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The Lives of Christopher Chant

Created on 2009-07-25 21:21:46 (#21300437), last updated 2009-09-04

68 comments received, 73 comments posted

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3 Journal Entries, 6 Tags, 0 Memories, 0 Virtual Gifts, 5 Userpics

Basic Info

Name:	Christopher Chant
Birthdate:	09-09
Location:	United Kingdom

Bio

AGE| 38
WAND| {(Holding pattern)}
DEPARTMENT| Improper Use of Magic; currently stationed at Hogwarts

Christopher seems at the outset to be a very aloof and detached person. He's friendly, and usually pleasant enough, but often has a dreamy or even bewildered expression, and seems to pay little attention to what is going on around him. However, the dreamier and more zoned out he seems to be, the closer attention he is probably paying. In reality he is quite shrewd and clever. Some people may find him infuriating, thanks to not only his seeming disinterest, but also for delivering sarcasm in a way that sounds perfectly sincere. Those under his authority have described him as "terrifying," though the best attempt to explain why is an exasperated "he just is." He takes "I'm not mad, just disappointed," to a whole new level by being neither mad nor disappointed, but instead pretending that nothing at all is out of the ordinary until the guilty party is squirming in their seat and begging for forgiveness. He can actually get angry, but outside of a trusted few people or extreme situations, the most he may seem is cross.

In addition to all that, he's an incredibly snappy dresser.

Christopher is a pureblooded wizard of High Society, the son of Cosimo Chant and Miranda Argent. His Papa was a shrewd businessman and his Mama a wealthy social climber, a very powerful witch and wizard with Good Names. Of course, this meant that they were entirely too busy to spend much time with Christopher, leaving his care and education in the hands of nursery maids and governesses. When he was ten years old, his mother's brother appeared at the house one day, promising to get Christopher ready for school. Christopher was immediately taken with Uncle Ralph, and even more so when he gave him a muggle sixpence and a wink. After that, he was only too happy to come with Uncle Ralph on errands, talking with silly old ladies in even older houses and poking around in antique shops. He wasn't sure how this was supposed to be getting him ready for school, but he enjoyed it immensely anyway.

When school started in the fall, however, despite having already shown signs of magic as a child (he once turned one of his mother's hair accessories into a dead rat), Christopher seemed to have absolutely no talent for magic. It had even been difficult for him to choose a wand, as none of those he tried seemed to do much of anything. Even the simplest of spells would not work for him. However, he was so happy to finally be among boys and girls his own age that he didn't much care that he failed every practical assignment. Some of the other students made fun of his poor skills, but he quickly made friends anyway and tried to ignore the teasing from the others. He scraped through his first year by doing quite well on written assignments, and fudging practical assignments with some help from his friends.

That summer, he returned to his mother's house (his parents had divorced during the school year after his father lost a good deal of money in the stock market) and went back to running errands with Uncle Ralph. He noticed that the ladies always smiled at him and gave him candies, remarking on his good manners. He liked that. Afterwards, they would talk to Ralph in low voices before leading him away to another room and leaving Christopher alone. He liked that even more, since there were always a lot of interesting things to look at in the drawing room.

In his second year he tried out for the quidditch team, and quickly fell in love with the sport. He may have been practically a squib, but that wouldn't matter, he figured, when he became a professional quidditch player. His only hope was that his parents wouldn't be too terribly disappointed. (They would have been, but with his father disgraced and his mother desperately trying to salvage her own reputation, Christopher was, as usual, the least of their worries.)

Halfway through his second year, his charms professor, frustrated with his lack of improvement, pulled Christopher aside one day after class for extra instruction. After half an hour of not even moving the feather he was working with so much as a hair, his professor told him, suddenly, to empty his pockets. Bewildered, Christopher did as he was told, pulling out, among other things, the silver sixpence Uncle Ralph had given him, which he had been carrying on him ever since. With his pockets empty, Christopher tried the spell again. Not only did the feather shoot up to the ceiling like a bat out of hell, so did everything else on the professor's desk, not to mention the desk itself. Christopher was blown away. (And his professor even more so.)

Relieved of silver, Christopher got on like a house on fire, quickly shooting to the top of his class. Shortly afterward, he received an owl from his father, telling him in no uncertain terms that he was to come to live with him that summer instead of returning to his mother's house, and that he was definitely not to accompany Uncle Ralph anywhere. Christopher was a bit put out by that last bit, but as he had hardly seen his father at all during his childhood, he was so surprised by his sudden attention that he couldn't think to protest.

His father's letter was soon followed by a Howler from his mother, instructing him under no circumstances to listen to his father. Thus began a series of angry letters, seemingly directed more at each other than at Christopher, which caused him no end of embarrassment in front of his peers with the end result that he would have preferred not to stay with either of his parents. In the end, though, he went with his father. As it turned out, his father had already arranged a summer job for him-- an internship with the Ministry of Magic. At thirteen-going-on-fourteen he was mostly assigned pageboy duties, but his father was very optimistic that if Christopher showed promise, he would be asked to stay on the following summer, and could work his way through the ranks. After losing his (wife's) money, Christopher's father had fallen out of favour with the rest of his family, and was looking to Christopher to gain it back for him.

Christopher hated Ministry work. When he thought he could get away with it, he would skive off to visit friends, or to visit Uncle Ralph, who was glad to have his help again. He managed to avoid too much punishment merely by being young and charming: a talent that he had always had, but only recently begun to purposefully exploit.

While he was working in the Ministry, he began to hear other employees talking about a Dark Wizard called the Wraith, who traded in dark objects and cursed artefacts. No one knew where he got these things, or how he managed not to get caught, but he had a steady supply of merchandise flowing into Knockturn Alley, seemingly out of nowhere. As the summer wore on, Christopher realized, sickeningly, that some of the suspected accomplices sounded a bit familiar. His Uncle Ralph was the Wraith. This realization of course broke Christopher's heart, but with his information and help, the Wraith was soon discovered and caught. This, of course, made sure that he would be back in the stuffy Ministry offices the next summer.

The next year at Hogwarts was sickeningly easy. Now that he was able to do magic at all, he discovered that he could just as easily slack off. He'd figured out how to work the system: now he could get good grades with the bare minimum of effort. Some of his classmates began to hate him. Others were so charmed by him that they couldn't hate him. Christopher enjoyed himself even more immensely than ever. Even when he returned to his internship the next summer, he found he could enjoy that as well, with the same tactics of minimal effort expenditure that he used at Hogwarts. Now that he was a bit older, they had begun to give him a salary as well (a pittance, but still a salary-- 122 knuts an hour, since he couldn't accept payment in sickles), which he mostly spent on quidditch supplies and clothes. In his time off with friends, he found himself growing closer and closer to Millie, a Hufflepuff girl in the year below his. They started dating in his fifth year. In his seventh year he was made Head Boy. After leaving school, he applied for a full-time job at the Ministry, and was accepted with open arms. The following year he married Millie, once she had left Hogwarts as well. Christopher moved quickly through the ranks, becoming one of the higher-ups in the Improper Use of Magic Office within five years. He takes great pleasure in his job, and even more pleasure in putting together new and fabulous outfits for every day of the week (and he owns more dressing gowns than the average person has clothes).

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