Pre-Hogwarts: Philo was born to a fairly affluent family, who hailed from the south of France. He lived a seemingly stable, and far from noteworthy childhood, with his brother, who was younger the him by 3 years, Bastien. However, in his family there was a constant rift. His parents and Bastien were happy, optimistic, placid people, whereas Pi was always quite melancholic, distrustful, and frequently impassioned. He never felt at home with his family once. At age 9, the Lucton family moved to England, as the father, Nino, wanted his sons to go to his alma mater: Hogwarts.
Hogwarts Years: As soon as the Sorting Hat hit his head, Philo was declared a Ravenclaw. Stuck in a family of stereotypical Gryffindors, his less gung-ho approach to life was not well received at home. He was incredibly intelligent, but still liked to study as much as possible for fear of falling behind in class. He became a favourite of the majority of his teachers quickly, and proved himself highly proficient at charms. In his spare time, he became known as a ladies man and was (from his fourth year onwards) rarely single. He also took up Quiditch, playing as a Beater. He seemed perfect. But very few knew his home life was a wreck. His father had anger issues, and his mother was on the receiving end of these issues. In his sixth year, his father was sent to jail. Why? He killed his wife. Pi put on a brave front, and continued as if nothing had changed, but he was slowly letting his melancholy side consume him. By the end of his seventh year, he was glad Hogwarts was over and done with.
Post-Hogwarts: As soon as he was done with Hogwarts, Pi gave himself a year to be alone. In that year, he let the façade crumble and stopped pretending his life was perfect. It must have been the first time in years that he let himself cry, but it felt good! When he came back from his year alone, he took up playing Quidditch in a big league, becoming fairly successful. He was no longer a broken man trying (pitifully) to hide his scars, he was his old self: a brooding, intelligent, heartbreaker. When he turned 26, he was asked to come back to Hogwarts to teach charms, an opportunity he took with glee.
Favorite Hogwarts Memory:
His final Quidditch match against Slytherin. His team were down by 70. The only to win: catch the Snitch. Easier said than done. Just as the Slytherin Seeker was about to catch the Snitch, Philo hit an oncoming bludger, aiming it just in front to the opposing Seeker's head. His target was hit, scaring the poor Slytherin for long enough for the Ravenclaw Seeker to catch the Snitch. His team won, and Philo was hailed a hero by his house, and then-current girlfriend, much to his delight. He didn't live it down for the rest of the year.
Biography: Pre-Hogwarts: Lucian was born on August 20th, a bright and sunny day, to Demetrius and Natalie Porter. Being an only child, with both parents working for the Ministry of Magic, life was interesting. His father was an Auror, and his mother went her time working for the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It was there that Lucian first found his love for all animals, especially the magical sort.
He was surrounded by magic from a young age, and spoiled by his mother to boot. His father had always been the more stern one, his mother a free spirit that often made decisions on a whim. They complimented each other well.
Lucian started flying as a child, his big backyard being his own makeshift pitch as he taught himself how to play Quidditch in his spare time. At night he'd pour through all the books on magic that his family owned, even managing to find the ones his mother his from him due to their advanced or dark natures. His parents were never ones to condone dark magic, and they taught him early the price it would cost to perform such magic. But since his father was an Auror, he had a few books lying around.
When he turned ten, he began counting the days down until he would receive his letter. Going to Hogwarts had been on the forefront of his kind since a young age, eager to learn more than the meager library at home and soak up all the knowledge he could. He felt for sure he'd be a Ravenclaw like his mother(his father had been a Gryffindor), and he certainly hoped he was right. Finally, the letter came, and Lucian couldn't stop smiling.
Hogwarts Days: The first train ride to Hogwarts had been a lonely one, as Lucian was usually such a quiet, contemplative boy, he ended up spending the ride alone in his own compartment. He didn't mind too much though, gorging himself on magical sweets and reading his new textbooks on the train to pass the time. He was in awe as to the magic he would be learning that year, and longed for the start of classes.
He'd been sorted into Ravenclaw just as he'd hoped, a quite quick selection made by the Sorting Hat as Julian's thirst for knowledge made itself quite apparent. Throughout his years at Hogwarts, he soared academically, learning things quickly and always acing his tests with flying colors. He soaked up everything he read, completely enthralled with everything to do with the magical world. It seemed strange to some people, that a pureblood so used to magic would still be so eager to learn everything about it her could. But that was why he fit into Ravenclaw so well.
He still didn't have many friends though, spending his free time torn between the Forbidden Forest where he'd feed the creatures inside and spend time with the more friendly ones, the Quidditch Pitch(he played Chaser for the House team), and the library. He was well liked of course, always up for conversation if someone wanted to chat. But he wasn't big in initiating social interactions, or any good at it. He was polite though, and well mannered, which made him well-liked.
When he'd gotten his OWLS back, and gotten exceeds expectations on all of them except Ancient Runes, Lucian couldn't think of what he wanted to do career wise. The only thing that made any sense was coming back to Hogwarts to teach. He couldn't think of a better place to learn and be around knowledge while encouraging young minds at the same time.
Post Hogwarts: After leaving Hogwarts, Lucian decided to take a few years before settling down to travel all over and study exotic magical creatures. He traveled all over Europe, recording information and gathering as much knowledge as he could. When he wasn't studying magical creatures, he was pouring over other magical knowledge he'd yet to learn. He knew what post he wanted, when he finally went back to apply for a position, but still his thirst for knowledge was never truly quenched.
So when the new headmaster had asked him out of the blue to come teach Care of Magical Creatures, Lucian saw it as a sign of fate. It was the exact position he'd hoped for, and he was going to be getting his own office up near the Astronomy Tower. Though, he'd probably be hosting most of his classes outside.
Extra:
(I know you didn't ask for this, but I'm putting it here to keep it straight in my head and for reference lol) *Has a tawny owl named Orion *Wand: 8 inches, dogwood, springy *Patronus: funnily enough, his patronus is a large owl
Favorite Hogwarts Memory: During his fifth year, his Care of Magical Creatures teacher(who he'd always been close with since they both loved magical creatures) had let him ride on of the school's three Hippogriffs. His name had been Stormwing due to his slate gray color. Needless to say, that ride over the the castle and the Black Lake had been his favorite memory at the school to date.
Personality: Energetic, Impatient, Objective, perceptive and rule-driven
Biography:
She was born to a magical family that held high expectations. She was the second of five in her family. Her eldest brother ,Rowan, was three years older than her and a quiet genius who spent most of his days fiddling with different contraptions both magical and otherwise. He was gone most days so she acted as the eldest to her three younger siblings. The sibling under her was her younger brother Ezra. Ezra was the middle child and the "good boy" that never seemed to get in trouble. He was one year younger than her and they were grouped together often. He always had a knack for getting out of trouble. It was something she didn't have. She was the wild child that was always going at full energy and breaking things. Their parents fostered competition between the two of them due to their similar ages.
The next two siblings were her younger sisters. Raven and Amelia were five and nine years younger than her respectively. Raven seemed to take after Rowan as she was reserved and preferred to stay indoors reading. She was bright and her intelligence made Kenna feel uneasy. It wasn't till many years later that Kenna realized this was her own insecurities projecting onto her younger sister. Amelia was far to young to really display much of a personality until Kenna was an adult.
Her parents were Robert and Julia Blair. Her father Robert is a curse breaker for gringots and her mother is an auror. Though her mother has taken a leave of absence to raise the children. Robert played quidditch and her mother a former champion duelist. Both were griffendors during their time at hogwarts and believed in competition bringing out the best in their children. Each child had to do something competitive. The only exception to this rule was her eldest brother Rowan. He wasn't bothered by their parents but neither was he praised. There was some mysterious distance held between him and the rest of the family.
Both of her parents were Griffindors. No one was shocked with Rowan was sorted into Ravenclaw. However EVERYONE was shellshocked to find that Kenna was placed not in Griffindor but in slytherin. There was some prejudice against the house for sure but really the shock came from the way Kenna was precieved. She displayed obviously grifindor traits at home. She was energetic, proud, passionate and the like. But much of this was an act. She was in fact sly and manipulative. She acted out to prove she was good at things and to garnish attention from her parents. She seemed hot headed and to a degree this was true however everything she does is calculated. There was far more control and planning in her actions than anyone knew.
Her younger brother Ezra was sorted into Griffindor even though he 'seemed' more slytherin to her. She merely shrugged it off and chose to ignore him most of the time. She was pitted against him so often at home that she simply didn't want anything to do with him while at school. She avoided taking routes to classes where she would bump into him. She would intentionally avoid eye contact at meals. She even limited herself from the library if she saw him there first. Little did she know this hurt Ezra deeply and caused a wound in their relationship that would never heal to this day. He didn't know why his sister suddenly gave him the cold shoulder. He had looked forward to spending time with his sister again since she had went off a year ahead of him. This was always a source of regret to Kenna later in life. She never hated her brother and in her youth she couldn't see past her own frustrations. Her youngest sister was sorted into hufflpuff and she never managed to see her much but that was mostly due to the age difference. She never found out where her youngest sister was sorted.
Now that her family is out of the way the chronology of events of her school years starts of course with getting her first wand or in this case wands. Kenna was naturally ambidextrous having the ability to write and play sports with both hands equally well since as far back as she could remember. When the wand-smith asked her which was her wand hand she simply held out both. He said that this would be interesting and started giving her two wands at a time saying this would expedite the process of finding the right wand. By his logic if it didn't matter which hand the wand was in he would give her two to make the process go by twice as fast. It wasn't until he gave her a set of twin wands that were nearly identical to each other. They were a pair of 13 inch aspen wood wands with dragon heartstring cores. The only difference between the two beautiful whitewood wands is that the grips each had a slight curve to them and were mirrored. Each wand sat comfortably, albeit a bit oversized, in her hand. Both accepted her at once and she was sold her twin wands.
In her first year of hogwarts she watched the quidditch matches but they were told she would have to wait a year to try out. The deulist club however was hurting for members and allowed her immediately. She took to it like a fish to water. The following year she became the keeper for the Slytherin team and from her third year on she became a chaser. She managed to snag the title of captain from the grasp of a few close contenders in her seventh year.
She had few but good friends in school that were all aligned in their thirst for greatness. Learning quickly that the famous slytherin ambition took many forms. One boy was determined to take his father's family business over and turn it into something beyond the small shop it was. Another wanted to ascend to the minister of magic post. She found that she wanted to be the greatest duelist that there ever was. She trained in this endeavor till her hands bled and her legs felt like jelly. But that same determination and desire to rub it in everyone's face kept her going. It was like she had her very own Mirror of Erised in her mind that she looked into every time she closed her eyes. Curse-like in its persistence it pushed her. Perhaps this was what unlocked her divination abilities. She unlocked the ability to see into the future if only out for a second but could see it clear as day. She understood that the divination that we learned in school was simply a way of seeing what "might" happen and she took to learning how to control what she saw.
This came with mixed results. The success was the ability to use it in combat. She was already lighting quick with spells and she had perfected a handful of duelist legal spells that she could rapid fire without incantation. She even learned how to use both hands independently to prepare two different spells. Usually one was dedicated to defense while the other to attack. However this ability to concentrate and see into the split second future gave her the small edge she needed to always be on top of her opponents. Thus her counter and punch style dueling was born.
She began doing professional duels at the young age of 15 and won her first major title at 16. By 18 she had won several titles and was considered to be one of if not the best duelist in all of England. Strangely bashful at times she tried to hide her heavy Irish accent during interviews but failed miserably. This made her come off as endearing to many fans (especially in Ireland). Most of her adult life was split between dueling. She had trained her heart out and the results spoke for themselves. She became not only sucessful but to a degree popular as well. She gained the title "the little fire of Ireland". Standing only at 5'1 the "little" in her name irked her but she didn't fight the fame it brought her.
Another nickname she was given was "the wand collector". Kenna herself has a love of wands. From the beginning she was able to hold two and from there she continued to collect more and more. At the present moment she is the proud owner of 11 wands. She only has the allegance of five however. Seven were gifts granted to her by either wand makers that wanted to use her name or as prizes from her achievements. Her first two she got from Olivanders of course at eleven. The next one she got was when visiting America and she felt a certain afinity for a wand when her own were being touched up. It was a Red Oak Dragon Heartstring wand 13 inches. The other from Germany in a similar case where she wanted to find a partner for the Red Oak wand she had gotten a few months earlier. This one was an Ebony wand with a dragon heartstring....also 13 inches. She always found the number 13 to be lucky for her and this seemed no coincidence. When dueling she would either use the twin Aspen wands or the newly formed duo of Ebony and Red Oak. She found the Aspen twins worked best for her but the Ebony and Red Oak preformed powerful magic that gave her a fierceness at the cost of elegance. It isn't uncommon for professional warlocks (duelist) to have more than one wand to use depending on the opponent but these two pairs allowed her two completely different styles.
Lastly of the seven that she received as gifts (and having no general affinity for) only one did she make bend to her will. In Japan she was gifted with a Sakura (similar to the cherry wood in the west) wand with again dragon heartstring core. Kenna never felt an affinity with unicorn hair cores and the phoenix feathers ones were just as frustrating. Perhaps she was too narrow in her magic to use anything other than dragon hearstring. However the wand was resilient. Weeks went by with daily practice before the wand accepted her. When focused this single wand hailed more lethal magic than either of the wands that chose her. It was fickle with its need for exact precision when casting her spells. Slight mishaps with the movements of her wand would cause the magic to go into disarray. Never before had non-verbal spellcasting been such a task than with this wand. Even though it may be her imagination but she swears that the wand responds better to the Japanese spoken incantations than her Latin based ones. Either way it was unfit to be used in dueling. Mostly it is a prized treasure of hers that she wears ceremonially and uses for daily magic when on her visits to Japan.
During times she wasn't dueling she was researching divination. She was sure that there was a way to crack the code. The first part of her multi-point thesis was that that predictions were never set in stone. Magically revealed secrets or "privileged knowledge", as she would come to call it, could only be considered a possibility at best. Finding out how to better or harm the chances of such an outcome is based on the actions of those involved. IF we were predict that you would have money troubles on a particular day simply not spending money could drastically reduce the chance of this happening. Saying that you could meet the love of your life but deciding to stay indoors would stop that from happening. She understood this was a number's game. Certain events throughout history had very clear and definitive predictions that came to pass without fail. The second part of her theory was the flux of probability of any particular prediction. Some ar nearly guaranteed and those were called Crux points. She also noticed a correlation between the length of time between the prediction and the event showed a direct correlation between the likelyhood of it being correct.
So to sum it up her research saw three points. 1) Predictions are simply possible futures and our actions determine if they are real or not. 2) Some predictions have a higher likelihood of happening than others. 3) The further out the event the less likely it will become reality. A fourth law she came to realize that she didn't publish was that there are real inconsistencies with all of these since predicting the future is ironically the most unpredictable magic out there.
It was after the publishing of her paper to the magical research institutions that some in the duelist coalitions began to put 2 and 2 together. They discretely brought her in for questioning to see if she was using divination to gain an unfair advantage over her opponents. She diverted the questions at first saying they had no proof but they met again and again. Each time chipping further and further into her to confess. At some point she switched her argument round entirely saying that even if what they were proposing was true (and it was) what rule would that be in violation of? This baffled them and she thought they had given up. However it was the opposite. They took this as a confession that she was and she received a letter for a hearing where she learned she had a temporary ban of tournaments while the coalition of duelist organizations reviewed the case of accurate short term divination in competitive combat.
Barely able to control her temper she turned as red as her flaming hair and stormed out of the room but still making sure leave every door open and picture frame tilted. From there she went to Japan. She had been to Japan several times. Once during her seventh year to compete in a duelist tournament there. It was here that she met the person that would become the love of her life. Watanabe Chiyo is a wonderful girl who is the same age as Kenna. Chiyo comes from a family of Japanese martial wizards and also competes in the western style duelist events. At first they met as rivals but later fell into a budding romance. Though Kenna is a free spirit and moves around the world she primary lives in Dublin Ireland. Chiyo as the eldest of three daughters and no brothers feels a strong family obligation to stay in Japan. So they let their love blossom during the times they can be together and let it grow stronger while apart.
Chiyo and her warm family became her source of comfort and support. Her own family only grew distant with time. Most of it was her own fault. Her mother fell ill and died and her father retreated into his work. Rowan her eldest brother vanished for years with no word till one day Aurors showed up at their door asking questions about his possible whereabouts. She never learned any more of that particular mystery. Her younger brother Ezra went on to be a politician and government worker. He found a wife and already has a child on the way. He is the definition of what one would call successful. However he too turned cold to his father after his mother's death. For little Amelia it was Raven who stepped in and became the new mother figure in her life. She became a capable older sister sacrificing time and effort to help her sister. The family was good as split.
Kenna went to go live with Chiyo and her family for the next six months working on her divination dissertation and cheering on her partner in her own competitions. Kenna was worried that they would disqualify her from any more competitions or worse remove her previous titles. During the whole six months she recieved no word one way or the other form the organization. Instead she recieved a strange letter from Hogwarts. She opened it with confused glee since it has been six years since she recieved a letter from her alma mater. Just as in the saying "one door closes and another opens" it seems that the same papers that threw her legitimacy as a duelist into question has given her an interview to be the new divination teacher at hogwarts. She was elated about the news but sad to say goodbye to her lover. Chiyo was more understanding that most as she was already used to Kenna's fickle nature. She told her that she had faith she would come back again. Just as she always does.
From there Kenna parted with Chiyo and headed towards hogwarts. The rest is yet to come.
Kenna stands with furious tears in her eyes. Both of her wands were down by her side. A much older griffindor boy was laughing at her and her pathetic 3rd year attempt at a patronus. It was barely a whips that extended just a few inches beyond her wand. This was the first time she had failed so wonderfully. And just after she had bragged that she could master any spell the 5th years could. Looking down at her wands she blamed them for a moment but she knew deep down it was just her. The memory wasn't strong enough. She went through her memories trying to find something particularly happy. But every time she couldn't find one that wasn't poisoned by anger or jealousy. The joy in her heart turned to ash in her mouth as she croaked out the spell through the tears.
"E-expedou patronum!" She said this time failing worse than before. Nothing came from her wand. The howls of laughter behind her roared once again. Turning with rage she points her wand at the boy laughing the most. He was a 6th year and vice captain of the duelist club. He had always been a jerk to her ever since she started two years ago. "I--I challenge you!" She quickly wipes the tears out of her eyes and swallows the lump in her throat. "I challenge you to a duel." She announces far clearer this time.
"Alright." The boy hops up. She had hoped somewhat he would back down. Though he had called her bluff knowing it to be only that. She was talented but he was a sixth year student and she a third. The difference in both their magical and physical abilities would be too great. "I'll go easy on you though. You can have the first shot. I won't act till then." The boy proclaims. He walks with a swagger away from her clearing the room full of people. There was a mix of jeers and cheers. Some wanted him to just back down and apologize but the greater numbers wanted him to teach Kenna her place. Don't think too badly of the latter because she had been an obstinate little prick for the last few years and was in dire need of an attitude adjustment. However she was not ready for one and definitly not from this boy.
Concentrating through the blur in her eyes her rage quelled and settled into an eerie calm. This was the first time she had ever experienced it and everything seemed to move in slow motion. No... it was more than that. It was as if she was seeing things unfold before her. The feeling of what she could see wasn't something she was able to articulate in words at her age. She saw him with his crooked smile and she unleashed a hex at him. She thought it would hit him but he had been ready for this. He was going to reflect it right back at her. Normally she wouldn't be able to react to that but ...she saw it happen before it happened. This was the first time her foresight kicked in and she managed to reflect her reflected spell with her second wand by copying the boy. This time it was he who wasn't ready and he takes the hex full on in the chest and is blown backwards.
To her it happened slowly but to everyone else they saw the whole event in just a flash. Her fierce spell, his masterful reflection and her masterful reflection back. The hall was dead silent and then erupted into cheers. Someone picked her up and hoisted her on their shoulders. The boy she had dueled was getting up cross-eyed. Thinking now on this moment and this moment alone she raised both her wands into the air and shouted "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" This time two powerful streams of silver converge into a massive bear above her. The cheers doubled. This would be her memory for patronuses for a long time. It takes her first kiss with Chiyo under a moonlight night on a single broomstick to top this moment.
Biography: Pre-Hogwarts childhood: She was born in the summertime, though good luck finding out her birthday, a couple months after her birth her mother took off leaving her care to her father. She had an unusual childhood, her father traveled the world with his job, Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau; her relationship with her father isn't best friends, they don't hate each other, but It’s mostly a mutual understanding that they are complete opposites but respect and love each other. Growing up she would take off on her own exploring everything from nature to historical buildings. It was in Romania, exploring the castles where she found her passion for historical buildings, beginning her own studies on history; when she received her letter to Hogwarts she started packing right away wanting to take off right away to explore everything about it. Her passion for understanding magic, is just as strong as her passion for history and it could be said that she prides herself on her knowledge and skill level but understands that there will always be someone stronger no matter who you are. Her wand is 10” cherrywood with phoenix feather. Hogwarts Years: When she first stepped foot at Hogwarts she was in awe, not scared like most the new years with her, she doesn't remember being sorted that night had went by in a blur, her father was beyond excited to learn that she was placed in Hufflepuff. She was happy with the choice too, having read up on each house history, and felt like Hufflepuff matched her. She made a few friends during her time at school, not being antisocial just not wanting to deal with the drama the separate houses started with each other; spending her time exploring, which sometimes meant breaking curfew, or studying to stay in the top ten percent of her classes. Post Hogwarts life: After graduation, she went back to living with her father not ready to settle down with a career. All the job offers she received from Ministry of Magic just seemed so mundane, after a couple of years just sitting around doing nothing her father told her there was an opening with Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau and she agreed to sign on, giving herself a peaceful but exciting life. Favorite Hogwarts Memory: One of her favorite memories from school, is during Christmas break and most the students were gone and she had the Hufflepuff room to herself and for the most part the school to herself. She could walk for hours without seeing another student, during one of these walks she left school grounds following the forest tree line until she came to a small frozen pond where she spent the day sitting on a boulder enjoying the beautiful sight.
Personality: Damien is a bright and ambitious young teacher who strives to best equip his students with not just the tools to defend themselves against the dangers of this world, but also to proactively shape their image as powerful witches and wizards, all the while keeping an open mind about what is and isn't "Dark Arts". His colleagues may view him as somewhat eccentric (in terms of mindset, not behavior).
Biography:
Pre-Hogwarts: Damien hails from the Blackstones, a noble and extremely pure house of American wizards. Born in Chicago, he lived the life of any American pureblood child: spending his free time playing and socializing with purebloods, half-bloods and muggleborn alike, but also being privately groomed as a proper scion of a noble house: this includes higher society mannerisms, fashion, pastimes (musical instruments, early broom flight lessons) and magical house secrets*. An only child, him and his parents moved to Britain at the time political blood purists rose to power. While they didn't agree with the racist and dictatorial principles that ministerial heads at the time upheld, they saw it as convenient that the new order's wake indirectly created a society where dark magic, a big part of Blackstone in-house culture (see the hider below), was more accepted and could more freely be researched. Coming to Britain, Damien was taught to fake disgust for muggleborns so as to not raise suspicion within upper end circles as the Blackstones became part of Britain's elites, but without actually ever believing the propaganda. After the purist's fall, however, the Blackstones ended up being viewed with suspicion from both sides: the old, undiscovered and "reformed" party heads and associates scorning them for never proactively defending the cause, yet reaping the benefits; the wizards sided with the light wary of them because they WERE openly practicing and researching the dark arts, even though they weren't committing evil actions with them. By the time he was eleven, Darien cultivated an aloof attitude, looking down upon both sides: one for their outdated, bigoted views; the other for their irrational moral strictness.
Hogwarts Days: Damien's Hogwarts adventure started off with one of the longest Sortings in the school's history. Basically, The Hat determined that the youngster fit perfectly and without a shadow of a doubt with the guiding principles of Slytherin. In fact, he fit SO well, that he would have a hard time dealing with a lot of the others that had been or were about to be sorted there (cunning without ambition, self preservation without cunning, background pride without pride in their own individual capacity for greatness, gratuitous evil, etc.). At the boy's request, The Hat struggled to determine what was the best house for Damien, not just in terms of core house principles, but also core principles of the average member. Finally, Damien had a choice between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, but ended up going for Slytherin as he simply could not fathom the concept of gathering knowledge as an end in and of itself rather than a road to actual power. In classes, Damien effortlessly outperformed his peers, not just in terms of academic achievement and grades, but also as a master duelist. He could never really fit in with them socially though - not because he was introverted, quite the contrary - but because his name was Blackstone. His favorite class was Transfiguration and his least favorite was History of Magic. He got perfect marks on all his OWL's and NEWT's. In the summer, he would receive additional training on the secret arts of his house from his parents.
Post-Hogwarts: Damien eschewed taking up a real job after school, but rather invested his time into participating in dueling competitions, locally as well as internationally, striving to be the best of the best. A couple medals later, he got recognized and recruited as an Auror specialized on investigation and post-case cleanup, after the Ministry recognized his martial prowess and mastery of mind magic. And, yeah, he did mostly that until returning to Hogwarts at the new Headmaster's behest. Ah, for what it's worth and if it will ever come up, Damien has never been married or close to it.
Favorite Hogwarts Memory: Short disclaimer: if you need our character's favorite memory for the purpose of summoning a patronus, Damien never actually... uses his Patronus, because the Self Puppeteer charm makes him sort of immune to Dementors (again, see the tab below). He literally only learned how to create Patronuses when he was 25 so he could teach the charm as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. But if it's just to learn more about their personality, sure, here goes.
Damien's favorite school memory was winning the Triwizard Tournament for his school as a 7th year. That year's iteration was set in Hogwarts, and Damien lucked out in not only being chosen to participate, but also lucking into rounds that played to his strengths. The first round was one where they had to trick the Mirror of Erised into displaying certain things to extract multiple objects out of; the second round was combat, where they had to retrieve a badge while fighting magic immune or magic resistant beings like Giants; the third round was a race where the contestants were not allowed to use mobility magic, apparation, or brooms, but WERE allowed to directly attack each other in any way in order to slow each other down. And the best part wasn't just that he got the trophy, but also that he enabled Slytherin to win the house cup in his last year at Hogwarts. Go snakes XD.
As I was saying, the Blackstones go deep in their exploration of magic; dangerous, forbidden or otherwise. Those are all spells and techniques that Damien, his parents, and his relatives back in America are proficient at (though he might not be capable of all of them in his reverted state). I'm dividing this into three sections: Legilimency & Occlumency, Minor Horcruxes & Soulshard Spells, Willjacking.
Legilimency & Occlumency: The Blackstones have developed these arts to the point where they can make very specialized use of them, which they divide and classify into 6 subtypes. Every Blackstone child learns Airmind Occlumency at 11, Watermind and Firemind Occlumency at 15, Watermind and Airmind Legilimency at 16 and Firemind Legilimency at 17. For a summary of differences, pros and cons: Airmind Occlumency: This is what most wizards think of as "Occlumency" in general, and it involves clearing one's mind of all thought and emotion, presenting an empty void to any Legilimens who wanders in. Upsides: it offers the most protection from Legilimency specifically; it allows the highest ability to notice if someone is trying to read you. Downsides: any Legilimens will be able to tell that you are an Occlumens if you are using this technique; it doesn't protect from potion-based mind magic like love potions; confusion potions or Veritaserum; and it hinders the user's ability to execute emotion-based magic like the Patronus or the Unforgivable Curses. Watermind Occlumency: The ability to present a constantly shifting facade of fake surface thoughts and emotions, hiding your real thought process instead of blanking it away. Upsides: if done properly, nobody will be able to tell that you are an Occlumens, allows the practitioner to resist the effects of potions. Downsides: requires the highest degree of active focus, makes it harder for you to notice if someone is trying to read your mind compared to the other subtypes, imperfect Occlumens might slip up real thoughts into their stream of fake ones. Firemind Occlumency: The ability to arm your mind with traps, mazes and backlash mechanisms that attempt to dissuade, lock out/in or even cause permanent damage to anyone trying to read your mind. Upsides: while Firemind Occlumency can be used actively, it can also be used passively, setting up your defenses and then leaving them there, which comes in handy if you have something else entirely to focus on or if you're sleeping; it DOES offer partial protection from the Imperius curse as the caster must go past (and survive) your defenses first. Downsides: it's the weakest possible subtype of Occlumency in the specific case where the Legilimens is significantly more skilled than the Occlumens; it's not as effective when used against a Legilimens that is an Occlumens at the same time; if used improperly, your traps could cause collateral damage to your own mind. Airmind Legilimency: This is what most wizards think of as "Legilimency" in general. It involves stepping into someone's mind as lightly as possible and observing surface thoughts from a distance. Proficient users can also dive deeper, getting access to recent memories and the subconscious, but only as a read-only. The incantation is Legilimens, but very good practitioners can do it wandlessly and nonverbally. Upsides: hardest to detect; requires a low enough amount of focus to be able to be used mid-combat to know what spells your opponent is casting if he's doing so nonverbally. Downsides: cannot be used to access mid-term or old memories; not having line of sight with your target greatly reduces your potency. Watermind Legilimency: The ability to actively rearrange or move thoughts out of the way, until you get to what you want. Proficient users can also embed thoughts and visions into the mind of their victim, for the purpose of torture or to convince them that they want to act differently. The incantation is also Legilimens, and very good practitioners can do it nonverbally, but a wand is required. Upsides: the only subtype of Legilimency that gives access to mid-term or older memories; the most effective subtype against specifically a Watermind Occlumens. Downsides: strictly requires line of sight. Firemind Legilimency: The ability to invade a person's mind and straight out rip certain thoughts or emotions out of it for your own later use. Also has the potential to do permanent damage to a mind. The incantation is Legilimens Appropria, and a verbally spoken incantation as well as a wand are both strictly required regardless of skill. Upsides: can be effectively used in group combat with a lot of people involved if your victim can't have their full undivided attention on you; allows you to tell right away if the thoughts and memories you extract are fake or genuine; puts so much stress on the victim that it's near impossible for them to divide a part of their attention into figuring out who is in their mind. Downsides: the mental invasion is forceful enough that even wizards with zero training in Occlumency can notice it and resist if their will is strong enough; directly countered by Firemind Occlumency as you may accidentally extract traps; situationally useless as a pure investigative tool as you may partially destroy the thoughts you are extracting if you're being too aggressive. Also, obviously, it comes with the inherent weakness of extraction: the victim will no longer have the thought or memory you are extracting in their mind (this can be bad if, for example, you're using Firemind Legilimency to determine whether a criminal is guilty or not, because if he is, then he'll automatically forget what crime he committed in the first place).
Minor Horcruxes & Soulshard Spells: Experimenting with Horcrux creation have led the Blackstones to determine that a horcrux doesn't necessarily split your soul in two perfect halves, and that it doesn't necessarily require the murder of a human to create. Rather, these two preconditions are tied to each other: you DO need to kill a human or human-intelligence humanoid (centaurs, goblins, veela etc) to create a 50/50 split horcrux (also called a Greater Horcrux), but you also have the option to kill lesser beings to create weaker horcruxes. Thus, killing a lower-intelligence humanoid (pureblood giants, trolls, Great Apes etc) or higher-intelligence beast (dolphins, dragons, unicorns etc) creates a Lesser Horcrux, which is a 90/10 split. Lastly, killing a lower animal or a semi-intelligent artificial being (portraits, permanently animated statues, wands) creates a Minor Horcrux, which is a 99/1 split. If a wizard kills a wand specifically to create a Minor Horcrux, then the wand itself becomes the horcrux and is now called a Soulshard. A Soulshard does not extend the life or grant reincarnating powers to its creator, but it does allow them to constantly be aware of their Soulshard's position, use wanded magic without explicitly touching their Soulshard as long as it IS nearby, and grants them access to the two Soulshard Spells, listed below. All Blackstone children, at the age of 10, kill their wand after they get chosen by it and create their Soulshard (it is viewed not just as something practical to do, but also cultural)(creating their Soulshard at age 10 does not, by any means, mean that they are taught Soulshard Spells at age 10. That would be silly)(it is completely impossible for someone who doesn't have a Soulshard to use those spells, so keep that in mind). Self Puppeteer Charm: This charm is a modified version of the Imperius curse that can only be used on the caster itself. In layman terms, it works by the Soulshard controlling the wizard. The incantation is "Strictum Callis [Insert long and detailed instructions here in plain English] Imperia". The effect it has is that of making the caster zone out from lucid thought and leave their body behind to execute the given instructions as precisely as possible. While under the effect of a Self Puppeteer Charm, the wizard's body will make use of physical fitness, magical knowledge and any available tool to accomplish the task, but will rigidly follow it and not react to anything that is missing from the detailed instructions (to give a random example, if you instruct yourself to do your best to duel and kill a particular enemy wizard, your body WILL execute well-timed Protegos and counterjinxes to win the duel, but if the fight happens to move to a railway and a train is zipping into you, and you forgot to put "also dodge moving vehicles" in your instructions, then you're probably dead). With that risk in mind, the upside and utility of being your own Puppet is that, since you're not actively thinking, you are temporarily immune not just to fear, anxiety, boredom etc., but also opposing mind-affecting magic like Obliviation, Confusion jinxes, and even opposing Imperiuses. Once the task is completed or the caster becomes unconscious, the Self Puppeteer Charm ends. One last thing: this charm CANNOT be Finited by an outside source. Contingency Metacharm: This charm is a modified version of the Imperius curse that "stores" spells into a Soulshard. In layman terms, it works by the wizard controlling the Soulshard by relaying situational future instructions. The incantation is multi-layered and complicated. First, the wizards needs to successfully do the out-loud verbal incantation and wand movements for a different spell, stop himself right before the spell is fired, then say "Contingentia [The Incantation of the Initial Spell] Quand [Instructions on when/how to use the spell in plain English] Tempora Finite [When the Contingency Metacharm should remove itself, even if it never got triggered]". Again, keep in mind that it is the Soulshard casting the spell, not the wizard. This is important because it allows spells to go off in situations when the wizard might be incapacitated. One notable downside, however, is that as long as a Soulshard has a Contingency Metacharm set to it keyed off to a particular spell, the wizard cannot manually cast that spell until after the contingency is triggered (no, not even wandlessly, or with the use of someone else's wand. Keep in mind, it's not about wands, it's about the spiritual bond between a wizard and his horcrux). To give an example, let's say that you are preparing for a non-lethal duel that is happening soon, and want to make yourself Expelliarmus-proof, so you use the incantation "Contingentia Accio Quand bring yourself to my right hand if you are more than 15 feet away and airborne Tempora Finite 24 Hours". In the morning before the duel, you won't be able to Accio your hat from the hanger; you will have to walk up to it and pick it up. The number of Contingency Metacharms a Soulshard can hold at the same time varies with the wizard's skill and age (for the purpose of a reverted Darien, the proper number is probably 1, but his 26 year old self could manage 10ish).
Willjacking: The ability to bend a wand to your will. This comes in three forms, presented in increasing order of difficulty. First of all, all Blackstones are capable of taking an unowned wand and forcing it to choose them as their wielder. This doesn't have a specific incantation, but may take anywhere between hours and seconds depending on skill level. Second of all, some Blackstones are able to switch the allegiance of a wand owned by someone else to themselves, provided that they are able to physically touch and hold it for an extended time while the original owner is not there. Third of all, very few Blackstones (this includes teacher!Darien, but most likely won't include reverted!Darien) are able to temporarily and very briefly take ownership of someone else's wand while that person is literally holding it, and cast spells from that wand while it's in the other wizard's hand. This requires the Willjacker to not just have a vastly higher willpower than the enemy wizard, but also than the wand (different wands have different wills depending on age, core, integrity, and how much they like their current owner if one exists).
