Post by Columbine the Court Jester on Jul 16, 2008 2:54:01 GMT -5
Name: Columbine Lamont
Age: At the time of her death, she was nineteen.
Occupation: A ghost, but she was a court jester before she went into the ghosting business.
Appearance: [pre-death, of course]
Personality: She’s more or less a perfectly pleasant ghost, though she is rather sad. She’s known for shooting dirty looks at couples in the hallways--one can only assume out of jealousy. (I opted to keep this short, because her history is so long.)
History:
NOTE: Since this is long, I bolded the more important parts of her history- I hope that helps! Sorry it's so long!
Columbine Lamont lived during Medieval times (dates unknown- probably sometime around the late 1200’s or early 1300’s). Though she was a witch, Columbine thought that muggles were fantastic, despite the fact that most muggles were prejudice against wizards. She was a Hufflepuff during her years at Hogwarts and after school, she went on to spend most of her time around muggles and worked as a servant for a royal family alongside her sweet, but very dim muggle friend, Marianna. While working there, Columbine met and fell in love with a muggle, the Duke, Giacomo (fortunately, this was a mutual feeling- so it wasn’t a stalker-ish relationship). Working mainly in the kitchen, Columbine wasn’t able to see him often and, with the help of Marianna, she began looking at positions in the royal court. Marianna noted that the court jester was often seen around the royal family and suggested that Columbine try to be a joker.
Being talented at wand-less magic, Columbine was able to elaborate on the simple tricks the court jester performed (this entertained her very simple friends for ages), making her well-suited for the job. But despite the positive attention she received from the kitchen servants, the royal court took no notice of Columbine…
Until the court jester was found sprawled out across the floor at the bottom of a stairwell with a sprained ankle (not that they had any idea what it was back then- they probably thought his nose was runny). The jester was unable to perform—it would take a miracle for the scheduled show to go on! But by a fortunate coincidence, Columbine happened to be at the top of the stairwell the jester had tumbled down and was shamelessly flaunting her juggling skills.
Unsurprisingly, Columbine was immediately asked to perform as a jester for the royal family, which was quite “ye olde hit-eth,” as they said back in the Dark Ages…or were these just the Poorly Lit Ages? Oh, never mind that, on with the story!
Columbine performed her “look, I was almost poisoned, but not really—tah-dah!” trick for the royal fam (as the cool-eth kids called them). She was presented with three, wine-filled goblets, two of which were supposedly poisoned. Through a series of riddles, songs, and other stunts, Columbine figured out which goblet wasn’t poisoned and drank from it. After doing so, she’d put on a spectacular show of pretending to be poisoned and falling to the ground, only to jump back up a moment later and bow. The extremely dim members of the royal family (which, interestingly enough, was most of them) were positively pleased as punch with this gimmick and requested that she perform for them again. Because of the undeniably delighted reactions she received from her audience and the fact that medieval methods of fixing a sprained ankle were absolutely dreadful, Columbine was made the new court jester.
After her performance, she was congratulated backstage by Giacomo, who showed her how much he enjoyed her show by snogging the pants off of her. But people were probably very un-subtle back in the medieval day, so it’s very likely that Giac announced, “I shall now snoggeth thine pants off!” Obviously, he would have used more appropriate language for the times, though (i.e. saying “tights” instead of “pants”).
From there, things were going well…well, as well as things can go during a time where there was no indoor plumbing, anyway. Columbine’s routines were a hit (in particular the “I’m poisoned! No, I’m not!” one) and she and Giacomo were as happy as two very happy things. Though, she never mentioned being a witch to anyone (it didn’t seem like it should matter—everyone got along fine with the way things were), Columbine soon discovered that she wasn’t the only “magically inclined” person within the castle.
The Viscount, Randall, assumed Columbine was a witch when he walked past her standing in a room and levitating chairs. He revealed to her that he was a wizard and the two formed a friendship (an odd one, as Randall was…a psycho, to put it bluntly, but it was a friendship, nonetheless). Upon learning of Columbine’s affections for the Duke, he strongly discouraged the relationship, explaining that he knew from personal experience that a muggle could not love a wizard in return. Though she wasn’t a Ravenclaw, Columbine wasn’t stupid and was well-aware that her feelings toward Giacomo were returned. But Randall was insane and believed that the muggle he loved didn’t love him back because he was a wizard (it never crossed his mind that the girl might just have not felt the same way…). Convinced that death was better than suffering the way he did, Randall took it upon himself to “do the fool a favor,” as he put it.
Columbine was scheduled to perform for the royal family at a grand ball and it was requested that she perform the Poison Trick, which she happily agreed to. Marianna had taken it upon herself to prepare the three goblets of wine Columbine used and the simple girl thought nothing of it when the Viscount instructed her to pour a small vile of some substance (Marianna had no reason to think the man would poison her friend) into all of Columbine’s drinks. She did as she was told and the three poisoned goblets were brought out to the joker. Randall, who had been very pleased with himself, was just as shocked as the rest of the court (but no where near as impressed) when Columbine changed her the routine, and didn’t drink from any of the goblets, claiming that all three were poisoned (not that she was actually aware of the real status of the wine the goblets held). Randall was absolutely enraged; he didn’t know that after Columbine left the ballroom, he’d have no reason to be.
Being very dim, Marianna also added a drop form the vile of poison to a drink prepared for Columbine after her show. When her friend returned from the ballroom, Marianna handed her the drink, excitingly telling her about how pleased the King was with the twist in the stunt. Soon after taking a sip from the drink, Columbine fell to her knees and looked up, asking, “Et tu, Brute?” (which was a coincidental nickname of Marianna), before collapsing to the ground, poisoned.
No, no, that was just a comical Shakespearean reference I made—didn’t it just slay you? No? Oh…well, moving on…Marianna did add the poison to the drink for Columbine after her show and she did give it to her, and she was poisoned. But Columbine died alone, and being a witch, chose to remain on Earth as a ghost, wanting to remain with Giacomo, rather than “pass on,” even if Giac was unable to see her. Her body was found by Marianna, who immediately ran to get Giac. Giacomo was heartbroken and never quite got over her sudden death.
Unfortunately, Randall was never linked to Columbine’s death, but he did die shortly after she did and also chose to remain a ghost. Upon learning what he did, Columbine refused to speak to him, preferring to spend her time with Giacomo, who lived to an old age (which wasn’t very old at all in modern times) and passed away quietly in his sleep, with no one alongside him, except for Columbine.
Over the years, Randall, not having made very many friends in the ghost world, followed Columbine, taking comfort in the fact that she was once his friend. Shortly after the Ministry of Magic was established, Columbine complained to the Ministry about Randall’s “following the leader” complex and, more or less, asked for the wizard (ghost, rather) equivalent of a restraining order. Randall was ordered to remain at the place of his death, while Columbine was transferred to Hogwarts, where she’s remained ever since.
Age: At the time of her death, she was nineteen.
Occupation: A ghost, but she was a court jester before she went into the ghosting business.
Appearance: [pre-death, of course]
Personality: She’s more or less a perfectly pleasant ghost, though she is rather sad. She’s known for shooting dirty looks at couples in the hallways--one can only assume out of jealousy. (I opted to keep this short, because her history is so long.)
History:
NOTE: Since this is long, I bolded the more important parts of her history- I hope that helps! Sorry it's so long!
Columbine Lamont lived during Medieval times (dates unknown- probably sometime around the late 1200’s or early 1300’s). Though she was a witch, Columbine thought that muggles were fantastic, despite the fact that most muggles were prejudice against wizards. She was a Hufflepuff during her years at Hogwarts and after school, she went on to spend most of her time around muggles and worked as a servant for a royal family alongside her sweet, but very dim muggle friend, Marianna. While working there, Columbine met and fell in love with a muggle, the Duke, Giacomo (fortunately, this was a mutual feeling- so it wasn’t a stalker-ish relationship). Working mainly in the kitchen, Columbine wasn’t able to see him often and, with the help of Marianna, she began looking at positions in the royal court. Marianna noted that the court jester was often seen around the royal family and suggested that Columbine try to be a joker.
Being talented at wand-less magic, Columbine was able to elaborate on the simple tricks the court jester performed (this entertained her very simple friends for ages), making her well-suited for the job. But despite the positive attention she received from the kitchen servants, the royal court took no notice of Columbine…
Until the court jester was found sprawled out across the floor at the bottom of a stairwell with a sprained ankle (not that they had any idea what it was back then- they probably thought his nose was runny). The jester was unable to perform—it would take a miracle for the scheduled show to go on! But by a fortunate coincidence, Columbine happened to be at the top of the stairwell the jester had tumbled down and was shamelessly flaunting her juggling skills.
Unsurprisingly, Columbine was immediately asked to perform as a jester for the royal family, which was quite “ye olde hit-eth,” as they said back in the Dark Ages…or were these just the Poorly Lit Ages? Oh, never mind that, on with the story!
Columbine performed her “look, I was almost poisoned, but not really—tah-dah!” trick for the royal fam (as the cool-eth kids called them). She was presented with three, wine-filled goblets, two of which were supposedly poisoned. Through a series of riddles, songs, and other stunts, Columbine figured out which goblet wasn’t poisoned and drank from it. After doing so, she’d put on a spectacular show of pretending to be poisoned and falling to the ground, only to jump back up a moment later and bow. The extremely dim members of the royal family (which, interestingly enough, was most of them) were positively pleased as punch with this gimmick and requested that she perform for them again. Because of the undeniably delighted reactions she received from her audience and the fact that medieval methods of fixing a sprained ankle were absolutely dreadful, Columbine was made the new court jester.
After her performance, she was congratulated backstage by Giacomo, who showed her how much he enjoyed her show by snogging the pants off of her. But people were probably very un-subtle back in the medieval day, so it’s very likely that Giac announced, “I shall now snoggeth thine pants off!” Obviously, he would have used more appropriate language for the times, though (i.e. saying “tights” instead of “pants”).
From there, things were going well…well, as well as things can go during a time where there was no indoor plumbing, anyway. Columbine’s routines were a hit (in particular the “I’m poisoned! No, I’m not!” one) and she and Giacomo were as happy as two very happy things. Though, she never mentioned being a witch to anyone (it didn’t seem like it should matter—everyone got along fine with the way things were), Columbine soon discovered that she wasn’t the only “magically inclined” person within the castle.
The Viscount, Randall, assumed Columbine was a witch when he walked past her standing in a room and levitating chairs. He revealed to her that he was a wizard and the two formed a friendship (an odd one, as Randall was…a psycho, to put it bluntly, but it was a friendship, nonetheless). Upon learning of Columbine’s affections for the Duke, he strongly discouraged the relationship, explaining that he knew from personal experience that a muggle could not love a wizard in return. Though she wasn’t a Ravenclaw, Columbine wasn’t stupid and was well-aware that her feelings toward Giacomo were returned. But Randall was insane and believed that the muggle he loved didn’t love him back because he was a wizard (it never crossed his mind that the girl might just have not felt the same way…). Convinced that death was better than suffering the way he did, Randall took it upon himself to “do the fool a favor,” as he put it.
Columbine was scheduled to perform for the royal family at a grand ball and it was requested that she perform the Poison Trick, which she happily agreed to. Marianna had taken it upon herself to prepare the three goblets of wine Columbine used and the simple girl thought nothing of it when the Viscount instructed her to pour a small vile of some substance (Marianna had no reason to think the man would poison her friend) into all of Columbine’s drinks. She did as she was told and the three poisoned goblets were brought out to the joker. Randall, who had been very pleased with himself, was just as shocked as the rest of the court (but no where near as impressed) when Columbine changed her the routine, and didn’t drink from any of the goblets, claiming that all three were poisoned (not that she was actually aware of the real status of the wine the goblets held). Randall was absolutely enraged; he didn’t know that after Columbine left the ballroom, he’d have no reason to be.
Being very dim, Marianna also added a drop form the vile of poison to a drink prepared for Columbine after her show. When her friend returned from the ballroom, Marianna handed her the drink, excitingly telling her about how pleased the King was with the twist in the stunt. Soon after taking a sip from the drink, Columbine fell to her knees and looked up, asking, “Et tu, Brute?” (which was a coincidental nickname of Marianna), before collapsing to the ground, poisoned.
No, no, that was just a comical Shakespearean reference I made—didn’t it just slay you? No? Oh…well, moving on…Marianna did add the poison to the drink for Columbine after her show and she did give it to her, and she was poisoned. But Columbine died alone, and being a witch, chose to remain on Earth as a ghost, wanting to remain with Giacomo, rather than “pass on,” even if Giac was unable to see her. Her body was found by Marianna, who immediately ran to get Giac. Giacomo was heartbroken and never quite got over her sudden death.
Unfortunately, Randall was never linked to Columbine’s death, but he did die shortly after she did and also chose to remain a ghost. Upon learning what he did, Columbine refused to speak to him, preferring to spend her time with Giacomo, who lived to an old age (which wasn’t very old at all in modern times) and passed away quietly in his sleep, with no one alongside him, except for Columbine.
Over the years, Randall, not having made very many friends in the ghost world, followed Columbine, taking comfort in the fact that she was once his friend. Shortly after the Ministry of Magic was established, Columbine complained to the Ministry about Randall’s “following the leader” complex and, more or less, asked for the wizard (ghost, rather) equivalent of a restraining order. Randall was ordered to remain at the place of his death, while Columbine was transferred to Hogwarts, where she’s remained ever since.
