In-Character
Full Name: Philomena Kazia SproutNicknames: Phie, Phil, Priya
Birthdate: September 13, 1868
Current Age: 24 Years
Gender: Female
Occupation: Welcome Witch at Evergardens
Reputation: 7-9 | While the Sprouts have been Upper Class for quite some time, their wealth has not gone back for very many generations, and for some, their “new money” could be a reason for them to be looked down upon in addition to the fact that Phie has had quite a few failed seasons. Additionally, Phie can often be seen in her family's gardens doing work and helping out the employees where she can.
Residence: London
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
Wand: Birch, 10 in, Occamy Feather, Slightly Springy
Blood Status: Halfblood
Social Class: Upper Class
Family:
Renata Sprout née _____ | Step-Mother | b. 1852 | Horticulturist [Concentration: Poisons]; Healer
† Eleanor Sprout née _____ | Mother | b. 1850 | Healer
Ezra Sprout | Father | b. 1837 | Horticulturist; Plant Husbandry
Andrea Sprout | Brother | b. 1862 | Entomologist
Angelo Sprout | Brother | b. 1862 | Horticulturist
Ezio _____ | Step-Brother | b. 1870 | Plant-Based Healer
Isidore _____ | Step-Brother | b. 1870 | Horticulturist
Phillippa "Pippa" Sprout | Half-Sister | b. 1888
Appearance:
General |Standing at an even five foot four inches, Phie is a little taller than is average for a woman. When working at Evergarden, she opts for lighter fabrics, as they help with the humidity in the environment. If she works in the winter, she’ll often sport a heavier cloak. While she dresses in neutral, dark earth tones, it’s still clear that Phie is upper-class in the quality of fabrics and craftsmanship in her dresses. Her hair, while often unkempt from attending her plants is a glossy black, often treated with home remedies passed down from her mother. For as often as she works in the greenhouse, her hands can sometimes accumulate dirt under her fingernails. Never one to hide from the sun, Phie's brown eyes turn a golden-copper color, which set off the deep sepia flush of her skin quite nicely.
Expressions | Despite all her training as a debutante, she's never been good at hiding her feelings. Where she fails, and has the advantage of being in her family's gardens, she'll often duck behind the nearest obliging plant in order to mask any conflicting feelings she might have.
Deportment | While perhaps not having the attitude of a debutante, Phie certainly carries herself with ease and confidence, whether in a crowd of people at a ball, or at her family's gardens. Used to using her hands as tools, she gestures often and is quite comfortable with movement.
Fashion | Phie favors dark jewel tones with gold jewelry, but tends to wear simpler patterns. The dark tones help with masking any dirt that might pick up on her dress, however she also tends to wear an apron when working at the Evergardens.
Face Claim | Charithra Chandran
History:
Childhood
Phie is born the first daughter of Eleanor and Ezra sprout. Labor is long and taxing on Eleanor, and after delivering Philomena successfully, she succumbs to the difficulties and passes away. Ezra is left with a baby Philomena and her two older twin brothers.At just the age of four, Philomena is out in the family gardens, with Angelo and Andrea practicing violin. A scream from their little sister sees the two brothers drop what they're doing and run to her aid. They find Phie knee deep in the garden, cradling an injured fox. With little persuading, the boys are wrapped into convincing their father to let Phie keep the fox and nurse it back to health on the condition that Angelo gets to name it. Being a long-standing music enthusiast, Angelo names the little fox Pytor Tchaikovsky - Chai for short, and coincidentally one of Phie's favorite drinks. Chai eventually makes a full recovery and takes a liking to Angelo, particularly his violin playing.
In 1873, Angelo and Andrea leave for Hogwarts. Angelo is put into Hufflepuff, whereas Andrea is sorted into Ravenclaw. Phie is saddened by this, and visibly, so is Chai. To help fill the gap her brother has left, Phie takes up learning violin.
A year later, Phie's first act of magic occurs — after calling one of her brothers to help her get a tool from the shed, she loses patience (after approximately 10 seconds) and heads into the shed herself. She retrieves it by levitating an apple box to use as a step stool. When her Hogwarts letter comes, she discovers she is unable to take Chai to school. Phie is given Orion, a small kestrel instead so she might write letters to home. While she hopes that Orion and Chai bond, Chai is not too enthused at the thought of being replaced.
Hogwarts
1880-1887
Off to Hogwarts Philomena goes, bringing not just Orion, but a variety of plants: Egyptian privet, a small fragrant pot of Mehendi (her mother's), Balsalm, and (a last minute addition that she ran out to the garden to fetch) an aloe plant. Where Hogwarts is concerned, Phie takes to schooling like a duck to water; well not quite so quickly. Her first week of classes sees her draw a few peculiar looks from her classmates — she's brought the aloe plant with her to every Potions and Herbology class. It isn't until one of her classmates burns themselves on their cauldron that Philomena plucks a leaf from the aloe, cuts it expertly with her knife and puts it on the burn that her classmates finally understand what the plant is for. In truth, Phie only then realizes that she'd had a dream about the aloe plant the night before leaving for Hogwarts, which prompted her to fetch it from the gardens. Thinking nothing of it except a coincidence, from then on, Philomena makes friends easily, though some still think her odd for carrying a plant around like a security blanket.
In the following years, Phie finds a place for herself, making a few close friends and occasionally goofing off in class. Her grades are quite average, except in Herbology and Potions; two subjects in which her family is delighted to learn she naturally excels. One day Phie overhears that the Herbology greenhouses need fixing and the idea that they should turn expand the Herbology greenhouses into larger structures enters her mind. After exuberantly pitching the idea to the professor, her idea is quickly shot down — the school doesn't have nearly enough money to make any such change. Disappointed, Philomena returns home with the idea instead (they already have an array of greenhouses on the property, however Philomena's idea pertains to a much larger greenhouse, one containing many greenhouses under one large roof, with multiple rooms and exhibits, and perhaps animals too) and much to her delight, her family adores the idea, however it is short lived. Later that summer, one night Philomena wakes the entire household up with her screams. After fetching a nurse, it's quickly discovered that she merely had a bad dream, one whose details she cannot remember. Later that week their greenhouses catch fire, leaving a majority of their gardens destroyed in its wake. The larger greenhouse idea is put on hold until the family can recuperate their losses. The children beg to stay home to help, however their protests are ignored, and they return to Hogwarts the first of September.
It's not until her summer going into fourth year that she meets a strange woman in their parlor named Renata. It turns out that her father and Renata are courting each other. Imagine that! She immediately runs to her brothers who are already privy to this information, which Phie scowls at them for keeping it from her (even if they had only just found out the week before; still, a whole week that she was walking around none the wiser!) And if her father and Renata were courting, then it could only mean that there were other things on the horizon. Phie is determined not to like her, except Renata makes it quite hard. The elder woman is a horticulturist and a healer, so she fits in quite naturally with the others, the traitors. And, Angelo gushes to her one day, she plays violin with the fluidity of Vivaldi himself! When Phie points out that Angelo couldn't possibly know how Vivaldi played, Angelo says that is neither her nor there, and Phie is sent off to practice. Towards the end of the summer, Renata even eventually gains the favor of Chai, which greatly vexes the young witch.
During a Christmas vacation in their fourth year Phie returns home, disgruntled to see Renata has come to join them. And that she has brought along her two sons, Ezio and Isidore, one who is interested in Horticulture like his mother, and the other who wants to be a healer. Phie is extremely distraught at how perfectly everyone seems to be getting along. She avoids the older woman as much as she can until one day she's found in one of her favorite greenhouses, tucked away in a corner hidden by two large Colocasias and drawing her plans for the gardens. After seeing the drawings, Renata inquires about the greenhouse. In any other circumstance, Phie would have perhaps proceeded with caution, except for the day — a particularly grating one — has worn her down, and she shows her drawings and ideas willingly, if not with a touch of chagrin.
In the end, her caution was for nothing; Renata was instantly in love with the idea, which brought Phie's distaste for her to an immediate but begrudging end. With his youngest and only daughter now approving of Renata, Ezra Sprout proposed in the New Year, and a wedding was set to take place. Along with a new family, the Sprouts also have the luck of partaking in Renata's wealth, which — after a lavish honeymoon — sees the family begin the preparations to set up their public greenhouse.
The rest of Philomena's Hogwarts years are spent making sure she gets decent marks in her classes, excelling at Herbology and Potions and passing with perfectly fine grades in the rest. Finishing school for Phie is a brief topic in the Sprout Household, but it is quickly shot down by both Phie and (much to Phie's delight) Renata, who insists that her newest daughter should be a part of designing the greenhouse (it was her idea after all!)
The Unsuccessfull, Unwilling Debutante
The first few months of Philomena's debut appear to run fairly smoothly, however when Christmas comes and she's had little to no offers (that her parents are aware of), the excitement dies down. Having waited for this precise moment, Philomena presents her plans and sketches of the greenhouse to the family. In February of 1888, Renata and Ezra announce that they are expecting. Later that November, Renata gives birth to a girl and they name her Phillippa.
It doesn't come as any sort of surprise to the Sprouts that Philomena's following seasons as a debutante provide very little fruit. In the beginning, she spends a majority of her time with her step-mother and father, doting over her new sister, planning the gardens and looking at blueprints. It's soon discovered that her visions come in handy after she warns of flooding in a particularly delicate area they're landscaping. From then on, her nights are filled with scouring over her family's garden books and guides, in addition to sending letters to her family's contacts in India for cuttings and parcels of her favorite plants. The opening of Sprout's Evergarden takes the form of a charity fundraiser and ball.
In the following months, Phie's family hopes she eventually will return to the debutante life, however it's clear that it is far too late; eventually everyone stops trying, and Philomena takes on the role of Welcome Witch for visitors.
Personality:
— COMPASSIONATE — INNOVATIVE — LOYAL — CREATIVE — PERCEPTIVE — STUBBORN —
Despite her endless loyalty, Phie is absolutely horrible at keeping secrets which resides in her inability to contain her excitement, especially when surprises are involved. Her family has been known to keep things from her until the very last minute. Patience has never been her best virtue, so she also often gets fidgety if she's waiting for someone or something.
Phie has a bit of a control issue sometimes, due to the fact that she’s had so much sway in her family’s business. She tends to be a workaholic even though it’s not in her station to be so. She'll stay late at the gardens when everyone has left, wanting to help close up. The pressure of making sure her family is updated of their plants causes some stress to her partially because she wants her family to succeed but also because she loves their gardens.
Other:
— SKILLS —
- Languages: Fluent in Tamil, English and French. She is proficient in Italian, knowing mostly music-related terms.
- Magical Abilities: Philomena is a seer. More often than not, her visions have to do with nature (weather, environment, animals etc). As of late, her visions seem to be changing, which has her worrying.
— PETS — Orion: Male Eurasian Kestrel, [Falco tinnunculus] | Joined the family when Phie goes off to Hogwarts. Has a bit of an antagonistic friendship with Chai, but the two usually get along until Orion steals something of Chai's. The fox will then run to Phie and throw a hissy fit until the problem gets solved (usually in the fox's favor).
Pyotr Tchaikovsky aka Tchai/Chai: Male Red Fox (Magical), [Vulpes vulpes magicae] | Clumsy, and the least fox-like, but he at least helps keep pests away. Allergic to Wisteria from all the pollen it produces. His favorite plant also happens to be Wisteria. When he sneezes, he changes from his normal russet color to a stark white.
— TRIVIA —
- Amortentia: Eucalyptus, fresh rain, rosemary & fenugreek, rose, cloves & cardamom
- Patronus: Dove
- Boggart: Evergardens set aflame, with her family trapped inside
- Her favorite scent is eucalyptus.
- She's allergic to eucalyptus.
- She’s directionally challenged.
- She is terrified of large fires
- On days where it's raining, Philomena hands out large Colocasias to the visitors to use as umbrellas.
- Her favorite instrument is the violin. While she dabbles in it, it's her brother Angelo who is extremely skilled at it.
- When her brothers upset her, she's been known to stick poison ivy in their beds. It helps that Phie has a slight immunity to it - a trait her father says was inherited by her mother (this was unfortunately not passed down to Eleanor's sons).
Out-of-Character
Name: Lady![[Image: HqS2LdO.png]](https://i.imgur.com/HqS2LdO.png)
![[Image: TrSGeWR.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/TrSGeWR.jpg)