Workshop 1 - Family

[evanmcbain]

Answer the following questions as if your character has been given a healthy does of veritaserum(truth potion for all those who dont know). Also, don't give one word answers. The more you write, the more you will learn about your character. Remember if you happen to read something about another character that strikes your interest it may not be common knowledge to others on the board. Make sure its an openly known fact before you start flinging around rumors.


1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?

------ if you play a student, you may stop here; if you play an adult character, please do continue as far as you can -----

7) Are you married? If yes, when did you get married? Was it arranged or not? If no, are you betrothed or engaged? Was it arranged or not? How has this affected your life? Was there someone else you'd rather be with?

8 ) Describe your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Are there changes that you think should be made? Does your spouse agree?

9) Do you have children? If so, what are their names and ages? What is your relationship like with each? Do you attempt to live vicariously through any of them? How had your own upbringing influenced how you treat your children?

[evanmcbain]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today? I was raised by both of my parents in a surprisingly loving environment. The reason I say its so surprising is cause most people view me as a callous creature who only cares about himself. In all honesty I was showered with much love and appreciation from my parents, but I will not lie and say they never taught me how to hate. Of both my parents I find myself considerably closer to my father. He had taught me everything I know and still continues to do so to this very day. On the whole I get along splendidly with both my mum and pops. We have an uniquely close relationship and are proud to say that I am their son.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices? My father owns the American Quidditch team, The Stingers. From a very young age he has taught me how to run and manage a team to not only better the said team but our own pockets as well. From this I mean my father has taught me how to gamble and bet on Quidditch teams and beat the system on various occasions. My mother and father both wish for me to own the team one day but have said numerous times they wouldn’t be disappointed if I changed my mind. Mostly cause they have three other kids that they could pawn the team off to.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you? Regardless of the right or wrong choices I make, my parents find everything I do to be wonderful. Actually at times it grows pathetic seeing as I feel like I can do no wrong in their eyes. To them I am the model son who has followed their footsteps through and through.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely? When we do fight it is because my mother disapproves of the way I behave towards women. I’ve tried to explain to her that Im a teenager and my mind has yet to be set on one particular woman, but shes a bit too daft. She always tries to throw the guilt trip on me by asking if I’d like to see Cleary or Mellanie treated in such a manner. My father also gets nervous that I will in fact follow the Dark Lord and become a DeathEater. They themselves have always been Dark Lord supporters, but never gotten in that deep as to become DeathEaters. We fight about that possibility often though now I think its out of their control.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life? Both sets of my grandparents have died.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you? In my family there are three other children beside myself. Mellanie is sixteen and perhaps the closest to me. She has always driven me crazy with her quirky little habits, but we have gotten along splendidly since we were young. Cleary and Regan are fifteen year old twins and are probably the biggest thorns in my side. Cleary especially. I have noticed Regan mature over the last year or so, but Cleary still makes it her business to butt herself into all of my personal things. Regardless I love and care for them both very much even though I wish to throw them out the window every now and then

[Kaydence Morgan]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today? Like my older brother and younger sister, I was raised by both of my parents. Since my father was the Dark Lord and wasn’t able to be at home for most of the time, my mother mainly raised my sister and I. Because of that, I was and always have been closest to my mother. My mother has been a great role model in my life even though I haven’t always displayed it. She has always been supportive, loving and dedicated to every member of her family, which many would find odd considering she’s the wife to a previous Dark Lord. Perhaps that’s the reason why she has been consistent in making sure our family stays together. I still interact extremely well with both my parents. My mother and I tell almost everything to one another and we just get along splendidly. I get along good with my father as well but I know that we interact differently. He’s a bit hesitant towards me but then again, most fathers are towards their daughters when they’re on our side.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices? My parents are still working. They hold a job at the Ministry playing spy for our cause and report to my brother with every new finding or bit of information. To be perfectly honest, I am absolutely amazed everyday that my father manages to get away with what he does. Never in his reign had his identity been revealed and now that he’s a spy at the Ministry, I know that he places himself in more danger than he did when he reigned. Because of the extremely, extremely high danger, they have told me that they wish that I never place myself in their position. They don’t care how dedicated I may be, they’d rather place themselves in harm’s way before I do. This is obviously not something I want to do but I do wish to remain loyal to the Dark side. I wish to be the top female DeathEater of my brother’s. I know I already have a huge advantage for it, but for me personally, I need to show to Darren my potential and loyalty that I know I have. My parents support my desired *career choice* all the way. My family has always been involved in the Dark side of wizardry so nothing less is really expected of me.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you? My mother and father always heap support and approval upon me which is something that a lot of people can’t say that they’ve had the opportunity of having. They have provided me with support of both good and dodgy nature. That’s just how Morgans have always worked though. We have always been on top and due to our aggressive nature and refusal to accept defeat, we always will be. This has affect me only slightly. I’ve never been what most would consider to be a good child and that hasn’t changed as I’ve grown older. No matter how much support they have given me, I always seem to just go off on my own terms.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely? I barely fight with my parents but when we fight, we usually fight horribly (I blame most of it on the infamous Morgan temper). Most of the time its about concern of one another’s current position in our line of work. Though we all know that our loyalties will forever remain to the Dark side, we’re always worried about one another and if any of us hears about a possible slip-up then that usually starts something. Other than that, I have been known to fight with my parents about school, my stubbornness and my ability to find great fun in…flaunting my assets around to males.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life? I have never spoken with my grandparents on my mother’s side because they died for our cause when I was three .My father’s father played a significant factor in both my life and my parents. My grandfather constantly imposed himself on my father and brother’s life. He had always been a hard man and rarely showed emotion to anyone. He taught us just how serious the Dark Arts were and how much it impacted our lives and would continue to impact our lives as we grew older. He was also one of the only men that I have ever known to be so committed to the Dark Arts. He was a very good role-model to have in most aspects. He died last November (’05) while on a recruiting mission to help Darren gain new followers. A group of Ministry workers caught up with him and his helpers (since they had always suspected him of involvement with the Dark side). A small battle ensued and needless to say, they were all regrettably killed. However, my grandfather was able to either kill or severely curse five out of the eight wizards.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you? I have two other siblings. My older brother Darren is 22 and my younger sister Alanna is 16. We get along quite well for siblings which really is a rarity for families who are on the Dark side. There’s never even been a real rivalry between any of us either which also tends to be quite surprising. Our parents say they love us all equally though my father tends to show more favor towards Darren then my sister or I, but my mother makes up for that whenever he or my brother are not around. My relationship with my siblings surely has had its affect on me, especially my recent fights with Darren.

[Centara Zealon]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?
I was raised by both my mother and father, both keeping a close contact on me and my siblings. I was closest to my mother, never really getting too close to my father in my days. My mother was the kinder of the two while my father was the stricter. I never really tended to shy towards my father because of that reason. He wanted me to be strong and never show any weaknesses at any point in time while my mother let me go shopping and do what I wanted. Once my father caused me to be sired, I changed my mind and completely began hating him, turning to my mother for everything. When that happened, she changed her mind about us and began ignoring us. Not long after this had happened Markus, Alexa, and myself shoved both of them out of the house, knowing neither cared anymore. The kids took over the house while the parents were left to find their own way of living. Soon after this happened, our mother was killed, a tragic event for all of us. Our father is still around today.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?
My father is the Head of the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. All of his work he does there is kept confidential so we truly don’t know what he does there. But one thing we do know is that he tells every bit of information that flows through there to the Dark Lord because even though he works for the ministry, he’s an undercover guy for Darren Morgan. Everything he does revolves around that line of work.

He expects all his kids to follow his path, knowing that if they followed another path then he would be in trouble because we all know his secret. I truly don’t mind because I’ve grown towards this path in my days. It was an obvious choice for me so I fit right in with the locals. My father supports my choice because he was the one who decided my fate for me years before when I was expelled from school for the rest of my second year. Ever since then, he’s been training me for the exact moment where I would become a DE. Needless to say, he didn’t train me long.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?
Support and approval in my life didn’t come from my parents much at all. It came from my siblings most of all. But, the support that came from my parents was mostly of good nature but also mixed with a bit of dodgy nature. They encouraged me to do what they thought was best for me which was persuing the family career and using my beauty to my advantage. Each of those has worked out quite well for me seeing as I am one of the most popular people in my days. But they also encouraged me to do what was wrong for me, like flaunting what I had while I threw away any chance at an education or a life beyond my youth. All of these ideas were disapproved of by myself so I always went against them, never following what my parents said (besides a little bit of flaunting, of course…)

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?
My father and I fight constantly. Jack and I hate each other to the bone and tend to fight so bad that no one wants to be around us because they begin to get a headache. Our fights are normally in the form of verbal confrontations instead of physical. We’ve never gotten along since I was 12 and got sired. My vampire days were what turned me against him since it was his entire fault. I’ve never gotten over this fact so to this day; we fight about anything we can. The main arguments we have are about the way our family runs without him. He’s quite jealous that he can’t be involved in our issues anymore. Quite sad…

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?
My grandparents haven’t been alive since before I was born. Markus was the only one graced with the ability to meet them. They all died early in our age because our parents were born late in their age. Even Markus isn’t able to tell us anything about them because he was a mere one year old. Our father isn’t reliable enough to learn anything from while our mother never relayed any information about them before her death. So, as far as we know, our family begins with our parents and my father's brother.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?
I have one older brother and two younger sisters. Markus is only one year older then me, while being a Potions’ professor. Him and I are the best of friends along with being siblings. We have our occasional fights but we also have our good moments, looking out for each other and making sure the family is flowing well. We’ve had our ups and downs but no matter what, we stick with each other to make life easier for us.

My younger sister by two years was 16. Her name was Alexa and she died on April 23rd, 2006. She was one of my best friends on top of my sister. There is not much to say but RIP.

My youngest sister is Roxane Opal Zealon. She is my half-sister who is three years younger then me. She is a product of my fathers cheating days with another woman. Markus and I found out about her around Alexa’s funeral and have taken her in as a regular sibling since. Her and I get along well and have found each other to be good company.

With each of these siblings, there are a few oppositions but I don’t favor one over the other. I do admit that Markus is one of my closer siblings but that is only because we’re the oldest and we know everything about each other. My parents don’t favor one over the other because our mother is dead and our father could care less who is better then the other.

[Ashton Wentworth]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?:

I has no idea who my parents are, I was raised in a orphanage from infancy. Mama O. Mrs Ophelia to most people other than myself and Warren. I've been bounced back and forth between a total of twenty three foster homes and always ended back up at Mamo O's within a month. I guess it has something to do with my destructive personality and loud snarky comments. The only two people who Mama O ever had adopted in her whole Career was Warren and myself, but Warren went off to Rehab and I ran away to Galaxia. I guess it has affected me because of little things that happened during my stay there. Also it is a large part of why I don't trust many people.

It could also be a big reason why I'm jealous of people who have parents and are always complaining about them. Sure, sometimes they are awful people but at least they are still in your life.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?

I have no idea, I suppose they were witch/wizards but I'm not really sure so i can't really have an opinion on weather it's something that I wish to pursue.


3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?

I mostly just do whatever I feel like whenever I feel like doing it. Normally I don't have any regard for other peoples feelings, because the only people in my life that I ever trusted have just let me down time and again, so i figure, if I don't have high standards and establish relationships with people, you can't ever be let down. Most of the things that I indulge in isn't of a good nature, but it makes me happy. And there's only one person who can ever truly make you happy, and that's yourself.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?

Well, Mama O, the closest thing I ever had to a mother figure would always fight with me about the stupid things I did with foster parents. Calling it my 'self destructive' something or another. We would only fight for a short time before she was pleading to get me to try another family, that it might be better, to let myself be happy. But she never raised her voice, so I'm not sure if you could really call it fighting rather than reasoning...

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?

-N/A

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?

Warren is the only person I consider to really be family, like a brother to me. He and I were inseparable with the exception of Grace and he tended to make it longer at the foster homes than I did, but we would always end back up at Mama O's. There wasn't much rivalry, mostly plotting. And Mama O treated everybody the same, but she was forced to take special attention to the pair of us because we were the most permanent residents. however we both drove her a little crazy.

7) Are you married? If yes, when did you get married? Was it arranged or not? If no, are you betrothed or engaged? Was it arranged or not? How has this affected your life? Was there someone else you'd rather be with?

Not anymore. I was married for a couple of years and then she died. Our marriage was rocky at best. So was our relationship, it certainly didn't ever even come close to happy, or healthy but it was what it was. Her leaving me, allowing herself to die just further intensified my inability to trust people. My wariness whenever to comes to relationships or attempting to share my life with somebody. At the time, there were plenty of other people that I would have rather been with but I got Georgie.

8 ) Describe your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Are there changes that you think should be made? Does your spouse agree?

My spouse or my current significant other? They are two seperate people. Like I said, with Georgie it was rough, certainly there were good days of course. I really did think that I loved her at the time, upon reflection I don't know if I ever did, or if it was just something to do at the time. I think that definite changes could have been made, such as us never getting married in the first place, that would have been a very positive change. Among other things. My current significant other, well she's a firecracker. I don't really know what else there is to say about her. She hates me, she loves me. She can't quit me and that's good enough for me right now.

9) Do you have children? If so, what are their names and ages? What is your relationship like with each? Do you attempt to live vicariously through any of them? How had your own upbringing influenced how you treat your children?

.............No. I do not have any living children. I don't want to talk about that any more.

[Erich Griesser]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today? I was raised by both of my parents and still am to this day. Because of this, I can’t really say that I was ever closest with a specific parent. With all honesty, I found that I was close with the both of them. Our interaction was always that of a single child with their parents, well, maybe anyway. I interacted with my dad a bit better than my mum since he was usually on my side when she came looking to lecture me about being a lazy child. I can’t really blame myself for my laziness though since she spoiled me rotten and let me do whatever I wanted from the ages of 1-10. Despite that protesting that started coming from her end at the age of ten, I still got on well with her. My dad and I always connected just like a father and son did as well. Whenever I wasn’t sleeping or lounging around the house we would do the routine bonding activities like watching television together, playing catch and muggle fishing (something we picked up from watching the telly).

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices? My dad owns a small odds and ends business in a local village close to our neighborhood. My mum is a housewife and has been since my birth. My other obviously doesn’t expect me to follow the same path, and surprisingly, neither does my dad. I can say that I’m glad he doesn’t. Although I respect and look up to him for managing to run a semi-successful business for these past few years, I can’t say I can see myself in his shoes since my people skills are lacking, nor am I very good with numbers. I still haven’t completely decided what I wanted to do with my life after graduation though I have looked into obtaining an internship at the Ministry of Magic in one of their departments but its still something I’m researching. I’d much rather find a job that allows me to sleep for a living, but since the chance of actually finding something that wonderful is extraordinarily slim, I have to keep looking at the Ministry. My parents of course support my thinking of a job at the MoM because it’ll require me to do actual work instead of sleep. My mother has told me that she’d probably have a stroke if I ever managed to work at the place due to my usual sloth-like nature.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you? From an early age, I always received positive support and approval from my folks. I can’t really say if its affected me since I haven’t necessarily been able to do anything with it, but when its time to go into the working world I’m sure I’ll find the significance in it. I still receive support to this day, but it has noticeably lessened since I seem to be going nowhere with anything. I suspect that it’ll go back into full blast once the summer comes and its time for me to start thinking about what I want to do with my life since they want nothing but the best for me.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely? I think I’m probably one of the only teenagers that can say that he doesn’t fight with his parents as much as they do. Why? It’s simply because we have nothing to ever really fight about. The only thing that could be counted as fighting would be the frequent battle between me and my mother about my obsession with sleeping and resembling a human sloth. She finds it unhealthy that I prefer to do nothing but lounge about and finds no good excuse for why it isn’t that I give her. The fighting isn’t that bad now, but I have no doubts that it may increase after graduation.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life? Both sets of my grandparents are still alive. If either set had to have an influence on my life, I’d have to say that it would be my father’s. My mother’s set hasn’t been on the best terms with us since she ran away with my father to marry and start a life on their own which had been against my grandfather on my mother’s side wishes. My father’s are a different story completely. It may be because I am one out of two remaining younger grandchildren, but they cherish having me as a grandson. I see them rather frequently and on each occasion, one of them tries to bestow some sort of advice on me, whether its about careers, schools, etc. They play a pretty decent size influence on my life because I respect the hell out of them. It’s the same for my father, though he has learned to take their advice on raising me and other decisions not necessarily to heart.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you? I have no siblings thank Merlin.

[Avery Rowe]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each?
-Yes, I was raised by both of my parents. They are both still alive and healthy as far as I know. Of course, I haven't seen them in a couple of weeks now. I suppose I was closer to my mother but didn't really realize why until I turned eleven. Since I have found out that I'm a witch I don't really have anything to talk to the male members of my family about. Not that I would want to talk to them anyway. They are both heavy into sports and camping and the like and I never really liked any of those things, I like living in a heated home. My mother is the only relative that I can talk to since she had been through all of this before and she's really a wiz whenever it comes to potions. SO I guess, now we have something to bond over plus she's the only one allowed in the Wizarding community at the moment so I do more things with her.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?
-My father is an investment banker and really good at math. My mother was a full time stay at home lady, a real homemaker but now she teaches kindergarten in a muggle school district. Why? I'll never know. My brother is pre-med at Stanford in America. Since we don't really have a set profession in my family there isn't any pressure to follow in anybodies footsteps. I wouldn't want to do something so boring with my life anyway, I know that there's something special out there for me. I just don't know what it is yet. They have always supported everything that I do, they are the kind of parents who don't know how to say 'no' and have never heard of disciplining their children. They are those 'heal with love' types that tend to make me sick.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?
-The family moral compass generally points due north about most things. They always pressured me to do my best, anything less than 110% wasn't good enough. The men in my family all tend to have really high powered, well-paying careers and that ambition is contagious. 'Always work to better your station' my father would always say. But to me, my station is my social status. I can't help it if I want everybody to like me, and most of them do as far as I'm concerned, if they don't well then, forget them. Any thing that I ever showed an interest in, my parents did their best to supply me with all of the tools to further myself and to accomplish those goals. For example, if I said that I liked singing, they would have booked appointments with vocal coaches, bought me my own mic and recording equipment, books on how to write songs etc and then made sure I followed through with it until I told them I wanted to do something different.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?
My parents and I have never, ever gotten into a fight. Not from my lack of trying mind you. I wouldn't mind seeing them let their hair down every now and then. no matter what I do, no matter how crazy I act they don't care. 'Kids will be kids' they often say. I can scream at them and break things, but they just say 'anger is not the answer' and move on. They are so docile it's creepy. They would rather turn around and physically leave a room rather than argue, and they would rather shower me with gifts to make me feel better about something than confront me on an uncomfortable topic. It's not right, it's like they don't have any real emotions at all.


5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?
- None of my grandparents are alive any longer but my mother likes to talk about them fondly. Genealogy is something of a hobby to my father and he likes to trace our linage back as far as he can that way we really know where we came from. Both of his parents were lawyers, and he was an only child so I'm not really surprised that he had to look else where for family affection. My mothers parents were also both muggles and hated that she was a witch, they hated me even more because they don't believe that I'm my fathers daughter. Yet, for some reason my mother still wanted their approval and did everything that she could to please them but they died bitter and angry. The only people with what I consider to be 'real' emotions in the family. I feel like we would have gotten along very well had they still be alive today, and I weren't a witch of course.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?
-I have one older brother named Grant who is also a muggle. We used to get along swimmingly until he heard me telling one of my school friends that I was a pure blood with no siblings. He knew I was ashamed to be in the house that I am, without having pure blood. To this day I tell everybody that I'm pure blooded and have no siblings. I just, kill them off all the time in my stories. But really, who can blame me? Grant is now starting college in America, and hasn't spoken to me outside of family holidays in three years. However, my parents have never favored either one of us, they have always treated us equally. Just your normal sibling give and take from childhood on.

[Deleted]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?

I was raised by both my parents. In Greece, the ways of the Orthodox Church rules over the lives of those who chose to or not to follow it. The Orthodox Church sees marriage as a holy sacrament and my parents have always agreed with the belief. They have raised me and my sisters as a pair and have been married for thirty years. I’ve always got on well with the both of them, but probably have been the closest to my father just because I am his only son. He passed on his love of Quidditch to me. Besides that, I attribute a lot of the man I am today to him. He personifies everything a man should be: a provider, a lover, a family-man, a protector and brave. My mother spoiled me often as well because of me being the only son. She’s always been fiercely protective of me though I outweigh her by a good hundred and twenty pounds at least. Still, she’s not someone I’d want to be in the path of if I messed with any member of my family.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?

My father is Quidditch referee. My mother is a homemaker as is custom in Greece. While my father would have preferred me joining a national Quidditch team, both he and my mother support me as an Auror. If times were different, I have no doubt I would have ended up as a Keeper for my home country’s team, making my dad extremely proud but my current career path seemed brightest for me and I feel like it’s where I belong.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?

I’m one of those guys unbelievably lucky to have such supportive parents. They have always wanted me to accomplish whatever my dreams and aspirations were. When I was promoted to a full-time Auror at the Austrian Ministry of Magic, I received nothing but well wishes and encouragement. I still get tear-stained posts from my mother telling me how proud she is of me. My father says he brags about me to his mates all the time. Naturally, they are worried about the many risks associated with my job but they have confidence in me. Besides my sisters, my parents are who I turn to when I have an off day or some sort of issue that makes me question things. If it weren’t for their words of advice and wisdom I would probably be a self-conscious and intimidated bloke. Their continued love and support keeps me motivated and driven to constantly do the right thing.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?

It’s rare but my parents and I do fight, though the extent would be disagreements or light arguments. My mother is constantly scrutinizing the women I associate myself with as she is very picky in who is the best fit for her son. She has an uncanny ability to read a woman better than I can and can usually insist upon first meeting whether or not I should dump a girl to the curb or pursue a relationship. I want to have my own independence in choosing a woman, but I’m a momma’s boy. If momma doesn’t like her, I don’t have any choice but to move on. My father and I get into weekly arguments about Quidditch standings. He thinks just because he’s a referee that he is superior to me in his Quidditch knowledge. Be that as it may, I have enough experience with the sport to challenge his beliefs and accusations.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?

Greek families are huge and every member has some sort of impact on everyone’s life. My grandfather and grandmother on both sides of the family are the heads of our huge clan. I’d say they still have a significant impact on both my parent and mine’s life. They always tell us how important family is and how no one else in the world can be there for you like family can. My grandfather on my father’s side worked for the Greece Ministry of Magic for many years so he often sends me posts with advice and to see how I’m holding up. He wasn’t an Auror, but he’s the closest one in the family who can relate to the struggles and frustration of working for the government.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?

I have four older sisters and one younger. We all get along well with no real rivalries. They’ve always given me advice on relationships and women, genuinely wanting me to settle down with a woman who is not only perfect for me, but would fit in right with our family. Natassa is the youngest and most competitive to make up for being the baby of the family, but she’s as harmless as a fly. My parents don’t favor any particular sibling over the other simply because they don’t believing in raising a family in that manner. They’ve always wanted us to bond, love and look out for one another. They’ve never believed in jealously. However, I have often heard my sister’s complain that I am favored because I am the only guy and my name has been in the papers more in a few months then the pictures of them in the family home.

7) Are you married? If yes, when did you get married? Was it arranged or not? If no, are you betrothed or engaged? Was it arranged or not? How has this affected your life? Was there someone else you'd rather be with?

I’m not married or engaged.

8 ) Describe your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Are there changes that you think should be made? Does your spouse agree?

It’s difficult. I don’t know how to explain what Keara and I are. We are so different that it seems unlikely we could ever pursue something long term. I want a big family. She can’t help with that. I care for her even after finding out her secret, but there’s things we can’t get past, ever.

9) Do you have children? If so, what are their names and ages? What is your relationship like with each? Do you attempt to live vicariously through any of them? How had your own upbringing influenced how you treat your children?

I do not have children but wish to have a huge family in the future. I’d like to have my first two children by the time I’m thirty.

[Harland Burrows]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?

In the traditional sense yes. I was raised in a house with my mother and my father. They have been married my entire life and never fight in front of their children. My mother is the perfect home maker, and our house always managed to smell like cookies, fresh bread or some other baked good. I wasn't very close with either of them, none of my siblings were either. Well, except for perhaps my little sister, she was always rather close with my mother. Nobody in my family is very close with anybody else really. I guess that affected me in the way that I don't really discuss my feelings or anything intensely personal with anybody else in my life. Otherwise, I think it just means I approach things from a logical standpoint rather than an emotional one.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?

My mother is a home maker, she doesn't do anything but cook, clean, and do the washing unless father tells her to. My father works for the ministry doing something that I imagine is important but he doesn't like to talk about it. Whenever asked, he says that he's doing important work and that the ministry wouldn't be able to function without him. Personally, I think that's a load of rubbish and that he just wants to feel more self important than he already does. If he were so important wouldn't he be in the papers now like all of the rest of the important ministry officials. They don't really care what I do with my life so long as it's a respectable job that makes me a lot of money. What's really important to them is that I marry a nice pure blooded woman and crank me out a lot of sons. They don't put it so eloquently but that's the just of it. I want to be a writer, and that is what I will do. I'm not the favorite son anyway since I wasn't placed in Slytherin. I'm more pushed into the background than anything else. Which is fine by me.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?

None really. They don't approve or disapprove any of my actions any longer. I think that they gave up whenever I was transferred out of Durmstrang in the first place, and whenever I was placed in Hufflepuff it just placed the last nail in my coffin. I'm sure that if I came to them rationally with a problem, they would attempt to help me solve it because of the family that I belong to. They don't want me to shame them any more after all.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?

My parents don't think that they should let their children in on their problems. Money hasn't ever really been an issue, so that takes a lot of pressure off. They only ever fight about their relationship, and we only know about that for what we hear through the walls. Or snooping. The only family fight that we really have is the existence of our sister and her legitimacy to our family name. All of the children treat her the same, but father...father hasn't once looked her in the eyes.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?

Yes the old bats are still alive. They attempt to have a lot of influence over my life and my brothers lives. They don't even speak to my sister or my mother, so in turn almost none of us speak to them. They want all of us boys t be strapping and have high powered careers and dress just so, they don't want us to have any minds of our own. They are the epitome of pure blooded and I personally have no time for that.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?

We have a large family. One sister, younger is the only other female in our household besides mother. I have two older brothers who are closer to each other than I am with either of them. I'm pretty much on my old, and my father treats me like the baby of the family because I am his youngest child. Mother favors my sister because nobody else does anything for her outside of the siblings. Of course, we couldn't care less nor blame our mother for seeking comfort outside of father...but for the most part we are just normal siblings. We argue from time to time, band together whenever the situation calls for it. I think the four of us are the most normal members of the whole family tree.

[Deleted]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?

I wasn’t raised by the two wits I have to call me Ma and Da. The most they ever did was house me. I always had to get me own food, drink and clothes. Since I had to do everything on my own, I wasn’t close to either of them. I interacted better with them when I was younger because that was the most they ever took care of me. After five though, I was pretty much on me own.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?

My Da’s a drunk who works part time at the Ireland Ministry of Magic as a janitor. How he never got fired for being intoxicated on the job is beyond me. My Ma’s a streetwalker who works during the night. She’s not much of a looker, but Irish drunks usually are more concerned with what she offers other than her face. Both me parents could care less what I do. I obviously feel the same and have no interest in pursuing either of their pathetic career choices. I don’t really have any interest in having a career period. I suppose being a DeathEater for a majority of my life could be considered that but it was mostly something to pay the bills and feed my borderline alcoholism.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?

I don’t have any approval or support. Like I said, me parents don’t care about me whatsoever. They’ve always treated me like I was a hassle even though they were the ones who made the mistake of having me. Anytime they did give any sort of approval was when they forced me out to beg for food. Even then, if I wasn’t able to bring home anything other than bread I was berated for being worthless. I’m usually real quiet which I attribute from them as a child. If I made any noise, I was punished. I probably wouldn’t have become a DeathEater if they had been more involved in my life, but it’s not something I regret. I guess I just got used to the lack of attention so early in my life that it just doesn’t faze me enough to dwell on it.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?

Hah all the damn time. I don’t speak to my parents anymore, but when I did we fought all the time. We fought about living conditions and how useless of human beings I thought they were and they thought I was. I couldn’t do much when I was a child, but as I aged I started defending myself against my father more. My mother and father would both yell at me but my father was the only one who hit me. My mother would spank me every once in awhile, however it was nothing to the extent of the force my Da used against me. He and I would get into full-fledged brawls often. The last time I ever fought him was the last time I saw him. I bruised and bloodied him so bad that his face was unrecognizable. I hope it’s still that way.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?

Never knew my grandparents. Don’t think me Ma and Da knew them either.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?

I’m the only one between my Ma and Da that I know of. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if I lost a few brothers and sisters here and there. Also wouldn’t be surprised if my Da has a few running around that he doesn’t know about.

7) Are you married? If yes, when did you get married? Was it arranged or not? If no, are you betrothed or engaged? Was it arranged or not? How has this affected your life? Was there someone else you'd rather be with?

Never been married nor in a position where I was gonna be. I have no interest in marriage. Women can’t be trusted. I can’t be trusted.

8 ) Describe your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Are there changes that you think should be made? Does your spouse agree?

I don’t have a significant other.

9) Do you have children? If so, what are their names and ages? What is your relationship like with each? Do you attempt to live vicariously through any of them? How had your own upbringing influenced how you treat your children?

I have a four-year-old son named Blaine. Blaine is the only person in my life, or ever really, that I have had a genuine relationship with. It started off rocky. I found out about his existence from his Ma (Maureen) who is an alcoholic (that’s the Irish for you). At first I had difficulty believing that he was mine. However, I was called to Maureen’s apartment one day several months back after he had been left alone when Maureen was transported to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. It was then when I found him in a corner with a look on his face that so closely resembled my own when I was his age that I finally accepted he was mine and haven’t looked back since. He is currently in government custody since Ireland’s Ministry doesn’t see me or Maureen as suitable parents, which is why I’m in Austria trying to change my life around. That little boy deserves everything and then some. I will never treat him the way Ian and Sinead treated me. Never. They will never know about his existence. And I will spend the rest of my life making up for the time I missed with him.

[Gavin Dewhurst]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?
- Yes, I was raised by both of my parents. They have been happily married my entire life. Which, of course, was a surprise to both of them considering the fact that they too were strong armed into an arranged marriage whenever they came of age. I would have to say that I was closer to my mother for the fact that she was always at home. My father, due to necessity, had to travel frequently for his job. Both assumed and actual professions and it took up most of his time. Whenever he was home, we do have a strong bond. As any traditional father/son relationship should be. Most people have negative connotations about Pure Blooded families, they assume that they are all abused children and spoiled brats. The spoiled part might be true given that we tend to have a lot more money than most other people, but the other is rubbish. My family is just like any other you might find in a Hallmark card.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?
- My mother is a full time home maker and socialite. She tends to dabble in decorating and party planning like any woman of her station would have been expected to do but her only other true passion besides her children is to travel. My father is a businessman, or at least that's what he tells everybody. He is a personal financial consultant, freelance. Which, he does do. Only for a very select group of clients. His true work is for the Dark Lord, even I don't know what it is that he does exactly, it's not a topic that comes up very often in conversation. I assume that sooner or later, my father will have the talk with me about my future affiliations. my career has been set since I was fourteen, and I will be the first person in my bloodline to go into professional sports. They support my decision and will keep me to it, and I will suffer the consequences of it. However, the whole 'will I become a Death Eater' thing? I'm really not certain how that one is going to play out.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?
- Full support, both emotional, psychological and financial in everything that I do. had i chosen the other end of the deal that was offered to both me and my brother, they would have supported that choice as well. That's just not how it turned out. Elliot, my brother, still has yet to take a wife and my family dotes on his business progress and all other things that he does in his life. My mother did have a moment where she... interfered in my life by splitting me with the woman that I genuinely cared for in place of my arranged marriage. But i brought that upon myself. However, for the matter of Self Esteem, pretty certain that I have that ground covered by myself.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?
- Given the amount of time that we spend together, we really don't have the time to fight. every member of my family has a very busy schedule. Whenever we do have planned time together, or in the rare chances that we are all living under the same roof for any prolonged period of time we use it to catch up rather than fight. Whenever we were younger, my brother and I would quarrel, normal boyhood stuff. of course, once we were both enrolled in school, we grew into our own people. We aren't around each other enough to not like one another. The only other time that I have raised my voice to my mother was in the case of Amina, whenever she forced my hand in breaking her heart. I didn't have a choice, she had suffered enough for my selfish tendencies as it was. I am still bitter toward Pearl, but it's really not her fault, she was just holding me to my word and making me keep to my promise.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?
- All four of my grandparents are still alive and I assume they are in good health. My mother is not exactly close with her parents, and we see them less than once a year. Generally only for family reunions or pure blood social events that they never miss, of course. My paternal grandparents visit more often, or will take trips with us regardless of whether or not my father is accompanying us or not. They did not have a hand in raising me, but we do get along well enough. I'm very fond of the trust fund they have set aside for me of course.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?
- One older brother, Elliot. We started getting along once I was in school with my own life, so that I stopped bothering him with things. We don't see each other very much now that he's out living on his own and works such long, strenuous hours. I feel like I'm the favorite of my family, and Elliot had always been given more room to become his own person with his own interests. For example, I know that my father never pushed Elliot to the Dark Lord like he will no doubt do to me.

7) Are you married? If yes, when did you get married? Was it arranged or not? If no, are you betrothed or engaged? Was it arranged or not? How has this affected your life? Was there someone else you'd rather be with?
-Not officially married yet, but I might as well be. I've been promised since I was fifteen years old. Yes, in pure blood tradition, it was in fact arranged. I was given a choice, and this was mine. In hind sight, I shouldn't have agreed so readily, but I was a foolish youth. I am now officially engaged as my betrothed moved to Austria a month ago to be with me. There is most certainly somebody that I would rather be with, but it's not allowed. In fact, my mother even resorted to blackmail in order to assure my compliance. the lady and I had a very short romance, but it was more than enough to be effective. My mother seems bent on tormenting me with her presence, and I can only hope that once I'm officially married, she will lay off and let me stew in my own misery. To say that this is one of the larger events in my life, would be an understatement. It consumes me.

8 ) Describe your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Are there changes that you think should be made? Does your spouse agree?
-The relationship with my spouse is vastly different than the relationship with my significant other because they are two different people. I'm a committed person, and I would never spit on the institution of marriage because family is so very important to me. Which, is why the whole situation is so sticky. My spouse, seems to honestly care for me. And why shouldn't she? It's not her fault that my heart belongs to somebody else. It's hard not to hate her, whenever she has done nothing to deserve my hate. She was corralled into this just as much as I was, she doesn't have a choice either. And yet, I cannot care for her in return. I hope every single night that she will break our engagement, but I also know that will never happen. Even if she were to loath me -like that's possible- I'm a catch by all standards and the joining of our bloodlines will do wonderful things for both of our families. Pearl didn't choose her lightly. Which, makes things even harder with Amina given that I can hardly be around her without wanting to touch her.

[Salvatrix Steele]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?

No, my parents are dead. My aunt and uncle raised me and I’d like to say that it has not affected me in anyway whatsoever. They are filthy blood traitors who are undeserving of the name Steele. If anything, they have made me more constant in the belief my parents began to instill upon me when I was very young: The Steele’s are pure, and because of that we are superior.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?

My parents were Death Eaters before they were killed. I already am following it. They began to mold me for this position from an early age, something I have not resented in any way. This is exactly what I want to do. I am on the noble path.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?

My parents died when I was 7, what little I remember was about teaching me the importance of who my family was and its values (one of which was doing what must be done to be on top). As I was the only child, of course I was showered in the finest and approval was given when I understood and took to heart one of the many Steele values. Now my guardians, on the other hand, were not very supportive. They were trying to “save” me from my parents path of darkness. As you can imagine, this led to many disagreements and a barely functioning relationship.


4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?

I suppose you wish me to speak of my guardians, no? Well, considering they are nothing but blood traitors our relationship was rather cold. Thankfully I was at school for the majority of my teenage years and I rarely went home for the hols, so exposure to each other was a minimum. When I was home, however, our fights were about how steadfast I held on to my parents ideals. They even went so far as to confiscate the letters from my grandparents to seclude me from the evils of our family. My aunt and uncle are weak and cannot fathom my glorious purpose.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?

Honestly, I’m not sure if my either sets of my grandparents are alive. When my parents were alive, I remeber both sets coming around the Manor and sometimes they would watch me when my parents went out on raids. After my parents died and I was placed with my aunt and uncle, I lost contact with my grandparents. My aunt and uncle are not welcomed by any in the family because of their sympathy towards the other side of the cause. Unfortunately after the first few letters my grandparents sent were confiscated, any new letters stopped coming. I’m not sure if this was because they had given up, or they died.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?

I have no siblings. It is rather common for extremely pure families to have trouble conceiving more that one child, and if they do it is with many years between siblings. Also, my parents were active Death Eaters so it was rather dangerous to be trying for more children.

------ if you play a student, you may stop here; if you play an adult character, please do continue as far as you can -----

7) Are you married? If yes, when did you get married? Was it arranged or not? If no, are you betrothed or engaged? Was it arranged or not? How has this affected your life? Was there someone else you'd rather be with?

I am not. I am not attached to any one of the opposite gender at the moment actually, as my parents had not selected a fitting betrothal before they were killed and my aunt and uncle would never “force” such a “thing” upon me. I find it hard to trust others so I have never actually been in a true relationship that was not just about the physical. One day, I shall find a fitting man to continue the line with.

8 ) Describe your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Are there changes that you think should be made? Does your spouse agree?

N/A

9) Do you have children? If so, what are their names and ages? What is your relationship like with each? Do you attempt to live vicariously through any of them? How had your own upbringing influenced how you treat your children?

I do not; one day though, when I have accomplished all that I can. I like to think that one day I will be as wonderful a parent as I remember mine being.

[Deleted]

1.  I was raised by both parents.  I love my parents equally, they have taught me so much about life in general.  They have taught me the values of life, love, the given me the courage to take life head on no matter with what I am faced with.  They have instilled in me the rich collective knowledge of the generations before me.  I can always turn to either of them for guidance.

2.  My father is a psychologist who studies and analyzes social trends in the professional world, everything from bullying to work ethics.   My mother is an educator for the young.  Her passion is teaching children the first steps of everything from reading to writing.  But my career choice is a more hands on approach to everything.  I am good with my hands and enjoy the labor and hard work of building things.  What ever I do I know that my parents will be behind and give encouraging words when I need it.

3.  My parents always encouraged to do whatever make me feel good about myself.  Since I am a hard worker in life, I always enjoy helping others in need.  Helping others has always been a big part of my upbringing.

4.  Respect and loyalty is a key foundation in our family.  My parents and I rarely argue, but if we do it's usually about being punctual.  I have always done what I am told to do without resentment,  because there is value in everything that I was instructed to do, even though there were times I thought that it was pointless.

5.  I have no grandparents that are alive now.  but when I did, they taught me the same values that were passed on to my parents.  

6.  I have one older sister.  There is always going to be some rivalry between us, but it was always friendly.  but as for favoritism, I cannot really say because growing up we have had different personalities.  My parents are spending more time with my sister because she lives closer to home and has a family, and my parents love spendign time with thir grandchildren.

7.  I am not married, not engaged or betrothed.  I guess I haven't found the "one" yet.

8.  I do not have a significant other and I don't haveany children

[Michael Wilde]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? If yes, who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each? If no, who raised you and how has this affected who you are today?
-No. I was raised by my father. I do not, nor have I ever had a mother. Nothing that you can say to me will ever convince me otherwise. Pops worked a lot so Sissa had to pick up a lot of the slack in raising us smallest boys, the wonder twins and myself. Not that I'm going to give her that credit were she to ask. Which, worked just fine until she got her job and moved out on her own, whenever that was. Luckily for Pops, he's got the house mostly to himself 90% of the time since my sexy ass is at school full time. The other two brats as well, I suppose they should count for something. My whole family is actually very close, which is fairly obvious, if you've got working eyes. I lost count how many members we have in our instant family...what with all the nieces and nephews. Too many to remember their names. Not that they care much.

2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?
-Pops was an Auror for...thirty something years before he retired? I think. Either way he was brilliant at it and earned a lot of medals and awards and stuff. They have a plaque of him on their wall I think. He's...we're all super proud of him for doing it. He's my role model. I know that no matter what I choose to do once I've graduated would be more than fine with Pops, he's always supported all of us, in whatever we fancy. Even the nancy boy who wears make up and puts on films for a living. Open minded and all of that good stuff. I've not told him yet, but I've signed up to intern in the same department over the summer. Pretty sure I'll make a good Auror. Unpopular opinion, perhaps, but it feels like it's what i should be going.

3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?
-More support than anybody should need. Certainly more than I need. I'm really fantastic all on my own. Have you seen my face? Nah, that's not arrogance, it's the truth. Obviously. Can you not see? So long as I'm not bringing chicks home or knocking anybody up, they pretty much let me do what I want. Pops has always been the one to let us dig our own holes, but he makes us fill them back in too. That's not so much fun.

4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?
-No really. Pops and I don't fight. He's not the fighting type, no matter what he does for a living. The few times that he's around, and we're one on one, we're not going to waste time fighting. I think the most heated I've ever seen him is arguing...that wasn't even in my direction. Usually at Sissa. She's the combative one. Now, the rest of the gits...those I do fight with. Often. And we tend to get physical. Makes shorter work of it. Given that I'm bigger than half of them, the wonder twins are bigger if they team up, but that's fine. I can take them. Sissa fights dirty, given that she's a girl and doesn't want us to forget it. Tramp. Even then, once the fights over, the physical fight, the rest sort of sorts itself out, mostly. Basically. You ain't got shit on my family.

5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?
Don't know. Never met any of them. Not really sure why either....maybe I should ask.

6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?
A ton. Let's see, Matty's oldest, then Chrissy, he's the famous one. Aaron, Sissa me, Annie, Danny, Scotty...I suppose that you could count Apollo, but not really. He's family, but he's not a sibling. That's in order, too. So. That's two questions. Right? Significant Rivalry, no. Not really. Matty and Chris compete for cuter kids, but I don't think that's relevant. Obviously I'm closest with Annie, given that we're the same age. Yes, she counts as a sister she practically was raised by Sissa with us. Pops doesn't favor anybody. But Matty is first born, if you want to get picky about it. The only one that really sticks out and isn't around as much would be Aaron. Tanned bastard. Otherwise, we're all pretty close. Chris usually buys the beer, so that's good.

7) Are you married? If yes, when did you get married? Was it arranged or not? If no, are you betrothed or engaged? Was it arranged or not? How has this affected your life? Was there someone else you'd rather be with?
-No, not married. Don't really think that I'm the marriage type. I burn through girlfriends way too fast to think about things like that. I'm only seventeen for Merlin's sake. Not that I'm not a good boyfriend, I'm perfect. Obviously that's the issue. Pretty certain that if I wanted to get married, that would be alright with everybody though. Just don't see it happening.

8 ) Describe your relationship with your spouse or significant other. Are there changes that you think should be made? Does your spouse agree?
-Spouse. What a weird word. No, don't have one of those. Currently on the market, if you're looking? I guess I could tell you about the last one? Little Irish thing, super pale skin. She just, that temper man. It's just too much. Talks too often, I mean. Distracted from...other things.

9) Do you have children? If so, what are their names and ages? What is your relationship like with each? Do you attempt to live vicariously through any of them? How had your own upbringing influenced how you treat your children?
-Nope, no kids either. Not yet, with such a big family I don't think that I need any really. I've got enough kids related to me that if I ever felt like I did want one, I'd just go borrow one for a night or two. Don't need my own, certainly don't need them around all of the time either.

[Don Melvyn]

1) Were you raised by both of your parents? Who were you closest to and why? How did you interact with each?

Yes, both my parents were involved in raising me and my sister. I would say that I was closest to my mother as I grew up. My father tended to force me to grow up sooner than I was ready to, especially after my sister's death, whereas my mother was more accommodating and comforting. She encouraged me to do the things I wanted to do, even if my father considered it to be too childish.

Since both my parents are muggles I grew apart from them when I first went to Hogwarts. I no longer had anything to say to my father, since I was emerged in a world which he deemed to be unreal and childish. My mother tried to show interest, but my father's influence stopped her from ever really being involved.



2) What do your parents do for a living? Do they expect you to follow the same path? Is this what you want to do? What would you rather do? Do they support your choices?

Both my parents pursue muggle careers. My mother is a nurse at a local hospital, very close to their house. My father is a big marketing director at a muggle company. Both of them are close to retiring.

I have never had the desire to work in the muggle world. I feel that if I were destined to live there, I would not have been born magical.

Besides that I do not have the desire to stare at marketing schemes for the rest of my life, nor do I particularly fancy being a nurse.

I would rather work with magical creatures, maybe even breed them for a living. I would not refuse a post as a teacher at a magical establishment either since I enjoy watching people improve themselves.

My parents do not in fact know what careers I want to pursue. I have not seen them in a long time. I imagine my father would disapprove, while my mother will grant me her blessings as soon as my father turns his back.


3) Parental support and approval is an important key to self-esteem, or lack thereof. How much support and approval do you receive? It is of a good nature (ie - supporting you to make the right choices even if it's not popular) or of a dodgy nature (ie - encouraging you to do what must be done to keep yourself on top)? How has this affected you?

I did receive a lot of approval when I was younger. My mother gave me support of a good nature, but only when my father wasn't nearby. She would constantly remind me to do what felt right to me.My father encouraged me to abandon magic and pursue a career which had more worth.

My mother's support meant the world to me, and in many cases helped me realise what I wanted to do. My father had less influence over my life, but due to his opinions I find that I do not desire to pursue anything which was primarily magic-based. I feel the need to have a tangible or visible result as fruits of my work.


4) No matter how wonderful ones parents are, teenagers and parents fight. Even adult children fight with their folks. What sort of things do you and your parents fight about all the time? Do you fight often, or rarely?

I almost never quarrel with my mother, unless my father comes up as a topic. We disagree about the power and control my father has over her. She refuses to see it, or acknowledge it.

My father and I can fight about almost anything. Our favourite fight is about magic, since my father obviously isn't a supporter.

I have not seen my parents since I graduated from Hogwarts.


5) Grandparents can often be an important factor in a life. Are your grandparents still alive? How much of an influence do they exert on your life? On your parents' life?

My grandparents aren't alive anymore. My grandparents on my father's side died before I was born. They were old fashioned and were the cause for my father's hate of magic. They planted the seed of hatred.

My grandparents on my mother's side both died about a year after my sister's death. They were soft and loving people. I don't think they had an ounce of judgement in their hearts.


6) How many siblings do you have? Older? Younger? How do you get along with each? Is there any significant rivalry with any of them? Do your parents favor (or appear to favor) one over the other? How do the dynamics of your siblings affect you?

I had one sibling, Hannah. She was two years younger than I am. We got along most of the time. I never had the chance to get to know her as an adult. She passed away when she was six years old. I can't possibly say whether my parents favoured her over me since I can't remember ever noticing.

My father favour's the memory of her over me, I think. Hannah wasn't magical at the time of her death and I think that my father believes that she wouldn't have been magical. He imagines she is the child he ought to have had.