InsaneJournal

[ C H A R A C T E R * S U R V E Y ]

[ B A S I C * S T A T S ] Name: Oliver Duncan Wood. Nicknames: A few select people get away with calling him "Ollie". To his eternal embarrassment his mother still calls him "Muffin". Birthdate/Age: December 18th 1976, near Inverness [making Oliver 28 years old in March 2005]. Bloodline: 'A nice cocktail' as Oliver likes to put it [Father – Pureblood; Mother – Muggleborn] Height: Weight: Hair: Brown. Eyes: Greenish. Skin: Tanned and freckled! Scars/Tattoos/Marks: Ever since the battle of Hogwarts Oliver walks with a slight limp (right leg). Fortunately, that limp does not keep him from flying. He does, however, require a cane which he refuses to use because he's too vain. Besides, Oliver figures that it looks much manlier if he walks around holding a broomstick instead of a cane. Additionally, Oliver has a magical tattoo of a dragon, which prefers to perch on his left hip but – as it's a magical tattoo – is known to wander around all over his body on occasion. For the love of Merlin, Oliver has no clue how he got it. All he remembers is that he made it onto the English National team, there was a great party and the next morning he woke up next to a young lady he'd never seen before, in a place he'd never been to, sporting a new tattoo that made absolutely no sense to him. [ S C H O O L I N G ] School/House/Years: Gryffindor Alumni [ 1988 – 1994] O.W.L.S: Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, DADA, Herbology, Transfiguration. N.E.W.T.S: Oliver barely managed to scrape a few N.E.W.T.s (with the help of Lupin and a lot of patient tutors) including Charms, DADA, Transfiguration, Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures. By now he has successfully managed to forget almost everything he learned. Clubs/Other Recognitions: Quidditch Captain. [ M A G I C ] Wand: 10 inches, Oak, robust / rigid, Dragon heartstring core. Symbolism Oak Tree: (the Brave) - robust nature, courageous, strong, unrelenting, independent, sensible, does not like change, keeps its feet on the ground, person of action. [Source: Celtic Tree Symbolism] Wand-hand: Right. Patronus: A badger, representing aggressiveness, passion and drive. [Source: Animal Symbolism] Boggart/Worst Fear: His nephew Angus dead. Oliver never really got over the loss of his sister and his brother-in-law and has made it his life's most important mission to keep Angus safe. He has even reached a point where he doesn't care what happens to himself – but he gets violent if Angus could possibly be hurt. Magic Strengths: Flying. Charms. Magic Weaknesses: Almost everything else but especially Potions. Special Magical Abilities: He can fly and he can cook. That's it. [ L I F E ] Job: Keeper for Puddlemere United – Keeper for the English National team. Residence: Oliver resides in a moderately large store-house turned flat in Oaklane, near Limehouse basin [London Borough of Tower Hamlets] It might not be the most elegant residence, but it's really cheap. Social Status: Single. Children Nephew: Oliver has no children. However, he brings up his nine-year-old nephew Angus since his sister's death in 1998. Pets: Bludger, Oliver's owl who has a slight identity problem (hence its name). Family Background: * [Father] Andrew Wood: Pureblood. Hufflepuff Alumni. Former Quidditch player (Chaser for the Montrose Magpies); an injury put an end to his career which led to a self-imposed exile in the Scottish Highlands. Gruff exterior with a heart of gold. Has an opinion about everything and never hesitates to make that opinion known. Loudly. * [Mother] Fiona Wood-McCaine: Muggle-Born. Hufflepuff Alumni. Happy housewife with a fondness for gossip and trashy romance novels (actually, she's been publishing a few of those romance novels to Oliver's mortification); enjoys being a mother and grandmother but lately both her and Andrew are beginning to feel their age. Loud, cheerful, overprotective. Recently suffered from a nervous breakdown and is therefore – at least for the near future – unable to take care of her grandson Angus anymore. * [Sister ] Moira Jones-Wood: Half-Blood. Squib. Oliver's beloved older sister (by four years) who lived most of her life in the Muggle world though she knew about the existence of wizards. Met and married Matthew Jones shortly after school. Has a son called Angus. Murdered by Death Eaters during the Second War. * [Brother-In-Law ] Matthew Jones: Muggle. Worked for a software company near Nottingham. Married Moira. Father to Angus. Murdered by Death Eaters during the Second War. * [ Nephew ] Angus Jones: Half-Blood. As of yet it is unknown whether he's a wizard or not. Son to Moira and Matthew. Five years old. Lost his parents to the Death Eaters which left him traumatized. Has recently come to live with Oliver in Hogsmeade – an arrangement neither one of them knows how to handle. Oliver's grandparents on both sides are deceased and he has no contact to Matthew Jones family. [ P E R S O N A L S ] Sexual Orientation: Straight. Likes: Quidditch. His nephew. Quidditch. Quidditch. Quidditch. Cooking. And Quidditch. Dislikes: Sitting still for a longer period of time. Any lack of Quidditch. Quirks: Starts babbling when nervous. Is incapable of sitting still. Bites his bottom lip when deep in thought. Personality: Superficially Oliver Wood is the well-known Quidditch fanatic who lives, thinks and breathes Quidditch. He truly loves that sport and can hardly think of anything more fulfilling (and often forgets that other people might think differently). Quidditch is the one thing he's truly good at and gives him a feeling of stability and security in a reality that's sometimes quite confusing and troubling. Oliver uses Quidditch as a form of escapism or as a 'security line' whenever he feels insecure (which happens regularly as soon as he meets a person he perceives as more intelligent than himself). This behaviour makes him seem far more obsessed with the sport than he really is and earned him the reputation of a Quidditch fanatic in the first place. On the other hand Oliver is a very private person when it comes to things of a more personal matter. Hardly anyone knows that there's a side of him that loves cooking and collecting receipts, or enjoying a good book in front of the fireplace or that he's very insecure about his abilities as anything else than a Quidditch player. While not stupid, Oliver has always been easily confused by 'dry' academics, instead relying on his 'physical IQ'. It is that field where he really excels. He easily memorizes movements and a lifetime of playing Quidditch has ensured that – like every other athlete – he has a keen sense of his body which is vital as his reckless nature (which sometimes crosses the line to stupidity) causes him to get into tight spots more often than not. He values fair play highly and – much to the chagrin of his former Gryffindor Quidditch team – is an early riser. His friends know Oliver as a solid, dependable bloke, a bit too focused on Quidditch at times but mostly he's a surprisingly warm and affectionate person. Having grown up in a house that was in a constant danger of falling apart, Oliver has learned a variety of useful little spells to repair things. Currently this little hobby manifests itself in his secret dream of developing the best racing broom ever. So far all his experiments have resulted in explosions that forced him to return to the drawing board to start from scratch one. However, Oliver is nothing if not persistent. Even after graduating and playing Quidditch professionally for some years Oliver is still characterized by his boundless energy and enthusiasm. For everything he does. He either loves something or he hates it. Oliver is the most caring and compassionate of friends or the most passionate and fierce adversary. He's also fiercely protective of the people he cares about, i.e. his family but also his former Gryffindor Quidditch team or the Weasley family which he perceives as part of his own extended family. [ P A S T ] Member of the Order: No. History: Pre-Hogwarts: Oliver was born near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands to Andrew and Fiona Wood. His father used to be a great Quidditch player for one successful season (where he met and married Muggle-born Fiona McCaine) until a stray Bludger shattered his shoulder beyond repair and abruptly ended his career as a Chaser. Driven into depression by the ending of what he deemed his life, Andrew retreated into the Highlands with his family in order to keep away from all things Quidditch-related and live a peaceful life. Her husband's bitterness with his fate almost drove Fiona away and for a time the newly-weds went through a rather rocky phase. This, however, was overcome with the birth of Moira, who was followed four years later by Oliver. During his childhood Oliver had little contact with other children (with the exception of his sister who spent most of her time at a Muggle school or with her Muggle friends in Inverness), preferring the wilderness of the Highlands instead. He'd spend days roaming through the country accompanied only by the Wood's family dog, Bruce (who unfortunately died in the meantime), climbing anything that could be climbed so he'd get closer to the sky and touch the clouds. Due to his own painful experiences, Quidditch was never mentioned by Andrew until at the age of ten Oliver's magical ability manifested as he – once again – tried to get his father's broom to take off. This time, however, Oliver was successful and took a short (though very enthusiastic) ride that made him crash right into the barn next to the house. Fortunately Oliver's magic manifested in the exact moment of the crash and the child bounced right back into the grass where he promptly declared that this was what he wanted to do with his life: he wanted to fly. Hogwarts experience: The first year of Hogwarts combined the greatest of bliss (Oliver learned more about Quidditch and – even though he wasn't allowed to participate – attended every training session as an annoying mascot of sorts) as well as the greatest torment (he wasn't allowed to have his own broom or participate in Quidditch). It was also the start of Oliver's great rivalry with Marcus Flint whom he detested at first sight. Oliver learned that he very good at remembering movements (which came in handy with all the swishing and flicking in Charms) and very clumsy at more theoretical subjects, such as Potions, which led to severe suffering and many detentions. Finally, in his second year, Oliver's dream came true and he joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a Keeper. This led to a rapid drop of his grades and after a long, stern – and quite frankly terrifying – talk with Professor McGonagall Oliver included a new routine into his life: regular mid-night learning sessions so he wouldn't be suspended from the team. Quite coincidentally, that turned Oliver into a reasonably good student but the insecurity from his first year remained: Oliver thought of himself as stupid anywhere but on the Quidditch pitch. This insecurity haunts him to the present day. Oliver became Quidditch captain in his fourth year and spent most of his free time on the pitch which led to the curious fact that he never even noticed girls until one day one of them asked him to accompany her to Hogsmeade on Valentine's day. It's needless to say that he annoyed her to no end and the whole date ended in a fiasco but the damage was done – Oliver was now aware that girls attended Hogwarts and that made him nervous. So he did the thing he deemed the safest – he focused on Quidditch and tried to ignore the problem. However, this became increasingly difficult during his fifth and sixth year which led to a few superficial flings that were usually broken up by the girls because they couldn't stand his prattling about Quidditch any longer (which he used to mask his insecurity). In the holidays before his last year the Woods were visited by an old friend of the family who coincidentally turned out to be a professional Quidditch trainer who immediately recognized Oliver's talent. However, instead of encouraging the young man, the trainer pushed Oliver through an afternoon of intense professional training to see how Oliver would hold up. Our favourite manic Quidditch captain barely held his own but the sheer stubbornness impressed the trainer and – still not hinting at his true intentions – he told Oliver about dozens of things he needed to improve if he ever wanted to survive at Quidditch. Oliver, quite naturally, took this as a challenge and spent his 7th year either studying for his N.E.W.T.s (in the nights) or following a rigorous training schedule set up by the Quidditch trainer. After his great triumph of finally getting the Quidditch cup and surviving the N.E.W.T.s the Woods were once again visited by the Quidditch trainer who told Oliver that he had a tryout with Puddlemere United. The rest is history as they say. After Hogwarts: Oliver played as a reserve Keeper for Puddlemere United for about one year before becoming their regular Keeper in 1995. Due to the fact that Oliver sacrificed his personal life for his career, he rose pretty quickly in fame and popularity and for about two years he lived the dream he'd had ever since he was a young boy. With his tendency to ignore problems until they cannot be ignored any longer, Oliver successfully failed to notice the growing threat of Voldemort and focused instead on his career. During that time he had some meaningless flings that never grew into anything because no woman ever came close to meaning as much to him as Quidditch. He was, for a time, extremely happy to play Quidditch every day and do his best to teach Angus all kinds of nonsense. Role in the War: The death of Dumbledore in June 1997 shocked Oliver out of his little Quidditch-filled world and finally forced him to realize that not everything was well and that he couldn't just ignore problems in hopes of making them disappear that way. Still unsure of how to react, Oliver carefully spoke to Thaddeus Ubbly, Muggle-Born Chaser for Puddlemere United and Oliver's mentor and paternal friend, who shared the Keeper's misgivings about the situation. Thaddeus, having played professional Quidditch longer and thus having established more links with other Quidditch players all over Europe, discreetly contacted his friends. At the same time Oliver made sure that his parents, both too old to get too involved in the war and longing for some semblance of security, were protected by any wards known to him. He tried to provide the same kind of safety for his sister and her family but they refused, leaving Oliver not a little frustrated. However, his attention was still divided between knowing that 'something needs to be done' and the fact that he spent most of his time practicing Quidditch. It was only when the Ministry of Magic fell later in 1997 that Oliver had no other chance but to realize that things really were hopeless. He suddenly realized that his own family was in danger and experienced a healthy dose of prejudice against himself due to the fact that he was a Half-Blood (not to mention that his own mother fell under the Muggleborn Registration Act). Driven by his sense of justice and the sudden need to get his Muggleborn mother into safety, the project of smuggling Muggleborns out of the country Thaddeus and Oliver had whispered about sporadically was suddenly pushed. Within a matter of days things were settled, contacts were made and the two men started lending Muggleborns who were in need of leaving the country a helping hand – an endeavour that was both very satisfying but also highly dangerous. That experience left him with a few insignificant scars (it turned out that learning to evade Bludgers had been a good training to evade curses, too) and a tiny little bit more maturity. His life had barely come to a routine of sorts when in March 1998 the news that his sister and her husband have been killed reached him in the middle of a mission. Oliver was, of course, very shocked and in consequence it was a matter of pure dumb luck that he survived without any substantial amount of damage. Angus Jones, Moira's two year old boy was sent to Oliver's father who took care of the orphan during the war, thus never having too much of an opportunity to grieve for the loss of his only daughter and the exile of his wife. During the Battle of Hogwarts Oliver joined Dumbledore's Army along with the other members of his old Quidditch team after learning from a friend of a friend of a friend (to the present day he's not sure who told him; it might have been a member of the Order though Oliver didn't know that the person was a member.) that the final fight was going to take place at Hogwarts and spent a good time of the first part of the battle fighting alongside Neville Longbottom (and perhaps some characters already in the game if their players are willing/interested?). It was a combination of luck and years of practice that enabled Oliver to react quickly that saved him from being killed several times while all around him people (friends and acquaintances) died. He had a few intense duels with Death Eaters he couldn't name due to their masks and by the end of the battle Oliver helped recovering the bodies of the fallen with Neville (i.e. Colin Creevey). Ironically enough, he escaped the battle without any significant damage but afterwards, while retrieving the bodies a moment of fatigue and lack of concentration almost became his undoing as a stone pillar crashed right next to him, burying Oliver's right leg beneath. Only with the help of (a character already in the game, perhaps?) he was able to drag his severely injured leg out. In the face of so many others who had sustained so much more serious injuries, Oliver was patched up with some rapid first aid, resulting in the fact that he has a slight limp from that day on. However, this does not keep him from flying, so he doesn't mind. Shortly after the final battle Fiona Wood returned to Scotland and suffered a nervous breakdown in the aftermath of her exile (which she spent with some loose relatives in Germany) as she was unable to deal with the grief of losing Moira. Her Healers quickly established that she needed some time for herself and though Oliver had only recently begun to reclaim something of a normal life after the war, he suddenly found himself having to take care of his little nephew. Currently, Oliver divides his time between his job and Angus. Having succeeded to kick-start his Quidditch career following the end of the war, Oliver once again proceeded to live his dream though the time for meaningless one-night stands and affairs has passed for him. He is now content to play for Puddlemere United, do his utmost best as a Keeper for the English National team (a spot he has claimed since the year 2000) and bringing up nine-year old Angus who shows an appalling lack of interest in Quidditch and would rather become a football player. As it is yet unknown whether Angus will turn out to be a wizard or not, Oliver has decided to bring him up the Muggle way, enrolling him in a Muggle school in order to keep all options open to the boy. During the times that Oliver is forced to leave home for practice and is incapable of taking Angus with him, he relies on the help of his landlady – a maternal old woman who has become something of a surrogate mother to both Angus and Oliver. Also, despite his denial, Oliver's experiences during the war have managed to create a shift in his world view. A combination of reflexes and dumb luck saved him from sustaining too much physical damage but being confronted with so much violence and its consequences hurt Oliver on a deeper, psychological level. So even after the defeat of Voldemort he cannot help but think of the murdered and terrified Muggles and Muggleborns he has seen or the mindless and needless violence. His dreams are filled with the dead and the dying and sleeping through a night without waking up from a nightmare has become impossible for Oliver.

[ O O C ]

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