Ginny Weasley's Application

This application for Ginny was sent to the audition stage in July 2003.

8: Give a description of the character you're applying for, as if you're writing it for their @desc.

For those in the know, Ginny's long red hair, abundant freckles and the general cast of her features clearly give away her last name of Weasley. For those who aren't, they're still likely to be just as striking, simply less informative. Her brown eyes are most often found sparkling with life and not a little mischief, though her mobile features are equally capable of assuming a solemn expression. She stands a good height for a woman, with a slender figure that could only barely escape being called boyish.

This is a good base description. Though you may notice she's not wearing any clothes. It's assumed she'll describe herself with some clothing before going forth to roleplay.

9: Please provide a short summary of what you believe to be the defining traits of this character. We're looking for two-three sentences.

It's a family tradition for the Weasleys to be in Gryffindor, but Ginny was definitely not missorted. She has an inner strength that's starting to be joined by self-confidence as she grows older and feels less overshadowed -- and overprotected -- by her brothers. She's learned from experience to have a cooler head than most of the rest of her family.

10: Write a brief history of the character. This history should highlight those events which are most important to the development of the character. Feel free to invent information where it is lacking and you feel it is important (ex: Flitwick's childhood), but be sure to include events from both the books and from our game history. The purpose of this question is show that you understand the character: what events have touched them and shaped them into what they are today. Can you really get into their head? As such, a flat regurgitation of backstory is not what is needed here. The length will depend on the character, but it should be at least 4 paragraphs.

Ginny Weasley's family was already large before she joined it. Heck, it was large before Fred and George joined it. But Ginny, born in May of 1981, as Voldemort's reign of terror was at its peak, was something new. A girl. And the baby.

She seemed to signal a change. Before she was half a year old, Voldemort had been vanquished by another baby and the wizarding world attempted to heal itself. The Weasleys tried to put things behind them and move on with their lives. Bill soon left for Hogwarts. Molly likes to tell the story of Ginny's first sentence -- all of two words -- yelled at the Hogwarts Express as it pulled away that September. "Me go!!"

This shows the applicant has both figured out the right dates and has thought about how that history would have affected a very young Ginny.

But she wasn't to go yet. Not for years. In the meantime, she still had lots of brothers at home to play with and be tortured by. As the youngest and the only girl, she often found herself marked for special attention. Some of it good: the twins tended to fix their torment on Ron in favor of her, and some of it bad: the boys often refused to play with a -girl-, and she wasn't in a position to force them to do so.

Molly's natural tendencies were to smother all of her children, and this tendency was only minorly checked by their number. As the last ones left at home during the school year, Ron and Ginny felt the effects of this the most. Her babies. When Ron finally went off to Hogwarts, Ginny felt a vague sense of panic. A whole year alone with her mother was an almost terrifying prospect.

As with most things dreaded, the year was both better and worse than Ginny anticipated. Molly did drive her crazy, but Ginny found herself enjoying having the sole attention of her mother on occasion. And there were chances to hang out with her dad as well -- overall, the last year before she was to go to Hogwarts was one she looks back on fondly. She got to know her parents in a way that she considers none of her brothers have.

Again this gives real thought to the history and circumstances of the Weasley family and Ginny's life before Hogwarts.

The unexpected pleasure of that year was thrown into sharp relief by the insanity of the one that followed. It seemed to begin as soon as her brothers returned from school, throwing the house into chaos once again. And then to make matters worse, Harry Potter arrived. Ginny had never had much time with people outside of her family, especially not another boy of almost her own age. And especially not one as famous and amazing as Harry Potter. She was star-struck at first. Awed. But then, as so many young girls do, she developed a crush on her favorite star.

This made things very awkward. Most girls don't have the misfortune to be sharing a house with the famous object of their crush. Harry had her flustered; going to Hogwarts had her nervous; all the boys at home had her distracted -- she needed an outlet. It was with surprise and relief that she found the diary amongst the things that had been bought for school.

She poured out her soul onto its pages and found with surprise that not only did it accept her words, it had things to say in return. She confided her fears about school, her feelings about being the youngest, her worries about life, her friends -- everything. It was addicting. She'd never had a confidential confidant before, not like this.

The diary kept her somewhat isolated from her fellow classmates her first year. Why worry about making close friendships with those people when she had Tom? She spent a lot of time that year chatting with him when she could have been socializing, or working on homework, or sleeping. It got to the point where she sometimes couldn't remember the day very clearly.

Things went downhill throughout the rest of the year. She became afraid and tried to fix things by throwing away the diary and attempting to force herself into normalcy. The other first-years were anxious and busy themselves; she could fool herself into thinking what was going on was just the same as everyone else. Pursuit of normalcy lead her to send Harry a Valentine, something she regretted almost instantly but was unable to take back after the fact. But her fears only blew up again after she discovered Harry had her diary -- getting it back was simple enough for someone with brothers who often had things to hide, but it was still enough to nearly give her a heart attack. To think! Harry! Might have read it! Harry!

Though Ginny somehow managed to make it through the rest of the year, it was mostly a blur. She felt ill and out of it and most of her efforts were directed at trying to keep her brothers from suspecting exactly how bad she was feeling. In the end it didn't matter. She was too weak to resist any longer and found herself in the Chamber of Secrets, humiliatingly captive to a -book-. That the book was created by Voldemort himself only helped a little.

She thought for a while that Harry might have returned her feelings for him. He did come rushing to her rescue, after all. Her girlish fantasies were furnished forth for months by this fact. They were a welcome escape from the self-recrimination she subjected herself to in the meantime. Far worse than even her parents' anger, she still writhes over the memory. She'd been -so- stupid. So -so- stupid.

This is a lot of paragraphs dealing with one year in Ginny's life and a year covered in the books. However, this is probably the single most important year of Ginny's life and it provides a real insight into her reasoning, her feelings, and her reaction to the events we only see from Harry's perspective in the books.

But stupidity is normal in the young; it's a fool who doesn't learn from it. And learn Ginny did. She returned to school less trusting, more jaded and with a start on a state of paranoia that would warm Mad-Eye Moody's heart.

Since she'd missed out on most of the bonding that occurs during the first year, Ginny found herself a bit at loose ends as regards friendships. She drifted into companionship with a few girls in her dorm, though as often found herself pulled in with the older students by way of her brothers and their friends. She tolerated this, though she sometimes felt like the little sister of Gryffindor House.

Her second and third years were, though eventful, no patch on her first. She heard most of what happened second-hand and tried to keep herself out of trouble. She also continued to work at developing friendships separate from her family and to get over the increasingly inconvenient crush she had on Harry. It was with some relief that she was able to tell Harry that she was to go to the Yule Ball with Neville Longbottom; the last thing she wanted was a date with him. And after seeing the way he and Ron treated the Patil sisters, she was even more grateful for small mercies.

You can see that the next two years were dealt with much more succinctly.

By fourth year, Ginny was starting to regain the sense of self-confidence that her first year had completely shattered. Urged on by one of her 'friends', Caetlan, she confessed her feelings to Harry -- and when he responded with confusion and assurance that he felt not a thing for her, she realized that she was -not- devastated. In fact, it was good to have that over with. Recognition of the futility of her own feelings made her better able to let them go. And better able to recognize them in others. She was uneasy for a time with the thought that one of her classmates might have a crush on -her-, but nothing ever came of it and she eventually ceased to worry. There were certainly other things to worry about, such as the accident towards the end of the year where it seemed like Harry nearly killed her on the Quidditch pitch. All that came to ahead with the murder of Professor Collingwood during the wedding, but Ginny felt a bit uneasy around Harry for a while after that anyway.

She made a few overtures to the twins before they left, feeling more ready to present herself as an equal to them and wanting to break out of the role of baby sister before they graduated. She's still not entirely sure it was successful -- but the next year, when she decided to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the twins -did- get her a better broom along with Ron. Her fifth year was astoundingly quiet as her years at Hogwarts have gone. She was relieved to get back to school; though her parents' disappointment at her lack of Prefect badge was dulled by the fact that Ron had also failed to get one the year before, it was still obvious enough to her. Along with joining the Quidditch team, she doubled her efforts at her studies to try and pass as many OWLs as possible.

Here the applicant is showing she's done her homework and knows the game's history and, just as importantly, Ginny's history on the game.

But by the time the OWL results came out, the wizarding world was in turmoil again. Dementors were attacking with more and more regularity that summer. The campaign for Minister was well underway. Everyone was on edge. And Ginny's relief to once again escape to school was short lived. The very night of their return, Dumbledore collapsed and died. She was in shock as much as everyone -- shock that had barely started to fade when Voldemort's troops attacked and occupied the castle.

Ginny was old enough this time to fight back. She wasn't prepared -- who ever is? -- but she was determined and had the will to succeed. She participated in raids and patrols with most of the older students, doing her very best to assist the professors in keeping the Death Eaters away from the students and to interfere with whatever it was they were trying to accomplish.

She was fortunate enough to escape serious harm during the occupation. At least physically. The injuries she sustained in the final battle with the Death Eaters were minor -- a sprained wrist and a lot of bruises. And for once she was glad to find herself cocooned by her family.

When she returned to Hogwarts, she was, like almost everyone, different than before. She was, perhaps, less different than some -- her change had started in her very first year and there wasn't as far for her to go.

There were still more changes to come for her family; Lucius Malfoy's election to the position of Minister was followed almost immediately by the sacking of her father. She was cautiously pleased when he accepted the position of Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts; she doesn't see him often now that he's at the school, but it's an odd sort of reassurance to have him there nevertheless. Bill's transfer back from Egypt was something else to deal with -- a pleasant something, at least.

This past summer was a strange one: once the only child left at home, Ginny was now to be the only child left at Hogwarts. Fred and George were still living away, but Bill -- one brother she's never really had much time with -- was back. Ron spent most of the summer gone, and Arthur had a holiday just like her. Decidedly strange.

She came back to Hogwarts feeling as unsettled as she ever has. She knows her time there is drawing to an end, but she can't quite see what's to come after. No option has really yet spoken to her.

Electives 3-5: Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle Studies Classes 6-7: Defense, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Career Seminar, Charms, Modern History, Performing Arts, Fine Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy

Since Ginny is still a student at the time this application was written, it's important for us to know her electives so we can set them on the roster.

11: Now tell us a bit more about the character. What interests them? What are they particularly good or bad at? What are their motivations? Anything else you'd like to add about the character?

Ginny, like Ron, spent a good portion of her life feeling overshadowed by her brothers. But it was different for her in a lot of ways. She wasn't a boy, for one, so she's -always- had something different about her. Something that set her apart from the crowd. It got her a good amount of attention too, a large percentage of it good. Say what you like, but small girls are good at being cute, and older brothers are just as likely to spoil one as grandparents are.

She's never felt like she had to make her mark on the world, not to the point of desperation. She's not close friends with Harry to feel overshadowed by -him-. She wants to make her family proud of her, and she's willing to work hard to do it, but she's also not consumed by the desire.

Because of her experiences, she's become less open than she would have been had her life stayed on a more even keel. She's wary of new people, though for the most part she's controlled the fears to remain functional. But it's hard for her to really trust or really believe in someone. It's something that's manifested most obviously in the string of brief relationships she's had. Typical teenage romances, they've never really lasted longer than a month or two and are usually ended by her before they could become anything serious.

She hasn't yet discovered what it is that she's especially good at, though she has a talent for Defense and Charms that's quite above average. She's not sure what, if anything, she might use that for in life. Her main career thought as present is that she -doesn't- want to be a housewife like her mother. Her interests are undistinguished -- she likes clothes and boys like a typical teenage girl, though she finds herself hampered in acquiring the former by the Weasleys' lack of funds. (Though this has become much less acute of recent years, now that five of her brothers are employed, Fred and George extremely lucratively.) She has a minor talent for Quidditch -- all the Weasleys seem to -- and enjoys playing on the team. But she knows in her heart that she's not the sort to do it professionally.

12: List AT LEAST 3 people important to the character -- family, friend, or foe -- and tell us briefly of their relationship.

Arthur: Her dad. That pretty much sums up their relationship in a word. She loves her dad, though she often has her doubts as to his sense. She's gotten the idea recently that he sometimes does the things he does just so that her mum can catch him at it.

Molly: Mom. Molly is the one she spent most of her life with. Mum is by turns terrifying, smothering and absolutely wonderful. The trouble is that it's difficult to predict the swings. Ginny, like most of her siblings, gets on better with her mum when there are other people around to distract her attention. She's starting to feel confident enough, though, to push back at the limits Molly likes to impose, and she can sometimes see a time in the (distant) future where the two of them will be friends.

Bill: Bill is the brother she's known the least. He left for Hogwarts when she was still a baby and then after that has been working so that she's hardly been able to spend a lot of time with him. So she spent most of her life thinking of him as a more distant relation -- more like a cousin than a brother like Ron. Now that he's home, she's been able to get to know him a bit better.

Charlie: Charlie, like Bill, Ginny knows only somewhat. She feels a bit awkward around him sometimes because of it; he's family but he's also nearly a stranger.

Percy: Percy is the one who most exemplifies the role of 'big brother' in Ginny's life. Near enough in age for her to know him, yet far enough away to hardly ever have been a playmate. She finds him stuffy, as do most of her siblings, but she thinks his heart is usually in the right place.

Fred and George: They do get lumped together often. But it's because they so often function as a unit. Ginny knows them as individuals, but she doesn't really think of them apart nevertheless. Fred is a bit more reckless, but George is always willing. She's quite fond of the two of them, but she doesn't trust them as far as she can throw them.

Ron: Her sometimes ally, her closest brother and someone she considers also a friend. Though he's technically older than she is, she rarely thinks of him that way and so is often surprised when he tries to pull the older brother card. She worries about him sometimes, as she can see more clearly how he often feels marginalized and overshadowed, and she hopes he won't do something stupid to stand out. She considers Hermione to be a good influence on him.

Harry: Her first love! She'll always think of him like that, though she really feels nothing for him now. He's more than an acquaintance, less than a friend. She sometimes thinks she'd like to get to know him better -- Ron likes him, after all -- but she's never really gone out of her way to do so.

Hermione: A friend. Ron's friend too, but Ginny feels justified in claiming Hermione as her own also. She's happy that Ron has someone to keep him grounded and has occasionally hoped that eventually she'll get a sister out of the deal.

Ginny has quite a number of people who are extremely important to her. With a family as large as the Weasleys, it's inevitable. It's good that she's included thoughts about so many, because these are the people she'll be interacting with quite a lot. It's also good that she hasn't lumped people together. George and Fred are understandable. Lumping together all her brothers wouldn't provide much insight on them individually.

13: What flavor of ice cream would the character prefer and why?

Oatmeal Cookie Chunk -- muggle ice cream, and not in existence yet in the game's time period, but it's wonderful nevertheless. Oatmeal cookies, nice comfort food, and chocolate, of course, with cinnamon ice cream -- something just a little different. Just not too different.

Maybe this answer will demonstrate to you why we have the question on the application.

14: Why do you want to play this character?

Well, I think we really need more Weasleys. And while I've considered the others, they're all out of school -- plus, Ginny got a lot of nice development in book 5. I'd like to see her manage to get that on our game. It's harder to do it once she's graduated, because there's not the concentration of people outside yet. It would be a shame if she didn't get to RP her last year at Hogwarts.

Plus, it's possible that having her might spur someone to app Ron. I hope it does. Harry and Hermione ought to be lure enough, but...

For some reason, we seem to always have several Weasleys open. Apply for one!

15: Are there any plotlines you'd like to participate in as this character or anything you're particularly eager to RP?

I don't have anything specific in mind. I'd like to see how she reacts now that she's the only (not counting Arthur) Weasley at Hogwarts. It would also be nice if her father -were- cast to see her interaction with him, but obviously that's dependant on what happens with him.

16: Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

Yeah. My name theory.

To my mind, there are three possibilities for Ginny's name.

1. It's just Ginny. This is possible -- just as it's possible Percy is just Percy and not short for anything and that Fred is just Fred. But there seems to be a preponderance of nicknames in the Weasley family, and they strike me as the sort of family that would have them. So I think probably Ginny is short for something.

2. It's Virginia. This is also possible. Plausible even. It's certainly the one that springs readily to most Americans' minds. It's also kind of boring.

3. It's something else. This is what I subscribe to myself. (Watch JKR prove me wrong.) My guess is that it's Ginevra. Originally an Italian name, it's one that's been around for a while, never /really/ popular, but not unheard of either. It's also a plant. (A juniper tree, actually) /And/ most sites seem to believe the most likely English equivalent is Guinevere. Which is interesting. Though more a role for Hermione. ;)

Okay, so that's really a load of blither. But I don't like Virginia and I don't think her name is just Ginny.

This applicant was proven right! Rowling has since stated that it's Ginevra. Can you have a better handle on the character than that?