name: Athena StarGazer-Smith
age: 25
gender: Female
race: Witch
Blood Status: Half-Blood, Muggle father
position: PhD Student - Magical Archaeology, teaches Beginning Divination
Signature Spell: Seer; Bubble-Head Charm modified so that it can continue to draw oxygen from the water around her, not just hold a finite amount.
Wand: 10 1/2 in, Olive, Centaur tail strand core
mirror, mirror on the wall:http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae282/caela_ecub/Brunettes/ed3.jpg A curtain of chocolate waves fall just past Athena's shoulders and frame a face that can be utterly serious, or filled with mirth in turns faster than most people can follow. Golden-brown eyes typically look out on the world as if she knows some secret that amuses her...and she's not sharing.
in my heart of hearts: Athena is a sarcastic, kind, intelligent young woman. She studies hard, and plays harder, enjoying a variety of activities but preferring those that take her outside and let her enjoy the beauty of nature around her. She finds the sounds of nature soothing, particularly just after a Prophecy has gripped her. For the most part she ignores her
Gift because it's something she can't truly control, the Prophecies come as they will and she simply chooses to live her life irregardless of what she Sees.
As a friend she is loyal and caring but more than willing to share harsh truths as well. She doesn't believe in "polite" lies and doesn't bother telling them, though she does try to soften some of what she tells people if she thinks it's necessary.
As an enemy she is someone to be wary of. Her temper can burn fast and die just as quickly for minor matters but if you truly earn her enmity she will be patient and wait for the opportune moment to (when you are least expecting it and might even think she's forgotten) to exact her vengeance.
my dark past: Athena grew up living what seemed to be a charmed life. The daughter of an American businessman and a Greek Witch, she actually grew up moving around many different parts of the world for her father's business ventures. When the time came to get her letter, she actually got more than one because of her nomadic lifestyle and her parents chose a school located near Queensland, Australia. The school itself it actually based on a small island in the Great Barrier Reef chain and is otherwise uninhabited. It was never "home" (that was always wherever her parents were) but it was a great deal of fun and she spent a good portion of her free time learning how to dive (which was how she gained exemplary control of, and affinity for, the Bubble-Head Charm) and swim the reefs that surrounded the island. Because it was far from the nearest Muggle habitation, it didn't require the same level of security as most other schools and only had a few spells to divert Muggle boats, ships, and aircraft so that it wouldn't be noticed.
While the school taught her the basics, much of her high level learning was done with her Mother who taught her things like Appariting/Disapparating and the Patronus Charm(an Owl in Athena's case). Athena wasn't sure when the latter would really be of much use, but her Mother made it a point that anything you
could know, was worth knowing. While Athena hadn't grown up during the rise of Voldermort, her Mother had and she wanted her daughter to always be prepared to defend herself as needed. To that end, she also taught her daughter how to duel, and there could be no harsher teacher than Athena's own Mother when it came to winning a duel!
All her time spent diving also piqued the interest that, finally, brought her to Dragonsclaw; the Archaeology of Magical Civilizations. Just like the Muggle world, the Magical had lost cities over time and she suspected that many of Muggle mythologies famed "lost cities" were actually Magical in origin. Cities like Atlantis that were supposed to have seemingly magical or advanced technological capabilities. All of her diving inspired a passion to search out such places and learn the secrets lost to time. To that end she moved to the only University the Magical community had, even though it took her far from the oceans she loved, to learn as much as she could about ancient magical civilizations. Because of her Gift as a Seer, her Mother also taught her other divinatory arts and she uses those skills to teach her Beginning Divination classes.
Note on her "Gift": Being a Seer is an inborn talent, not a skill she learned. According to her Mother, family lore has it that every generation of their family has spawned a Seer going back (supposedly) to Kassandra of Troy. Athena isn't certain that she truly believes the family stories, but they make an interesting story to tell when people ask about her Gift.
