, and fell in a fringe of curls over his forehead; his ears and the back of his neck were tickled by the curls as well.
Lola had always wanted to look like Maurice when she was young, as her hair had hung in curls of golden red. But as time passed, her curls darkened to the deep sable of her brother's and hung to her shoulders. Her eyes, however, had always matched the expressive nature of Maurice's, as had her rare smile. She was tall and willowy, like her brother, while still barely holding the feminine curves she deserved.
Maurice had been a seventh year when Lola had arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry her first year. She had been thrilled that the Sorting Hat had chosen her to be in the house of Ravenclaw with him; she was a bookworm by every definition and an expert in any subject. As she had approached the Hat with the rest of her class, a strange twinge of panic had lodged itself in her stomach when she thought of her sisters, all of whom were in the compassionate house of Hufflepuff. She had joined Maurice that evening at the Ravenclaw table with a pride swelling within her.
Lola had four sisters: Elise, who was driven by a love of love; Maria, who was pretty and obsessed with her looks; Deirdre, who was athletic and a natural Quidditch Chaser; and Bobbie, the youngest, who adored creatures of many sorts. The sisters all had blue eyes and golden red hair as Lola had had when she was a small child. She had never been close to any of them because of her love of books; she and Maurice spent much of their time together discussing various texts and authors.
At Hogwarts and at home, Lola was a loner. She much preferred the company of a novel than another person, and, therefore, while on good terms with the girls of her dormitory, she did not have many friends. But she was happy and spent her holidays at home with Maurice, who worked at Flourish & Blotts bookshop in Diagon Alley. He brought Lola new books whenever he saw her, and by her fourth year her room was filled with them. Mostly her books were texts of charms and spells, but her favorites were the Muggle novels Maurice brought her from London, full of stereotypical ideas of magic and sorcery.
Her mother did not approve of the Muggle books because of their negative attitudes toward witches, but her father let Lola keep them. Timothy Rosen was like Lola and Maurice; dark curls fell over equally dark eyes and a quiet, introverted nature resided behind them. His wife, Nolan, however, was more like the sisters: light hair and eyes and a skillful conversationalist, always in the height of fashion. Lola supposed what was said was true; opposites did attract, especially in the case of her parents.
The Rosen household had a plethora of beasts. Bobbie, who was just a first year at Hogwarts this year, often fell in love with the jeweled eyes in shops in the Alley, and another animal was brought home. Presently underfoot were three owls belonging to the elder three sisters, a cat and two kittens, and a dog formerly belonging to Maurice. The owls, a barn, a tawny, and a screech, lived mostly in the girls' rooms; Lilianne belonged to Elise, Puck to Maria, and Oliver to Deirdre. The cat was charcoal grey with emerald eyes and was called Prima Donna, and the calico kittens were called Louise and Thomas. The dog was a beautiful golden creature with amber eyes, called Remus or Dog by the family but Amadeus by Maurice and Lola. Since Maurice had left home, Lola had inherited the dog, and Amadeus lived in her room.
During the school year, Lola spent her free hours buried in books, and her adventures stemmed from the texts while all around her excitement blossomed like wildflowers. In her first year, she had been unaware of the dangers of the escaped prisoner of Azkaban save for overhearing her parents speak of the matter after supper one evening. In her second year, she had not attended the Triwizard Tournament or the Yule Ball; though attending the Ball had been reserved for those in their fourth year and above anyway. In her third and fourth years, similarly rumored events took place and she was just as unconcerned about them. She rarely witnessed Quidditch matches unless Deidre forced her into the stands, and at mealtimes she ate quickly before returning to the library to read.
In was only in her fifth year that she finally pulled herself from her volumes, and that is where our story begins.