Harry Potter is My BFF

Before I delve into Harry Potter RP geekiness, check out my Harry Potter/Classical Lit geek tattoo feature by Amy at geek with curves. Thanks so much for featuring me! :)

For many summers (mostly, since I was off work/school and bored) I was a very active member of Envious Magic, a post-canon Harry Potter forum RPG. I had a few various characters, and even was a professor at Hogwarts for a short time.

My favorite part of the whole thing was the writing. It was encouraged that we write long posts in character, and it's probably the best fictional writing I've ever done. Not quite like fan fic, because we were characters of our own creation.

This is my favorite of all my characters, yes, a guy... Slytherin Drake Gordon.

See what I spent too much of my time doing? Here's my "Sorting Ceremony" post:

Why did it seem like every time that something important was happening to Drake, the weather decided to take a turn for the worse? Last year, on his 11th birthday, the day he got his Hogwarts letter, there was a blizzard! The day in June they were supposed to go shopping so he could get his first owl, the streams and ponds on the Gordon estate flooded in a torrential downpour! And here, the night that Drake finally arrived at Hogwarts for the first time, the dreary Scottish weather had taken an unusual turn to icy cold.

Here Drake was, in his school robes for the first time, shivering while standing outside the Great Hall, waiting for his turn to be sorted. With the drafts coming in through the windows and the cavernous stone walls, the cold seemed extremely uninviting. Drake was not happy. As a matter of fact, he seemed a bit...scared? He was very nervous about where he would be placed. He knew that the majority of the Gordons who had attended Hogwarts before him had been Slytherins. A few had been sorted into Ravenclaw every once in a blue moon. He even thought that there were a few Gryffindors in his lineage. But no Hufflepuffs. As a son of a long pure-blood line, he could not even begin to consider what being sorted into Hufflepuff would mean for his standing in the family.

Suddenly, he was jerked out of his deep thoughts and pushed through the door as the Sorting Hat called out, “Drake Gordon.” He shuffled his way to the stool on which the Hat sat. He immediately felt warmer in the Great Hall, but the nervous feeling in his stomach only grew worse as he saw the hundreds of eyes staring up at him. The Sorting Hat was placed on his spiky blonde hair and began to mumble to Drake.

Please put me in Slytherin, Drake thought to the Hat. I’d really like to be there, just like my dad. The Hat paused for a moment and then continued whispering in Drake’s head. He was to preoccupied to hear what it said. He just kept saying over and over to himself – and the Hat – Slytherin, not Hufflepuff. Slytherin, not Hufflepuff!

After a few more excruciating moments on the stool, the hat yelled out, “-------!” Drake pulled the Hat from his head, jumped down from the stool, and ran to join his new housemates that were all on their feet, cheering for their new acquisition.

And another class RP post for Muggle Studies:

Why the bloody hell did he have to take a class that studied Muggles?!  Did his parents know about this?  It would outrage them.  Of course, the one comfort that Drake got out of that particular thought was that his taking the course would outrage Mum much more so than Dad.  Dad, while not a Muggle superfan, could stomach them to some extent, when necessary, for business.  Mum, on the other hand, was a pureblood supremacist to the extreme.  She did not even like the fact that her only son had to fraternize with Muggleborn students at school.  Any pain and irritation that Drake could cause his mother was a good thing, so he knew he would suffer through Muggle Studies, if only for that one reason. 

As he entered the classroom and took his standard seat in the back corner, he remembered that he heard a new professor had been hired for this class, and his reputation was more along the lines of Monaghan than, say, Kamryn.  Drake thought he might actually be able to enjoy a Muggle Studies lesson if Monaghan taught it.  It wouldn’t be all about singing the praises of lowly non-magical humans, if one could even call them human! Once seated, he noticed a relatively young man lounging on a desk in the front of the room. He looked slightly too old to be a seventh year, so Drake assumed he must be the new professor.  The boy in green and silver robes shot to men a short, small grin, and then prepared himself for the lesson. Drake already felt as if he might just enjoy this professor’s class. There was just a certain vibe he was getting from the man.  

The professor’s tone enthralled Drake immediately.  He had a bit of a sarcastic sneer to his lecture.  Especially when he got to the part about some people thinking Muggles were capable of independent thought and action.  Drake smirked right along with the professor.  Then there was the standard talk of Muggleborn witches and wizards, along with their polar opposite, Squibs.  Thank goodness I was not a Squib! What would Mum and Dad have done with me?! he asked himself, careful not to break the no talking rule the professor apparently had.  

So, a foot long essay on what Muggles are to me, Drake mused.  This could be fun.  But at the same time, I might not want to alienate myself too much from the beginning.  I actually like this professor, whatever his name might be.  His ruminations were disturbed by Professor Torres finally announcing to the class what his name actually was.  He was no longer the mysterious new professor without a name.  He was Professor Isaiah Armel Torres.  So, Torres it is, he added to his earlier thoughts.  

Ready to start on his assignment, finally, Drake reached into his schoolbag and retrieved a roll of parchment, his knife, a quill, and his inkpot.  He unrolled the parchment to the one-foot marking on the edge and proceeded to cut off the portion he would need for this essay.  After a quick sharpening of the quill nib and a trip to the ink, and he was ready to write.  Thoughts were reeling in his mind, and he had to get them all organized.  He quickly threw out the things he disagreed with and put ink to paper.  The words just poured out of him.  And, unbeknownst to Drake, subconsciously, a slightly sadistic smile had crept over his lips.

 See? I'm an even bigger nerd than you all thought I was! My favorite reference source for all of this was the Harry Potter Lexicon. It's an incredible HP reference if you ever need ANYTHING Harry Potter related!

And I made Forum Graphics for various things:

I have to say, it was a lot of fun for about three summers, but sadly, the forum is pretty much dead now, and as it's changed hosts since I last RPed, all of my character background is gone. Just a little bit is left. Oh, well. Now I've got this to take care of all things geek.