Christofer Walker

[Christofer Walker]

CHRISTOFER D. WALKER

Basics;;

FULL NAME: Christofer Derek Walker
NICKNAME(S): Chris
AGE/D.O.B.: 23, 07/12/1988
Year: n/a
HOUSE: former ravenclaw
IDEOLOGY: chris was raised to be accepting of muggles and muggleborns, seeing that his mom married a muggle and taught him to be accepting of everyone. He was never taught pureblood ideology and in fact know it’s wrong. after his dad died at the hands of the death eaters, he’s resentful of pureblood wizards and do not really trust them.
JOB: employee at flourish & blotts
WAND: 13in, unicorn hair, vine wood
BROOM: n/a
PLAYBY: hunter parrish

Personality;;

LIKES: long walks, books, reading, spending time with loved ones, Christmas (his favorite holiday!), listening to music, lights (esp warm toned ones), his cat, learning new things, feeling included (i.e. when someone describes in detail to him their surroundings)
DISLIKES: broken trust, cold weather, losing his sight, being defined by his blindness, death, pureblood ideology, loud noises, dark magic, feeling helpless
STRENGTHS:
calm: chris is calm under pressure, especially after what happened to his family. he typically approaches all situations level-headedly, knowing that most of the things life can throw at him just pales in comparison to what has already happened.
independent: chris is independent, though independence looks different to him because of his blindness, he strives to be self-reliant.
principled: chris takes after his parents in that he follows his own ideas, is headstrong, and will stand up for his beliefs. he experienced first-hand the evils that exist in this world and he is determined to always stand up for those who cannot and only do what is right.
intelligent: in his hogwarts days, chris definitely had a reputation of being a bit of a know-it-all, but at the root of it, chris was just intelligent. school came very naturally to him and he worked hard too—there was very little that could stump him.
loyal: there’s nothing more important to chris than those he loves, and once you make it up there in his list, he is incredibly loyal and will always have your back.
sensitive: chris is not emotional, no, but sensitive in that he is an empathetic person. he picks up nonverbal cues easily even without the help of seeing someone’s body language. a small infection in the tone of voice, a sense of urgency, or a sense of hesitancy—chris picks up on it and is able to understand what others are feeling.
WEAKNESSES:
stubborn: chris is someone who can hold grudges. perhaps because of how loyal he is to ones he love, it’s equally hard to get him to forgive you if you had done something unforgivable in his eyes.
reserved: just as chris is good at reading others, he’s hard to read. especially after the attack on his family, chris is closed off, solitary, and withdrawn, preferring to keep to himself than confide things in others, show too much emotion, or share too much of himself.
perfectionist: chris has incredibly high standards and is hard on not just himself, but those he surrounds himself with. this has definitely been a bit of a problem in the past with work relationships, when things don’t get done in the “perfect” way that chris wants it to. he also just finds anything that isn’t meticulously done to be unacceptable, which can make him hard to get along with sometimes.
proud: chris is stubborn and doesn’t like to ask for help. if he had his way, he would never ask for it, and he would never rely on others—of course this is something that isn’t 100% avoidable due to his visio loss.
insecure: underneath his hard exterior, chris is insecure. he is insecure about his place in this world, and equally insecure about the relationships that he holds, whether that be his friendships or how his family felt about him. this leads him to constantly want to prove himself, and to an extent, he is always striving to make the people that he holds in high regard proud.
anxious: chris can’t help but feel that something bad can happen at any moment; and because of this he is always looking for ways to potentially control a situation. he hates feeling like he is out of control, and he also hates when things do not go how he has planned.

AMORTENTIA: smell of old books, his childhood home, the smell of his mom’s cooking, especially during the holidays
PATRONUS: chris’s patronous is a wolf—it conveys the two different sides of him. the first side: one that is solitary (as in, a lone wolf), independent, and relies on no one. The other side: wolves are pack animals and deeply loyal to their pack—if one manages to make it into chris’s inner circle, they would have all of his loyalty. His best childhood memory was the last Christmas where his whole family was there.
BOGGART: losing another family member he loves to violence or dark magic, revival of anti-muggle/muggleborn sentiment
MIRROR OF ERISED: making his parents proud

Personal Life;;

NATIONALITY: Welsh
BIRTH-PLACE: Conway Valley, Caernarfonshire, Welsh countryside
PARENTS:
Charles Walker, Muggle, teacher, Deceased
Diane Walker, former healer, Pureblood
SIBLINGS:
Pippin Walker, 37, Half-blood
Merry Walker, 37, Half-blood
Valerian Walker, 34, Half-blood
Saffron Walker, 32, Half-blood
Annie Walker, 29, Half-blood
Iola Walker, 27, Half-blood
Gabriella Walker, 25, Half-blood
Molly Walker, 20, Half-blood
Gavin Walker, 18, Half-blood
OTHER IMPORTANT FAMILY: n/a
HISTORY: chris walker grew up as the 8th child of diane and charles walker. when you’re the 8th child there’s a few dynamics that you grew up being very familiar with that children from other, smaller families don’t quite experience. the first of these experiences is that chris was partially raised by his older siblings—probably just an unintentional side effect of having so many children, but his parents were often busy (i mean there were just so many kids!) and when the sibling age gaps are as big as some of the ones found in the walker family, the older children are just bound to help the younger kids with some things. the second of these experiences is that the house is never quiet, with 4 kids in the house younger than hogwarts age when chris was born, and even as he was going to start hogwarts, there were at least 3 kids in the house at any point in time. there’s always some kind of shenanigans happening, someone to hang out (or conspire!) with, and chris’s pre-hogwarts childhood was quite fun: exploring the walker estate with his siblings (he developed a particular fondness of his older sister iola), baking pastries with his mom, and helping his dad with cars—there was never a dull moment. the third thing that characterized his childhood—unrelated to belonging in a large family—is the degree of muggle influence that he had as a kid. his dad is a muggle, an incredibly family-oreiented man, a teacher, and chris adored him. chris often found himself just hanging out in his dad’s study, reading a book. his dad also influenced his love for reading, his thirst for knowledge. his childhood was a mix of both muggle and magical things: he loved the muggle tv shows, movies, and music that he was exposed to, but of course got to experience the convenience of magic when his siblings and mom performed it around the house.

at age 9, he began to experience an odd blurriness and darkening of his peripheral vision. he dismissed it at first as ‘just being tired’, but with no improvement of this peripheral vision loss after several weeks, he confided to iola about this concern. she was, at that point, a third year at hogwarts, and so they were communicating by owl, but she urged him to tell one of their parents. eventually he did—the muggle doctors diagnosed him with retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive vision loss disorder, and explained that because it was a somatic de novo mutation in him, the condition did not impact any of his siblings, and neither of his parents were carriers of this mutation. dissatisfied with how there was no cure, diana walker took chris to several wizard healers who came to the same conclusion: there was no stopping this progressive disease. chris was determined to stay optimistic though, refusing to believe that his vision could get much worse. he mostly decided to ignore the diagnosis and prognosis, though his dad knew, and believed it for him: charles walker “forced” upon all sorts of fun life experiences that he knew chris wouldn’t be able to do once he one day became blind. so, prior to hogwarts, charles tried to make chris go on all sorts of adventures: skiing, ice skating, horseback riding, etc. these are memories chris treasure to this day, especially that his father had been so proactive in arranging for all these activities and making sure he had a fun and limitless childhood.

he was excited to start hogwarts when he turned 11, and he was especially excited to be sorted into the same house as some of his siblings (though of course disappointed to be separated from his favorite sister, iola—but still he was incredibly excited to finally be in the same place as her again, and they did spend time hanging out and grabbing meals). bookish and nerdy, chris thrived at hogwarts among the ravenclaw eagles. he built a bit of a reputation for himself as a know-it-all, but kind as he is he would never say no to a classmate in need of help in schoolwork. he was always incredibly excited to learn and participate, and although he loved aspects of muggle life, he realized in this first year at hogwarts he loved the magical side of him more.

but at eleven, his vision degenerated even more. as the doctors had predicted, what started as peripheral vision and night vision loss became progressively worse. and, by the second half of his first year, he experienced a rather sudden, and rapid decline of his vision. it felt to him like through a peephole, and most of his field of vision was blurry and/or darkened. he kept that a secret: on the outside he was this usual nerdy but cheerful and bubbly self. on the inside he was at a loss for what to do, and a part of him was still in denial. he didn’t believe it could get much worse. the only person aware of this decline was iola, as he had once again only confided in the one person he trusted the most in their family. as his first year drew to an end, chris found himself withdrawing significantly from his friends simply because he wanted—no, needed to keep his vision loss a secret. he just wanted to be a regular eleven-year-old. and he didn’t want people to look at him or treat him differently. so, instead of studying with the group of friends he normally studied with, he holed himself up in a quiet corner of the library, because he didn’t want others to know how close he had to get to the book to read. with iola’s help, he learned a few charms that could help magnify words on a page, and he became crafty in the way he navigated and found his way around the castle so as to not bump into anything. he focused intently on the commentary during quidditch matches to “blend in” instead of relying on his eyes to see what was going on.

but he could only keep this a secret for so long. the lengths at which he was attempting to hide his vision loss was starting to take a toll on him, and by the end of his first year, when he went home, he finally told his parents what was going on. his dad advised and even encouraged him to learn to use a cane and learn braille, but chris refused, telling him that he wanted to manage with magic. since he could still see light, he learned how to cast a charm that put a bright white orb in front of him—leading him to where he wanted to go. he also learned another one to make the words on a page be read out loud to him, and got an enchanted quill that dictated his words. he learned a little bit of the muggle ways of dealing with his blindness, too, partially to appease his dad, but he mostly relied on magic. his siblings had already been aware of the situation for years, and was supportive and helpful, and upon returning to hogwarts for his second year, he found that most of his friends were supportive too: though he could tell sometimes that some people felt sorry for him, and he hated that. he fought hard for his independence, and to be treated the same as everyone else. sure, he couldn’t ride on a broom anymore, but when offered more time on an assignment because a professor thought he might need it because he would be dictating his whole essay, he refused. he found it frustrating though, when his dormmates would prank him by moving his stuff around, making it extra hard for him to find, or when he didn’t feel included in a conversation because he simply couldn’t see what was going on. he often felt isolated and alone, though he leaned on his siblings in those moments.

one fateful night in the summer after chris’s fourth year, three death eaters descended on the walker’s family house, supposedly targeting them because they were ‘blood traitors’. there was a whirlwind of motions as the older children got ready to fight. chris got out his wand as well, but as he did so, he was instructed, with a stern voice from diane, to take molly and gavin and hide in the rec room. he started to protest, but he knew from the tone of his mother’s voice that it was not negotiable. to this day, he wasn’t sure if his mother’s decision was due to his blindness, or due to the fact he didn’t “know enough magic” yet, or if it was simply to keep the two youngest children hidden. he heard it all though. the screams, the crash of bodies against the wall, the treasured belongings of his house getting destroyed. and though he was blind, he saw the unmistakable green flash of green through the crack in the door, the curse that killed his father. the three youngest kids huddled together, and chris saw the horror in molly’s eyes as this all played out, and he clung onto gavin helplessly as if holding onto them might keep them safe. he had never really had to assume the role of ‘an older brother’ until that moment: sure he loved his younger siblings, but he had never truly felt protective of them until that moment. but beyond that feeling of just fierce protectiveness, he felt useless. helpless. the one thing he wanted to do was go out and help his family, but he stayed put, knowing that if the death eaters came in to the rec room, he would be the only one between them and his younger siblings. when the commotion ceased and he walked out of the rec room that day, he felt his father’s lifeless body and witnessed his mother get arrested by hit wizards for using an unforgivable curse. he hated himself for not being brave enough to join the fight, blamed his mother even more for telling him to stay in the room. nobody was the same after that day.

upon returning to school, chris found himself withdrawing even more. he fully threw himself in his studies, finding that he needed something else to focus on than the nightmare that recurred in his dreams every night. he rarely talked about the events of that night to others; he couldn’t disentangle the self-blame and hatred from the more rational part of him, that none of this was his fault. and furthermore, he felt like he did not deserve to talk about it. he hid in the room while others fought. he resented the older walker children that had all but disappeared. and school was the one way to escape all of that, because he was good at it. he made prefect, scored in the top of his classes in just about every subject, but when it came to the discussion of what he was to do after hogwarts, he was at a loss. he truly believed that his life had some greater purpose, and he knew he wouldn’t be satisfied being just a paper pusher at the ministry. but he also felt incredibly limited at what he could do because of his blindness; and though he wanted nothing more than to be an auror to fight dark magic, he was told that could never be a possibility. so, after graduation, he took up a job at flourish and blotts, figuring that it would be a good temporary situation at least until he figured out what his life calling is. he ended up quite enjoying it—surrounded by books all day, minimal customer interaction unless folks had questions, and life was… well, simple. he liked that. his days were spent between working, reading, and visiting his mother at st. mungos. there was still a part of him that searched for a deeper meaning and purpose in his life, but for now, he was content.

This lovely character is being played by kate! Kate has been roleplaying for a while!, and play lauren and michael on this site. Kate lives in the EST time zone, and you can reach them by the discord!

ROLEPLAY SAMPLE: :eyes: