Isla Ketteridge

OOC

Game	Journal	Portrayed By
The Last Year	observes	Laura Breckenridge

Basic Stats

Full Name: Isla Greer Ketteridge
Nickname(s): None
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Date of Birth: January 7, 1982
Zodiac: Capricorn
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship Status: Single
Bloodline: Halfblood
Hometown: Dundee, Scotland
House & Year: Ravenclaw 5th
Extracurriculars: None
Pet: Norther hawk owl (Alsi); two laborador retrievers (Archibald; Cailean)

Family

Father: Neil Murray Ketteridge (wizard; Ravenclaw 1975; works in the International Magical Office of Law)
Mother: Demi Sophia Ketteridge (née Anderson; witch; Hufflepuff 1975; writer for the WWN)
Brother: Alexander Conall Ketteridge (b. December 8, 1982; d. December 10, 1982)
Sister: Fiona Isabel Ketteridge (witch; Slytherin 2nd)

History

Neil Ketteridge and Demi Anderson met at Hogwarts. They were in the same year but different houses, though they had several classes together throughout their seven years. Demi was attracted to Neil because he was a leader-type, and she was more of a follower herself. They began dating in their seventh year and were married in 1977, two years after finishing school. Demi immediately became pregnant — with what Neil was positive would be a boy — but miscarried after only four months. Within a year, she was pregnant again, but this pregnancy also resulted in a miscarriage. In 1981, Demi was pregnant for a third time, and the healers advised that she remain bedridden, to prevent another miscarriage. This pregnancy was carried to term and, on the seventh of January, 1982, daughter Isla Greer was born.

Isla was the daughter who should have been a son, because a daughter could not be a proper heir to the Ketteridge name, so while her mother loved and adored her, her father was distant. He still wanted a son, and it was only a few months after Isla was born that her mother was pregnant for a fourth time. This baby, a boy that was named Alexander Conall, was born two months early, in early December, 1982. He was a weak one, though, and died after only two days. A third miscarriage followed in late 1983, and when Demi was pregnant for a sixth time in 1984, Demi and Neil both held their breaths in fear and anticipation. Daughter Fiona Isabel was born (full-term) on the fifteenth of May, 1985, and she was as healthy and hardy as her sister, who was three by now. The healers vehemently advised against Demi becoming pregnant again, so Neil was forced to be content with only two daughters.

Because she was so young, Isla has no memories of either her brother or her mother's miscarriage between Alexander's and Fiona's births. When she was ten, however, her mother sat her down and told Isla about Alexander and about her miscarriages, even bringing the young girl to visit Alexander's grave. Beyond that, however, Isla had a relatively quiet childhood. Having been born after Voldemort's fall, she was able to grow up in a time of relative peace and happiness. Isla and Fiona played together as they both grew up, but as soon as Isla learned to read, she found herself more attracted to the books in her father's study than the toys in her and Fiona's playroom.

As the girls grew older, their interests started to differ. Fiona loved dressing her dolls up in pretty dresses and dressing herself up in pretty dresses and playing with their mother's makeup, while Isla preferred spending time with books and learning everything she could. It was no surprise, then, that in 1993, when Isla went off to Hogwarts, she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Although Neil was still disappointed in the fact that he would have no son to follow in his footsteps, he was still proud of his oldest daughter for being sorted into his former house. Demi was a bit worried about Isla going off to school, after what had happened in the previous year, with the muggleborn students being petrified, but she was still happy for her daughter.

At school, Isla immediately took to Herbology and Potions, and she did quite well in them. Despite her love of knowledge and learning, she found that she was not very good in History of Magic; the way that Professor Binns droned on throughout the class made it hard for Isla to stay awake, as much as she wanted to. Isla liked Professor Lupin as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but she was shocked to find out at the end of the year that he was a werewolf. Demi tried to convince Neil to pull Isla out of school after that was revealed, but Neil was insistent that Isla remain at Hogwarts. In her second year, she was fascinated by the visiting students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, and although she was by far much too young to participate in the Tournament, she was excited for it and cheered for Cedric Diggory, though she did not believe that Harry Potter had entered his own name into the Goblet, considering the age line and everything. Of course, she was unable to provide a reasonable hypothesis for what actually happened, without all the facts.

The death of Cedric Diggory and the supposed return of Voldemort shook the Ketteridge family, and Demi again plead with her husband to keep their daughter at home the following year. Despite her pleas, however, Isla returned for her third year. Again, she refused to believe anything about Voldemort's return without all the facts, and there seemed to be very few facts to be had, only one boy's word and the fact that the headmaster trusted that boy's word. That year, Isla added Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures to her class schedule, though she immediately began having problems with Care of Magical Creatures. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Umbridge, was actually somewhat beneficial to Isla's preferred method of learning (that being reading), though she felt that the class was rather useless that year, as they spent the whole time reading and it felt like they weren't really learning much. She did not join Harry Potter's D.A., mostly because it was just a study group (or so she thought), and she was doing fine in the class on her own.

Despite proof, finally, that Voldemort had returned, Isla and Fiona, who was now eleven and old enough to join her sister at Hogwarts, returned to school in 1996, because Neil said that Hogwarts was the safest place for the girls to be, and Demi grudgingly agreed. Fiona was sorted into Slytherin, to the surprise of the whole family. The year passed seemingly uneventfully: despite worrying about the safety of their parents, particularly their mother, who is a muggleborn, Isla and Fiona were fine at school, until the end of the year when Death Eaters showed up inside Hogwarts and Dumbledore died. Both girls were safe from the fighting, but they were also both shaken by the death of the Headmaster, supposedly at the wand of Professor Snape.

Now, on the brink of Isla's fifth year and Fiona's second, Demi again wants to keep her daughters home, but Neil still insists that they are safest at school, and that they should try to go on as though everything is normal and fine. Isla cannot help but to ponder what will happen in the coming year.