antonin aleksey dolohov,

[antonin]

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{ A B O U T . Y O U }

Name: Kabby
Gender: Femme
Age: (;
E-mail: [e-mail]
Twitter: kabbykabs
Years of RPG Experience: Almost four years, I believe.
Other: removed by staff

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{ Q U I C K . Q U I Z }

How did you find us? RPGC
What about ISS inspired you to join? We're awesome. Duh (;
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{ A B O U T . T H E . C H A R A C T E R }

Name: Antonin Aleksey Dolohov
Age: Nineteen
Gender: Male
Year: Graduated in 1976
Face Claim: Cam Gigandet

Canon or Original? Canon

Facial Properties: While Antonin's certainly been deemed attractive before, he wouldn't call himself striking or any shit like that - well, actually, he wouldn't take much time to consider his appearance at all - because, you see, that usually implies a sort of clean-cut good looks, which he doesn't exactly possess. Yes, he's got a handsome face but there's just something about it that gives off a rather unpleasant vibe. His eyes, though a vivid grey/blue, seem to be constantly narrowed, and the expression he most often wears is something akin to a leer. It's impossible to pinpoint, really, but there's just something about his face that seems distrustful, that suggests horrible intentions, or a certain sleaziness. Blame it on his dad. But moving past that inherent, nameless, quality, yes, Antonin could be described as quite attractive - or at least, he's always been able to play his looks to his advantage when it comes to girls. His face is rather narrow but otherwise well-proportioned, with his sloping, fairly thick eyebrows - the same dusky, brown shade as the short, usually ruffled, hair that tops his head - thin but piercing eyes, a slightly larger than normal nose which widens out at the end, and full, pale lips, which are normally curled into a smirk. His skin seems almost permanently tan - something that could be chalked down to both his parents - and his jaw is usually lined with stubble, although he takes care to shave occasionally so it doesn't get too out of hand. The same stubble is usually also apparent above his upper lip, a bit of a mustache, if you will. It balances out his face rather nicely. His ears stick out quite a bit from the side of his head - not so much as to draw large amounts of attention, mind you, but all the better to hear with, of course. And lastly, as briefly mentioned already, his hair is usually fairly short but not buzzed - it's kept about an inch or so long, always tousled and messed in the way of someone who doesn't exactly take great amounts of time with their hair, not in the way of someone who arranges it just so. Ha, yeah, that's definitely not Antonin. He's more of a "run his fingers through it so it's not in his eyes" sort of guy - and that's really all the preparation he needs.

Physique: Alright, there's no point avoiding the obvious. Antonin's toned. Like... really toned. When he's shirtless, his flat stomach and abdomenal muscles - which, you know, if he decided to be all cocky, an angle he does enjoy sometimes, he might term as an eight-pack, but you know, he's not bragging or anything - are quite obvious. And from head to toe, it's much the same. He's pure toned muscle. See, as a kid, he always needed to just get out when he could. So he would go for runs. Or at school, he would take advantage of outlets for his pent-up anger and frustration through sports. Sure, he got into fights too sometimes when he was younger, but anyways. He was a bit of a sports nut - just not in the same way that most kids would be. It wasn't like he could afford to be on any sports teams or anything like that, but he played in the school yard with other boys, and he took the chance to go outside and run around whenever he could. As he got older, running around transitioned into working out and well, the result is right here for you to see and judge yourself. Thing is though, as well-defined as his muscles are, he's not exactly large. Sure, he's tall, standing at six feet, but he's not big or bulky or anything like that. He was always pretty skinny as a kid - it's not exactly like they ever had a ton of food to eat, and it certainly showed - but now that he's gotten older and benefited from actual meals while at Hogwarts, he's filled out more respectably, though he's still more slim and sinewy than anything. You wouldn't think that someone so laid back would be into working out or playing sports but it's always been an outlet for him. He made the Slytherin Quidditch team in his fourth year and played as beater - he had the appropriate strength for the position - until he graduated, which also required a lot of training. Although, one little secret: He's really not a fan of flying. He can, obviously, and he's pretty good at it or he wouldn't have been on the team all those years but it's not something that he immensely enjoys. It's one thing when he's playing Quidditch and is focused on that but he'd never just go fly around for pleasure. As far as he's concerned, your feet belong on the ground, not dangling up in the sky while you wait to plummet to your death. You wouldn't expcet him to feel that way and he's certainly embarrassed of it enough that he doesn't show it but there you go, one of Antonin Dolohov's deep dark secrets. Ha ha. No, we haven't gotten close to those yet.

But seeing as we won't be getting to them for a while, let's finish this up. Antonin's got two tattoos, also visible when the shirt's off. The first is a faded red and green dragon coiling around his right upper arm, which he got the summer before his seventh year at Hogwarts, just for the sake of it. Because it looked cool, because he wanted a tattoo and that was the one he picked. Nothing more, honestly. The second has a bit more meaning than that. A series of swirls and designs are inked into his left hip, around the barely illegible text 'Godspeed'. It's ironic, really, seeing as it's not like he believes in God or religion or any of those crappy stories they tell you. But to him, it's more of a good luck sort of thing. He had it done after Ava came into his life and still can't exactly explain why. Perhaps because he wants nothing more than good luck for the both of them. Because every time that he goes off to get another job done for the Dark Lord of one of the other Death Eaters, he's risking himself and he knows it. Because they need that good luck, because he needs whatever help he can get, from wherever he can get it.

Wand Type: 12' Holly with Dragon Heartstring core
Wand Expertise: Hexes and curses
Patronus: Unable to cast
Boggart: Ava, dead

Personality:

Appearances can be deceiving. The old idiom is particularily true when it comes to Antonin Aleksey Dolohov. More often than not, everything with him is some sort of act. The sleazey, heartless Death Eater. To a certain extent, of course, that's true. After long enough, our masks become us. Yes, he does horrible things. But then there's that age-old question: Does the act of doing horrible things make someone a horrible person? I'll leave that question in your hands and by the end of this, maybe you'll have an answer or maybe you'll have to wait and see.

The thing is, it's always been hard for anyone to come up with a concrete opinion of Antonin. He's not the type of person who revels in being the center of attention, the leader of any initiative. He lurks in the shadows, always the follower instead. He goes along with the opinions of whoever's in charge, whoever has the most power, and rarely shows his own opinion, if he even bothers to have one. Usually, he does. See, with all this remaining in the shadows, Antonin has a lot of time to study the people around him. As a kid, growing up with the abusive father that he had, there were two lessons that he learned early on and stuck to. First, to never draw attention to himself. Second, to be good at interpreting facial expressions, mannerisms, anything that might signal his dad's mood or give a hint of what was to come. So he remains in the background and he studies the people that prefer to soak up whatever attention they can. But not just them, no. Studying people has evolved into a bit of a habit of his. He likes taking note of certain traits, developing an understanding of someone without much interaction at all. It's useful, that's for sure. He learns how to act around people, what to say, when he does open his mouth. Not to say that he never speaks, no. He can be quite vocal, rude and crude, when he's around people that aren't exactly threats in any way. It's when he's around authority figures, when he's working, that he shuts up and just does what he's told. See, that's just who he is. He gets the job done. He's a Death Eater, after all. When you're giving a job, you get it done. And hey, that's something that Antonin's always done, so it works well. He's a follower and when someone's in a better position than him and they tell him to do something, he does it. And all the while, he's making his own little mental notes to store away and save for a time when they'll be useful to him.

Not that he's out to seize power or anything, nah, that's never been his style. He just makes sure to always stay in a good position. He was sorted into Slytherin when he was at Hogwarts and he took advantage of that, used it to his advantage - just as he would have done had he been sorted into any other house. But he was sorted into Slytherin so hey, the best thing for him to do was to act like all the other Slytherins, even if, let's be honest, he really didn't give a crap about pureblood supremacy or any of that shit. Come on, he's a muggleborn. Not that that's exactly widespread knowledge. Sure, he's not related to any of the pureblood families around here but he's got a slight bit of an accent - his mum was French and his dad was Russian; his dad spoke pretty good English but his mum barely knew any when he was born and it was a bit of a learning process, same for his sister - and he never really talks about himself so who knows, right? I mean, he was a Slytherin so it was generally assumed that he came from a wizarding family, just maybe not from England. Any questions were only ever met with a snort and no answer so people eventually stopped asking. And Antonin floated along, always sticking in a good position. That's just what he does. He figures out where the best place to be, the best acquaintances to have, the best person to follow, and he goes along with it while it's in his favor to do so. This whole Death Eater business? Just another example of that. As far as he's concerned, it's in his best interest to side up with the guys that he thinks are going to win, the guys that his former housemates all sided up with. When he was in Slytherin, it was in his best interest to act like a Slytherin, to become a Slytherin. And even now that he's graduated, it's pretty much the same position. I mean, hey, maybe that's why the Sorting Hat decided that Slytherin was the house for him. He's loyal only as long as he thinks he's aligned himself with the person with the most power and he's always looking out for himself above anyone else. Well, maybe not anyone else. Maybe there's one person who he looks out for before himself, before everyone else. The most important person in the world. But we'll get to her later.

Now, when it comes to girls... Eh, not exactly a great spot for Antonin. Oh, don't get him wrong, he's great when it comes to flings or one night stands or hook-ups, whatever you want to call it. I suppose what he's really not great with is relationships. Yeah. Ha. I mean, in fairness, you can't exactly know that you're bad at something if you've never actually put any effort into it but come on, he's just not exactly a poster boy for commitment or whatever shit you're supposed to be into. And it's not like he's about to "let his guard down" or "be all open with his feelings" or blah blah blah. He's always been a closed off sort of guy when it comes to emotions and feelings, going more by the philosophy that the best action is to just bury everything underneath mountains of denial. Or, well, hey, it's not like he's got anything to deny. There's nothing there. Right. Let's go with that, at least. There's only one girl that he'd ever admit to himself that he cares about. Well okay, his sister too. But anyways. He's just always been the sort of guy who keeps to himself, and only cares about himself. That much should be obvious by now, that he looks out for himself primarily. Well except for that one girl but again, we'll get to her later. Point is, Antonin's not looking for some deep, meaningful relationship and he never has been. He's a solo guy and looking out for anyone else other than himself or his sister and something altogether new to him. Because, well, I guess the simplest way to break it down is that for the most part, Antonin can be a bit of a skeaze. Hey, he looks the part, might as well play it too. He's not into anything with strings attached and honestly, something like that just wouldn't work with his current life. Growing up, his sister was the only person he really cared about and he learned at an early age that most other people just can't be trusted. They're all going to bail on you eventually, they're all going to disappoint you or just leave and maybe never coming back. And come on, his parents' marriage was so many notches below ideal that it's not even funny. He never really had any example of a healthy relationship when he was growing up. And as much as he hates his father for treating his mother and his sister the way he did, it was also ingrained in Antonin's head on a subconcious level that that's how men treat women. His mum was weak-willed and set a horrible example of women in general, and seeing as there were never really any strong females in his life, he grew to think that on some level women just don't deserve all that much respect. He loved his sister, yeah, but she was helpless too. Now, his perspective has been changed a little but again, we haven't gotten to that yet.

His father was also responsible for rendering him desensitized to violence to a certain degree. Again, Antonin hates the way that his father treated his mother and sister - and himself, too - but you can't deny the effect that it's had on him. As much as he despises Aleksey Dolohov, he isn't as disturbed by violence as he might be had he grown up in a more normal household. And at the same time, he's even more distrubed, because of everything that it reminds him of. Antonin's full of contradictions like that, though, stuck in a constant battle. For the most part, he just represses everything that he went through, tries to forget about and pretend that it never happened, even though it's affected him so much. He just doesn't think about it, though. It's not so much that he's ashamed, it's just that he can't change what happened and thinking about it only angers him and makes it harder to go through with what he has to do. He doesn't want to end up like his dad, and even if it may appear that he's headed in that direction, he tries to fight it as much as he can. But with every person that he hurts, attacks, uses... He's just another step closer. And another step and another step and another step. Don't think he's going easily though, oh hell no. He may be forcing himself along in the direction that he desperately doesn't want to head, but he's fighting it every step of the way. Complicated, eh? Yeah, to say the least. It's a constant battle, remember? Between who he is, who he's becoming, and who he won't let himself be. It's easiest to just suppress the side of him that doesn't want to end up like his dad, to just do what he's supposed to do and not let himself worry about how much closer he gets every day. But then there are the moments where he just can't do it. Certain things will strike a chord with him and he just, he just can't be like his dad. So there are the few moments where something else seems to surface from within, when he's more than the Antonin Dolohov that everyone else thinks they know. Thankfully, this is all hidden away when he's working, getting a job done that might require him to do something that would remind him of his dad. Because that's when he forgets about his dad, his past, and who he is. That's when none of it matter because he's not really Antonin Dolohov when he's doing stuff like that, he's just a person who's doing something that needs to be done. It's when he lets himself be Antonin Dolohov again that he has to fight with everything that he does, try and find a way to justify it, to convince himself that he's not becoming his dad. Because that's something that he'll never stop fighting. But maybe there are some fights that just can't be won.

After all, such self-destructive behaviour isn't exactly unusual for Antonin. With his constant inner battles and all the risks he takes every day, it could definitely be said that he's headed in a downwards spiral at an alarming rate. Or at least, he was. Now, he has something to live for, but even still, he doesn't exactly take precautions all the time. For one thing, he smokes. He has since sometime in his early teens and although he's trying to quit now, it's an ongoing struggle, you could say. And then are all the risks that go along with being a Death Eater - and a muggleborn Death Eater at that, oh the paradox. He constantly hovers in the background, relying on his ability to draw as little attention to himself as possible, while making sure that he gets done what's needed and does a damn good job of it. Nonetheless, it's obviously a perilous position. But he can't quit. Because once you're in, you can never quit. And for so many other reasons that will be explained. So he's stuck in this precarious position, constantly risking himself. And yet, this is the safe thing. This is the good position. When shit hits the fan, they're going to be ones that come out victorious. That's the important thing. So he can stick his neck out a bit for now, because in the end, he knows that it'll pay off. And that's what really matters. After all, he's looking out for himself, remember? Making sure that he's in the best position, with the best allies, the best leader. And that's what he's got. All those muggle-loving wizards? He doesn't particularily care much about their values but they're going to lose. So muggleborn or not, why in the world would he want to side with them? Nah, it was a good thing that he was sorted into Slytherin, that he got to make the contacts that he did. Of course, all of this behaviour, as "safe" as he may like to consider it, could be just another way that he's inching closer and closer to self-destruction, unable to stop himself at this point. It's just like his struggle to not become his father. It's all tangled up and backwards and contradictive but the only thing that he can do now is to keep on trying, keep on working towards the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

But really, the most important thing about Antonin is that he's made up of so many layers, has so many different sides, some suppressed more than others. The first sentence really says it all: Appearances can be deceiving. The trick with him is figuring out which parts are real and which parts are an act, a trick of the light, smoke and mirrors, whatever you want to call it.

Although, honestly, that's something that not even Antonin is really sure of.

Likes:
+ Ava
+ His sister
+ Studying people
+ Staying out of the limelight
+ Evading questions
+ Inflicting pain
+ Doing what he set out to do
+ Being right
+ Girls
+ Tattoos

Dislikes:
– His father
– His mother
– His smoking habit
– Becoming his father
– Inflicting pain
– Attention
– Snobs
– Flying
– Commitment
– Having to trust others

History:

Mother - Marie Lisette Dolohov
Father - Aleksey Isaak Dolohov
Sister - Adeline Coralie Dolohov

Some people are obviously meant to be together. Some people fit so perfectly together that it's apparent to anyone who spends time in their presence. But if I told you that Aleksey Dolohov and Marie Dubois were those people? Well, that would be a flat-out lie. Marie was the belle of her prep school in Marseille. Her father, Perrault Dubois, was a wealthy businessman - he had established and bought several stores in the town and was able to make quite a profit. Marie's parents weren't unbelievably rich but they could afford to live in a big house with many luxuries and were quite comfortable. Their only daughter, their baby girl, if you will, grew up used to these luxuries and enjoyed flaunting it when she could. She was a boastful little thing, pretty and vain and a sucker for attention. And Aleksey? He was the new kid at school, the mysterious guy that none of the boys wanted anything to do with and all the girls were curious about. It was Marie's senior year when he came to Marseille and was enrolled in the same school, with many of the same classes. He was Russian, but had moved around a lot in his childhood and was fluent in English and German as well as Russian and French. He had quite the act going for him too, the "bad boy" image, so to speak. He had his own motorcycle, he smoked, he seemed to be a total sleaze, and he acted like he didn't give a shit about school or anything else. Of course, he was wicked smart when called on, and had surprisingly exceptional grades given the persona he assumed. Yes, no one could have said that Aleksey Dolohov was dumb - there was plenty else they could have said, though. The rumors were incessant, new ones springing up every day. And with each passing day, each new rumor, perfect little Marie found herself more and more compelled. She decided that she wanted him, this Aleksey boy, and well, as everyone knew, what Marie Dubois wanted, Marie Dubois got. At first, she would just flirt with him in class. Then she would purposely bump into him outside after school and flirt some more. Then one day she pretended that she didn't have a ride home. He gave her a ride home on the back of his motorcycle. She told him about a party that one of her friends, Amélie Leguerrier, was having that weekend. She told him he should come. She told him she'd be there. She winked. Then she skipped off inside for dinner. The weekend rolled around and Marie found herself at the party. Aleksey arrived. He said the party was lame. He suggested they get out of there and go somewhere more private. And Marie was more than happy to hop on the back of his motorcycle and head back to his place. Abstinence be damned, she was going to lose her virginity and she was going to lose it to Aleksey Dolohov.

And she did. And three weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant. Not exactly how she'd planned for things to go. Now, Marie didn't want to hide this from Aleksey. But she did tell her parents first. She was a lost, scared, eighteen year-old girl who was supposed to have her whole life ahead of her. Not that that really meant much, though, let's be honest. Marie's future had held nothing but getting married and having kids and being a good wife to her husband. So, were her parents livid when they found out that she was pregnant before she'd graduated high school and that the father-to-be was some pathetic scum? Of course. But was the situation salvageable? Yes. There was only a month left before Marie and Aleksey would graduate and that summer, it was decided, they would be married. Aleksey would be given a job working for her father so that he would be able to support his wife and their child, when it was born. They would say that the child was born prematurely. This was all decided before Aleksey even knew that Marie was pregnant. He was invited over for dinner and informed of what was laid out for him. It was a lot to process, to say the least, but he quickly realized that this was in his best interests. Did he want to get married and have a kid? Hell, no. But his parents weren't that well off, his future wasn't that bright, and here was some rich guy who would give him a job so he could stay in this town and one day have his own big house and everything he'd wanted. Sounded pretty sweet to him. He could put up with the wife and kid part - especially since Marie would be the one looking after the baby and, really, looking after him too. Besides, Perrault Dubois was a bit of a hard person to say no to. He'd decided on this plan and Aleksey was just an eighteen year-old kid who really couldn't do anything to get out of it. So they were married that summer, to everyone's surprise. Sure, it didn't seem that out of the ordinary for Marie but... Aleksey Dolohov was getting married? Right after graduation? Whoah, talk about unexpected. And that people did, really - their marriage was the talk of the town for a while. I mean, it had come out of nowhere too. No one had even known that they were dating and now they were getting married in a month? Of course, when Marie announced that she was pregnant a month later, it all started to make sense. Nonetheless, it was strictly an out-of-bounds topic of discussion. Everyone realized that it must have been a shotgun wedding but to actually point that out verbally? Well, no one really dared. And so Marie was happy. She was a bride, she got her big wedding, and she was positively glowing. Aleksey started working for her father immediately after graduation and they moved into a cute little townhouse together.

And seven months later, two became three when little Adeline Coralie Dolohov was born. Marie picked out her middle name, Coralie, and her first name was given after her grandmother, Perrault's mother, who had passed away three years ago. Aleksey was given little choice in the naming of his daughter but honestly, he was more than fine with that. He wasn't exactly a hands-on father, preferring to hover around in the background or disappear off to work during day and out with his friends at night. Hey, he was doing his job, working for the old man. Marie could raise the baby by herself - that was her job. It wasn't like he was really having fun with this work thing, with pretending to be the perfect family. Everything had happened so fast and he was trapped in this little charade that he'd never be able to get out of. Marie's parents were too controlling and she was perfectly content with it. She became an obsessed mother, as if her perfection in that area of life would make up for the fact that she'd gotten knocked up while in high school and had a marriage that was a bit of a sham. She ate up any little tidbit of baby knowledge that she could get from relatives and friends and started harping on Aleksey constantly for smoking when he was around. She wanted him to quit completely and finally managed to get him to agree to at least only smoke when he was out, not at home, to his disgust. He didn't want any of this. He didn't want the meticulous little wife - although, you know, at least they had sex so that was one good thing, even if it was getting rather dull as well - and the little baby and the little townhouse and the job and- He didn't want any of it. But that was the way life was for two years. Two whole years. And painful ones they were. So Aleksey decided to put his foot down. They were moving the hell away from the town or he was divorcing her. Marie was hysterical when he told her, refusing either option. They had to stay here, close to her parents. And there was no way they could get divorced! She would be the shame of the town, caring for a two year-old by herself, abandoned by the man who was supposed to be her husband. It didn't take long for her to realize which of those options was the least unappealing. Aleksey explained about some employment boom in England - most of this was off the top of his head - and how it would be a great place to start over. She already knew how to speak a little English and he was fluent and it would be a good language for Adeline to learn. He didn't know why he was trying so hard to convince her to come with him when she didn't mean anything to him except that... well, maybe sometimes she did. He'd stuck with her for these two years after all. And he couldn't deny that he was at least a little fond of his daughter. As for Marie? Listening to Aleksey paint out the future that they could have together, seemingly so caring for once, she felt herself falling for him all over again. So it was decided. They would move to England.

When they told her parents the news, they were even more furious than expected. Perrault said that they was no way in hell Aleksey was quitting the job working for him and stealing his daughter and granddaughter away to another country. And England, of all countries. The two men got into a rather heated argument that ended with Aleksey dragging Marie and Adeline home early and telling them to pack up whatever valuables they wanted to take with them. They were leaving that night. So they all packed up their bags and took the red-eye over to London. When they arrived, they had no place to stay and were forced to take a taxi to a youth hostel. They had money on them, sure, and could have stayed in a hotel for the night but it seemed wisest to try to spend as little as they could until Aleksey had a job again. So they lived at the hostel for a while, Aleksey constantly going out job-hunting. It only took two weeks before he was hired to a new company that was just starting out. Everything looked promising and their family was able to move into a small apartment in Watford, close to London, where Aleksey would be working. And what's more? Marie was pregnant again. This time, they were excited for the baby. Aleksey had a good job, they were starting a new life in England, and they would be a real family. Adeline, now almost three, was excited by the prospect of having a baby brother or sister and she helped her mother prepare as best as she could. They painted a nursery, bought all sorts of things that babies need, and waited and waited for the new arrival to come. Marie was determined to do this the right way this time. All was going perfect. Until the company Aleksey was working for, the one that had seemed so promising, crashed. Aleksey was jobless and furious and didn't know what to do. So he left. He left one morning to go job-hunting again and he didn't come back. Marie was beside her, completely distraught and panicked. She was eight months pregnant and she had a three year-old to look after and no income herself and her husband had run off god knows where. Thankfully, she still had a small pocket money which would be able to support them a little after the baby was born. Hopefully, Aleksey would be back by then. God, she hoped so. So much that when the baby was born, a little boy, she named him Antonin Aleksey Dolohov. Antonin because of her French heritage and Aleksey because, well, all she could hope for was that this little baby would be able to meet his father one day. She prayed for that much. But praying didn't pay the bills, which kept stacking up. Marie could pay some of them off but she also had to support her three year-old daughter and newborn son with no income to speak of. So she started selling some of their possessions, the valuables they'd brought with them from Marseille. And she was miserable. She'd grown up knowing luxury and now she was forced to sell her belongings just so she wouldn't end up on the streets. But a month after Antonin was born, Aleksey came back. Her prayers had been answered. But maybe she'd been praying for the wrong thing.

Aleksey was drunk when he arrived back at the house and that condition hardly changed. He was far more bitter than when he'd left - bitter about the job that could have paved the way for him had it not been yanked out from underneath his feet, bitter about the bitch, Marie, getting knocked up and and her stupid parents ruining his life. Sure, he'd never wanted anything to do with his own parents and had ceased contact with them after graduation but hers were even worse because they'd been so damn controlling and they'd just... They'd ruined everything. His life, his future, it was all their fault. All her fault, the stupid bitch. That was the first time that he got violent, attacking her and forcing himself on her while Adeline grabbed Antonin and hid in the cupboard underneath the kitchen sink. Aleksey stormed out a few hours later, never once even asking about the kids. Marie was a complete mess, with no idea what to do. They needed to get out of there, move somewhere where Aleksey wouldn't be able to find them again, but they were barely scraping here as it was and... Well, Marie just didn't have that strong of character, to hide away from Aleksey, to try and keep him away from her and her kids. All she could do was try and care for them to the best of her ability, she told herself. So she got a job waitressing nearby to start bringing in some money. And everything was a little bit better. Until Aleksey returned four months later. He was just as drunk but this time, he demanded to see the kids. He yanked a terrified Adeline over and asked her if she'd missed her daddy. She stammered unintelligably and tried to run back to Marie. He shoved her away so she fell on the ground, calling her a little bitch, and then asked where the baby was. Had it been a boy or a girl? When no one answered, he asked again, louder. Timidly, Marie informed him that it was a boy. So he asked to see his son, roaring even more loudly this time. Antonin was only five months old but Marie handed him over, praying that Aleksey wouldn't drop him or hurt him or worse. She felt horrible placing her child in the hands of such an abusive man but, again, she was lacking in strong character. She was weak. She couldn't resist. Thankfully, Aleksey didn't do anything. He held Antonin for a few seconds, nodded gruffly, and handed him back. He had a son, that was something to be proud of. And he was back. He didn't leave that night, he slept in 'his' bedroom. Marie tried to go and sleep in Adeline's bed with her and he all but dragged her off with him. But hey. Aleksey was back. Marie's prayers had been answered.

He didn't exactly stay 'back' but he didn't exactly leave either. For the next few years, Aleksey came and went and came and went as he pleased. He was always drunk, always angry, always violent and abusive. But Marie could never bring herself to stand up to him. One night, after he'd beat Adeline for the first time, Marie tried to run off with the kids. He caught them leaving and attacked Marie, nearly killing her. After that, she was even more terrified. She never again tried to take the kids away or do anything that would displease him. They stayed in that little apartment, even when he was gone, because she was too scared to try and move, to do anything. And Adeline and Antonin became affected by what was going on in their lives, on a subconcious level accepting such violence as something normal, something that happened in every family. They hated their father though, and they hated the violence he inflicted on them and their mother whenever he returned. They were just desensitized to a certain degree. But the pattern continued for the first nine years of Antonin's life. Until Marie left. She finally did it. She finally worked up to courage to leave while Aleksey was gone, telling herself that she couldn't take it, that she needed to start a new life. But she left the kids. Adeline and Antonin woke up one morning to find their mother gone. At first, they told themselves that she was just out shopping. She was getting help. She was... she was gone. But she would come back, they decided. Just like Dad always came back, Mum would come back too. Dad came back first, though. And when Aleksey realized that Marie had fled, he was furious. He attacked Adeline and when Antonin tried to come to his older sister's defence, he beat his son as well. And then he left. Adeline tried to care for her little brother's injuries, just like she'd always looked after him. She'd practically had to raise both herself and Antonin, after all. And so she continued. She was only twelve but she got a job, waitressing at the same diner their mum had worked at. One of the other waitresses had known Marie fairly well and took pity on her kid. So Adeline went to school during the day - she was in Year 7 - and worked all night. Antonin was home alone while she worked, trying to complete his homework and get together some sort of food for him and his sister. It was a horrible way to live but they didn't really have a choice. All that they had was each other and the last thing they wanted to do was lose that by being sent to foster homes.

Of course, all that changed when Antonin was eleven and a certain letter was dropped off. They were both surprised, since neither of them had every received a letter addressed to them before. The only letters they were used to seeing were bills but this letter was different. The paper looked different, and his name was handwritten on it instead of typed. And it was addressed to him, Antonin Dolohov. But when he opened it up, it quickly became apparent that it was just some prank. Hogwarts? A school of witchcraft and wizardry? And the crazy "school supplies list"? This was ridiculous. It was some scam, that's what it was, they decided. So they ignored it. But then another letter showed up. And another. And Anotnin saw it delivered this, saw that it was dropped off by an owl. Which made no sense. But he started to wonder. Maybe, maybe this was real. Maybe... he was a wizard? He told Adeline what he'd seen and she started to wonder too, although she remained skeptical. A part of her was bitter, jealous that her little brother just might be able to go off to some fancy, special school, and scared for where that would leave her. She couldn't sleep at all that night. Neither could he. And then another letter arrived, the same one they'd already received three times, but with an insert detailing them to go into London and seek out some pub, "The Leaky Cauldron" it was called. There were directions. So Adeline decided that they might as well head into the city the next day and check this out. Then, once and for all, they would know whether or not this was a huge scam or somehow real. So they took the train into London and made their way to Charing Cross Road. The pub looked old and broken down and they grew more skeptical than ever, Adeline grabbing her brother's hand as they entered. They went up to the front and showed the letter to the man behind the counter. He had a little smile on his face and took them around to the back of the pub. Pulling some sort of sitck out of his pocket, he tapped it against the bricks and- they started to move. And in that split second, Adeline and Antonin both knew that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

Adeline accompanied him to get all his school supplies that day and then all too soon it was time to go off to Hogwarts. Antonin was worried about his sister, not wanting to leave her alone, but she promised she'd be okay, and she'd write to him constantly to make sure he knew that. She was jealous, yes, but she was also honestly happy for her brother, relieved even. He would be safe at this school, he would have food to eat, and he would have a better life. Of course, none of those guarantees could be made for her. She wasn't magic. She still had to figure out how she was going to survive in this crappy world. So yeah. She couldn't completely erase any bitterness, it remained lodged deep inside. But she felt guilty for being jealous that her brother was getting such an amazing oppurtunity. So she tried to be as happy as possible when she waved him off at King's Cross Station. And as for Antonin? Well, it was the beginning of the rest of his life, so to speak. He was quiet all the way to Hogwarts and even as they were led inside, preferring to keep his amazement internal. Keep quiet, study everything, take it all in, that was always the way that he'd worked. And then they were all seated in the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony and they called out his name and he walked up and sat in the chair and they placed the hat on his head and it shouted out Slytherin. And in that one word, the rest of his future was decided. How would he have turned out, had he been sorted into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw or even Gryffindor? Completely different. You see, everything else that happened to him, every important path his life took, was all because of the fact that he was sorted into Slytherin. It's the little things that change everything. Because he was sorted into Slytherin, most of his acquaintances were other Slytherins. He wasn't exactly open or friendly, more wary than anything, but he developed "friendships" of a sort with his housemates. Now, Antonin didn't exactly share all the ideals that they seemed consumed by. He was muggleborn, his sister was a muggle, of course he hadn't been raised thinking that all muggles and muggleborns deserved to be eradicated. But the one trick that he'd always stuck by growing up, that he'd been forced to learn, was to not draw attention to himself. So he went along it, he conformed to match the opinions of other Slytherins, he agreed with them. It was a bit of a charade, a game, something for him to chuckle to himself over, an inside joke that no one else was in on. He never took it seriously though, always assuming a more relaxed compliance. But he followed through. And when he graduated from Hogwarts and whispers were rising about a Dark Lord and many of his former housemates were joining up in this new cause, he joined too. He became one of them. A Death Eater.

But whoah whoah whoah, time to back up a bit first. What about Adeline? She had to fare for herself at first when Antonin went off to Hogwarts but they wrote to each other all the time and she kept him updated on what was going on. A few months after Antonin had started school, Marie returned, filled with guilt over what she'd done. Adeline told her that Antonin was off at boarding school, that he'd gotten in on scholarship. It wasn't the most likely situation but Marie had been away for two years and wasn't exactly in any position to make character judgments. She said that she was happy for Antonin and that she promised Adeline she would make up for everything, she would make things better for them. She started waitressing again and told Adeline that she had to quit, that it broke her heart to know that her baby girl was working when she was only fourteen, that she didn't have to because her momma was going to make everything okay. For a while, it was. Antonin returned home during the holidays and kept up the boarding school pretense. There was no definitive reason for them to keep Hogwarts a secret from their mother but they felt that it was right thing to do and so the lie continued for the next two years. When Antonin was in his third year at Hogwarts, Adeline wrote to him explaining how Marie had started to fall sick. In her next letter, she detailed how she was getting worse and worse. The siblings continued correspondence and a few letters later, Adeline had to tell her thirteen year-old brother that their mother had passed away. It was close to Christmas and they had the funeral when Antonin came home for the holidays. Adeline, him, and Eliza, the waitress friend of Marie's, were the only people in attendance. Antonin returned to Hogwarts the next week and Adeline was left all by herself again. Her brother had told her that he could stay, he didn't have to go back, but she'd told him to go. He had the chance to get away from all the shit. She'd look after herself, that's what she'd always done. Of course, it was getting hard to pay the bills with money from waitressing and still remain in school. She was sixteen, only a few more years ahead of her. College was the last thing on her mind but she at least had to finish secondary school. At first, it looked like she might be able to get by. And then she got fired from the restaurant she'd gone back to after her mother's death. She wasn't able to work enough, they said. But she needed to make money somehow, and she was a pretty, young thing, and one of the guys she'd worked with had an offer. He knew a guy that ran a club that was always looking for pretty girls like her to 'entertain' the male guests. And so, desperate, sixteen year-old Adeline fell into prostitution to support herself. It was the final nail in the coffin of the Dolohov family's dream of a new life in England.

Now, however, back to Antonin. Adeline never told him exactly what she did to make money, but he'd been able to pick up a gist of what it was and it enfuriated him, thinking of what his sister had to do, of the kind of people touching his sister. But there was nothing he could do. It was just another tragedy he was helpless to prevent. He just had to sit on the sidelines, powerless, and let her self-destruct. There was nothing he could do. And he had his own job now, for indeed, that's what being a Death Eater was to him. It was a job. It was something that he did not out of any worshipping devotion but because it was a job that he could do. Because it was what the people he'd associated with were doing and hey, wasn't he one of them? In any case, graduated life as a Death Eater suited him. Violence didn't faze him, he'd become desensitized at an early age. But at the same time, that just made him hate it anymore. He hated what he did - or at least he hated himself for doing it, terrified that he was becoming his father. And at the same time? Every muggle that they might attack, one day, could be his father. In a twisted, improbable way, it was his shot at revenge on the man who'd hurt him and his sister so much. Not that he had that much contact with Adeline anymore, though. As they'd gotten older, their letters had grown less and less frequent and when he'd graduated, he'd moved into a run-down apartment alone instead of with her. It wasn't exactly like she could get mixed up in any of this Death Eater business and besides, they were both adults now and they were strangers in so many ways. They'd shared a harsh childhood together and they would always have that bond, but they'd both grown up apart from each other. So they still wrote to each other and met up occasionally but it wasn't much more than that. At first, at least. Then there was Nicole. Right. Nicole Summers. She was a university student that Antonin met at a bar one night, the summer after graduating. Now, it wasn't as if one night stands were something unusual for him. Meeting Nicole and then heading back to his place that night after many, many shots and hooking up? Wasn't exactly unusual. Her leaving the next morning and him never calling her or planning to see her again or anything like that? Not unusual. Hey, might as well say it as it is, and that's just the truth. But there's obviously something about Nicole that made her worth remembering. Except that it had nothing to do with her, as a person, no, not exactly. The reason that Nicole is worth remembering is solely because of who was with her when she came back to Antonin's apartment in May, nine months later. A little newborn baby girl who would later be named Ava Noelle Dolohov.

Daughter - Ava Noelle Dolohov

You see, turns out Nicole had gotten knocked up that night. And, as it turns out, she did not want to be a mother when she was only nineteen years old. But she'd gone through with the pregnancy and now, voila, here was a baby. She was going to put her up for adoption but some twinge of guilt had inspired her to march over to Antonin's and tell him that he had a daughter and she didn't want her. And honestly? Antonin didn't want a kid either. He was eighteen years old, he was a fucking Death Eater, for god's sake, and... And he wasn't going to bail out on his daughter. He wasn't going to be his dad. He wasn't going to be some dirtbag that wanted nothing to do with his own kid. He would be there, just like his dad had never been there. So he took the baby in. He wrote to Adeline and explained everything and she came to help out at first. She didn't know a thing about raising a baby either but she understood to a certain degree why her brother was doing this, even if she never would have expected it. She ran a bunch of names by him and a few days later, the baby had a name. Ava Noelle Dolohov. It was perfect. Adeline stayed with them at first, trying to help out however she could. But she had to leave eventually and that's when things got tough. Someone had to be able to watch her when Antonin couldn't. Adeline dropped by when she could, a neighborhood girl, Rose Darwin, also babysat often during the summer. But Adeline has her own life too and Rose had to go back to school in the fall, leaving Antonin to struggle to make ends meet. I mean, he's still a Death Eater. And although he's not about to go and tell everyone the news, he can't quit either. A war is approaching and he's pretty damn sure he knew which side is going to win: his side. Which means that it's safest to be working right where he iss. Safest for him and safest for Ava. That's what really matters. Besides, everyone knows how powerful Voldermort is. It's more than likely that he could know about Ava's existence. Which means that any wrong move from Antonin could result in her getting harmed - little, tiny, delicate, fragile, four-month-old Ava. And she's the one person that he cares about more than anyone else, who he would sacrifice himself for any day. She's everything to him.

Sample Post: You can check out anything by Andromeda Black, Sirius Black, Isabelle Laurentine, Claire Turner, or Rita Skeeter. Lots to pick from, haha.

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{ C O N T R A C T }

I solemnly swear that I, KABBY, have read the rules, understand clearly what my responsibilities are now that I am joining ISS, and will abide by these standards set by the staff.

[Lily Evans]

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