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Your Nickname: Marta
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Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Casper Jozef Otten
Character Birthday & Age: September 3, 1974 - 35 years old
City & Country of Birth: Nottingham, England
Blood Purity: Muggleborn
Alma Mater: Hogwarts
Job/Position: Keeper of Keys and Grounds

Wand: 9", Aspen, Unicorn Tail Hair

Physical Description: An odd looking man at best, Casper has never been one to conform to the styles of the times. He's a bit wild looking, with a thick, bushy dark mustache and an equally thick and dark beard that extends from the mustache. Casper's hair is long and is often tied back in a tight ponytail or else hidden beneath an often peculiar hat. He has dark eyes that seem to always be searching and a bit sad if you are willing to really meet his gaze.

Despite Casper's non-traditional appearance, he is careful to never be unkempt. His hair - though wild and long - is always kept neatly combed and freshly washed. His mustache and beard that add years to his appearance are always kept neatly trimmed and never unruly and though his choice of clothing is typically unlike that of men his age, he is always careful to appear put together.

Casper tends to walk hunched over with his head down and certainly does not exude confidence, instead making him appear unapproachable and distant. He is a quiet man, so when he speaks with a deep and booming voice it is almost frightening as it is not expected of him. He has a habit of tucking his hair behind his ears repeatedly and even when it is unnecessary which often makes him appear nervous.

There are hints of a handsome man beneath his sometimes bizarre appearance and he's been told more than once that it may do him well to get rid of the excessive facial hair and make more conventional clothing choices - advice he waves off with a bright smile that reveals a hint of the handsome man within.

Personality Description: Casper is a bit of an enigma. He is a pile of contradictions and has always struggled to fit in. He is one of the hardest working men you'll ever meet, but at the same time has encountered great difficulty in keeping a job up until his current position at Hogwarts. There are times when he is bright and captivating and many other times when he is dark and brooding. He works best alone, but has the potential to self destruct if not kept busy and is often unpredictable.

Casper is always polite and attentive to anyone he comes across and has no desire for confrontation, but to those who know him well they know him as an opinionated man who can come off as self-righteous. He's a good friend in that he'll do anything for you but he isn't the type who you want to surround yourself with constantly. Casper can't say he's had a best friend and he's content with that. He enjoys his own company and a good amount of peace and quiet to leave him with his thoughts.

Despite how he may come off and the intelligence that he clearly possesses, Casper is extremely self conscious. He questions everything he does and is a perfectionist. He never thinks he's done well enough and thinks very little of himself. He sees where he has come in life and realizes it is not where he wants to be. He has dreams of being a professor at Hogwarts but doubts his ability to do so. Casper is extremely pessimistic when it comes to his future and pictures a lonely life ahead of him, much as it has been in his past. Alone with his thoughts he often feels dark and questions everything until he drives himself to depression.

What Casper is unwilling to recognize is that he is truly a good person with the ability to accomplish a great deal so long as he puts himself on the right track. He excelled in school and proved to be a bright young man with what all his professors assumed would be a bright future. He is an excellent writer and has often attempted to write novels but never can bring himself to finish them. Casper is an honest man with good values but struggles with himself so much that he can't seem to put all this good inside of him to use.

History: Casper was an odd child born into a far too normal family. His parents, Douglas and Anne, were both muggle accountants living in a comfortable flat in Nottingham, England. Casper was their only child for three years, watched during the day by his loving but eccentric grandmother who would always wink at him and whisper strange things as if they shared some sort of secret. He became an older brother at age three, when his parents had a baby girl named Daphne. It was around this time that Casper started displaying not-so-normal tendencies.

Casper's parents were very boring people who were content with their picturesque family and showed a mild love for one another. Their mother had family portraits taken, their father attempted to play catch or kick the football with Casper most evenings, and dinner was always cooked by Anne and eaten at precisely 6:45 each night at a round table with the four family members seated as follows: Douglas, then Casper, then Anne, then Daphne. Anne made sure the kids ate their vegetables and on Friday nights they had dessert, which was usually a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a few rainbow sprinkles on top.

One Friday night Anne placed the typical scoop of vanilla ice cream in front of Casper and he reached out and touched it with one finger. Immediately the entire scoop became a perfect white puddle with the tiny sprinkles floating about. Anne gasped, Douglas wrinkled his brow, and Daphne giggled. Casper, fascinated, tentatively stuck out his finger and touched the puddle. Immediately the puddle jumped back into the form of a solid scoop of ice cream with the sprinkles just where they had been. Anne screamed, Douglas took a step back, and Daphne shrieked with laughter and clapped in amusement. Casper picked up his spoon and ate the ice cream.

Anne and Douglas were very concerned by Casper's strange habits but were far too embarrassed to tell anyone else about them. They took to keeping him home from birthday parties and avoided bringing him out in public too much for fear of what he might do. There were a few incidents in grade school but kids were such common story tellers that most of the claims they brought against Casper went unnoticed. At age eleven, the owl came and at first the Ottens thought it was a great big joke and threw it away. That evening another owl arrived and this time brought the letter right to Casper. He read it and immediately made up his mind that he would be attending this magical place - floored by the thought that he was the most special member of the family. His parents were skeptical and terribly frightened, but when a school official showed up to their home to discuss it with them and displayed some magic that they were unable to argue against, they sent him off willingly, glad to be rid of their freak of a child.

Casper was not afraid and thrived at Hogwarts. Though he received some strife over his status as a muggleborn, for the most part people were friendly. He was sorted into Ravenclaw and the people there seemed to appreciate his intelligence and clear knack for magic despite being born to two muggles. He made friends, though not many close ones, and socialized when it was necessary. Casper was a bright student and excelled in most subjects, particularly Potions, though his favorite class was History of Magic. For seven years he familiarized himself with and fell madly in love with the wizarding world, not caring about the drama that went on between the students, the fact that very few girls showed any interest in him, or the fact that he was no good at Quidditch. All he cared about was that he was a member of this exclusive world and that alone made him happier than anything in the world ever had.

His parents, on the other hand, excluded him from their world. He came home for the holidays the first two years to awkward homecomings and a family who kept their distance. After the summer break of his second year, Douglas sat him down and told him it would be best if he didn't come home again as he was making Daphne uncomfortable. Casper couldn't understand why his parents wouldn't want him, in his eyes this magical side of him made him better than before, but in their eyes he was a freak and a threat to their happy, normal lives. Casper struggled because of this, feeling as though something more must be wrong with him, and though he never returned home again he often wrote his parents, who wrote him back once every couple of months asserting that they loved him but it was best for both Casper and the family that he live a separate life. Casper cherished these letters until he was eighteen and they stopped coming altogether. He was jealous of the children around him whose families were just like they were or who were like his own but supported them nonetheless. He felt abandoned and hurt and exceptionally alone.

The chaos coming to life in the wizarding world did not frighten Casper. He knew the story of The Boy Who Lived but did not fully understand the dangers that came with that. Harry Potter entered the school when Casper was preparing to leave it and as all the turmoil came about he managed to stay out of the way.

Still, Casper had the wizarding world to love and be loved by and he immediately entered the Ministry of Magic upon graduation for work. Things didn't quite work out there, nor did they work out in his next few jobs. When the situation with Voldemort became very bad, especially for muggleborns, Casper fled to the muggle world he'd abandoned long ago and kept a low profile, only knowing what he read about, too much a coward to stand up for the cause that was standing up for his kind. When Harry Potter defeated Voldemort and therefore made the world safe for Casper again, he returned to the world. Now 23 years old, he found work at his one true home - Hogwarts. For the past twelve years he has been living on the grounds and working as the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, a job that while not extremely glamorous is one he loves and has been able to excel at.

There was, however, a slight bump in the road during the past twelve years, a situation that caused Casper to take a leave from the job and return to Nottingham. In 2008, Casper received an unanticipated letter from his estranged sister Daphne. Sitting at his tiny kitchen table, seemingly worlds apart from the baby sister he'd left behind decades before, Casper read over her plea for help and despite the time and space that had distanced them, he went to the Headmaster, said he'd be taking an indefinite leave, and returned to Daphne. The problem, it seemed, was that her now eleven year old son had just received the same letter Casper himself had received so long ago. Upon this happening, Daphne had revealed the truth about Casper to her husband and he had proceeded to leave her, claiming he needed space to digest it and leaving Daphne alone with their newfound wizard son. Casper couldn't have been happier. Though he was angry at his sister's husband, he was proud of his sister for being so accepting of her son in a way that their parents' had not been of him and felt joy at finally having a connection to his family. He became something of a guide to his nephew who he had not previously known existed and took him to Diagon Alley to purchase supplies and taught him as much as he could over the summer about the world he was about to enter. Daphne, too, had much to learn and Casper took it upon himself to try and familiarize her with what would come of her wizard son. By the time the new term started, Casper's position had been filled for the year and he was forced to take the rest of the year off until the next term. Daphne was welcoming and thankful for all Casper had done and allowed him to live with her for the rest of the year. Though the relationship would never be as close as it should have been, Casper was satisfied and, dare he say it, happy with the events that had conspired. He left the end of that year with the promise to watch over his nephew for the next six years.

Having returned to Hogwarts and resumed his original position, Casper feels that he hasn't missed a beat. The few friends he's made among the staff remain and he continues to do well with the students, but lacks a real life of his own. He had so much potential that seems to be fading with each passing day. Casper dreams of becoming a professor at the school some day, but until then he is content to wander the halls and protect the school that protected him for so long.

Describe your job duties and how you go about them: Casper's main purpose as Keeper of Keys and Grounds is to watch over the school and help ensure its security. He has a great many duties and can often be found wandering around the castle and grounds making sure that everything is as it should be. He tends to the gardens everyday and finds great peace in doing so - it is one of his favorite parts of the job. Casper also tends to the Forbidden Forest and ensures that no students are found lurking too close, as well as making sure the magical beasts within keep their distance. He works closely with the professors to help get anything they may need for lessons into the castle and is always willing to complete a duty for the headmaster or any professors. At the start of each term Casper is the one who escorts the first years by boat to the castle and despite his awkwardness among many, he is very good with the students, often lightening the mood with jokes and tall tales of what lies in wait for them. During winter time Casper must defrost the brooms and make sure the castle's heating is working properly and it is his duty to get the Christmas trees into the castle during Christmas time. Typically though, his days are filled with odd jobs and simply being observant in ensuring nothing out of the ordinary is taking place.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Casper worked for the Ministry once he graduated Hogwarts, but quickly discovered the office life was not for him. He was constantly trying to tell his superiors how to do their job and spent more time writing letters filled with suggestions and critiques to the Head of the Department as opposed to actually doing the work assigned to him. For this he was fired a few months into the job and soon found himself unemployed. From there Casper worked in a few different shops, always let go when the shopkeepers found they were sick of Casper trying to act like the boss. The truth was that Casper simply wanted more responsibility.

Being Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts has been a complete success. Casper possesses the responsibility and honesty needed for such an important position and he absolutely loves the fact that he feels so in control of the castle. Casper is tedious and a perfectionist which makes for an organized and efficient work routine and he does an excellent job of making things run smoothly. He is always willing to be of help to the professors and Headmaster and is stern but caring with the students, particularly those outcasts that remind him of himself and despite the way he comes off as odd among adults, he is a big hit among the younger children.

Writing Sample: "Oi! Stop, stop right now!" Casper called, hurrying toward the Forbidden Forrest and the small, cloaked figure that was wandering near the edge of it. His boots sunk into the mud that had formed after a recent rain, and the humidity caused beads of sweat to form on his forehead and in his mustache. Casper had never been supremely athletic but he wasn't completely out of shape and soon broke into a full sprint as he saw the figure turn and start to head into the other direction. Squelching sounds announced his upcoming arrival as he hurried toward the fleeing figure and at the pace he was going he was sure he was going to catch whoever it was. The being seemed to realize this as well and stopped abruptly, turned and put their hands up.

Casper slowed, breathing heavily as he walked up to what he now realized was a young boy, likely a first or second year with wide eyes that were quickly filling with tears. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry," stuttered the boy before he dropped his eyes to the ground and let the tears fall. Casper sighed, still breathing heavily, and rested his hands on his thighs, bent over as he tried to catch his breath and assess how to best approach the situation. It was his experience that whenever a younger student was found wandering alone near the Forbidden Forest in the evening it was typically because he'd been put up to it by older kids preying on the impressionable youth. If he had a galleon for every time he'd caught a kid about to shit their pants for the sake of impressing the older crowd, well, he wouldn't need this job.

The boy's shoulders were shaking now as he tried to quiet his crying and Casper reached over and put his large, calloused hand over the kid's shoulder and gripped it. At this the boy looked up and Casper smiled softly. "Calm down, calm down," came his deep voice and the boy nodded, still sniffling. "Have you any idea what lies beyond these trees?" he asked, guesting with his free hand toward the expansive forest. The boy shook his head vigorously and Casper took a deep breath, angered by the fact that the students could be so ignorant. "You don't want to know, I can guarantee you that." He said, turning back toward the castle and with his hand still on the boy's shoulder, guiding him in the same direction. "I'm going to assume you didn't wander out here for a picnic and I'm going to strongly suggest you don't do what those older boys tell you to do," he said with a knowing wink that left the kid wide eyed and baffled as to how Casper knew. "If you want to live to be there age, that is," he said with a grin and the boy gulped and nodded.

As they walked back toward the castle, Casper's eyes rose to the sun that was retreating slowly behind its great stone walls, shaking his head. The sun's departure was a sure sign of the arrival of the dangerous creatures of the night that lurked within the forest, creatures that the young boy had no business encountering. If he wanted to be reprimanding he could easily report the kid to his Head of House and have him punished, but he felt the boy had been punished enough and wasn't going to bother with anything extreme. As they approached the castle steps, Casper released his grip. "Don't let me see you there again or else I'll have to show you firsthand why that forest is forbidden," he said, with a slight edge to his voice to make sure the boy knew that even though Casper had been lenient, this was no joke.

The boy nodded and ran off, probably to the endless teasing of his "friends." Casper stuck his hands into his pockets and began strolling back toward his cottage. The night was young and he was sure there was plenty of mischief left for the students to get into but he would leave it to the others to tend to for now - he had dinner waiting and the day had been a long and exhausting one. Making his way back through the mud, he wondered what he would do with the rest of his night and felt a familiar sadness wash over him at the thought that he didn't have many options. To be Casper Otten was to be a lonely man indeed.

Sum up your character in one paragraph: Casper is a man still looking for his place in the world, though time is passing him by. At thirty five years old he has little to be proud of. A muggleborn, his family disowned him early on and he fell deeply in love with the wizarding world and all it offered him. Though somewhat of a loner, he isn't incapable of communicating and has made a few friends during his time working as the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, a job he has possessed for the past twelve years. It is a job he loves dearly, but he wants more out of life and still hopes to someday be a professor at Hogwarts. Until then, he lives at Hogwarts, performing his duties and hoping things will become clear to him.