Your Nickname: Natasha
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
Are you over thirteen? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Friend
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Jason Marren
Felix Dagon
George Carter
Lyov Molchenoff
Casper Bagman
Frank Pratt

Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Thomas Severin Vaillancourt
Character Birthday & Age: 3 August 1979 / 30 years old
City & Country of Birth: Paris, France
Blood Purity: Pureblood
Alma Mater: Beauxbatons
Job/Position: Wandmaker

Wand: Hornbeam (light wood color), nine inches long, smooth with a slightly bent shaft and pliable; the core is Hair from the Mane of a Kelpie. Thomas received his wand prior to going to Beauxbatons, at his great uncle’s shop, after testing a handful of other possibilities.

Physical Description:
Dark red hair and a pale tone that burns when left too long in the sun; it can be seen as a curse to some. His nose ends sharply and on many occasions Thomas can be found making a ridiculous smirk or grin (or any number of goofy expressions, depending on the company kept). The longer away from his family, the more he seems to relax.

At five feet, nine inches, he isn’t winning any giant awards. Compared to his brothers, his looks are normal at best. He prefers to not stick out; he can observe from afar, his brown eyes taking it all in. Add to that a thin frame with little muscle, and he can people watch with little bother. Perhaps his sister and him were more alike than he ever realized...

Hair has a way of sprouting more and more on him as he gets older. It takes more to keep his face clean shaven; perhaps it’s one reason he doesn’t try as hard. Having his hair on his shirt collar, however, irks him, and so he prefers to keep it short in the back and full on top.


Personality Description:
Thomas gets easily wrapped up in a moment. He can become too focused on it, too involved, and will spend hours (and sometimes days) obsessed with it. It’s part of why he’s good at what he does.

Give him something new to learn, and he’ll jump in with both feet. Often times, he’ll take on too many little projects and they get pushed aside and forgotten. With a healthy dose of curiosity and higher than average intelligence, Thomas can be hard to relate to in normal conversation, though he can be quite charismatic and friendly.

That is where wine may come in. It helps to relax him around people (like family). With a love/hate relationship with wine, Thomas indulges in social gatherings (with friends) as frequently as his work allows. As his family can be critical of him, he takes their criticism often times too much to heart, and finds his pride wounded. It’s one reason he prefers to stay away.

With choice personal relationships and customers, he’s friendly and goofy. When the wand shop is open, especially near school time, he’ll spend hours a day talking and straightening up after young children playing around with wands, trying to find their fit. As his great uncle runs the bookkeeping for the shop, Thomas will often have time to extract cores and manipulate wand wood as he sees fit.

He’ll even take trips (often times by himself) for his great uncle, refilling supplies as they dwindle. Thomas learned early how to pick the better wood as well as where to find it. It’s considered a holiday to Thomas; he relishes the adventure. Add to that the difficulty of finding a decent magical core, and he’s stimulated and focused when away from work.

Thomas has an overwhelming internal desire to be the best, and be recognized for it. It is this reason he works himself to near exhaustion day after day, and finds little time to date or keep up with distant friends. One has to go out of their way, sometimes, to stay connected with Thomas.


History:
Thomas cried for the first year of his life. After that, he quieted down, started to entertain himself with toys, and grew up. Once he was able to waddle on his feet without the help of others, to catch him if he fell, he’d often wander and explore the small (at the time) family’s home. His family would fret over where he’d gone off to, and he was frequently berated for not staying within eye sight, or for getting into something he wasn’t supposed to. He had little use for the knowledge, at the time, of the end of the First Wizarding War; his concerns often revolved around food, comfort, and sleep.

Though Leandre was his older brother, being the age of six when Thomas came around, he had his own expectations to meet from the parents. All it took was one push down the two stairs to their front door in the rain, and the two boys have clashed ever since.

Whereas his sister, who came along when Thomas was three, became a cohort. Though they moved from the hustle and bustle of Paris, the manor, with its wide landscape and endless hiding spots, had its charm for the young boy. He’d learned French, and it had been his first language. Now, however, he was expected to learn English.

When he wasn’t being scolded or taught by family, he could be found reading a book or outside playing in the trees on the manor. When Leandre went to Beauxbatons, it was as if his parents suddenly realized their other son was not quite like their oldest. His Great Uncle Severin Vaillancourt, the namesake for his middle name, started to show interest in Thomas.

From the mid 1980s until he went to school at Beauxbatons in 1990, ‘Uncle Severin’ would take time, when he was available, to teach young Thomas about wandlore. And Thomas ate it up, along with any book he could get his hands on about it. Uncle Severin had never been married, nor had any kids, and was in the hope of finding a close relative who picked up the difficult learning. He wasn’t going to be around forever, after all, and Thomas heard him make such remarks plenty of times to let it sink in.

His little brother was born when Thomas was nine, and he had little idea of what to do with him. Instead, Thomas focused on the work his Uncle gave him, and running around to play outside with his sister. Everyone babied Rémy anyway, and Thomas had other important things to do. Like make forts and read books.

When he started at Beauxbatons, it was an expectation to be as remarkable as his older brother, especially with the entrance exam results he’d pulled. As a curious, intelligent young man who often got into trouble, however, Thomas quickly made his own name for himself. While he was able to pass (barely) in classes such as Etiquette, he excelled in wandwork and charms.

Each summer away from school, he would divide time between spending a month or so with family, and the rest ‘helping’ his Uncle Severin at the Vaillancourt Wandshop. When it came time for his exams in his fourth year, Thomas focused on crafting magical objects and wandwork. Even with his exceptional marks in most of his classes, he stayed behind for the Triwizard Tournament, hearing about it through the Wizarding Wireless and numerous owls sent back.

Though the second war had been going on by the time Thomas had graduated in the spring of 1997, he didn’t notice it as much in France. Uncle Severin offered Thomas an apprenticeship at his wandshop straight out of Beauxbatons, though it had been going off and on for years, unofficially. For the first five years, Thomas was mostly an errand boy, heading out to different woods to find ‘the best, unyielding elm’ or the ‘most pliable silver lime,’ or to buy or extract the magical cores necessary for Uncle Severin’s wands.

He rarely had time to keep friendships going, let alone attempt a relationship. Thomas understood why his Uncle had been unmarried. So focused on his work, however, he didn’t notice it often. It was a relief when Leandre settled down; it was a way of keeping his mother off his back.

It wasn’t just a time to learn, however. Thomas also questioned everything he saw. Why did Phoenix feathers seem to be a good medium for magic, whereas a Kneazle Whisker was not very powerful? Uncle Severin also sent him to workshops to interact with other wandmakers. Any little bit of literature Thomas could find by Ollivander or Gregorovitch was taken in with notes and questions added to it.

He was so dedicated to his career that he witnessed someone’s death just to be able to see a Threstral, and thus be able to extract their tail hair for use as core.

In 2002, his Uncle made him a partner in the Vaillancourt Wandshop, and began teaching Thomas how to make wands. Though the first year of wand making was trial and error, he started to find reasons for why one thing worked and another did not. Thomas was also able to secure audience with Ollivander, learning a few tricks from the master wandmaker’s trade (while sharing a few tips from the Vaillancourt’s side as well).

By 2006, he was replacing items sold with wands he made, and by 2008, he was running the shop while his Uncle Severin took over book keeping. The man was in his mid eighties and still willing to pull an all-nighter to hunt a Unicorn for the purpose of taking its hair.

Over the last few years, Thomas has published a few articles about wandlore and theories regarding changes in a persons personality over time, as well as one about the ‘inner child’ in relation to the first wand. Like many wandmakers, however, he keeps secrets and family tradition away from his work. It is what makes the learning process so long and tedious.

Thomas has been a journeyman of wandmaking since 2002, and does not expect to become a master anytime soon. Still, the Vaillancourt Wandshop offers decently priced, well made wands just outside of Paris, and Thomas works hard on making the family business an exceptional and sought-out brand.


Describe your job duties and how you go about them:
As a wandmaker, Thomas acquires the wood and cores necessary for a wand, crafts them together, and puts them on display for sale. He works in the Vaillancourt Wandshop, a family owned wandshop that has been around for only a few generations.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field:
Thomas has been learning the trade of wandmaking and wandlore since he was five (though clearly what he learned at such a tender age only interested him in the subject). He was his Great Uncle Severin’s assistant over summer holidays at the Vaillancourt Wandshop, and once he graduated from Beauxbatons with excellent marks in spellwork and crafting magical items in the spring of 1997, he started to work as an apprentice under his uncle. In 2002, he became a Journeyman, and began to craft wands, putting the core and wood together.

Writing Sample:


Sum up your character in one paragraph:
Thomas is a dedicated wandmaker who aspires to be the best in the world. He cannot boast the same dedication to his family and friends, though he spends time when he can with both. Though friendly, he will often find ways to distance others from him. If he can find a way to further the knowledge of wandlore, then he believes he'll feel accomplished in life.