WESTON, christina leigh.

[maggie]

Nickname: Maggie.
How You Found Us: Advertising, yo.
Contact Via: PM, or you can PM for my MSN. (:

What can be found in a name:
Christina Leigh Weston.
When the day I was born:
July 17th, 1959.
The Angels screamed:
Edward and Amelia Weston.
And Hell shut its doors:
None.
While creatures retreated:
None.
To depths unknown:
Muggleborn.

I hide from them:
Common room, lake, ROR, towers.
Be who they want to see:
To start off, Christina stands at an acceptable five-foot-five. Sure, she doesn't tower over people and make them quiver beneath her awesome height, but she's quite happy about that actually. What she's even happier about is that she doesn't cross the border into short. It could probably be said that her height is average. Christina's body is towards the athletic side -- not to say that she's extremely buff or that she constantly plays sports, but rather that she is quite lean and does have some muscle tone. She's definitely not stick thin and would actually never choose to be. Chris is very fond of her natural curves and the body she's built up through healthy eating and regular exercise. Christina's favorite type of exercise is plain old running or jogging, so most of the muscles she's built up are in her legs. Her hips are quite large though blend well into her overall form, and her bust is average.

The dark, honey-brown eyes that Chris inherited from her mother can look quite large, though when applied with the right make-up they look more average. When hit with direct light they have a faint golden tinge, whereas in the dark they look almost black. They are her most expressive facial feature, though Christina's entire face is always very expressive in whole. One can always read her emotions on her features, and it's hard for her to hide them (not that she usually puts much effort into trying). Luckily she's had enough practice to be able to keep a straight face when she concentrates hard enough. But on a daily basis when she's not trying to wear a mask, her thoughts and feelings are evident enough.

Christina's lips are full and naturally a matte, light pink. Typically she leaves them bare, but once in awhile she'll add some lip coloring or gloss, usually only a couple shades different from her natural color. Generally Chris doesn't like to wear make-up that draws a lot of attention. For the most part she sticks to neutral colors, and that's only when she actually decides to put make-up on. Actually, Chris doesn't bother with most of it most days and will only wear mascara. On special occasions, particularly nights out, she'll go bold with some eye liner and maybe even a bit of eye shadow. But don't expect it to happen often; Chris isn't into looking excessively primped-up. She naturally has clear skin, so luckily can get away without wearing foundation or concealer for the most part. The hue of her skin is quite fair, with a peaches and cream complexion. It doesn't tan very easily, though to balance that con out it also doesn't burn easily.

Blessed with long, shining soft hair, Christina has never really had to worry about split ends or dryness when it comes to her locks. Her hair is a dark, chocolate brown that leans more to her father as far as genetics go. Both of her parents have dark hair, but her mother's was a few shades lighter. Chris really loves her hair; she is extremely fond of the darkness of it, and is really glad she didn't get saddled with blond. The girl really just doesn't find blond to be attractive. Her hair is wavy, though she never really has a problem with it being frizzy unless it's humid out. She's not the kind of girl that's ashamed of her texture and always tries to straighten it until it resembles a board. Even though she has actually straightened it a few times, she found she didn't like it nearly as much as her natural waves.

When it comes to things to do with her hair, Chris typically leaves it down and lets it fall in whatever direction it feels like. She's not the kind of girl that insists on brushing it every five minutes to make sure it stays in place; if the wind decides to grab hole and blow it in a billion directions, then so what? Chris will settle for simply flattening it into place with a quick brush of her hand. When she decides to do something other than leave it down, Chris's most common choice of style is a simple ponytail, usually quite high on the back of her head. Her other option is to sweep only the top half of it into a small clip. When she's lounging around and relaxing, she might throw it all into a larger clip. Her brows are the same dark color as her hair, and because of the intense shade she keeps them trimmed so they don't take up all the attention on her face.

As for style and clothes and things of that nature, Chris isn't a fashion-obsessed sort of person. One can usually find the girl in jeans, and her shirts come in a wide variety of styles, though most of them are spaghetti-strap tank tops or simple t-shirts. The colors vary according to her mood, though she tends to prefer dark colors. She's not a huge fan of purple so you won't find her wearing a lot of it. Sometimes she'll wear a pair of shorts or a skirt or dress, if it fits the mood of the day. Chris loves shoes, but her feet blister easily so there are many styles she can't get away with wearing, particularly ones with lots of straps; she must settle for only looking at shoes like this. Flats are her favorite, flip-flops her second favorite. Tennis shoes are handy, too, though she mainly just wears them for exercise. Heels are limited to occasions of necessity, like when required at work or at something very formal.

Jewelry isn't something Chris usually wears a lot of. When it comes to picking between gold or silver as far as color, silver is her favorite and therefore most frequently worn. Often she forgets to wear earrings and frankly she's amazed she even still has piercings on her lobes; but when she does wear earrings they tend to be simple, nothing overly large or flashy. Sometimes she'll toss on a ring or bracelet, but mainly forgets on an everyday basis. It actually makes her feel guilty sometimes; many people have given her jewelry pieces as gifts over the year, and most of it all just stays crammed into the top drawer of her dresser. The most expensive piece she owns is a necklace she inherited from her mother, which is a simple chain with a ruby pendant; Chris rarely takes this piece of jewelry off.
But that leaves no one:

To discover that inside:
Christina is a very outgoing, social, generally friendly person. She likes interacting with people and isn't shy about talking to people she doesn't know. If you're friendly to her, she'll be friendly back. For the most part she's kind and nice. But the girl does have a different side to her. Though not necessarily mean, Christina can be very confrontational. If she doesn't like you or you annoy her, she'll gladly let you know. When angry, she can be very aggressive; she's not the type to not fight back and just take abuse. The girl can definitely be described as feisty, and she's proud of it. This also extends to the protection of her friends: if one of her friends is somehow being insulted or attacked, she'll gladly stick up for them. Being the loyal friend that she is, Chris will not sit back and allow her friends to be abused. And this girl will fight to the death; once she has her heart and mind set on something, there's no changing it. Needless to say she's extremely stubborn. But despite her aggressive nature, Chris doesn't actually like hurting people. If she really doesn't like the person then she won't care as much, but if she hurts someone she doesn't hate, then she always feels extremely guilty. The girl is not sadistic, and isn't out to make sure everyone is hurting, even though she often wants people to hurt as much as she does. But when she is hurting, Chris tends to hurt other people, though it's mostly unintentional, just a product of her venting. However, that's only if she chooses to actually interact with people. Typically Chris wants to be alone when she's upset, and tends to be colder towards people if she ends up having to be social.

Christina is a very adventurous sort of person. She loves to explore and try new things, and is quite brave, hence why she's in Gryffindor. She's always been the one to climb the tree to the highest branch or go trucking through the scary part of the forest. If an occasion arises where an activity actually makes her nervous, she won't show it; even in the moments where she's not brave, she pretends that she is. This is because Christina hates to seem weak. So if something scares her or somehow hurts her emotionally, she's very unlikely to actually show it. She's not always very good at expressing her emotions, mainly because she just doesn't know how, or doesn't want to at the risk of seeming too weak. Chris is not very good at emotionally connecting with people; she doesn't know how to get close to someone. Due to trauma in her past, Chris has had a lot of issues with trusting people. Sure she may be friendly often, but most of the time she keeps people at a distance and it's hard to truly get close to her. One of her fears is getting emotionally hurt. Physical pain she can take; thanks to her father, she's learned to cope with that sort of pain. But she has trouble with emotional pain, and tends to pull away from anything or anyone that she thinks might cause it. The idea of making herself completely vulnerable to someone terrifies her, which is why a lot of times, if she's starting to get close to someone romantically, she'll pull away before she gets too close and risks hurting herself. It's usually a subconscious action; she doesn't even realize when she's starting to pull away.

Christina is also blessed with some intelligence. She's a good analyzer (though sometimes tends to over-analyze) and likes problem solving. Schoolwork usually is easy for her, though she tends to procrastinate. But for the most part the work gets done, even if she finishes it five minutes before class starts or she has to copy a bit from her sister. In life in general, she doesn't always think things through, and often ends up having to learn something the hard way. But hey, she learns it and that's all that really matters. Chris loves to read, and is perfectly happy with just chilling out in the common room or on the lawn, just reading a novel. She thinks people that think reading is lame are wrong. And when she's upset, Chris likes to use novels to escape the drama of the real world. But despite this love of reading, Chris also likes to experience things for herself, versus always learning things from a book. She's a very visual learner; if she sees someone perform a spell, she usually understands how to go about doing it. This doesn't mean that she'll be able to do it perfectly the first time around, since that's not how magic works. But she prefers watching someone and learning that way, versus listening to a lecture and expecting to be taught like that. Also, she prefers to learn things on her own. Accepting help is not one of her talents. And if she does accept help, it's reluctantly and grudgingly. Chris is a very independent person, who likes doing and figuring things out on her own.
This soulless being:
Chocolate-covered strawberries, reading, writing, libraries, the colors red and teal, being Muggleborn, pasta, humming, exploring, solving problems, dogs, horses, hiking, running, nature and outdoors, music, Quidditch, chocolate, cake, apple juice, orange juice, tea, people that know when to shut up, easygoing people, July, rubies, blankets, being warm, winter, clouds, fresh air, crocodiles, oceans, nighttime, stargazing.
Is just as lost:
Rude people, people mistreating her or her friends, being stuck in a corner, crying, snobs, arrogance, prejudice, spinach, unfair expectations, know-it-alls, idiots, being wrong, being told what to do, her family situation, cooking, not being able to understand something, not being able to make up her mind, cats, arrogant people, drama, diamonds, swimming.
As everyone else:
Intelligent, outgoing, sticks up for herself and friends, friendly, adventurous, brave, not afraid to try new things.
In a world that knows only hate:
Procrastinates, aggressive, hates seeming weak, not good at trusting or getting close to people, keeps her emotions to herself when hurt.
And causes pain for the soulless like me:
Her father is abusive, her mother is dead. Both of these things she keeps to herself, telling only her closest friends.

They left me to die:
Family on mothers side
On a bed of roses:
Family on fathers side
Blood seeping through:
Family secret
The satin sheets of fame:
Rich/poor/well off/homeless etc
What a bitter story of love:
Edward and Amelia were nineteen years old then they met; they were at the same university and took an extreme liking to each other. Edward was the rich kid whose daddy hooked him up with spot at the fancy college, where Amelia was the middle-class girl who had to actually earn her way there. Amelia had immigrated from Italy with family when she was sixteen, and had worked hard to get into a good university. Edward and Amelia seemed like an odd match, but they started dating when they were twenty and seemed very fond of each other, though their personalities occasionally clashed. Edward was loud and often aggressive, particularly when drinking; he was intelligent, but unmotivated. Amelia wanted to be a writer; she was creative, intelligent, stubborn, and loving. When Edward got drunk and therefore aggressive, it often led to huge fights between the couple, but somehow they always found a way to make up. Amelia's friends warned her that Edward's anger would probably just keep getting worse, but the girl badly wanted to see the good in him and ignore the bad. So they continued dating, and eventually married when they were twenty-five. Despite all his issues, Edward really did seem to genuinely love his wife, and his wife definitely loved him. Edward went on to become a doctor, while Amelia became an author like she'd always wanted. A few months into the marriage, Amelia found out she was pregnant. But unfortunately, her friends had been correct about Edward's temper getting worse, and there was a night when he pushed his wife down the stairs in a drunken fit of rage. Amelia miscarried, without ever having told her husband she was pregnant. But Edward seemed to feel extremely guilty about what he'd done, and started working on his alcoholism. To Amelia's delight, he began getting help for his addiction, and was able to recover. When sober, Edward still had issues with anger and aggression, but stopped physically abusing his wife. He still yelled a lot and still had a habit of throwing things at the wall, but Amelia was just happy that he wasn't physically hurting her anymore. So when she found out a year later that she was pregnant again, she actually told him the news.

That summer, on July seventeenth, Amelia gave birth to a daughter. Amelia gave the child her own name as a middle name, so the daughter became Christina Amelia Weston. Amelia was ecstatic; her love for her daughter had no bounds. Edward on the other hand wasn't quite as sure about it. But as time passed he grew to love his child, though there were still parts of him that resented the responsibility of being a father. As Christina grew, her adventurous personality became obvious. She was a curious little thing, always exploring and inspecting the world around her. More than once, she managed to do herself harm. She fell out of a tree and broke her arm, she tripped and scraped her knees a billion times, and even managed to crash her bike into a tree. None of these incidents slowed the girl down, and she remained as rambunctious and reckless as ever. So after awhile, her parents stopped being surprise when she came home injured. They were a bit more surprised when she came home one day talking about how she'd moved a rock through the air and had hit a bully in the head with it. But since Chris was a child with an imagination, they didn't think much of it. However, there were a few other occasions where Christina claimed to have done something strange, and would get mad if her parents accused her of lying. It wasn't until Chris was about seven and a half that they finally believed her; this was because Amelia was there to witness it. They were next to a pond at a park, and Chris saw a ladybug drowning in the water. Without further ado, the ladybug was lifted from the water and into Christina's hand. It was a small form of magic to be sure, but Amelia could no long deny that there was something special about her daughter. Edward remained skeptical. He was too closed-minded to consider the possibility that magic could exist. Amelia was more accepting. Christina began telling everyone she was a magician, though nobody took her seriously except a few young kids, who only believed it because of their age. But when Christina was eight and her world was turned upside down, she completely forgot about magic and wouldn't think of it again until she turned eleven.

It was her parents' anniversary, and Chris was left at home with a babysitter while they went out to dinner. The night was going well. The couple left to stroll around downtown, which is where they ran into a couple that had been their neighbors years back. The two husbands went off to look at a hardware store that the former neighbor mentioned was new, and the wives sat on a bench to talk. Edward and the other husband returned just was the wives began talking about the miscarriage. It was a simple mistake; the neighbor had only been commenting on how it was nice that Amelia had had a daughter after losing a child. But it was said at the wrong time, a complete accident, and Edward heard it. The man was furious. The former neighbors departed, and Edward and Amelia got into a heated argument that lasted into their drive. Edward was so livid that he failed to pay attention to anything but the conversation -- including the road. Halfway home he ran a red light, and the car was promptly struck on the passenger side by a pick-up truck. The truck had been speeding, so overall the damage was great. Amelia died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Christina will never forget when her father finally came home that night. He looked exhausted, pained, and broken. But what Christina noticed more than anything else was that he came home alone. Edward was no gentle with his news; when Chris asked where her mother way, Edward simply said she was dead before he disappeared into his bedroom. The loss of her mother hit Christina hard; and suddenly she was stuck with a man who no longer seemed to want her. Soon after Amelia's death, Edward began to drink again. It wasn't long before he'd once again become an alcoholic. And when the alcoholism returned, so did the violence. It was about four months after Amelia's death that Edward hit Chris for the first time. It was just a slap, but the confusion and mental pain that accompanied it made the blow seem much worse. It was only the beginning; over the years, Edward struck his daughter harder and more often, until it came to the point where he'd often beat her until she couldn't stand.

Christina always thought that she somehow deserved the beatings; surely she'd done something very, very wrong if her own father was hurting her that badly, right? But her fear of him grew to an extreme; Chris trembled at the site of him, and would always do her best to escape him when he tried to attack her. Most of the time he was either drunk or sleeping it off; he was never in a right state of mind, and had become too unstable to have any regard to his daughter's well-being. Another drunk habit of his was throwing things, usually his liquor bottles, at the walls. Chris came to fear the sound of breaking glass, and to this day still gets jumpy at the sounds of things breaking or the site of things being thrown against a wall. Because her father was so incapable of parenting, Chris had to take care of herself for the most part. It was hard to do at such a young age, and Christina had to mature quickly in order to fend on her own. She lost a lot of her youth, and often felt as if she was living alone in the house. It remained untidy since Chris never really knew how to go about cleaning. Mainly her tasks were making her own meals (no square meals for her; it was basically just whatever she could find and throw together). Edward had lost his job, so they were living off savings; Edward was still the one to do the shopping, on the occasions when he wasn't extremely drunk. But often he forgot. Christina began walking to the store herself and using money that she'd taken from her piggy bank or her father's wallet. School was still one of her responsibilities, though she often missed days, usually because her father would not let her go because she had bruises she couldn't hide. Chris began to feel emotionally empty and numb; her days of careless youth had been replaced with harsh reality, and the abrupt change led to loss of happiness and hope. Most of the time she stayed cooped up in the house, except for school or if she decided to relax in the backyard. She never told anyone what was happening at home; she was too afraid of what Edward would do to her if she told someone about him hurting her. By the time she was eleven, Christina had come to resent and hate her father; she stopped calling him "dad" and instead began referring to him by his first name. As far as she was concerned, the man was no longer her father.

Another major change came when Christina was eleven: she received a letter to a school called Hogwarts. At first she thought it was a joke, but then she recalled all those incidents as a child and began to think there might be some truth in this letter after all. Her father didn't believe her when she tried to tell him, and refused to take her to the train station. But Christina didn't give up; the day that she was to leave, Christina took a bus to the train station. She ignored the stares of passengers that wondered what a child was doing alone on a bus, and instead focused on the journey ahead. Once at the station, Christina was lucky enough to get help from a witch mother in getting onto the platform. And once on there, Christina was in awe. The awe continued all the way to the school, where the Sorting Hat placed her into Gryffindor (she was thankful for not being put into Slytherin, which she'd heard on the train was an awful house). It came as a shock to her to learn that some people were very prejudiced against children of Muggle heritage, like her. She was made fun of by the pureblood elitist children, but she learned to ignore it; they were idiots after all, and besides, she had plenty of friends that had no problems with her lineage. The time at school proved to be very beneficial to Chris. Being away from her father and having a whole new world to explore and learn about was a healing experience. Over time she became happier and less introverted. Making friends came easier, though she still kept her past a secret even from her close friends. And the curriculum at Hogwarts was far more interesting and fun than that of her old Muggle school. So over the years, Chris recovered and flourished. Sure, going home for the summers was awful, and the school refused to allow her to stay (though if she'd told them exactly why she wanted to, perhaps they'd have changed their minds). Near the end of the school years Chris was always in a bad mood, and the bad mood took her all the way through summer and into part of the next year. But after she was back at school for a time, she recovered more. And in fact the summers weren't as bad; Edward still beat her, but not as often; for the most part he just ignored her, and she him. Now, Christina is in her sixth year.

The man was following her. And she didn't even have to look over her shoulder to know who it was. The pounding footsteps and gruff voice calling her name could only belong to one person, and she definitely didn't want him to get too close to her. So she kept running, but her legs weren't working, and soon enough he'd caught up and grabbed her, slamming her into the wall. She sunk to the floor and looked up to see a fist coming at her face. A few seconds before it hit, Christina woke up from her nightmare. She was wide awake in an instant, as is often the affect of a nightmare. But she still felt extremely disorientated, and it took a few seconds of just laying there before reality set in and she realized she was no longer in the dream. Unfortunately that knowledge was not enough to stop her heart from pounding or her skin from sweating. No matter how many times she had that nightmare or a similar one, she never got used to it. It was just as frightening every time as it was the time before. At the moment she was laying on her stomach, which her sheets tangled around her bare legs. The material was clinging to her bare skin, and the brunette vaguely thought about how gross that was. But her attention quickly went to sitting up, which was easier thought than done. Her arms quivered as she pushed herself up off the bed, and it seemed every other muscle in her body was trembling just as much. Fantastic. With a sigh, she finally managed to turn over to a sitting position, which she stayed in as she looked around the room. Her honey-brown eyes focused on the clock, and naturally it was some awful hour in the middle of the night. Not too surprising, since her nightmares usually liked to inconvenience her in every way possible, including by keeping her up for the rest of the night.

Since there was no way she'd be getting back to sleep, at least not right now, there was no point in staying in bed and letting her thoughts plague her. The nightmare would haunt her even when she was awake, so it was important to keep herself distracted. She pulled the sheets away and considered taking a shower to calm her nerves and sooth her, but that would probably wake someone up. Instead she quickly changed out of her shorts and into longer pants, through on some shoes, and grabbed a sweatshirt. A little nighttime stroll would do her good. She stepped quickly and quietly through the dorm and common room, emerging into the hall outside the Fat Lady's portrait with as little noise as possible. The Fat Lady herself was snoring loudly, but that was at least preferable to her trying to sing. Christina could still feel her ear drums ringing from the Fat Lady's high notes. Luckily the corridor was empty, but that didn't stop Chris from staying extremely wary as she started to walk down the dark passage. Her ears were alert for any footsteps and her eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light. She decided to head to the kitchen; even though it was very far, there was really nothing better to do. So she made her way down as subtly as possible, and thankfully remained uncaught by any passing professors (although there were some close calls). Once in the kitchens she started digging through the cupboards that held snacks of all sorts. It was almost a hard decision, but she definitely had to pick the chocolate bar. She also took a small bag of crackers for good measure, then shut the panties and stood for a moment wondering where to go next. There wasn't much she wanted to do in the castle; the lounge would be empty at this time of night, and the room of requirement would probably have professors patrolling nearby, since it was a favorite spot of students that were sneaking out.

Eventually she decided to abandon the castle completely and just head outside. Hopefully the weather would be nice -- she didn't really want to freeze her ass off until sunrise. But a little stargazing sounded very pleasant, so it would be worth risking the bad temperature. Without any further delay, she snuck out of the kitchen and through the great hall. Chris slipped through the massive doors that marked the entrance and exit to the castle, then shut them as quietly as she could. When that was done and she was free of the stone walls, she let out a sigh of relief and walked away from the castle, out towards the lake. The weather was actually quite nice, and she allowed herself to flirt with the idea of a late night swim. But that notion came to a halt when she saw someone else out by the water. Christina's pace slowed as her mind raced. Was it one of the aurors that patrolled the grounds? That would be very bad to get caught by a ministry official. Though, if that was someone patrolling the grounds, they certainly weren't doing a very good job by just laying there. Frowning slightly, she approached with caution so that she ended up behind a tree that was near the figure. Then the figure spoke, and there was no denying who the voice belonged to. Chris rolled her eyes. Why is it that she always ran into Dante? Oh God, what if he tried to have another heart-to-heart discussion... those deep meaningful discussions were all very well and good, but they were not Chris' forte. Especially when they concerned her family or home life. Hence why she'd refused to talk about her past and whatnot even after Dante had told her about his. Chris contemplated this as she watched him, trying to decide if she should turn back. But night outdoors were so alluring.... Well, she'd just have to spend the time around him and hope he went back inside before she did. Stepping out from around the tree, Chris bit into her chocolate as she approached the Slytherin boy. "Oh look, a snake in the grass," she mused out loud.

[.going down in flames.]