In-Character
Full Name: Dido June BloomNicknames: —
Birthdate: June 3rd, 1862
Current Age: 32
Gender: Female
Occupation: Divination Professor
Reputation: 7/8
Residence:
Dido now considers her residence to be Hogwarts. Since beginning at the school, she has spent each summer holiday with a different sibling.Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
Wand: Willow, nine inches, with a unicorn tail hair. Whippy.
Blood Status: Muggleborn
Social Class: Middle
Family:
Parents, still livingAppearance:
Three brothers, four sisters, all still living
Assorted nieces and nephews
Apricot, an orange Maine coon cat, acquired as a kitten in 1889.
History:Ethnicity: Black
Height: Just over four feet, nine inches
Hair: Dark; curly
Eyes: Brown
Build: Stout, but generally proportionate to her small stature.
Attire: Favours muggle clothes, even while teaching. Outfits are generally intended not to stand out.
Wand Arm: Right
Of Note:
- Dido has always been the sort to smile often and broadly.
- Usually has at least a couple strands of cat hair about her person.
Her PB is Quinta Brunson.
Personality:Boring Miss Bloom
Eight children is a lot by any measure, but Dr. and Mrs. Bloom achieved just that, with young Dido falling fifth in line in 1862. Nothing surrounding her arrival would have heralded anything remotely unusual to come, and indeed, her first six years of life passed altogether normally—one might even say boring, if one were not enamoured of typical middle-class children.
The First Declaration
She will never see the world, but she will be loved.
These were the words Dido said of her youngest sister, still in the womb, in 1868. Really, the only part of the statement that might not have been expected was Dido’s certainty in gaining a sister—their family had, indeed, never left Surrey, and were relatively fond of one another.
When Patience was born the following year, though, the babe was discovered beforelong to be blind. This was the first of what would come to be called Dido’s Declarations, but not the last—each a sign that something was not quite right with the young girl.
In the years to follow, Dido became more peculiar. She would often stare into space or make her Declarations about others, prompting her parents to keep her more and more away from those outside their household. This was frustrating for the child, who had always been a sociable sort.The Peculiar Dido Bloom
An answer, or something like it, came in the early summer of 1873 with the arrival of one Professor Hamish Darrow to the door. He was, he said, the head of something called a Hufflepuff at a place called Hogwarts, both bizarre words that meant nothing to the doctor, his wife, or young Dido. But then came the Big One: Dido was a witch, and was invited to attend a school of magic in Scotland.
Her father, always a man of science, was disbelieving until Professor Darrow, with a sigh, turned a cushion into a hedgehog. Her mother, long convinced there was something wrong with Dido, had been quiet for much of the conversation, but declared that Dido would attend. Then she went to her room and was not seen by any of the children for the next three days whilst she ‘recovered’.
For herself, Dido was… apprehensive. The notion of leaving her family was a daunting one, even though her daydreamer’s mind had already begun fantasizing about this peculiar new world. Acquiring a wand, then spellbooks and all the other trappings of a young witch, helped to make it all more real for her, though she did still tear up at the train platform. (She promptly wiped away her tears, not wishing the other children to see her.) At Hogwarts, she herself became a Hufflepuff, appreciating the familiar presence of the same professor who had come to her house.
Within the first months at the school, though, it becomes clear that Dido is still abnormal. Blurting out facts about strangers does not get one very far in making friends, after all, and her habit of staring off into space during a conversation is, at best, ‘peculiar’ to those around her. When she returns home for Christmas, to make matters worse, she learns that her parents had told the neighbours she had been sent away to a place more able to handle her oddities. It was not the best Christmas ever.
Still, as the months, then years, go on, Dido is able to carve out a piece of the world for herself. She makes a small group of friends, proves to be a very adept student, and flourishes at Hogwarts. In 1875, she adds arithmancy, care of magical creatures, and divination to her timetable. This last, in particular, proves to be a great boon: through palmistry and tea leaves, Dido finally has a layer of plausibility about her when she Knows things.
And so Dido concludes her time at Hogwarts in 1880, still peculiar, but more Herself than she could ever have been otherwise.
Straddling two worlds never seemed as daunting to Dido as it did when the time came to consider Society. She could live in the muggle world—the peculiar girl sent away to a school for peculiar children, who never grew out of her abnormalities—or in the magical one, away from her family and without their social support. Neither option seemed feasible to young Dido, but the solution came in the form of one of her professors. Thus, when Dido left Hogwarts, it was to the home of 173 year old Mrs. Hortensia Molehurst, seer and an aunt of that same professor, as a lady’s companion.The Final Declarations of Hortensia C. Molehurst
One might think their age difference would be inconvenient, but indeed, the two got on swimmingly until one evening in 1886 when Mrs. Molehurst declared she would not awake in the morning, said her goodbyes, and did indeed die by breakfast.
She had left for Dido three things: a small sum of money, a glowing letter of reference, and a second letter addressed To the Board of Governors when the time came that Dido wished to seek out the position of Divination Professor. (Dido doubted she ever would).
Following the death of Mrs. Molehurst, Dido returned to her parents’ home in Surrey feeling rather adrift. It was several weeks before she found her next calling in the form of a young boy.Education, Round One
He, like her sister Patience, was blind. Unlike her sister Patience, Dido knew immediately that this youngster shared her own magical abilities, though could not have said how she knew. She certainly could not have revealed this to his parents, who were incredibly mundane and absolutely delighted by the prospect of a governess for their boy who had some experience with those of his condition and such a glowing letter of recommendation.
Through working with [Tennyson] in the following years, Dido would realize what Mrs. Molehurst had already known: she loved to teach.
Professor Darrow is coming tomorrow, and you mustn’t be too shocked by what he has to say.
It would be her last Declaration before {Tennyson] departed for Hogwarts, his status as a young wizard shocking to his parents, but rather less shocking than the fact that Dido had been magical herself all along. With her charge departed, though, Dido was once more adrift.
The right place at the right time turned out to be a tea shop in Irvingly. There, she saw the leaves of an older gentleman, read them with ease. Dido had not known when she set off that morning, a particular envelope on her person, that she would encounter the newest member of Hogwarts’ Board of Governors, but between her reading and the lengthy missive from the late Mrs. Molehurst, Dido returned to Hogwarts in the autumn of 1892, now a professor (even though the majority of the students were taller than she).Education, Round Two
As the professor of Divination, a certain degree of oddity was expected and excused; between this and her growth in the years since graduation, Dido fit in a great deal better than she had the first time ‘round, rediscovering her love of the school and continuing to foster her love of educating children.
Dido has always been an incredibly compassionate person. She cares deeply for others, even strangers, and goes out of her way to be helpful. She is a hardworking sort who likes to be kept busy—for when she is busy, the deja vu is not nearly as bad as it might be otherwise. She is also quite book smart. With a sharp memory, she often remembers what she sees, hears, and reads with ease, which produced excellent results in school.Other:
Dido can, however, be something of a daydreamer. Coupled with her other peculiarities, her more practical knowledge of the world as it is can sometimes be lacking.
She is often seen as trustworthy at first meeting, but can present as odd or even irritating on subsequent interactions. Regardless, she is stalwart and earnest in the majority of her actions.
SKILLS:
- Languages: English and perfunctory French.
- Can play the pianoforte reasonably well.
- An excellent memory for seemingly mundane details.
TRIVIA:
- Boggart: TBD
- Amortentia: TBD
DIDO & THE SIGHTThough never ‘diagnosed’ as such, Dido is a seer. Oh, it’s nothing so grand as it sounds—she doesn’t make grand prophecies! Instead, it presents itself in more subtle ways.
- Knowing & Declarations: Her Declarations from her youth have… mellowed out somewhat as Dido has grown and realized that they freak people out. She settles instead for Knowing, facts about the world around her that simply spring to mind. She mostly keeps these to herself.
- Right Place, Right Time: Dido has always had a knack for this—being in the precise right place at the precise right time. It has served her very well, particularly in adulthood.
- Deja Vu All Over Again: It isn’t all good. Dido is prone to experiencing incredibly vivid deja vu that has been known to make her dizzy and nauseated at times.
- Starts & Stops: She also often will 'lose' her place in a conversation or task, staring into space as she processes sights, sounds, or other stimuli that she seldom is able to piece into anything coherent. This can be particularly tedious to those who have to interact with her.
Out-of-Character
Name: KayteAge: Over 30
Contact: PM Aldous Crouch
