#Thoma is basically Childe minus the urge to fight everyone

[aparecium-hq]

Welcome once again to Aparecium, Reagan! You have been accepted for Ivy Blum. We think she has a lot of potential to be a fun character who should be right at home in our mix. We can’t wait to see you get going! Check out the new member checklist, and jump right in. 

Character Basics

Birthday (Age): November 23rd, 2002 (25) (also a Sagittarius)

Gender (Pronouns): Female, She/Her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Blood Status: Muggleborn, a little bit of a Seer

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Occupation: Ivy owns a small teashop in London, just a street away from the Diagon Alley entrance in the Leaky Cauldron. More details in bio…

Faceclaim: Odeya Rush

Biography:

Ivy grew up as the youngest of four, with two older brothers and an older sister; The oldest, Rowan, 32, working as a lawyer in London. He has two daughters and an amazing wife. Ivy and Rowan got along pretty well as kids but didn’t form that strong of a connection, considering Rowan is 7 years older than her. Next is Flora, 28, who doesn’t really work. Her wife is some sort of business CEO in America, so Flora takes care of their three adopted children. Flora and Ivy were very very close as children, and it lasted all the way to adulthood. They talk frequently and Ivy goes to visit at least once a year. Finally, there’s Oliver, Ivy’s twin brother. They were inseparable as children, but when Ivy received a Hogwarts letter and Oliver didn’t, he got jealous. The summer between second and third year, they had a huge fight that ended with both of them swearing to never speak to the other again. They’re both too prideful to apologize, and never stayed in contact after Ivy moved out. She knows he’s working in their father’s shop, and that he met a girl who he’s dating seriously, but that’s all her parents told her.

As for her parents, Daisy and Thomas Blum are the proud owners of ‘Comics & Coffee’, a semi-successful bookstore-cafe franchise in the UK and select locations in America. Thomas started up the company in the late ’90s, while Daisy worked full-time as a nurse, covering expenses that come with starting your own business. Eventually, in 2010, the company started gaining traction after the Avengers movie was announced, and people wanted to get back into comics more than ever all of a sudden. There are seven locations throughout the UK, and three in America. Daisy quit her nursing job in 2011 to help Thomas take care of business, and they’re both happy, despite the busy schedules.

Ivy was a peculiar child, even without the surprise magic. Her mother claims that Ivy rarely cried as a baby and that sometimes she would walk into the nursery in the middle of the night to make sure her daughter was okay, only to find her standing in the crib as if expecting her to walk through the door at that moment. “It’s almost like you could tell the future,” she would joke when she had a few too many glasses of wine and spoke of the incidents, but once Ivy started at Hogwarts and learned what Divination was, she thought maybe she really could tell the future. She dismissed it as coincidental, she was just ‘force sensitive’, as her father would put it.

These occurrences continued throughout her childhood, in very different ways. Sometimes a utensil dropping on the floor would make her suddenly feel the urge to ask when such and such would arrive, even though her parents hadn’t invited anyone over. Sure enough, their grandmother, or some other individual, would show up out of the blue.

Ivy was a very quiet child. She didn’t say her first word until she was 18 months old, whereas Oliver had started talking at a year old. She preferred to sit and color over running around the playground screaming and causing chaos. Her schoolmates would call her a ‘freak’ most of the time, though she didn’t quite understand how rude it was until she got older. When her mother asked her why she was so quiet, Ivy merely shrugged her shoulders and said “I don’t really have anything important to say.”

One thing, however, that did get Ivy talking was comic books. Ivy spent a good part of her childhood between the rows of her father’s shop. You could usually find her in the X-Men section, a pile of comics surrounding her as she essentially devoured the one in her hand. If you even brought up any of the X-Men, you would see her light up like never before. She felt a special connection with the X-Men series specifically because they weren’t just superheroes; there were kids and teenagers like her, who were just trying to figure out why they were different. Up until her 11th birthday, she thought her accidental magic was actually her mutant powers, and that once she got older, Professor X or someone would come to get her. That obviously wasn’t the case.

Because Ivy’s birthday is so late in the year, she had to wait 10 months after receiving her letter to go to Hogwarts. She was also a year older than everyone in her year, which was convenient in 6th year because Ivy turned 17 before most of her classmates and was therefore sent out on Firewhiskey runs for them.

At Hogwarts, she really ‘blum’ed (I had to do it at least once). Despite the initial disappointment that she wouldn’t be heading to the X-Mansion, Hogwarts proved to be almost cooler. She wasn’t much of a hat-staller, but the Sorting Hat did debate for a little bit on whether to put her in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. It eventually decided on Hufflepuff, because her hard-working and loyal nature was more over-powering than her pride. As for classes, she discovered a natural gift for Herbology and quickly developed a love for plants of all kinds. If you couldn’t find her in the common room, your best bet was to search the Greenhouses, where Ivy was usually helping Professor Longbottom with some sort of plant.

Another class she found she excelled in was Divination. Professor Trelawney was well past her prime, but she did offer a starting point for Ivy, so she could slowly develop her Seer abilities as time went on. It was a nice distraction from the sadness of her fight with Oliver. Immersing herself in the world of Divination distracted her from dealing with her feelings. Ivy took the class every year for her remaining years at Hogwarts and found that no matter how hard the tried, she couldn’t get the hang of crystal balls or fortune-telling. She was very good at interpreting dreams, tarot cards, and tea leaves, however, which is why she calls herself ‘force sensitive’; She doesn’t visually see the future, but she can read the messages that the future sends.

After graduating from Hogwarts, she spent a year living abroad, trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She visited wizarding and muggle villages alike, all across Europe. She made money by reading palms and offering tarot readings to anyone who would ask. She eventually found that she enjoyed doing just that, minus the nomadic lifestyle. She wanted a store, her own business, just like her parents. When she returned home, she told her parents about her plan; open a tea shop for muggles and wixen alike. Muggles can come in and enjoy a cup of tea, or purchase tea if they’d like. Witches and wizards can come in and ask to use the upstairs washroom. This would prompt Ivy to lead them upstairs, where there was no bathroom, and that was where she would hold all of her readings (palmistry, tarot cards, tea leaves, etc). Ivy decided not to offer her readings to muggles because of the Statute of Secrecy; she isn’t 100% positive, but if her gifts are indeed Seer abilities, she could get in serious trouble for using them on muggles. If she was lucky, they wouldn’t find out about her year abroad. Though her parents didn’t quite understand the magic aspect of it, they were happy one of their children wanted to start their own business, and they gave Ivy a loan so she could buy a place in London and get things started.

After a lot of back and forth with the Ministry, Ivy finally opened the doors of ‘Leaves’ in 2023, at the age of 21. Though she received quite a few wixen clients, she didn’t initially receive many muggle clients. People weren’t as interested in sitting and enjoying tea in a shop if they could just do it at home. Her muggle clientele has grown slowly over the years, but her primary customers remain witches and wizards.

She almost gave up her business in 2025, when she became pregnant with her daughter. She’d been seeing someone for a few weeks, nothing extremely serious. Ivy called Flora before she told anybody else. Flora told her to tell the father, which did not end well for Ivy. He did exactly what she thought he would do, which was disappear. After he told her she wanted nothing to do with the baby, Ivy called Flora again, only this time, she was crying harder than she’d ever cried. Flora couldn’t understand any of what Ivy said for the first half-hour of their phone call. Eventually, Ivy calmed down and explained the situation, which prompted Flora to grab her kids and jump on a plane. Ivy spent two weeks holed up in her apartment with Flora, the kids visiting their grandparents, and looking around London. During this time, Flora and Ivy barely spoke; Flora knew Ivy just needed someone there, and that she’d ask for help when she needed it. After two weeks, she finally asked Flora what to do.

They concluded that she couldn’t do this alone. Ivy had to hire a shop assistant, and she wouldn’t be able to offer her readings for a while. Eventually, she chose to hire [TBD], who ended up being a pretty good help. Ivy only showed up every other day to check in on them.

Although it was unexpected and a little inopportune, Ivy was ecstatic to become a mother. She gave birth to her daughter, Olivia Iris Blum, in October of 2025. Though she’ll never admit it, Ivy named her daughter after her twin brother. Even though she’s only two years old, Olivia is as energetic and excitable as Oliver was when he was a kid, which makes Ivy feel like she still has a part of Oliver in her life. Ivy and Olivia live in the loft above the tea shop, and customers often see the young girl playing on the ground behind the counter or under unoccupied tables.

Character Questionnaire

How does your character feel about their family?

Ivy idolizes her parents even if she doesn’t outwardly show it. She watched her parents build a company from the ground up, and she watched them continue to love each other and build each other up throughout it all. They also always made time for their children, no matter the situation. If Thomas had to work late, he’d find thirty minutes of his time to call home and talk to all the kids before they went to bed. Daisy always had everyone’s lunches packed and ready to go in the morning, even if she had just worked all night. Every kid believes they have the best parents in the world up until a certain age, but Ivy never stopped believing that.

As for siblings, the feelings vary.

Ivy adores Rowan, but they’re so far apart in age that they never properly bonded. They talk on the phone at least once a month, and Ivy comes for supper on Fridays, but that’s mostly because Rosie, Rowan’s wife, was two years older than Ivy and rode the bus with her when the young witch attended muggle primary school. They reconnected and became good friends when Rowan and Rosie started dating.

Flora and Ivy, however, are much much closer. Even though Ivy was a quieter-than-usual kid, she always seemed to open up to Flora; Flora had some sort of gift with children and always seemed to get along with them. Their friendship remained sturdy even when Ivy started attending Hogwarts. They wrote to each other consistently, and it was actually by letter that Flora came out to Ivy, her being the first person she told. To this day, Ivy and Flora are the closest sisters in the world, despite being continents apart. Ivy doesn’t necessarily want the ‘housewife’ life for herself, but she’s happy her sister has found someone who gave it to her.

And of course, Oliver. Ivy hasn’t spoken to Oliver properly in over a decade. Nothing more than ‘pass the peas’ or ‘mom said she wanted to talk to you’. She misses her twin brother, but she can’t bring herself to apologize for the fight; he said some unforgivable things to her. She knows he was angry, but he could have just expressed his feelings and they could’ve talked through it. Ivy will always love Oliver, but she won’t be the first to apologize.

I couldn’t forget Olivia. Despite the fact that Olivia was a BIG surprise, Ivy is grateful for her every single day when she hears her daughter’s voice. Olivia is the most important person in the world for Ivy, and she would do anything for her

How would your character describe their own work ethic? Is that an accurate measure of themself?

Ivy sees herself as a very hard-working individual; she always puts in 110% and never gives up, no matter how hard the issue. She’s a bit of a perfectionist, which is both a good and bad thing; Good because the final product is always top-quality, and bad because she isn’t very good at accepting the help of others. She likes to do things herself because things need to be done in a specific way.

What does your character value in a friendship?

Ivy values honesty and communication above anything else. She wants to avoid another falling out like the one with her brother at all costs, so she prefers friends who won’t just shut her out or be super secretive all the time. She just wants a proper grown-up friendship.

Para Sample

BEEP! BEEP! BEE-

Ivy’s hand sneaked out quickly from under the covers to turn off the alarm, then returned quickly back to the warmth of her comforter. The air was cold, which was to be expected considering it was January. The heater was lackluster, s Ivy usually had to cast a heating charm on her blanket, so when morning came, she would end up in the exact position she was in now; her duvet covering her head all the way to her toes, while she was curled up in a ball underneath, trying to keep warm. She lay there for a moment, almost drifting back to sleep when the alarm went off once more. This one was to ensure she didn’t do exactly what she was just doing. Ivy turned the alarm off with a sigh and removed her blanket from her body. It was time to start her day.

Ivy made her way to her kitchen, starting the kettle and grabbing a bowl of cereal. She opened her drawer to pull out a spoon when she dropped said utensil on the floor. An overwhelming sense of dread came over her, and she froze where she stood, bowl in hand. She stared at the spoon, which was pointing away from her front door, which only meant bad news. An unexpected visitor, but who? Then, Ivy noticed that it was a spoon. “An unexpected child is going to be visiting? But wh-” and that’s when it hit her. Her bowl joined her spoon on the ground, and she was soon running to the bathroom and opening the medicine cabinet. She grabbed the muggle pregnancy test- the potion took too long to brew, she needed answers immediately.

Minutes turned into hours as she paced throughout her apartment. She stared at the phone in her kitchen, debating calling her sister, or maybe even her mom. But she shook away that thought very quickly, there was no need to worry either of them for no reason. She’d been wrong with her instincts before, she could be wrong again. She stared at the clock for a few seconds longer, until she heard the alarm on her phone go off. She stared down the hallway that led to her bathroom, her heart beating faster and harder than it ever had before. She made way into the room and looked at the stick that could change her future drastically. She stared for a few seconds at the stick, a single tear falling down her face before she took a deep breath and picked up her cellphone. She clicked on the contact name ‘Flora’, her hands shaking as she waited for the only voice that could calm her down right now.

“Hello?’

Another deep breath. “Flora?” Her voice shook slightly as she spoke her sister’s name. “I have a problem.”

Additional Information for Original Characters  

Character Teaser

Growing up muggleborn and being able to read the future wasn’t a great combination. Her family called her peculiar, but schoolmates used another word to describe Ivy Blum: a freak. It wasn’t until she was introduced into the world of magic that Ivy realized how special she truly was. Over the years, she’s developed her skills both in school and out in the world, while overcoming any obstacle in her way. She’s even opened a tea shop, where she offers teas and readings of all kinds. You’ll either find her behind the counter or chasing a little girl around the tables.

Feelings on Magical Integration

Ivy is absolutely an integrationist. She wishes she could have a conversation with her mother about the wizarding world and not have to explain every little thing. She wants her daughter to be able to mingle with muggles and wixen alike, as she has roots in both. She has a very long list that goes on for ages, but it’s mainly because she wants her family to be involved and know more about the wizarding world.

Wanted Connections

The Assistant: Someone who’s been working in the shop for a few years now, and who is pretty close with Ivy. Ideally, a character who is hard-working and trustworthy, but I’m open to a sweet employee who is Doing Their Best™.

The Baby Daddy: The father of Olivia, who has recently come back into the picture. Someone a little flaky, but who’s also Doing Their Best™.

The Best Friend: Someone Ivy has been friends with for years. They’ve gone through a lot together, and will always have each other’s backs.