Becca O'Brien (done)

Played by Kelly Overton (link)
DESCRIPTION:While working, Becca comes across as highly professional. She wears businesslike blouses, dress pants and suit jackets whenever she’s officially on the job. And working or not, she always has a satchel with her holding a notebook and something to write with. She’s quite good at stuffing her own feelings and playing polite while she talks her source out of whatever information she wants. Although she can turn ferocious if she decides someone needs a little more motivation. Around her family though she relaxes into something much warmer. She seems almost like a different person with her infectious smile and loud laughter. She also likes to be as close to her family as possible, often slipping in hugs or kisses to the forehead or sitting with her shoulder touching theirs. But her eyes can turn fiery the second she senses a threat. Her brow tends to be furrowed slightly when she’s working, indicating the wheels in her brain are turning as fast as they can go. It’s not unusual for her to have ink or graphite stains on the sides of her hands from writing. And she has a habit of playing with her writing utensils when she’s thinking, anything from twirling or tapping them to absently clicking away on the end of a pen. She barely even notices she’s doing it, which can sometimes drive the people around her crazy.




POSITIVE TRAITS: driven, resourceful, independent, responsible, good at connecting the dots and seeing the bigger picture, fiercely loyal, protective, nurturing and supportive towards those she loves, persistent, puts her family’s interests first
NEGATIVE TRAITS: prejudiced against purebloods, occasionally blinded by her own biases, can become obsessed with tracking down a story, sees rules more as guidelines, sometimes mothers her youngest siblings a bit too much, judgmental, not the forgive and forget type, may come across as a bit cold at times, may push people too hard in an effort to bring out their full potential, doesn’t mind playing a little dirty if it gets her what she wants
LIKES: mysteries, black coffee, having the whole O’Brien clan together, Muggle crime shows, tracking down the pieces of a story, hanging out with her nieces and nephew, teasing her brothers
DISLIKES: cooking (except breakfast), the concept of blood status, politicians, being lied to, being kept in the dark, herbology (she can’t grow a plant to save her life), people trying to set her up on dates or telling her she needs to find a boyfriend
HOBBIES: spending time with her family, searching for potential stories, people watching from interesting coffee shops

GENERAL PERSONALITY: Becca is a strong and independent older sibling who had to grow up a little faster than she was prepared for. The oldest of the O’Brien clan, she’s used to looking after the others. And she’s gotten pretty good at it through the years. People who manage to earn her loyalty will find her to be remarkably nurturing and supportive. She’s a loving big sister who’s always there to listen or help, but she also knows exactly what her siblings are capable of and has no problem calling them on their crap. While her expectations sometimes seem high, her big heart usually makes up for it. And she holds herself to the same high standards. She puts her best effort into all she does. Her strong sense of justice and refusal to give up drive her to be superb at her job. She can occasionally get a little tied up in her own prejudices, and she has been known to cross a line or two that was probably better left alone. Once she’s on a story, she won’t stop until she has the full picture. Even if that requires bending the rules. But if she does the wrong thing, you can be assured it’s for the right reasons. She did unfortunately inherit the famous O’Brien temper, which can make her quite an intimidating adversary. And sometimes in her work she may come across as cold and unfeeling, especially when grilling a source she disapproves of, but only because she’s learned the hard way that sometimes you have to play a little rough to get what you want. She has become slightly jaded out of a belief that the system is inherently broken and justice may sometimes have to be taken into her own hands. It’s given her a bit of a dark side that sometimes has to be reined in. But her family tends to keep her on the right track. They’re Becca’s whole world, and she would do anything for any one of them.




Parents: Jacob O’Brien (Irish, deceased) and Rose O’Brien (British Muggle, deceased)
Siblings: Connor (33, unspeakable), Isaac (29, curse breaker), Trace (27, Appleby Arrows keeper), Hannah (23, medi-witch)
Partner: n/a
Children: n/a
Other Family: Claire O’Brien (30, sister-in-law, beast liaison with the Ministry), Hayden O’Brien (15, niece), Micah O’Brien (10, nephew), Megan O’Brien (7, niece)

Character History: Rebecca was the first child born to her proud parents. The center of their world, she had them all to herself for three years. Then the boys started coming. Becca was stubborn and feisty, and she had no problem holding her own in the rough-and-tumble world her brothers created. Although she and Connor did butt heads a fair bit growing up. But Becca also liked the power of being the oldest, making her a natural leader and protector for the others. The little O’Briens spent their days playing sports outside and making up games inside. Jacob made decent money, and the family was moderately well off in their house in the suburbs. Life seemed perfect.

When Becca was eleven, she got a letter from a school that taught magic. Rose had long known about her husband’s magic because he had used it to save her from drowning during their engagement. She had taken the whole incident in stride, and while Jacob had more or less left the magical world behind since marrying, the O’Brien children had still grown up with little bits of magic going on all around the house. Neither of the adults was surprised that independent little Becca was magical too. But things in the wizarding world were not going well. There was a war brewing, and having a Muggle mother made Becca a target at school. Especially since she was sorted into Slytherin house. Many of her housemates bought into the concept of pureblood superiority and proceeedd to bully her quite harshly. The pressure made Becca harder and fiercely protective of her family, even getting into a few fights to defend he mother’s honor. She worried about how the atmosphere would affect her brothers, but the war finally ended just before Connor started school. While the pureblood ideology persisted, it dropped dramatically after the war. It also helped that Connor was in a different house.

School didn’t come quite as easily to Becca as it did to her intelligent oldest brother. She was smart, but not in ways that helped her grades, which were mostly average despite her best efforts. Although she did do quite well in Transfiguration and Potions. It was actually her first potions professor and head of house Professor Slughorn, who took quite a shine to Becca before retiring at the end of the war, who suggested she try her hand at reporting. That idea stewed in the back of Becca’s brain, and by the time she graduated, it had taken hold. Becca secured an internship at the Daily Prophet, where her commitment to the work quickly moved her up to a full reporter. She even bought her own apartment and moved out of the family home, now occupied only by her parents and little sister now that the youngest of the boys was starting Hogwarts. Everything seemed to be falling into place.

And then tragedy struck. Jacob and Rose were murdered by a rogue pureblood extremist, leaving twenty-one-year-old Becca the guardian of her three youngest siblings. Becca’s apartment was sold so she could move back home. The transition required doing some very rapid growing up. She had to learn how to cook, something she’d never been very good at. How to run a house and take care of three minors. Back-to-school preparation in particular was a nightmare. Trace’s pent up anger led to a slew of fights and detentions at school. Not to mention dealing with Connor, who, at nearly eighteen and technically of age under wizarding law, pushed back hard against any authority Becca tried to impose. It didn’t help that the wizard who had killed their parents was nowhere to be found. In other words, life was a mess.

It took time for things to settle out, but eventually they did. Becca and Connor started fighting less and leading together more. Eventually they even became best friends, much to the surprise of their younger siblings. Acting as a mom of sorts began coming easier. The trauma to all five siblings slowly faded, gradually drawing them together into a more solid unit than they had ever been. Hannah started school. The younger two boys graduated and set their sights on careers. Connor started dating. Becca steadily climbed the seniority ladder at the Prophet. Life went on.

Around 1995, the world started slowly going sideways again. Things quickly went from bad to worse. Within a year it became fairly obvious that war was coming again. The O’Briens, now plus Connor’s new wife, battened down the hatches as best they could. With both Connor and his wife working at the Ministry and Becca poking her nose where it wasn’t wanted, it wasn’t a good time to be part of the family. The issue of whether Hannah would return to school in the fall caused a fight of apocalyptic proportions. But finally she won out, against Becca’s better judgment. Things only got worse from there. Eventually the O’Briens turned to the Fidelius Charm, with Isaac serving as secret keeper. Becca herself joined a group of other writers that secretly printed materials against the Death Eaters and circulated them to the best of its ability. It wasn’t much, but it kept her sane.

Several harrowing months passed of hiding and trying to subtly fight back before word came the war had finally ended, this time apparently for good. The O’Briens returned to work and their lives. Becca resumed reporting with a vengeance. She focused in sharply on the rising government, using her craft to hold it accountable as best she could. Over the years she has become one of the Prophet’s chief reporters when it comes to political matters. She knows almost all of the major players at the Ministry, even if most of the shadier characters don’t trust her, and she has a reputation for ferreting out the truth they don’t want known. That'ss made her a few enemies along the way. Her siblings sometimes worry her fierce crusade may be painting a target on her back. But Becca’s main concern is getting the truth out. Especially now when she suspects the Ministry is hiding more than ever. She doesn’t really have much of a social life, having spent most of her adult years raising her siblings and then trying to pitch in with rebuilding the wizarding world. She doesn’t really mind it thought. She has her family and she’s doing something important, and that’s more than enough for her.




Wand: cedar, phoenix tail feather, 12 ¼ inches, solid
Former House: Slytherin
Affiliation: N/A
Amortentia: quill ink (she fell in love with writing at an early age), eggnog (an O’Brien Christmas tradition), freshly washed clothes (reminds Becca of her mother, who was forever doing laundry with 5 kids)
Magical Abilities: n/a




*points at other characters*