Post by Rika Lefcourt on Nov 19, 2014 0:10:52 GMT -8
Name: Rika Lefcourt
Age & Birthday: 17; August 6th, 1991
Bloodline: Pure -at least, that's what all the official documents say...
Year: 5
House: ((Slytherin and Ravenclaw work both very well with her, so I leave that to the admins to decide upon; Yes! Bring out yer ould bloody sortin' 'at!))
Personality:
Cold, dark. But this hasn't always been the case. Prior to the "accident" that destroyed her normal life Rika was usually rather shy towards strangers, but would warm up to them once she would get to know them better. She was often there to defend weaker students from harassment by Black Lotus members and she showed no fear risking even her own limbs to defend them -as the Wild Cherry Tree Chase proves. The files at the White Crane describe her as a student with a brilliant mind, a hard worker, but also as a person with a strong sense for justice. All of this, though, is gone.
Today's Rika, who's heading for Hogwarts, has nothing in common with the one from the White Crane. She has stopped caring for people, but she has also stopped trusting them. Her own grandparents and the man she had believed to be her father had lied to her for many years. Rika doesn't really know her mother or her real father. Certainly, she has been living with them for the past few months, but there is no way that she would trust either of them, or anybody else. Humans, whether muggles or magic folk, can not be trusted. They are, ultimately, all liars. Because of this, there's a lot of anger inside her.
It has to be mentioned, though, that Rika still considers the whole concept that pure bloods are better than the rest, as it is displayed by some pure blood families, to be disgusting. Apart from that, she certainly has no liking for people who are only strong when they have a group to back them up, such people are cowards in her mindset.
Height: 5'2"
Hair: Darkbrown/black
Eyes: Brown, typical Japanese eyes
General Appearance: Going by one would see when looking at her, people would usually think her to be your standard school girl from Japan. Pretty much a cliché, small, cute and nice. Back in the days she used to wear her hair longer, barely reaching her shoulders, but she has cut it ever since the day her normal life came to an end.
Taking only her clothing into consideration: at Hogwarts she's usually wearing the school uniform of her house. Outside of school activities Rika sticks to the traditional clothes of her homeland, though, she can be seen in western clothes, too. For special occasions and festivities, like the Yule Ball, Rika only wears her traditional national costume, nothing else is suitable for such events in her mindset.
Wand: 13", made of wood from the Usuzumi-zakura, the oldest cherry tree of Japan (1,400+ years old and still growing and a National Treasure of Japan since 1922), with a gotoku neko hair core.
Pet: Tomcat named Nobu (though, is he really a just cat or maybe a gotoku neko disguised in cat form?), ginger with white spots
Worst Class(es): Flying, Arithamncy, Charms
Best Class(es): Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Archery (at Shirasagi)
Special Ability: None
Special Item: Yumi (Japanese longbow) crafted by the Imperial Bowmaker in Kyoto and a hundred arrows
Special Position: Takahagun member (at Shirasagi)
Possessions:
- Three ceremonial kimono made of silk -with long sleeves indicating unmarried women- (one in a light peach tone, with embroidered golden chrysanthemums; one in black with a large embroidered white crane on the back; one in yellow with golden embroidery) plus fitting obi and undergarments. All three bear the Hojo crest.
- Three cotton kimono (two suitable for winter, one for summer) kept in unspectacular colors for everyday use, all three with sleeves of normal length, plus fitting obi and undergarments;
- Two hakama in dark blue, for archery;
- Her standard set of schoolbooks for Hogwarts;
- Japanese-English dictionary (despite her being fluent in English -thanks to the man she had called father for most of her life pushing her to it with the argument that knowledge, even if it's "just" a muggle language, may always be an advantage- it's always better to have a backup, just in case)
- Toriyama Sekien's Hyakki Yakō series, which includes:
--- The Illustrated Night Parade of A Hundred Demons (Gazu Hyakki Yakō)
--- The Illustrated One Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past (Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki)
--- Supplement to The Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past (Konjaku Hyakki Shūi)
--- The Illustrated Bag of One Hundred Random Demons (Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure-bukuro)
- A Nimbus 2001 (not that Rika is part of any Quidditch team or practices the sport actively, it's something her real father bought for her, mainly to show that Lefcourts only buy the best and most expensive; Rika would even use an outdated Shooting Star, since she doesn't care much about such status symbols, nor are her flying skills good enough to even handle a Nimbus 2001)
- Two large trunks to transport all of this.
History:
The lie:
Rika Lefcourt was born as the daughter of Rokuhana Ryoko -a pure blood witch- and Hiroshi -a muggle- in Kyoto, Japan. When the little girl was three years old, her mother was killed in an accident. Ever since that day her father had taken care of her.
The painful truth:
Rika Lefcourt was in fact born as the child of Hojo Ryoko -later Rokuhana-, a former pure blood Kiku student at the White Crane, and Geoffrey Alveredus Lefcourt, lord of Carham on Tweed (in terms of the magic world, of course, muggle terms never had any meaning to him), a former pure blood Slytherin student at Hogwarts. Ryoko and Geoffrey met at a friendly game of Quidditch between the Japanese and the English national team, of which Geoffrey was the captain at that time -only for one year, until he took a very profitable position in the British Ministry for Magic. The outcome was a short, but passionate union, of which Rika was the result. Geoffrey and the English team returned to the UK after their tour. Ryoko, though, remained in Japan.
Being pregnant in her second month, she met Rokuhana Hiroshi on a rainy day in Kyoto. In a move that further estranged her from her family -they were already unhappy with the fact that she was pregnant from a Slytherin (that Geoffrey was a foreigner wasn't considered to be that bad)-, Ryoko ended up living with him. She later even married him. The family was shocked. How could Ryoko do this? Marry a muggle, why? Dragging him into the world of magic, for what reason? Though, once Rika was born the anger from the Hojo family was somewhat appeased. The little girl proved to be an image of her mother and it was soon clear that she had not only inherited her mother's looks.
Though, one problem remained. Ryoko was still extremely attracted to Geoffrey, and she didn't know what to do with the little girl. Rika was, after all, still a baby. And that confused Ryoko. Ultimately, it was too much for her. Driven by her longing for Geoffrey and forsaking her future and her duties to her daughter, Ryoko fled from Japan when Rika was three years old, leaving the girl in the custody of Hiroshi.
Disgusted by what he called cowardice Ryoko's father Haruyasu disowned his daughter.
The years since the "incident":
With that Rika became somewhat of the Hojo princess (the Hojo family was not what one would call poor, or even middle class). But her grandparents also decided to leave her in Hiroshi's care, for the simple reason that, so far, Hiroshi had proven to be an excellent father. Surely, he was a muggle, but he was doing his job well and it was clear to Haruyasu and his wife Kaneko, that he truly loved the little girl as if she was his true daughter.
Rika lived a somewhat normal life, not much different to the lives of other children of her age -except for talking cats (or better said gotoku neko in cat form), letters from her grandparents being delivered by hawks, and her grandparents leaving through the chimney after a visit using Floo powder (among other things). This, though, came to an end once Rika turned ten. Ten was the age for children with her capabilities to enter Shirasagi, the White Crane Academy of Wizardry and Witchcraft.
At first, Rika didn't want to go. The thought of being separated from the man who she believed to be her father was unbearable. It took a lot of effort and persuasiveness by her father and her grandparents to finally convince the girl that joining up was the best solution. Still, when she left for the White Crane Rika went reluctantly.
The girl arrived at the White Crane and was sorted into the same house as her mother, the Golden Chrysanthemum, Kiku in short. Rika, who had been told about her mother's success as a student at the White Crane, took the uniform of the Kiku and decided to follow her mother's footsteps. Soon, she turned into a typical Kiku member and some of the old teachers at the academy quickly realized how similar Rika and her mother really used to be. Rika really was, as the headmaster Anenokoji Masahiro-sensei put it, a mirror image of her mother Ryoko. To the headmaster and his older comrades it seemed that Hojo Ryoko had returned to the White Crane as student.
But, of course, not everything was good, not everything was perfect. It was in Rika's first year when she already made two enemies. Mochizuki Mizuki and Kuroki Misako. Mizuki was a student in Rika's year while Misako, who would later change her name to Misa Kuroi, was one year their senior. Both belonged to the Black Lotus, so a certain dislike between the three was normal and expected. While Misa Kuroi soon found Rika to be uninteresting -a typical Kiku bookworm, boring, uninteresting, lame; as breathtaking and fascinating as Yoshioka-sensei's endless monologues in herbology-, Mizuki and Rika eventually ended up butting heads. Ironically it didn't happen because Rika was fed up with the harassment coming from certain Black Lotus members, she was used to that by now and had decided to ignore them and their idiotic ramblings about pure bloods, half bloods and what not. The reason for Rika finally saying something against Mizuki was Watanabe Etsuko, a muggle born and one year younger than both. Rika stood up for the "mudblood" and defended her against Mizuki's attacks and harassment, an act which wasn't as surprising as many would have thought. Kiku and Kikyou members had always shared similar ideas and believes, that a member of one of those houses would stand up for a member of the other house was somewhat expected and normal. The big surprise was that it was Rika who stood up to Mizuki. From her very first days at the White Crane Rika had been rather silent, partly even shy, which had made her an ideal target for Mochizuki Mizuki's attacks. And she hadn't really fought back. And now this.
It was in their second year, during their flying lessons, when Rika finally told Mizuki to "shove it". Mizuki used the following events to show off her skills -not on purpose, though. Mizuki's mother had been the seeker for the Black Lotus for several years at the White Crane, while her father had been keeper for a similar amount of time. It was not really a surprise that Mizuki showed similar talents. Ultimately Rika's defense of the younger Watanabe ended with a wild chase between Rika and Mizuki through the White Crane' premises and surrounding areas on their brooms. It was then that Mizuki could show off her outstanding flying skills for the first time, which earned her a position as seeker in the Black Lotus Quidditch team. Rika, though, finished the chase mowing into the cherry trees on the campus, destroying her broom, breaking several bones and, additionally, knocking herself out.
It took four days for her to regain consciousness and after waking up one thing was clear. Rika wouldn't make a good Quidditch player. Instead she then joined the Takahagun. Ironically, Rika and Mizuki became, somewhat, allies after the "Wild Cherry Tree Chase". Before that, though, both were punished for their reckless actions. The punishment was transfiguration -a common practice at the White Crane- into cats for a week (during this time they remained under the strict supervision of the headmaster and the caretaker of the White Crane castle and grounds; it was a rather uncomfortable experience).
Their strange alliance, and later even somewhat of a friendship, was something that worried Anenokoji-sensei. Kiku and Black Lotus didn't mix. And if, then only for an outstanding crisis. But the headmaster of the White Crane wasn't the only one to be worried. There were others, few, in the Ministry of Magic. Others, who remembered the "treachery" of Hojo Ryoko. They were expecting Rika to do something similar sooner or later. (There had been high hopes for Rika's mother coming from the Ministry of Magic. Some even claimed that it had been her who was connected to a prophecy dealing with possibly preventing or winning a Second Youkai War, but Ryoko took the, what they called, "easy" way out and left the country abandoning everything. Though, another prophecy spoke of a "traitor's spawn" being responsible for the Second Youkai War. Certain elements in the Ministry of Magic came to the conclusion that this "traitor's spawn" was Rika.)
As the years passed and Rika's abilities improved, the voices of those warning about what she could possibly do didn't fall silent. Rika, meanwhile, was not only on the way of turning in a fine member of the Japanese wizards' society, but also into a proficient archer. In flying she was still no match for Mizuki, who was already handled as the future seeker of the Japanese national team, and her wand kata couldn't match those of Misa Kuroi or her own cousin, Hojo Shiori -who was a Shiratatsu member. Yet, she was doing quite well in Transfiguration and Care for Magical Creatures. In those passing years Rika also made some more friends, mainly from Kiku, Kikyou and Shiratatsu, and also developed a crush on the Head Boy, Asano Yoshitsune, just like many of the female students did.
It was then, in her fifth year, when the small number of wizards who opposed her decided to do something about it. To tell the truth, it was really just a small group inside the Ministry of Magic who decided to deal with any possible future threat coming from Rika. It was better to eradicate the possible problem while it was still small, or so they believed. So, when the year reached Christmas, they decided to move.
Rika was with her father, using the muggle transportation called car, when her normal life came to a violent end. They were just about to cross a tall bridge that led over a large lake when the assault came out of nowhere. Officially it was a mere accident, the muggle transportation malfunctioned, broke through the side barrier and took a dive down the bridge into the lake. The impact in the water knocked Rika and her father out and the car started to sink immediately. It was already submerged and reaching the bottom of the lake when Rokuhana Hiroshi came back to his senses and managed to free Rika from her safety belt. The passenger compartment was flooding quickly. Hiroshi pushed Rika out of the car, but was unable to get out himself. Rika came back to her senses close to the surface of the lake, but only because -as she later described it- something touched her, pushing her upwards towards the surface. Shortly after being rescued by a bunch of muggle fishermen she passed out once more.
The girl finally woke up again in a muggle hospital. There she learned that her father had not survived the accident. To her, though, something didn't seem right. Everyone was calling it an accident, the tire of the car had blown up, her father had lost control and the rest of the story was known to her. But there was something, a faint memory, a flash which she believed to have seen from the corner of her eyes. She decided against mentioning this to anyone, though.
Shortly after the incident, her mother resurfaced and claimed her daughter since, according to her, the Japanese shores were too dangerous for Rika. It could been motherly love (well, maybe not) or simply a sudden strike of guilt (possibly), whatever it really was, Ryoko ended up in a massive fight with her own parents over who would take care of Rika.
Ryoko ultimately -and after a fight that took several months, way into November of the following year (which would have been Rika's sixth year at the White Crane)- prevailed. It seemed that, by now, she had married Geoffrey and was now living in Europe with him. His first wife had been killed in an accident (coincidence?). The fact that Ryoko was obviously living a proper life eventually made the responsible department in the Ministry of Magic to decide in her favor (apart from that, certain elements inside the ministry hoped that Rika would leave the country, never to return). Rika, though, didn't fight against it. She didn't do anything except remaining silent. The shock of the man she had believed to be her father being killed was still too deep. What followed after going with Ryoko and arriving in England was the revelation that Hiroshi had not been her father. Rika learned that Geoffrey Alveredus Lefcourt was indeed her father.
After that, Rika shut herself off from the rest of the world for several months. Geoffrey, meanwhile, pulled a couple of strings and managed to have her signed up for Hogwarts (for the fifth year -she had never finished her fifth at the White Crane, thus signing her up for the sixth or even seventh year at Hogwarts was completely out of question for Geoffrey). Rika's family name was officially changed from Rokuhana to Lefcourt. She remained in that shut off state, but obeyed to board the Hogwarts Express. Standing on platform 9 and ¾ Rika finally realized that it had all been but a dream. No, not a dream. A giant lie, maintained by her grandparents and the man she had believed to be her father. Certainly... it angered her, to say the least.
Additional Notes:
Information about the White Crane Academy:
chosha-s50.livejournal.com/1277.html
chosha-s50.livejournal.com/1555.html
The Lefcourt family
((no face claims, I just like to have a face in mind, so I'm adding them anyway))
The Lefcourt originate from France, don't appear in Britain until the 1630s; they were forced to leave France during the Thirty Years War; even though they are an old pure blood family (easily as old as the Black or Malfoy), their egos are still suffering from the fact that they are not an old, native pure blooded English family. The Lefcourt Castle is located about twenty miles from St. Boswells, on the south side of the River Tweed in Eildon, in the Scottish Borders. The cross in the coat of arms of the family was originally white, but ever since their transfer to England and their allegiance to Slytherin the cross has changed its color to green.
Geoffrey Alveredus Lefcourt:
Rika's father, former Slytherin student, good student in DADA at Hogwarts (though he did always prefer to use Dark Arts instead of defending against them, offense if the best defense), former captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, captain of the English national team for one year, important member of the British Ministry of Magic and wizarding high society, Death Eater under Voldemort.
Ryoko Lefcourt:
Rika's mother, born into the Hojo family in Japan (the same Hojo who were responsible for the Kamakura Shogunate under Hojo Masako -the "nun shogun"- after the Genpei War), used to be an exceptional student at the White Crane, Kiku member, showed great talent in Transfiguration, Care for Magical Creatures and Potions (except for potions Rika is coming after her), gave up everything -including her daughter- for Geoffrey (maybe she has been Imperius-ed?)
Richard Abandinus Lefcourt, alias Henry Lawson:
The black sheep of the family, outmatched his twin brother in any subject at Hogwarts (except Quidditch), former Slytherin, but showed strange interests in his last two years at the school and eventually turned down a very profitable position in the Ministry of Magic to follow these odd interests. He was last seen exploring a Mayan pyramid in South America several years ago (however, there have been rumors of him appearing in Tibet, Egypt, Israel, India, Mexico and many other places).
Hector Achaeus Lefcourt and Lady Olympia Lefcourt:
Hector: older brother of both Geoffrey and Richard, former Slytherin, Death Eater under Voldemort, left his position in the Ministry of Magic in favor of a more profitable trade, married Lady Olympia Camoynes (pure blood, of course), one daughter, never mastered DADA in the same way as his brothers, however is a very skilled user of potions; head of the family.
Olympia: former Slytherin, Death Eater under Voldemort, has a huge disdain for the Black family (even today), skilled with potions and transfiguration; was born into the Camoynes family, which is as illustrious as the Black of Malfoy family; considered to be even more dangerous and more cunning than her husband.
Annabelle Lefcourt:
Daughter of Hector and Olympia, Slytherin, year five, comes after her mother in the aspects of talent, cunningness and cruelty, quite skilled with potions and charms.
Sparky: the house elf of the Lefcourt family
Role-play Sample:
Taken from "Battlestar Victory":
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bftp&action=display&thread=1176152740
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bftp&action=display&thread=1179756803 (it's cheesy, yes, but I had to do it because I wanted people to realize that even someone like the character there has a human part)
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bts68&action=display&thread=1174926182
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bts68&action=display&thread=1174926870
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bts68&action=display&thread=1180197375 (NPCs only)
If you want to check through these two:
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bsg68&action=display&thread=1164691521&page=1
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bsg68&action=display&thread=1175542549&page=1
Be warned, though, they ARE long.
EDIT: corrected my typos
Age & Birthday: 17; August 6th, 1991
Bloodline: Pure -at least, that's what all the official documents say...
Year: 5
House: ((Slytherin and Ravenclaw work both very well with her, so I leave that to the admins to decide upon; Yes! Bring out yer ould bloody sortin' 'at!))
Personality:
Cold, dark. But this hasn't always been the case. Prior to the "accident" that destroyed her normal life Rika was usually rather shy towards strangers, but would warm up to them once she would get to know them better. She was often there to defend weaker students from harassment by Black Lotus members and she showed no fear risking even her own limbs to defend them -as the Wild Cherry Tree Chase proves. The files at the White Crane describe her as a student with a brilliant mind, a hard worker, but also as a person with a strong sense for justice. All of this, though, is gone.
Today's Rika, who's heading for Hogwarts, has nothing in common with the one from the White Crane. She has stopped caring for people, but she has also stopped trusting them. Her own grandparents and the man she had believed to be her father had lied to her for many years. Rika doesn't really know her mother or her real father. Certainly, she has been living with them for the past few months, but there is no way that she would trust either of them, or anybody else. Humans, whether muggles or magic folk, can not be trusted. They are, ultimately, all liars. Because of this, there's a lot of anger inside her.
It has to be mentioned, though, that Rika still considers the whole concept that pure bloods are better than the rest, as it is displayed by some pure blood families, to be disgusting. Apart from that, she certainly has no liking for people who are only strong when they have a group to back them up, such people are cowards in her mindset.
Height: 5'2"
Hair: Darkbrown/black
Eyes: Brown, typical Japanese eyes
General Appearance: Going by one would see when looking at her, people would usually think her to be your standard school girl from Japan. Pretty much a cliché, small, cute and nice. Back in the days she used to wear her hair longer, barely reaching her shoulders, but she has cut it ever since the day her normal life came to an end.
Taking only her clothing into consideration: at Hogwarts she's usually wearing the school uniform of her house. Outside of school activities Rika sticks to the traditional clothes of her homeland, though, she can be seen in western clothes, too. For special occasions and festivities, like the Yule Ball, Rika only wears her traditional national costume, nothing else is suitable for such events in her mindset.
Wand: 13", made of wood from the Usuzumi-zakura, the oldest cherry tree of Japan (1,400+ years old and still growing and a National Treasure of Japan since 1922), with a gotoku neko hair core.
Pet: Tomcat named Nobu (though, is he really a just cat or maybe a gotoku neko disguised in cat form?), ginger with white spots
Worst Class(es): Flying, Arithamncy, Charms
Best Class(es): Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Archery (at Shirasagi)
Special Ability: None
Special Item: Yumi (Japanese longbow) crafted by the Imperial Bowmaker in Kyoto and a hundred arrows
Special Position: Takahagun member (at Shirasagi)
Possessions:
- Three ceremonial kimono made of silk -with long sleeves indicating unmarried women- (one in a light peach tone, with embroidered golden chrysanthemums; one in black with a large embroidered white crane on the back; one in yellow with golden embroidery) plus fitting obi and undergarments. All three bear the Hojo crest.
- Three cotton kimono (two suitable for winter, one for summer) kept in unspectacular colors for everyday use, all three with sleeves of normal length, plus fitting obi and undergarments;
- Two hakama in dark blue, for archery;
- Her standard set of schoolbooks for Hogwarts;
- Japanese-English dictionary (despite her being fluent in English -thanks to the man she had called father for most of her life pushing her to it with the argument that knowledge, even if it's "just" a muggle language, may always be an advantage- it's always better to have a backup, just in case)
- Toriyama Sekien's Hyakki Yakō series, which includes:
--- The Illustrated Night Parade of A Hundred Demons (Gazu Hyakki Yakō)
--- The Illustrated One Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past (Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki)
--- Supplement to The Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past (Konjaku Hyakki Shūi)
--- The Illustrated Bag of One Hundred Random Demons (Gazu Hyakki Tsurezure-bukuro)
- A Nimbus 2001 (not that Rika is part of any Quidditch team or practices the sport actively, it's something her real father bought for her, mainly to show that Lefcourts only buy the best and most expensive; Rika would even use an outdated Shooting Star, since she doesn't care much about such status symbols, nor are her flying skills good enough to even handle a Nimbus 2001)
- Two large trunks to transport all of this.
History:
The lie:
Rika Lefcourt was born as the daughter of Rokuhana Ryoko -a pure blood witch- and Hiroshi -a muggle- in Kyoto, Japan. When the little girl was three years old, her mother was killed in an accident. Ever since that day her father had taken care of her.
The painful truth:
Rika Lefcourt was in fact born as the child of Hojo Ryoko -later Rokuhana-, a former pure blood Kiku student at the White Crane, and Geoffrey Alveredus Lefcourt, lord of Carham on Tweed (in terms of the magic world, of course, muggle terms never had any meaning to him), a former pure blood Slytherin student at Hogwarts. Ryoko and Geoffrey met at a friendly game of Quidditch between the Japanese and the English national team, of which Geoffrey was the captain at that time -only for one year, until he took a very profitable position in the British Ministry for Magic. The outcome was a short, but passionate union, of which Rika was the result. Geoffrey and the English team returned to the UK after their tour. Ryoko, though, remained in Japan.
Being pregnant in her second month, she met Rokuhana Hiroshi on a rainy day in Kyoto. In a move that further estranged her from her family -they were already unhappy with the fact that she was pregnant from a Slytherin (that Geoffrey was a foreigner wasn't considered to be that bad)-, Ryoko ended up living with him. She later even married him. The family was shocked. How could Ryoko do this? Marry a muggle, why? Dragging him into the world of magic, for what reason? Though, once Rika was born the anger from the Hojo family was somewhat appeased. The little girl proved to be an image of her mother and it was soon clear that she had not only inherited her mother's looks.
Though, one problem remained. Ryoko was still extremely attracted to Geoffrey, and she didn't know what to do with the little girl. Rika was, after all, still a baby. And that confused Ryoko. Ultimately, it was too much for her. Driven by her longing for Geoffrey and forsaking her future and her duties to her daughter, Ryoko fled from Japan when Rika was three years old, leaving the girl in the custody of Hiroshi.
Disgusted by what he called cowardice Ryoko's father Haruyasu disowned his daughter.
The years since the "incident":
With that Rika became somewhat of the Hojo princess (the Hojo family was not what one would call poor, or even middle class). But her grandparents also decided to leave her in Hiroshi's care, for the simple reason that, so far, Hiroshi had proven to be an excellent father. Surely, he was a muggle, but he was doing his job well and it was clear to Haruyasu and his wife Kaneko, that he truly loved the little girl as if she was his true daughter.
Rika lived a somewhat normal life, not much different to the lives of other children of her age -except for talking cats (or better said gotoku neko in cat form), letters from her grandparents being delivered by hawks, and her grandparents leaving through the chimney after a visit using Floo powder (among other things). This, though, came to an end once Rika turned ten. Ten was the age for children with her capabilities to enter Shirasagi, the White Crane Academy of Wizardry and Witchcraft.
At first, Rika didn't want to go. The thought of being separated from the man who she believed to be her father was unbearable. It took a lot of effort and persuasiveness by her father and her grandparents to finally convince the girl that joining up was the best solution. Still, when she left for the White Crane Rika went reluctantly.
The girl arrived at the White Crane and was sorted into the same house as her mother, the Golden Chrysanthemum, Kiku in short. Rika, who had been told about her mother's success as a student at the White Crane, took the uniform of the Kiku and decided to follow her mother's footsteps. Soon, she turned into a typical Kiku member and some of the old teachers at the academy quickly realized how similar Rika and her mother really used to be. Rika really was, as the headmaster Anenokoji Masahiro-sensei put it, a mirror image of her mother Ryoko. To the headmaster and his older comrades it seemed that Hojo Ryoko had returned to the White Crane as student.
But, of course, not everything was good, not everything was perfect. It was in Rika's first year when she already made two enemies. Mochizuki Mizuki and Kuroki Misako. Mizuki was a student in Rika's year while Misako, who would later change her name to Misa Kuroi, was one year their senior. Both belonged to the Black Lotus, so a certain dislike between the three was normal and expected. While Misa Kuroi soon found Rika to be uninteresting -a typical Kiku bookworm, boring, uninteresting, lame; as breathtaking and fascinating as Yoshioka-sensei's endless monologues in herbology-, Mizuki and Rika eventually ended up butting heads. Ironically it didn't happen because Rika was fed up with the harassment coming from certain Black Lotus members, she was used to that by now and had decided to ignore them and their idiotic ramblings about pure bloods, half bloods and what not. The reason for Rika finally saying something against Mizuki was Watanabe Etsuko, a muggle born and one year younger than both. Rika stood up for the "mudblood" and defended her against Mizuki's attacks and harassment, an act which wasn't as surprising as many would have thought. Kiku and Kikyou members had always shared similar ideas and believes, that a member of one of those houses would stand up for a member of the other house was somewhat expected and normal. The big surprise was that it was Rika who stood up to Mizuki. From her very first days at the White Crane Rika had been rather silent, partly even shy, which had made her an ideal target for Mochizuki Mizuki's attacks. And she hadn't really fought back. And now this.
It was in their second year, during their flying lessons, when Rika finally told Mizuki to "shove it". Mizuki used the following events to show off her skills -not on purpose, though. Mizuki's mother had been the seeker for the Black Lotus for several years at the White Crane, while her father had been keeper for a similar amount of time. It was not really a surprise that Mizuki showed similar talents. Ultimately Rika's defense of the younger Watanabe ended with a wild chase between Rika and Mizuki through the White Crane' premises and surrounding areas on their brooms. It was then that Mizuki could show off her outstanding flying skills for the first time, which earned her a position as seeker in the Black Lotus Quidditch team. Rika, though, finished the chase mowing into the cherry trees on the campus, destroying her broom, breaking several bones and, additionally, knocking herself out.
It took four days for her to regain consciousness and after waking up one thing was clear. Rika wouldn't make a good Quidditch player. Instead she then joined the Takahagun. Ironically, Rika and Mizuki became, somewhat, allies after the "Wild Cherry Tree Chase". Before that, though, both were punished for their reckless actions. The punishment was transfiguration -a common practice at the White Crane- into cats for a week (during this time they remained under the strict supervision of the headmaster and the caretaker of the White Crane castle and grounds; it was a rather uncomfortable experience).
Their strange alliance, and later even somewhat of a friendship, was something that worried Anenokoji-sensei. Kiku and Black Lotus didn't mix. And if, then only for an outstanding crisis. But the headmaster of the White Crane wasn't the only one to be worried. There were others, few, in the Ministry of Magic. Others, who remembered the "treachery" of Hojo Ryoko. They were expecting Rika to do something similar sooner or later. (There had been high hopes for Rika's mother coming from the Ministry of Magic. Some even claimed that it had been her who was connected to a prophecy dealing with possibly preventing or winning a Second Youkai War, but Ryoko took the, what they called, "easy" way out and left the country abandoning everything. Though, another prophecy spoke of a "traitor's spawn" being responsible for the Second Youkai War. Certain elements in the Ministry of Magic came to the conclusion that this "traitor's spawn" was Rika.)
As the years passed and Rika's abilities improved, the voices of those warning about what she could possibly do didn't fall silent. Rika, meanwhile, was not only on the way of turning in a fine member of the Japanese wizards' society, but also into a proficient archer. In flying she was still no match for Mizuki, who was already handled as the future seeker of the Japanese national team, and her wand kata couldn't match those of Misa Kuroi or her own cousin, Hojo Shiori -who was a Shiratatsu member. Yet, she was doing quite well in Transfiguration and Care for Magical Creatures. In those passing years Rika also made some more friends, mainly from Kiku, Kikyou and Shiratatsu, and also developed a crush on the Head Boy, Asano Yoshitsune, just like many of the female students did.
It was then, in her fifth year, when the small number of wizards who opposed her decided to do something about it. To tell the truth, it was really just a small group inside the Ministry of Magic who decided to deal with any possible future threat coming from Rika. It was better to eradicate the possible problem while it was still small, or so they believed. So, when the year reached Christmas, they decided to move.
Rika was with her father, using the muggle transportation called car, when her normal life came to a violent end. They were just about to cross a tall bridge that led over a large lake when the assault came out of nowhere. Officially it was a mere accident, the muggle transportation malfunctioned, broke through the side barrier and took a dive down the bridge into the lake. The impact in the water knocked Rika and her father out and the car started to sink immediately. It was already submerged and reaching the bottom of the lake when Rokuhana Hiroshi came back to his senses and managed to free Rika from her safety belt. The passenger compartment was flooding quickly. Hiroshi pushed Rika out of the car, but was unable to get out himself. Rika came back to her senses close to the surface of the lake, but only because -as she later described it- something touched her, pushing her upwards towards the surface. Shortly after being rescued by a bunch of muggle fishermen she passed out once more.
The girl finally woke up again in a muggle hospital. There she learned that her father had not survived the accident. To her, though, something didn't seem right. Everyone was calling it an accident, the tire of the car had blown up, her father had lost control and the rest of the story was known to her. But there was something, a faint memory, a flash which she believed to have seen from the corner of her eyes. She decided against mentioning this to anyone, though.
Shortly after the incident, her mother resurfaced and claimed her daughter since, according to her, the Japanese shores were too dangerous for Rika. It could been motherly love (well, maybe not) or simply a sudden strike of guilt (possibly), whatever it really was, Ryoko ended up in a massive fight with her own parents over who would take care of Rika.
Ryoko ultimately -and after a fight that took several months, way into November of the following year (which would have been Rika's sixth year at the White Crane)- prevailed. It seemed that, by now, she had married Geoffrey and was now living in Europe with him. His first wife had been killed in an accident (coincidence?). The fact that Ryoko was obviously living a proper life eventually made the responsible department in the Ministry of Magic to decide in her favor (apart from that, certain elements inside the ministry hoped that Rika would leave the country, never to return). Rika, though, didn't fight against it. She didn't do anything except remaining silent. The shock of the man she had believed to be her father being killed was still too deep. What followed after going with Ryoko and arriving in England was the revelation that Hiroshi had not been her father. Rika learned that Geoffrey Alveredus Lefcourt was indeed her father.
After that, Rika shut herself off from the rest of the world for several months. Geoffrey, meanwhile, pulled a couple of strings and managed to have her signed up for Hogwarts (for the fifth year -she had never finished her fifth at the White Crane, thus signing her up for the sixth or even seventh year at Hogwarts was completely out of question for Geoffrey). Rika's family name was officially changed from Rokuhana to Lefcourt. She remained in that shut off state, but obeyed to board the Hogwarts Express. Standing on platform 9 and ¾ Rika finally realized that it had all been but a dream. No, not a dream. A giant lie, maintained by her grandparents and the man she had believed to be her father. Certainly... it angered her, to say the least.
Additional Notes:
Information about the White Crane Academy:
chosha-s50.livejournal.com/1277.html
chosha-s50.livejournal.com/1555.html
The Lefcourt family
((no face claims, I just like to have a face in mind, so I'm adding them anyway))
The Lefcourt originate from France, don't appear in Britain until the 1630s; they were forced to leave France during the Thirty Years War; even though they are an old pure blood family (easily as old as the Black or Malfoy), their egos are still suffering from the fact that they are not an old, native pure blooded English family. The Lefcourt Castle is located about twenty miles from St. Boswells, on the south side of the River Tweed in Eildon, in the Scottish Borders. The cross in the coat of arms of the family was originally white, but ever since their transfer to England and their allegiance to Slytherin the cross has changed its color to green.
Geoffrey Alveredus Lefcourt:
Rika's father, former Slytherin student, good student in DADA at Hogwarts (though he did always prefer to use Dark Arts instead of defending against them, offense if the best defense), former captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, captain of the English national team for one year, important member of the British Ministry of Magic and wizarding high society, Death Eater under Voldemort.
Ryoko Lefcourt:
Rika's mother, born into the Hojo family in Japan (the same Hojo who were responsible for the Kamakura Shogunate under Hojo Masako -the "nun shogun"- after the Genpei War), used to be an exceptional student at the White Crane, Kiku member, showed great talent in Transfiguration, Care for Magical Creatures and Potions (except for potions Rika is coming after her), gave up everything -including her daughter- for Geoffrey (maybe she has been Imperius-ed?)
Richard Abandinus Lefcourt, alias Henry Lawson:
The black sheep of the family, outmatched his twin brother in any subject at Hogwarts (except Quidditch), former Slytherin, but showed strange interests in his last two years at the school and eventually turned down a very profitable position in the Ministry of Magic to follow these odd interests. He was last seen exploring a Mayan pyramid in South America several years ago (however, there have been rumors of him appearing in Tibet, Egypt, Israel, India, Mexico and many other places).
Hector Achaeus Lefcourt and Lady Olympia Lefcourt:
Hector: older brother of both Geoffrey and Richard, former Slytherin, Death Eater under Voldemort, left his position in the Ministry of Magic in favor of a more profitable trade, married Lady Olympia Camoynes (pure blood, of course), one daughter, never mastered DADA in the same way as his brothers, however is a very skilled user of potions; head of the family.
Olympia: former Slytherin, Death Eater under Voldemort, has a huge disdain for the Black family (even today), skilled with potions and transfiguration; was born into the Camoynes family, which is as illustrious as the Black of Malfoy family; considered to be even more dangerous and more cunning than her husband.
Annabelle Lefcourt:
Daughter of Hector and Olympia, Slytherin, year five, comes after her mother in the aspects of talent, cunningness and cruelty, quite skilled with potions and charms.
Sparky: the house elf of the Lefcourt family
Role-play Sample:
Taken from "Battlestar Victory":
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bftp&action=display&thread=1176152740
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bftp&action=display&thread=1179756803 (it's cheesy, yes, but I had to do it because I wanted people to realize that even someone like the character there has a human part)
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bts68&action=display&thread=1174926182
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bts68&action=display&thread=1174926870
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bts68&action=display&thread=1180197375 (NPCs only)
If you want to check through these two:
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bsg68&action=display&thread=1164691521&page=1
bsgrpg06.proboards106.com/index.cgi?board=bsg68&action=display&thread=1175542549&page=1
Be warned, though, they ARE long.
EDIT: corrected my typos