InsaneJournal

quick facts.
FULL NAME Andromeda Cressida Tonks (née Black)
NICKNAMESAndy, 'Dromeda
AGE 35
BIRTHDAY 15 March, 1953
HOUSE/YEAR Slytherin, class of 1971
OCCUPATION keeper of one Ted & Dora (and stay at home mum during Dora's younger years), but she has since returned to work for the ministry as Consultant/Researcher for the Committee On Experimental Charms.
SEXUALITY heterosexual
MARITAL STATUS married

IMMEDIATE FAMILY
Spouse: Ted Tonks (husband)
Children: Nymphadora Tonks (daughter)
Parents: Cynus Black (father) & Druella Rosier Black (mother)
Siblings: Bellatrix Black-Lestrange (elder sister) & Narcissa Black Malfoy (sister)
BLOOD STATUS Pureblood (though these days she's labelled 'Blood Traitor')
LOYALTY/ALLIANCE decidedly Neutral (with Order leanings)
ROLE IN THE WAR During the war, Andromeda turned in her neutrality (at least in secret; to the rest of the world she appeared to be just as she always had), chosing to use the knowledge she had in the area of experimental charms & hexes (and more importantly their reversal) to undo any damage that was wrought on the Order Members by the Death Eaters (and any damage done to innocent bystanders). Her work might not have been as glamourous as fighting on the front lines, but she did what she could, knowing that sometimes a little help is better than none at all.

personal.

PERSONALITY:
Andromeda is proud but doubting (of herself on a lot things, of others, of the fact that goods will stay, of bads staying bad and being gone, governments and families). She does not let her doubt control her, rather she swallows it, bites it down, uses it as a strength like an iron rod to just keep going and force it into nothing. She worries, but her worry is quiet, it eats at her, passively like some beast she can't control, an entire part of herself she has hidden way, like some sort of wild an animal that she denies and keeps separate from herself, and who she has to be for others. By position of her birth, she is a peacemaker, likes to settle things, fix things, make the best of hard situations just as much as she like to cause hard situations. She is stubborn, fierce and terribly proud. She moves with her heart, and protects those she loves, and makes family out of those she has come to let earn her trust, but her trust is hard given, but when it is, it lasts forever. She knows when to stay and when to go, and when she makes a choice, she sticks with it. She's a bit rebellious, defiant in a calm way, not with loud noises and bangs, but with her head held high and not taking no for an answer. She does not believe in looking back and hates goodbyes, and knows that even though all those who birthed her and raised her spurn her, they're not really her family. Family holds you when you're down and helps you to smile again.

She enjoys order and neatness, strives to make cleanliness out of chaos, be it with magic or by hand, because it calms her, soothes her, but she knows that magic has made some of domestic pursuits lazy (though they have also led to a certain sort of expertise). She wants for people she loves and cherishes to be safe, she just never had an inclination to stand in the firestorm beside them. She'll hold things together quietly, making sure that they'll be mended when they return. She believes. She is passionate, smart enough to be dangerous (she is only sarcastic on occasion now, when she is hurt or scared, those are pursuits for those who are young and volatile; all she does is overthink these days), and ambitious in ways that make certain sorts of people call her soft. She wants to better, not to harm. She likes to mend bruises and wipe noses. To care and to comfort. To teach, to pick up the pieces, to sing lullabies, and to round angles in funny ways, when children are scared. She likes to keep moving, to sway her hips and tap her toes when she is particularly calm and relaxed (her body posture gives her away, she is rigid when she fighting her desire to break down, to give in to her own feelings). She knows she looks like her sister, but looks aren't anything to her. She lost a lot, and that loss did something to her, like it does to everyone, but rather than let it all spill out and melt forth, she just holds in, keeps carrying on. When everything else fails, she keeps carrying on, since someone has to. In terms of things she has no faith in fearless leaders, good or bad, of those who promise to save and to heal all (yet she wants to believe, part of her really does), she also doesn't have much of a skill in the area of plants, killing most things that try to grow, which gave her a very large fear of motherhood in the early days. She's a pragmatic person, a dreamer who doesn't say much out loud, but rages inside, expresses her ideas in well constructed arguments that are backed with facts rather than feelings, disconnecting herself from what is really going on. She worries about people whom she's certain she shouldn't worry about any more, but she just can't help it. She's an awful cook, but she's good at mending bruises and picking up messes and wiping away tears and all she wants right now is to be a good mother and to do the best she can. So she gives. She's always liked to do the best, to be the best, the scales have just gotten a lot smaller.

Andromeda is the one who is different, but different is just another word for picking happiness in her book. And she is very happy (content at least, loved without a doubt) or at least she tries to be. Trying is what she feels is a very good word for the age. She knows her weaknesses (a complete inability to keep a plant alive for one, as well as a severe inability to trust those in power further than she can throw them) and tries to turn them into strengths (her only real strength outside of an ability to perform a charm cleanly and neatly, is her ability to research in an effective manner). Her temper is not something someone wants to get on the wrong side of (she'll shut you, and then she'll shut you down, using her tongue in a quick and cruel manner), but she's not as free with it as she used to be.


physical
APPEARANCE Andromeda bears a striking resemblance to her elder sister Bellatrix with the exception that her features are softer, gentler, kinder, and this has always been the case. She looks like a Black, like she was one of the family and that used to mean a significant amount to her (it doesn't mean as much these days, except that she tends to stand out in a crowd). Possessing a body that taller than a few, but even before she had her daughter, wasn't rail thin, but athletic, graceful (a dancer's body, if that dancer was into flaminco), and feet that have certainly seen better days. She has angular features, that are proud and strong looking, but are softened, smoothed, and she has a tendency to smile without meaning too (and to make faces if she realises someone is looking at her). A few freckles on her on her face, and her steel coloured eyes are hooded, and framed by soft brown hair that when left loose falls in loose fair waves around her face and past her shoulders, but most of the time she pulls it up for keeping. Her lips are chronically chapped and her nails are a mess, but she moves with a certain purpose, and can look quite put together when she tries or has a spare moment. Typically, she doesn't have time to try nor have a spare amount (fortunately she couldn't frankly care less).

DESIRED PB
Rachel Weisz: sample one || sample two || sample three
Mary-Louise Parker: sample one || sample two || sample three
Frances O'Connor: sample one || sample two || sample three

background
HISTORY
Andromeda was born the middle daughter to Cygnus and Druella Black on the 15 March in 1951 and the date alone probably meant something (it would've meant more to prove old adages if she had been born in May, but that's another story), was immediately thrust into a world that whole-heartedly believed that their blood was purer than the rest and everything else that went with it. It was conventional, really, and for a good portion of her early life, she believed the convention. Well, at the very least, she didn't see why she shouldn't question it. There were better things to question, things to do.

Her childhood was typical for the circumstance and she loved her sisters, spent time with them, being the one who backed away from Bella's games as they grew older and grew apart, not seeing the same thing that the older girl did, and no longer wishing to participate so actively in them. Something's about her life quietly dissettled her, but it was never enough to disturb any real dust. Andromeda's first magic was simple, innocent even, appearing young, as she cradled a doll with a broken face and cried, fixing the fractures imperfectly (the doll had been a victim of sisterly affections). Her acceptance to Hogwarts, while unsurprising, filled her with a vast amount of pride for she was happy with what it represented (the learning, the fact that she was going to be one of the best), and her Sorting in Slytherin came as no surprise either (the family won that one...it was one of the last battles it won with her).

At Hogwarts, Andromeda excelled, flourishing in some classes and scoffing at others (Herbology for one, though that is mostly due to her awfulness at the subject). Ambitious by nature, though with a penchant to doodle in the margins of her notes and make single arguing comments with certain professors (she enjoyed picking the brain of Binns for information, but avoided interaction with Slughorn at all costs) to express both her momentary opinion and a contrary view of the facts. The more she worked her way through classes, the more she began to off-set the midset she'd slipped into when she was young, eventually slipping out of most of it entirely (though, still maintaining a penchant for academic snobbery). It was during this renaissance of sorts and a vast time spent in the library that she met and struck up a friendship and eventual courtship with muggleborn Ted Tonks.

She liked him a lot, if only because he was quirky, fascinating really, and made her roll her eyes a lot. At the end of their seventh year, they got engaged and after Hogwarts, she dropped the proverbial bomb to her family, which earned her disownment and literal blasting off the family tree (she hasn't seen or spoken to any of them since). It didn't matter, she married him anyways and smiled the entire time. They moved in together in a small, if not utterly intimidating to her with its Muggleness, house, nearer to his family (they both were working and adjusting to each other, and she enjoyed the position at the Ministry, since there was never a dull moment), and in 1973, their daughter Nymphadora was born. Andromeda got to name her (of course), and within an hour, they could tell she was special-- she was changing her hair colour. Raising Dora was not without its surprises and the constant need to adjust and learn that no matter how special her daughter was in the Wizarding world, she was even more unique amongst muggles (it was a learning experience for all involved). She spent a lot of those years trying to instill a sense of boundaries in her child, and when Dora went off to Hogwarts, she breathed a sigh of relief to learn that the girl was not a Slytherin (not that she thought she would be, she just wanted a final safeguard against any holds her family might have).

In the years since then, she's returned to her job at the Ministry, finding comfort in the fact that while certain things change (politics, fashions, those sorts) the absurdities that people go to when practicing Charms never do. It keeps her busy, but not so busy that she's without any time for anything else (keeping an ear open for help her daughter might want or the needs of others in her wayward 'family' circle). It's a good life and more importantly, it's hers.

writing samples

FIRST PERSON

It's actually horribly unreasonable of me to look at the incoming junior staff-members (permanent and training alike) and feel terribly old. I'm not old, at least not really, it's just the fact that some of them look like they could be Dora's age. Dora, darling, I love you, but I don't want to see you in the government. Honestly. I mean this as a mother who loves you, but the idea of you all suited in clean dress robes arriving someplace on time scares the living daylights out of me. It's not rational nor is it normal; call it motherly instincts.

It is comforting to be able to do or show these 'youngsters' (look at me, getting all high and mighty like it means something) the littlest of things and have them stare at me wide-eyed like it was impressive. You know what's really impressive? Making toast the muggle way without burning it or swearing like you've just seen a grim in the pantry.

That's the sort of thing to be impressed about. Not any of this stuff.

Kids these days. Need a bit of worldliness, if only for a holiday. That would smarten them right up.

THIRD PERSON

It had been a long day and Andromeda's feet were crying murder. A dull, throbbing was radiating up from centres of them and while she knew that she had some salve in some cabinet for them somewhere, her brain wouldn't for the life of her process where it would be. It just wouldn't keep going past the words 'home' and 'family' and 'why is it always animals?'.

It had just been one of those days, honestly it had. She knew it was going to be one of those days when she had woken up that morning and if she had been the sort of woman to call-in due to 'feelings' she would have. But she had never been that sort of girl and had no plans on starting anytime soon, which was why she was standing in her kitchen looking for a bit of relief. It wouldn't have been so bad if the day of introduction training hadn't been on the day that they had discovered that someone had been attempting performing illegal experimental charms on both garden gnomes and themselves. Really, the notion of putting antelope horns on something that hadn't the faintest notion what an antelope was still struck her as ridiculous. Nonetheless, it wouldn't have been that bad had it occurred on a normal day, not one in which they were trying to express the fact that department wasn't all shrieking kettles and horns on things that didn't naturally have them.

Dramatically she slammed the cabinet shut, wincing slightly at the noise. She hadn't meant to do it that hard. Giving up on the idea of finding salve in normal place, she pointed her wand at the kettle, causing it to magically boil.

"So much for doing things the Muggle way," she muttered, leaning against the counter as she poured the hot water into a pot. Gritting her teeth slightly, she shook her head. "Look at me, I've gone round the bend and am talking to a tea kettle." That's it, she was telling Ted that they were getting a dog. So long as it could be one of those one's that didn't shed. They did make those didn't they? Ah well, they had to.

ooc

PLAYER lina. sparkings
DISCLAIMER This is not Andromeda Tonks (who belongs to JKRowling) nor is it Rachel Weisz (who belongs to herself). This is all for fun & games @ rebel_rebel