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Character History 2013 - 2017:

Mordecai remained the Head of the Improper Use of Magic, desiring no upwards climb or career change. He has found his niche and excels well at it,  and these days though he's still relatively young as a wizard he found the pace suited to his lifestyle and prefers this way of contributing to his government's politics.

As a result he has become something of a pillar of security for many, a constant in a changing landscape. This is not to say that he remained firmly with old mindsets; with the help of his deputy Sameera Taylor he kept up to date with law as she often referred back to Canada and discussed law with him.

Edwin Glass no longer being Minister gave him space to breathe. He never liked the man, always being incredibly suspicious of him solely due to gut instinct, and was relieved that his instinct was right and he was no longer having to uphold a Minister he didn't believe in. Solomon Carstairs' appointment added to the relief: while Carstairs and he did not necessarily see eye to eye all the time, Mordecai respected Carstairs far more and found his justifications well-founded. They maintained a professional working relationship that didn't change much even with the elevation of Carstairs' position, Mordecai remaining candid if the occasion was appropriate.

Despite the unexpected appointment as a School Governor Mordecai accepted the role nonetheless (much to Lydia's protests as she felt he had too much on his plate already). He enjoyed the challenge of something new and brought his impartiality to the table, encouraging listening to both sides before coming to a solution and displaying an incredible amount of patience akin to that of a teacher (if he was aware of it, he never said). While he was usually seen as representing the DMLE at the table he never acted as spokesman, knowing that what he believed was justice wasn't necessarily what the DMLE as a whole would do and kept that out of school matters unless the situation called for advice.

Over the five years Mordecai came to be familiar with the Futurist movement as its members tended to be involved directly with his office's jurisdiction, the Statute of Secrecy. The Futurists did believe they had an ally in him for many reasons: Mordecai being halfblood, living on a Muggle street in Muggle London, married to a Muggleborn wife and general interest and kindness towards Muggles. What they did not anticipate was Mordecai's war background, compounding with his general level of paranoia and distrust, which cost them an ally when extremists caused collateral damage to Muggles and wixes alike trying to break down the barriers between the two worlds. While Mordecai does not mind Muggle lifestyles, he tends to see his work as protecting the wizarding world not just from outside threats but also from itself and preventing it from going after the Muggle world, and the Futurists did not provide an adequate reason that could convince him that the Statute needed changing.

The more Futurists tried to convince him that their extremism was right, the more Mordecai opposed the movement. He agreed with adopting Muggle values and knowledge to repurpose and appropriate to improve quality of life, but that was where it stopped and Mordecai was not necessarily in agreement with all of those values either. He did not trust people on principle to carry things out in moderation and neither wix nor Muggle were exempt from this distrust.

This came to a head in early 2017 when the Office caught wind of a possible Futurist extremist attempt on an animal sanctuary in Souldern, Oxfordshire, and went to intervene. The Futurists succeeded in letting a glimpse of escaped magical creatures reach Muggle eyes, and Mordecai was badly injured by the preceding destruction of the barrier. With the help of dragonologist Lyra Avery he was admitted to St Mungo’s and recovered mostly save for his right leg, which unfortunately took the brunt and was unable to be fully healed. As of January 2018 he uses a walking cane due to the irreversible limp in his gait.

The Souldern Dragon Sanctuary incident has mostly affirmed Mordecai’s concerns about the short- and long-term impacts of Futurism. While he is still open to the idea should it be able to convince him that Muggles and wixes can coexist, he requires more than just promises and words to win him over and that might be a hard sell.

While Mordecai felt justified in his reasoning plenty of others did not. The Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office was bound to attract criticism and he has faced criticism through the years: being traditionalist in the 21st century, conservative about his views on current wizarding law despite his move to keep law updated and taking into account new situations on a case by case basism, and being outdated and naive on his beliefs in the Statute of Secrecy.

A small vocal group criticises him for supporting the Ministry in its policies in between those years. Mordecai to his credit has taken this in his stride and he spends a not insignificant amount of time reviewing old laws and discussing them with his Deputy on updating them.


Summary:
Despite his heavy workload and growing amount of responsibility, Mordecai continues to work diligently with law, attempting to make his part of the Ministry contribute to a better world amidst criticism and change. Whether his perseverance is out of tenacity or folly remains to be seen.

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Mordecai learned about Legilimency and Occlumency in Hogwarts, but only the basic theory of it. He did not think of the subject again until his experiences during the First Wizarding War. He began studying it in his own time, but solely avoided Legilimency because he had no interest and use for it.

Mordecai was very intent on actually mastering Occlumency, but he had duties (his work, his family), which explained the long time he took to studying. However, he caught onto the concepts and theory easily, he was just very picky over perfecting it to the level he wanted it to be.

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Mordecai took up the study as a result of his experiences from both Wizarding Wars and being married to a Muggleborn witch. His primary intention was to learn it so that he could protect his loved ones and his work during the war. Today, he also uses it to cover up for the cases he has to review to ensure confidentiality; he is paranoid that someone may try to use Legilimency to pry into his work and gain insight into his opinions on cases and reports, or to find out what he did during the Second Wizarding War and his opinions on the Muggle-Born Registration Commission.

He has many things he hasn’t quite forgotten, and would not enjoy having them exposed to others against his choice.

Occlumency was not the main reason that made him to be so calm and expressionless by default, but it helped contribute to it. Since the Second Wizarding War, he has loosened up a little – enough to show expressions for his family and friends, but he is still very guarded against everyone else.

He is currently considering teaching his son Occlumency, as he knows Arcturus is in the same boat as he is, but as of now he doesn’t feel that Arcturus qualifies just yet.

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When Mordecai is using his ability, he becomes incredibly stoic and calm. He does not show expression at all and blinks slowly as well as tensing a little. He tries not to move as much as possible as he’s concentrating on faking his thoughts in order to back up his lies, if he is forced to. Once he has his façade set up, he relaxes and can maintain it while he works, moves and communicates. He is practised at this and can set it up within a minute or so, though he is already partially prepared in his waking hours as he has the basic foundations of the barrier almost constantly up.

After a very intense session, he gets slightly dazed and needs to cool off – which he does so by either taking a walk, opening his window or drinking something cold. To soften the aftereffects and provide cover, he does these actions while using Occlumency.

The strength of his Occlumency depends on how stressed he is – but it doesn’t weaken often because he is so used to his job these days that he takes near everything in his stride without making a fuss about it. He also keeps his wits about him by practising his duelling once in a while, which helps him to keep his mind stable under pressure and therefore be useful in Occlumency.

Those who try to pry into his mind will find faked data and alibis. Any deeper and they will meet an invisible barrier that prevents them from going further, but presents itself as an area where only junk and fragmented memories exist.

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Ever since his employment within the Ministry Mordecai has been part of the justice system in minor and not-so-minor roles. His 13 years of Wizengamot Administration Services, 10 of those years as senior personnel, have bestowed him with an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of wizarding law, experience with the inner workings of the Wizengamot and, ultimately, impartiality and a poker face to boot.

He also has had 12 years in the Improper Use of Magic Office, where during his tenure as Head he has seen many cases that require his recommendations of verdicts to the Wizengamot for various cases based on severity of the offence and law breach. He has a reputation for his strict adherence to the law within reason, but he is not above listening to both sides of the story , and he is certainly not a great devotee of jumping to conclusions.

Additionally, as an Occlumens and a survivor of both Wizarding Wars, Mordecai understands and practises the utmost confidentiality he can provide. While he won’t admit it, the paranoia left behind by the Wars allows him to read body language that only the keenest observers would notice him doing.

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Personal opinion should always be kept away from professionalism. Both sides of the story must be heard to make a complete, fair case. Jumping to conclusions will only leap to disaster, and so will making hasty judgements based on assumptions; but a level head must also know when to bend in a gale. Both the defendant and the plaintiff are equal in court as they are in law, and both must be treated as humans, not mere objects.  Above all, impartiality.