Your Nickname: Sparky
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If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Jonas Trevelyan, Charlene Malone, Noriko Wakahisa, Joćo Encantado, and Terry Katsaros (secondary).
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary
Full Character Name: Kurby Rostrevor Bagnold
Character Birthday & Age: August 6, 1977; 34
City & Country of Birth: Folkestone, Kent, UK
Blood Purity: Pureblood
Alma Mater: Hogwarts (Gryffindor)
Job/Position: Werewolf Capture Unit, DoRCMC
Wand: Hawthorn with a phoenix feather core, nine inches, inflexible and rigid.
Physical Description: Thin and wiry, Kurby tends not to draw attention to himself at first glance. He stands on the short side of average, with dark eyes and a lightly tanned complexion, and can blend in easily amongst a crowd. He normally keeps his light brown hair cut short, though the state of his appearance is moderately useful as a calendar. Kurby gets much more scruffy and worn around the peak of the lunar cycle. Approaching full moons normally mean less sleep and more high-pressure situations, and the amount of time he puts into looking presentable is indirectly proportional to the amount of stress he is under.
Kurby has a hard time sitting still when he is not actively engaged in something, and is constantly fidgeting or tapping. When something catches his eye, the change is always noticeable as he focuses with an unsettling intensity. He moves with a similar purpose; gestures and movements are sure and assertive, with a quickness that is not always evident at first glance. Like many pureblooded wizards, he is most comfortable in traditional robes, and his attempts at passing as a Muggle often leave much to be desired. Whether on duty or off, Kurby wears an inordinate amount of silver: tarnished silver rings on both hands, a silver pendant around his neck, an extra chain tucked into his pocket just in case.
Personality Description: Kurby Bagnold has never been one to pull his punches. With a sharp tongue, a short temper, and a ceaselessly sardonic attitude, he is quick to commit himself to action and approaches every conversation as a potential confrontation. When battles don't start on their own, Kurby goes out of his way to create them, pushing buttons and testing limits in order to provoke others. As well as being argumentative, he also learns unfortunately quickly and possesses a sharp eye for detail, making him far too gifted at being intentionally irritating.
Despite his grating personality, Kurby is tolerated because he is very good at his job. Quick reflexes and strong instincts have helped him survive almost fifteen years in the Werewolf Capture Unit, and he takes the responsibilities of his work extremely seriously. He is considerably more cooperative while working with those he trusts, though still a wisecracker, and has plenty of experience at holding his own in physical and magical confrontations. Kurby's experiences in the Second War taught him to put his head down and follow orders when under pressure, and he is good enough at provoking others that he can recognize when it is necessary to keep his mouth shut and get the job done.
There is no doubt in Kurby's mind about the dangers that werewolves pose, and he takes a considerably more radical (and often more personal) stance against them than most of his colleagues. In his mind, the WCU's first duty is protecting the populace from werewolves; he has battled too many lycanthropes, survived too many full moons, to believe that any of them can ever truly be docile. As much as he enjoys needling others, Kurby is far more guarded about his own beliefs and family history. Cautiously aware of just how unpopular his attitude is in the current Ministry, he is often extremely careful around those he doesn't know well, though his fierce and unforgiving tactics while dealing with werewolves leave little doubt as to what he thinks of them. In his mind, the Ministry has become too soft and too liberal by taking a dangerously lackluster approach to threats.
Kurby realized the realities of his chosen profession years ago and holds no illusions that he will survive to old age. Although he enjoys complaining bitterly about unimportant things, he often comes across as casually accepting of the risks in his life. Family is extremely important to him, but he avoids serious relationships like the plague and plays the perpetual black sheep at family gatherings. He is most comfortable in the role of the outsider, offering sardonic quips and sarcastic observations from afar, and goes well out of his way to make sure that no one will ever consider him part of any group.
History: Kurby was born in 1977, the youngest son of Howell and Ailis Bagnold. His father was a member of the illustrious Bagnold line, while his mother came from a pureblooded Irish family. The end of the 1970s were a dark time for the magical world. With Voldemort was on the rise, brave witches and wizards did what they could to stop him, but the terror and chaos that he created seemed unending. Long Ministry loyalists, the Bagnold family were one of the pureblooded clans that stood against the powerful Dark Lord. Millicent Bagnold (nee Whitman), the family's matriarch, was one of the most vocal opponents to Voldemort in the Wizengamot. In 1980, she was elected Minister for Magic, a position that she held through the end of the war and beyond.
Millicent's quick rise brought the wrong sort of attention to her family, and tragedy struck soon after her election. Howell and Cadwallader Bagnold, two of her sons, were assaulted one night by a monstrous beast that had been turned loose near the family's home in Kent. Cadwallader was killed, and though Howell survived the attack, the next full moon revealed that he had not walked away completely unscathed - he had been turned into a werewolf himself.
It was a tragedy, but it was the sort of tragedy that could not get out when confidence in the government was already waning. Cadwallader was quickly and quietly mourned, and Howell was said to be "recovering." He, Ailis, and their five children were quickly whisked out of sight to her family's home in Ireland, where Howell could deal with his new condition far from the public eye.
If asked, Kurby would claim that he had never known his father. His earliest memories of Howell were of a sulking, bitter man who spent most of his time locked away in his study, venturing out only for unpleasant encounters with his wife and children. Wolfsbane was not yet available, even to the son of the Minister, and the transformations that came once a month were horrible and terrifying. No one spoke directly of Howell's condition. It became a well-kept secret within the family, always used to explain away the awful tempers and angry fits that rocked the household. When Kurby's father passed away a few years later under unexplained circumstances, no one in the Bagnold family really questioned it. In their minds, their beloved relative had died years before, back when he'd first been transformed into a monster.
When it came time for Hogwarts, Kurby was sorted into Gryffindor along with his older siblings. Although he was decent at wandwork, he often eschewed his studies in favor of picking fights with other students and quickly gained a reputation for being difficult and argumentative. The revelation that one of his favorite teachers was a werewolf himself at the end of his sixth year did not ease his attitudes towards school. Kurby scraped by scholastically and barely dedicated himself even when his family started to pressure him about his future.
As the youngest son in a pureblooded family, his life had always been well mapped for him, but Kurby never quite lived up to the expectations. His O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. scores left plenty to be desired, and despite familial expectations, he had no intention of following his more distinguished relatives into a respectable career. By this time he graduated from Hogwarts, Voldemort's return had been revealed to the public and help was desperately needed throughout the Ministry. Kurby scored high enough on the "Recognizing and Responding to Dark Creatures" portion of the placement exam that he was recommended to the Werewolf Capture Unit, which was severely understaffed after recent clashes with Fenrir Greyback and his pack.
Years of getting into fights at school finally paid off. Though he was young and thrown straight into the fire, Kurby proved to have a knack for surviving. Working for the WCU resonated with him, and Theobald Mainwaring, the head of the WCU, took him under his wing. The young man thrived heading into the worst of the war, and his encounters with Greyback's pack only solidified what Kurby already knew: that werewolves were beyond deadly and that becoming one destroyed any decency inside.
When the Ministry of Magic fell in 1997, the change in policy was immediately noticeable. Werewolves were suddenly not the target of the WCU's missions; Muggleborn wizards and witches were. As a known pureblood, Kurby could have stayed on at the Ministry, but the new, harsh reality didn't sit well with him. When Mainwaring warned him about the possibility of retaliation from Greyback and suggested he go into hiding, Kurby declined his advice. Instead, he managed to get in touch with the forming resistance and spent the next year battling Snatchers until the Battle of Hogwarts.
After the war had ended, Kurby found himself once more under family pressure to do something respectable with his life. For the second time, the Werewolf Capture Unit became his reprieve. He returned to the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, where he served under the command of his old mentor, Theobald Mainwaring, and later under Mainwaring's chosen successor, Iona "Bruce" Ballentyne. As the years have passed, Kurby has accepted his role within the Werewolf Capture Unit, though he has grown increasingly frustrated with the Ministry's too-tolerant policies. The recent wave of werewolf attacks, which have coincided with the liberalization of the DRCMC's Werewolf Wing, have left him chafing at the bit to take more action.
Describe your job duties and how you go about them: Kurby is a member of the Werewolf Capture Unit within the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. The WCU is responsible for subduing suspected unregistered werewolves and bringing them in for proper treatment and therapy, though Kurby believes that his greater responsibility is protecting the public from any threat that lycanthropes might pose.
Elaborate on your expertise in your field: Kurby joined the Werewolf Capture Unit straight out of Hogwarts when he was 17. Theobald Mainwaring, the then-head of the WCU, took him under his wing, and Kurby spent the years leading up to the Ministry's fall hunting lycanthropes for Level 4. During the worst of the war, he fell in with the resistance and eventually participated in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998. Once everything had settled down, he rejoined the WCU again and has been there ever since.
Though he can be a pain around the office and is notoriously awful with new recruits, Kurby has excelled as a werewolf hunter because he has good instincts and reacts quickly under pressure. He is a quick thinker and is adept at using his surroundings when battling werewolves in both lycanthropic and human form. Over the years, Kurby has developed a knack for defensive charms and protections, fiddling with enchanted objects on his own to improve them for his purposes. He is extremely dedicated to his job, and will use any tactics that are necessary to subdue a werewolf, often erring on the side of permanence.
Unlike many of his teammates, Kurby genuinely believes that all werewolves are dangerous. He has a reputation for going all-in on capture missions, and many of his assignments have ended with the target's death. His former supervisor, Iona Ballentyne, normally saved the most dangerous missions for him - not just because he was one of the most experienced squad members on staff, but because those were the cases where diplomacy would never be needed. Kurby's opinion on lycanthropes has become the elephant in the room for the WCU, and though it has never been directly discussed with him, the fact that he seems to have hit the proverbial ceiling because none of his superiors will ever consider promoting him frustrates him to no end.
Writing Sample:
Sum up your character in one paragraph: Prickly, sardonic, and notoriously difficult to deal with, Kurby Bagnold enjoys being a thorn in the side of everyone around him. Though he is gifted at trying nerves, he is also intensely serious about his job and has become one of the more experienced members of the Werewolf Capture Unit. Past experience has taught him that becoming a werewolf changes a person irreparably, turning them into a deadly threat, and he considers it his responsibility to do what he can to protect others despite the frustratingly liberal policies of the current Ministry.
Kurby Bagnold: Head of the Werewolf Capture Unit