fromthevalley: (Default)
--------------------CONTACT--------------------
IC - Owl messages, messages via Patronuses, ETC.
OOC - Questions, Comments, Scene ideas, Plot ideas, ETC.
All comments will be screened for privacy.
fromthevalley: (Default)
Comments will be screened and ISP tracking is off. Anonymous comments are allowed.

What do you think about my character, the way I play her including her characterization, personality quirks, and anything else that comes to mind. Is there something that you like about my character? Is there something that you don't like about my character?
fromthevalley: (Ψ)

~ Leave me a prompt!
A graphic or several, a quote, song lyrics, a word, a poem, etc. or any combination of the previously mentioned.
~ No one is late for this!
I will back tag this post into infinity and beyond!
~ Requests?
Would you like to do something really specific? Let me know! Cross-canon CR is awesome too!

Headcanon.

May. 31st, 2021 09:13 pm
fromthevalley: (Δ)
Hufflepuff colors are yellow and black.

Helga's favorite color is not yellow, it is orange. She selected the colors for her House because yellow dyes are plentiful and easy to produce. Some of her charges would have had to had clothing provided for them (for a variety of reasons). The more plentiful the dye, the cheaper it was to obtain (witch or not). The color black was taken from the badger.
 
Helga Hufflepuff was responsible for bring the House Elves to Hogwarts.

It was a complicated process. Throughout England, Scotland and Wales, there remained abandoned Roman settlements. The elves that served the forts and outposts were left behind. Over time, they grew wild and frenzied without work. Helga found them.

The hearth is the heart. Stones and bricks were taken from the hearths. They were incorporated into the fireplaces and foundation at Hogwarts. This is what allowed them to work at the school and what bound them to the castle.
 
Merchant Class.
 
The Hufflepuffs were not from the nobility. They were from the rising merchant class and often had what a few members of the nobility did not, money and a bit more education. Her family participated in the dragon, apothecarial, and wool trade. Yes, wool. It helped them blend in a bit more with the Muggles on the trade routes and magicfolk were not immune from needing textiles. Helga was an active participant in the merchant trade. She did a lot of traveling and picked up a few languages along the way.

Animagus.

Her form is a badger.
 

Blood status and teaching.

It was a dangerous time for nearly everyone. Vikings were invading. It was centuries before the Renaissance. Helga wanted to teach everyone who could do magic. While she is a kind person, she did not want to teach them primarily out of kindness. It was about safety and fairness. Safety, for that if one could control their magic, they could keep the secret of magic safe. If they remained untrained, they could bring disaster to them all.

As an aside, it was likely more than just blue purity when it came to Salazar Slytherin wanting to teach Purebloods only. There were magic folk killed in the  St. Brice's Day Massacre.

Secrecy.

Some wizards were open and public about their ability to do magic.
fromthevalley: (Default)
Player Information
Name: Charly
Age: I'm old enough to do whatever I want past bedtime.
Contact: toujourspink@gmail.com
[plurk.com profile] kindaklutzy

Characters already in Medietas: N/A
Reserve Link: http://medietas-mods.dreamwidth.org/1679.html?thread=524687#cmt524687

Character Basics
Character name: Helga Hufflepuff
Character Journal: [personal profile] fromthevalley
Canon: Helga Hufflepuff is basically a character that's only been mentioned. She doesn't appear in any of the books.
Age: Mid-twenties.
Icon: http://i.imgur.com/DFrufZa.png

Original Character Information
Appearance: She is three ounces of whoop ass! Helga stands at a sleight five foot and four inches. Her hair is dark red and usually pulled back, free from her face in some fashion or another. She doesn't have time for ornate hairstyles. Her skin is mostly fair and free from blemishes or freckles.
Setting: She's from the Harry Potter universe that exists in the Tenth Century.

History Wiki Link. However, there is not much there. I've written a timeline for Helga, in addition to a written biography as well as a timeline.
Timeline and Headcanon.

Helga Hufflepuff was written to have come from the valley broad. In truth, she came from Wales. A century before her birth, one branch of the Hufflepuff family left their homeland, Götaland. They were not from noble stock. They were from the rising merchant class.

At the time, there were increased invasions by both Muggle and Magical forces onto foreign lands. Feeling that it was only a matter of time before the family were asked to be involved, The Hufflepuffs packed up their belongings and moved across the sea. They were looking for greener pastures. They were looking for lands in which to ply their trade.

The Hufflepuffs settled quite comfortably on the Isle of Anglesey where they lived for a few decades before moving again, this time trying to get away from the Viking raids. They had been there, done that and wanted to be finished with it. They moved north and eventually stayed on Holy Island. Employing both house elves and several charms, both restorative and defensive, they were able to turn a former Roman watchtower, Caer y Twr, into a very comfortable home.

In addition to dragon parts and the herbology trade, the Hufflepuffs took up trading wool. It was a rising trade out of the country and helped them to blend in with their Muggle counterparts. They were not adverse to people knowing that they could do magic. However, secrecy was felt to be a wise course of action. They did not want their competitors to know exactly what they could do, nor did they wish for would-be robbers to have that information.

As the decades progressed, they developed a monopoly in the dragon trade with having their own ready population in the Welsh Green breed. The dragons were protected and in turn, Muggles protected from the dragon. They harvested only what was needed. Heartstring for wands. Hide for garments. Liver for potions. Meat too, if you weren't particular about eating dragons.

At this time, there were no great schools of magic. Magical knowledge was written down into the family's grimmoire to be passed to the next generation. This was how most magical children were taught, at home by their family. Everything that the owner knew, discovered and learned was recorded. When they became of age, the grimmoire was duplicated and handed over to them. Through a unique spell, what was written down in one Hufflepuff grimmoire was written down in all of them. By the time that Helga received hers, it contained over five centuries worth of information.

Helga was born in the year nine hundred and sixty-eight. Her parents were Eleanor and Llewellyn Hufflepuff.

Her kind nature was evident at a very early age. Often she would bring home injured animals, magical and non magical alike. Occasionally the animals weren't injured, Helga just wanted to give them a good home. It was very difficult for her to release them back into the wild but her parents always made her. There was one exception. She had once found two orphaned badger cubs. She had intended to release them once they were able but always they came back. After the fourth time, her parents accepted their presence.

Her hard working nature was both a product of the era in which she was born and family upbringing. Everything, magic folk or not, family wealth or not had to be worked for. There were no short cuts. They were traders. They had connections. The brought goods into Wales and England and exported Welsh and English goods in turn. They were not nobility but they did have what some noble family did not, wealth. Her family had amassed quite a considerable amount of sum at this point.

Throughout her entire lifetime Helga was a doer of good deeds. It did not matter the size, it did not matter how difficult, the location did not matter nor did who the person was. If it would help and if the cause was just, Helga offered her assistance. She developed a nickname after a while, Helga the Kind.

She traveled with the family business. Being a woman was not a barrier for her. The business was going to pass onto her and she needed to learn the trade. She learned the languages of the lands she visited. Helga could speak Vulgar Latin, Old Welsh (native), Old Norse, Old English, Old French, Classical Arabic (spoken only from trading done in Cordoba) as well as both the Irish and Scottish forms of Gaelic.

She was charitable, accepting of others regardless of their station in life. Being kind was certainly not enough to make her the greatest witch of her age. Or was it? In an era of much violence and hardship, kindness was and still is a rare thing. It did make her stand out and people knew of her because of that. However, she wouldn't fully come into her legendary status until many years later.

With this kindness came a certain sense of naivety. Helga was an idealist and wanted to believe the best in people. Some found it endearing, others were a bit annoyed with it. It was something about her that others could take advantage of and she was deeply hurt by some betrayals. However, Helga was never taken advantage of for very long. She can only be pushed for so long before she pushed back.

The late Tenth Century was a time of turmoil. There were Viking Raids that both Muggles and magic folk had to deal with. Christianity was spreading and with it, attacks on folks suspected to be witches were on the rise. In most cases, real witches could get themselves out of trouble. Giants were a nuisance as well. At this point in time, magic and non-magic folk had been mixing and intermarrying for several decades. Something had to be done to ensure that the next generation was protected. They needed a place where they could be taught in safety, a place where Muggleborns could be brought to learn as well.

It was decided that such a place should be built. Helga was the fourth and final person and asked if she would like to help and she accepted the invitation. She had previously met the other Founders in her travels.

Over the course of building Hogwarts, Helga became very good friends with Rowena Ravenclaw. All of the Founders were friends but those two were especially close. It took a couple of years to build the castle. Wizards and witches from other countries had to be consulted for some aspects of the castle's construction. It proved difficult to get some of them to cooperate at times. Everyone wanted different things. It took a great deal of compromise and patience to get get the castle built.

Personality: Helga Hufflepuff is an Egalitarian. She favors treating everyone with the same amount of respect, acceptance and dignity. She is also a kindhearted soul who believes that if a person can be helped, they should be helped. Asking for help does not make one week and because of the rareness of her qualities, over time she developed a nickname, Helga the Kind. Helga values loyalty and hard work. She is from a time in which everything has to be worked for. Her hard working nature came to her naturally.

However, all of that kindness came at a price. She is a little bit naive, a little bit too trusting, and sometimes people underestimate her because of it. Stupid, she is not. Helga wants to see the good in people and believes that everyone had the capacity for it. It is not the case for everyone, she knows but she continues to give people that chance. She only gives the chance once. She can only stand to have her heart broken once.

She can be defensive about her practice of giving everyone a chance. It is unusual No one should mistake Helga's kindness as weakness. She is not. She can defend herself. Timid and frail she is not. Her patience is not infinite. Please see the Hogwarts's school rule about not transfiguring students into animals.

Her loyalty comes from family and from sometimes only seeing and being around family for months at a time. Sometimes, it was all she had. She was going to protect them. She was going to be devoted to them. This extended to friends and allies. They were hers and she was going to protect them to the best of her abilities. She is very confident in her ability to do so.

Her confidence comes from being self-sufficient. There might not be someone else around to help. It might just be her. She can manage a caravan on her own. She can set up camp. She can barter and trade. Helga is independent. She likes companionship and she likes being around people. However, she can survive on her own. She has the know-how. The confidence came from repeatedly being out in the world.

Helga is a natural when it comes to Herbology and Healing, in fact those are her strongest strengths. Coming in at a close second would be Charms. She can do a limited bits of wandless magic but it doesn't always work. She is an Animagus, her form is a badger with a white stripe running from the tip of her nose to the top of her head. With her Grimmoire, that has been handed down for generations, Helga knows a little bit about a lot of things. A little bit of knowledge can be dangerous.

All of the above being said, there is a reason that her Animagus form is a badger. She is protective of those she considers hers or in her care. She is protective of those who need help. Don't piss a badger off, badgers don't play. Badgers don't care!

Powers/Abilities/Talents: Helga is a witch. With the aid of her magic wand, she can perform a wide variety of spells, curses, charms, jinxes and hexes. She can perform a limited amount of wandless magic. However, she is best known for her food charms.

She knows how to do the various tasks that comes from trading. She can skin an animal, harvest its useful parts, put it on a spit for roasting and then tan the hide. Helga knows how to propagate various herbs and flowers for use. She has and knows how to fashion various styles of garments. Helga has quite a lot of skills but she isn't the master of them.

Helga is a tradeswoman by, well, trade. She is aware that sometimes she will be trading with Muggles (if not usually). She is aware that both Muggles and Wizardfolk alike can rob traders on the highway. Helga can defend herself with magic, if called for. Against Muggles she can handle a sword or a rock or whatever is heavy and within reach. However, she prefers to use her walking staff. It has a good reach to it. (Again, badger don't care.)

Helga can speak several languages including Vulgar Latin, Old Welsh (native), Old Norse, Old English, Old French, Classical Arabic (spoken only from trading done in Cordoba) as well as both the Irish and Scottish forms of Gaelic.

What 4 items would you like your character to have with them on the island during their stay? Her Grimmoire, her nice big cauldron, her walking staff (It's not magical. It's used for traveling and certainly not bonking people on the heads with it.) Lastly, her traveling trunk. (It would contain enough supplies for a journey of a few days. There's nothing magical about it save for some dried potion ingredients. Look. She might only have a days notice that she has to save some poor Muggleborn and bring them to Hogwarts.) Her wand will arrive on her person.

Samples - Can be linked
First Person Here, although I can craft a new one if asked.
Third Person Test-Drive.

Finally, out of the 4 words, pick one: Chimes, lake, gravel, or sun? Gravel.
fromthevalley: (i like yellow)
Being concerned that a familiar face was absent from the Great Hall, Helga decided to check in on them. "You did not come to dinner."
fromthevalley: (i like yellow)
"For today, we'll be studying Nettles." Helga hopes that everyone will pay extra special attention and no one will get stung.
fromthevalley: (oh really?)
"Why not change students into ducks?" She liked to think that she was helping them gain a new perspective. Let's be honest, Helga was at least part of the reason that Hogwarts didn't allow its teachers to transfigure students into animals as punishment.
fromthevalley: (out in nature)
Helga's eyes glanced at the lake as she passed by it. She sighed, remembering well the sight from the day before. The memory caused her face to flush. She truly had not meant to stare but the sight of Salazar swimming had left her little option. It had been shocking and he'd only made it worse afterwards. Oh, that man! Sometimes he aggravated her so much and sometimes she suspected that he did it on purpose.

She sighed again as she continued on her way, finally breaking off the main path and heading down a hill. Finally, the sounds of a babbling brook invaded her ears. Helga turned her head, there was no one around, at least none that she could see. Helga continued to walk along the path of the stream. It widened, then turned before heading towards the forest.

Eventually, Helga came upon her favorite spot on the grounds. There were trees and big boulders all around, concealing the pool from view. The stream continued to babble but here the pool was clear and calm. Again, she made sure that there was no one else around. She even set a protection ward. Helga took off her dress and draped it carefully on a tree branch. She was now left in a coarsely woven, sleeveless linen, work shift. A breeze came up and Helga breathed a sigh of relief. Out of her wool dress, she was cooler immediately.

Her boots and stockings were the next thing to be removed and they were draped over a branch next to her dress. Helga picked up a basket that she had brought with her and carried it over to the water. She sat down on a large flat rock and stuck her feet into the water.

"Oh, that's better." She said to herself and decided to just soak her feet for a few minutes.
fromthevalley: (Default)
[ Helga Hufflepuff is finding the communicators to be an incredibly useful tool. She finds it a bit like addressing a classroom, almost. Much more manageable than a magic mirror and less messy than an owl. However, she does have the translate feature on. There is bound to be a language barrier of some kind when one is from the distant past. ]

Hello. For those that I have yet to meet, my name is Helga Hufflepuff.

[ She is currently seated by a small stream and a large rock that the water has made mostly flat. She has the communicator set up on a flat rock a foot away so that it might capture her movements. There is a knife, a small reed basket filled with purple and tawny colored stalks. There is also a two pieces of white cloth on the rock, one looks used. Helga does not have a table but this will suit her purposes nicely. ]

This...

[ She holds up a lilac colored mushroom. ]

Is a bluestalk mushroom. It is commonly found in forests and you may eat it, however, I do caution against eating it uncooked. It can disagree with one's stomach.

[ Yes, this is a bit of a lesson but there is a purpose. ]

I am surprised to find them here. However, I must urge a bit of caution when picking this mushroom. To begin with, it looks similar to other, more deadly mushrooms. Bluestalks have a sweet, almost floral fragrance. More mature specimens, will be darker in color.

[ She shows one. ]

Their cap will be flatter. Lighter colors and a more conical shape cap indicate a much younger mushroom. I have not found that age makes a difference in taste.

Until you are very certain about what mushrooms you have harvested, you will want to check its pattern. Parchment is best but clothe will work as well. Cut the mushroom in half and press into the cloth. You must leave it for several hours, I find it best to leave it overnight. Do not worry about the edibility. This short time will not effect it.

[ Helga picks up the white piece of cloth and moves it closer to her. She spreads it to ensure that it is flat before picking up her knife.She slices a mushroom in half and presses it into the fabric. ]

I have done one ahead of time to show you that a bluestalk mushroom's pattern will be almost white in color to varying shades of pink.

[ She reaches for the second piece of fabric and holds it up to display the spore pattern. ]

If the pattern is any other color, do not eat it! That is not a bluestalk and you will be extremely regretful. However, it is entirely possible that you found a mushroom that produces a very lovely green dye.

[ A silver-lining that is not poison, Helga has found it.

She puts aside the cloth and mushrooms before addressing the communicator properly. ]


I do not wish to boast but in my time, I was something of a merchant and a teacher. I know quite a bit on the subject of herbology and what I wish to propose now is something of a trade. Your knowledge for mine. This place is new. I need to know more about the animals and plant life that make up this world. Herbology is not my only skill. I am also a witch. I can trade you fresh water. I can mend things. I can heal. In the case that there is nothing I can teach you, for the chance to learn, I will offer up my magical abilities as well.
fromthevalley: (Default)
Muggles were becoming increasingly paranoid. Attacks on folks suspected to be witches were on the rise. In most cases, real witches could get themselves out of trouble. Giants were a nuisance as well. Another threat came from the outside forces that were continuously threatening to invade, raid or take over. Something had to be done to ensure that the next generation was protected. They needed a place where they could be taught in safety.

It was decided that such a place should be built. Helga was asked if she would like to help and she accepted the invitation.

Over the course of building Hogwarts, Helga became very good friends with Rowena Ravenclaw. All of the Founders were friends but those two were especially close. It took a couple of years to build the castle. Wizards and witches from other countries had to be consulted for some aspects of the castle's construction. It proved difficult to get some of them to cooperate but in the end Helga's charm won out over their objections.

She always had the feeling that something was left out. Never could she put her finger on what it was. There was something missing and it constantly nagged on her mind. Helga had even gone so far as to ask Rowena what she thought. Rowena thought she was being ridiculous. They had planned for everything. Helga still had her doubts. It wasn't until she heard Godric complaining about the lack of quarters for the groundskeeper that Helga had her idea. They needed a room that could be anything even if that was a lavatory, laboratory, a spare room to study, a place to hide or anything else. Without the other's knowledge, Helga created the Room of Requirement. If a student needed it, they would find it.

Once construction began, the arguments started. Rowena only wanted to teach those who were intelligent and smart, in short young witches and wizards like herself. Godric only wanted to teach those of an adventurous spirit, those who were brave and not afraid of fighting that good fight. Salazar only wanted to teach the young magical folk that had been born to other witches and wizards, preferably those who were very cunning. At the very least he did not want to teach anyone related to the foreigners that were constantly invading and conquering England. Helga just wanted to teach anyone capable of doing magic. To her, it seemed such a shame to build such a large castle without using all of it.

The arguments lasted for weeks. The Founders had retreated to their separate corners of the castle. It threatened to break them up, even before the Hogwarts opened. Helga let them have their alone time. She believed that if they had time to cool off they would come to their senses. She was wrong. More weeks went by until Helga had finally had enough. They were past the stage of being ridiculous and were now just being childish.

One evening, Helga summoned them all into the Great Hall. She told them all a different reason for wanting to speak with them. If they knew the truth then they wouldn't have come. Measures were taken to prevent them from leaving and after they were all done yelling at her, she stated her reasoning for bringing them all together. She had a plan for settling their arguments.

They would each teach the type of child that they wanted. Rowena would select the smart. Godric would get the brave. Salazar would get the cunning. Helga would take the rest. It should take too long to speak to each child to determine where they belonged. Her plan ended up being a success.

None of them, except for maybe one, had any idea of what was to come.
fromthevalley: (Default)
Helga was born in the year nine hundred and seventy. Her parents were Eleanor and Llewellyn Hufflepuff.

Her kind nature was evident at a very early age. Often she would bring home injured animals, magical and non magical alike. Occasionally the animals weren't injured, Helga just wanted to give them a good home. It was very difficult for her to release them back into the wild but her parents always made her. There was one exception. She had once found two orphaned badger cubs. She had intended to release them once they were able but always they came back. After the fourth time, her parents accepted their presence.

Throughout her entire lifetime Helga was a doer of good deeds. It did not matter the size, it did not matter how difficult, the location did not matter nor did who the person was. If it would help and if the cause was just, Helga offered her assistance. She developed a nickname after a while, Helga the Kind.

She was charitable, accepting of others regardless of their station in life. Being kind was certainly not enough to make her the greatest witch of her age. Or was it? In an era of much violence and hardship, kindness was and still is a rare thing. It did make her stand out and people knew of her because of that. However, she wouldn't fully come into her legendary status until many years later.

With this kindness came a certain sense of naivety. Helga was an idealist and wanted to believe the best in people. Some found it endearing, others were a bit annoyed with it. It was something about her that others could take advantage of and she was deeply hurt by some betrayals. However, Helga was never taken advantage of for very long. She can only be pushed for so long before she pushed back.
Page generated Jul. 2nd, 2025 09:59 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios