Mandy Brocklehurst

OOC

Game	Journal	Portrayed By
Rise of the Ancients	the_sweet_treat	Ginnifer Goodwin

Basic Stats

Full Name: Amanda Leigh Brocklehurst
Nickname(s): Mandy
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Date of Birth: January 27, 1980
Zodiac: Aquarius
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship Status: Single
Bloodline: Halfblood
Hometown: Lichfield, Staffordshire, England
House & Year: Ravenclaw 1998
Occupation: Owner & baker: The Sweet Treat
Pet: None

Family

Father: Kevin Brocklehurst (wizard; Hufflepuff 1977)
Mother: Elizabeth Brocklehurst (née Marceau; witch; Slytherin 1977)
Brother: Cameron Brocklehurst (wizard; Hufflepuff 2003)

Daughter: Julianne Brocklehurst (witch; b. August 18, 2001)

History

Amanda Leigh Brocklehurst was the first-born child to Kevin and Elizabeth Brocklehurst, followed four years later by younger brother Cameron. Kevin and Elizabeth had attended Hogwarts together, though in different houses. Although Elizabeth originally disliked Kevin, in their seventh year dislike somehow turned into like, which eventually blossomed into love on both sides. They both finished school in 1977, and then a year and a half later, on February 14, 1979, they were married and settled into a small home in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Mandy was born nearly a year later, and Cameron was born "coincidentally" nine months after their parents' fifth wedding anniversary.

Childhood for both Mandy and Cam was fairly typical. They fought as siblings tend to do, and as they grew older they also began butting heads with their parents, as well. But for the most part, life in Lichfield was fairly idyllic. Mandy and Cam were surrounded by love, and frequently visited by their various relatives, who lived even as far as Australia (where Kevin was originally from) and as near as Ireland (where Elizabeth's half-sister lived) and France (where most of the rest of Elizabeth's family is from). Although Cam gravitated toward quidditch, Mandy found herself drawn to the kitchen and all things domestic. She loved learning how to do various things in the kitchen, amassing quite a collection of cookbooks, both muggle and magical. It became quite obvious to the whole family that Mandy would end up doing something with her life that would be related to cooking and the kitchen.

It came as no surprise to the Brocklehurst family that Mandy received her Hogwarts owl in the summer of 1991. It did, however, come as a great surprise to everyone when Mandy was sorted into Ravenclaw on September 1st. The whole family had her pegged for Hufflepuff. It was Cam who spoke up and pointed out that while "kitchen" knowledge wasn't the "typical" knowledge that scholars thirsted for, Mandy's desire to know anything and everything about cooking and baking was a pretty sure sign of being a Ravenclaw, from everything that Elizabeth and Kevin had told their children through the years. But Mandy was happy in Ravenclaw, and she knew that the house was a perfect fit for her. She quickly became friends with all of her roommates, but particularly close friends with one in particular, Su Li.

Despite all of the happenings in the wizarding world, the brewing of the war, Mandy's years at Hogwarts were relatively unremarkable. She studied, she earned passable grades in many of her subjects, and tried to stay out of the war as much as possible. It wasn't that she didn't agree with either side. In fact, although Mandy grew up in the wizarding world, she does have muggle relatives and she certainly doesn't believe them or herself to be lesser than those whose families have been a part of the wizarding world for longer. But she does not like fighting or anything of the sort. She far preferred to spend her time trying to stay out of things and cooking, instead. Because, of course, although the House Elves ruled the kitchen at Hogwarts, Mandy's love of cooking and baking did not wane in the least, but rather grew. She studied the foods that the House Elves prepared at Hogwarts, mostly the desserts, and attempted to recreate them on her own, or coming up with her own recipies.

In her seventh year, when the war raged on the Hogwarts grounds, Mandy helped to guide the younger years to safety. Not everyone could stay and fight, after all, someone had to ensure that the younger ones were safe. But she was torn out of fear for those of her friends who stayed and fought, fear that any or all of them could die. After the Dark Lord was destroyed once again, Mandy, along with her surviving classmates and friends, mourned the loss of their fallen friends.

After Hogwarts, Mandy moved back home to Lichfield, into her parents' house. She lived there only long enough to get her feet under herself as she started her own business: an order-by-owl bakery that she named The Sweet Treat. She lived with her parents until she was able to afford her own house (just down the road, actually), which became both her home and her place of business. In late 1999, Mandy met a young muggle man, Richard. Always having been a romantic, Mandy was sure that she was in love, that this would be the man of her dreams, whom she would marry. Unfortunately, that was not how things ended up. Instead, Mandy ended up broken-hearted and pregnant. Over the following nine months, Mandy fell in love with her unborn child, and decided that she would raise the child herself, she would never be able to put the child up for adoption. Her parents lived nearby, after all, and would be able to help her. In August of 2001, Julianne Elizabeth Brocklehurst was born, and Mandy faced the hardest year of her life, juggling a burgeoning business, paying household bills, and raising her daughter.