Cecil Honeychurch

[choneychurch]

GENERAL

NAME: Cecil Ezra Honeychurch
NICKNAMES: None
AGE/DOB: Seventeen & August 28th (Virgo)
BLOOD STATUS: Half-blood
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male & He/Him
SEXUALITY: Homosexual
HOMETOWN: Walhalla, North Dakota

Prior to coming to Gooseberry Alternative High School, Cecil attended the Lake of the Spirits Conservatory of Magic (LSCM), a small school located on a charmed island in the eastern bay of Devils Lake. A K-12 program with a standard magical curriculum, Lake of the Spirits was created to provide an education for the (relatively few) wizards and witches scattered across North Dakota. The school provided dormitories for students and, because of its size, had no houses.

CONCEPT: Head Boy and big brother blue jay with a knack for divination.

PHYSICAL

APPEARANCE: Cecil is a gentle giant. An unusually tall young man, he is broad in the shoulders and has a strong, stocky frame built through a lifetime of physical labor and outdoor activity. He has light skin dotted all over with freckles and a handsome, square-jawed face with thick eyebrows, dark brown eyes, a broad nose, and full lips that are quick to produce a wide, often slightly goofy smile. His hair is chestnut brown and cut short, swept to the left but never quite styled enough to be neat.

A country boy at heart, Cecil has never been entirely comfortable in the school uniform and finds it impractical, confining, and unnecessarily formal. Still, he respects the rules too much not to wear it or to wear it half-heartedly and his occasionally crooked cravat is never intentional. Once classes are over for the day, though, he is quick to change into the simpler, mostly Muggle-style clothes that he prefers. Typically, this includes a flannel button-up shirt or a t-shirt, jeans, and boots or sneakers. Though he doesn't always wear an earring, his left hear is pierced and sometimes there is a gold hoop dangling from it.

HEIGHT: 6'4"

PB: Nico Mirallegro

PERSONALITY

LIKES: Nature. Exploring. Camping. Reading & writing. Telling stories. Poetry. Studying. Cooking & baking. Sweets. Tea. Singing. Humming (he's sorry about that). Good manners. Camaraderie. Parties. Physical affection (he's a hugger). Mornings. Making things. Honey bees (magical and non-magical breeds alike). Taking care of people.

DISLIKES: Negativity. People who don't try. Gossip & rumors. Heights. Flying. Being the center of attention (most of the time). Parties that get out of hand. Breaking the rules. Confrontation. Coffee. Being idle. Letting people down. Dull knives. Winter & being cold.

PERSONALITY:

Cecil is upbeat, helpful, and polite, bringing those small-town, Midwestern sensibilities with him wherever he goes. While not as overtly confidant or boisterous as some of his fellow jays, he makes conversation readily, laughs easily, and is quite amiable toward friends, acquaintances, and strangers alike. He genuinely likes other people and seems to be at his happiest when those around him are happy, leading him to go out of his way for others, especially friends and members of his house. Whether this means trying to cheer up a friend having a bad day, getting up early to cook breakfast for his housemates, or lending a helping hand to younger students preparing for exams, he's often willing to put out the extra effort for someone else. While not quite blunt, he is honest and straight-forward and doesn't seem to have the ability to wear his heart anywhere but right on his sleeve.

While Cecil is a sociable person, he can become soft-spoken and even a little shy in unfamiliar situations. He never loses his friendly disposition during such moments, but tends to break eye contact more and smile more and can even get a little red in the cheeks. He rarely wants to be the center of attention in a group and would much rather be the one cheering encouragement than actually step into the limelight himself. The sole exception to this is when he's telling stories. Cecil is an avid reader, a privately talented writer (though he's fairly certain his poetry is terrible), and an enthusiastic linguaphile that has been spinning yarns since he was a little boy. He seems to have an endless number of tales tucked away in his head, from ghost stories to mythology to simple anecdotes, and he loves to tell them. Mostly, this talent is reserved for the fire during Outdoor Exploration Club camping trips, though it has come up from time to time elsewhere.

While all of this makes him a natural fit for Azurcrest, Cecil is uncommonly grounded for a jay. Sensible and steady, he rarely gets overwhelmed and takes everything in stride, making it easy for others to approach him with problems or complaints or even secrets. He is also responsible and reliable, always ensuring that what needs to be done gets done and gets done right. He has a strong work ethic, never putting off until tomorrow what can be done today and always trying his hardest. He isn't a perfectionist and doesn't expect to succeed at everything, but he has ambitions and believes that trying is the most important step in becoming a better person. He has a difficult time watching others lose faith in themselves or give up before the fight is over and will always try to offer support, even when it isn't wanted. At times, his desire to put his all into everything can leave Cecil over-extended and frazzled, but he can typically rely on his housemates to make him relax when this occurs.

Cecil was raised to be respectful, both of his peers and his elders (whom he still addresses as sirs and ma'ams), and is very disapproving when people treat one another poorly. He dislikes gossip and rumors, loathes bullies, and believes in the old adage that, if you've got nothing nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all. The regard he has for his parents, teachers, and other figures in authority has always made him inclined to follow the rules and he generally does just that. While he can be convinced to bend or even break the rules from time to time (for good reasons or by close friends), such occasions are rare and he always feels guilty afterward. This is especially true now that he's Head Boy, a responsibility which he takes quite seriously. He takes his other commitments just as seriously, though, and will never break a promise or fail to follow through if he can help it.

At the end of the day, Cecil is an older brother for all of the jays. Sometimes fun, sometimes an infuriating buzzkill, but always there when his classmates need him.

HISTORY

FAMILY MEMBERS:

✦ Aesop Honeychurch (Father) - Pure-blood - Magizoologist: The Honeychurch family has been studying and raising all sorts of magical insects for generations, focusing on bees and the various unique properties of the honey they produce (obviously). Aesop has continued in this tradition, keeping dozens of species of bees on his isolated property, from the Apis sopio or Snoring Bee (which actually does snore and whose honey can be used to make potent sleeping drafts) to the Apis operosus or Busy Bee (an abnormally large bee with four sets of legs instead of three that are renowned for their productivity and whose honey is used to create a potion that improves focus and productivity). From these bees, he collects honey, beeswax, propolis, and royal jelly (all of which can be used in potions). He attended LSCM.

✦ Ida Honeychurch (Mother) - Muggle-born - Potioneer: Ida is the daughter of Muggle parents and attended LSCM. She specializes in potions that heal the body and the mind and uses many of the ingredients which result from her husband's studies. She also keeps a great deal of the honey to use in recipes, ensuring that all of her children have a sweet tooth.

✦ Melaina + Cleodora + Daphnis Honeychurch (Younger Sisters): Cecil's younger sisters are thirteen-year-old triplets currently studying magic at the LSCM.

HISTORY:

Cecil Honeychurch was born and raised in rural North Dakota, the oldest son of an eccentric magientomologist father and a kind but firm potioneer mother. A quiet and curious and well-behaved child from the first, he spent his days watching his mother prepare potions, his evenings reading stories or playing games with his father, and every moment waiting to come into his talents. Unfortunately, he didn't. By the time he was six and supposed to be entering first grade, Cecil still hadn't shown an signs of magical ability and his parents began to worry that he might not have any. Rather than sending him to school, his mother decided that she would continue his education at home and wait. Blissfully unaware that he'd missed a magical milestone, the boy did well in his studies and continued to wait patiently. But three more years passed and he still hadn't shown any hints of magic. Now nine years old, he began taking on more responsibilities at home, helping his father to gather the honey from his plethora of magical bees and watching after his younger sisters (the triplets Melaina, Cleodora, and Daphnis) while his mother worked. And he also began to wonder what was happening. After all, in the stories kids always had magic by now and his sisters had all started to show signs.

Eventually, he asked his mother about this directly. Unable to lie to her son, Ida told Cecil that sometimes a person could be a late bloomer and that sometimes people never developed magic at all. This realization was devastating and and the boy ran to his room without another word. At first, he was inconsolable and his parents' attempts to talk to him about a life as something other than a wizard were met with little more than silence or disheartened nods. It was one of his younger sisters, Cleodora, who finally helped Cecil get through the worst of his melancholy. She came into his room and asked him if he would come read to them, a habit that he had taken up when caring for his sisters. He told her to go away, but she persisted and he lashed out at her much more unkindly than he'd meant to. Cleodora started to cry, threw the book she'd brought at him, and told him that he was being stupid because magic was just one part of him. That it wasn't that important and that he was letting the rest of him go bad just because he didn't have it. Then she stormed out. This finally got through to Cecil and, while he still wasn't happy, he tried to get back to normal. He went back to his lessons and his chores and watching after the triplets. He resigned himself to a future without magic and focused instead on what was happening now, taking things one step at a time and remembering the good things that his life still had in abundance. He also began putting his energy into new things, learning to cook from his mother and working more actively with his father and teaching himself various crafts (like whittling and making candles from beeswax). Gradually, he started to feel better.

Three years later, when Cecil was twelve and had come almost entirely to terms with what he thought he was (though nobody had actually used the word 'Squib' just yet), his magical talents finally surfaced. While sitting on the front porch and watching his father with the bees, he began to see patterns in the movements of the insects. Enthralled, he continued to stare and the patterns seemed to become messages. According to the movement of the bees, a storm was coming. Despite the clear sky and the calm breeze, a bad storm would be rolling in within the hour. Shocked, he tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just seen and realized slowly that gaining knowledge of the future by watching the movements of birds or insects was a form of divination. Now doubly shocked, he pulled himself up from the porch and ran inside to tell his mother. The prediction turned out to be true; a tornado cut through the area not long after and the family had managed to touch up the wards on their home and hives before getting safely inside, preventing a great deal of potential damage. After that, the magic just came. Cecil studied the basics and began practicing with his parents, working feverishly in his excitement to make up for lost time. The following summer, he received a letter to attend the Lake of the Spirits Conservatory of Magic.

Despite being behind in his lessons, Cecil was thrilled to be at Lake of the Spirits and worked hard, studying and practicing and receiving additional tutoring from some of the more accommodating staff members. He gradually closed the educational gap, but finding his place among his peers was more difficult. While he was upbeat and kind, he was also out of step with his classmates due to his homeschooling and rendered shy by his inexperience with kids his own age. Worse still, he was often too busy with his studies to join in with the group activities that could've aided with the transition. After several weeks, one of his roommates could see that he was struggling and reached out to him, offering to help him study for an upcoming Charms exam if he would come and play in a Quodpot scrimmage match with him afterward. Surprised, but happy, Cecil agreed. He did well on the exam and terribly during the Quodpot match (he was, and still is, a bad flyer due to a fear of heights), but came out of the experience with a couple of friends. While he never played the game again, he supported his friends on the Quodpot team by attending the matches and arranging victory (or condolence) parties afterward and found that he enjoyed both. Not only was it a welcome relief to his overworked brain to let loose, but it also felt good to help his friends do the same and he found that he was at his happiest when they were happy too.

By the end of his second year at Lake of the Spirits, Cecil had become a good student in all of his classes and had excelled in one additional subject that he'd taken it upon himself to study: divination. Fascinated with the practice ever since it had brought him into the world of magic, he set aside time to read about it and to practice it when he could, using everything from tea leaves to fire. While he could never choose what information to search for and many of his predictions were inconsequential, he proved to almost always be right. This didn't go unnoticed and he received an invitation to the Gooseberry Alternative High School at the end of his eight grade year. While he was reluctant to leave his friends and his sisters at Lake of the Spirits, Gooseberry seemed like a good opportunity. That whole summer, he struggled with the decision and tried to divine the appropriate path, but with his inability to focus the question all he got back were details about the weather and upcoming Quodpot matches and the (admittedly fortuitous) knowledge that the milk in the fridge had prematurely curdled. Finally, he talked through the matter with his mother and the two decided that the new school would be worth trying. Cecil accepted the invitation and started at Gooseberry the following year.

Making the transition to Gooseberry wasn't as difficult as starting at Lake of the Spirits had been. Cecil was sorted into Azurcrest, where he quickly made friends among his gregarious and cheerful housemates. While some initially judged him to be a stick-in-the-mud and a teacher's pet, many were convinced to forgive his faults because of his cheerful and genuinely good-natured personality and most of the rest came around after the first time he made apple cinnamon honey cake for the house or helped the Event Committee to get the first of many successful parties off the ground. He wouldn't ever be the most popular guy in school or the life of the party, but found his place among his fellow jays and that was more than enough for him. He also continued to work hard at his studies and joined in several activities on campus, resulting in a busy but very fulfilling life. He became a Prefect when he was a sophomore (surprisingly absolutely nobody) and, while he took his responsibilities seriously, he was always fair and reasonable in dealing with infractions. He also seemed disappointed when he had to deal out discipline, rather than agitated or angry, prompting some to point out that he acted more like an older brother (or even a parent) than a classmate.

In the two years since, Cecil has thrived at Gooseberry, continuing to study hard, deepen his friendships with his classmates, participate in clubs, and fulfill his role as a Prefect. While it is a bit of a balancing act, he really wouldn't have it any other way. Now a senior and Head Boy, Cecil has returned to school prepared to make the most of his last year.

SCHOOL

YEAR: Senior (Grade 12)
HOUSE: Azurcrest
SORTING: It took several minutes for Cecil to be sorted because he had the characteristics of both an Azurcrest and a Ribbonfin. In the end, though, he was chosen to be a jay because of his personal resolve to make the most of what he has, always find the silver linings, and make those around him happy.
WAND: Silver Lime, Demiguise Hair core, 12", Pliable
The man who made Cecil's wand told him that, because of the Demiguise Hair core, his wand could become invisible if misused, neglected, or otherwise treated badly. He still doesn't know whether or not this was a joke.
FAMILIAR: None. Cecil received special permission to keep a small hive of bees on the edge of the forest outside of the Gardens, though, and he's very attached to them. What's life without fresh honey, after all?

CLASSES:
✦Core: Charms, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Outdoor Education
✦Electives: Artificing, Wizard Literature, Magizoology
✦Advanced: Divination

SENIOR PROJECT: Cecil hasn't determined the topic for his senior project yet, but is hoping to get insights on divination from Mr. Chettri's class and find his project topic in that. Putting off the decision has been difficult for him, though, and he frequently frets about it.
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: Apart from his talent for divination, Cecil isn't a naturally gifted wizard and does well in his classes only because he studies hard, practices constantly, and has boundless optimism to keep him motivated. He isn't ever at the top of his class, but his grades are mostly low As and high Bs. He struggles most in Transfiguration, but excels in Potions, Herbology, and Divination. While he enjoys Magizoology, he has an intense fear of heights and has had to sit out on any flying excursions ever since he passed out on the back of a winged horse.

EXTRACURRICULARS: Events Committee, Outdoor Exploration, Choir, Cheer

OOC

NAME: Katie
EMAIL: ollinsong@gmail.com
CDJ: ollinsong
OTHER PREFERRED CONTACT: None
TIME ZONE: CST

	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
8:00	B R E A K F A S T
8:30
9:00		Herbology	Charms	Potions	Transfiguration
9:30
10:00		Divination		Wizard Literature	Magizoology
10:30
11:00					Artificing
11:30
12:00	L U N C H
12:30
13:00		Transfiguration		Herbology
13:30
14:00	Charms	Wizard Literature	Artificing	Outdoor Education
14:30						Azurcrest Team Practice
15:00	Magizoology		Potions
15:30
16:00						Outdoor Exploration
16:30			Choir		MONTHLY BONDING ACTIVITY TIME SLOT #1
17:00
17:30
18:00	D I N N E R
18:30
19:00	Event Committee				MONTHLY BONDING ACTIVITY TIME SLOT #2
19:30
20:00
00:00
00:30