lilith van der zee

PERSONALITY

Positive Traits: ambitious, determined, clever, resourceful, helpful at times, private
Negative Traits: petty, self-important, manipulative, vengeful
Quirks and Habits:
An interesting young woman, Lilith tends to keep to herself. While not outwardly rude, she personally finds herself superior, especially to muggleborns and werewolves. When placed into uncomfortable social situations, Lilith would prefer not to speak and instead focus on the nubs of fingernails left after years of biting them. When meeting people for the first time, Lilith sometimes has trouble maintaining eye contact, preferring to look at more interesting things instead. As a result, she doesn't have a particularly good memory for faces, and it takes quite some time for people to get to know her. She appears as a friendly face at St Mungo's to her patients, a charming and witty young woman to her superiors, but outside of the workspace Lilith closes herself off. As she was pitted against her elder brother from a young age, Lilith considers many unusual things competitions, such as the number of patients she can release per week versus her colleagues.
Likes: potions, being superior, charmwork, books, holyhead harpies, terraces, springtime, flowers (particularly tulips), aesthetics, mirrors, revenge, herself
Dislikes: monotony, betrayal, extended periods overpowering heat, darkness, senseless violence
Boggart: Inferi version of her old lover
Mirror of Erised: Herself, the most successful healer of her time and world renowned in the history books
Patronus: mare

HISTORY

For Lilith's parents, Hado and Yvonne, it was not love at first sight. It wasn't even like. Hado was the healer-in-charge for creature induced injuries and Yvonne his best healer. No matter how many times they butted heads, with Yvonne often going against the medical advice Hado gave, they spent most of their days together. Hado thought that Yvonne was careless and Yvonne thought that Hado was stuck up. After all, what sort of Dutch man worked in the UK?

Time wore the pair down, and they eventually learned that it was okay to be in each other's company. Out of the blue, Hado asked Yvonne on a date. Out of the blue, she agreed. Two years later, Yvonne was pregnant with a son. Two years after that, a daughter. Their youth was not riddled with turbulence as their parents romance had been. Yvonne taught the children her conservative pureblood beliefs, though she had not specifically chosen a side in the second wizarding war. The children were pictures of perfection, with Charlus perhaps a bit more inclined towards perfection and the pursuit of knowledge.

Lilith received her Hogwarts letter as expected two years after her brother had been sorted into Ravenclaw. She wondered if she would go the same way. She spent much of her time reading books and completing her homework, desperate for the praise her mother showered upon the brilliant Charlus. She sat on the stool for a full six minutes as the Sorting Hat debated in her ear whether her ambition and determination to outshine her brother outweighed her intellect. In the end, she followed suit of her mother into Slytherin house. Lilith mostly kept to herself throughout her Hogwarts career, finding a passion for potions and herbology as well as charms. Initially, she tried not to enjoy these subjects, immersing herself instead in Arithmancy. Unfortunately, she couldn't find the draw of the numbers based subject, and realised that she should follow her passion, even if she didn't particularly want to follow in her parents footsteps. Besides, if she concentrated on her coursework, she didn't have to talk to people. The only times when she deliberately put herself into social situations was to support her house team at Quidditch. She had considered trying out for Keeper, but her distaste for socialising kept her from joining the team.

After graduating with top marks, Lilith postponed her acceptance into healer training in favour of a gap year. She travelled throughout Asia and the Americas, revelling in the fact that these people wouldn't talk to her because they couldn't understand her (at least mostly). She could become more cultured and knowledgable than her prodigal brother, who had followed in their parents footsteps and went immediately into training. After an informative year abroad, caring only for herself, Lilith settled into a flat in London and began her healer training.

But when Lilith was 19 and living in London, training to be a healer, she did the unthinkable. She fell in love with a muggle girl. Josie lived in the flat above hers with her jet setting older brother. In reality, he just paid half the rent and she had the whole flat to herself. The pink haired pixie had pounded on Lilith's door the second day after she had moved in and insisted on welcoming her to the block. Josie was an optimistic American, determined to see the world in the best possible light. She ignored Lilith's cold disapproval, and each day knocked on Lilith's door bearing some sort of sweet treat. At first, Lilith pretended that she was not home, but Josie seemed to have a sixth sense and even if Lilith didn't answer, she left the box in front of her door. Time wore Lilith down and soon she started joining Josie for dinner. Josie was a chef compared to Lilith's ghastly cooking skills. Josie coaxed a different person out of Lilith, and she found it easier to relax in her infectiously happy company after time. She could talk to Josie without growing bored, and she easily forgot that this girl had no knowledge of the magic world. Lilith would have forgotten too, so wide were their topics of conversation, if she did not train with the healers each day.

Knowing that her ultra conservative, pureblood parents would never approve, Lilith never spoke of the blossoming relationship. She had always been a rather private person, and she kept Josie close to her heart like a talisman. She realised that her feelings went beyond a burgeoning friendship (though that feeling in itself was an unfamiliar one). Lilith had never really developed feelings for another person before, save for a short and incomprehensible six months in her fifth year when she fancied a Hufflepuff. Whenever Lilith wasn't at work, she was with Josie. The pair became romantically involved after one night watching silly movies turned into something more.

For Josie's twentieth birthday (she was a few months younger than Lilith), she jetted off to Turkey to spend a few days with her brother. Josie promised she wouldn't be gone long, and that she loved Lilith, who returned the sentiment with a genuine smile. But Lilith didn't know that was the last time she would see Josie. She was killed in a terrorist bus explosion two days later, along with her brother and twenty other casualties. Heartbroken, Lilith realised that she had been a fool to ever let anyone get that deep into her heart in the first place. Over the next year, she redoubled her efforts at St Mungo's, excelling at treating patients in the Plant and Poisoning ward that she had been assigned to. Lilith vowed to herself never to fall in love again. The pain wasn't worth it.

PLAYER

RP Alias: anna
Pronouns: she/her
Hogwarts House: slytherpuff
Other Characters: none yet
Roleplay example:

Oliver shrugged. "I suppose living in West London for so many years made me want to be more posh than I actually am," he said with a smirk. Resisting the strong urge to finish the bag of nuts, Oliver closed the packaging and stuffed them in his pocket. "Is it possible to enchant nuts to make them taste better?" he asked offhandedly, making a mental note to listen carefully to the answer. For future experimentation and reference, of course. Perhaps he could work on a way to make the Wolfsbane potion taste better as a stepping stone, as sugar rendered it completely useless.

Thankfully, Beatrice agreed to his suggestion of ice skating. "Excellent. I think you're a bit young to be breaking your hip, but if you succeed the matron at Hogwarts can always put you right," he added. "Come on then." He offered his elbow and she took it, and they headed off towards the rink. The pair made quick work of lacing up their skates, and were soon on the ice.

Now, Oliver was no ice skating expert. If he were to weigh his chances, he would say he was exactly as likely to fall on his face as Beatrice. So when she promised to take him down with her, Oliver found himself not objecting. He moved slowly and awkwardly, trying very very hard to look like he was somewhat comfortable. "Do I look comfortable like this?" asked Oliver, gliding forwards with knees bent and a rigid back. "Because I absolutely am not. He tottered slowly to Beatrice and offered his hand. "How long do you think it will take for one of us to have our hands skated over by those lads over there," asked Oliver, nodding towards a trio of Hogwarts sixth years. "I'd put them in detention for sixteen years, but they hate my class so may still be worth it for them," he added, somewhat randomly.