Robert M. Fowler

[Robert Fowler]

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Robert Monochrome Fowler
Gender: Male
Age: 65 (26 December, 1908)

Education: 
Seven years Hogwarts, class of 1926.

Residence:
Above his Bookstore, in Knockturn Alley, London, with a family house near Guildford, in Surrey.

Occupation:
Bookstore Owner & Former Family Head, Potions Master

Do you plan to have a connection to a particular existing place (example St Mungo's, the Ministry, Shrieking Shack) or to take over an existing shop in need of new management?
Yes, Alles Saught teashop.

Requested Magic Levels:

• Charms: 12
• Transfiguration: 6
• Divination: 4 (He sees it as an impractical use of magic and an utter waste of time, and has absolutely no thought to divining the future when there is far too much on the present plate that needs to be dealt with. Also, he thinks that it is all a bit of a hoax in some ways, and doesn't believe in accurate predictions. This does mean that he is rather oblivious when it comes to danger and often finds himself in rather bad situations because of this. His family is all like this, and most of them lack the same sort of sense. They see this as a bit of a of a sign of pride, and those who tend more toward such otherworldly knowledge are seen in the family as a bit abnormal. He dismally bombed his OWL on the subject, and nobody in the family was surprised or outraged.)
• Summoning: 10

Do you wish to be approved as a group with any other characters? If so who and for what IC reason?
Henrik Rolfensen, life partner.

Please list any other characters you already have at the site:
None.

Biography: (300 words minimum.)
Born the eldest of seven children to the Fowler pureblood family, an ancient family hailing from Surrey that stretches its line back to the coming of William the Conqueror in December of 1908, his mother was a Dumont, and his father the eldest of the last generation, the head of the family at the time of Robert's birth. Raised to be both head of the Fowler family and of their Muggle cover family, the Herefords (minor landed Nobility and a member of the house of Peers) and to keep a handle on his six siblings, Robert was fairly long-suffering by the time he entered school in the 1919/1920 year, he was the first of all seven to be sorted into Slytherin (like every other member of the family for generations). Graduating with outstanding marks on all of his NEWTs, he was his mother's pride and joy and moved back home to assist in family affairs, and to become the protege of a local Potions Master, studying under him for the next decade.

Married into an arranged union at twenty-three, his wife died six years later. They had no children. At twenty-seven he gained the level of a potions master, and when he was Twenty-eight his father passed on, leaving him the head of the family and to take the house Seat in Parliament. For a decade he worked in his spare time as a potioner, caring for his siblings until the youngest graduated from school, and his mother until her death when he was thirty-six.

When he was forty-two a young Ravenclaw, newly graduated, looked into assisting him in his Potions and he took him on, gaining Henrik Rolfensen as his assistant. When he was forty-six there was an accident that caused a series of explosions that ended up setting a part of the family manor on fire. In the explosion his right femoral artery and the hamstrings of his right leg were cut, leading to him spending several months in St. Mungos in recovery—due to a combination of ingredients in the potion that caused the wound, it could not be fully healed, and he walks with a limp to present day.

Henrik, his young assistant, became his acknowledged lover in 1956, when he was 48 and Henrik was 23, and he continued to head both sides of the family until he was sixty-two, when his nephew was old enough to take over. He and Henrik then retired and bought the bookstore and settled in there to enjoy the peace and quiet.

ROLEPLAY
Reply as your character to the following:

It was impossible for Dianne to stay out of trouble. It wasn't that she was looking for trouble, it's just that trouble always managed to find her. Today she wished she could find something equally familiar but more comforting.

The five-year old girl hugged her puffskein closer to her and brushed her face in its soft fur for comfort. She had named him herself and he was always her special pet. No she was certain she had never gone down this side street before. Her anxiety increased every second as darkness fell as she walked down the road. A loud noise came to her left and she buried her face in her pet's fur completely. The scared girl bolted the opposite way slamming the both of them into the wall of the nearest building. Tottering back a few steps she found a door a few feet to her right and ran to open it. What light there was inside spilled out into the darkness and she spilled into the room.

Once in, she was caught between the impulse to curl her cloak up more tightly around her and loosen her grip on it. She wasn't alone anymore but she was now among strangers instead, which was nearly as terrifying. Her puffskein had recovered from the shock of the wall and now was purring contentedly as the girl hugged it, causing a mildly calming effect on the girl. Gathering her courage, she marched up to the nearest person, pulled on the nearest clothing hem and blurted out in a loud voice:

"I'm lost and it's dark and I wanted to know where I am but I'm not scared but I am worried that Sambundeakin is scared because he's little and needs something to eat and wants to go home."

She paused to draw a breath in her nearly never-ending sentence, "He misses my and his mommy."

To explain the scared girl held up the custard-colored puffskein. Sambundeakin the puffskein, however simply purred as if nothing on earth was wrong in the world.

Roleplay Response:
It was getting on toward sunset and the light was dimming through the windows and Robert was shelving books. The tea room bustled with late-afternoon traffic as people had a last cup before they headed home for supper, and in the light from the lamps on the walls he was currently having a hard time figuring out where a book left out by a customer had come from, the text was ancient and the font had been set in a particularly unfortunately small type and his eyesight wasn't what it used to be. Peering down at the page through his glasses, eyes squinting, he was too intent on what he was doing to be expecting it when the door slammed open and closed suddenly. Startling a bit, half-reaching for his wand, Robert turned to see who was there.

Most of their patrons opened the door politely, ringing the shop bell and coming in with the quiet voices expected as much in a bookstore as a library, but this (as soon as he noticed looking at normal height showed nobody to be there) and he looked down until his eyes met—

A young girl, standing, huddled in the doorway, wrapped up in her coat, eyes wide and looking terrible startled. Before he could say anything she came over and jerked on his robe, grabbing his attention even more, and he smiled. "Hullo," he said quietly, folding up the book and brushing his robes aside, kneeling slowly with half a wince to be on the same level as her, adjusting his glasses. "What have we here?"

"I'm lost and it's dark and I wanted to know where I am but I'm not scared but I am worried that Sambundeakin is scared because he's little and needs something to eat and wants to go home. He misses my and his mommy."

"Slow down!" He chuckled a little bit. "You're talking very fast. You're very brave, to not be scared. You've wandered a little far from the main street." This was the edge of Diagon Alley—almost into Knockturn territory. "So…Sambundeakin, was that it? He's a bit scared?" Robert nodded slightly toward her puffskein, one eyebrow raised. "Well, that's all right. I think I might be able to help." Smiling more broadly, lines beside his eyes wrinkling, Robert folded the book closed and set it aside on one of the shelves—he would magnify the text to get the exact title and such later—and carefully stood, wincing all the while, to hold out his hand to the little girl. "Come over here and sit down and tell me about where you two last saw your mother, and then we can go and find her."

SHOPKEEPER QUESTIONS
Answer these questions only if you are applying to be a shopkeeper as well.

Shop name: Alles Saugt Rare Books and Tea
Shop Description (200 words minimum): Upon moving to London three years go, immediately Henrik and Robert set out to find themselves a place to set up, and bought an older house on the edge of Diagon and Knockturn Alley, next door to a Teashop, and renovated the place into one floor of a bookstore and three floors of living space above it.

Calling the store Ludwig's Fine & Rare Books after their cat, the store catered to those interested in collecting tomes, ancient and out of print, some incredibly hard to find, many of them related to such things generally considered darker arts or potions. After three years and moderate success catering to the academic crowd, when the owners of the teashop next door were looking to move on, Henrik bought the store and renovations were begun to combine the two, the last of the work ending in November.

Renaming their shop after the teastore to attract the other's clientele, they are now the Alles Saugt Rare Books and Tea, catering both to collectors of books and academics and also people looking for a snack.

The shop is now connected, with Alles Saugt teashop a few steps down as the left hand neighbour, with an open connection the bookstore, allowing patrons of both to mingle, and the living quarters remain above the bookstore, with the attic space being used to let to a boarder.

What purpose will this shop serve other than selling things and being the home of your character? Why would people want to RP there just for fun?
Tearoom, serving fine full-bodied rich full leaf tea, and the quiet atmosphere of the bookstore to alleviate the bustle of those being served, with both books that aren't easily available elsewhere, and corners in which meetings are perfectly welcome.

The bookstore and house is on the cusp of Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, while the Teashop itself is inside Knockturn.

[Esme Vartan]

Accepted! Welcome to Hogwarts School!