Salazar Ricardus

[Salazar Ricardus]

Application for Hogwarts School

→ CHARACTER INFORMATION.

Name: Salazar Loxias Ricardus
Note: I know the policy that the names from the book have to be avoided. But I wouldn’t have named this character Salazar if I didn’t have good reasons for it. The reasons are stated in the biography. I really hope that you will consider it and allow me to use the name. The name is the only "so called" link with the book.

Birthday:21 December ‘58

Hometown: Freethorpe, Norfolk, UK

Bloodline: Pureblood

Magical Strength: Charms

Magical Weakness: Summoning

Year: 5th/6th
Sixth is preferred.

Biography:

There was no person in this room. The room was entirely empty apart from his bed, a chair and an old desk. The boy that had looked around suspiciously now summoned a black notebook and dropped it on the table. The dust whirled around the shapes of the black leather. He looked around again, suspicious, and then took the squeaking chair. He sat down and took the quill that lay on the desk. While he dipped the tip of the quill in the ink, the little jar fell over and wasted the black ink over the desk's surface. The boy sighed. The house elf wouldn’t be happy about that. He looked around again, and then out of the window. He was alone. Finally, he had the time to write. The sixteen-year-old boy started to scratch the paper’s surface with the tip of the quill.

Who: Salazar Loxias Ricardus
About: Notes to myself
Date: Friday 13th -October
Place: Ricardus Hall, Freethorpe, Norfolk, UK.
Note to reader: If you’re the house elf, stay out. If you’re anyone else, then stay out as well. That’s an order.
Contents:

These are the notes of Salazar Loxias Ricardus. And in these notes I want to be honest for once. About, well, practically everything.

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? On 21 December 1957, I was born to a family that has a few obsessions that expressed themselves in my name, first of all. Salazar is not the name you'll find at the top of the average bill or the average newspaper. But you might have heard of it. Salazar is the first name of the founder of Slytherin House, Hogwarts. My family brags they made the school and the house big with all the generations of the Ricardus family that had graduated at Hogwarts. All Slytherins. And I suppose, to buy me a ticket into the house, they named me after the founder of it. Like, they knew from the very start that I was different -not the typical Ricardus. Plus, I guess, that they sort of worship the guy.
Though, one of my brother claims that it also has something to do with the Portuguese leader António de Oliveira Salazar, he isn’t one of the nice guys. Though, I really doubt this theory. I mean, António is a Muggle. What do my parents care about Muggle politics? Right, nothing.
I think that gives the first impression of my family: crazy idiots.
And then the second name, it’s the second obsession of the Ricardus family. Loxias... Well, I have no idea where that came from actually. And I have no intention to find out. The name Loxias runs in the family, all oldest sons are named after him. One day, they want me to pursue this madness. Thanks, but no thanks.

You must wonder what kind of family I come from. Well, it’s the Ricardus family. Would be quite surprised if you didn’t hear of this pureblood family that is obsessed by all kind of hexes. Not to mention the obsession for pureblood and their hate toward muggles. We are with quite a lot and have invaded the UK, I’m sure. For example, I myself have seven brothers.
Ricardus means ‘powerful leader’ and that’s all what my family wants; power to roll the dice and make decisions. Kind of pathetic really.
But these notes won’t be about the history of this thrilling family –though it’s a nice story if you want to read about adventures and betrayals. These will be about me, the black sheep of the family on who’s shoulders the greatest expectations rest.

First of all, I dislike my family a lot. At first, sure, everyone believes the tales their daddy tells them before they go to sleep. But those stories weren’t about the normal things, like a kind witch that gives some treats to some passing children. In the stories my father told me, the witch would hex the passing children rather than to give them treats. And he, my father, the future head of the Ricardus’ family, Loxias Ricardus, told me the children deserved it. They didn’t have the same status as the witch and so, they weren’t allowed to speak up to her. I believed him back then. What do you expect from a six-year-old?

I hexed my first person when I was about eleven. I wasn’t an exceptional wizard back then, but I had learnt a hex from one of my nephews, they made me. It was a pretty and young muggle girl that was the victim of my actions. I quit the hex pretty quick when I saw the poor girl scrawling over the ground, in a lot of pain. My nephews laughed. I still hear their laughter around me if I enter the place again. I still see their eyes, their eyes full of madness. Casting all sort of hexes to cause a lot of harm. I was paralyzed while they laughed at the ‘filthy muggle’. I couldn’t see why she would be so much different than we were. Sure, she couldn’t cast any spells or see the future, but she felt the same things we did. So that made us equal in my eyes. Not in my family’s.

That’s the day I started to dislike my family.

But I keep it secret. They are not allowed to find out. I pretty hang on to my life at the moment. We’re not a family that likes betrayers.

And then there is this day when I found a little puppy in the woods. It was a nice day back then and I saw a little puppy bound to a tree. It was in pain and left there to die. I couldn’t let him just sit there to meet death, the brown eyes of the Husky were so full of life and curiosity. I took him with me to Ricardus Hall. My father and my mother were not pleased with a dog in the Hall. A dog was a pet for muggles, they told me. They took the little pup away from me, and I’ve never seen him again. As I look back at it, it looks like the puppy had a very urgent meeting with death. I think I didn’t look at my family for over three months. Sure, they bought me an owl. But how much affection can you get from a short-eared owl. Don’t get me wrong, he was a nice and fierce owl, but not what I wished for. And I felt like they molded me into somebody I didn’t want to be.

I think I haven’t talked for over three weeks. I felt like a misfit, whatever my father told me. Until my father was fed up with me and shouted at me I had to be proud that I was a Ricardus.

So, that’s how I ended up with being named after a dark wizard, being a non muggle-hater and a non-hexer in a family that loved all of those things.

And I despise it. I started to live a second, secret life. I’m good in hiding myself away. I’m good in making you believe I was somewhere else than you believe. And if you don’t, I make you believe. I’m a manipulator. Although I hate my family, I have to please them to contain my head on my chest.

And I have to live up to the expectations, you see. So I went to Hogwarts. And I had to keep my fingers crossed that I ended up in Slytherin to live up to the expectations. And I better hope I get a lot of detentions and a lot to brag about later, as my family happens to have the most loose banded students.

They won’t notice I’m not my surname. I will cover up. And hopefully break free.

Obliviate,

Salazar

The boy looked up, dropped his quill besides his notebook and turned around swiftly. In the doorway, there stood one of his brothers, Arcus. Arcus was one of Salazar’s favorite brothers as he was the most like him. The same ideas about the hexing and the jinxes. Though, he couldn’t be trusted. Arcus ran towards the other brothers if he had a secret that he knew of. To be interesting. Salazar’s face became weary when he met his brother’s eyes. He knew his brother was begging to see Salazar´s patronus –a cougar. But Salazar wasn’t going to let his guard down, not with the notebook open on his desk. He closed the notebook and pointed at the door before he combed his hair back in an annoyed manner.

“Arcus, please close the door when you leave me. No cougars today,” Not now. Not when he was going to escape Ricardus Hall to go to Hogwarts.

To find a way out.

→ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

House Request: I would prefer Slytherin.
Salazar comes from a long line of Slytherins and he would make sure he would do anything possible to please his family. He is able to be big one day and to accomplish a lot –like to break free from his family. Salazar is ambitious, has a strong sense for self-preservation, is achievement-orientated on some points (not his education at least) and shrewd.
If he ends up in another house than Slytherin, he would be the family’s disgrace. He will definitely beg the sorting hat to put him in Slytherin.

Personality:
Salazar is a two-headed snake for sure.
 
He’s not an open book though he’s outgoing and quite aware of everything that’s happening around him. But he wouldn’t give anyone insight of his true feelings and desires. He has lost his faith in wizards and witches because of his family. He doesn’t trust anyone but himself. This doesn’t make him a loner though, he loves socializing, he is charming and likes to be in the center of the attention, but if you try to speak about how he feels, he would shut you out. He would be snappy and ice-cold to protect himself from any kind words.
The friends he makes are rare and for life. The enemies he makes are not the people he cares about. He doesn’t even mind to honor them with a comment or prank unless they really ask for it. He’s more the type of person that would watch you be angry with him with a smirk on his face –laughing at you in silence. He’s protective over his friends and will risk everything to make sure they won’t be in trouble.

Appearance:
Salazar is 6'1" tall. He has light brown hair and piercing ocean like blue eyes. His features are strong and they make you believe he doesn’t give a damn about anything around him. His facial expressions are supposed to shut everyone out and to make you believe he’s the pureblood elitist with the hate toward muggles and a love for hexes. Once you get to know him, however, his facial expressions change. They are more relaxed, open and curious to know everything you have to offer him.
He’s athletically built and he knows it makes him look good. He’s vain at that point of view –one of the bad family traits he inherited.

→ SAMPLE ROLEPLAY.

Option II:

“Oh, come now!"

Astrid Bixby’s voice carried down the corridor, the tall blonde girl not far behind. Her interviewee – or victim, depending on perspective – turned a corner and she frowned. They were always so elusive when she needed them. Sure, they would talk as if there was no tomorrow during class, but once she actually needed them to say something, they were nowhere to be found. Gryffindors.

Flustered, Astrid stopped in the middle of the corridor and stared, her parchment hanging limply from her hand. She was a good reporter, really, and she always did her best to make sure that everything she wrote was accurate. She glanced down to the quill, eyeing it with disdain. It wasn’t her fault if her quill misquoted. How was she supposed to know? It made for interesting articles, at least, and if she had misquoted the Head Boy last term as saying he had a love for stuffed animals, then that gave him personality. Astrid sighed.

A pout formed on her lips as she turned away, discouraged. The corridor was mercifully empty, though the doors to The Spellbound – the school newspaper – were ominously closed. Corbridge was a mercifully sweet editor, but Astrid was terrified of disappointing her all the same. She had to come back with quotes.
Her eyes, blue, trailed her surroundings before choosing a new path, and she turned down a new corridor. A figure was ahead, and her eyes lit up, an impossibly rosy smile blossoming across her lips.

“Hey!” Astrid called, her voice light and singsong. She trotted to catch the person, her shoes clicking on the stone floor. “Wait up! It’s for the paper!” Her legs aided her admittedly poor running, and Astrid gasped as she came closer. “What do you think about serving frog legs at lunch? Some say it’s a delicacy, but others think it’s plain gross.”

Response of Salazar: Salazar really wasn’t in the mood to talk to someone. No one. He was always moody when he had been sent a letter from home that told him that he should be ‘oh so happy that he got into the school of Hogwarts and that he should honor his name’. Honoring my name, a dry sarcastic laugh had filled his head when he had read the letter yesterday. Afterwards, the letter was lit and he had enjoyed the spectacle of the black pieces of parchment that had filled the ground as the fire devoured it.

Still, with a face that mentioned: warning, do not come any closer, he got the attention of a girl the next day. Bumping her shoulder had been a bad decision. Now, he had found himself a stalker. How marvelous.
 
I run away, if you don’t mind, he had thought when he had turned around swiftly to find a way out of there.
 
“Oh, come now!" No, I don’t come now. Salazar thought as he heard the voice and the footsteps that followed him. He really wasn’t into one of those people that wanted to ask everything about him. The people that wrote for those weird things as school paper thing didn’t have anything else to do, in Salazar’s eyes. They were just those lousy people that wanted attention and would do anything to get it. Not this time, if he could help it.
 
“Hey!” Hey, Salazar answered inside his head. Nice not knowing you, stalker. He started to walk a bit faster as he really wanted to talk to that person.
 
“Wait up! It’s for the paper!” Oh yeah, that makes so much of a difference. School paper, yay. Salazar felt the urge to sarcastically clap in his hands, turn around, run up to her to meet her and then ask her to interrogate him. He rolled his eyes, what did she expect from him? He was a Ricardus, he wasn’t supposed to be helpful. But he was slightly scared that she was asthmatic and that she would die of running that long to catch up with him. Whatever the question would be, the answer would be sarcastic. He turned around and leant nonchalantly against the wall with his left shoulder. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, raised one brow slightly and looked everything but interested.
 
“What do you think about serving frog legs at lunch? Some say it’s a delicacy, but others think it’s plain gross.” What was that for a question? Like his opinion on this would change the view of the kooks in the kitchens. He wasn’t even going to answer this question seriously. Why would he? It was a question of nothing.
 
”Would you prefer that they serve living frogs so you can kiss it and see if it changes into a prince?” Salazar was good at avoiding questions. But even better at walking away in the middle of a conversation. Giving the girl a teasing and charming smile, he turned around slowly and walked away.
 
School papers… Like he would give a shit.
 
→ ABOUT YOU.

Previous Characters: Ignis Fides Rivers

[Margot Lecuyier]

Mr. Ricardus,

Congratulations, your application to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been accepted.

Term begins 01 September 2012. Currently, students have gathered at the Summer Campus. Your admission is joint for both the school and the summer campus, and we encourage you to spend your summer there. Should you choose, you may also visit our Elsewhere board via the Floo Network to visit or purchase school supplies. We look forward to seeing you at the Castle.

Regards,

Head of Ravenclaw