Post by Nellie McGonagall on Sept 19, 2012 21:33:36 GMT -5
| [atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 460px; background-image: url(http://i44.tinypic.com/34fb0ns.jpg);-moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 0px 0px 0px 0px; border: 4px ridge #9c5f5b, bTable][tr][cs=2] norah caoimhe o'banion . twenty-six. muggle-studies professor. christina hendricks. | |
[rs=2] | Oh Merlin, I'm always so bad at these things. Y'know, telling people about me self. I get flustered and tend to over talk. Me Mum says that's one of me worst habits. Talking too much that is. That and I tend to get excited easily. No wonder where Aidan get's it from. I'm a chatter box, he is too. Oh, maybe I should explain who Aidan is first? I see that I need to rewind the conversation slightly? Perhaps I'll just start with the basics, then? Name's Norah Caoimhe O'Banion, I'm the eldest (and only) daughter of Lisa & Connor O'Banion. I have three other siblings; all boys. Oh you can just guess how wonderful it was growing up in a house full of guys, including me dad. Mum use to say that I was her saving grace; that'd had I never come along she'd have killed them all. See, we're you're "typical" irish brood. We just happen to be magical. Dad is a muggleborn, mum a pure-blood. We're loud, rambunctious and proud. I'm no different. But i'm getting off track here, I was suppose to begin by telling you my life story. I suppose my heritage is a good place to start, though. See, told you I was bad at these things. My brain just splits into thirty different directions and goes absolutely nowhere. Now, where was I? Well - if you don't know how should I? Alright, hold onto your britches and give me a minute. Promise I won't be this way with my students. Oh! Yes, back to being the eldest and only girl. I was born November 14th, 1997. I was the only child for a bit, actually - roughly nine years. Although during that time spam my parents had tried for other children, but fate wasn't on their side. Mum suffered two miscarriages and although I was young and couldn't completely understand what was going on, I knew mum wasn't doing well. She was kind of out of it for a bit, leaving dad to pick up the brunt in taking care of me. It was an interesting couple of years to say the least. Not that dad didn't know what he was doing, but . . . well, dad is dad. He wanted his girl to be tough, rough, and frankly never had any idea what to do with my hair. . . Nevertheless, mum snapped out of it. I spent the first nine years of my life in pure bliss, rejoicing in the fact that I seemed to be the apple of my parents' eyes. Even showed my first signs of magic at four, levitated our then pup Sir Loch. Then came Aidan. Little snot nosed bugger - though I love him like no other. In 2007 mum sat me down to tell me that I was getting something special that year for my birthday. Lies of course because I got Aidan. He likes to think that he was an adorable baby, but he wasn't; he cried, a lot. One time I accidentally dropped him on his head. And yes, I still maintain that that was an accident. At least it was on the couch. For a year I learned to adjust to having a sibling. It was rough, I have to tell you. Aidan's crying, my parents divided attention. I actually thought of selling Aidan at once point, but me Uncle Michael caught me. I did mention I had a large brood of a family, which includes extended family as well. There's easily over fifty of us at any given holiday gathering. We've never had a quiet house, even when I was the only child. Life with Aidan went pretty okay for a bit. I learned to adjust to his existence, and well - I taught him that I was the greatest thing that ever existed. Went pretty well. Soon enough age eleven came round and I got my Hogwarts letter. Off I went, and much to my parents surprise I was sorted into Gryffindor. They always thought I'd be a Hufflepuff, follow the familial tradition. Perhaps it was my bull-headedness, or my lack of belief in rules that had me sorted into the Gryffindors. . . School went well, made some friends, got some much needed sleep without a two year older hovering over me, evil glint in his eyes as he whined for his Rora to play with him. I returned on all major holidays to hang round with the family, Aidan was a growing brat and everything seemed to be going well. And then When Aidan was five, and I was fourteen I got another surprise. Mum was pregnant - again. This time It was a tad easier for me to adjust to Conan. Not that he didn't cry as much - if not more - than Aidan, but being fourteen I had my own life. I baby-sat when mum and dad wanted some time together, but other than that I wasn't round much. I'd gotten my first boyfriend at this time, too - which would account for my lack of not being about. His name was Keifer Sullivan, and he was a year older than me, same house. Dad and me Uncles tore him apart every chance they had. Poor Keifer. Poor bloke never had a chance. I remember over the summer when we'd had a family get together, I'd invited him, and we stole away to get a few moments alone. Our lips had barely touched when suddenly there was not only a little Aidan at his feet - lighting a dungbomb, but dad and & Uncle Michael giving Aidan their approval. Wonderful party. Wasn't surprised much when September rolled around and my crazy family had managed to scare him off. Although I was mad at Aidan, I couldn't blame him, he was just a kid. Besides, the hate I'd initially had for him was gone. He was cute, and he liked to follow me around. He always wrote me poorly articulated letters to tell me how much he missed me, and - much to mum's dismay, and how much Conan was on his nerves. It was cute and Aidan and I grew close. I started to really miss me brothers. The years passed in droves and suddenly me parents decided it was time to move houses. Why? Mum was pregnant, again. I didn't quite mind - I was sixteen at the time. Not that it wasn't weird for me mum to keep having kids at such an age. . . but it was okay. I left it up to Aidan to take care of the rest and back off to Hogwarts I went. It was my second to last years and I'd survived OWLS, fairing pretty well - nothing under an E. My love-life didn't go far, though. After the debacle over the summer hols a few boys seemed rather wary of talking to me. It was okay, though. I didn't mind too much, all I knew was that I had to sort through my schooling, finish it and head off into the real world. What I wanted to do in the real world? Well, at the time I had no clue. Much of 6th year went off without hindrance. Of course i raked up a bit of trouble - I'm an O'Banion, it's our middle name. Nothing too big, though, in the trouble realm. I may or may not have slipped a bit of love potion - a weak one of course - into the grounds keeper's morning tea. Most thought it was rather hilarious when he seemed infatuated with the then headmistress, McGonagall. She didn't find it funny, but eventually my detentions gave her a small crinkle of a smile. Before I knew it seventh year had come and gone. A few snogs, but nothing too serious happened. I graduated with high marks in Muggle Studies - muggles had always interested me, history of magic, defence against dark arts, and somehow divination. I'd never really thought myself good at divination, but huh - who'da thought. Any how, i had no idea what to do after graduation & ma& pa weren't too much help. Ma told me to do whatever made me happy, and Pa told me to raise hell. I took an entry level position in the muggle artifacts department of the Ministry and tolled away at eighteen. Pretty soon I grew restless and bored. I was seventeen for Merlin's sake! You work behind a desk for hours. . . Anyways, I decided to head off and explore the world. I'd been saving money since I'd turned fourteen and had managed a good lump sum. I was going to do something sensible with it, like move out of my parents home, but decided instead to see the world. I threw darts at a world map to see which places I'd visit and wouldn't you know, the first dart landed in America. I'd never really considered what the other side of the ocean was like - I mean, I'd lived in Ireland all my life, frequented England - saw Wales, Scotland. . . America didn't seem that different from us, but of course they were. I planned and planned for a couple more months and traced an outline across the states to visit, starting first with the dot the dart had landed in - Chicago, Illinois, and headed out. But before heading out Aidan - who was nine at the time - came to me with a list of things he wanted from the states, and a letter I was not to open until he said so. I didn't listen to him, of course, and opened the letter right then and there. He was angry as could be, his ears turned red and everything, but that didn't stop me from pinching his cheeks and hugging him tightly (then giving him a kick in the arse). The little bugger had written me a thank you letter for being an "awesome" sister. America was way bigger than i'd ever imagined and going by myself hadn't helped. It took me a bit to find a wizarding community in Chicago, and until then i'd been keeping my magical ways under wraps, instead, living like a muggle. Which I'd actually had had fun with. It was in this community that I met Mark Roberts. He was the cute, typical "rugged" america. Bright blue eyes , brown hair, a devilmaycare attitude. I'd never been really attracted to badboys, and he wasn't exactly a bad boy - he just didn't care. What I mean by that is he liked to have fun, get down, be heard, be seen - but what people thought of him? He didn't care. He was a bit of a chauv at times, but never the less, I still thought he was cute. I needed a place to stay, and his sister had been looking for a flatmate, and off we went. Lindsay - Mark's sister - and I got along fairly well. She liked my accent, and I liked to learn what the american wizarding community was like. Chicago was nice too, completely different than my home. Everything was fast-paced; and people were always going. The longer I stayed in Chicago - my original plan had been to hop from one coast, to the next - the more I admired Mark from afar. I thought i'd been hiding my feelings well until one night Lindsay came into my room, a grin on her face and a rather skimpy dress in hand announcing that I had a date. I had no clue what she was talking about, but she forced me to get dressed anyways. In the process of dressing she informed me that if I slept with her brother that she didn't want to hear about it and she wanted a pack of fags in return for the hookup. I tried to protest the date but apparently she'd been planning this for a while because Mark was gussied up and just as embarrassed as me. I must make a mental reminder to thank Lindsay for her meddling because Mark and I hit it off. We began dating and eventually I made the decision to stay in chicago for a while. I owl'd mum whom wasn't surprised, but did tell me she'd miss me. She did want me home eventually, but for now she was okay with the arrangement. Six months had gone by and Mark and I were doing pretty well. And soon sixth months had turned into four years and I was suddenly twenty - two years old, still living in America (though I'd always gone home everyone few months to see everyone). I'd gotten a job at the american witchcraft institute working as a professor's assistant in muggle studies and had moved in with Mark. We'd been going together for four years and though I'd been home sick at times, life was interesting. My irish accent had faded, though not completely. Didn't know much about what was occuring with my family back in europe other than Aidan had been sorted into hufflepuff and was currently causing trouble. Hearing about my family had me whipped into a frenzy though, and I knew i wanted to see them again. I'd only been home thrice in the last few years and without mark - so I asked mark if he wanted to see Ireland. He said yes and we packed up and headed home. Oh the first metting with my family was rather interesting for Mark - but everyone liked him fairly well. You meet fifty plus Irish people who all like to talk at once - and you've never been outside of chicago? Have fun. - Especially Aidan who seemed completely taken with the ideal of america, and couldn't stop asking questions. It was the fifth or sixth night home that Mark got the courage together and asked me to marry him. Truth be told I hadn't been considering it at all. I'd never been the girly type in the slightest, so wedding planning never really consider to me. I said yes, of course and everything seemed to be a fairy-tale. . . i say seem of course because things never go how you want. We couldn't pick where we wanted to settle down. Mark wanted me to move back to America, but I hadn't realised i'd missed my family so much. So we may a deal - we wouldn't get married until we decided on a permenant place. Instead we opted for a long engagement and decided to actually get some traveling down in the process. For the next few years we just traveled, going from Ireland, to Britain - and i must say Mark was completely fascinated with everything - then out farther. It was nice to see the world with the guy i'd been smitten with for what seemed like forever. We'd been together forever. Eventually we tired of traveling, and decided to see what it'd be like to split our time between Chicago and home. Six months here, six months there. It was harder than expected, however. And though we'd had arguments in the past, things seemed to be growing strained. Mark wanted to permenantly settle in Chicago, and I didn't. It wasn't that I hadn't enjoyed my time - hell, a large part of my "wild" years had been spent in the states, it was just that I . . . well - i was homesick and pregnant. . . At twenty four I found myself engaged, and expecting. Frankly, I wanted to be near my mum. I was having my first child . . . I told Mark and he understood, but once again i found myself at an impasse. He was hell bent on his child being raised in America. . . I just didn't know any more. I was scared to be a mum - and I frankly wanted to curl underneath my mum and hide away from the world. To make things worse, my dad's family - my gran - who'd always been very religious (she's a muggle) thought it best if Mark and I married before the baby, and return to Ireland. I agreed, though the Ireland part was still in the air, and Mark disagreed. He thought it was better to decide where we were to live first, then worry about marriage after. Needless to say I was stressed to the max and five months into my pregnancy I started having very bad cramps. Everything hurt. We went to the hospital - Mark and I - we'd been in the states at the time, preparing to head back to ireland. The doctor told us not to worry, that everything seemed okay, but i needed to de-stress. As if that was possible. So back home we returned just in time to find an owl from my gran demanding to know when we'd be back in ireland, and that the baby was a true irish men or woman. That statement raised a fuss in Mark and for the four-hundreth time we opened Pandora's Box, and argued about where to raise our child. I don't remember much due to the fact that i'd passed out, but when i awoke, the doctor had informed me that I'd lost the baby. I was beyond devastated, so much so that I didn't leave the house for a few weeks. My parents came to the States to check on me, and I'd barely even acknowledged them. Everything seemed to be unraveling. Mark was just as upset as I was and blamed himself - since the argument that'd led to my break down had been started by him and then my gran's added stress didn't help. I was lost, and for a while I blamed Mark. I couldn't look at him the same and our relationship really frayed. The distance between us grew and it eventually got to the point that I wiped the tears from my eyes, took off my engagement ring, and left. It was the hardest thing i'd ever done. I'd been with him since i was nineteen years old and there I was at 25, walking away. Seven years we'd been together. And it was gone. I didn't know what to say to him, nor he to me. This time when I left for home, I left for good. When I got home ma and pa seemed to be on edge around me, but nevertheless, they were there for me. I was amazed, too, to see how far grown up my brother's truly were. And now here I am. The entire time I'd ventured about the globe and spent in America I'd been studying muggles - so after finding some room to breath I mustered up the courage to seek out a teaching position at Hogwarts. I still think about Mark - a lot - and wonder if it'd be easy just to go back, forgive him for what happened, if there is anything to forgive. I'm not sure if he was/is the love of my life or whatever everyone believes. I just know right now I need to be around my family. |
riss. old and nine tenths. a while. GMT |
picture (c) MALIA! at caution 2.0
