Application for Tesseracts, Regulus A. Black

Player Information
Name: Erin
Age: 21
E-mail Address: lluxx19@hotmail.com
AIM/MSN/Yahoo: ErinTheEvil on AIM
RPG Experience: List at: http://cleverboot.livejournal.com/681.html
Links to examples of writing:
First person entries: Ron Weasley, Zacharias Smith and Neville Longbottom
Threads: Stamford Jorkins (me) & Bellatrix Lestrange plotting, Zacharias Smith (me) & Parvati Patil encountering Bellatrix, and Ron (me), Harry & Ginny on a quest.
Timezone: Canadian-Atlantic

Character Information
Full Name: Regulus Arcturus Black
Journal to be used: thegoodson
Other Names: Reggie (only from Dorcas or people who are trying to bother him)
Age/Birthdate: 18 / June 24, 1961
Date of Death: August 21, 1979
Marital Status: Single, but was secretly seeing Dorcas Meadowes before he died
Bloodline: Pureblood
Sexuality: Heterosexual
House/Year: Slytherin, 1979
Wand: Oak and unicorn tail-hair, 12 inches exactly
Boggart: Roomful of people laughing at him
Patronus: Golden Eagle
Noteworthy: He joined the Quidditch team in his third year as Seeker and they were only too happy to have a Black in their ranks. He was a Slytherin prefect in his fifth year, although he was too distracted by his new duties as a Death Eater to become Head Boy.
Played By: Ben Jelen: http://afterimage.greatestjournal.com/645.html
Or Robert Vito: http://www.greatestjournal.com/community/blevcons/21750.html#cutid1

Family:
Mother (deceased, 1985) = Walburga Black (nee Black)
Father (deceased, 1979) = Orion Black
Brother (deceased, 1996) = Sirius Black

History: Regulus was born into the Black family as more of a spare son, whose presence was required "just in case" something were to happen to his older brother Sirius, the only male heir to the Black family. Walburga and Orion Black were not people who were overly fond of children, but they knew what was necessary for the sake of the family name. And so it was with a great deal of effort that they created two children, one immediately after the other, who were thankfully both boys, and then took methods to ensure that no other children would be forthcoming.

Since they had no time for children and since Sirius was the real heir and Regulus was just his back-up, his parents didn't much concern themselves with Regulus for a number of years after he was born. For the most part, while Sirius was in his mother's company, being constantly lectured about what a Black is and does, Regulus was left to the house elves to raise, more specifically to his mother's most trusted elf, Kreacher. Walburga trusted Kreacher to teach the boy proper pureblood pride and the noble history of the Black family that he was lucky enough to be a member of, without coddling the boy or allowing him to become sympathetic to lowly creatures like house elves. And so, as Regulus got older, Kreacher's attentive and subservient attitude accomplished his mother's goals, though he always would have a soft spot in his heart for the elf who practically raised him.

When Regulus was small, his parents didn't go out of their way to keep him from knowing that his main purpose in life was to be a back-up for Sirius, and he was very quiet and unwillingly to draw too much attention to himself as a result. He was very hateful to Sirius until the boys started getting older and Sirius began showing signs of rebellion. Regulus noticed quickly and rejoiced, and with Kreacher's encouragement, suddenly threw himself into the role of the perfect son. He did everything his parents asked of him and more, using their unfulfilled expectations of Sirius to mold his own behaviour, and to try and make them see, through the contrast of his beviour and that of Sirius, that he was the much better son. As a matter of fact, the more Sirius misbehaved, the more Regulus liked him. It provided a purpose to his life. He was not, perhaps, always happy playing the perfect child, but he desperately wanted his parents approval and soon enough, he actually became what he had gone so much trouble pretending to be.

As different as the boys were, Regulus still looked up to his older brother and was upset when Sirius left for Hogwarts. The next morning, though, when he went downstairs for breakfast, he was greeted by the sight of his parents screaming at each other over a letter that had just arrived from Sirius. His admired brother had been sorted into Gryffindor. Absolutely horrified, Regulus ran back to his bedroom and locked himself in, refusing to leave for several days. His parents, who were already quite distracted themselves, didn't much care, so he ended up getting Kreacher to deliver meals for him there as he spent the time trying to figure how Sirius could do such a thing. He wrote his brother several letters, but eventually only sent one which read simply, "What happened? R"

He spent the next year trying to get over his own issues with Sirius, listening to his parents rant about their disappointment son, while ignoring Regulus aside from warning him what would happen to him if he didn't get into Slytherin either. When Sirius returned home for the summer, Regulus could barely speak to him and generally just tried to avoid him. When it came time for Regulus to start at Hogwarts that September, Sirius tried to get him to stay with him, but Regulus went off and sat with his cousin Narcissa, who was in her seventh year, instead. When he was Sorted in Slytherin, though, he felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. He was the good son, after all.

He sent a school owl off to his parents that very night and come morning, an owl he didn't recognize arrived with an utterly ecstatic reponse from his parents, along with a note stating that the owl was his congratulations gift. From then on, Regulus got his wish. He wasn't playing second fiddle to Sirius any longer. He was the one they loved best. When Sirius did something wrong, the Howlers their parents sent demanded to know why Sirius didn't act more like Regulus. Everytime something else happened, Regulus became more and more confident in himself, to the point where he became quite arrogant. Determined to maintain his favoured position in the family, Regulus went out of his way to follow school rules and do well in all of his classes. By the end of his first year, Sirius had given up on him and the two brothers could rarely speak to each other without arguing.

Proud, confident, hard-working and determined, Regulus did very well at school. Because of his name and beliefs, he was very popular in Slytherin house, although most of the rest of the student body hated him. He was a teacher's pet and though not all of his professors approved of the way he would sneer at students that he believed to be "beneath him", he was such an excellent pupil that he was able to get away with it. Deciding that it would be the properly sociable thing to do, Regulus joined the Quidditch team in his third year and discovered that, not only was he surprisingly good at being a Seeker, but he enjoyed it very much, too. By his fifth year, nobody was surprised when he was made a prefect.

That summer, though, was when things started going wrong for Regulus. Sirius ran away. His parents were again enraged before declaring that they no longer had a son called Sirius and burned him off the family tree. A small part of Regulus had convinced itself that the arrival of his prefect badge may have been what finally sent Sirius round the bend and, whether it was true or not, he reluctantly found himself feeling incredibly guilty about it. Sirius, who always acted as happy as Regulus pretended to feel at school, was so determined in his beliefs that their family was wrong and it broke Regulus's heart. The doubts were planted.

On the outside world, all throughout his fifth and sixth year, Voldemort was gaining power by leaps and bounds. It was a constant conversation in his family, how the Dark Lord was a revolutionary, how he was going to set things right and finally give the purebloods back the power that they deserved. Being able to anticipate and fulfill his parents wishes had become second nature to Regulus by now. Quite certain that his cousin Bellatrix, and perhaps any number of his in-laws, were joining up, Regulus approached them and asked how to go about becoming a Death Eater. His relatives were quite pleased with him, and so, without putting much serious thought into any of the consequences beyond "What would a Black do?", Regulus joined the Dark Lord during the Winter holidays of his sixth year.

However, he was not prepared for the realities of what being a Death Eater would actually include. Anytime he had to join in for any activities, which was thankfully only during the rest of his Christmas holidays and at Easter, it was only through fright of what would happen to him if he didn't go along with it that he could participate. As soon as he returned home, he would immediately become sick and sit on the bathroom floor shaking for a couple of hours. This wasn't what being a revolutionary was supposed to be like. They were supposed to be changing the world in ways the Ministry wouldn't, not killing and torturing people.

And so, when he was paired up with half-blood Dorcas Meadowes for a final project in one of his classes, Regulus was already full of doubt, feeling insecure and vulnerable and very shaken in his beliefs. He still did his best to maintain an outward appearance of being his normal proud, confident, sneering self, but his marks were slipping and his Quidditch skills were suffering because of the stress. And so, when his mask would occasionally slip around Dorcas, there wasn't much he could do to stop it. Dorcas, however, surprised him. She was not at all as unpleasant as he had always thought her to be and, when he did have his weak moments, she was very kind and sweet to him. Hating himself for it, he found that he was falling in love with her.

Whenever he wasn't in school or discretely spending time with Dorcas during his seventh year, Regulus was usually with the Death Eaters. They were becoming more active and the Dark Lord was getting bolder. He often gave speeches relating to his own brilliance and Regulus was feeling more and more repulsed by the life he had carelessly chosen for himself. Eventually though, the knowledge of the Dark Arts he'd acquired due to his upbringing came in handy and, through hints that the Dark Lord probably hadn't even noticed he'd dropped, Regulus was able to figure out that he had made horcruxes for himself. It was a major revelation to him, but he wasn't at all sure what to do with the information. Then the Dark Lord asked for the use of a house elf and Regulus, nervous that his traitorous thoughts might soon betray him, tried to head it off by volunteering his dear Kreacher. When Kreacher returned, nearly dead, Regulus decided that that was the last straw. He couldn't do it anymore. He just couldn't live like that.

He knew from the story that his elf told him that the Dark Lord had hidden his horcrux. He didn't know what he was going to do with the information yet, but at least he had something. He graduated from Hogwarts. He continued living at home after school. He snuck around with Dorcas during the day, not wanting her to be in danger because of him, and followed the Dark Lords orders at night. Finally, though, in August that year, his Lord had the Death Eaters attack a small muggle village. He picked Regulus out purposefully, no doubt already suspicious of him, and ordered him to kill a little girl who couldn't have been any older than five. Utterly disgusted with himself, but knowing that if he were killed right then for disobedience that no one would ever know about the horcruxes, Regulus did it. And finally he got an idea.

The next day, he went to see Dorcas and told her everything about the Dark Lord's horcruxes. He explained that he knew where to find one and that he was going to try and destroy it. He promised her that he would come to her as soon as he returned. And if he didn't come to her within the next day or so, he was dead. She wasn't to tell anyone, he warned her. Even if he was dead, there was no reason for anyone to think she would know anything about it or the horcruxes unless she called attention to herself. Finally, reluctantly, he left her and went to Kreacher in order to steal the horcrux.

Description of Death: When Regulus realized that Voldemort had created horcruxes for himself, and that he had been willing to carelessly sacrifice Kreacher in order to hide one, that was the last straw. He decided that Dorcas had been right, that this future he was leading himself to wasn't what he really wanted. But Voldemort wasn't simply going to let him leave the Death Eaters either. So, desperate, he spoke to Dorcas one last time and told her about Voldemort's horcruxes. He warned her that he was going to try and destroy one and that, if he were able, he would come to her as soon as he could. If he didn't come to her, he said, he was dead. And so, he got Kreacher to take him to the ocean-side cave where the locket horcrux was hidden and, after guaranteeing that Kreacher would still leave and destroy the horcrux no matter what happened, he drank all the potion in the basin, allowing himself to be poisoned and then dragged underwater to drown by Voldemort's Inferi booby-trap.
Unfinished Business: He didn't live to see whether or not his taking the horcrux had any impact in Voldemort's downfall and he never got to say a real good-bye to Dorcas.

Occupational History: Regulus was only 18 when he died and never had a job before that. He was only just starting to come up with ideas for a future career for himself when his brother Sirius ran away from home and their mother disowned him, making Regulus the Black family's only male heir. Hence, Regulus was trained thereafter in how to take care of the family finances and increase their connections and power through the politics of the wizarding world. As far as his parents were concerned, Regulus joining the Death Eaters was the best career move he could have made.

Personality: Regulus, though he may lean slightly more towards the light side than he used to, is still very much in favour of blood supremacy. He is very proud and generally very confident and cocky--unless something goes wrong. He is easily flustered by his own mistakes. He often overcompensates for any inadaquacies he thinks he has by going overboard to do what people like his mother have always expected from him. He likes rules. His relationship with Dorcas is one of the few things that will get him to drop his "I'm king of the universe, bow before me" mask, though the insecurities he feels when he's around Sirius can do the trick, too.

He acts very arrogant and sarcastic on the outside. But when he's around people he sees as his superiours, he is very quiet and reluctant to draw attention to himself. When he's around people who make him nervous (Sirius, Dorcas), he's much more honest about how scared he is about pretty much everything in his life.

Plans for this character in game: Well, the relationship with Dorcas Meadowes (which Ana and I have discussed quite extensively) would be a major plot for Regulus. I think he'd still keep it secret for a while. He still believes that purebloods are superiour, but he no longer has his Dark Lord or his mother urging him on. He would be very conflicted about things because, while he loves Dorcas, he doesn't really agree with her beliefs. Of course, he'll probably converse with Bellatrix and maybe Dolohov, whom he'll no doubt have to convince first that No, the Dark Lord didn't kill me, really. My death was entirely my own fault. But stuff with Sirius could be quite entertaining, too.
Where did you hear about us? riseofancients, plus I already play James Sirius Potter