Donovan Blackwood

Out of Character (tell us just just a bit about you outside RP)

Name:Sub


In Character

Name: Donovan Blackwood
Age: 42 (Born November 3, 2003)
Gender: Male
Blood Rank: Pureblood
House: None
School: Durmstrang Institute
Career: Has had many, but is most recently employed as the High Master of Durmstrang Institute of Magic



Your Class: Dark Arts and Dueling
School: Durmstrang



Parents: Jacob and Laura Blackwood
Grandparents: Thomas and Ruth Blackwood; William and Isabella Morgan
Siblings: Rose (nee Blackwood) Silvertongue
Aunts and Uncles: TBA
Nieces and Nephews: Lilly Silvertongue
Cousins: TBA
Children: Henry Blackwood [Iris Malfoy; aware of birth; 16*], Angela Blackwood [Iris Malfoy; aware of birth; 15], Jade Blackwood [Catherine Daniels; unaware of birth; 11], Matthew Blackwood [Rebecca Sterling; aware of birth; 7]
Grandkids: None yet

*based on the present timeline year: 2045



Skin color: Tan
Hair Color: Brown, but graying
Hair length: Long; about mid-chest/back
Eye color: Hazel/gray depending on the light
Size: 6’ 1”
Build: Solid
Picture:






Crushes: Duchess Catherine Daniels; none at present
Mates/Spouse: Iris (nee Malfoy) Blackwood (Divorced); Rebecca (nee Sterling) Blackwood (Divorced and deceased)
Status: Divorced and Available



Personality: Donovan is a serious man with a mysterious past. He comes across with an intimidating air towards all, but tries to lessen it around family and those worthy enough to be considered friends. Whether he succeeds or not is difficult to say. Regardless: when he speaks, people listen. Part of this intimidating form is due to a former career as a dueler. One could easily compare him to a crocodile: he watches, waits, and then lashes out once his adversary is foolish enough to let down their guard. Also as a result of his duelist nature, the wizard is known to be strict with both himself and others.

The situation largely depends upon Donovan’s reaction. He doesn’t respond well to being reprimanded or criticized, especially by someone younger than him. Other than that, Donovan acts as the situation would seem to best suit him. He could be your best friend or worst enemy. To say that he never has an ulterior motive to some actions would be a lie of the most blatant kind.

Generosity is not impossible to gain from him, but true generosity does require his trust. He doesn’t trust very easily even though he might appear so. One could say that he marches to the beat of his own drummer when it comes to deal-making, either honoring the agreement or backstabbing the other parties in question.



Your Story Please? Donovan was born to parents Jacob and Laura Blackwood on a cold November the 3rd , in the year 2003. His family pedigree was one of the powerful families within the magical community. Knowing this one can deduce that Donovan and his sister Rose lived quite the comfortable childhood. Comfortable did not necessarily mean easy: Jacob was a strict man. With Donovan being the eldest child he was often the poster child for what their father considered an example to all further children to enter the family. Donovan was groomed and schooled for the role of pureblood aristocrat.

His days at school were anything but dull. With both parents having attended Hogwarts, Donovan was the first of his family in 3 generations to attend Durmstrang Institute. The slight language barrier was difficult at first. Given time and several unsanctioned duels, Donovan acquired a reputation for himself. Whether it was a good reputation as a duelist or a bad one as an easily-provoked, trouble-making youth largely depended on one’s point of view. Although Donovan’s father expected perfection, the young man himself had no such goal in his sights. He scraped up well enough marks, but they were quite a ways off from perfect O’s.

During Durmstrang’s summer holiday, Jacob and Laura often took to hosting parties so they could show off their fine specimen of a son. Donovan never much liked these parties. He grew to hate the festivities even more as he entered his teenage years. It seemed like every time he would have something nicely planned that his parents would schedule a party on the same day. Only until he reached his later school years did he come to appreciate the parties, when he met one Iris Malfoy. She was a lovely young witch who spent most of the year in England, and went to France for school and family vacations.

Donovan dated Iris for a few years, not entirely certain he was ready to commit to being a married man at the young age early twenty-something. After dating for a while Donovan invited Iris to live with him in his family’s mansion. Their relationship wasn’t always smooth sailing. Some of their arguments were basic new couple sort of things. Others were much more serious. She wasn’t too surprised to find him highly involved in the magical black market, buying and selling items the Ministry wouldn’t approve of. Her family had done the same in the not-so-distant past. Living together was the ultimate test of their tolerance and affection for the other. Ergo, when Donovan turned twenty-four, he proposed to Iris. Because her birthday was closest, Donovan suggested they get married on Iris’s birthday.

Things predictably didn’t change very much in Donovan and Iris’s married life. It wasn’t that much different to the wizard. In stark contrast to a less-than-mature youth of five years prior, Donovan had matured into a devoted husband. His passions were his wife and the dueling arena. The couple was blessed two years into their wedded bliss by the birth of a son. They decided to name the boy Henry, after Donovan’s great-grandfather. A little over a year later they were blessed once again with the birth of a child, this one a girl. The proud parents named her Angela.

Fatherhood was a role that Donovan accepted with a bit of ambivalence. At times he enjoyed being a father, while other times found him not at all that enthused. He couldn’t figure out how to go from serious to utterly silly. The wizard could go from serious to humorous but not flat-out, able-to-entertain-small-children goofy. In addition to his role as a father, Donovan strove to also maintain the lover and husband aspect of his persona toward Iris. However, for some reason Donovan couldn’t quite riddle out, he sensed that his relationship with his wife was slowly fading...

It was in the year 2032 that Donovan began seeing a muggle duchess by the name of Catherine Daniels. They had met at a political event, through the woman’s extended (and coincidentally magical) family members. Iris had never cared much for politics, which often left Donovan out of a political sparring partner. Catherine seemed to love debates: during the political event the pair debated during every possible moment. Sometimes one would take the position of devil’s advocate purely to keep things interesting. It didn’t take Donovan long to realize that, despite the fact that Catherine herself was a muggle, there was a part of him that absolutely loved her. An affair with the woman began.

For a while, he was able to fool Iris. Although the wizard didn’t need to work, he sought out jobs to keep him busy. His dueling career was just as much a career as it was a hobby at that time. Business deals for black market items, Donovan claimed, would keep him busy for hours as clients and sellers negotiated with him for a price. Only some of these instances were legitimate. There were also quite a few political events that Donovan attended, which was perhaps as close to the truth as the wizard dared reveal to his wife.

As Donovan grew busier and busier with arenas outside the home, and spent his remaining home time largely with the children, Iris became more suspicious by the day. The nights they shared a bed were few. One day several months down the line, Iris noted a distinctly guilty look in her husband’s eyes. She began to dig around Donovan’s things. What the witch found did not please her: his ledger had minor deals that would not take more than 15 minutes to haggle over; not to mention there weren’t nearly as many transactions as Donovan had claimed to her. A floo-call to his usual haunt for dueling showed a similar vague presence, but again not as prolific as was professed. Checking the guest lists for political events, Iris found that Donovan hadn’t missed a single one. With a grim sense of triumph Iris felt she’d hit the jackpot...

Iris went along with more of Donovan’s lies, growing ever more resentful as her husband refused to come clean. She had even tried subtle hints to make him aware that she knew. Donovan brushed the claims aside with ease. The witch was unable to take the repeated backstabbing and began to accumulate divorce papers in secret. One day he would slip up, and Iris would be the one to catch him.

Such a chance came up in the later portion of 2033, between late August and early September. Donovan had long since departed for a slew of alleged business, as usual. After some rummaging through his personal belongings, Iris found precisely what she was looking for: a hastily-hidden note. In this note were details of the time and place to meet. The signature was a woman’s, and the contents of the letter were highly romantic. Unfortunately it was hours after the scheduled meeting time, but nothing a ‘Point Me’ spell couldn’t cure.

It was tricky work tracking Donovan down. Iris burst in on him and the duchess, causing quite an uproar for all those involved. The lovers hastily dressed while Iris fumed in the next room. Donovan was the first one out and immediately began arguing with Iris. After giving him a sound tongue-lashing and a slap to boot, Iris left for home. Donovan saw Catherine back to their meeting place and somberly parted ways with her. He did not seek out her company again after that incident.

Donovan returned to Blackwood Mansion to find Iris waiting for him. Once there, they argued yet again. The verbal battle was just as intense at home as it had been when Iris caught him in the act. It had been enough to even wake and startle their four year old son. Iris shoved divorce parchments into Donovan’s chest and immediately fled to their bedroom to pack. When Donovan tried to get in the bedroom to sleep, he found the door locked. Upon waking that morning the wizard discovered that Iris and her possessions were gone. Although the parting was swift, legal battles between the couple took much time, energy, and gold. Donovan won the battle of child custody, with Iris allowed visitation.

Once more a free man, the wizard did not immediately pursue romance. Instead his focus went to his career and his children. With Henry now 6 years old and Iris not there to constantly coddle the boy, Donovan strove to spark an interest in dueling in the child. He could have gone about it better. Spontaneously hexing the child in an attempt to goad him into fighting only earned a lack of interest. Donovan continued trying to get Henry to be more involved in dueling if nothing more than for self-defense. The boy learned quite a bit about defense that way, but still had much to learn (in Donovan’s opinion) about maintaining a proper offense.

A year into this project with Henry, Donovan once again found love in the form of a witch named Rebecca Sterling. She was a half-blood, and a decent one. They married on a whim in the spring of 2036. Two years later, some few months before Donovan’s 35th birthday, the couple became the proud parents of a baby boy: Matthew. Donovan could clearly sense Angela’s disappointment that the baby wasn’t a girl. Henry, on the other hand, was harder for Donovan to read.

2040 saw many ups and downs for the Blackwood family. First up was Henry’s birthday, finally turning eleven years old. That also meant he was due for a letter of acceptance into the magical school of the parents’ choice. Donovan and Rebecca argued for a time between Hogwarts and Durmstrang. Rebecca had attempted to suggest Beauxbatons but Donovan shot that idea down in an instant. Donovan had attempted to be sneaky and enroll Henry into Durmstrang, but that plan didn’t work out. A severe argument broke out between him and Rebecca. In the end it was decided that Henry would go to Hogwarts, on the condition that Angela be permitted to attend Durmstrang.

Due to irreconcilable differences Rebecca divorced Donovan during the school year. It was her hope to spare Henry from witnessing that sort of mess all over again. Much like Iris, Rebecca also tried to gain sole custody of the children. With his blood having ran cold years before meeting his second wife, Donovan wasn’t about to allow history to repeat itself. He made sure he had an excellent lawyer. However, when it came time to go to court, Rebecca never showed up. In fact, the last time Rebecca spoke with anyone was when she had told a friend she was preparing to trek back to Blackwood Mansion to sort out more paperwork with her ex-husband...

She was never heard from again.

It was Angela’s turn to receive an acceptance letter the following year. As per his agreement with Rebecca, Donovan enrolled his daughter in Durmstrang. He tried to arrange it so that she and her older brother wouldn’t be so split up. Henry, however, protested going to school anywhere else other than Hogwarts. After a reasonable discussion of sorts Donovan agreed to let Henry continue attending school at Hogwarts instead of transferring him.

That same year, Donovan received another interesting piece of correspondence. It seemed as though his prowess for dueling had reached Durmstrang. And, as a result, the current Headmaster wrote to ask Donovan to fill the former dueling professor's role. Seeing such an opportunity as something not to be passed up, Donovan accepted the summons. Interestingly, he wasn't the only non-Slavic faculty aboard. The wizard did however have some problems with the school's Dark Arts professor. Every time the pair crossed paths one could cut the tension with a knife.

Halfway into the term, Donovan claimed to have discovered the Dark Arts professor's body. All evidence present suggested an accident, but rumors of something more sinister was afoot. Now in need of a new Dark Arts professor the Headmaster once again sought to fill this role. Conveniently, Donovan suggested to fill this role himself in addition to his duties as a dueling professor. The Headmaster allowed it.

At present, the previous Headmaster of Durmstrang has decided to retire. He has sent a letter to Donovan, explaining that things are in motion to promote him straight to the top of the ladder as Headmaster. Henry and Angela are sixteen and fifteen respectively, with Michael aged a whole seven years. Donovan still has yet to discover that he has a fourth child: a daughter, named Jade...



Magic Specialty: Dark Arts and Dueling
Favorite Spell: Imperius Curse
Wand: Hawthorn, dragon heartstring, 13 inches; often concealed in a magically-enlarged compartment within the handle of his favorite goblin-made sword.




Weakness:
- Alcohol (can hold his liquor just fine... the problem is saying no if it’s offered. xD)
- Arrogant
- Close-minded on certain things
- Stern
- Stubborn
- Temper
- Women


Strengths:
+ Dueling (magical and muggle)
+ Gambling
+ Hard-worker
+ Intelligent
+ Patient when it suits him
+ Protective towards those that matter
+ Shrewd
+ Tenacious


Favorite Color: Royal Blue
Theme song: TBA