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Isa’s father is a British pure-blood Squib and Isa’s mother is a Japanese half-blood, making Isa a Japanese-British half-blood also. Growing up, her household was very odd as her father worked in the muggle world in advertising as a graphic designer and her mother worked for the Ministry of Magic as a Hit Witch. Because her mother was away from home a lot of the time due to her job, Isa assimilated into Muggle culture for much of her adolescence, going to muggle schools and having muggle friends. She even began to resent magic after a while, wishing that it wasn’t real so that her mother could stay at home more often and that her father— who had become an outcast from his pure-blood extremist family and magical childhood friends— might still have had these relationships intact if not for magic. This made Isa suppress her magical abilities, not wanting to have anything to do with the magical world and preferring to stay in the muggle one as much as she could. She still exhibited a sign of magic growing up, much like every other witch or wizard, though Isa only exhibited these signs once. Growing up, she had suppressed the signs of magic so well that people around her believed that she had taken after her father and been a squib. However, when she was ten years old, three years past the normal period of wizard magic-using, she had her first occurrence. Her mom had been on a business trip and her dad hadn’t come home from work yet, leaving a muggle nanny in charge of Isa until he got home. A muggle man broke into Isa’s family home while she and the nanny were playing upstairs. The nanny shushed Isa and they both hid in the closet. After a while, the burglar, not knowing that people were inside the house, stomped upstairs and into the playroom the two were in. Isa, who could see through the cracks between the closet doors, saw the man reach toward the handle in an attempt to open the door and screamed. The scream inexplicably shook the floor and caused the closet to explode outward. Some of the wood planks flew toward the man, hitting him on his head and knocking him unconscious. The nanny ran from the house in fear away from Isa, leaving her alone with the unconscious burglar. The matter was settled after Isa’s father came home and called the police, though they were confused at exactly how he had been knocked out. Isa’s father quickly made up a story about how the wood had likely overheated, causing the pressure inside the cabinet to change and suddenly explode outward. The police still thought it odd but closed the case quickly as the burglar confessed to breaking in and the nanny was cited as a witness. After this incident, Isa’s mother was also called back from her business trip and she speculated that Isa had a three-year pent-up of magic that had released in that moment, accounting for the abnormal magnitude and lateness of her magic. Isa soon after went back to doing her best to ignore her magic and vowed to never use it, seeing how catastrophic it could be. However, everything changed on her eleventh birthday when she received a Hogwarts letter. For as long as she could remember, Isa had dreaded this moment, though she knew it would arrive some day. She didn’t want her father— whom his whole family had abandoned because of his magical inabilities— to loose another person or feel guilt for making her stay and decided to pretend as if the letter had never come and threw it in the trash. The day after she had done so, a second letter appeared in her mail and after disposing of it, a third and then a fourth, fifth, and sixth popped up the morning after she would throw them out. Eventually, she was throwing out so much mail that it became evident to her father that something was suspicious. Peaking through her garbage, he found that all of the letters were addressed in from Hogwarts. Knowing that his daughter was only throwing these away because she didn’t want to hurt him, Isa’s father took one of the letters from her trash and pretended to find mail on the doorstep and acted as though he was rejoiced at the prospect of his daughter learning magic. Isa, none the wiser, believed her dad was being truthful and the two finally opened the Hogwarts letter together. Though, throughout early life, Isa’s mom had taken her to magical places such as Diagon Alley, Isa wasn’t very interested in magic until her eleventh birthday, when she got her Hogwarts acceptance letter. When she realized that being unable to ignore her magical abilities and attempting to fit into the muggle world was dangerous, she decided to go to Hogwarts in order so that she wouldn’t have to live life fearing for another outburst. In order to prepare herself for Hogwarts and entering into the wizarding world, Isa trying to find out everything about it; she started by reading magical books and the Daily prophet but her enthrallment soon led her to visit Diagon Alley by herself— to the point where she was making unlikely friends with Gringotts goblins and the owner of Gamble and Japes began secretly giving her Filibuster fireworks and luminous balloons on the side— and Isa even visited the Ministry of Magic with her mom on “bring your child to work” day, smiling when her mom’s co-workers told her that she had the aptitude and was growing up to have the make of a great Hit Witch or Auror. (I’m so sorry to anyone who tried to follow that 118 word sentence) This trip to the Ministry led Isa to take a strange liking to Defense Against the Dark Arts and, throughout her time before going to Hogwarts, she would spend hours slowly reading through books focused on defensive and offensive incantations and when she got her wand, she would wave it around and pretend that she was casting complex spells. Her wand, by the way, is a 13 inch Sycamore wood wand with a Curupia hair core, quite springy. The springy nature and length of her wand are due to Isa’s high-energy, bouncy, and full-of-life personality. She loves being a social butterfly and is full of liveliness. The Sycamore wood is, similarity, thought to be particularly matching for Isa as she loves looking for adventure and, sometimes slightly recklessly, stumbles into dramatic situations that make her use her wit. The wand’s Curupia hair core, a notoriously unstable and unpredictable wand, gifted to talented and similarly unpredictable wizards, also perfectly matches Isa’s recklessness and simultaneously her drive for excellent wizardmanship. Isa has a few general likes and dislikes. Throughout her days before Hogwarts, she had joined a local field hockey league and much of her free time was taken up by practice and hanging out with her teammates. It was one among the only things she missed dearly when she started Hogwarts and, even when she started school, she’d practice by herself in remote areas of the grounds for hours at a time. Isa also likes anything artistic. As mentioned earlier, her dad was a graphic designer and he taught her how to sketch. Though a long and hard process, she developed her skills and likes making art. She even branched off into other art-adjacent areas such as knitting, macrame, and embroidery, though she’s sometimes embarrassed to admit that she spends time doing such “grandmotherly” things despite no one really caring either way. Isa is also has an affliction with lizards, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans (she loves the thrill of unpredictability!), and Eunice Murray, ex-player for the Montrose Magpies. In addition to having a Horned owl named Albert, she has three lizards (Pirn, Beano, and Snow) and used to have a fourth (named Cat; she thought it ironic to name a lizard by a predator name and lived to regret the name) that was eaten by Albert when she first bought him. On the other hand, Isa dislikes woodwork, walnuts, Erklings, and the dark. She failed her woodworking class while enrolled in muggle middle school and wouldn’t, for the life of her, be able to nail together two pieces of wood. Isa simply dislikes walnuts because she thinks they taste horrible (unless they are in cake, then they’re okay). Isa not only hates Erklings, but is terrified of them. When she was young, her mother read to her a picture book in which an Erkling terrorized a medieval village by eating the citizen’s children by night. This picture book scarred her for life and made her dread both the creatures and the dark. House elves, which are thought to be related to Erklings also freak Isa out, despite most of them being caring and wonderful creatures. Even when Isa grew up, she couldn’t sleep without a nightlight, fearing that she would bump into some dark and fearsome creature on a nighttime stroll to the bathroom if she couldn’t see. Isa is, characteristically, both emotionally sensitive and crude at the same time. She likes to make mildly offensive jabs at her friends but usually knows when a joke has gone too far (though she sometimes gets a bit carried away). When it comes to people who are struggling, though, Isa knows how to calm down and listen to them, though she’s not the best with giving advice. Because she knows of her own tendencies to act recklessly and without much thought, she becomes overly cautious when someone else could be put in danger for her actions. This occasionally makes Isa a hard person to collaborate or form deep, meaningful friendships with because she is always worrying about the negative impact she might have on other people’s lives. Her caution also tends to make Isa close up and shut off any negative emotions until she can’t take it anymore and explodes, much like she did in her first magic usage. Isa shuts off and suppresses magic usage until it comes to learning or doing things that are absolutely necessary or help defend people, leading her to be mildly horrible at studies such as Astronomy and Charms while being very adept at Defense Against the Dark Arts. In addition to the dark and Erklings, Isa is scared of being perceived as boring. Growing up she would fill her life with activities and would never really take time to contemplate or think over things. She liked to fit in while also being the center of attention and, unknowingly, built a false persona around herself as a never unhappy, coolly brave, and confident character. Going to Hogwarts gave Isa the chance to start all over and, though she has retained somewhat of a confident, nonchalant personality, she’s working on being more transparent and open with her friends while ditching the aloofness of her false persona. What Isa wants most in life is to build a connection with her mother. All throughout childhood, she wondered why her she would always be away from the house and started hating both her and the magical world. As Isa got older, she realized that her mother’s place in the Ministry protected the wizarding world at large and that her mother wasn’t purposefully cold or distant but just didn’t know exactly how to interact with her daughter. Though the two never really got close, Isa secretly wanted to have a more of a connection with her mom. Style and items: When Isa isn’t in Hogwarts robes or Gryffindor merchandise, she can usually be found wearing bright 80s style jeans and sweatshirts. She likes to listen to punk rock and occasionally pop music. When Isa goes questing, she makes sure to bring her wand with her. Though she’s still a beginner, she’s been able to quickly pick up defensive and offensive spells. She also brings her hockey stick along with her as well as several balls so that she can have some entertainment. If she has to climb a rocky hill or hit someone suddenly, her hockey stick is also a very good option for that. One final item that Isa makes sure to have is some sort of healing essence, usually Essence of Dittany. Despite being proficient in defensive and offensive spells, Isa is sometimes unable to cast simpler spells such as healing charms so she carries around essences as a backup. Physical appearance: The Isa Vestal in HOL is currently a 12-year old 139 centimeter tall girl but her adventurer self is a few years older and 15 centimeters taller. She has long, silky, silver-blonde hair and electric green eyes with cat-like pupils. She has fair to lightly tanned skin depending on the time of year and has freckles all across her face. She is short and has a slightly bulky build. One interesting feature of hers is her abnormally pointy, fang-like teeth. They don’t allow for any special abilities but they do allow Isa to cosplay as vampires and cats very easily! As Isa is half Japanese-half British, she has a combination of European and Asian features. Her green eyes came from her dad while her silver hair was likely from her mom, who grayed very quickly. When Isa was younger, she had pitch black hair, following her Japanese heritage, but from the time she was seven, her hair began turning gray as a result of stress from magic suppression. For a while, Isa would dye her hair black but, when she got her Hogwarts letter and decided to go, she let her silver hair grow out, thinking it would be nice to both embrace her hair and also that it would fit in with a more “witchy” vibe. Even after Isa stopped suppressing her magic, the silver hair continued to grow, though she doesn’t exactly know why. Though she hates that her eye and hair colors combined make the Slytherin colors (as she is a Gryffindor and has even gotten angry at a few Slytherins for remarking on the fact after her house lost to theirs in a quidditch match), she has come to love its color.

Great job GQT! Wish I could have been there. Hope everyone is having a good term so far.

As my first year at HOL comes to close I want to thank everyone being kind. I was nervous about start here because am deaf. Sometime new people be not nice to deaf person. Everyone here is nice. As some might notice for while my post in activity were longer and could do puzzle without help. That because sister help. Sister and self have decided need to be independent. Sister is having very busy term next year finish university. Start independent here and work into personal life independent. So may need more help in HOL from others. I will stay long time if don't mind help sometime. Thanks Sky and Ivey and Tarma for great help and be patient.

I slap Emerald for bowing to Ivey so much her head will get too big for her crown

Hey Lions! My name is Celeste Farhorn. I am a first year here on HOL and am about two assignments and three finals away from completing my first year on the site. I must say, it's been an absolute blast! I'm 22 years of age, have a fondness for all things writing and literature, though appearance wise you would never guess that because I tend to dress like a skater chick. I'm from the UK. I'm basically that hair dying, skin piercing, tattoo adoring girl that loves books and technology way too much (whenever I'm not on here I'm usually gaming :D)

Over 400 extra house points are up for grabs around the castle right now. Head over to Madam Pince's board to find out how you can earn all of them. Let's go, Gryffindor, let's go!

6242 (Based on the posting speed of the past 24 hours, we'll be at 11,687 by September first! Great job guys!)

I slap Carrie for doing so well with her homework

I slap Emerald on the back for having such an inspiring quote under her signature, way to go <3!

I just wanted to stop by to tell you that I literally sent 5 assignments of one class in one day just because I got more and more into the lessons and couldn't help myself. Sorry Professor for vomiting assignments but just know that I really enjoyed the lessons <3 has anyone else done the same? please tell me I'm not alone

I slap Emerald because I'm really proud of her siggy XD

6153 (Isa, I am very impressed and slightly intimidated by the skills and dedication. But you heard her, folks, let's get on it!)

Arnold the pygmy puff is an adorable pygmy puff

I slap Lora for having excellent taste in shiny things.

Fantastic work GQT on the last Quidditch match of the season! So proud of you all! <3

Approved Aidan Verto - First Year

Wow Gryffindor House Points!! Keep up good work!!

I slap Emerald because I also like purple

That’s true, Sky. I’d never even given the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore’s office a second thought! I like Raevia’s theory on how long the objects have been feeding off magic which seems to make sense for transfigured items but I wonder how that would work for conjured animals (like the snake during the dueling club or the flock of birds Hermione sent at Ron). I was looking through the wiki pages and Pottermore for any clues to how animate an object would get and, according to one reddit user, Piertotum Locomotor was also used to animate the chess board guarding the Philosopher’s stone and the chess pieces didn’t seem to be able to think or act for themselves but do respond to stimuli in a rather programmed manner. Also, I relate to you, Raevia. I tend to always break things, especially mechanical technology for some reason. I’ve already broken my phone and damaged my computer several times and it would be so helpful to just “reparo” everything back.

Hi everyone! My name is Louis, and I'm 26 this year :) I love Harry Potter. My house is Slytherin and today's my 3rd day in HOL :)

Goose

Hello, My name is Sakura Rose and I am a first year Hufflepuff. In real life I am 30. I love to read and dabble in some drawing and writing fanfiction.

Hello!! I'm a first year Slytherin. And I hope we'll become great lassmates/friends.

Hello all, I hope you're doing well and keeping safe. A little first year here come to say hello and start getting used to life in HOL!

Hi everyone, I'm Sparky! I'm a First year Ravenclaw. Harry Potter has been a huge part of my life. I also love things like video games, reading, and movies and a bunch of other stuff. I hope I'm welcome.

Wonderful to have you here, Carrie! Welcome

I spotted the Boggart in my dorm room. He turned into my alarm clock and I imagined him being a soft pillow and blanket so I could go back to bed :P

'Gone Questing' is Gryffindor’s Monthly activity: a chance for all of HOL to venture off into the unknown to win fame, renown and priceless treasures (also some rubies). At the start of each month, a quest will be released. It will be themed around a particular story, location and/or time period. Each quest will have 3 parts: Treasure (worth 10 rubies): You’ll receive a clue (or series of clues) that should tell you which artefact, item or piece of information you’re seeking that month. All treasures will be famous things from history, myth or fiction (like the Philosopher’s Stone). All you have to do is a bit of research. Journey (worth 20 rubies): You’ll have to complete a creative task to represent some aspect of your heroic journey in search of the treasure. The particular task will vary from month to month: it might be a graphic, story, poem or something entirely different. Victory (20 rubies): Reaching the treasure is all well and good but retrieving it is another matter. Here you’ll be presented with a scenario, word puzzle or similar about how the treasure is protected. You’ll have to reason (or talk) your way out of it in order to snag the artifact and complete the quest. Things to keep in mind: Anyone is welcome to take part You don’t need to do all 3 of the tasks each time (though it’s strongly encouraged). All tasks are due at the end of the month at 11.59 HOL-time. Please send everything to the person who posted the quest in a private message. If for accessibility reasons you find yourself unable to do a particular task, please just let me know and we can work out an alternative suited to you. You’ll have the chance to share your creative or reasoning tasks in the relevant thread once the deadline has passed. Though Quests are monthly, we sometimes choose not to release one if there's another activity going on in the CR to avoid overloading people. In addition, you also have the chance to ‘design your quester’. This is an ongoing activity where you can introduce us to your adventurous alter ego and then complete quests from their point of view. March's quest is up so in the imortal words of Sir Cadogan 'A quest! Come follow me, dear friends, and we shall find our goal, or else shall perish* bravely in the charge!' *No actual perrishing is permitted, however brave.