Post by BECCA on Jan 31, 2014 19:22:19 GMT -5
[presto]
eighteen
female
bartender/waitress
halfblood
heterosexual
kat graham
erica faith jordan
 The Moon family were Halfbloods who liked to pretend that they were Purebloods, which really says all you need to know. Nobody else was really fooled by the pretence, but they had kept it up so long they almost believed it themselves. It was, after all, the only thing they had to take pride in. The family lived in a tiny, cramped house on a side street off Knockturn Alley, and had done for several generations. Their income was an equally tiny, cramped café on the Alley – the kind of place where the only food served oozed greyish grease onto the slightly grubby plates and the only seats were four tall stools, their plastic always a little sticky to the touch, along the inside of the window. The ambition of the Moons knew no bounds, but somehow it never seemed to go anywhere, all their extra money-making schemes running into the ground before they actually made any money. They had been Slytherins for as long as families like the Malfoys had been Slytherins (although they’d cheated to keep the family line going, the odd Muggleborn or Halfblood creeping in and tainting the family history, although as they’d point out to anyone who enquired too closely, the same could be said of even the most prestigious families). Unlike the Malfoys, though, the only people who knew the name of the Moons were the people who ate in Knockturn Alley. Elizabeth, or Libby, Moon, was the middle child in her generation. She had an older brother, Taurus (the Moons were as ambitious in the names they gave their children as in anything else) and a young sister, Euphemia, known as Effie. And while she got on with her brother and sister reasonably well, there was always something different about Libby. Taurus was a crafty, scheming boy who believed himself very clever, but whose cleverness somehow never translated into good grades or original ideas. Effie was a petulant child who disliked hard work (but got away with doing nothing by dint of being the baby), and had a tendency to slam doors when she was angry. Libby was a dreamer, something that used to irritate her mother no end and earn her many snappy comments when she was helping out in the café. None of them bothered to enquire into Libby’s dreams, or they might have known that their middle daughter dreamed of a different sort of world, a world where she could afford the nice clothes she hankered after, a world where the coffee she served was hot and strong, the food was appetising, and the tables clean. Libby had no difficulty with hard work; she liked the work of the café, just not the café itself. All three children were Slytherins, of course. Libby was a quiet child during her first few years of Hogwarts, keeping her head down rather than find herself unwillingly associated with Taurus and his crowd. Gradually, she came out of her shell a bit, but still, there were few at Hogwarts who knew the ‘real’ Libby Moon. Indeed, there were few outside her own house who even knew who Libby Moon was, a fact she resented a little as a teenager. Being the same year as the famous Harry Potter, her school years were eventful, but she played little active part in those events. It was not until after Hogwarts, and after the war, that Libby really emerged. Her decision to leave the family home and business caused explosions, but Libby had suddenly stopped being either quiet or dreamy, and had begun to display the ambition that had seen her sorted into Slytherin in the first place. With utter determination, she got herself a menial admin job at the Wizarding Wireless Network Headquarters, and an uninspiring little bedsit. In a few short weeks, she transformed the bedsit into a cheerful, homey space, the first display of the special non-magical magic that was Libby Moon’s real expertise. She disliked the admin job, but taking it was to turn out to be one of her better decisions, because it was how she met Lee Jordan. Since his role in the war, Lee had become a successful radio presenter, with his own regular show. He and Libby had never met before, did not even know who the other was, but somehow they got talking, and Lee found himself lingering in the WWN offices unnecessarily, talking to the pretty young admin assistant who turned out to have a brilliant sense of humour and a steely head for business. Eventually he invited her out – as a friend – and Libby discovered a new world of parties and bars that she had previously shunned. She also began to meet boys – and men – and went out with a few, but somehow she always returned to Lee. Their friendship turned to more quite naturally in the end. Libby had plans, though, and soon left the job at the WWN to follow the old dream of her own restaurant. An excellent business plan and a loan from Gringotts later, and she had her premises on Diagon Alley, for in those post-war years, a lot of money was being put into rebuilding the Alley. The café, which she named the Tamarisk Tree, flourished, its brightly coloured walls, cheerful atmosphere and great coffee bringing the customers in crowds. By the time Libby found herself pregnant with Lee’s baby, her business was already thriving. The couple moved in together, into a pleasant little house off Diagan Alley, and their first daughter, Erica Faith, was born. Erica was a happy, noisy baby, and Libby, not wanting to leave her café for too long, quickly began to take her daughter to work with her. Erica – or Ricky, as she soon became known – grew up in and out of the Tamarisk Tree, seeing it as an extension of her home. She took her first steps in among the tables, and by the time she was five, was perfectly happy running between home and café unattended. By the time she was seven, she was familiar with most places on the Alley and was helping her mother to wipe down tables. Her favourite place – besides the café – was Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, the shop belonging to her father’s oldest friend, George Weasley. George’s daughter, Roxanne, was a matter of months younger than Ricky, and the two grew up almost as close as sisters. Ricky was a lively, boisterous little girl, with a big heart, a loud laugh and a decisive personality. She did not know the meaning of shyness and treated everyone as a friend. She had a quick temper, but arguments were over as soon as they were over with Ricky – she never held onto a grudge, and her anger would quickly fade back into sunshine. She sometimes found it difficult to comprehend that others did not forget and forgive so easily. Lee and Libby married when Ricky was two, in a lively wedding that was more an excuse for a party than anything. Two years later, they had their second child, Felicity. Ricky, always independent, did not much mind her parents suddenly being taken over by a new baby, and in fact loved her little sister fiercely from the beginning. As she learnt more about her mother’s childhood, however, she developed a lasting fascination with Knockturn Alley, and strayed in there more than once, despite it being forbidden. Things being forbidden never made much difference to Ricky, who did exactly as she liked most of the time. Libby was still in touch with her family, but rarely saw them, and Ricky hardly knew her Moon family, despite living so close to them. She started Hogwarts at the same time as Roxanne, and a large crowd of Roxanne’s cousins, and was sorted into Gryffindor, like her father. She made friends easily and was very happy, if not always very well-behaved, although Roxanne remained her best friend. She always enjoyed having fun, and became quite the flirt. As a teenager, she kissed and/or dated quite a number of boys, and sometimes did more than kiss, although she delayed going ‘all the way’. Her Hogwarts years were fairly unremarkable, though, until the beginning of her fifth year. In October of that year, Ricky – always the healthiest of girls before – contracted a rare strain of dragon pox and became seriously ill. Her memories of the time are hazy, and she prefers not to recall them for the most part. She can remember a lot of pain and feeling quite convinced that she was going to die, she felt so terrible – a conviction which, she learnt later, was more than half shared by her Healers, family and friends, for Ricky did indeed come very close to death that autumn and winter. She pulled through, however, and began a long convalescence, for the illness had left her thin and weak, a shadow of the girl she had been. For someone who had always been so sociable and active, being cooped up indoors for the long months of her recovery was very hard, but it gave her a patience and a thoughtfulness she had not had before, even if she eventually returned to school a little thinner but otherwise apparently unchanged. That was not until the following September though – she was not judged fit enough even to walk through Diagon Alley to the café until after Easter, and by that time, all her friends were beginning their OWLs. Ricky had to sit out of it all, and when her old year went back for their sixth year, she was faced with the prospect of resitting her fifth. Although unhappy with the situation, Ricky’s positive nature won through, and she made the best of it, although she never really reconciled herself to being a year behind where she should have been. She did make friends in her new year, but she always felt somehow stranded between them and her old year. However, to all appearances, she bounced back with a vengeance. Now sixteen, and with a new appreciation for the loveliness of being alive, Ricky made the most of the rest of her time at school in an endless string of parties and drunken nights and boys, although in between them, she worked hard, both at her school work and at the café in the holidays, for which she was now paid. She lost her virginity to Lorcan Scamander, on one of the Tamarisk Tree tables the summer after her OWLs – although who was doing the losing was highly debatable, since Ricky’s seduction techniques were blatant and unashamed. She thoroughly enjoys her sexuality, and sees no reason to hide it or to refrain from making the first approach. Although she returned to school for her sixth year, she had already formulated the plan of leaving school at the end of it. Ricky takes after her mother, having an excellent head for business, an ambitious streak, and a very practical nature. Her plans are not quite the same as Libby’s – indeed, she is still formulating them, and is not yet completely sure what they are, but she knows that they do not involve academics, therefore NEWTs seemed irrelevant, and staying on after everyone else her age had left was unappealing. Now eighteen, Ricky has finished her school career at the end of her sixth year, and is working behind the bar at a night club most evenings, and frequently topping up her income at the Tamaris Tree during the day. It’s not that Ricky is bent on getting rich – although she likes the things money can buy – it’s just that she wants to do the best she can with what she has. She likes hard work, and she’s good at it, including cooking and cleaning, thanks to her mother’s teaching and her summers spent helping in the café. She’s still close with all her old crowd (she lives with Roxanne and Dominique) and had a good relationship with her family – she and her parents are very open and trusting with each other, and she’s extremely protective of Felicity. When she’s not working, she enjoys having a good time as much as she always did, and has absolutely no plans to settle down any time soon. becca 25 gmt |
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