Applying For: Staff, Transfiguration Professor
Name: Professor Asadah (ah-SAH-dah) Leah (LEE-uh) Bastet (BAS-tet). Students call her Professor Bastet.
Name Meaning: Asadah means 'lioness' and is an Arabic name, Leah is an English name meaning 'weary', and Bastet means 'devouring lady' and was the Egyptian goddess and protectress of cats. I prefer to think of it as 'lioness; weary devouring lady'.
Age: 26, rather a young professor don't you think?
Likes: Tea is energizing and yet healthy, and she loves to drink it before a strenuous day of teaching. Mints, Asadah likes mints - she sometimes collects Muggle ones off hotel pillows. Her favorite is, by far, the peppermint but she likes 'em all. She's also one to enjoy the sweet taste of honey; she eats it on toast. Also she is particularly fond of winter, though she hasn't a clue quite why she thinks this.
Dislikes: Asadah isn't quite the Quidditch-fan, she finds the sport quite dull. Yet, at a teacher, she is required to go to every game, though she'd much rather sit in the teacher's lounge and make lesson plans. She hates boring teaching styles, mean students, and sauerkraut (now, friends and neighbors, which word did NOT belong there?).
Hobbies: Shape-shifting, she is a registered Animagus. *^^*
Aspirations: N/A

Appearance
Asadah has honey-brown hair that falls to her waist in a long mostly-straight wave, with several curls at the end. In the classroom she pulls most of the wispy-strands up on top of her head, though usually at least three-long curls escape and fall freely to her waist. Her eyes are stone-gray; just a little darker then the color of a cloud covered sky with very, very small flecks of dark blue. They are usually stern and intelligent, especially when Asadah is dealing with students. She's lightly-pale, with a light brushing of freckles. Asadah is of an average height for a woman, at about 5'5", always insisting on walking with her shoulders slightly back and her head high (thus she has nearly perfect posture). She is quite partial to dark colors; scarlet, sapphires, violets, emeralds, and black. Mostly she's seen in black robes during out-of-Augurey functions but, usually, in class wears blue cloaks.

Personality
Asadah expresses the qualities of the lioness; beauty of movement, agility, strength, caution, fidelity to the pride, etc., all of which could equally be interpreted at the spiritual level.
Asadah, really, has two major themes in her life; that of dramatic revelation and discoveries, on the one hand, and the painstaking attention to detail on the other. As she is hardly cold and analytical, she generally feels the need to reveal herself and her discoveries to the world in an exciting way (thus her love for transfiguration). Her influence on those who watch and listen to her is calculated to impact as she wishes. Not the least of her talents is a personal magnetism which aids in getting people interested in her and what she does in the classroom. Asadah finds creative, unusual, and impressive ways to teach her classes the fine art of shape shifting.
Asadah can be highly controlling and, sometimes, seems to dominate her social circle. She is a strong assertive type, who usually has something to say, though she sometimes says still more with silence. Indeed she feels that the quality of what she does speaks for itself, with no need for much added promotion to give it credence.
There is an undercurrent of wildness that is concealed beneath an unassuming, cool exterior, but those submerged feelings are rarely revealed to anyone but Asadah's closest friends. She specializes in the personal art of emotion; she is not only able to convey them perfectly but often envokes them in others. Her projective powers are great; it is even possible for her to just enter a room and change the energy of the gathering.
She is exceptionally and highly talented in the art of transfiguration; her capacity to work "miracles" in everyday situations wins her much adulation. She has an integrity and devotion to her work that imbues her persona and singular grace.
Despite her love of work, as was said before, Asadah has a wild side, and can at a moment's notice drop her objective stance in favor of risk and adventure.
Furthermore, once she is committed to a situation she will usually refuse to stop until the denouement is complete (no matter how painful it may be). Because of her total involvement, and also her charm and attractiveness she is difficult to unseat from a position of authority or for that matter from a place in a lover's heart.

History
Asadah was born to Iacchus and Decreata Bastet, a pureblood wizard and witch respectively. Both were schooled at Augurey in their younger years and, several months after graduation, the two were married and had Asadah only a year after that.
Asadah, generally, liked her parents; though Decreata was much warmer and quite more compassionate then her Iacchus, who worked for the American Wizarding Government. Together Asadah and Decreata spent their days together in the large library of the Bastet manor. Asadah wasn't surrounded by many children at a young age; so she did what any young child in her situation would do, befriend the house elves. There were many House Elves in the massive Bastet Manor, all of whom were very friendly but not exactly willing to romp about and play with their tiny Mistress, who they were supposed to be serving - not running around with. Asadah was basically schooled by her mother; a classical education in Latin, French, etc just as many other pureblooded wizards would have in England. Asadah much enjoyed these simple lessons that would one day prepare her for Augurey.
At eleven Asadah received her acceptance letter to much celebration in the household. Decreata had always painted Asadah's acceptance into the school as a very big deal and when the two went into the Wizarding towns to buy her school supplies, Asadah was more than a little excited. She'd read up on many aspects of magic in the months after first-receiving the letter in early June, and had done much research on wands. Her own wand was made of sweet Chestnut; the tree of truth. Asadah thought this an extremely important discovery, to most people it would be irrevelent fact provided to them by the wandmaker.
Asadah turned out to be quite the student, recieveing extremely high marks in all her classes, but especially in Transfiguration. The art of shape-shifting fascinated her, even in its very earliest stages. She recieved Four O.W.L.S. in Transfiguration and top place in her year during her 5th year finals and, when taking N.E.W.T.S, also recieved the top score for her year.
She never really suspected she'd recieve a job as a teacher so soon after her graduation, but at the age of 21 Asadah was offered the position as Transfiguration Professor at Augurey School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after the old Professor Bassareus retired; recommending her for the spot. After much consideration, she took the job and quickly learned just how hard it was to be a normal-old Professor; many students were downright mean, others paid little attention in her classes, and still others seemed to think that the fine art of Transfiguration wasn't as important as, say, Potions. Then Asadah took on a new approach and teaching style; weekly projects, plenty of lectures. Hardly any essays, still less signs of notes. Just hands-on experience. Only when her students failed miserably at their task did Asadah apply the read-this-chapter-and-take-five-pages-of-notes approach. She suddenly became a favorite in her first year at the job. Her fellow teachers said that her skills in the classroom came naturally to her; she believed them. She's been on the job for nearly five years now. Go her. ^^

Items: Wand; chestnut, 10 1/4", pliable, phoenix feather - wonderful wand for transfiguration, m'dears.

Animal Guardian: Asadah tends to randomly select several of the strays walking about Augurey and make them her own, from month to month. She has no favorites and treats them all with the same care and respect.

Character Secrets: N/A