Snowy Vale Resident: Nita Elwyn, bookshop owner

-BASICS-

Full Name: Anita Diane Elwyn

Nicknames: Everyone calls her Nita. She's called herself Nita since she was tiny, when she couldn't quite say her own name, and the nickname stuck.

Age: 30

Alignment: Good

Blood Status: Muggleborn (technically half-blood; her mom was a Squib who lived like a Muggle)

Nationality: American

Sexuality: straight

Taken status: Single

-APPEARANCE-

Face Claim: Kristen Bell

Hair Colour: dark blonde

Eye Colour: dark gray

Distinguishing Features: Nita is fairly short and slim. She keeps her hair cut to about shoulder length. She has a spattering of freckles on her nose. Her teeth are slightly crooked because she refused to have anything to do with her orthodontist after she got her braces off as a girl.

-ACADEMIC/PROFESSIONAL HISTORY-

Wand: juniper and unicorn hair, 11 inches, flexible

Pets: A large fluffy Kneazle named Walter. His fur is brown with black spots. He has large ears and a tufted tail, like all Kneazles. Walter acts as Nita's guard cat. He loves the smell of human food, but refuses to eat anything other than cat food. Nita has stopped offering him treats.

Other Items: Nita wears a thin gold chain with a diamond ring and a wedding band on it around her neck. They belonged to her mother, who passed away two years ago. People often get the wrong impression when they see them, so Nita tends to hide the chain down the front of her robes.

---FOR ADULT CHARACTERS---

Occupation: Owns a bookshop, Bright Tower Books, in Snowy Vale.

Which school did they attend?: Williamsburg Wizarding Academy

-PERSONALITY-

Likes: books, reading, writing, working hard, music (she'll listen to just about anything but Celestina Warbeck), cats, hot beverages of any kind (her favorite is hot chocolate but she'll drink coffee or tea as well)

Dislikes: not having anything to do, silence, alcohol, people who avoid things (especially their duties), kids who make messes in her shop, people who destroy books

Strengths: telling the truth, using the right words, friendly and outgoing, a bit of a perfectionist, excellent memory

Weaknesses: getting in over her head, being too self-reliant (that usually gets her in over her head), a bit of a short temper, anything involving chocolate, romance novels (don't tell anyone!)

Habits: touching her mother's rings when she's upset about something; biting her lower lip when she has a decision to make

Overall Personality: Nita is generally a friendly person, but she does not suffer fools lightly. People who goof around too much get on her nerves. Nita is usually up for a laugh, but when something is supposed to be serious, she's serious. She has a tendency to take on too much at once and often finds herself over her head in a problem before she knows it. She takes responsibilities and promises very seriously and has trouble delegating duties to anyone else. She believes in always telling the truth, even when it's dangerous or hard. When she's angry, she will cast spells first and ask questions later. She hates silence. She always has to have some sort of music playing in her shop, even when it's closed.

Nita loves reading and writing. Her favorite books have always been mysteries, although she loves a good fantasy novel as well. She rarely writes anything but her journal entries nowadays, but dreams of getting a job on a newspaper again one day. Her journal entries are filled with observations about the people who come into her shop. She's also begun keeping notes on events in Snowy Vale that just don't quite make sense. She's not sure what's going on, but she's determined to figure it out.  

-HISTORY-

Hometown: Nita grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, USA. She moved to Toronto, Canada two years ago and then to Snowy Vale one year ago.

Family: Roger Elwyn (father; Muggle; age 60, estranged); Holly Elwyn (mother; Squib; deceased); Phillip Elwyn (older brother; age 32, estranged)

Overall History: Nita grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania with her parents and her older brother Phillip. Life was absolutely ordinary (except for a few odd things that happened around Nita) until she turned 11 years old and found out she was a witch. When she got her official letter, Holly Elwyn revealed that she was from a magical family but had no magic herself. She was a Squib. Roger didn't take it well, to say the least. He and Holly never divorced, but there was a definite coolness and distance in their relationship from that time on. Nita always blamed herself for that, but she didn't let it stop her from becoming the best witch she could be. She excelled in school, to her mother's pride and her father's disgust. There was a fight every year over whether or not Nita should go back. Somehow Holly won every year. Nita's brother Phillip was firmly on their father's side of things and he spent as much of his time teasing and tormenting Nita as he could (once he found out she wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school, that is).

During her time at school, Nita befriended an awkward and forgetful boy named Benjamin Morrow. They became very close. Nita had a crush on him at first but it gradually faded and they stayed just friends. They have stayed in touch since graduation, although Nita writes Ben more than he writes to her. She is thrilled that he now works at Aurora so that she can see him more often.

After graduation, Nita chose to attend a Muggle college and get a degree in English literature and journalism. She worked in a magical book shop to pay her way through, as her father refused to pay for college (even if it was “normal”). After graduating, Nita found a job working for the magical newspaper in Philadelphia. She worked there for two years, until her mother died. After that Nita needed a drastic change. She applied for a job at the magical paper in Toronto, Canada instead and moved there. She worked there for a year before getting fired for reporting on a controversial story. Nita maintains that she had to tell people about it, but her boss fired her and refused to publish the story because it was too dangerous. Remembering the joy she'd had working in a book shop in college, Nita moved to Snowy Vale and opened Bright Tower Books two years ago. She wanted to work for the Snowy Vale Post (the local paper) but they wouldn't hire her (Nita suspects her old boss is responsible for that). She still keeps an eye on local events. Her shop is situated so that she can see the whole of the main street through her front window.

{OPTIONAL}

Mirror of Erised: finding out who killed her mother and seeing them put away for life

Boggart: finding out who killed her mother and not being able to prove it was them

Dementor: Nita's worst memory is of the day two years ago when she found out her mother was dead. She had come home to visit her family for Thanksgiving. Her father answered the door. In a flat voice he told Nita that her mother had been out the day before when someone had attacked her and killed her. There were no marks on her body. She was just dead. Roger Elwyn told Nita that “magical police” had been to the house and told him that it was a witch or wizard who killed Holly. Nita tried to get him to give her more details, but he told her that it was her fault and that she was no longer welcome in his house. If she stayed on the property another minute, he would call the real police on her and have her arrested on suspicion of murder. Nita didn't go to the funeral, although she wanted to. Her mother's lawyer sent her Holly's engagement and wedding rings shortly afterwards, with a note saying that Holly had left them to her in her will.

Patronus: A badger; Nita uses the memory of the last day she spent with her mother. They spent a whole day together. When Holly left for home, she hugged Nita tightly and whispered how proud she was of her.

-PLAYER-

Alias: Anne

Experience: 1 year

Other Characters: Benjamin Morrow, Ally Jacobs, Hazel Franklin

Your word of honor that you have read the rules: I have read and liked the rules.

Sample RP:

Nita Elwyn frowned as she flipped through her notebook.  It was filled with entirely too many notes that began Here's a strange thing...  Strange things were becoming all too common around Snowy Vale.  Maybe it had started earlier and she just hadn't noticed, but there was definitely an increase in odd activity of late.  She just couldn't figure out why.

"Mrow!"

"Walter? What is it?" Nita closed her notebook to see what her Kneazle was meowing about.  The fluffy cat-like creature was staring at the window, his fluffy tail flicking back and forth. Nita looked out the window as well.  "It's just the paper, Walter," she said.  "Do you have to meow at the owl every time?"

Walter flicked his tail and meowed again.  Nita rolled her eyes and opened the window.  The tawny mail owl flew inside, glaring at the Kneazle as it fluttered to a shelf and held out its leg.  Nita took the newspaper and slipped 5 Knuts into the pouch.  The owl hooted softly and flew back out the window.  Nita closed it and sat down on the window seat to read the paper.  

A few minutes later, she folded the paper haphazardly and hurried to the fireplace.  She threw in some Floo powder and stuck her head in after.  She barely managed to say, "Benjamin Morrow" without getting a mouthful of ash. The spinning had only just stopped, giving her a view of the floor of her friend's messy office, when Nita said, "Ben!  I've got something important to tell you!"