Brian Barlow Potions Professor

BASICS

Name: Brian Barlow
Age: 34 years
Gender: Male
Birthday: 7th January 1986
Sign: Capricorn
Nationality: German
Place of Birth: Kaiserslautern, Germany
Blood Status: Halfblood

Graduated from: Durmstrang
Wand: Walnut Wood and Thunderbird Tail Feather, 23.3 cm
Patronus: —

APPEARANCE

- short (165 cm / 5,4 Foot)
- Dyed black hair (naturally brown)
- Brown eyes
- Pale (from staying indoors 24/7)
- Skin irritates and reddens quickly (stress, heat, humidity)
- Constantly appears tired (constantly is tired)
- Walks with a limp (bad left knee), uses a cane for support
- Always wears black
- Usually accompanied by the smell of coffee, cold ashes and cigarette smoke

HISTORY

Were someone to meet Brian Barlow without warning, they’d first see his pale skin, sunken eyes, and almost religious avoidance of natural sunlight. Many would thus naturally assume they just met a vampire. Most would then assume that no vampire with an ounce of self-respect would be such a walking cliché, assume him to be just another troubled youth.

They'd be half-right regardless, seeing as Brian neither is fully human nor completely vampire. Brian is, in fact, a dhampir.

Brian will usually dismiss correcting their assumptions in favor of instead consuming an unhealthy amount of coffee and trying to stealthily smoke a cigarette before the first students could make their way into the Great Hall for breakfast.
Dutifully, Brian will not be seen with another cigarette until curfew has begun (and only once he’s out in the open and far away from any and all paper, parchment, and potion that he could accidentally set on fire)
Despite the fact that he grew up in a magical household (his mother being a witch and his father disappearing once that fact got too much for him to handle), Brian will sometimes forget that he is very much capable of magic and do things the muggle way. Be it carrying around a lighter instead of using a simple Incendio or foregoing proper wizarding attire in favor of sensible muggle clothes.
Brian, despite insisting that he left his goth phase when he was 15, will only be seen dressed in black no matter the occasion (matching his hair, as well as his mood by lunchtime)

Brian grew up in a fairly average household in Kaiserslautern, Germany. His father, a muggle, worked at the nearby Ramstein Air Base as a mechanic. His mother, a witch, wrote books about Muggle studies (covering everything from how an electric current worked to the finer details of the Cold War).
The times she‘d hand in a finished manuscript or go to a public reading of one of her books were the only times, really, that Brian could remember his mother venturing into the Wizarding World. And she never seemed to be particularly happy about the prospect either, although it never occurred to Brian to ask why that may be the case.
In turn, however, this meant that, growing up, Brian did not get into much contact with magic in the early years of his life, either. Sure, his mother would perform household chores with magic most of the time (although leaving some work for her children, so they‘d learn how to do basic things like cleaning a bathroom or using a washer or sewing a button back into a shirt), but she never used much more magic than that. And usually never in front of her husband.
Brian, as well as his two older sisters attended Muggle primary school in their early years. There, they learned the very basics of muggle education, such as spelling, maths, Muggle history. They were also able to choose between either learning French or Russian. His sisters chose French, wanting to apply for Beauxbatons for their magical education. Brian, aiming for Durmstrang, chose Russian, convinced that it would help him make connections more easily if he spoke at least one of the many languages spoken by the student body there.
Brian‘s father left their family during Brian‘s first year at Durmstrangs, having grown resentful of their magic abilities. Brian‘s mother, not wanting to stay in Germany where she had moved for her husband‘s work, moved back to England into her sister’s house. There, she changed her name back to her maiden name. His sisters decided to adopt their mother’s name but at insisting that at least one child kept their father’s name, Brian kept his original surname of Barlow.
During his years in Durmstrang, Brian tried his hand at Quidditch and actually made a fairly decent Chaser, until a rogue bludger shattered his knee and swiftly ended his very short career.
In theory, an injury inflicted by simple brute force should have been swiftly dealth with. Yet instead of healing the break or simply vanishing the bone-fragments (and regrow them afterwards with Skelegro), the school's nurse asked Brian if she could mend the shattered patella with a modified spell that should not only mend the bone but also allow the surrounding sinew and muscle to reattach themselves properly.
Convinced by the nurse's confidence in her abilities, Brian allowed her to try the spell on him. The spell did as promised: The shattered kneecap mended itself and the sinew reattached as if nothing had ever happened. However, the spell did a bit too well, stiffening the articular cartilage to a point where bending the knee soon resulted in severe pain.
Physical therapy and additional visits to the hospital did not change anything in that regard and the healers found themselves unable to reverse the effects. The school nurse naturally was devastated, handing in her resignation soon after.
Brian didn't think that would have been necessary. After all, it didn't suddenly enable him to bend his knee any better than before her resignation. But he understood that parents would have reservations in bringing their children to a nurse that seemed to test new spells on the children in her care.
When it became clear that Brian would most likely have to live with the consequences of the spell for the rest of his life, Brian‘s mother sent him his great grandfather’s old cane. Any reservation Brian had about using a cane when he had yet to reach his twenties swiftly died when he could walk from class to class nearly pain-free, as well as store his wand in the handle of the cane (which was just dead practical). It also helped that the ebony wood fit well with his whole aesthetic of wearing entirely too much black.
He graduated from Durmstrang with fairly decent grades, excelling at Potions just enough to be able to get an apprenticeship and eventually achieve a mastery in the subject