Post by Dale Matthews on Apr 30, 2009 3:04:29 GMT -7
---BASIC DETAILS---
Full Name: Dale Matthews
Date of Birth: November 14th, 1973
Place of Birth: Paisley, Scotland
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance: www.murphsplace.com/owen/film/raleigh/images/raleigh-large.jpg Sigs and such will come.
Occupation: Death Eater (an accountant)
---BACKGROUND---
Heritage: Pure-Blood
Family:
- Father – Sean Matthews (Arithmancer, Death Eater, in Azkaban)
- Mother – Margaret Matthews Née Madden (Accountant)
- De Facto Partner – Emily Horne (Death Eater, deceased)
- Daughter – Cindy Matthews (Hogwarts Student, Born July 28th, 1995)
History:
Dale was born and raised by his parents in Paisely, Scotland. From a young age, his father took a special interest in his son’s upbringing. He instilled in him the values which he admired most: loyalty, manhood, and purity of blood. From an early age, Dale developed ideals which would later be considered by most to be sexist and racist. He thoroughly believed that wizards of pure blood were superior to those that were not, and supported the idea of making sure that the genes of future generations were not tarnished. His mother held similar beliefs to Dale’s father, but was not nearly as vocal about them.
Dale was always an aggressive boy with a hot temper. This concerned his parents, so they allowed him to take boxing lessons in an attempt to channel his rage, but this only seemed to fuel them and further boost his confidence. His father was an Arithmancer, and his mother an Accountant, so they both ensured Dale was especially proficient in mathematics during his home studies before attending Hogwarts.
In September of 1984, Dale began his first year at Hogwarts. He was sorted into Slytherin, likely due to his ideals rather than being particularly cunning or resourceful. He took an immediate liking to Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Over the Christmas holidays, he returns home and learns of his father’s secret “adventures” with the great wizard Lord Voldemort, on their conquest to purify the world. At this point in time Voldemort was just beginning to gain notoriety. Dale admired this and began to consider becoming a Death Eater someday too.
During his second year, Dale began taking particular notice of some of the older students in his House who were practicing the Dark Arts, most of all the fifth year Severus Snape and his friends. Never having made particularly good friends with many of the students in his year group, Dale tried to associate himself with their gang but they took little notice of him. When Dale entered his third year, he took Arithmancy as one of his electives, and found it somewhat enjoyable because it was easier for him than most other subjects, while other students struggled with it and dropped out more often than not.
During his fourth year he gained a position as Beater on the Slytherin Quidditch Team, which he would hold until the end of his fifth. During one of his first games, he managed to knock seventh-year James Potter from his broom and rendered him unconscious for a week, which Dale would later deem the proudest moment of his short-lived Quidditch career. As a result, Snape and his seedy friends started involving him more in their activities and teaching him the Dark Magic that they were getting involved in. He was always an outsider to their little group, the oddball of the oddballs. At the end of the year, his newfound friends graduated and Dale was left to make do with the students his own age again.
Whilst in his OWL year, Dale began developing a desire to join the Death Eaters again, after catching wind that Severus and the others had taken a similar path. The idea of going out and joining his father and former schoolmates under the leadership of a brilliant wizard on the quest for purity seemed almost romantic to him. He planned to leave Hogwarts as soon as he turned seventeen, which would be not far into his sixth year. His mother didn’t approve, as she only saw the war getting more and more dangerous. She forced him to study accounting, so that he would “always have something solid to fall back on”. He did so mostly to keep his father happy, and even though this ultimately became very useful for him, he always despised his mother for taking time out of his Dark Arts study-time. Dale took his OWLs and scored well in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology and Arithmancy.
He began his sixth year at Hogwarts in September 1990, but intended to leave it by the time he turned 17 in November. Two weeks before he was able to do so, the Wizarding World caught word that Lord Voldemort had ‘died’ at the hands of a one-year-old Harry Potter, and Dale was devastated. Attempts to get into contact with his father were useless, and he and his mother presumed Sean was dead. Overcome with grief and fear, Dale’s mother told him that they were going to go into hiding, but Dale refused to go with her. Instead he chose to stay at Hogwarts and refused to associate with her any longer, disgusted that she would abandon Voldemort and the cause so easily.
Dale graduated in June 1992. He spent the next part of his life working as an Accountant for several businesses and individuals in Hogsmeade. He felt more comfortable living in an “all-wizard” village rather than around Muggles as most Wizards chose to live their lives. He never gave up on his father or on Voldemort, frequently taking time out to look for them. He made efforts to find and join whatever Death Eater societies were around back then, using some of his dad’s old contacts, but had no such luck.
In early 1994, Dale met and got into a relationship with a female Death Eater named Emily Horne. She was in love with him, but he used her as gateway into the Death Eater society. He soon became acquainted with the small group of old loyalists and new wannabes (like Dale) who called themselves Death Eaters. Later that year, Emily fell pregnant. They both considered the idea of abortion to be unethical and against their duty as Death Eaters to pass on their pure-blood-line. Dale was still a member of respectable society, while Emily was effectively in hiding. As such, they decided to continue living separately so that Dale could continue to earn money and live his normal life, while Emily would raise their child, for the most part, alone.
Cindy was born on July 28th, 1995. Dale came and saw the pair on every other weekend or so, and funded them financially. Dale and Emily continued their “relationship”, but it always remained loveless, at least for Dale. They continued living like this until Emily’s home was raided by Aurors in 1999, when Cindy was three and a half years old.
Emily had been playing with her child when the Aurors barged into her home unannounced. The Aurors stunned Emily and placed her under arrest. When Dale’s mid-week owls to Cindy went unanswered, he suspected that something had happened to her. Two Aurors were waiting at her house to ambush anyone who might have been in contact with her, but Dale was a step ahead. He showed up at her house with a half a dozen other Death Eaters. The two Aurors were killed and the house went up in a giant fireball. It was the first time Dale had ever killed, and he liked it. It felt right. It felt empowering.
Dale’s act of violence had been the last nail in Emily’s coffin. If the Wizengamot had ever needed more proof that she was a Death Eater, then that was it. She received lengthy sentence in Azkaban, and Cindy was put into permanent foster care. Reports indicated that Cindy had not spoken a word since her mother was arrested and was generally suffering from massive amounts of stress.
Dale, pretending he had heard about the tragic story in the Daily Prophet, adopted Cindy into his own care. He feared that the child would compromise his identity if she remained in foster care, and he had developed a connection to her over the years that was much more difficult to throw away than the connection he had with her mother. With the assistance of some of the more talented Death Eaters, Dale performed a memory charm on Cindy which caused her to forget all about her mother. As far as she’s concerned, her mother died during childbirth and Dale had been taking care of her ever since. Eventually her condition improved and she returned to being a fully functioning happy toddler. Dale loved her and raised her on his own, though he never showed her quite the amount of love and attention that she had been conditioned to expect from a mother she did not remember. As she grew older, she spent more time with the mothers and children in Hogsmeade, which helped her become a more well-rounded and intelligent child than her parents or grandparents ever were. Dale kept her in the dark about his Death Eater activities for the most part.
When news got out of Voldemort’s return in June of 2004, Dale was introduced to the Dark Lord through one of his closer acquaintances. Voldemort told Dale that he was impressed with Dale’s dedication and patience, but in the end was reluctant to involve Dale in the significant Death Eater activities. He was not present at the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. Dale was incredibly frustrated that he was not able to participate fully in the Death Eater’s activities after having waited for so long, but he respected and feared Voldemort so remained a quiet loyal servant.
Cindy began her first year at Hogwarts, which gave her father more time to devote to the war. She was sorted into Hufflepuff, which Dale didn't really like, but came as no shock. Cindy expressed her distaste when she heard of what the Death Eaters had been doing, so Dale convinced her that he had given up his old ways. Later that year, Dale was finally branded with the Dark Mark. He participated in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, but only after first checking that his daughter was safe.
During Cindy’s second year at Hogwarts, the Death Eaters infiltrated the Ministry and Hogwarts, and Dale continued to serve them, unbeknownst to his daughter. When Voldemort died, Dale did a good job of remaining hidden. He was never a very public Death Eater, because of his daughter, so he didn’t have too much trouble evading charges despite accusations from several of his old Death Eater friends who were seeking shorter sentences.
In 2008, during the first half of Cindy’s fourth year of school, Dale was approached by fellow Death Eater Juliet Lee to rejoin the cause. Dale had been itching to get back in the fight for a long time, and while he didn’t particularly like Juliet or the idea of being ruled over by a woman, he decided that she was their best shot at ever continuing the cause. Dale considered trying to lead the Death Eaters himself, but decided against it. He had his daughter to think of; while he valued the Death Eaters’ cause more than his own life, he didn’t want her to be without her Dad. Becoming leader of the Death Eaters would only put him further in the line of fire. Dale reluctantly accepted Juliet’s offer.
April 2009 rolled around, and Dale participated in the Death Eater’s attack on Hogsmeade. Like the rest of the perpetrators, Dale was captured and received a long sentence in Azkaban. There, he was reunited with his father, who told him of how he was captured shortly after Voldemort’s death. During the mass breakout following Voldemort’s return, Dale’s father decided to stay put to finish his sentence so that he could eventually return to a normal life. He said that over the years he had begun to feel remorse for his actions and changed from a fearless activist into a self-pitying depressive. He said that when the Death Eaters took control of the Ministry, instead of freeing him like they did for most other Death Eaters, they left him there to rot, believing he was disloyal. Dale was terribly shocked and confused by this; how could his father, the greatest role model in his life, have changed so rapidly? He also discovered that his partner Emily had suffered the Dementor’s kiss many years ago whilst trying to escape.
Cindy came and visited him on her school holidays – she said she could never forgive him but that she still loved him as long as he promised to change by the time he got out. Dale agreed, astounded by the size of her heart. In that moment, he believed he would change, but later that year when The Desert Fox orchestrated his mass escape plan, Dale found himself fighting alongside them and taking part in their new society of escaped prisoners. His father escaped, too, but was “recaptured” (turned himself back in) a week later.
Dale continued serving under Juliet, killing for wands and in the name of pure-blood. His daughter had a strong suspicion that her father was still working with Death Eaters, but chose to bury her head in the sand as it was easier for her to ignore it than to deal with her emotions. That was, until, her muggle-born boyfriend was attacked and killed in November of 2010. Cindy told Dale that she didn’t care if he was involved or not, and that she wanted nothing to do with him any longer. Dale was heartbroken, and irrationally furious, and has decided to seek revenge on those who he determined made his daughter hate him. Cindy is now living with her grandmother.
---GENERAL CHARACTER TRAITS---
Personality: Much like his father once did, Dale values family, loyalty, masculinity, and purity of blood. He treasured his daughter, but his loyalty to the Death Eaters was just a stronger pull. He is very protective over those he cares for. He is willing to sacrifice himself for something that he believes in, but recognizes when others depend on him being alive.
Dale is moderately intelligent, but his judgement is often blinded by his emotion or his prejudice; he has been prone to revenge attacks in the past which have not been entirely justified.
He is rather sexist. Generally snarky and crude but with a pleasant sort of demeanour, though once he gets mad he tends to jump right over the edge. He silently admires powerful people but he isn't afraid to push boundaries either. He does enjoy having dominance himself but is not "power hungry" or crazy for it.
Likes: Dark and clever magic, power, loyalty, pure blood, quidditch, potions, fighting, crass humor, smoking
Dislikes: Being forced into situations, overbearing women, quitters, arithmancy and accounting, muggle-borns
Habits:
Does your character like Quidditch? Yes
---ABILITIES---
Strengths: Physically strong for his age, solid duelist, brutal, good at evaluating different courses of action, generally thick-skinned unless you hit the right spots, good with numbers, confident.
Weaknesses: Fitness damaged by smoking, temper, big mouth, impatient, over-confident, loyalty/prejudice, sometimes emotional.
Powers: None
---OTHER---
Pets: None
Wand: Original wand was 14 inch elm dragon heartstring. Current wand is 12 and a half inch yew unicorn hair.
Broomstick: Doesn't own one in working condition
Which Hogwarts house would you NOT like to be in?: Would have hated to be in Gryffindor, but mostly only because he wound up in Slytherin.
Anything else?: He’s familiar with several of the spells Severus Snape had invented, including Levicorpus and Sectumsempra
How did you find us?: A friend.
