Character Info--
Age: 49 (The big “50” this November)
Graduation: 1987
OWLs/NEWTs:

OWLs:

Charms – O
Herbology – A
History of Magic – A
Defence Against the Dark Arts – O
Transfiguration – O
Ancient Runes - EE
Potions – O
Arithmancy – EE

NEWTS:

Herbology – A
Charms – EE
Defence Against the Dark Arts – O
Transfiguration – O
Potions – EE

History: The traditions of corruption and merciless ambition have run in the Faulkner line for generations and Marcus Faulkner was in no way out of sync with that legacy. Following the example of several Faulkner ancestors to gain the title of “Minister of Magic” before him, Marcus began his political career with an advantageous marriage and, shortly thereafter, the birth of a son. In a stroke of what has been described as either complete indecency or gross oversight, he chose to name his firstborn son after his own great grandfather, a famously unpopular Minister of Magic by the name of Amadeus Faulkner (the second), a man better known for the scandal that forced his resignation than his limited positive contributions to society.

The majority of Amadeus's early childhood was eclipsed by his father's struggle against his own beliefs in the face of the rising power of Lord Voldemort. Shortly after Amadeus' birth, the Faulkners became involved in the preliminary actions of the group that would later be known as the Death Eaters, but backed away when the movement became violent. Unfortunately for Marcus, his interest in Pureblood supremacy crippled his political career, halting his advancement in the Ministry.

A less determined (or rather, less obsessed) man might have admitted defeat, but Marcus Faulkner was not afraid to play dirty to get what he wanted. His family became the glittering window display for a new breed of Faulkner. He become more than a politician; he was the perfect father, the perfect husband with the perfect wife and the perfect son. But of course, a window display is only an advertisement, just as domestic bliss was no more than a political front to be left at the office next to a spare cloak. The real Marcus Faulkner was as cold and stern as ever.


By the time he was old enough for his inevitable matriculation into Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, Amadeus was, in manner and appearance, a very small, very naïve version of the high society's ideal young man. At school, however, he rediscovered fun on the Slytherin quidditch team and that, coupled with what leverage he already had from wealth and good looks, made him immensely popular. His friends, almost exclusively the children of Death eaters and their ilk, led him to become a bully, but unlike his friends, Amadeus possessed both the natural and learned charm to avoid punishment (most of the time) and become a prefect and, later, Head Boy.

Out of Hogwarts, Amadeus entered the Auror program, not out of any sense of righteousness or civil duty, but because he very much fancied the notion of beating the crap out of baddies. Ironically, however, the skills he learned as the premier Hogwarts bully made a spectacular duelist of him and his association with all of the wrong sorts of folks helped him to understand his targets in a very unique way. He was an outstanding Auror, and the more he worked, the more he came to realize that there was something to be said for equality.

And, with that, Amadeus' relationship with his staunchly conservative parents began to deteriorate. An off comment at a dinner party here, an argument there... nothing big enough to prune him from the family tree, so to speak, but more than enough to cause some friction. He wasn't so much turning away from his parents' beliefs so much as he was exploring a strange new idea, but while vacationing in France (for a day or two, which was about as long as he could get without the ministry calling him back for one reason or the other) he met a woman named Gwendolyn Bellefontaine; a delightful strawberry blonde fine arts student from France who spoke eloquently of  the destruction of the socio-economic hierarchy that constituted the backbone of his sense of self worth and still managed to make his heart flutter with a single glance. Suffice to say, she was not nearly so impressed with Amadeus.

Back at the ministry, Amadeus was very quickly establishing himself as a go-to man... that auror who always ended up with the most dueling intensive contracts. On the side, he picked up a few national dueling titles and an Order of Merlin, second class for some nasty dealings with a smuggling league that landed him in St. Mungo's for two agonizing weeks. It was when his letter began to come by means of hospital-owned owls that Gwendolyn, out of what must have been wither pity or respect, started returning his mail.

Two years later Marcus and Calliope Faulkner grudgingly watched their eldest son marry some nouveau-riche (pureblooded –thank heavens --)liberal from France. The wedding was, in their eyes, a concession at best, and Marcus had already taken his son's refusal to go into politics as a personal insult, but rather than to estrange his only son and effectively drive an axe into the heart of the Faulkner family tree, Marcus Faulkner put on a happy face and arranged for the construction of an elaborate townhome in the heart of London as a wedding present. Of course, there was no need for the young couple to inherit the ancestral Faulkner manor, what with a gorgeous home of their own and all...

In spite of his father's obvious disapproval, Amadeus and Gwendolyn were quite happily married, even though Amadeus' job kept him away all evening far more often than his new wife would have prefered. Even so, it didn't take them long to conceive their first child, a son whom they named Aurelius. Two years later they had another son, Auberon, shortly followed by their final child; a daughter this time (Antigone).

Nearly ten years had passed since Amadeus, fresh out of training, entered the ranks of the Aurors. Around the Ministry, vague, fleeting rumors of Lord Voldemort's return were causing tension, and, feeding on that unrest, a group of young witches a wizards began terrorizing muggles and causing obviously magical damage to several prominent muggle landmarks. The case shouldn't have been difficult as the criminals were painfully easy to track, but when Amadeus arrived on the scene, their numbers overwhelmed him and, although he was able to disarm and capture mos of them, the duel left him badly wounded and bleeding from an enormous hex wound to his side. Desperate, the remaining criminals doused the wound in a flesh eating poison and left Amadeus for dead.

Had help arrived any later, they would probably have found a corpse, but they evacuated Amadeus to St. Mungo's, presumably so that he could die in a hospital as opposed to some abandoned building in Soho. The prognosis was grim, but Amadeus lived long enough to say a few garbled goodbyes, and then, against all odds, he went right on living straight through the critical period and long enough for healers to neutralize most of the poison in his blood.

Even with the best medical treatment that money, respect, and government involvement could buy, however, Amadeus spent the next three years in an agonizing stage of recovery that put his previous ventures to shame. By the time he had recovered to the point where he could even begin to consider dueling again, he had quite cleanly missed the second coming of Voldemort (to his immense disgust). In order to control the trace amounts of poison in his blood, Amadeus was forced to begin a grueling regimen of intravenous potion injections to counteract the ongoing damage it would have otherwise caused, and the immense pain, even with the potions, ended his career as an auror.

For a few years, Amadeus was intolerable. With no avenue for his boundless energy, he became depressed, attempted to live the life of a dilettante, hated it, tried his hand in politics, loathed it, and attempted to devote himself, full time, to his children only to find that he lacked the personal childhood experience necessary to fully understand them. Finally, a friend at Hogwarts invited him to give teaching a try, and although children were still very much an enigma to him, Amadeus found teaching them far easier than parenting them.

Ten years of teaching at Howgarts has finally taught Amadeus the nature of children and although he learned his lesson far too late to be the father he'd hoped to be to his own children, he has come to regard his students as surrogate children of sorts and is incredibly protective of all of them, even though he may well be the strictest, (seemingly) most distant professor on the faculty.

Personality: Amadeus may be incredibly sympathetic towards the more liberal end of the political spectrum where muggles and muggleborns are concerned, but generally speaking, he is very much a moral conservative and a bit of a prude (which is ironic, considering he was never prudish at all until after he was injured). He's also an incredible snob when he's amongst adults and prefers the company of either the well educated or the wealthy with a few exceptions for old friends from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. More often than not, his reluctance to form bonds with the vast majority of the magical community leaves him feeling lonely rather than superior, but he's far too stubborn to consider changing his policy on humanity.

When engaged in conversation, Amadeus' natural intelligence is evident. He speaks eloquently, if rather guardedly, and is far funnier than people generally expect him to be (if you catch him in the right mood). His sense of humor is rather cruel, though, and he won't spare feelings for a hearty chuckle amongst peers or mince words to save a wounded ego.

If Amadeus is one thing, he is proud. He is slowly dying from the wounds he was dealt as an Auror, but only his wife, his doctor, and the headmaster of Hogwarts know how quickly. In fact, he refuses to tell most people that he's injured at all and has been known to risk his life rather than appear weak. Beyond the injuries, however, Amadeus' tremendous pride often prevents him from expressing the more amiable half of his personality for fear of seeming overly open or yeilding.

Appearance: In his younger years, Amadeus was rather handsome. He has an attractive facial structure, a firm jawline, and a pair of nicely pronounced cheekbones, but ten years as an auror have not been kind to him. His face is relatively scar free except for a large white gash below his chin and a much deeper cut that runs down from his left temple to his cheekbone, narrowly missing his eye, both of which mulishly resist any healer's attempts to remove them. The greatest scourge to his diminishing good looks is not a scar, however, but the cavalier scowl that generally dominates his well formed features.

While he has been rather tenacious regarding the removal of scars on his face, elsewhere he has been more lenient. Most of the surface of his arms and torso is covered with the shadows of hundreds of magical lacerations. Specifically, the left side of his torso from the middle of his ribcage to his waist is engulfed by a gnarled and angry looking crimson scar. The only battle scars anyone aside from his wife will ever see apart from the two above his neck are the long burn mark that covers his entire right forearm from the wrist up and the round scar left by a puncture wound through his left hand.

Since he was old enough to walk, Amadeus has been an exercise fanatic, and that coupled with a career that requires physical conditioning has ensured that, despite his mounting age, Amadeus looks just as physically fit as many men half his age (and more so than some).


OOC Info--
Name & Contact Information: I'm Steph, and you can reach me on AIM as lenisvox or on YIM as punjabberwocky or email me at punjabberwocky@gmail.com
Previous Roleplay Experience: I've Rped for about three years, first on a pretty large site and then later on a small site which I co-adminned. I've run a few sites myself, but never really had the time to make anything take off... and I prefer Rping to admining anyways ^_^