───────────── Luka Volkov Birthday: February 11, 2009 School: Koldovstoretz Year: 2nd ─────────────

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───────────── Stats Stamina 8 Evasion 8 Strength 8 Wisdom 5 Arcane Power 3 Accuracy 8 ─────────────

Ethnicity: Russian Hair: Blonde Eyes: Violet Height: 154cm (5’) Weight: 44Kg (90lbs) Bloodtype: B Build: Lean athletic

Luka is pale-skinned, fair-haired and violet-eyed (ocular albinism) though his cheeks tend to have a rosy blush to them, especially in the cold. There is a perpetual smile on his face. His build is athletic, due to his many years of ballet and fencing lessons. He is tall for his age. He has several piercings in his left ear.

────────────────── Personality Zodiac: Aquarius Easy-going, independent, creative, idealistic. Luka is a ray of sunshine. He is an extrovert with a desire to make people happy. He does his best to always be cheerful and supportive and genuinely helpful and caring. Hobbies: Fencing Ballet Quidditch ──────────────────

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History

Luka had always been lucky. Right from his birth he had been privileged. He was born in Moscow. His father, Ivan, was a very successful doctor. His mother, Irena, had been a dancer in the Bolshoi Ballet. He had lacked for nothing, growing up, and his parents had been more than happy to indulge him in whatever fancy took hold of his interests. Though he tried many things, two stood out and he continued to pursue them with enthusiasm; fencing and ballet. He attended a private elementary school where his generally friendly and outgoing nature made him many friends. He was liked by his school teachers despite his tendency to only excel in the things he liked and praised by his extracurricular instructors for his passionate devotion.

At ten, Luka discovered that he was not like other boys. He had been walking home from fencing practice when he came across a cat stuck in a tree and simply couldn’t bear to leave it there, helpless. So he climbed into the tree and gathered up the frightened beast but on his way down, he slipped and fell. Panicked, he squeezed his eyes shut, tensing as he expected to connect with the hard pavement below yet it never came. He opened his eyes slowly to realize that he was hovering just inches above the ground. Somehow he had stopped himself from falling. That night when he told his parents what had happened, everything changed. It was revealed to Luka that they were wizards, though they had been hiding their magic for years, pretending to live as muggles out of fear. Not long after that, for his own safety, they told him, Luka was sent to Koldovstoretz where he began his magical education.

Luka was a passable student, though his control of magic tended to be a bit awful. Where he truly excelled was in Quidditch. Soon after joining the school, he grew fascinated with the sport and immediately applied to join the team. Once again blessed with luck, a position opened up shortly after he applied and he became a Keeper.

Abilities

Calming Presence

Reducio

There had always been something about Luka that drew others to him. He had always been a cheerful child, always humble despite being raised in privilege, always helpful though it earned him nothing in return. He was always the first to offer help, whether it was a kind word of encouragement, a hug when a friend was upset, a helping hand with homework, or with chores around school or the house. He was always the first to stand up for his friends and the first to try to calmly talk his friends out of bad ideas or fights. As he grew older, more and more often his friends would turn to him for support. He was always the one they asked for advice, or went to when they just needed to vent or a shoulder to cry on. When he joined Koldovstoretz, he had lost all of those friends and had to start over. Though he was sad to lose his old friends, he didn’t let that stop him from making new ones. Cheerful and friendly, this calming presence he seemed to have once again attracted people to him and it wasn’t long before he was once again surrounded by others who would turn to him for support. A kind word, a shoulder, a hug, or an enthusiastic cheer, all things he happily gave to make those around him happier.

This innate ability he seemed to have truly began to shine when he joined the Quidditch team. Even before he took to the skies as the Keeper he was there to support his teammates, cheering them on or offering support. He never let their losses weigh down the team, always reminding them of where they had done well and doing his best to talk down those who were angry. Soon enough, his teammates were also looking to him for that calming presence he provided. Once he became Keeper, flying high with them, he continued to shout his support, this time more actively, as he guarded the goal for them. The boost in morale he gave his team was noticeable. Those few times where he could not make a game due to injury or absence, his teammates seemed less sure of themselves and were always thankful when he returned. He had become, not just another teammate, nor even just another Keeper. Luka, cheerful, helpful, supportive Luka, had become the heart of his team.

Keeper's Catch

Reducio

Luka’s first year at Koldovstoretz had gone by in a flash. Making new friends, learning amazing things and most importantly, dedicating his free time to learning Quidditch. Being given the opportunity to play as Keeper, especially as a first year, was truly a great honour to him and didn’t want to let his team mates down. He would spend hours practicing, recruiting whichever team mate or friend was available and willing to help him. Deflecting quaffles, dodging bludgers, even practicing flying maneuvers when he couldn’t find a friend to throw balls at him. Anything and everything he could think of to improve his skill.

It was during one such training session, practicing with a friend, where he discovered a little trick. It required speed but if successful, could give his team an advantage. Upon successfully catching a shot, he just needed to increase his turnaround time by immediately throwing it to a teammate. So he added this new method to his practice, a catch and release tactic built on speed. Keep the ball in the game, keep it in his teammates hands. It also meant improving his perceptional awareness of where his teammates were on the field. It would hardly be a useful skill if he ended up tossing the quaffle to the opposite team’s players.

This led him to another, albeit accidental, discovery of how he could help his team. During practice one of his attempts to catch and pass went wrong and instead of sending the quaffle at a teammate, he managed to hit an opposing team member, knocking the poor kid off his broom. He had apologized profusely after the game of course but his team mates had praised his accidental attack and encouraged him to consider using it if there was a good opportunity to do so. He wasn’t very good at this part at first. Passing the quaffle to team mates was easy. Targeting other players and trying to hit them hard… well that really wasn’t his style. But he couldn’t refuse his team mates so he added trying to knock others off brooms with a quaffle to his practice regimen.

Though it took the better part of his first year of Quidditch, he finally managed to perfect this new technique, to perform it with enough regularity as to be able to truly call it useful. By the start of his second year at Koldovstoretz, Luka had a new weapon in his Quidditch arsenal: Keeper’s Catch.