Biography
Cedric Pellinore Galyn was born on 3 December, 1959 to Lewis Galyn and Vivienne Medraut. He grew up in Caerleon, Wales in a sizeable home only a few miles away from the Medraut family manor where his mother had spent her childhood. It had not been a happy childhood for her - Cedric's grandfather, Cassius Medraut III, was a tyrant.
Cedric himself was aware of the massive tension between father and daughter before anyone thought he was old enough to perceive it although no one, not even Lewis, knew what it had stemmed from. Lewis, in fact, had been hand-picked by Cassius to court his daughter, and Vivienne was obliged to comply. It was an arranged marriage in all but the name - Vivienne accepted simply because she knew her marriage would provide somewhat of a buffer for her father's overwhelming need to control her. Truthfully, Cassius had chosen Lewis mostly on the grounds that he was both pureblooded and vulnerable to persuasion. It did not work out in the ways that Cassius had intended. Lewis was proud as well, and he found it obnoxious when Cassius tried to meddle in the affairs of
his wife. This of course suited Vivienne just fine, and she lived protected behind the wall of her husband's stubbornness, glad to be as far away from Cassius' grasp as possible.
When Cedric was born, however, it became an entirely different matter. Suddenly Cassius became far more interested in his grandson than anything else, and Lewis was gratefully inclined to accept Cassius' offers to pay for Cedric's education. Vivienne was wary of this involvement. Cedric was his mother's son - bright, intense, curious - and the light of her closed-in world. Vivienne did absolutely everything in her power to ensure that young Cedric would never fall prey to the hunger for power and vanity that seemed to plague the Medraut family. Against the express wishes of her husband and the horror and outrage of her father, Vivienne sent Cedric to a Muggle private school at age six in order to learn about the other world beyond the sterile, wealthy, pureblooded branches of his ancestors. Cassius tried, unsuccessfully at first, to pull Cedric out of enrollment, so that Cedric enjoyed two full years at the school. But finally, with the help of Cedric's father, Cassius managed to put the kibosh on his grandson's "social frivolity with Muggles" and Cedric did not return the next year. Instead, Cassius hired a private tutor whom Cedric loathed and wanted more than anything to see him eaten by acromantulas. It was about this time when Cedric's stubborn and rebellious streaks began to emerge. He fought his education tooth and nail and refused to cooperate, becoming a source of endless exasperation for Lewis and embarrassment for Cassius. His mother kept quiet about the whole situation and would neither confirm nor deny her support or opposition, but it was quite clear to everyone where she stood.
Finally, at age eleven, Cedric received his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. The entire family, including Vivienne, agreed that he should be sent off to school, albeit for different reasons. So, in September of 1970, Cedric donned his school-mandated black robes and coned wizarding hat and boarded the Hogwarts Express from London. He was sorted into Gryffindor, which was a bit of a blow to Cassius - the Medraut family tended to be Slytherins. Within the castle grounds, Cedric was freed from the constant oppressive presence of his grandfather, but sadly not his influence. Cedric's classes were chosen for him, and he was told that he was expected to become a prefect once he was eligible. Although Cedric did not share his grandfather's last name of Medraut, he did represent Cassius' legacy, and right now that was more crucial than anything.
The Medraut family is one of the oldest, wealthiest, pureblooded wizarding families in Wales. Their ancestry can be traced back centuries, all the way back to their founding ancestor - Mordred of Camelot, son of the dark witch Morgana le Fay and traitor of the legendary King Arthur. Their own last name, in fact, is the Welsh spelling and pronunciation of Mordred's name. It is a source of pride and dignity, and also power in the wizarding world - power that only the patriarch of the main family branch has complete control over. As the first born son of the seventh generation of his line, Cassius is the current Medraut patriarch. His branch is the main branch, the family line with all the wealth and strength - but not for long. After Vivienne's birth, Cassius' wife Lydia had been unable to bear any more children, and she had died a few years later. Cassius had looked into remarriage, but the pureblooded Welsh families had begun to shrink significantly by the 1900s and the ineligibility of bachelorettes had never afforded him the opportunity. With no male heir to carry on the Medraut name in Cassius' stead, the main branch of the family had come to a screeching halt. It was against this background that Cedric had grown up, always subconsciously aware of the power shift in balance, and hearing the whispers of a family feud slowly brewing.
Around the time Cedric had begun school at Hogwarts, it was finally spread out into the open. Cassius' nephew, the son of his late brother Ambrose, was the only choice to take over the family - he was the last Medraut line which would still be eligible to inherit the Medraut fortune and prestige. In addition, Idris Medraut had just had a baby - a son. It was stability, and many of the minor branches agreed that Idris was the perfect candidate. Ambitious, power-hungry, and hovering like a vulture waiting for Cassius to die, rumors had begun to circulate that Idris was tired of waiting. Some of Cassius' supporters from the minor branches and offshoot families (like the Galyns) believed that Idris might be "ambitious" enough to murder his own uncle. Such an accusation, however delicately and roundabout it had been presented, offended Idris and his supporters greatly. Now the family was arguing about whether or not to shift power of attorney of the Medraut estates to Idris now and avoid further conflict or allow Cassius to live out the rest of his days in dignity as the last of his line.
As such, Cedric was caught right in the middle. His grandfather had little dignity left but to present to the family his legacy, regardless of the lack of male heir. Cedric was constantly under pressure from his father and grandfather to uphold the honor of the main branch through his successes at the school. The reins tightened, although Vivienne tried her best to keep them as loose as possible, and she finally persuaded her husband and father to lift the ban on Quidditch (they said it interfered with his studies) so he could try out for the team.
Cedric was just about to turn thirteen when his father died. It was strange and sudden and out of place; Lewis left on a business trip to England and simply had a massive heart attack. Completely non-magical, completely without warning, and now completely gone. Suddenly, Cedric's world collapsed on itself. There had sadly been little love lost between Cedric and Lewis, but Lewis' death meant that Cassius was once again ruler over Vivienne - and in turn, Cedric's - lives. Cassius informed them that in order to "provide the support they needed in their time of tragedy", mother and son would come live with Cassius at the manor. Vivienne resisted at first and flatly told her father "no". But she soon discovered that Lewis had not been as honest about their finances as she had thought. They were thousands of Galleons in debt and there was virtually no money left in the vault at Gringotts. Cedric was at school when the house was taken away by the wizarding bank, and it was with a dark cloud over his head that Cedric arrived, back from his third year, at the big iron gate at the entrance of the Medraut estate.
The summer began with a huge thunderstorm, and it matched Cedric's mood quite well. As he struggled to grow used to his new living hell in the dark halls of the old manor, Cedric began to notice a change in his mother. She was quiet, ghostlike even, going about her daily routine as if she were controlled by some other entity that wasn't herself. Cassius explained her behavior away as the solemn grieving of a new widow, but Cedric knew better. She was broken, finally beaten by her most cruel and punishing adversary, her own father.
Cedric, in some small way, felt guilty for it. Originally, even when the house had been taken away, Vivienne had lifted her chin and said that they would manage anyway. But Cassius had delivered the final ultimatum - they either came to live with him, or Cassius would cease to pay for Cedric's tuition at Hogwarts. It was Vivienne's freedom or Cedric's future, and she, as only a mother would, chose her son. So Cedric continued to be enrolled, and Vivienne collapsed once again into the dark hole that was the Medraut family.
Cedric worked at his studies more than ever the next year, this time not to keep his grandfather off his back, but for his mother and her sacrifice. He worried constantly over her and sent letters to her nearly once per week. She hardly ever responded, and when he came home over Christmas break, he was shocked. In place of the tall, beautiful, willowy figure of his mother stood a gaunt, listless crone. She no longer walked around but rather sat and silently stared out the window all through Christmas, as if she longed for something that was no longer within her grasp. Cassius, meanwhile, had refused to accept or even acknowledge that there was a problem and he ignored her, still preoccupied by the continuing family feud with Idris. Cedric pleaded with his grandfather to rent them a small apartment in town.
"Rent a flat for us. Just down the road, not too far. But get her out of here."
"Rent a flat?" Cassius rose from his chair, his bushed eyebrows bent downward and causing the lines in his forehead to deepen. "Rent a flat for what? So that she can fill your head with nonsense about Muggles and Mudbloods and sully the name of her family? So that you can run amok like a wild beast? And you expect me to pay for it?"
Cedric stood tall and looked his grandfather in the eye with a fierceness that even the old patriarch had to admire. "I'll work. I'll pay it off."
"Ha!" Cassius spat, returning to his seat. "Your pitiful wages at whatever pathetic establishment you gain employment from would scarcely allow you to pay an eighth of the cost of a flat."
"IT'S KILLING HER!" Cedric screamed suddenly, his expression like thunder. "Being in this house is
killing her. She hates it. She's suffocating!"
"Your mother is a grown woman, boy. She can do well enough without you meddling in her private affairs." Cassius was dangerously calm.
"If you'd open your godforsaken eyes and listened with your bloody ears you'd know she's not right enough in the head to 'do well enough' without me right now." The venom was dripping from Cedric's every word. He was angry, furious, and filled with hatred for the man before him. "But you won't accept it. You won't get her any help because she's an embarrassment." The volume of his voice rose a few notches. "You're afraid people will see her and call you weak. You think you'll lose standing, that the patriarchal power will be taken from you if they believe you're too senile to control your own daughter." Cassius' eyes widened with fury. But Cedric continued, his words nearly shouting now. "But I know it's worse than that. Worse than weakness. You're a coward! A bloody cow..."
He stopped as the gloved hand made contact with his cheek. It forced his head sideways; the sting of the blow smarted across his face.
"If she is truly as ill as you say,
boy," Cassius seethed, his hand still raised in a threatening gesture. "Then she had better stay put where I can keep an eye on her. And you." His blue eyes flashed with a lightning bolt of anger and Cedric saw with sudden horror that they were the same eyes he saw every morning when he saw his reflection in the mirror. Cassius pointed a finger toward the door. "Get out."
Cedric spent a very lonely, worrisome Christmas.
This summer, the summer of 1974, Cedric returned home for the holidays terrified of what he would find. Things were no worse with Vivienne it seemed, but they were no better either and there was an air of pure hatred between him and his grandfather.
Then one morning in late June, Cedric came downstairs for breakfast and found Vivienne sprawled on the ground facedown, her hand clutching a flask only half full of an evil-smelling black potion. Finally driven to total madness, she'd killed herself.
Cedric could barely breathe for the next few weeks. His only strength left lay in the fierce determination that he forced himself to have, for her sake, in defiance of their common enemy. His expression stayed stone cold as Cassius lied and told everyone that it was a potions accident that had taken Vivienne, and Cedric eyes burned as the funeral preparations were made. Everything was perfectly covered up - her death, the reasons for it. No one would want to see her body after a potions accident - they were messy, horrible things, and perhaps her features could have been so horrifyingly disfigured that it would be too much for any normal person to handle. And it seemed so true - Vivienne's strength, after all, was potions class.
It was not until the day of the funeral that Cedric believed that there might be hope of getting away before Cassius had destroyed him too. Because it was on that day that Arianrhod arrived.
Arianrhod was his sister - half-sister, in fact - and she was twenty-four years old. Her existence, just like Vivienne's death, had been covered up. She was the love child of an unknown Muggleborn wizard and Cedric's mother, whom Vivienne had met soon after she left Hogwarts. She had been sent to live with her great aunt in the United States where she had grown up until she went to Hogwarts for seven years, then traveled the world as a magical archaeologist, specializing in ancient and cultural Divination. She'd never known that she had a brother until she'd happened to see the obituary of the woman she knew to be her biological mother in the Daily Prophet. And now, here she was, attending the funeral and making herself known. She was tired of the secrecy too.
The blow was terrible for Cassius. Suddenly, everyone knew Vivienne's dark secret - she had shamed her father and nearly destroyed his standing. Everything became clearer as Cedric put it all together. Here was the reason that Cassius had always wanted to keep control of his daughter. He felt she was too wild to be cut loose, too untamed to be allowed to become a problem for his image. And his selfishness had killed her. Arianrhod's appearance was a true triumph for Cedric.
It turned out that Arianrhod had recently accepted a Divination teaching position at Hogwarts, the very school at which Cedric was of course attending. It was Cedric's way out.
"I'm leaving."
Cassius lifted his head from the desk in his enormous study, his sharp eyes almost amused. "Like hell you are."
"Like hell I am. And like hell I will." Cedric set down his trunk on the rug before the desk and leaned on it with both hands, his face level with his grandfather's. "I won't be coming back either."
"Brave words from a fool, boy. You're underage. Where do you expect to get lodgings?"
"That won't be a problem." Cedric told him curtly, picked up the end of his trunk and wheeled it out of the room. Forever. He was now fifteen years old.
A quick smile touched his lips.
