Your Nickname: Bri
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? Other
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Zia Piselli
Jai Patil
Claire McByrne
Jules Deville
Edolie Fern
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary

Full Character Name: Frederick "Freddie" George Dodger
Character Birthday & Age: August 6, 1975 - age 34
City & Country of Birth: London, England
Blood Purity: Muggleborn
Alma Mater: Hogwarts (Slytherin)
Job/Position: Owner of The Artful Dodger

Wand: 9-inch yew with dragon heartstring core. Supple with a bent shaft.

Physical Description:
Freddie has a very unique look that is entirely his own -- it comes from years of shopping at thrift stores matched with an uncanny ability to not give a shite what anyone else thinks. He has a penchant for looking spectacularly original, that or homeless. He wears lots of black and has an assortment of ugly sweaters. Furthermore, Freddie practices the art of self-barbering - or as most people might say, he cuts his own hair. The result is a mop of shaggy black hair atop a face that is usually quite scruffy. Freddie is scuzzy-looking in the most non-threatening way possible.

Though he prefers to wear black, Freddie has a penchant for wacky, vibrant colors. He loves to dress up in costume and will wear such apparel even in everyday life. Freddie will use any excuse he can get to dress up. He also likes to wear hats, use eyeliner, and paint his nails. He has several gnarly-looking scars scattered across his body, many of which are from duels and drunken mishaps.


Personality Description:

Generally a good-spirited person, Freddie has the habit of being the guy you go to when you’re feeling down. He’s the bartender, a quasi-therapist who is always there for his mates. He’s endlessly loyal and patient, doing whatever necessary to help out someone who needs it. After essentially raising his younger brother, Freddie understands the struggles of life and does what he can to ease the suffering of the ones dearest to him. This protective and caring persona is not his only side, however. This kind streak is matched with a grumpy, cynical attitude towards the world. If you piss him off, Freddie will be brutally honest and perhaps a tad hostile. He’s slick, though, and heavily versed in street smarts. Freddie can talk his way out of almost anything and most criminals respect his smooth demeanor. (Plus, he knows how to do things stealthily when he needs to.)

Along with Freddie’s cynicism comes a twisted, morbid inclination. He has an odd sense of humor that occasionally crosses the line -- his dark thoughts don’t suit everyone, but that doesn’t really keep Freddie from sharing them. Freddie’s deadpan sarcasm leaves many questioning whether he’s being serious or not. Most of the time, it’s not; without much tying him to the world, Freddie is left a relatively carefree guy. He doesn’t talk much about his past, but that hardly stops people from understanding that he’s a pretty deranged guy. The reckless way he takes life on, from the bursts of violent anger to the appetite for weird foods, it is clear that Freddie is a bizarre guy.

Luckily, Freddie is not shy about his personality and is for the most part forgiving of people’s shock when they first encounter him. You don’t make it so far from so little without being a clever person, and his wit is strangely charming. He’s an intellectual with a complex personality consisting of many very different parts. Freddie has a jealous streak as wide as his gregarious, domineering one and he’s not ashamed to show both of them in a manner of minutes.

His unpredictable nature makes him quite daring, and his rebellious side fans that fire. Freddie is a party animal with an affinity for mind-altering potions. Having seen what the other side of that can do in his years on the streets, he’s got a pretty good grip on it, but that isn’t to say the activity is a safe one in the least. Freddie has a taste for danger and loves a good laugh, so he’s ready for anything.

Since he had to worry about himself so much over the years, he can be self-centered. You don’t survive the streets without being a little bit egocentric; you had to help yourself before you could help others. Also from his time on the streets came strong skills in resourcefulness and creativity. Freddie is a musician and an artist and has the matching personality. He can be stubborn and gets very angry very quickly if you say the wrong things. To top it off, now that he’s got a bit of money, he’s become a little materialistic. It’s nice to have things, and things don’t leave the way people usually would. (Freddie also has commitment issues, not surprisingly).




History:
Were his parents and younger sister Katie to have survived the car accident, Freddie would have grown up in a relatively normal household. Unfortunately, that car accident happened when Freddie was 8 years old. They were bringing Katie home from a doctor’s appointment, where she had been declared perfectly healthy -- no one would have predicted that she’d be dead only minutes later.

Along with his younger brother Alfie, Frederick Dodger was sent to Alice Wilhelm’s Home for Lost Wizards & Witches. Together, Freddie and Alfie were neglected in the overcrowded orphanage, but at least they were together. That meant a lot to the boys who had just lost nearly their entire family in one fail swoop. They were inseparable, and at age ten, they ran away together from the orphanage. They were not missed much, and found a place with 32-year-old Finnley Clutch instead.

Finn taught the boys the art of pickpocketing after seeing their impressionable age as a bonus. The con game was good to them, but Freddie and Alfie were shortly betrayed by their new guide, who left along with a large bunch of their earnings. The boys spent months running around the streets after he left, pick-pocketing and even begging for money when they needed to. They stole what food and clothes they needed. What Freddie liked about the conning was that he could put on a show, adopt a role and make it his own. He liked pretending to be someone else, and getting money for it was even better (even if the audience wasn’t always willingly paying to see his show).

When Freddie turned 11, he was contacted by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Freddie had been smug -- he knew that there had been something special about him. Finding out that he was a Wizard confirmed this, and once he got a taste of the magical world, he felt redeemed for all of the suffering he’d gone through. Of course, he was extremely concerned about his brother, but happy-go-lucky Alfie happily went back to the orphanage so that his brother could take this opportunity. In the end it would be better for him, he said. Even at age 8, Alfie was able to fend for himself pretty well.

A bit reluctantly (but mostly excitedly), Freddie headed to school and was sorted into Slytherin. He had some trouble making friends, which surprised him because understood the way people’s minds worked even at his young age. He’d spent a lot of time people-watching and getting to know what types you wanted to avoid. Freddie also had a big problem with authority and following rules. Why should he have to be in bed at a certain hour if he got all of his work done? The amount of excellent grades Freddie got were matched with the amount of detentions he received.

Every break, Freddie made sure that his brother was along with him for any plans he had. Once he started making friends and had holiday plans with them, Alfie was right there with him. They came as a set, and once Alfie was also accepted into Hogwarts, their indivisibility became even clearer to their classmates. The boys continued to steal when they needed to, but made it a point to only steal from those that they felt ‘deserved’ it. If you were going to break the law, you had to have some kind of code, right?

Freddie didn’t attend his last year at Hogwarts, instead deciding to save up some money for when Alfie was done. Besides, he needed a place to live, and was too old to stay at any children’s homes. Feeling that he was too old for the pickpocketing child bit, Freddie got a real job with the hopes that he could make an honest living.

He was not entirely right. Freddie’s huge problem with being told what to do and when to do it lost him several jobs in a row, and quickly. After a heist gone wrong, though, Freddie was nearly imprisoned and since he had Alfie to think of, he could not take such a risk again. He decided to count up how much money they’d saved over their years on the streets, and miraculously, Freddie was able to scrape up enough money to buy an extremely run-down shack along the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Luckily, Freddie was a whiz at transfiguration -- he made that place look a lot less like an abandoned lot.

Once he acquired the house, Freddie felt like there wasn’t much more he needed to do. He putzed around doing dumb stuff for a while, but quickly grew bored of doing (essentially) nothing every day. He tried the job thing again, but that was a complete failure. Especially now that he owned a home, Freddie didn’t feel like he should be bossed around by anyone.

 Alfie, now fresh out of school, suggested that they open a pub -- it was something they’d joked about as teenagers, but now that they were Hogwarts graduates, the idea actually seemed feasible. So they opened up a bar in their basement, where they got a bunch of regulars that they let stay over whenever they needed it. The Artful Dodger, as they called it, did not have concrete opening and closing times. They were also not only a pub -- they served coffee and breakfast in the morning as well as drunk munchies at night. Alfie was an excellent cook and was pretty great at it. Along with drinking came singing and music, so The Artful Dodger also dabbles in being a performance space.

They became an established pub, but the house filled with books tempted people to ask Freddie if they could borrow something to read. Ever the generous one, Freddie always said yes, but noticed that his books were beginning to disappear. He wasn’t getting them back! So, he opened up an actual bookshop on the first story of his home, moving the living quarters upstairs,  and started charging those thieves.


Describe your job duties and how you go about them:
Most of Freddie’s job consists of socializing. He’s always down at the bar at night, chatting it up with his customers. He also enjoys organizing shows and events. The Artful Dodger has held a theme night for nearly every theme imaginable, but somehow Freddie keeps coming up with more.

The hardest part of Freddie’s job is inventory. Making sure he has all of the supplies he needs, especially for such an eclectic business, is pretty tough work. Luckily, over the past twelve or so years, Freddie has gotten pretty accustomed to it. They hardly ever run out of toilet paper anymore.

Elaborate on your expertise in your field:
None whatsoever. He just likes hanging out with his mates and needed something to do with his time (and a way to make money... legally).

Writing Sample:


Sum up your character in one paragraph:
All in all, Freddie is an easy-going autodidact who will always help friends with their problems. He has a soft side for loners and misfits and is especially charitable towards those types. Patient and calm, Freddie is a good friend to have, even if it’s just for the amount of time you spend in his shop.