Post by Bridget O'Neill on Jul 22, 2008 8:46:40 GMT -5
(Applying for Divinations Professor. Thanks!)
Referred By: Already playing on site as Katherine Marie Knightswood, 1st year Ravenclaw
Name: Bridget Airmedd O’Neill nee Young
Age: 39
Sex:Female
Nationality: American
Speech: English, Latin
Blood:Muggleborn
Father:Steven James Young (age 80)
Mother:Elizabeth “Liz” Ann Young nee McKernan (age 77)
Siblings:William (57), Phillip (55), Herbert (53), George (50), Anne (48), Katherine (45), Mary (43), Theresa (41)
Other Family: Sean James O’Neill, husband (deceased); NEPHEWS (12): Charles, Harry, Adam, Edward, James, Henry, Peter, Walter, Brian, Aidan, Ian and Michael. NIECES (13): Morgan, Maureen, Caitlin, Amy, Amanda, Helen, Carole, Rowena, Pamela, Patricia, Brenda, Erin, Laura. GRANDNEPHEWS (3): Patrick, Anthony, and Richard. GRANDNIECES (2): Hannah and Rachel. Plus her husband's bevy of siblings, nieces and nephews!
Family Interactions:
Bridget is the youngest daughter of a large and loving family. She has eight siblings, all of whom are close, loads of nieces and nephews, (even a grandniece or grandnephew!) and her very loving parents. Her siblings fought and laughed and loved each other all through their rollicking childhoods. The children were all about two or three years apart, with Bridget born last, eighteen years after William, the eldest sib.
Bridget has moved to Scotland, far from her family in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States and the painful memories of her dear husband. However, she still regularly keeps in touch with the extended family that cares for her so much, both her birth family and her husband’s family, who are in Ireland. She keeps track of all her family’s birthdays and goes to both homes during the Christmas break to visit, armed with loads of presents.
Height:5’ 11”
Weight: 190 pounds
Hair: coppery red
Eyes:bright blue
Skin Colour:pale
Clothing style:Bridget wears comfortable Muggle clothes, usually jeans with a Tee shirt, plus her ever-present combat boots. Even off teaching duty, some people think she’s an Auror, as she had been in the American Guardians for almost fourteen years. She just puts on a teacher’s robes over her usual clothes for her classes. However, she will dress up for formal occasions. She hardly ever wears skirts and NEVER wears heels (because she can’t fight well in them, of course!).
Accessories: Bridget still wears her engagement diamond and wedding band on her left ring finger, along with a torc that was her husband’s and a pair of emerald stud earrings he gave her for their tenth wedding anniversary.
Other:Bridget has a perpetually sad air about her, even in her rare moments when she is actually happy. She has also channeled her grief and rage into her workouts, gaining release from her darker emotions in savage training bouts against foes in the Room of Requirement. After a Vision, Bridget is often temperamental and abrupt with the people around her, since she remains aware of her Visions, unlike most Seers. She has an almost military demeanor, and does very well in emergency situations, taking charge and keeping people safe, even at risk to herself.
Paragraph Format:
Bridget O’Neill is rather Irish in appearance, although her birth name of Young is English. However, she is tall for the women in her family, taking after her father and her brothers, all of whom are taller than six feet. Bridget’s hair is cropped short in a very “wash and go” style, not surprising for a former police officer. Her eyes are blue with flecks of green, and they go a dark blue when she is experiencing intense emotion. Her skin is very pale, almost alabaster, and is dusted with few faint freckles. She is very muscular, and unconsciously picks clothes that show off that.
Bridget dresses in such a predictable fashion that the other Professors might say she has a uniform. She is always dressed as if expecting a battle – she rarely wears a gown or a skirt except for formal occasions, such as Balls or the Sorting Feast. She dresses in pants and combat boots, with a simple shirt, all of which are easy to move in. Her favorite colors of blue, green, and black dominate her wardrobe. She usually has a weapon of some sort hidden in her clothing or down her boot.
Personality:
Bridget was a sunny and cheerful woman in her younger years, but being unable to prevent the death of her beloved Sean has diminished her. She is still kind and polite, but her smiles don’t quite reach her eyes and she always seems tense, as if waiting for the sword of Sight over her head to fall and wound her. She still occasionally smiles, still treats the children in her charge with care and concern, but the passion that once drove her life has suffered too much to survive intact. It will take a mighty change in Bridget’s life to wake that passion for living again.
History:
Bridget Airmedd Young was born the ninth child of Steven and Elizabeth Young, on May 10, 1980 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was younger than her eldest sibling William by eighteen years, but it didn’t seem to matter in her noisy, loving and rambunctious family. Bridget was a precocious toddler who got into everything and learned her colors and numbers and letters with amazing speed. She was lovingly spoiled, all her sisters carrying her around the house. No wonder she didn’t learn to walk until she was almost eighteen months old!
Bridget’s childhood was full of love and laughs. Picnics with her family at a local park and games with her cousins filled the weekends, summer camps, baseball games and fireworks at the park filled her summers. She learned about the birds and plants near her home, and read about anything she could get her hands on at the local library. She learned to ride horseback, took to softball with a will, and was in the drama club and chorus at her junior high school.
All the while, Bridget kept a secret from everyone, even her older sisters, who were very close to her. She somehow seemed to know who was calling on the other side of the phone. She knew her Grandma McKernan wasn’t coming home from the hospital this time three days before she died. And weird things happened to Bridget, from finding herself floating above her bed one morning to things mysteriously rearranging themselves in her bedroom. Bridget wasn’t surprised, although her parents were shocked, when a letter from the Crossland Academy of Magical Arts arrived at the house, right before Bridget’s graduation from junior high. Even though her parents were surprised and no small bit perplexed by it all, they jumped at the opportunity for their daughter, not wanting any of their brood to waste a scrap of their talent. Off went Bridget to Crossland, nervous but excited, suitcases and backpack full of books, clothes and supplies for her first term.
It was perfect for her. Bridget thrived at the school that had been founded by a Muggleborn witch, the descendant of one of the founders of Maryland. Technology and magic rode hand in hand here, with computer labs and potions labs in two adjacent buildings. Bridget’s first year passed in a blur, as she dove into classes. Her school wasn’t separated into Houses, but Years, and she found her fellow “firsties” to be a wildly mixed group of Muggleborns, Purebloods and Half-bloods. No one seemed to care about family much; achievement was what mattered at Crossland.
Bridget scored the top of her class for first term. Dizzy with pride at the achievement, she went home for Christmas. She spent the holiday explaining things to her sibs, and they all swore to guard her secret life. Everyone made light-hearted fun of her new life and awarded her accomplishments with much toasting and fun at the family Christmas party. Bridget went back to school with a happy and full heart. The rest of first year passed without incident, as Bridget threw herself back into her studies. Science and magic and literature filled her brain and her days, along with riding and swimming and other sports. Bridget was having the time of her life, making friends and succeeding at school beyond her wildest hopes.
And then the Visions started coming stronger. Bridget would wake half the girls’ dorm with her screams at night. Visions of death and darkness eating everything nearly overwhelmed her at times. These Visions were so vague – no faces, no names, no details – that eventually Bridget and her Class Mater and the Headmaster of Crossland agreed to magically shut off the Visions. Bridget’s bed in the dorm was heavily Warded, and she was given protective Charms to wear around the clock and to take home for the summer and winter breaks.
Summer between first and second year passed swiftly, but Bridget was grateful for the time that she had with her siblings. Katherine was starting her junior year of college at Johns Hopkins, and Mary was off to College Park for her sophomore year. Theresa was still at Maryvale Prep, starting her senior year classes. William was now the father of his second child, making Bridget at aunt four times over thanks to him and Phillip and Anne, who each had one child themselves. Herbert was overseas with friends, and George was off on business when everyone left home for their schools.
Bridget went back to Crosslands and it was like a stream merging happily into a river. She took up with her friends Jenniver and Carlos again and jumped back into her studies with all the old vigor she’d always possessed. The popular red-headed valedictorian caught the eye of a transfer student, one Sean James O’Neill, the son of a newly hired professor. The two teens hooked up over Bridget tutoring Sean in his Magical Sciences class, and became fast friends.
Bridget’s second and third years at Crossland went by in a whirl of socials and studying and academic achievement. She did well in all her classes, but excelled at Divination and Defense. She was being eyed by her teachers as a candidate for the Guard, the magical police force and peacekeepers of America’s magical world. And one or two professors hinted that she would make an excellent teacher as well. All of them were united in one opinion though – Bridget was going on to the magical college in the region, Merlin College, come hell or high water. This was one student they hoped would do the school proud after graduation.
At the end of fourth year, Bridget graduated Crossland Academy as her class valedictorian. As she gave the commencement speech, she was light of heart, even though she knew she’d miss her friends terribly. She was going to Merlin College on a full scholarship, double majoring in Defensive Magics and Divinatory Studies. With her parents’ blessing and her siblings’ well wishes, Bridget was off on her next great adventure.
Bridget’s years at Merlin College flew by. She kept up a long-distance correspondence with Sean, Carlos and Jenniver, as they’d all gone to different colleges around the country. She worked harder than ever at her studies, finding the freedom of college far different from the structured world of Crossland. But once again, Bridget managed to graduate, if not at the top of her class, then with highest honors. At the age of twenty-three, Bridget came home to Baltimore with a Masters in Divinatory Studies and a Masters in Defensive Magics. She took a job with the local branch of the Guardians as a trainee, and settled into work.
To her surprise, Sean showed up a few months later as a consultant. Apparently, he had gotten his Technomancer’s Masters, and was working on meshing the Guardians’ old recordkeeping system with the new Muggle computer systems, as well as training the wizards at her Unit how to use them. They took up as friends again, and within months, started dating. They attended their first event as a couple some months later, when Carlos and Jenniver, their friends from Crosslands, got married.
Bridget was now the only unmarried member of her family. Her rather noisy and boisterous family started probing to find out just how interested she was in this Sean. Bridget now had a dozen and a half nieces and nephews, plus another on the way courtesy of Theresa. Her family adored Sean once they met him, so they decided it was time for Bridget to meet Sean’s family. She traveled to Dublin, where Sean’s family was now living after moving back home from Maryland.
Not only was the trip a blast, Bridget took to Sean’s extended family almost immediately, especially his dozen siblings – who reminded her so much of her own. The only dark spot in the entire trip was that Bridget’s Seer gift returned with a will and a vengeance. Fortunately, she managed to prevent the O’Neill family stables from catching fire, so the family forgave her for waking up the entire household with her yelling. But it was definitely an introduction to remember! James also took her to visit the school he’d attended before coming to Crossland, a wonderful old school called Hogwarts.
Sean O’Neill and Bridget Young married on February 2, 2004 in Dublin, Ireland, in Sean’s family’s ancestral castle. Both families were in full attendance, and many friends from their respective schools filled the Hall. It was an amazing party, and the bride and groom loved every hilarious minute of it. Everyone down to Bridget’s eighteen month old niece Erin danced the night away after a fine winter feast. The couple went off on a week long jaunt about the Wizarding Isles, and then went home to America.
And then things started going wrong. It was nothing either of them could put a finger to, but weird things began happening. Sean was accosted on the way to work, and robbed of some of his research notes for his Doctorate thesis on Technomacy as a rehabilitative tool in Healing damage from Unforgivable curses. The following year, Bridget went to a conference in Scotland, and was attacked by Dementors, only saved due to the fact that she Saw the attack an hour before it happened and called the local Aurors in. Mysterious and threatening notes showed up in the couples’ offices at work. No solid leads could be found on who was leaving these notes, but the six simple words on them chilled both of the young Wizards.
The Dark will claim you. Eventually.
The years went by, the threatening letters showed up more rarely, and both Wizards put thoughts of them aside to work on their careers and their education. They both earned Doctorates in their fields: Sean in Technomancy, Bridget in Divinatory Studies. She became one of the Guardian Drill Captains, responsible for training recruits. Then, in October 2018, Sean and Bridget went to a conference in Ireland, planning to visit his family while they were there. Bridget had misgivings about visiting, having had vague feelings of unease about the visit. Her Seer abilities hadn’t been working reliably lately, and she was concerned that she couldn’t See anything about her trip, even when she tried to focus on it. It was as if someone or something was blocking her Sight. But Sean talked her around and off they went. The visit was amazing; Sean's huge family glad to see them.
But the disaster that Bridget had been unable to See struck. While visiting London on their way home, the couple was attacked and Sean was murdered right in front of Bridget on a crowded street. She fought back bravely against her attackers – appalled that they were using magic in broad daylight in front of non-Wizards! – but even her defensive skills weren’t enough. She woke up in St. Mungo’s Spell Damage Ward, a widow. She was beaten to within an inch of her life by spells and fists, but her bruises and broken bones were already mending under the hands of the Healers. But Bridget’s heart was broken beyond mending. When the Aurors came to tell her of Sean’s demise, the two tear-roughened words she spoke nearly brought them to tears as well.
“I know.”
On her release from St. Mungo’s she went to Sean’s family home to recover. Her parents joined her there, and her brothers and sisters all eventually visited in rotation. Once her body recovered, Bridget realized she couldn’t go back to her job in the States. Everything there reminded her of Sean and her life with him. She got her brother-in-law Seamus’ help with finding a flat in London, and started looking for work, living on the life insurance money she’d inherited. When she heard of the opening for a Divination professor at Hogwarts, she jumped at the chance to change her life, and sent in an application and curriculum vitae. Her determination to get the post was only intensified when she received a mysterious note in the owl post a week after she applied. It was in a handwriting she knew to well, and was once again a mere six words long.
I told you. You cannot win.
Referred By: Already playing on site as Katherine Marie Knightswood, 1st year Ravenclaw
Name: Bridget Airmedd O’Neill nee Young
Age: 39
Sex:Female
Nationality: American
Speech: English, Latin
Blood:Muggleborn
Father:Steven James Young (age 80)
Mother:Elizabeth “Liz” Ann Young nee McKernan (age 77)
Siblings:William (57), Phillip (55), Herbert (53), George (50), Anne (48), Katherine (45), Mary (43), Theresa (41)
Other Family: Sean James O’Neill, husband (deceased); NEPHEWS (12): Charles, Harry, Adam, Edward, James, Henry, Peter, Walter, Brian, Aidan, Ian and Michael. NIECES (13): Morgan, Maureen, Caitlin, Amy, Amanda, Helen, Carole, Rowena, Pamela, Patricia, Brenda, Erin, Laura. GRANDNEPHEWS (3): Patrick, Anthony, and Richard. GRANDNIECES (2): Hannah and Rachel. Plus her husband's bevy of siblings, nieces and nephews!
Family Interactions:
Bridget is the youngest daughter of a large and loving family. She has eight siblings, all of whom are close, loads of nieces and nephews, (even a grandniece or grandnephew!) and her very loving parents. Her siblings fought and laughed and loved each other all through their rollicking childhoods. The children were all about two or three years apart, with Bridget born last, eighteen years after William, the eldest sib.
Bridget has moved to Scotland, far from her family in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States and the painful memories of her dear husband. However, she still regularly keeps in touch with the extended family that cares for her so much, both her birth family and her husband’s family, who are in Ireland. She keeps track of all her family’s birthdays and goes to both homes during the Christmas break to visit, armed with loads of presents.
Height:5’ 11”
Weight: 190 pounds
Hair: coppery red
Eyes:bright blue
Skin Colour:pale
Clothing style:Bridget wears comfortable Muggle clothes, usually jeans with a Tee shirt, plus her ever-present combat boots. Even off teaching duty, some people think she’s an Auror, as she had been in the American Guardians for almost fourteen years. She just puts on a teacher’s robes over her usual clothes for her classes. However, she will dress up for formal occasions. She hardly ever wears skirts and NEVER wears heels (because she can’t fight well in them, of course!).
Accessories: Bridget still wears her engagement diamond and wedding band on her left ring finger, along with a torc that was her husband’s and a pair of emerald stud earrings he gave her for their tenth wedding anniversary.
Other:Bridget has a perpetually sad air about her, even in her rare moments when she is actually happy. She has also channeled her grief and rage into her workouts, gaining release from her darker emotions in savage training bouts against foes in the Room of Requirement. After a Vision, Bridget is often temperamental and abrupt with the people around her, since she remains aware of her Visions, unlike most Seers. She has an almost military demeanor, and does very well in emergency situations, taking charge and keeping people safe, even at risk to herself.
Paragraph Format:
Bridget O’Neill is rather Irish in appearance, although her birth name of Young is English. However, she is tall for the women in her family, taking after her father and her brothers, all of whom are taller than six feet. Bridget’s hair is cropped short in a very “wash and go” style, not surprising for a former police officer. Her eyes are blue with flecks of green, and they go a dark blue when she is experiencing intense emotion. Her skin is very pale, almost alabaster, and is dusted with few faint freckles. She is very muscular, and unconsciously picks clothes that show off that.
Bridget dresses in such a predictable fashion that the other Professors might say she has a uniform. She is always dressed as if expecting a battle – she rarely wears a gown or a skirt except for formal occasions, such as Balls or the Sorting Feast. She dresses in pants and combat boots, with a simple shirt, all of which are easy to move in. Her favorite colors of blue, green, and black dominate her wardrobe. She usually has a weapon of some sort hidden in her clothing or down her boot.
Personality:
Bridget was a sunny and cheerful woman in her younger years, but being unable to prevent the death of her beloved Sean has diminished her. She is still kind and polite, but her smiles don’t quite reach her eyes and she always seems tense, as if waiting for the sword of Sight over her head to fall and wound her. She still occasionally smiles, still treats the children in her charge with care and concern, but the passion that once drove her life has suffered too much to survive intact. It will take a mighty change in Bridget’s life to wake that passion for living again.
History:
Bridget Airmedd Young was born the ninth child of Steven and Elizabeth Young, on May 10, 1980 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was younger than her eldest sibling William by eighteen years, but it didn’t seem to matter in her noisy, loving and rambunctious family. Bridget was a precocious toddler who got into everything and learned her colors and numbers and letters with amazing speed. She was lovingly spoiled, all her sisters carrying her around the house. No wonder she didn’t learn to walk until she was almost eighteen months old!
Bridget’s childhood was full of love and laughs. Picnics with her family at a local park and games with her cousins filled the weekends, summer camps, baseball games and fireworks at the park filled her summers. She learned about the birds and plants near her home, and read about anything she could get her hands on at the local library. She learned to ride horseback, took to softball with a will, and was in the drama club and chorus at her junior high school.
All the while, Bridget kept a secret from everyone, even her older sisters, who were very close to her. She somehow seemed to know who was calling on the other side of the phone. She knew her Grandma McKernan wasn’t coming home from the hospital this time three days before she died. And weird things happened to Bridget, from finding herself floating above her bed one morning to things mysteriously rearranging themselves in her bedroom. Bridget wasn’t surprised, although her parents were shocked, when a letter from the Crossland Academy of Magical Arts arrived at the house, right before Bridget’s graduation from junior high. Even though her parents were surprised and no small bit perplexed by it all, they jumped at the opportunity for their daughter, not wanting any of their brood to waste a scrap of their talent. Off went Bridget to Crossland, nervous but excited, suitcases and backpack full of books, clothes and supplies for her first term.
It was perfect for her. Bridget thrived at the school that had been founded by a Muggleborn witch, the descendant of one of the founders of Maryland. Technology and magic rode hand in hand here, with computer labs and potions labs in two adjacent buildings. Bridget’s first year passed in a blur, as she dove into classes. Her school wasn’t separated into Houses, but Years, and she found her fellow “firsties” to be a wildly mixed group of Muggleborns, Purebloods and Half-bloods. No one seemed to care about family much; achievement was what mattered at Crossland.
Bridget scored the top of her class for first term. Dizzy with pride at the achievement, she went home for Christmas. She spent the holiday explaining things to her sibs, and they all swore to guard her secret life. Everyone made light-hearted fun of her new life and awarded her accomplishments with much toasting and fun at the family Christmas party. Bridget went back to school with a happy and full heart. The rest of first year passed without incident, as Bridget threw herself back into her studies. Science and magic and literature filled her brain and her days, along with riding and swimming and other sports. Bridget was having the time of her life, making friends and succeeding at school beyond her wildest hopes.
And then the Visions started coming stronger. Bridget would wake half the girls’ dorm with her screams at night. Visions of death and darkness eating everything nearly overwhelmed her at times. These Visions were so vague – no faces, no names, no details – that eventually Bridget and her Class Mater and the Headmaster of Crossland agreed to magically shut off the Visions. Bridget’s bed in the dorm was heavily Warded, and she was given protective Charms to wear around the clock and to take home for the summer and winter breaks.
Summer between first and second year passed swiftly, but Bridget was grateful for the time that she had with her siblings. Katherine was starting her junior year of college at Johns Hopkins, and Mary was off to College Park for her sophomore year. Theresa was still at Maryvale Prep, starting her senior year classes. William was now the father of his second child, making Bridget at aunt four times over thanks to him and Phillip and Anne, who each had one child themselves. Herbert was overseas with friends, and George was off on business when everyone left home for their schools.
Bridget went back to Crosslands and it was like a stream merging happily into a river. She took up with her friends Jenniver and Carlos again and jumped back into her studies with all the old vigor she’d always possessed. The popular red-headed valedictorian caught the eye of a transfer student, one Sean James O’Neill, the son of a newly hired professor. The two teens hooked up over Bridget tutoring Sean in his Magical Sciences class, and became fast friends.
Bridget’s second and third years at Crossland went by in a whirl of socials and studying and academic achievement. She did well in all her classes, but excelled at Divination and Defense. She was being eyed by her teachers as a candidate for the Guard, the magical police force and peacekeepers of America’s magical world. And one or two professors hinted that she would make an excellent teacher as well. All of them were united in one opinion though – Bridget was going on to the magical college in the region, Merlin College, come hell or high water. This was one student they hoped would do the school proud after graduation.
At the end of fourth year, Bridget graduated Crossland Academy as her class valedictorian. As she gave the commencement speech, she was light of heart, even though she knew she’d miss her friends terribly. She was going to Merlin College on a full scholarship, double majoring in Defensive Magics and Divinatory Studies. With her parents’ blessing and her siblings’ well wishes, Bridget was off on her next great adventure.
Bridget’s years at Merlin College flew by. She kept up a long-distance correspondence with Sean, Carlos and Jenniver, as they’d all gone to different colleges around the country. She worked harder than ever at her studies, finding the freedom of college far different from the structured world of Crossland. But once again, Bridget managed to graduate, if not at the top of her class, then with highest honors. At the age of twenty-three, Bridget came home to Baltimore with a Masters in Divinatory Studies and a Masters in Defensive Magics. She took a job with the local branch of the Guardians as a trainee, and settled into work.
To her surprise, Sean showed up a few months later as a consultant. Apparently, he had gotten his Technomancer’s Masters, and was working on meshing the Guardians’ old recordkeeping system with the new Muggle computer systems, as well as training the wizards at her Unit how to use them. They took up as friends again, and within months, started dating. They attended their first event as a couple some months later, when Carlos and Jenniver, their friends from Crosslands, got married.
Bridget was now the only unmarried member of her family. Her rather noisy and boisterous family started probing to find out just how interested she was in this Sean. Bridget now had a dozen and a half nieces and nephews, plus another on the way courtesy of Theresa. Her family adored Sean once they met him, so they decided it was time for Bridget to meet Sean’s family. She traveled to Dublin, where Sean’s family was now living after moving back home from Maryland.
Not only was the trip a blast, Bridget took to Sean’s extended family almost immediately, especially his dozen siblings – who reminded her so much of her own. The only dark spot in the entire trip was that Bridget’s Seer gift returned with a will and a vengeance. Fortunately, she managed to prevent the O’Neill family stables from catching fire, so the family forgave her for waking up the entire household with her yelling. But it was definitely an introduction to remember! James also took her to visit the school he’d attended before coming to Crossland, a wonderful old school called Hogwarts.
Sean O’Neill and Bridget Young married on February 2, 2004 in Dublin, Ireland, in Sean’s family’s ancestral castle. Both families were in full attendance, and many friends from their respective schools filled the Hall. It was an amazing party, and the bride and groom loved every hilarious minute of it. Everyone down to Bridget’s eighteen month old niece Erin danced the night away after a fine winter feast. The couple went off on a week long jaunt about the Wizarding Isles, and then went home to America.
And then things started going wrong. It was nothing either of them could put a finger to, but weird things began happening. Sean was accosted on the way to work, and robbed of some of his research notes for his Doctorate thesis on Technomacy as a rehabilitative tool in Healing damage from Unforgivable curses. The following year, Bridget went to a conference in Scotland, and was attacked by Dementors, only saved due to the fact that she Saw the attack an hour before it happened and called the local Aurors in. Mysterious and threatening notes showed up in the couples’ offices at work. No solid leads could be found on who was leaving these notes, but the six simple words on them chilled both of the young Wizards.
The Dark will claim you. Eventually.
The years went by, the threatening letters showed up more rarely, and both Wizards put thoughts of them aside to work on their careers and their education. They both earned Doctorates in their fields: Sean in Technomancy, Bridget in Divinatory Studies. She became one of the Guardian Drill Captains, responsible for training recruits. Then, in October 2018, Sean and Bridget went to a conference in Ireland, planning to visit his family while they were there. Bridget had misgivings about visiting, having had vague feelings of unease about the visit. Her Seer abilities hadn’t been working reliably lately, and she was concerned that she couldn’t See anything about her trip, even when she tried to focus on it. It was as if someone or something was blocking her Sight. But Sean talked her around and off they went. The visit was amazing; Sean's huge family glad to see them.
But the disaster that Bridget had been unable to See struck. While visiting London on their way home, the couple was attacked and Sean was murdered right in front of Bridget on a crowded street. She fought back bravely against her attackers – appalled that they were using magic in broad daylight in front of non-Wizards! – but even her defensive skills weren’t enough. She woke up in St. Mungo’s Spell Damage Ward, a widow. She was beaten to within an inch of her life by spells and fists, but her bruises and broken bones were already mending under the hands of the Healers. But Bridget’s heart was broken beyond mending. When the Aurors came to tell her of Sean’s demise, the two tear-roughened words she spoke nearly brought them to tears as well.
“I know.”
On her release from St. Mungo’s she went to Sean’s family home to recover. Her parents joined her there, and her brothers and sisters all eventually visited in rotation. Once her body recovered, Bridget realized she couldn’t go back to her job in the States. Everything there reminded her of Sean and her life with him. She got her brother-in-law Seamus’ help with finding a flat in London, and started looking for work, living on the life insurance money she’d inherited. When she heard of the opening for a Divination professor at Hogwarts, she jumped at the chance to change her life, and sent in an application and curriculum vitae. Her determination to get the post was only intensified when she received a mysterious note in the owl post a week after she applied. It was in a handwriting she knew to well, and was once again a mere six words long.
I told you. You cannot win.