Sarah Norman

Early life
Sarah Wipowski Norman was born at 2.14 p.m., January 25th, 1984 in a local Muggle hospital in Tacoma, Washington. Her parents were both Pure-Bloods, but had made the decision to live without magic, believing that it brought nothing but complications, and elevated levels of risk. They were, however, willing to "massage" their own rule to hide and suppress Sarah's natural magical self-expression. She moved things, and they whisked them back with a wand flick before she noticed. She filled a glass with orange juice from the top shelf of the fridge, and they collapsed the shelf, but cast an NV Protego first, so none of the flying debris hit her. Seven-year-old Sarah was as close to non-magical as a non-Squib of a Pure-Blood lineage could be.

Unfortunately, her best friend Allie chased a kitten out into traffic that summer, and Sarah let out a yell which her latent powers amplified; her parents reacted on instinct, casting a Protego around the little blonde girl out in front of the car. Sarah's Sonorus scream rebounded off the shield - and became the last sound she ever heard. Her hearing was shattered beyond even magical repair, and she was sent by her parents to St. Mungo's, in the hope that this institution, in combination with other London facilities such as Great Ormond Street, might be able to work the miracle that had thus far eluded them. Sadly, it was not to be, but Sarah's magic manifested in leaps and bounds, and before long she was attending tuition sessions in magic, although only nine at this time. Her speaking skills had degraded, but the "Janus Thickey" ward (long-term spell damage) determined that Sarah was able to "envision" her spells in such detail that it bypassed the necessity for verbalisation. Sarah casts NV versions as naturally as others put them into words, and her art and Wizard Art likewise express the puissance and pulchritude of her palette of emotions.

The path to enlightenment
Hogwarts seemed a natural choice, her parents wanted her at Salem Institute, where they could visit more easily (still, indeed more than ever, striving to exclude magic from their lives), but in the end, and on the advice of St. Mungo's healers, she plumped for Durmstrang, where serious accidents are almost de rigueur. She went in Side-Along Apparition with Healer Pyle, who had overseen much of her course of treatment, and had taught her two forms of sign language, ASL and BSL, and arrived in the frozen North on September 1st, 1995, as rumors swirled in Britain of the Dark Lord's renewed rise. Durmstrang proved to be the making of Sarah, as she could explain her difference any number of ways, depending on her day and mood. She made good friends among those who thought that learning should not be fettered by labels, but retained a healthy respect for the dangers, both inherent and insidious, in what are labelled the Dark Arts. The small gang to which she belonged expressed themselves in a variety of ways, but always with a mixture of science and artistry, and this was the nourishing memory she would carry away from her school days. Sarah seemed like a good thing to the boys of Durmstrang when she blossomed, a good looker who couldn't spoil it all with endless chatter, but her questions, though often confined within her mind, were not limited by her stilted speech, and her curiosity about people was as boundless as her enthusiasm for the rest of the smorgasbord of life.

Follow the yellow sick toad
Sarah discovered, in her very last term at Durmstrang, a splash-back poison frog which some Durmstranger had brought in, probably to perform unpleasant experiments on. The creature made a sound by inflating its throat sack which went beyond the acoustic, and Sarah "felt" it in a way she had believed she never would again. It was a process she could envision and duplicate, and Sarah rapidly discovered that many creatures, from reindeer to crickets, produced sounds which "resonated" within her, and which, through her magic and self, she could replicate. This tendency took her to Salem Institute for its graduate-level Animagus and Animals study course, and Sarah emerged from the long tunnel of tuition as a fully qualified Animagus Trainer, only to discover there was - at that time - no work for such, there being something of a glut in the market. She therefore refocused on the other half of her education, and became a Magical Pet Psychiatrist, a wonder-worker with bamboozled baboons and paranoid peacocks alike. She drifted in and out of numerous relationships, meaningful and less so, and now, as she has hit the big 3-0, Sarah is taking stock of her life, and looking for a new challenge.

Hogwarts and the new world (of teaching)
A chance encounter with Ailred Birch in "The Leaky Cauldron" led to Sarah applying for the post as Professor of Wandlore at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, teaching the older students. Headmaster Kinsel also offered her the Animagi Trainer post, which she couldn't resist, given her background. Her room-mates have increased in number since she moved into the Gamekeeper's Hut, but she also uses the Animagi Trainer's Office for those who don't want the experience in 3D and SurroundSmell. So far, she's enjoying the experience far more than she ever expected, and really loves hearing students' ideas, however tangential. She finds herself struck at odd, but frequent moments, though, by thoughts of Juliya, the Ukrainian Ironbelly she had to send to Romania, and with whom she feels a bond out of all proportion to the 47 minutes they spent together. She has met an unusual student who doesn't seem to speak, and has found what she feels to be her niche. Her room-mates are earning their keep too, helping the students of the Animagi course see the world from a variety of angles.

Quirks
When lip reading in a language she's out of practise with, Sarah will often mimic mouth movements.

Sarah constantly revises her list of favorite animals, depending on the moment, whim and company. Splash-back poison frog, however, is always in the top five.

Sarah frequently "thinks aloud" in sign, generally BSL.

Although she is, to the world at large, a bubbly person, if asked (and so far no one has) she would categorize herself, in MoM terms, as a Beast. This is because, from her perspective, she has "traded" fragments of the soul with each creature she has helped, providing her with a near-flawless model of their behavior and responses. It does mean that a compulsion of an Imperius order would be required to get such animals to harm her.

Sarah thought very seriously about becoming an Animagus, but is terrified she (the human) would never re-emerge fully from the animal form.

Sarah, unless she's focusing on the matter, tends to dress in an "eclectic" mix of wizard and Muggle clothing, and has been known to go out in Muggle public, quite deliberately, in a conical black hat and wearing a fake wart. This was not on October 31st.

Sarah thinks the most beautiful man she's ever seen was a Centaur she glimpsed at St. Mungo's when she was ten.

"Friend" is not a sign Sarah uses lightly - at present only seven people qualify.

Sarah has practically never met a boundary she didn't want to prod, and frequently push - hard.

She would probably never admit it, but deep down Sarah "knows" that the animals who come into her "Pet Psychiatrist" practice resolve as many of the problems facing her as she does for them. It's just the other humans aren't listening properly.

Occasionally, she employs an interpreter, but normally only when she's trying to provide work, or an excuse to stick around, for someone she likes, or might.

Despite, or perhaps because of, her deafness, Sarah has a truly piercing scream, measured at over 140dB at its peak. It's why she often wears a "Black Canary" costume to Hallowe'en parties.

Although there is no known Scots blood in the family, Sarah's "Burns' Nacht" birthday makes her "feel Scottish".

Among Sarah's "Dream Team" for pets would be the oxymoron of a safe (40ft) Deinosuchus. She was therefore more than a little disppointed to hear that Muggle scientists had entirely ruled out the possibility of "Jurassic Park" ever being a blueprint for cloning.

Sarah believes, in her undiscussed depths, that her treatment of animals works because she and they trade fragments of their souls, and each shape that fragment, inside themselves, into a working model of the other which predicts needs and likes, analyzes probable responses, helps clarify subtext etc.

Possessions
Wand - Maple hilt, Black Walnut, 7 1/2 inches, Jarvey Tooth - The Jarvey's name was Harvey, after the Pookha, as he had a similarly Puckish sense of humor. The wand has a disconcerting tendency to giggle in dangerous situations, which Sarah, of course, doesn't hear.

Kaleidoscopic pendant. When Sarah sets this item spinning in its setting, it translates her gestures and signs into English (although it can be adjusted to provide other languages), using a magical voice modeled on her own. She doesn't alway feel like using it, however. If the proximity limitation isn't set, it will translate any signs within about twelve feet of the pendant. With the limitation active, it applies only to Sarah herself.

Her only notable inheritance, in material terms, from her parents, is a motorbike her father lovingly restored from near scrap status - a VRXSE V-Rod "Destroyer", upon which a minor permanent charm has been placed, to make it look, and feel to a Muggle, like a VRSCX V-Rod, which is street legal.

Whenever mankind and wizardkind get too much, there's always her place.

Appearance
Blonde, just below shoulder length hair, brown eyes. Her choice of clothing is generally eye-catching, unless she is looking to make a different staement by being understated. There is practically no color combination she hasn't worn at some time.