OOC
GAME: Armorum
DESCRIPTION: Ministry of Magic-based Harry Potter RPG — Hermia was concocted when the game was originally set in the 1940s.
DATE: January 2007
PB: Rachel Weisz
JOURNAL: midsummered
IC
basics
FULL NAME Hermia Bianca Montague
NAME MEANINGS
( HERMIA ) Feminine form of HERMES. Used by Shakespeare in his comedy ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’.
( BIANCA )/ Italian cognate of BLANCHE. Shakespeare used characters named Bianca in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and ‘Othello’.
( MONTAGUE )/ From a surname meaning "pointed mountain" in French.
NICKNAMES ‘Mia’ is about as far as she'll let you get.
AGE Twenty-four.
BIRTHDATE 24 June 1916.
BIRTHPLACE Something something London, England.
BLOODLINE Extremely diluted pureblood. Almost a fullblood by now.
FINANCE Fading and going fast. The Montagues definitely aren't rich anymore, and Hermia conceals this as best as she can. She lives by herself and is always dressed in clothing of the highest quality — which is, admittedly, several years out of fashion. She's an extremely capable seamstress, and will often also sew together her own creations so that they can't be pinpointed to specific trends.
personality
FIRST IMPRESSION "Is she flirting with me?"
PERSONALITY Hermia is sensuous and sensual, in the old and classic understanding of the terms. She takes utter delight in her five senses (and a sixth, she jokes, which is perfectly attuned to the moods and whims of men — what with having lived with them for so long). As a child, she could literally spend hours staring at moving water, at the bright vibrant greens of nature, at the ebb and flow of trees in the wind. Today, the most fascinating thing she knows is scents, perfumes, oils, and incense — olfactory treasures, and ways to spice up a world that has slowly turned grim and dull with the onset of war. Vanilla is her favourite smell — if a man knows enough to buy her vanilla-scented soap or candles, he'll already be one step closer to having her in his pocket.
The Montagues are mostly pureblooded — but the truly menacing side of the family tree came from Hermia's mother's branch, and she died giving birth to her last child. Thibault Montague, on the other hand, is considerably more open-minded, though he doesn't reveal it. After conducting some research into the background of their family name (in a vain effort to find history to rekindle their flagging reputation), he stumbled across the works of one mssr William Shakespeare. And he became obsessed. He doesn't keep the man's writing on public display in the house lounge, but he did name his children after various characters; anyone with insight into Muggle literature might recognise the references.
Hermia unwillingly inherited this fascination, but is instead mostly interested in film. She watches its technological developments with a keen eye, and holds a quiet appreciation for these new Disney films, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo.
She grew up with three male influences, but instead of becoming a tomboy, she was forced even more powerfully into their stereotype of the passive female. Though her mind is quick, active, and scheming — the archetypal Slytherin — her physical activity is practically indolent. She grew up as their perfect representation of women in the household, bred for society. Yet at Hogwarts, she had the opportunity to advance in her own way; Hermia never dropped her fawning femininity, but she finally became dominant and manipulative.
Due to Thibault's indomitable aversion to closeness, Hermia grew up starved for affection as a child. But instead of giving her a fear of touch, this has instead made her addicted: she can never have enough of it. It makes her a bit of a wanton flirt, as there's inevitably a lot of gratuitous touching; she relishes in tactile sensation, fingers at wrists, hands gliding across arms, an arm curving around a waist… Hermia enjoys the feeling of being with men, no matter whether the relationship is sexual or not. As a result of always being the only female at home, she's unconsciously a little unnerved by other women, and will be fiercely competitive with them.
school & beyond
ALUMNI Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.
HOUSE Slytherin.
DEPARTMENT Department of Magical Accidents & Catastrophes.
OCCUPATION Part of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad.
EXPERIENCE Thibault was vehemently against his daughter going into the Ministry — and if she was, she had better be a secretary — but Hermia wanted work. She wanted a practical job. She wanted to live in the hustle and bustle of that building, and meet more people than the sad scraps of men that the Montagues' feeble society could offer her. She joined the Department of Magical Accidents & Catastrophes hoping to be an Obliviator — she'd always been a fair hand at charms — but instead found herself on the Reversal Squad. This suited her just fine, as Hermia's knowledge of Muggles wasn't refined enough to be a truly successful Obliviator, anyhow.
family
FATHER Thibault Montague.
MOTHER Ariadne Montague, neé…
SIBLINGS Two older brothers: Demetrius and Lysander.
HISTORY In their day, the Montagues were an old and venerable pureblood family, the weight of their wealth matched only by their viperous, snappish hatred of mudbloods. But that was then. This is now. Now, they are watered down and diluted, their vaults at Gringott's slowly turning sad and bare. Their depleting fortune is a secret fiercely guarded yet rather obvious to those who know how to look — and even the family tree has suffered over the years. Thibault, current patriach of the family, has shifted the tapestry from its place of prominence to a dank room in the warded basement instead. Hermia's great-grandfather, Frederick, was not only an only child, but he was also vapid and desperately uninteresting; all the charming and eligible pureblood debutantes were snatched up and betrothed by the time he rolled around, and none seemed interested in him.
So he married a fullblood witch with considerable Muggle blood in her ancestry. It wasn't out of any particular desire to dissent or turn blood traitor — but he simply didn't know what else to do. The woman had massive amounts of affection for him, and if he didn't marry someone, the line would die completely. He made up for it by having three sons; but bad luck intervened, as it always will, and the eldest squandered most of the family's remaining funds both in gambling, and trying to woo and attract one of the Blacks. Thank Merlin Frederick had already passed away by this time, or there would have been hell to pay.
Instead, the family drew back. The middle son, who would eventually become Hermia's grandfather, quietly married another fullblood witch. His own son, Thibault, finally managed another pureblood match, but the Montague bloodline has already been diluted by now. They've kept it relatively low-profile, and for all appearances still parade themselves as a pureblood family (that name, Montague, still carries considerable respect, after all) — but most other families within their society are silently aware of the fact that they just aren't what they used to be.
The Montague house is a cramped and dilapidated building in London, charmed to be larger on the inside than it is on the outside. The house possesses magnificent furniture and decorations, but they're all extremely worn-down and haven't seen proper upkeep.
