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bespectacle) wrote2015-01-06 12:53 am
bespectacle) wrote2015-01-06 12:53 am
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P L A Y E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Chinatown
OOC Journal:beachland
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: No im old
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Characters Played at Ataraxion: William Tsang (OC), Mystique (X-Men Cinematic Universe), and Helena (Orphan Black)
C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Harry James Potter
Canon: Harry Potter series
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Age 18, 1 year post Deathly Hallows (pre-epilogue)
Number: RNG me
Setting: Wizards and witches exist in modern day Earth, hidden from the vast majority of mundane humans-- termed Muggles-- because of the International Statute of Secrecy. These wizards are extremely similar to human, physically identical to them and capable of fostering children together. However, they wield a wide variety of magic, such as the ability to cast spells, fly on brooms, create potions out of disparate materials, and otherwise demonstrate unusual levels of physical durability and properties (e.g., altering their hair unconsciously). Wizard society is rich and complex, varying from continent to continent, but all emphasizing secrecy and appropriate education in the magical arts.
History:
Harry was born at the climax of the First Wizarding War, to parents Lily and James Potter, on July 31, 1980. Lily and James were members of the Order of the Phoenix, a resistance against the insurgent force and would-be genocidal dictator and magical blood purist known as Lord Voldemort. Despite that they had been warriors in the ongoing battle, they were at the time of Harry's birth in hiding because the Dark Lord wanted nothing more than to murder their son thanks to a prophesy that had foretold that Harry might be the end of him. The Potters had sought refuge at Godric's Hollow protected by the Fidelius Charm, which depended on the loyalty of an established Secret-Keeper. Though the strain of secrecy took its toll on his parents, Harry himself proved a happy and healthy baby having ease with magic from the get-go, such as the ability to ride around a toy broom as an infant.
Unfortunately, on Halloween of 1981, they were betrayed by their Secret-Keeper, Peter Pettigrew, who had been functioning as a spy for Voldemort. Both Potter parents were slain by Voldemort, though the protection of Lily's conscious and willing sacrifice for her son caused Voldemort's murderous spell to backfire when he finally attacked the infant; Voldemort effectively vanquished himself, if only temporarily. What remained of Voldemort's soul was preserved in a number of Horcruxes, vessels for his souls-- and inadvertently in Harry himself, though the child had nothing more than a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead to show for it. In the chaos that followed, Peter Pettigrew framed one of James' other best friends, Sirius Black, for the betrayal of the Potters and he went into hiding disguised as a common rat.
Despite numerous objections and doubts voiced by his peers, the powerful and influential Order member known as Albus Dumbledore opted to give Harry Potter to his Muggle aunt and her family, the Dursleys. His childhood at Privet Drive was immediately characterized by neglect and abuse. Not only did they fail to ever pass on to Harry the letter penned by Dumbledore that described his magical heritage, but the Dursleys also subjected Harry to routine physical punishment, shorted him of square meals (though not to the point of malnourishment), forced him to live in absurdly confined and unhygienic quarters (such as a cupboard thronged with spiders), was provided little or no entertainment or stimulation, and verbally abused him to the exclusion of any positive or validating remarks at all. This treatment was not culturally appropriate for the Dursleys; they spoiled their own son, Dudley, to a deplorable extent. The rationale of their treatment of Harry was primarily a serious and not unfounded concern that his magical heritage would crop up and change their lives in threatening ways.
Early disturbances caused by Harry's magical properties-- his hair growing back overnight, his ability to effectively teleport out of the grasp of bullies, including his own cousin, releasing a snake from the zoo, deferential treatment by [wizarding] strangers-- were eclipsed entirely when he turned 11-years-old. Shortly before his birthday, Harry received his first invitation to Hogwarts, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His second and twelfth invitations shortly followed, as Mr. Dursley panicked and went through enormous efforts to break off contact between Harry and Hogwarts, including packing up his whole family and driving them off. Rubeus Hagrid, the school's gamekeeper, showed up with a flying motorcycle, a misshapen birthday cake, and a couple well-placed (but illegal) spells to sort the Muggles out. Given his son now sported a pig's tail, Mr. Dudley did not have much to say.
Hagrid was essential in introducing Harry to the various facts and fundamentals of his place in the wizarding world. Harry found out how his parents had truly died, discovered he had inherited mountains of gold, purchased his first wand, and received his owl, Hedwig.
Life in Hogwarts was characterized by a lot of weird magical coursework (at which he did okay), House and ministerial politics (at which he was terrible), and wizard sports (at which he excelled), punctuated by moments of hysterical violence as the Dark Lord began his bid for corporeality and influence once again. Harry became fast friends with Ronald Weasley, a pure-blood whose family nonetheless was of little means and looked very kindly upon Muggles, and Hermione Granger, a brilliant scholastically-inclined witch of Muggle descent. With the help of his two best friends and a number of other companions besides, Harry recovered and destroyed the Philosopher's Stone to thwart Voldemort's resurrection in his first year. In his second, he slew a basilisk released by Lucius Malfoy, to target Muggle-born students, and destroyed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes; in his third, he got to the bottom of Peter Pettigrew's treachery when Sirius Black escaped from prison to avenge Harry's parents. By then, a combination of coincidence and steadfast research (thanks Hermione) had gradually uncovered the reality of Voldemort's agenda. The Dark Lord wanted first to regain his life and limb. Second, to bring his wizarding war to fruition, with the separation of humankind into superior (pureblood) and inferior (muggle-tainted) classes, with changes to magical education, breeding, and all levels of subjugation to follow. Harry was instantly both viscerally and ethically opposed to this regime, and the guidance of Headmaster Dumbledore and his friends supported his stance. Jerks like Draco Malfoy on the other hand, gross. Potionmaster Severus Snape's nasty attitude toward him was somewhat less decipherable, but Harry ever favored him as a suspect for wrongdoing.
Despite moments of great fear and doubt, not the least of which were the bruises to his pride when he reacted with unusual severity to the Dementors that began to fly sentinel over the school, Harry prevailed thanks to the help of his loved ones, the dubious wisdom of selfless heroism, the ability to melt a cursed person's face off with his hands, ingenuity (mostly Hermione's), and an amount of nerve disproportionate to his tiny body.
In his fourth year, Voldemort finally made a successful bid for resurrection. By rigging the Triwizard Cup Tournament, he plotted that Harry would be vulnerable and ultimately separated from the protections of Hogwarts. Throughout, Harry faced marginalization from his peers and even momentarily from Ron, who thought that Harry must have deliberately tricked himself into a contender's position despite the ludicrous degree of danger that the tournament posed to all contestants. Despite battles with dragons, psychotic merpeople, bewitched co-competitors, and the threat of attending the Yuletide Ball without a date, Harry survived right up to confronting Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters alongside Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts' official Tournament nominee. It was an utter nightmare. Cedric was slain where he stood, and Harry accosted and forced to participate in a blood ritual which reformed the Dark Lord's body. By the skin of his teeth, Harry escaped, taking Cedric's corpse with him. His reappearance at the Tournament's final site initiated about five seconds of enthusiastic celebration, before Cedric's death and his announcement of Voldemort's return effectively killed the buzz.
Fifth year was the angriest year ever. Not only was he forced to stay with the Dursleys through the whole summer without any word from his friends or allies, but he was nearly expelled for using magic in self-defense, and returned to the wizarding world to find that the media and Ministry of Magic were promoting denial of Voldemort's rise-- at a grievous expense to his reputation. Furthermore, he was plagued with visions of Voldemort's experiences, including violent attacks on those Harry knew and loved. Oddly, this sense of alienation opened him up to befriending an unusual girl, Luna Lovegood, who rather turned his perspective around after some conversation. He closed ranks with Hermione and Ron in time to face the Inquisitorial Squad, dispatched by the Ministry of Magic to limit Dumbledore's alleged subversive fear-mongering. Faced with increasing threats from Death Eaters, arbitrary changes to school policy, vicious disciplinary actions, and a completely neutered Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum, Harry, Ron and Hermione started up a group to teach proper magical self-defense. Unwisely, they named the group Dumbledore's Army-- a fact that was used to oust the Headmaster after the Inquisitorial Squad penetrated their security. Having failed to learn Occlumency, that would have closed off his mind from Voldemort, Harry found himself tricked into entering the Ministry of Magic in an ill-conceived bid to rescue Sirius from the Dark Lord. When the Order of the Phoenix came to the rescue of himself and his peers, Sirius was killed.
Sirius' death sent Harry into a terrible depression, colored also by persistent rage at his own helplessness and Voldemort's increasing power. Fortunately, he was then tasked by Dumbledore get close to Professor Slughorn, who likely knew something of Voldemort's secrets of power. Amid some adolescent drama (romantically related) and weird behavior from Draco Malfoy (not romantic at all), Harry succeeded in uncovering the reality of the Horcruxes and attempted, with Headmaster Dumbledore, to retrieve one. However, the retrieved locket turned out to be a fake-- and the process weakened Dumbledore drastically, to the point that he seemed nearly helpless when Draco Malfoy and a group of Death Eaters came to kill him. When Malfoy hesitated, however, Professor Snape slew Dumbledore instead, reifying Harry's hatred for the man. Harry decided to end his burgeoning romance with Ginny Weasley, fearing to endanger her. For the same reason, he also tried to shoulder the burden of finding Horcruxes alone, but Ron and Hermione effectively ignored that-- a good thing, as he would have been pretty crappy at this next part on his own.
Afterward, Harry and his two best friends did not return to Hogwarts in the fall. Lord Voldemort had come into full power, having infiltrated the Ministry and set up a puppet government. The children were openly hunted as they went on the run in search of Horcruxes with desperately few clues or weapons at their disposal. Grief, paranoia, and misery strained their relationships, the worse when the way was pitted with thin and frequently tragic news of the Order, Dark enchantments, deleterious stories of Dumbledore's past as a wizard supremacist, and obtuse riddles. Their mission to search and destroy these items culminated in a great battle at Hogwarts. Harry finally came to understand what he needed to do to end Voldemort once and for all, which was: to allow himself to be killed. He also unraveled the complex friendship between Severus Snape and his mother that had pressed the Potionsaster to become a double-agent, as well as the secrets of wand mastery, and key elements of Voldemort's psyche (i.e., incredible self-importance) that allowed him to locate and identify the final Horcrux. Lord Voldemort ordered a lull in the battle and asked Harry to step forward sooner than see more die, which was the moment he came to his decision.
By the time Harry was killed, he was ready for it and did so willingly. This was thanks to this rather rapid sequential absorption of information and magical physics. The part of Voldemort that had survived in Harry died with this blow. Harry came out of his hallucinatory semi-death state, having spoken to some part of Dumbledore's soul, equipped anew to destroy Lord Voldemort. His sacrifice to save his school and his allies conferred the same protection to they that his mother had conferred to him, sixteen years ago, and he was still protected himself. Thus, when Voldemort attacked him again, the spell rebounded and killed the Dark Lord once and for all.
After the fall of the Dark Lord, Harry had changed a little. He no longer had several of the characteristics he had once shared with Voldemort, such as the ability to speak the language of snakes. Despite the conflictive relationship he'd had with formal wizarding anything in the past few years, he returned to Hogwarts to complete his education. He passed his Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (NEWTs) and, through edict of the new Minister of Magic, became an Auror. He proceeded to dedicate much of his life to his work, investigating incidents involving Dark Magic and detaining Dark Wizards where necessary. Outside of his employment, he dated a little, but mostly Ginny Weasley, and periodically visited Hogwarts to critique the house system.
Personality:
Harry is said to take after his mother in many important ways, and he is accused of being similar to his father in the worst. There is some truth to both, although it's important to note that his parents saw eye-to-eye on a great many matters that are echoed oddly in Harry's own behavior.
Harry's best qualities are his enormous capacity for love, compassion and a willingness to self-sacrifice when necessary. In times of crisis, he hates to see others endangered to the point where he is reluctant to accept assistance that he direly needs, such as when he must hunt for Horcruxes. He faces threat to life and limb and even makes himself available to be murdered, when it is the only possible way to win the Second Wizarding War. Even outside of danger, he presents himself as a kind and gentle spirit over a backbone of intolerance of injustice, such as that he favors friends that he knows to be generous, considerate, well-intended and helpful to others, no matter how awkward they are or poor their reputation. He has as little compunction about speaking up quite crossly on behalf of such downtrodden as he does about stabbing giant serpents that are trying to exterminate children descended of Muggles.
Like his father, however, he has a tendency to flout the rules which goes hand-in-hand with something of a thirst for adrenaline. He loves flying-- on his broom most of all. While he doesn't exactly love risking detention from Professor McGonagall, he takes rather easily to all manner of dragon-smuggling and shapeshifter-tracking and potions-brewing and Restricted Section potions book-brewing and Hogsmeade-sneaking soon than sit idle or press help from those who do not appear immediately willing. While he is generally motivated by wholesome goals (e.g., saving the world, preserving life and limb), there is a quality of reckless disregard to this. Indeed, his impulsiveness mingled with a disregard for the warnings of others led him into the trap set by Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic, ultimately resulting in the death of his godfather.
Despite being a 'good person' for whatever that's worth, his abuse at the hands of the Dursleys have left their mark. He has a strong sense of pride when it comes to his own weakness, hating for example that his reaction to Dementors was much more crippling than that of his peers. He is not particularly sensitive about the particular talents or gifts of his friends, but he doesn't like to be pathetic or talked down to. Additionally, Harry has a violent temper. Though he rarely actually enacts violence as a result, his heights of anger may cause him to snap at others, rage internally, then turn inward and alienate himself from others deliberately. Though he rarely sought recognition, Dumbledore's decision to protect him by ignoring him for nearly a full school year infuriated him. In general, his first retreat is solitude, as will be wont for a boy who was made to live under a cupboard while his cousin was given robots for his birthday. Notably, Harry has difficulty with controlling emotions of all kinds, but especially those relating to his friends and family.
Harry also has a small but distinct affinity for malice, largely confined to fantasy and private thoughts. When he first went to Diagon Alley at 11-years-of-age, he was immediately attracted to a book of hexes, thinking to avenge himself on Dursley-- of course, he never ended up attacking Dursley with magic at all, but a gleam of interest was there. Likewise, he swore to murder Sirius Black when he was mistakenly led to believe that the man had betrayed his parents, and later pursued Bellatrix Lestrange hurling extremely Dark Magic at her in want of vengeance for Sirius himself. It might be said that Harry has precious few good things in his life, and he reacts powerfully when somebody bothers them.
Apart from the good and the bad, Harry is a bit awkward, in a funny, humble, 'raised in a cupboard by jerks' way that is often as endearing to people as it is annoying for those who expect somewhat more from the Boy Who Lived. His reputation never went to his head. As Dumbledore observed, he never wanted leadership despite or perhaps therefore having a good temperament for it. For his Defense Against the Dark Arts club, or Dumbledore's Army, he was an affable and extremely effective spell teacher. Toward the end of the Second Wizarding War, adults and children alike looked to him for guidance and to assist him on his mission to destroy Horcruxes. His charisma generally seems to be a coincidence of attitude rather than a practiced skill; as bad as he is at controlling his emotions, he's not very good at expressing them either. He tends toward understated and a little fumbling when placed in unusual emotional situations, though he's a great deal better with girls now than he was a few years ago.
Odd fact: Harry is quite cautious or rather, strategic about money even at the age of twelve, having mountains of gold and numerous magical prizes he'd love to expense, but choosing not to.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
Harry Potter is a wizard of considerable skill and raw talent, although his abilities are largely confined to those exhibited and accessible by any of his kind in his homeworld. Fields of magical study are broad and diverse, from the concoction of potions to the enchantment of objects, healing, transfiguration (changing shapes), charms, divination, and curses. As an Auror, Harry has a solid command of most areas, as evinced by his OWL and NEWT exam scores.
Of these, he has a few exceptional magic-related abilities. He is particularly good at riding a broom, and his agility and perceptive acuity only serve to enhance this. In canon, he has also demonstrated the unusual ability to throw off the Imperius curse, despite the potency of the infamous mind-control spell.
With regard to performing magic, he has a 'knack' for various types of complex magic, especially offensive and defensive spells. He has mastered the Stupefying Charm in his teens and shortly afterward successfully conjuring the Patronus charm, which can ward off Dementors and associated deleterious effects (e.g., the fear aura). Of Dark Magic, he is able to utilize the Imperius curse on a goblin under duress despite having had no prior practice, and otherwise demonstrates a capacity for jinxes, hexes, and curses. His knowledge of spells is not as comprehensive as Hermione Granger's, but he is a quick study and powerful in execution. Further, Harry is quite capable of performing wandless and non-verbal magic even under duress; the latter, notably, he demonstrates primarily when he is enraged.
Harry has demonstrated various types of power-related weaknesses throughout his canon. He is not very good at Occlumency, probably in part because he is terribly in touch with what he's feeling all the time and very bad at sectioning away parts of himself. Similarly, perhaps due to a limitation of personality and intent rather than skill, he has difficulty wielding an effective Cruciatus Curse, which should inflict a lengthy, torturous pain. He has never used the Avada Kedavra or 'killing curse,' and is unlikely to be very good at it. Harry also notes that he has little talent with healing spells.
See Personality section above for discussion of psychological weaknesses.
With regard to physical properties, Harry is oddly durable and robust of health the way that all wizards and witches are. However, he is also underweight, and he is extremely strong myopia. He requires glasses to see intelligibly, and certainly to read.
Inventory:
4 brooms (flying)
1 white peacock (male)
1 Crookshanks the orange cat
1 box of numerous wizard newspapers, photographs, etc. through Harry's canon point
1 enchanted motorcycle
1 of the Half-blood Prince's potions textbook
1 copy of Hogwarts: A History
1 invisibility cloak (formerly James Potter's)
1 Sneakoscope
1 pair of glasses (correct prescription)
1 set of Quidditch balls
1 wizard camera
2 Chocolate Frogs
1 jar of Every Flavored Beans
2 pairs of pants
2 shirts
1 sweater (Mrs. Weasley made this)
9 socks
1 pair of boots
1 wand (Holly, phoenix feather core)
2 Howlers (unused)
1 Pensiev
1 box of Puking Pastilles
Appearance: Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Harry in the films, is a fairly accurate representation. However, Harry himself has black hair rather than brown. His coiff is perpetually unkempt and he's rather pale; since adolescence, his spots have more or less cleared up. His eyes are a very sharp, very distinctive green, said to be near identical to those of his mother, Lily Potter's. Harry has a very skinny frame, perhaps in part due to his rather spare meals growing up, but he is robust and healthy. Those familiar with the sport of Quidditch may recognize him to have the ideal Seeker's build.
Age: 19
AU Clarification: N/A
S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
Harry sets the transfigured pair of glasses on his face. These ones have squarish lenses, very thick rims, black, plastic, the interior of the frame a vivid lime green. It looks very chic-- and very much at odds with the deplorable mess of his hair, his plain little face. Maybe if he were wearing converses and a pair of very skinny jeans. "I don't know about this," he says, twisting his head to the side, as if a different angle might improve upon his appearance in the mirror (it doesn't). "I suppose it looks a bit more 'modern,' but I'm not sure I want to look like I know how to talk about hyperdrives and cyberfluid technology lasers.
"And if my job's just to stand there and look pretty, I doubt I'm going to pull that off either," he finishes, wryly. He pulls the glasses off his face, blinks half-blindly at his companion. Despite the obvious misgivings, from his 90s wizardliness to the foreboding stories about previous docking escapades, he can't stop a grin from spreading over his face, excited despite himself. "Maybe I ought to go invisible."
Revised Sample
Harry has never been very good at knowing what Draco is thinking. To be fair, Draco probably isn't very good at knowing what Draco is thinking. Harry finds himself distracted by wondering, though, watching the other young man (--younger man, through some bizarre coincidence of timey-wimey weirdness) twist his wand around and shift the dramatic hem of his coat, over at the other end of the recreation hall. Draco looks older, something about bones and maybe even height, but the arrogant legacy in his carriage and expression and narrow face are the same.
But these features do not make Harry feel angry like they used to, no thorny ball of defensive, preemptive aggravation twisting up in his chest, no urge to turn and tell Hermione and Ron, to share the burden of cloying frustration with like-minded Gryffindors. Not even the urge to think back to the Battle of Hogwarts, or the scant handful of encounters they've had since, or of the Daily Prophet articles that might have featured the Malfoy family. Harry adjusts his glasses thoughtfully, and nods when he hears Lily's voice ring out, clear and startlingly young. Every time he's been near his mother, he's felt the same flash of warmth.
You have to mean it, when you cast Dark Magic, and for an instant he wonders if this will be a problem. Harry swallows hard. Incompetence, even now-- especially now, in the Tranquility, surrounded by friends and family dislocated from the ordinary context of space and time, would be galling.
But then he closes his fingers around his wand. Conviction moves over him sudden as a windshield wiper, the familiar balance of the focus in his hand, the fit of his jacket and the weight of the glasses on his nose, and the realization has everything and nothing to do with these material articles. Harry Potter is a wizard. Not all the wormholes in the multiverse can change that.
And wizards duel. He nods at his mother. "I'm ready," he says, raising the tip of his wand to his brow in salute. His eyes meet Draco's over the long stretch of cold chrome floor.
Comms Sample:
Hello. Hi-- my name is Harry Potter.
[The boy-- young man, really, who sits in front of the camera has a rumpled head and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, barely visible under the tousle of his very black forelocks. Something about the whiteness of his face and the uneven press of his lips suggests that what he has to say is very difficult for him. It is.
Blood has been thundering his ears for the past hour; since Draco Malfoy let slip Professor Snape's name, so casually. As if. As if.] I'm looking for someone. Well, two someones, really. There's, um, a man-- he'll look a lot like me, probably. [No scar, he thumps the heel of his hand on his forehead demonstratively.] Black hair, really skinny, glasses. And a woman. She'll have red hair and green eyes. Their names are James and Lily. James and Lily Potter.
[A beat.]
I've got a picture, right here. [A slight fiddling of the camera, and then he raises up the black-and-white photograph to see, its image curiously animate.
The couple depicted therein are smiling, their faces alive with sincere mirth; the wind picks up and twirls Lily's desaturated hair a little, doesn't put a dent in James' rumpled mop, but doesn't make it much worse either. Harry holds it up long enough for the camera to focus; long enough for the breeze to go through twice, for James to swing her around twice, for Lily to dip at the waist twice, her fingers tight around her husband's. Then Harry again. He's gotten whiter since the last time he was in the screen.] Please let me know if you've seen them here. Cheers.
Your Name: Chinatown
OOC Journal:
beachlandUnder 18? If yes, what is your age?: No im old
Email + IM:
Characters Played at Ataraxion: William Tsang (OC), Mystique (X-Men Cinematic Universe), and Helena (Orphan Black)
C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Harry James Potter
Canon: Harry Potter series
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: Age 18, 1 year post Deathly Hallows (pre-epilogue)
Number: RNG me
Setting: Wizards and witches exist in modern day Earth, hidden from the vast majority of mundane humans-- termed Muggles-- because of the International Statute of Secrecy. These wizards are extremely similar to human, physically identical to them and capable of fostering children together. However, they wield a wide variety of magic, such as the ability to cast spells, fly on brooms, create potions out of disparate materials, and otherwise demonstrate unusual levels of physical durability and properties (e.g., altering their hair unconsciously). Wizard society is rich and complex, varying from continent to continent, but all emphasizing secrecy and appropriate education in the magical arts.
History:
Harry was born at the climax of the First Wizarding War, to parents Lily and James Potter, on July 31, 1980. Lily and James were members of the Order of the Phoenix, a resistance against the insurgent force and would-be genocidal dictator and magical blood purist known as Lord Voldemort. Despite that they had been warriors in the ongoing battle, they were at the time of Harry's birth in hiding because the Dark Lord wanted nothing more than to murder their son thanks to a prophesy that had foretold that Harry might be the end of him. The Potters had sought refuge at Godric's Hollow protected by the Fidelius Charm, which depended on the loyalty of an established Secret-Keeper. Though the strain of secrecy took its toll on his parents, Harry himself proved a happy and healthy baby having ease with magic from the get-go, such as the ability to ride around a toy broom as an infant.
Unfortunately, on Halloween of 1981, they were betrayed by their Secret-Keeper, Peter Pettigrew, who had been functioning as a spy for Voldemort. Both Potter parents were slain by Voldemort, though the protection of Lily's conscious and willing sacrifice for her son caused Voldemort's murderous spell to backfire when he finally attacked the infant; Voldemort effectively vanquished himself, if only temporarily. What remained of Voldemort's soul was preserved in a number of Horcruxes, vessels for his souls-- and inadvertently in Harry himself, though the child had nothing more than a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead to show for it. In the chaos that followed, Peter Pettigrew framed one of James' other best friends, Sirius Black, for the betrayal of the Potters and he went into hiding disguised as a common rat.
Despite numerous objections and doubts voiced by his peers, the powerful and influential Order member known as Albus Dumbledore opted to give Harry Potter to his Muggle aunt and her family, the Dursleys. His childhood at Privet Drive was immediately characterized by neglect and abuse. Not only did they fail to ever pass on to Harry the letter penned by Dumbledore that described his magical heritage, but the Dursleys also subjected Harry to routine physical punishment, shorted him of square meals (though not to the point of malnourishment), forced him to live in absurdly confined and unhygienic quarters (such as a cupboard thronged with spiders), was provided little or no entertainment or stimulation, and verbally abused him to the exclusion of any positive or validating remarks at all. This treatment was not culturally appropriate for the Dursleys; they spoiled their own son, Dudley, to a deplorable extent. The rationale of their treatment of Harry was primarily a serious and not unfounded concern that his magical heritage would crop up and change their lives in threatening ways.
Early disturbances caused by Harry's magical properties-- his hair growing back overnight, his ability to effectively teleport out of the grasp of bullies, including his own cousin, releasing a snake from the zoo, deferential treatment by [wizarding] strangers-- were eclipsed entirely when he turned 11-years-old. Shortly before his birthday, Harry received his first invitation to Hogwarts, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His second and twelfth invitations shortly followed, as Mr. Dursley panicked and went through enormous efforts to break off contact between Harry and Hogwarts, including packing up his whole family and driving them off. Rubeus Hagrid, the school's gamekeeper, showed up with a flying motorcycle, a misshapen birthday cake, and a couple well-placed (but illegal) spells to sort the Muggles out. Given his son now sported a pig's tail, Mr. Dudley did not have much to say.
Hagrid was essential in introducing Harry to the various facts and fundamentals of his place in the wizarding world. Harry found out how his parents had truly died, discovered he had inherited mountains of gold, purchased his first wand, and received his owl, Hedwig.
Life in Hogwarts was characterized by a lot of weird magical coursework (at which he did okay), House and ministerial politics (at which he was terrible), and wizard sports (at which he excelled), punctuated by moments of hysterical violence as the Dark Lord began his bid for corporeality and influence once again. Harry became fast friends with Ronald Weasley, a pure-blood whose family nonetheless was of little means and looked very kindly upon Muggles, and Hermione Granger, a brilliant scholastically-inclined witch of Muggle descent. With the help of his two best friends and a number of other companions besides, Harry recovered and destroyed the Philosopher's Stone to thwart Voldemort's resurrection in his first year. In his second, he slew a basilisk released by Lucius Malfoy, to target Muggle-born students, and destroyed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes; in his third, he got to the bottom of Peter Pettigrew's treachery when Sirius Black escaped from prison to avenge Harry's parents. By then, a combination of coincidence and steadfast research (thanks Hermione) had gradually uncovered the reality of Voldemort's agenda. The Dark Lord wanted first to regain his life and limb. Second, to bring his wizarding war to fruition, with the separation of humankind into superior (pureblood) and inferior (muggle-tainted) classes, with changes to magical education, breeding, and all levels of subjugation to follow. Harry was instantly both viscerally and ethically opposed to this regime, and the guidance of Headmaster Dumbledore and his friends supported his stance. Jerks like Draco Malfoy on the other hand, gross. Potionmaster Severus Snape's nasty attitude toward him was somewhat less decipherable, but Harry ever favored him as a suspect for wrongdoing.
Despite moments of great fear and doubt, not the least of which were the bruises to his pride when he reacted with unusual severity to the Dementors that began to fly sentinel over the school, Harry prevailed thanks to the help of his loved ones, the dubious wisdom of selfless heroism, the ability to melt a cursed person's face off with his hands, ingenuity (mostly Hermione's), and an amount of nerve disproportionate to his tiny body.
In his fourth year, Voldemort finally made a successful bid for resurrection. By rigging the Triwizard Cup Tournament, he plotted that Harry would be vulnerable and ultimately separated from the protections of Hogwarts. Throughout, Harry faced marginalization from his peers and even momentarily from Ron, who thought that Harry must have deliberately tricked himself into a contender's position despite the ludicrous degree of danger that the tournament posed to all contestants. Despite battles with dragons, psychotic merpeople, bewitched co-competitors, and the threat of attending the Yuletide Ball without a date, Harry survived right up to confronting Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters alongside Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts' official Tournament nominee. It was an utter nightmare. Cedric was slain where he stood, and Harry accosted and forced to participate in a blood ritual which reformed the Dark Lord's body. By the skin of his teeth, Harry escaped, taking Cedric's corpse with him. His reappearance at the Tournament's final site initiated about five seconds of enthusiastic celebration, before Cedric's death and his announcement of Voldemort's return effectively killed the buzz.
Fifth year was the angriest year ever. Not only was he forced to stay with the Dursleys through the whole summer without any word from his friends or allies, but he was nearly expelled for using magic in self-defense, and returned to the wizarding world to find that the media and Ministry of Magic were promoting denial of Voldemort's rise-- at a grievous expense to his reputation. Furthermore, he was plagued with visions of Voldemort's experiences, including violent attacks on those Harry knew and loved. Oddly, this sense of alienation opened him up to befriending an unusual girl, Luna Lovegood, who rather turned his perspective around after some conversation. He closed ranks with Hermione and Ron in time to face the Inquisitorial Squad, dispatched by the Ministry of Magic to limit Dumbledore's alleged subversive fear-mongering. Faced with increasing threats from Death Eaters, arbitrary changes to school policy, vicious disciplinary actions, and a completely neutered Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum, Harry, Ron and Hermione started up a group to teach proper magical self-defense. Unwisely, they named the group Dumbledore's Army-- a fact that was used to oust the Headmaster after the Inquisitorial Squad penetrated their security. Having failed to learn Occlumency, that would have closed off his mind from Voldemort, Harry found himself tricked into entering the Ministry of Magic in an ill-conceived bid to rescue Sirius from the Dark Lord. When the Order of the Phoenix came to the rescue of himself and his peers, Sirius was killed.
Sirius' death sent Harry into a terrible depression, colored also by persistent rage at his own helplessness and Voldemort's increasing power. Fortunately, he was then tasked by Dumbledore get close to Professor Slughorn, who likely knew something of Voldemort's secrets of power. Amid some adolescent drama (romantically related) and weird behavior from Draco Malfoy (not romantic at all), Harry succeeded in uncovering the reality of the Horcruxes and attempted, with Headmaster Dumbledore, to retrieve one. However, the retrieved locket turned out to be a fake-- and the process weakened Dumbledore drastically, to the point that he seemed nearly helpless when Draco Malfoy and a group of Death Eaters came to kill him. When Malfoy hesitated, however, Professor Snape slew Dumbledore instead, reifying Harry's hatred for the man. Harry decided to end his burgeoning romance with Ginny Weasley, fearing to endanger her. For the same reason, he also tried to shoulder the burden of finding Horcruxes alone, but Ron and Hermione effectively ignored that-- a good thing, as he would have been pretty crappy at this next part on his own.
Afterward, Harry and his two best friends did not return to Hogwarts in the fall. Lord Voldemort had come into full power, having infiltrated the Ministry and set up a puppet government. The children were openly hunted as they went on the run in search of Horcruxes with desperately few clues or weapons at their disposal. Grief, paranoia, and misery strained their relationships, the worse when the way was pitted with thin and frequently tragic news of the Order, Dark enchantments, deleterious stories of Dumbledore's past as a wizard supremacist, and obtuse riddles. Their mission to search and destroy these items culminated in a great battle at Hogwarts. Harry finally came to understand what he needed to do to end Voldemort once and for all, which was: to allow himself to be killed. He also unraveled the complex friendship between Severus Snape and his mother that had pressed the Potionsaster to become a double-agent, as well as the secrets of wand mastery, and key elements of Voldemort's psyche (i.e., incredible self-importance) that allowed him to locate and identify the final Horcrux. Lord Voldemort ordered a lull in the battle and asked Harry to step forward sooner than see more die, which was the moment he came to his decision.
By the time Harry was killed, he was ready for it and did so willingly. This was thanks to this rather rapid sequential absorption of information and magical physics. The part of Voldemort that had survived in Harry died with this blow. Harry came out of his hallucinatory semi-death state, having spoken to some part of Dumbledore's soul, equipped anew to destroy Lord Voldemort. His sacrifice to save his school and his allies conferred the same protection to they that his mother had conferred to him, sixteen years ago, and he was still protected himself. Thus, when Voldemort attacked him again, the spell rebounded and killed the Dark Lord once and for all.
After the fall of the Dark Lord, Harry had changed a little. He no longer had several of the characteristics he had once shared with Voldemort, such as the ability to speak the language of snakes. Despite the conflictive relationship he'd had with formal wizarding anything in the past few years, he returned to Hogwarts to complete his education. He passed his Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (NEWTs) and, through edict of the new Minister of Magic, became an Auror. He proceeded to dedicate much of his life to his work, investigating incidents involving Dark Magic and detaining Dark Wizards where necessary. Outside of his employment, he dated a little, but mostly Ginny Weasley, and periodically visited Hogwarts to critique the house system.
Personality:
Harry is said to take after his mother in many important ways, and he is accused of being similar to his father in the worst. There is some truth to both, although it's important to note that his parents saw eye-to-eye on a great many matters that are echoed oddly in Harry's own behavior.
Harry's best qualities are his enormous capacity for love, compassion and a willingness to self-sacrifice when necessary. In times of crisis, he hates to see others endangered to the point where he is reluctant to accept assistance that he direly needs, such as when he must hunt for Horcruxes. He faces threat to life and limb and even makes himself available to be murdered, when it is the only possible way to win the Second Wizarding War. Even outside of danger, he presents himself as a kind and gentle spirit over a backbone of intolerance of injustice, such as that he favors friends that he knows to be generous, considerate, well-intended and helpful to others, no matter how awkward they are or poor their reputation. He has as little compunction about speaking up quite crossly on behalf of such downtrodden as he does about stabbing giant serpents that are trying to exterminate children descended of Muggles.
Like his father, however, he has a tendency to flout the rules which goes hand-in-hand with something of a thirst for adrenaline. He loves flying-- on his broom most of all. While he doesn't exactly love risking detention from Professor McGonagall, he takes rather easily to all manner of dragon-smuggling and shapeshifter-tracking and potions-brewing and Restricted Section potions book-brewing and Hogsmeade-sneaking soon than sit idle or press help from those who do not appear immediately willing. While he is generally motivated by wholesome goals (e.g., saving the world, preserving life and limb), there is a quality of reckless disregard to this. Indeed, his impulsiveness mingled with a disregard for the warnings of others led him into the trap set by Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic, ultimately resulting in the death of his godfather.
Despite being a 'good person' for whatever that's worth, his abuse at the hands of the Dursleys have left their mark. He has a strong sense of pride when it comes to his own weakness, hating for example that his reaction to Dementors was much more crippling than that of his peers. He is not particularly sensitive about the particular talents or gifts of his friends, but he doesn't like to be pathetic or talked down to. Additionally, Harry has a violent temper. Though he rarely actually enacts violence as a result, his heights of anger may cause him to snap at others, rage internally, then turn inward and alienate himself from others deliberately. Though he rarely sought recognition, Dumbledore's decision to protect him by ignoring him for nearly a full school year infuriated him. In general, his first retreat is solitude, as will be wont for a boy who was made to live under a cupboard while his cousin was given robots for his birthday. Notably, Harry has difficulty with controlling emotions of all kinds, but especially those relating to his friends and family.
Harry also has a small but distinct affinity for malice, largely confined to fantasy and private thoughts. When he first went to Diagon Alley at 11-years-of-age, he was immediately attracted to a book of hexes, thinking to avenge himself on Dursley-- of course, he never ended up attacking Dursley with magic at all, but a gleam of interest was there. Likewise, he swore to murder Sirius Black when he was mistakenly led to believe that the man had betrayed his parents, and later pursued Bellatrix Lestrange hurling extremely Dark Magic at her in want of vengeance for Sirius himself. It might be said that Harry has precious few good things in his life, and he reacts powerfully when somebody bothers them.
Apart from the good and the bad, Harry is a bit awkward, in a funny, humble, 'raised in a cupboard by jerks' way that is often as endearing to people as it is annoying for those who expect somewhat more from the Boy Who Lived. His reputation never went to his head. As Dumbledore observed, he never wanted leadership despite or perhaps therefore having a good temperament for it. For his Defense Against the Dark Arts club, or Dumbledore's Army, he was an affable and extremely effective spell teacher. Toward the end of the Second Wizarding War, adults and children alike looked to him for guidance and to assist him on his mission to destroy Horcruxes. His charisma generally seems to be a coincidence of attitude rather than a practiced skill; as bad as he is at controlling his emotions, he's not very good at expressing them either. He tends toward understated and a little fumbling when placed in unusual emotional situations, though he's a great deal better with girls now than he was a few years ago.
Odd fact: Harry is quite cautious or rather, strategic about money even at the age of twelve, having mountains of gold and numerous magical prizes he'd love to expense, but choosing not to.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
Harry Potter is a wizard of considerable skill and raw talent, although his abilities are largely confined to those exhibited and accessible by any of his kind in his homeworld. Fields of magical study are broad and diverse, from the concoction of potions to the enchantment of objects, healing, transfiguration (changing shapes), charms, divination, and curses. As an Auror, Harry has a solid command of most areas, as evinced by his OWL and NEWT exam scores.
Of these, he has a few exceptional magic-related abilities. He is particularly good at riding a broom, and his agility and perceptive acuity only serve to enhance this. In canon, he has also demonstrated the unusual ability to throw off the Imperius curse, despite the potency of the infamous mind-control spell.
With regard to performing magic, he has a 'knack' for various types of complex magic, especially offensive and defensive spells. He has mastered the Stupefying Charm in his teens and shortly afterward successfully conjuring the Patronus charm, which can ward off Dementors and associated deleterious effects (e.g., the fear aura). Of Dark Magic, he is able to utilize the Imperius curse on a goblin under duress despite having had no prior practice, and otherwise demonstrates a capacity for jinxes, hexes, and curses. His knowledge of spells is not as comprehensive as Hermione Granger's, but he is a quick study and powerful in execution. Further, Harry is quite capable of performing wandless and non-verbal magic even under duress; the latter, notably, he demonstrates primarily when he is enraged.
Harry has demonstrated various types of power-related weaknesses throughout his canon. He is not very good at Occlumency, probably in part because he is terribly in touch with what he's feeling all the time and very bad at sectioning away parts of himself. Similarly, perhaps due to a limitation of personality and intent rather than skill, he has difficulty wielding an effective Cruciatus Curse, which should inflict a lengthy, torturous pain. He has never used the Avada Kedavra or 'killing curse,' and is unlikely to be very good at it. Harry also notes that he has little talent with healing spells.
See Personality section above for discussion of psychological weaknesses.
With regard to physical properties, Harry is oddly durable and robust of health the way that all wizards and witches are. However, he is also underweight, and he is extremely strong myopia. He requires glasses to see intelligibly, and certainly to read.
Inventory:
Appearance: Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Harry in the films, is a fairly accurate representation. However, Harry himself has black hair rather than brown. His coiff is perpetually unkempt and he's rather pale; since adolescence, his spots have more or less cleared up. His eyes are a very sharp, very distinctive green, said to be near identical to those of his mother, Lily Potter's. Harry has a very skinny frame, perhaps in part due to his rather spare meals growing up, but he is robust and healthy. Those familiar with the sport of Quidditch may recognize him to have the ideal Seeker's build.
Age: 19
AU Clarification: N/A
S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
"And if my job's just to stand there and look pretty, I doubt I'm going to pull that off either," he finishes, wryly. He pulls the glasses off his face, blinks half-blindly at his companion. Despite the obvious misgivings, from his 90s wizardliness to the foreboding stories about previous docking escapades, he can't stop a grin from spreading over his face, excited despite himself. "Maybe I ought to go invisible."
Revised Sample
Harry has never been very good at knowing what Draco is thinking. To be fair, Draco probably isn't very good at knowing what Draco is thinking. Harry finds himself distracted by wondering, though, watching the other young man (--younger man, through some bizarre coincidence of timey-wimey weirdness) twist his wand around and shift the dramatic hem of his coat, over at the other end of the recreation hall. Draco looks older, something about bones and maybe even height, but the arrogant legacy in his carriage and expression and narrow face are the same.
But these features do not make Harry feel angry like they used to, no thorny ball of defensive, preemptive aggravation twisting up in his chest, no urge to turn and tell Hermione and Ron, to share the burden of cloying frustration with like-minded Gryffindors. Not even the urge to think back to the Battle of Hogwarts, or the scant handful of encounters they've had since, or of the Daily Prophet articles that might have featured the Malfoy family. Harry adjusts his glasses thoughtfully, and nods when he hears Lily's voice ring out, clear and startlingly young. Every time he's been near his mother, he's felt the same flash of warmth.
You have to mean it, when you cast Dark Magic, and for an instant he wonders if this will be a problem. Harry swallows hard. Incompetence, even now-- especially now, in the Tranquility, surrounded by friends and family dislocated from the ordinary context of space and time, would be galling.
But then he closes his fingers around his wand. Conviction moves over him sudden as a windshield wiper, the familiar balance of the focus in his hand, the fit of his jacket and the weight of the glasses on his nose, and the realization has everything and nothing to do with these material articles. Harry Potter is a wizard. Not all the wormholes in the multiverse can change that.
And wizards duel. He nods at his mother. "I'm ready," he says, raising the tip of his wand to his brow in salute. His eyes meet Draco's over the long stretch of cold chrome floor.
Comms Sample:
Hello. Hi-- my name is Harry Potter.
[The boy-- young man, really, who sits in front of the camera has a rumpled head and a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, barely visible under the tousle of his very black forelocks. Something about the whiteness of his face and the uneven press of his lips suggests that what he has to say is very difficult for him. It is.
Blood has been thundering his ears for the past hour; since Draco Malfoy let slip Professor Snape's name, so casually. As if. As if.] I'm looking for someone. Well, two someones, really. There's, um, a man-- he'll look a lot like me, probably. [No scar, he thumps the heel of his hand on his forehead demonstratively.] Black hair, really skinny, glasses. And a woman. She'll have red hair and green eyes. Their names are James and Lily. James and Lily Potter.
[A beat.]
I've got a picture, right here. [A slight fiddling of the camera, and then he raises up the black-and-white photograph to see, its image curiously animate.
The couple depicted therein are smiling, their faces alive with sincere mirth; the wind picks up and twirls Lily's desaturated hair a little, doesn't put a dent in James' rumpled mop, but doesn't make it much worse either. Harry holds it up long enough for the camera to focus; long enough for the breeze to go through twice, for James to swing her around twice, for Lily to dip at the waist twice, her fingers tight around her husband's. Then Harry again. He's gotten whiter since the last time he was in the screen.] Please let me know if you've seen them here. Cheers.