Owen Lochridge | First Year | Hufflepuff

Character Backstory:
Owen was a second son born to Cainnech and Amelia (née Blackwell) Lochridge on a cold December morning in 2014. Widely known for their family business of the production of Lochridge Lager, the Lochridge family sits comfortably in the lower upper-class bracket of Pureblood society. As such, Owen has enjoyed the benefits and privileges of this status; he has never wanted for anything, and has enjoyed many opportunities for private tutelage for early childhood education and hobbies. That said, he has not really demonstrated any particular knack for anything. Anrai, the first-born son and three years Owen's senior, is the jewel of the family. Tall, clever, and dedicated to his studies, he is everything a family could want in an heir. Moreover, he seems keen to learn about the family business with the intent to eventually take over as the patriarch in some distant future, and so their parents are content to pour the great majority of their attention and time upon him. In doing so, Owen is often left to the side.

While not neglected, as a certain standard must be maintained for all the Lochridge children, neither does he experience much oversight. In a way, that has led to a rather easy upbringing. Independence and a thirst for adventure thrived, filling that emotional distance, and Owen found that he could quite easily get away with many an action in a way that his older brother could not. There is no expectation, no pressure. He is free to pursue his interests and recess, to let his mind wander between fiction and reality. On the other hand, there is no expectation. The shadow of his brother's accomplishments looms ever darker, threatening to drown Owen's existence as forgettable. While he may not yet recognize it, the seeds of jealousy and insecurity have been sown by his parent's preferential treatment and attention towards his elder brother.

As a sort of self-protective measure, it has meant that Owen has always preferred the company of his younger sister. Of course, that could also have been due to how close they were in age. Born a year and a half after him, Laoise took quickly to Owen. The two of them spent many years playing and painting and reading together. They kept out of the way of their busy parents and prodigy brother, and kept each other company. Kept. Past tense. A number of years had passed since Laoise's passing, but there were days when Owen awoke half-expecting her to still be there. But Laoise was no longer with them. Yet he could never quite get rid of a strange nagging feeling, and the dreams he continues to have of her seem so real...

First Instance of Magic:
Owen's magic manifested at quite a young age. It was on his third birthday, in fact, that Owen was enjoying a bath in preparation for later festivities. He'd always been rather fond of water. Whether it was racing around in the rain, splashing in puddles, or swimming in the sea, it mattered not; he would enjoy the moment to its fullest. So whenever bath time presented, it came as no surprise that he enjoyed that too.

Under normal circumstances, he was permitted to play until his skin prickled with gooseflesh and the water went cold. On this occasion, however, he was rushed through the process to prepare for the party. Well, that didn't sit well with him at all. The waterworks that started when his mother attempted to pull him from the tub got quickly out of hand. The more she tried, the greater his distress. And oddly, the more difficult it became. As though rising to a call for aid, the bubbles in the tub seemed to multiply and grow in size.

Soon enough, the bubbles spilled over the tub as Owen thrashed and squirmed, rolling across the floor. Yes... rolling. Upon contact with a surface, they did not pop. And soon enough, they piled up, pressing up against his mother and himself, filling the tub and then the bathroom entirely, and ultimately pushing both a very exasperated mother and a now laughing and astonished Owen all the way out into the hall.

Mental Description:
If anything can be said about Owen, it's that he has no shortage of love for life. His fondness for sweets and penchant to speak before thinking has gotten him more than one lecture from his mother. Adventurous and free-spirited, he is always on the move. By his definition, rules are made to be broken (although he still tries not to get caught). Extroverted and social, he loves exploring and trying new things. That's not to say that he doesn't also enjoy his alone time. Unlike his older brother who is the more academic and studious of the two, Owen prefers the fine arts and dedicates rainy days to reading fiction and practicing his drawing.

Physical Description: Standing at an average height for his age with dark brown wavy hair and expressive hazel eyes, Owen Lochridge is a fairly typical boy. By no means overweight, he still possesses features softened by baby fat. A smattering of freckles dust his cheeks and upturned nose. His clothing is well-tailored, harkening to a life of comfort, though they frequently display smudges of grass and dirt.

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THE TRUNK

i. Intuition ^seer: a spark of intuition, they sometimes stop just before disaster would strike or as some would say "they find themselves in the right place at the right time."