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Archived Applications / The return of Max Yates
« on: 11/04/2016 at 17:26 »CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character name: Maximilian Theodore Yates
Previous and/or Current Character(s) if applicable: Marcus Altair et. al.
Character age: 58 (23 April 1889)
Character education:
Beauxbatons (1900-1903)
Salem Institute (1903-1904)
Hogwarts (1904-1907), Gryffindor
University levels of Law and Potions (America, 1907-1912)
Auror education at the British Ministry of Magic (1912-1917)
Strength and weaknesses (details please):
Max Yates is a strong-minded, strong-bodied person with a rare passion for justice and a will to do good in the world. You could say it is his call in life to help other people. He has a strong, charming personality, a light sort of humour, although his serious side is quite heavy and dark. He's experienced and seen plenty in the world, and has a keen interest in teaching and guiding the young. Magically, he is incredibly strong, having been guided by the Auror Department of the British Ministry throughout almost an entire life. He is definitely strongest in Charms, followed by Transfigurations, but is, by normal levels, not bad at Conjuring/Summoning either (especially affiliated with the Earth element).
It is said that Yates has had some weakness in regard to women, that he has, in the past, been easily carried away. And that he has, in most instances, left before he finished what he has started. Put, quite frankly, Max Yates did, in his youth, have a rumour for being quite the 'player'. This appears to have changed with time, and hopefully this is right. Other weaknesses includes a certain narrowmindedness, especially in all things related to the art of divination, an extreme stubborn personality and sometimes a refusal to see that he may indeed be wrong. The fact that he has no children and has never been married stand as a possible witness to his sometimes rather difficult personality. He is hard to get close to. Oh, and his divination levels.
Physical description:
Max Yates is a large person. It would be fair to say he's heavy, but much of what you see is muscle, and it would be a dangerous thing to underestimate his strength (he once lifted one quarreling student with each hand during a Politics class, holding them with arms straight out from his body). He is large also in other manners - he holds a height of 6'3, from which he can, in most cases, glance comfortably down at others. Other than this he bears his battle scars, wrinkles and the likes, which you would expect from a fifty-eight year old. He is not a typically handsome person, but rather someone with strong traits. He has dark brown eyes and black hair and beard, which is greying. A large nose and big, bushy eyebrows are a characteristic of his. He tends to wear quite expensive quality clothes, and likes Italian suits and cigars.
Personality (nice, rude, funny etc. Paragraph please.):
Maximilian has what you would call a typical Gryffindor personality - he is very straight forward, obvious in his actions and speaks with a clear, loud, voice. He is used to getting his point through and used to getting heard when he speaks. As a young boy he was witty and energetic, although he always held a strong sense of justice. He liked to be in the middle of the action, and made a strong beater at the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He can also be surprisingly mild though, holding the uttermost care for other human beings, and believing strongly in the good of humanity. He can, however, be extremely stubborn and has difficulty admitting when he is wrong. See also the strenght and weaknesses section.
Hopes and dreams. Why are you teaching at Hogwarts?:
The undying truth is that Max dreams of a fairness and justice which cannot exist in such a cruel world as this. He's taught at Hogwarts before, and found himself becoming strangely fond of the students. In times as dark as these, he finds it fair that he spends some of his time trying to give them hope, and guiding those who needs it.
Biography (500 words minimum. There is never such a thing as too much.):
When Maximilian Yates had his cigar with friends and colleagues on the New Year's Eve of 1974, it didn't take him long to understand that something was very wrong. Perhaps it was the abrupt change of the muggle fireworks. Perhaps it was the sudden change in the taste of his cigar - he'd always liked quality but it became richer, fuller, and when he found the packet the label had been changed. And Maximilian knew his cigars, he'd been smoking the same ones for the last twenty years, since they first came on the market.
Perhaps it was the fact that he'd always been well connected with the muggle world and that the buildings around him were morphing into shapes he hadn't seen before.
At first he was alarmed, apparating straight to the Ministry of Magic in case they wanted him to get to work, and they did. They had to make sure that everything was safe everywhere, to deal with rampagers, loiterers and misplaced revolutionists among the magical population. Some screamed for armageddon, some thought this was finally their chance to get their revenges at whoever they blamed for ruining their lives, and some were simply just improvising. He stayed there all night, even though his Head of Office (at that point being Michael Gray) didn't even turn up until the next day. Or maybe because of that - Maximilian had always been responsible, critical and logical, but always helpful.
When he was relieved of duty the first thing that he did was to apparate directly to Venice to find his old mother lost in a muggle street. Leona Gatto had always known her place in this world, and never could she have done a better job as his mother, but Max was close to hitting the age of fifty and his mother was seventy. Her home, a small apartment in muggle Venice, was gone, and so were all of her friends. He brought her to London, placing her in a temporary home that was put up for victims of the time warp such as her, then turned to find his own home.
What he found was a field with a hole in it.
Years and years of brewing potions had paid off in the way that it was now crushed into one big mess, an entire library of protection, of lifesavers and tools for diguise. They were rare ingredients, things that had taken him twenty years and more to find, and to create. The protection spells were still in effect, for he was an Auror and he did not trust the world not to know, but he'd been living in a 4th floor muggle apartment and they were all floating helplessly over his head. Everything that had to do with muggles was gone - magical belongings scattered around in earth and grass. He saved what he could of books, of tools, of potion ingredients and belongings. And then he went to the Ministry and reported the situation.
When he turned to seeking for his father in muggle America he found that the man had never existed. Maximilian was a Yates, but without any relations to any other person with the same name.
---
Maximilian had been raised as a lone child, for his mother never married, having gotten pregnant as she toured America as a singer. During his childhood days he learnt what it meant to be a bastard child - and from relations with a muggle too - and his mother would work in kitchens and clean homes, but little Max would ever be the optimistic one. She found it was easier when they stayed in the muggle neighbourhoods, and so she hid away her magic until she found that her son had gotten old enough to learn.
Maximilian himself was perhaps lucky that he had always been among the taller boys, and Leona would bring home food from the landlord's kitchen, so he never suffered being short of neutrition. Max always understood how to hit back, although he preferred not to. And with a wide smile and always a joke hiding in the back of his mind he would charm his way into the hearts of the people around him, bastard or not. It was only natural then that he entered the house of Gryffindor with all of his will and wit and heart. But not before he'd first entered Beauxbatons and Salem both.
Beauxbatons was only natural, for it was close to Italy, and he had no trouble getting along with people there. In his fourth year, however, he decided that he wanted to get to know his father, whom he'd never had much contact with, and moved to America for a year, attending Salem Institute. He never liked it there though, much because his relations with his father were odd - they'd never really known each other - and he had half brothers that he didn't know and whom he didn't particularly like. While he stayed there his mother got an offer for a job in Wales, so when he told her that he wanted to come back, this was where they ended up. And so Maximilian entered Hogwarts at 15 years old, now charming his way into the girls' hearts before breaking them. And it wasn't because he didn't like them, it was just that around the corner there would always be another opportunity. Although he never lacked friends he wasn't used to lasting relationships - by then he'd moved around too much.
Max was ever a child of strong meanings. When he found something to be unfair would he speak up. And when he found something to make absolutely no sense at all, he could get angry. And angry he got, at his divination teacher, getting himself expelled from the class in his first year at Hogwarts. Never did he develop anything but a restrained relationship to that subject.
When he graduated there were several things that he was pulled towards studying, but he never really doubted that he wanted to become an Auror. He just wanted to get more of an understanding of the workings of society, by looking into Law, and to potionmaking, which had been a favourite subject of his for as long as he could remember. When he started on his Auror training he applied the new knowledge to the old, and because of his talent at potions he could bottle a lot of qualities that he'd otherwise have to use powerful spells for, preparing himself and saving the required energy.
Because of his knowledge of the world, and his ability of several languages (Italian, French, English), he was often used for cross-continental research. This may be one of the reasons why he never got married or had any children of his own - his relations with women were often short lived as Max moved from day to day, absorbed in his work. The Auror Office and the trips onto which they sent him was where he belonged.
In 1925 there was, for the first time, a girl who managed to charm him enough to make him put a ring on her finger. But, as a fellow Auror, she died the same year. In time, work turned out to be the only mistress that he was able to hold on to, on a regular basis.
SAMPLE ROLEPLAY
(Please respond to to this in third person past tense. Do not write the other characters' reactions. Only your own.)
It was the largest office in Hogwarts and, perhaps to students and newcomers, the most intimidating. The shelves were filled with various odds and ends, with a place of honor for the Sorting Hat, and the walls held all the portraits of past Headmasters and Headmistresses.
In the middle of the room sat a large desk. Everything was in order, for the current occupant had always despised a messy desk. It was the sign of a messy mind, and she had always favored neatness.
A clock sat on the desk, which currently showed the time to be 2:05. The meeting was supposed to begin at 2:00 precisely.
Along with order, Anneka valued punctuality. She was a very busy woman these days. Even during the summer, she had a number of matters to attend to. Interviewing and hiring staff was only of those matters. The newest potential member of her staff wasn't making a good impression.
She paced the room, black heels clicking against the stone floor. When the door finally opened, Anneka turned, her expression reminiscent of a Russian winter. "You are late."
Explain yourself was what her face said.
Roleplay Response:
It was time to do something. It was time to get something done. To make a change. He'd remained passive for too long, burdened by past events and his own insecurities, remained at the Auror Office where he unproblematically could fall into old habits, old patterns. Disappear for months at a time, as was accepted in his line of work, in the branch of the Law Enforcement where he belonged. Drown in his duties, in the tasks at hand.
No more.
He'd taught at Hogwarts before, but the last time he'd done so was almost ten years ago. Ten years ago, already. The first time was even longer - fifteen years. Almost. But he would not return for Politics of Magic. The truth was, he'd lost some of the belief he'd once held in his own words, in his own line of work. Soon he'd be turning sixty - he'd lived for long enough to know that it was unlikely that everything would be going according to the rules, according to the plan.
A small fire appeared at the tip of his wand, transferred to a big, fat cigar. Italian. An inhale, an exhale, and the fog spread about him, gathered around his massive figure. He'd broken his fair share of rules too, but it had always gone unnoticed. Most of them had to do with enchanted muggle equipment. But he'd lost his most gifted magical mechanic and to where he did not know.
No, it never went according to plan.
A quick glance at his wristwatch - muggle - and he knew that he was running late. With a sigh, he inhaled a decent amonth of crisp air and finished what was left of his cigar. Max Yates had learnt that rushing was never the way to go about something, and it was with great calm that he moved through the corridor to enter the Headmaster's office. A quick glance around the room and he registered the changes, but he'd been here before. He'd been here before and, ultimately, it was quite the same as before. Almost.
As was the Headmaster's stern expression.
"I'm sorry, got lost in -" she'd see through him, she'd know as well enough as anybody that he'd been a student here and a teacher and he knew his way around, "- my thoughts." But they'd been through this before, too - they'd pass through the formalities and then they'd be on their way, again. They knew each other so well they both knew how smoothly the other worked almost without intervention.
His thoughts though, there was room enough in them for anyone to get lost, and there wasn't much of a lie for him to build upon. And Maximilian was back, back and ready to fill the heads of the new generation with ideas. Ready to guide.
It was time.