thebreakingwave | application; the lens in the beam

P L A Y E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Takhys
OOC Journal:

takhys
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Old as hale.
Email + IM: takhys on AIM and gmail; antimeria on plurk
Characters Played at Ataraxion: none.

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: JKR's Potterverse
Original or Alternate Universe: Original.
Canon Point: Six months after the end of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'
Number: Randomize me.

Setting:

The Harry Potter Universe.

History:

The easiest way to give a brief summary of the Potterverse timeline is to roughly break it down into five sections: Pre-War, First War, Between the Wars, Second War, and Post-War. The narrative of the books begins between the wars and continues through to the second wizarding war and, if you're a fan of the epilogue, well into the post-war period. Both wars are nominally about the integration and 'blood purity' of children born to non-wizarding (muggle) parents, but I feel that they're more about general social unrest, dissatisfaction with a changing world, and a power-grab.

In Britain, a wizard named Voldemort rose to power and gathered a group of followers ('Death Eaters') with the intent to overthrow the social and political status quo and install himself and his faithful as the new rules. This was opposed by The Order of the Phoenix, as lead by Albus Dumbledore. Both Dumbledore and Voldemort learned of a prophecy that foretold how Voldemort would fall after being killed by a certain infant. In order to prevent his own death, Voldemort took it upon himself to kill the child, Harry Potter, that he believe was named by the prophecy. While he was able to kill the boy's parents, it was his mother's self-sacrifice that created a magical shield of love that saved her child. In this 'verse, love is considered the most powerful form of magic. Voldemort is believed to have been killed in this attack and Harry is given the moniker 'The Boy Who Lived'.

Following this, Harry was sent to live with his muggle relatives, the Dursleys. While they kept him alive, the Dursleys were grossly negligent in regards to any other aspect of child rearing. At the age of eleven and utterly unaware of the wizarding world, Harry was recalled to Hogwarts, a school for young witches and wizards.

For the next seven years -- one book, per year -- Harry attends Hogwarts and routinely thwarts, fights, and sometimes loses to Voldemort and the Death Eaters. For the first few years, most people either don't believe or refuse to acknowledge that Voldemort has returned and is, yet again, gathering his followers back to him with the intent to gain control over wizarding Britain.

Year One: Harry arrives at Hogwarts and becomes fast friends with Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Voldemort tries to get the philosopher's stone and use that to recreate a body and return to life.
Year Two: A diary that contains a piece of Voldemort's soul is introduced to Hogwarts and it manipulates one of the students (Ginny Weasley) into releasing a basilisk. At the cost of being fatally poisoned, Harry defeats the creature and saves Ginny, before being cured of the poison.
Year Three: Harry learns that he does have a living relative, his godfather Sirius Black, but that Black is believed to be an escaped murderer. Throughout this year, he learns that this isn't true and that another man is responsible for the death of his parents.
Year Four: An international wizarding championship comes to Hogwarts and Harry is forced to participate. At the end of this novel, Voldemort comes back to life with a newly formed body.
Year Five: The Order of the Phoenix is reformed; partly in response to a new administrator installed in Hogwarts. Sirius is killed in battle.
Year Six: Harry and Dumbledore go on a series of strange missions to try and find and destroy certain items. It turns out that these objects, 'horcruxes', contain pieces of Voldemort's soul and they must all be destroyed before he can truly be killed. Dumbledore is killed and the Second War begins in earnest.
Year Seven: Harry, Ron, and Hermione go on the run and attempt to destroy the remaining horcruxes. There is a final battle at Hogwarts and following the prophecy, they are successful. Voldemort kills Harry, who then goes into death, has a conversation with those who've died before him, and then returns to finally kill Voldemort.

This is a ridiculously simplified history and if the modteam needs or wants tl;dr on any specific subject, I am happy to hold forth.

Personality:

Harry's development comes in two main stages: pre-war and wartime. Thematically, the main events and forces that shaped and continue to shape his life are trust issues, the trauma of war, and the reality of the unpleasant decisions that he made during war.

During his time with the Dursleys, Harry was given no reason to trust anyone other than himself. Surprisingly, he retained a sense of optimism and upon entering Hogwarts hoped that the adults he would meet could be trusted and that he would be able to have a 'normal' life; however, time and time again he was either lied to or had critical information withheld from him.

As a result of his upbringing, Harry is not naturally in tune with his own feelings or the feelings of others. While he can often anticipate what the correct response to any particular situation is supposed to be, it is a conscious decision that he must make. He does care deeply about those close to him, but is not particularly comfortable with expressing his love verbally. He is far more likely to express affection through action, rather than through words.

As he grows from a child to an adult, Harry exhibits emotional growth during the span of his canon. At his worst, he's ruled by anger and mistrust. Throughout the series, Harry is increasingly forced into an awkward leadership role -- while the members of the Order often look to him as a figurehead and want him to endorse the decisions made by the older, more experienced members, he was rarely given suitable information and decision-making agency that would allow him to feel a sense of ownership over the choices of the Order.

Harry is a natural leader, although given much choice in the matter he would choose to remain in the background until he sees a real need to take over the lead. When he has been placed in a leadership role, he is usually quite effective, as he is able to objectively see the reality of a situation, and are adaptable enough to change things which aren't working well. Ron is a far better military strategist, but Harry is better suited to making tough and 'big picture' decisions.

During the war, Harry has to temper the early rational survival skills he developed living with the Dursleys with the emotional, social growth he made while attending Hogwarts. Harry's primary mode of living is focused internally; when faced with a problem, he gathers information and interacts with the world through his five senses, in a literal, concrete fashion allowing him to deal with what could otherwise be overwhelming situations in a rational and logical manner. When faced with a new situation, he usually does not first discuss it with his friends; rather, he will mull over the possibilities and decide for himself.

Both in war and in his personal life, his mind constantly gathers information and makes associations about it. He is insightful and usually very quick to understand new ideas. However, his primary interest is not understanding a concept, but rather the concrete application of that concept. For example, a potion to increase luck is undeniably interesting, but he's more concerned with how it could be made useful.

Revisions:
As a young child, Harry had pie-in-the-sky dreams about what he'd do with his life once he was free of the Dursleys, but as he grew up, the horizon for his goals shortened to the end of the war. Following the revelation that he was the final horcrux, he'd been increasingly aware that in order for the war to be fully won, he'd need to die. At the canon point I'm planning to take Harry from, he's coming to the realization that he's survived the war relatively intact, but that he has no idea what he wants to do with himself. It's very much as 'what next?' sort of time. Harry has spent most of his life living up to others' expectations and fighting for other people, not always for himself or his needs. I can't see him instantly becoming selfish, but I do think he's moderately self-aware enough to begin to explore his options and question what the wizarding world offers him.

I think that a post-war / pre-epilogue point is a fascinating one to take Harry from. In many ways, he's a 'grown up', but at the same time, a lot of that comes from having to mature far too early - being raised in a neglectful house and, basically, being a child solider are not conducive to exploring all the options available to him. He's on the cusp of defining himself as an adult and I really want to play out him exploring himself and the world around him.

Harry is focused on and fiercely devoted to the concept of family, not necessarily as a practical thing, but as an ideal. For good or ill, he quickly forms lasting attachments to people that show him kindness. Circumstance and experience has encouraged him to be devoted to his peers, while finding it profoundly difficult to trust adults. In my opinion, it's more than a little tragic how so many of the adult figures in Harry's life have let him down, withheld vital information, and generally used him. (Like pretty much everyone who's read the books, I have a long, and vitriolic rant about Dolores Umbridge.) By the end of the war, he does feel that he can trust Hermione and Ron with almost anything and is confident in their support and affection.

Harry has a rather robust, if occasionally morbid, sense of humour. If I were to give him a favourite television show, he'd be won over by Blackadder; although, the fourth season would be a tough watch. He enjoys the freedom of sport and physical activity. I know that most of my writing on his personality has been pretty heavy, but he's generally a pleasant, friendly young man that makes an effort to always have a little time for fun and recreation. To be fair, he's not entirely sure what to do with all the free time he has, but by Merlin, he's going to enjoy it.

While Harry can grudgingly accept that cutting class and going to the movies wasn't his lot in life, I do think there's a real risk of his getting angry about how much of the world, wizarding and otherwise, that was kept from him. There's a great, big, beautiful world out there and so much of it was and remains off limits. He's got a good sense of a variety of hands-on magical techniques, but he's still fairly young, was justifiably distracted all through school. Both in war and in his personal life, his mind constantly gathers information and makes associations about it. He is insightful and usually very quick to understand new ideas. However, his primary interest is not understanding a concept, but rather applying that concept in a useful way. With a few years apprenticeship, he'd make a good Auror, but there's a part of him that wants to rebel against what seems like a foregone conclusion. He's curious, hungry to learn more, and not particularly cautious.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:

Generally speaking spells require: a wizard strong enough to cast them, a wand, a gesture, and a verbal cue. Depending on the strength of the caster and the complexity of the spell, all the other components are negligible. In the Potterverse, wizards can do all sorts of odd things like turn toucans into teapots and the reverse. If it's done well, there's no lasting harm to either party; if the spell is botched, bodyhorror living teapots is the result. More or less, the rule I've used when deciding what Potter can and can't do, is if it's narratively good for the game and it's reasonable that he could bodge something together out of canon-references and a bit of dodgy latinate incantation, then I'll give it a go. As a concept, being able to to magic is integral to how Harry defines himself, but it's not the be all and end all of how I write him.

Harry is a young, not entirely well-trained wizard with some power. More through experience than innate talent, his abilities are focused around battle magic - attack, defence, camouflage, etc. While he show promise when following directions, left to his own devices, he's not particularly good with the more day-to-day practical applications of magic.

Wizards tend to bounce back from non-magical injury a bit better than vanilla humans and they seem to live considerably longer. That said, if they're not able to shield and magically prepare, they are as easy to damage as a regular human.

Inventory:

- 11' holly wand with phoenix feather core
- a mostly blank diary
- a quill pen, ink, and quill sharpening kit
- a box of chocolate frogs; with trading cards

Appearance:

Harry is a young man of slightly less than average height with messy black hair and bottle-glass green eyes. He is lean, with a runner's build and moves as if he's comfortable with his own body. Notably, he has two visible scars: a lightning bolt shaped mark on his forehead and the line 'I must not tell lies' in cursive on the back of his hand.

I have lovingly nicked DanRad's face from the Harry Potter movies as his PB.

Age:

S A M P L E S

Log Sample:: N.B. This is a sample I wrote ~~on a dare~~ and while I wouldn't consider it canon for Harry, I do think it shows how I write his voice.; "It's for your unbirthday," he said handing over a pair of glow-in-the-dark muggle deelyboppers wrapped in newsprint. Harry had seen them in a shop window and instantly knew Luna would appreciate them. Even as he said it, his flimsy excuse for their purchase rang hollow leaving him ashamed that he was unable to admit he'd bought them without a reason.

"An unbirthday? Is this from another of your muggle books, Harry?" He nodded and went to put another log on the fire before returning to the soft, almost shapeless couch that was the only comfortable and vaguely warm thing in the squalid flat they had been staying in. It had been an ugly lesson, one of many, that the most difficult part of war was less about battles and more about who could wait, watch, and seize whatever small opportunities arose. With only so many games of exploding snap and wizarding chess to keep him occupied, Harry had eventually and unexpectedly turned to reading to pass the time.

The rest of the evening was filled by his stilted, occasionally circuitous recollection of Disney's Alice in Wonderland; he hadn't read the book yet, but he did see the movie one rainy afternoon at school. Luna was particularly charmed by his description of the momeraths and how much they reminded him of the chirwirrits that lived in the garden outside her home.

"Harry?"

"Mmm," he said, more than half-focused on trying to make the recalcitrant sofa-bed turn into a proper bed without slicing his fingers off.

"I think that the Death Eaters might've come across Vermicious Knids and trained them. Do you think it's possible?"

"I'm not sure. Why do you think that?" Harry smiled while fighting with one of the stuck hinges. Not many people understood Luna's quiet, gentle sense of humour, but he'd read the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to her earlier in the week and could appreciate the joke.

"It would be a good tactic and I think you should be prepared for it."

Still kneeling and trying to coax the hinge, Harry could only hear her speaking and the soft rustle of fabric. "And how would I do that?"

"We, Harry. We would be prepared because they only eat virgins."

As the hinge finally released, sliding the pull-out section of the sofa free, Harry stood, brushing off his hands against his jeans and turned to face Luna. Silhouetted by low light cast by the remains of the fire, she was only wearing the deelyboppers; one daisy perfectly still, the other listing to one side. "It's a matter of life, death, and knids."
Comms Sample:: [The video feed shows a young man in his late teens or early twenties. He's not nervous, but out of habit he runs a hand through the messy black fringe of his hair before speaking.]

Hullo, I'm Harry. From what I've seen the usual thing to do here is to ask if there's a way home or if there are others from home here. If you're here, say hi, and if you're not here -- well, I guess you won't speak up then?

I'm not very good at staying still, so if there's something genuinely useful I could be doing, let me know?

[Yes, he wants to go home, but the need to return isn't as desperate as it would've been a few months ago. Harry is almost relieved to admit that the war is over and his part has been played.

Still, being pulled into space has left him feeling wrong-footed rather than angry.]

Please do not fourth wall Harry without asking me first.