Lucretia Snape's Application

Lucretia Snape is the OC relative of an FC. She was applying for the potions professor position, which was opened up when Severus Snape finally got to fulfill his dream and become Defense professor. She was passed to the audition stage in July, 2004.

Snape gave his okay to this via page, so here it is:

OC relatives of FCs must have permission from the relevant FC to apply for the character. This should be obtained before submitting the application.

3. What teaching position are you applying for?

Potions Master (Mistress?) and Slytherin Head of House

4. What is your character's name, age, and former House?

Lucretia Snape, 89, Slytherin.

5. Please provide your character's @description.

Lucretia is the personification of statuesque: a tall and shapely woman with an air of dignity and stillness about her. Her cheekbones are high, nose fine and straight, and her jaw strong. The complexion of her skin is fair, and shows only a few signs of wrinkles at the corners of her mouth and her deep blue, distant eyes. Waist-length, inky black hair likewise shows only the most minute signs of age with the streaks of grey beginning at her temples. Presently, it is drawn back from her face and worn in a long, thick braid down her back.

She wears wide-sleeved robes of deepest indigo linen, with a scooped neck and a calf-length hem that only partially obscures her black leather boots. Atop this she wears a slightly shorter, sleeveless robe in purple velvet with silver trim. A lapis lazuli pendant on a silver chain hangs around her neck, and smaller gems of the same type adorn the linked silver disks serving as her belt. An additional piece of jewelry seems tacked on as an afterthought: a purple-enameled brooch pinned to her outer robes, marking her as a pureblood.

The description also recalls Severus Snape's description, which shows us that the player has actually looked at her character's prospective son.

6. What is your character's background?

Lucretia Trefethen was born on November 6, 1910 in the village of Liskeard, Cornwall. She and her parents, Lionel and Regina, lived on the outskirts of Liskeard, not far from the windswept uplands of Bodmin Moor. The Trefethens were not a rich family, but they were decently well off, and Lucretia never went without.

Both Lionel and Regina were former Slytherins, and never denied themselves their personal pursuits. Lionel was part of the upper management of a publishing company that produced spellbooks, which has, in the long years since, been absorbed by one of its erstwhile competitiors. Regina was employed by the same company as a researcher, verifying the accuracy of the information in the books before they were released to the public.

Lucretia had a natural independent streak, and from her parents learned a lesson which became ingrained: knowledge is worthwhile. As a child, she wasn't necessarily given to misbehavior, but was guided more by her curiosity about things. At times, a certain disregard of other peoples' feelings and property manifested itself. Interesting objects, provided they were small enough to be absconded with without drawing undue notice, would sometimes disappear. She didn't have a lot of friends, but she didn't seem to mind. Even at such an age, she was distant - occupied with her own thoughts and not much affected by the world around her.

After her lessons with Regina (who worked from home and oversaw Lucretia's education) were through for the day, Lucretia would often wander about the moor, gathering as many possible specimens as she could of different kinds of plants, grasses, insects, rocks, etc. Anything small and portable; if it was weird, even better. At first, this merely resulted in a large collection, wherein every sample had been identified and preserved.

It wasn't until Regina got an assignment to "fact check" a potions manuscript when Lucretia was 9 that she ever even realized that potions existed. Lucretia pulled up a stool and watched her mother work throughout that entire period, and found that she could recognize a lot of the components that were being used. Nettles? I've got some of those. Ground wasp stingers? I could make those. At the end of the process, there would be something very strange and bubbly and, importantly, powerful. Even if their purpose was something as mundane as to remove grout with ease, they did what they were designed to do.

Lucretia was absolutely fascinated with the process, and spent the next couple of years reading everything that she could find about potions and begging her mother to make more of them. Regina, startled by this abrupt change in her daughter's personality, did her best to try to incorporate demonstrations into Lucretia's lessons, letting her chop up ingredients or pull the wings off the necessary dragonflies, et cetera.

This bit does a good job of incorporating a child's growing interest in magic without crossing the line into an underage person actually _performing_ magic.

Lucretia started school in the fall of 1922, and was looking forward to finally being able to attempt some magic on her own. During the train ride, she spotted the opportunity to extract information from more experienced students, and began asking about potions classes at Hogwarts. There, she found out that the current Potions Mistress was also the Slytherin Head of House. She decided that she would make the woman accept her as an apprentice! And to do that, she /must/ be in Slytherin House and absolutely outperform everyone else.

When the Hat was placed upon her head, it took a lot of determined insistence to avoid being sorted into Ravenclaw. In the end, her refusal to accept any obstacles (namely the Hat itself) that got in the way of her goal convinced the Hat to choose Slytherin. She was very pleased, until she learned a few days later that Hogwarts didn't actually /have/ apprentices.

Lucretia did very well academically while she was at Hogwarts, though her social skills needed a great deal of work. The lack of friends didn't bother her, nor did it ever really register with her that people thought her kind of creepy. Things seemed fine in her eyes. Because she had never displayed any tendency towards leadership, she was never made a Prefect during her time in school. She graduated in 1929 after achieving four NEWTs. (Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions).

For someone 89 years old, school is naturally not going to take up the majority of their background. This summary provides the most important details -- her house and academic successes -- without dragging.

After graduation she accepted a position as an apprentice to an elderly wizard who supplied certain efficacious but difficult to brew potions to St. Mungo's. She studied under him for quite a while, becoming a full partner after ten years, and actually managing the business starting in 1942 once his health began to fail. She was also conducting many side experiments of her own and producing academic papers and articles with regularity.

Her primary interest has long been discovering the uses of local plant- and wildlife in potions. She finds the painstaking and precise work fulfilling, even though her meticulous cataloguing of the 193 separate uses for nettle stings meets with less attention and interest in the academic journals than more flashy advancements.

Here is an important part that seems lacking in many teacher applications that we receive: establishment of professional credentials. Lucretia has spent time working with potions, experimenting with potions, and she has gained a reputation in the wider world by her publications as someone who knows what she's doing with potions.

It was during this point in time that Lucretia met Augustus Snape, a covert enthusiast of the Dark Arts, though purportedly researching defenses against them. Lucretia had shown very little inclination to marry: at this point she was thirty-one years old and unattached, and her parents had begun to worry. Augustus was a seen as a good match for her. The Snape family's fortune had declined over the previous three or four generations, due to their almost universal preference for research as opposed to more lucrative lines of work, but their name was still a good one and Regina, who possessed at least some concern for her daughter's happiness, believed their temperaments and academic interests to be well-suited.

And so it was the Trefethen and the Snape parents who brought about the introductions, and both were very pleased when things seemed to progress in the anticipated manner. Lucretia did not particularly feel anything for Augustus, but recognized her responsibilities to her family, so accepted his advances. They were married in 1943 and moved to the Snape family manor in North Yorkshire.

When writing the background of someone related to an established character, it is also important to make sure that the background meshes with what's been stated about them. In the previous section and the sections following, Lucretia has clearly taken the time to speak to the other characters and the admins about historical events that she needs to incorporate.

He proved all too quickly what a disturbingly irrational person he could be when a series of stupid slip-ups in her presence betrayed his allegiance to the cause of Grindelwald. He had pinned his hopes on a rich reward when the dark wizard came into power. Lucretia was not impressed. To her, it was a supremely irritating complication, but she did her best to advise him. He remained on the fringe of Grindelwald's supporters, and was never identified as such.

It was during this time that Lucretia first resorted to controlling Augustus through subtle additions to his food. When frustrated with his research, or perhaps influenced by it, Augustus' temper could spiral dangerously out of hand, so this was her method of seeing that things did not escalate to that point. If it made him more receptive to her suggestions as a result, so much the better. If she had been discovered, he surely would've reacted violently, but she was cunning enough, as a brewer and a liar, to get away with it.

After Grindelwald's defeat in 1945, Augustus accepted the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts. Lucretia did not miss him while he was gone living at the castle, but devoted herself more intently to her own researches, neglecting much of anything else. As a result, their isolated moorland home, already in some state of disrepair, became so decrepit that both wings were sealed off.

Things continued on in this fashion until the spring of 1951, when Augustus informed her that the previous Potions professor had retired at last. The potions supply business had long been an annoyance to Lucretia, merely a way to fund her private research. The prospect of devoting her entire life to concocting the same remedies endlessly seemed like intellectual death. The lure of the bigger and better-equipped facilities at Hogwarts sealed the deal, and she applied for the position. With over twenty years' experience to her name, and a wealth of published studies to her credit, she proved to be the most experienced candidate, and was hired for the job. She began teaching in the fall of 1951.

Lucretia wasn't the best teacher there ever was - she didn't care for eliciting motivation where none already existed, and did not show much personal interest in her students. She was, however, very thorough and intent upon instilling an understanding of not only how to create potions, but why and how they worked. Her demeanor with the students was quite different from Severus'; nothing much can make her cross because she doesn't give a damn about anything much.

Augustus and Lucretia had been on the receiving end of many not-so-subtle reminders from their parents about their obligations to produce an heir. In 1953, realizing that time for the 42-year-old Lucretia to conceive might be running out, they began to try for a child. When no results were forthcoming by 1954, the couple paid a visit to a Healer, who informed them that long exposure to various toxins during her years of research had damaged Lucretia's remaining eggs. Intensive charms therapy ensued to repair the damage and foster conception. Finally, in March of 1956, Lucretia learned that she was pregnant. She completed the school term, then she and Augustus both resigned their posts at Hogwarts and returned to North Yorkshire.

Severus Augustus Snape had an auspicious birthday - October 31, 1956. Lucretia saw to his biological needs flawlessly, but it wasn't long before the call of the laboratory drew her back into research mode. As a result, Severus spent much of his early years alone. As he grew, he displayed an interest in both of his parents' pursuits, and it was through introducing her work to Severus that Lucretia really interacted with him the most. They got along well, and still do, but their relationship was always more of a teacher/student role than a parent/child role, though Lucretia was and still is very proud of Severus' talent and accomplishments.

Augustus' fits of temper seemed to worsen during this period, and more than once Severus observed his father being violent towards his mother, exerting his domestic authority and superiority in raging rants that left this normally composed woman cowering. However, he also observed her cool approach to addressing the situation by upping the additives to her husband's food.

Here, Lucretia incorporates some of the very slight information about Snape's parents implied by the books.

Severus entered school in 1968. Lucretia never had much of an understanding of Severus' emotional life, and was unaware of much of what he went through in school. It mattered that he was on the path to success and was putting his talents to their best use. When, at age 17, Severus informed she and her husband that he had joined the Death Eaters, she was shocked into anger. Severus had such potential! How could he be so stupid as to do something so overt?

This is much her reaction to Severus these days. He comes so near to her worldly outlook, but the temper he inherited from his father has always been his chief personality failing in her eyes. Not his malice, but the way he lets others goad him into stupidity. Stupidly open displays of emotion, or stupid, covert stewing until he does something rash. In that way, he's much worse than Augustus. Most of the time he's every bit as good as her at being cool and rational. But then, by contrast, when the boy loses it, he loses it so disgracefully.

Lucretia did not pry for details into what Severus did in Voldemort's service, her chief interest in the whole affair that he survive it. That he did was at least a matter for pride, as was his appointment as Hogwarts' Potions Master.

Lucretia's life has been relatively the same since Severus reached adulthood. The ongoing research that she tirelessly pursues, the unfortunately foolish husband that she secretly controls, her general disinterest in the outside world or the people who occupy it. Certain events have required a response, however. She did attend Severus' wedding to Aurura Sutherland in 1995, and had faith that her son would recognize his duty to produce an heir to the Snape name. His disinclination had no bearing; certainly she herself hadn't really wished to do it, but went through a great deal of trouble to achieve it. He owes it to her to do the same.

In the summer of 1997, a potion she was researching went awry, and resulted in her being comatose in a St. Mungo's ward throughout the remainder of that year and the beginning of 1998. She was not expected to survive, but eventually managed to make a full recovery. Things were quite different when she awoke: the whole ordeal of the Siege had been missed entirely, as well as the news of Severus taking the life of his wife. He's not off the hook, however.

Augustus was thrilled at the news of his son's public snogging of Rebecca Astin on January 1, 1999, convinced his son was already back in the saddle. Lucretia's reaction was more complex. There was an element of that, but it conflicted with her usual disdain for the hotheaded side of his nature. Far too blatant for her tastes.

Since then, there has not been much to disturb her scholarly solitude. All of the recent legislation affects her not at all. She has no concerns for the rights of Muggleborns or non-humans, but neither does she rally around the pureblooded cause. The only real plane on which she can be reached is an intellectual one.

Severus being appointed Headmaster makes her quite proud, though, and when he came with an offer to resume her former post, she accepted. Hogwarts' laboratory still has much to offer, and, of course, a mother's advice can be oh so helpful in keeping her son from making any rash mistakes.

7. What sort of classes do you intend to teach? How will you conduct them? Please give this a great deal of thought.

This is another question which often gives people trouble. Lucretia here presents several class ideas which not only make sense in the context of a Hogwarts potions class, but more importantly, will work well in the context of a text based RP game.

Lucretia's research has dealt primarily with the effects that can be achieved with subtle variations in ingredients, so I think her lessons will have a similar approach to them.

Ingredient Hunt

This class would be for first years. The students are challenged to find in the meadow or the outskirts of the forest, all the ingredients that they'll need for their assigned potion. They may not use the stores in their potions kits, or enter the greenhouses. It all must be scavenged. Barter is allowed, but discouraged - whoever has the complete set of necessary ingredients at the end of the lesson wins 20 points for their House, so aiding other students is ill-advised.

Preparation is Key

For second-third years, Lucretia would lead a class to show the different effects when the same ingredients are prepared differently. The students will work in groups to make three separate potions, but one includes diced bat spleens, another grated, and a third shavings. The end result will be potions that affect matter that comes in contact with them. The students test this with three grapes. When dropped into the first cauldron, the grape disintegrates instantly. The second, it disappears in a flash of flame. The third, it's frozen solid.

Which is Which

This class would be for fourth-fifth years. Prior to class, Lucretia has brewed six separate potions. All share 5 basic ingredients, but there's a 6th one that's different in each one, and it is this sixth that means the difference between them. Students (either singly or in pairs depending upon event attendance) must correctly identify which one is which and turn in a card with their answers on.

Wizarding Attitudes Towards Animals

For a sixth-seventh year class, when the potions are more difficult and thus particular about the integrity of their ingredients, Lucretia will help reinforce wizarding attitudes towards animals by having the students harvest fresh bunny eyeballs. To make it a silly carrot-eating sort of exercise, perhaps the potion is something involving short-term improvement of eyesight.

9. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?

I'm gonna get that Mrs. Norris!