Elphias Doge

OOC

Game	Journal	Portrayed By
The Breach	dogbreath_doge	John Lithgow

Basic Stats

Full Name: Elphias Jebediah Peter Doge
Nickname(s): Elphy
Gender: Male
Age: 99
Date of Birth: April 20, 1881
Zodiac: Taurus
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship Status: Widower x3
Bloodline: Halfblood
Hometown: London, England
Current Residence: Tinworth, Cornwall, England
House & Year: Gryffindor 1899
Occupation: Wizengamot Jurist
Wand: 9 in, maple, phoenix feather
Pet: None

Family

Father: Jebediah Doge (wizard; Ravenclaw 1868; b. November 18, 1849; d. November 30, 1977)
Mother: Maria Doge (née Roberts; witch; Hufflepuff 1868; b. May 16, 1850; d. December 7, 1977)

First Wife: Alma Doge (née Williams; witch; Hufflepuff 1900; b. February 2, 1882; d. July 16, 1908) (married 1905)
Daughter: Rose [surname] (née Doge; witch; b. July 16, 1908)

Second Wife: Elisabeth Doge (née [surname]; witch; Hufflepuff 1909; b. October 16, 1890; d. August 20, 1948) (married 1917)
Daughter: Henrietta Bones (née Doge; witch; b. 1921)
    Son-in-Law: Archibald Bones (wizard)
    Granddaughter: Amelia Bones (witch; b. June 1, 1945)
    Grandson: Edgar Bones (wizard; b. November 9, 1947)
        Granddaughter-in-Law: Beatrix Bones (née McKinnon; witch; b. June 17, 1950)
        Great-Granddaughter: Clara Bones (b. July 1974)
        Great-Grandson: Elliott Bones (b. April 1977)
    Grandson: Oliver Bones (wizard)
        Granddaughter-in-Law: Helen Bones (née Falconer; witch; b. November 12, 1956)
        Great-Granddaughter: Susan Bones (b. October 15, 1979)
Son: Michael Doge (wizard; b. 1923)
Son: Richard Doge (wizard; b. 1925)

Third Wife: Cecilia Doge (née Hayes; witch; Ravenclaw 1944; b. December 25, 1925; d. November 6, 1976) (married 1962)
    Sister-in-Law: Dorothea Fortescue (née Hayes; witch; Ravenclaw 1942; b. 1924; d. 1979)
    Brother-in-Law: Florean Fortescue (wizard; Ravenclaw 1942; b. August 2, 1924)
    Niece: Alba Fortescue (witch; Ravenclaw 1965)
    Niece: Candace Fortescue (witch; Gryffindor 1967)
    Nephew: James Fortescue (wizard; Ravenclaw 1971)
Son: Alexander Doge (wizard; Ravenclaw 6th; b. November 13, 1963)
Daughter: Lavinia Doge (witch; Gryffindor 5th; b. March 31, 1965)
Daughter: Maria Doge (witch; Gryffindor 5th; b. March 31, 1965)
Daughter: Briony Doge (witch; Hufflepuff 2nd; b. February 14, 1968)

History

Jebediah Doge and Maria Roberts were both new to the wizarding world upon setting foot in Hogwarts' Hallowed Halls at the age of eleven in 1862. Bookish Jebediah was sorted into Ravenclaw, while sweet and motherly Maria was sorted into Hufflepuff. If not for being a witch, Maria might not have continued with school beyond primary school, and Jebediah, as the son of farmers, definitely would not have. Both were fascinated to learn about their new culture, and loved their continued education. They hardly crossed paths much at all in their first years: classes together (though they mostly sat with their housemates), sometimes running into each other in the library, … about what is to be expected of two students in a boarding school in different houses. But in their fifth year, they got to know each other much better when they were both made Prefect in their respective houses. What started as the occasional round together became friendship, then affection, then love. It wasn't easy to court a girl who went to the same boarding school as you, especially with limited opportunities to go outside of the school, but Jebediah found a way to court Maria anyway, and by the end of their seventh year, they were rather inseparable.

Once they were finished with school in 1868, Maria gained employment as a shop assistant in a cauldron shop on Diagon Alley; Jebediah had the option of returning to the muggle world and the family farm, or of seeking out a career in the wizarding world. As he was fascinated by his new culture (and rather loathed the thought of giving up magic to return to the muggle world), Jebediah opted to seek employment in the wizarding world, first gaining employment as an assistant to a historian, then a few years later as a librarian and historian in his own right. In 1874, Jebediah and Maria wed and moved into a small home together. After trying for years to have a child, Maria finally got pregnant in 1880 and gave birth to a son, whom they named Elphias, in April of 1881. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to ever give Elphias any siblings, so the young boy grew up as an only, and cherished, child.

The Doge family did not have much in the way of excessive funds to go around; Maria quit her job at the cauldron shop to stay at home with her son after Elphias was born, and a librarian and historian's salary was not altogether that much. But the family made do with what they had, and Elphias never particularly wanted for anything, and in the process he learned the value of saving his money. Of course, his parents instilled in him the value of hard work and of education, though they stressed that hard work was the more important of the two: you could have all the education in the world, but it was useless unless you worked hard for it and worked hard with the knowledge that you have gained through your education. As soon as Elphias was old enough, he was encouraged to pick up chores around the house and to do odd jobs for neighbours and friends. Elphias learned a variety of magic-less skills from a young age, such as fixing things with muggle tools, cooking and cleaning the muggle way, painting houses (and fences), milking cows, gathering eggs, slaughtering chickens safely and humanely (the latter three from visits to the grandparents), and many other little odd jobs here and there.

When Elphias turned 11 in April of 1892, he began looking forward to receiving his Hogwarts letter and attending the school where his parents met. As soon as the letter came, he begged and pleaded with his parents to take him to Diagon Alley right away so that he could purchase his school supplies with the money he had saved up through allowances and odd jobs: he wanted to pay for his supplies himself! By the time August started, Elphias was already fully packed, and he checked his trunk daily to ensure that everything was still exactly where he'd packed it, and he wasn't missing anything. He was looking forward to boarding the Hogwarts Express on 1st September, where he was positive that he would make friends immediately.

In early-mid August, however, fate stepped in and proved to Elphias that no matter how well he might have been prepared for school, he still needed to prepare for the unexpected: he fell suddenly and drastically ill, starting with a sneeze that sent sparks shooting out his nose, but quickly expanding to include spots covering his body and a slight greenish tinge. At the first symptoms, his parents rushed him to St Mungo's, where he was diagnosed with Dragon Pox and spent the remainder of the month in the Magical Bugs ward for treatment. Finally, on the evening of 31 August, Elphias was pronounced to no longer be contagious, so while he was still recovering (and his skin was still slightly green-tinted, and he was covered in pockmarks, many of which would never fully fade), the healers at the hospital decided that they could remain in contact with the nurse at Hogwarts, and Elphias was allowed to be checked out of the hospital the next morning and board the Hogwarts Express with the other students.

Unfortunately, most of the other students boarding the Hogwarts Express that September morning knew what Dragon Pox looked like, and they gave him a wide berth, not wanting to catch it from him. Feeling morose and lonely, Elphias spent the entire train ride alone in a compartment because it seemed that not a single other student in the school wanted to sit with The Kid With Dragon Pox. Elphias feared that he would never make friends at Hogwarts, and he had hoped more than anything to make life-long friendships at school (and maybe even meet a nice girl to marry, as his parents had met). That seemed impossible now, as everyone surely would want to avoid Dragon Pox Boy and, even once he was fully better, stay away from him.

In its seeming unkindness, fate was actually more kind to Elphias than he had believed: after being sorted into Gryffindor, he took a seat a bit away from his new housemates, who had looked at him uneasily as he approached their table. But sorted immediately after him was another Gryffindor, Albus Dumbledore. Completely shocking Elphias, the other boy came right over and sat down next to Elphias, seemingly uncaring of the fact that Elphias was clearly recovering from Dragon Pox. This simple act, Albus Dumbledore sitting beside Elphias Doge at dinner, changed Elphias' life forever.

The boys became best friends at the start, somewhat in part because they were both something of outcasts at first: Elphias for his recovery from Dragon Pox, Albus for his infamous muggle-hating father. From the start, Elphias didn't care if Albus' father hated muggles, because he could tell that Albus didn't care about things like that. Even as Albus became more popular at school and was seen as a brilliant young man, the friendship between the two boys remained strong, though Elphias was frequently more viewed as Albus' "dimwitted sidekick" than anything else. Elphias didn't care, he managed to make friends of his own as his skin returned to normal and the pockmarks began to fade (even though they didn't all completely fade away), and he held his own among his more hot-headed housemates.

School was, well, school. Elphias worked hard at his studies, as his parents had taught him. His knack for charms and enjoyment for duelling led him to join both the charms club and the duelling club. He was never too overly interested in sports, so he forewent joining the Quidditch team in favour of more academic pursuits. Summers through the year he was 14 were spent continuing what he had done as a child: picking up odd jobs around the neighbourhood for some spending money, and heading off to Diagon (usually to meet Albus) as soon as the Hogwarts letters arrived to pick up new supplies for the coming school year. The summer of 1895 was the first time they were joined by Albus' younger brother, Aberforth, who would be joining them at Hogwarts that September. Elphias tried to cheer up the sullen and sulky boy as much he could while the three boys were doing their shopping. The next summer, 1896, was the first year that Elphias had a real job: he got a job stocking shelves in the cauldron shop where his mother had worked years ago. That was also the summer when Elphias was particularly looking forward to his Hogwarts letter: one of the boys in his and Albus' dorm was going to be named Prefect this summer. Elphias had been hoping to be chosen as prefect, hoping that his stellar academic record and high standards of personal integrity might make him an obvious choice. His hopes were dashed when his supply list arrived without the coveted badge. Some boys might have gotten jealous to find that their best friend was chosen prefect over them, as Elphias found out when he met Albus and Aberforth in Diagon for school shopping. Elphias was a little jealous (and in hindsight, he saw that even then, Albus had an air of authority that Elphias lacked; their fellow classmates were more likely to pay heed to what Albus said than they were to what Elphias said), but he was proud of and happy for his friend.

Elphias scored high marks on his OWLs, and spent the following summer working in the cauldron shop again. Sixth year, he dropped down to just four classes that truly interested him: Ancient Runes, Charms, Defense, and Transfiguration, and he spent more time on the Duelling Club. The following summer, he forewent his cauldron shop job to do some work around the Brent sidings marshalling yard in the London area, helping to split up the arriving coal trains and forwarding them to coal depots around London. It was a new experience, and it required a lot more hard work than the cauldron shop, and helped him build up some wiry muscle.

During their final year at Hogwarts, Elphias and Albus started planning a Grand Tour of the world that they would take together the following summer, as was rather common at the time. They had everything planned out before they sat their NEWTs, but as they were staying at the Leaky Cauldron the night before they were to leave for Greece, fate once again stepped in with the unexpected: news came that Albus' mother had died. The trip was waylaid as Albus returned home, and after Mrs Dumbledore's funeral, Elphias embarked on the trip alone (Elphias hadn't wanted to go on the planned trip without his best friend, who needed to stay home with his younger brother and sister, but Albus insisted that Elphias go on the trip anyway). He wrote frequent letters to Albus about the trip, including his narrow escapes from chimeras in Greece and the experiments of Egyptian alchemists. Along the way, he worked odd jobs everywhere he could manage, to pick up random new little skills or just to earn a bit of extra money for the trip. In mid-August, he returned to England to find that Albus' younger sister had just died. Neither Dumbledore boy seemed to be speaking to the other at Ariana's funeral, and Elphias stuck by his old friend.

Elphias settled back in England after his trip and set to work on finding a job. His duelling club connections from school led him to becoming a professional duellist, which allowed him to continue traveling as he participated in exhibition duels, as well as involving him in discussions with other duellists about technique and learning all manner of new offensive and defensive spells. Duelling captivated Elphias' interest, and also led him to meet Alma Williams, a young mediwitch trainee who was assisting in patching him up after one of his exhibitions. For Elphias, it was love at first sight. He spent several years courting Alma before he proposed on St Valentine's Day in 1904. They were married in April 1905, and it was that summer that Elphias gave up professional duelling for a safer job that didn't require his wife to fret over him with such frequency. Every new job is a new adventure, and his next adventure took him to the Ministry, where he applied for a position on the Committee on Experimental Charms. He was able to bring his duelling history to his new job, with his knowledge of various spells enhancing the experiments.

His job on the Committee on Experimental Charms did not last very long, but for personal reasons. In early 1908, Alma found out that she was pregnant, due early that August. The pregnancy was a difficult one, and baby Rose was born almost a month early in mid-July. The labour was hard on Alma, and proved to be too much: she slipped away only hours later as Elphias held her hand. Heartbroken and with a new baby to take care of, especially one who wasn't fully ready to enter the world, Elphias quit his job on the Committee and took a job as an apprentice magical architect. The hours were slightly less than his ministry job, and he could frequently work from home, so that he was able to stay with Rose.

Taking care of Rose on his own meant that Elphias didn't have much time to truly mourn Alma's death, the baby kept him on his toes. It seemed to always be time to be feeding her or changing her or bathing her or something. But he loved his little girl, and as much as he missed Alma, he was happy to have little Rose. After three years as an apprentice, Elphias took the necessary tests to be certified as a magical architect, and he joined the office that he had been doing his apprenticeship at. A few years later, when Rose was seven years old, Elphias met Elisabeth [surname]. As with Alma, it was love at first sight for Elphias and Elisabeth. Even Rose and Elisabeth were immediately taken with each other. Elphias and Elisabeth married just two years later, in 1917, with proud little Rose taking the role of flower girl.

Rose went off to Hogwarts a couple years later in September of 1919, and it was just a year later that Elisabeth got pregnant. Throughout Elisabeth's entire pregnancy, Elphias was concerned for her health and that of their baby, and was absolutely relieved when baby Henrietta was born happy and healthy in 1921, and Elisabeth was just as happy and healthy. Son Michael followed in 1923 and Richard in 1925. A year later, Rose finished school, got a job, and moved out on her own, but Elphias still invited her home for dinner with the family frequently, not wanting his first-born to feel as though she wasn't a part of the new family.

Through this all, Elphias and Albus remained close friends, and Elphias was slightly saddened that when Albus took on the job of Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts, it was after Rose was already gone. At least his dear old friend would be teaching his younger three children. The rise of Grindelwald was also occurring around the same time, and Elphias paid close attention to any news that came across the Prophet about Grindelwald.

Now that he had a wife at home to help him with the children, and the children themselves were getting older, Elphias decided to make another career change after twenty years as an architect. In 1931, he retired from architecture and returned to the Ministry, this time getting a job in the Portkey Office, because it seemed fascinating and tied back in with his old love of charms. Eight years later, in 1939, the muggle World War II started, and Grindelwald made his move at the same time, following on Hitler's heels. Elphias followed the news of both the muggle war and Grindelwald's army closely. The United Kingdom might be an island, but they wouldn't be able to stay out of a war for long. Elphias was in favour of the identification cards when the Ministry passed the legislation for them, and had no qualms about getting or carrying his own identification card. Finally, in 1945, both wars ended, the muggle war in August followed several months later by Albus' defeat of Grindelwald in December.

After a few years of relative peace and happiness, with new grandchildren to spoil, fate once again stepped in and tore away some of Elphias' happiness: in a stroke of irony, Elisabeth was stricken with dragon pox in early 1948. Elphias recognised the early signs from his own bout of it and rushed her to the hospital, where she languished in the Magical Bugs ward for months. Where Elphias had been fueled by youthful stubbornness and the drive to get well quickly so that he would be able to attend Hogwarts, Elisabeth was older and though she fought to cling to life for her husband, children, and grandchildren, she succumbed to the disease on the 20th of August that year. Elphias was heartbroken all over again, a piece of him torn away by the loss of his second wife, while tearing open the old wounds left by the loss of his first wife forty years earlier. Elphias surrounded himself with family: his daughter Rose and her children, daughter Henrietta and her little children (who would never really know their maternal grandmother, as Amelia was only three and Edgar not quite one), his sons Michael and Richard. He also left his job in the Portkey office for one in the International Magical Office of Law, desiring a change and a new challenge to focus on: he would become a Barrister.

And, again, he leaned on his best friend Albus for support. When Albus was offered the position of Minister for Magic in 1955, Elphias urged him to take it, he would be a great Minister, look at everything he has accomplished in his life! But when Albus turned the offer down, Elphias thought he understood: Albus just didn't want that spotlight, or maybe he just loved teaching. However, when Albus became Headmaster of Hogwarts the following year, Elphias was just tickled pink and happy for his best friend.

In 1960, after twelve years of grieving his Elisabeth, Elphias met a young muggleborn woman by the name of Cecilia Hayes. He was absolutely captivated by Cecilia, which caused a bit of a rift with his children when he began seeing her: she was younger than all of his children, she had gone to school with Richard, how could he be seeing someone so young? Michael even accused Elphias of never truly loving Elisabeth, if he was so eager to move on with someone so much younger, it was an insult to his mother's memory. It ended up being Rose who came to his rescue from his other children: although Cecilia was nearly young enough to be her own daughter, she knew that her father had loved Elisabeth, just as he had loved her own mother, Alma. She had seen how much happier her father was when he met Elisabeth, and how much happier still when they married, and she saw that same light of happiness returning to Elphias' eyes when he was with Cecilia. She assured her younger siblings that their mother would not be forgotten and was never in danger of being replaced. To her credit, Cecilia never seemed to mind that Elphias' children were older than she was, and she just sought to be friends with them. Elphias and Cecilia were married in 1962, and Elphias designed a house to be built in Cornwall, England, just outside of Tinworth, for them to move into.

They ended up moving into their Tinworth house just in time, because son Alexander was born in November of 1963, just a few months after the house was completed. He was followed a year and a half later by twins Maria and Lavinia in March of 1965, then by little Briony three years later on Valentine's Day, 1968. Once again, Elphias, just shy of 87 years old when Briony was born, was surrounded by young children, and the sound of little feet running around the house filled him with joy. He knew that whenever he took the children out to the park or to the ice cream parlour (the one owned by Uncle Florean, of course!), many people thought that he was just a kindly old grandfather spending time with his grandchildren, but he was always happy to say that, no, these little ones were his own children. He still did enjoy spending time with his grandchildren and older children, too, of course! But his little ones kept him feeling young and active.

It was when little Briony was two that the wizarding world began changing. Muggle relatives of muggleborns (or muggles married to witches and wizards) were attacking witches and wizards, appearing to be jealous of those possessing magic. As more muggle attacks occured in the following year, Elphias grew troubled by the fact that the message of the Death Eaters was looking more attractive to the wizarding population: that muggles and muggleborns are a corruption. With Cecilia being a muggleborn, he began fearing for her safety, and the safety of their children. In 1973, when Albus approached him to join his group to oppose the Death Eaters, he signed up without a second thought to the illegality of being a member of a vigilante group. He would do anything for his best friend, and he would do anything to help keep his Cecilia safe. He was proud of his grandson Edgar for joining up, as well. Unfortunately, just over a year later, though, the Order was painted as the villains in the public's eyes when an attack on the Day of Ambrosius was spun to make the Order look like they were siding with the violent civilians.

Then, in early November of 1976, Cecilia's mother fell ill, so Cecilia travelled to her parents' home in Pembury, Kent, to help care for her mother. Alexander and the twins were all off at Hogwarts, while Briony and Elphias stayed at home in Tinworth. The 6th of November was an eventful day followed by an eventful and tragic night: after Giants and Hags attacked Godric's Hollow and Buxted, East Sussex (respectively) during the day, werewolves attacked Tinworth. Elphias knew that his own house should be safe from the werewolves, but he could not leave his little eight-year-old daughter home alone while there were werewolves out, so he protected the homestead. The relief of knowing that the home was safe was shattered when he received a floo-call from the hospital in the midst of the werewolf attacks: vampires had attacked the Pembury area, and Cecilia was among the attacked. Elphias and Briony rushed to the hospital, but they were too late: Cecilia was dead. Alexander, Maria, and Lavinia were allowed to leave school for their mother's funeral, and once again, Elphias drew his whole family near. He also sought yet another career change: joining the Wizengamont as a jurist, taking a spot that was left open by one who retired following that series of attacks on the 6th.

Even in the midst of war, there was still room for tragedy that had nothing to do with the war: just after his 128th birthday in November of 1977, Elphias' father Jebediah Doge succumbed to old age. Elphias' mother Maria held on for just a week before dying as well, she was so in love with Jebediah and had spent over 100 years with him, she just did not want to continue on without him. With so much loss in such a short period of time, Elphias just drew his remaining family that much closer, increasing his visits to his older children, his grandchildren, and their families, and spending more time with his younger children when they were home on the holidays.

1978 brought with it the youngest set of Order members: five of Albus' students. Elphias was a little concerned about their age, but he trusted his long-time friend's judgement. It was only a few months later that the Order shrank in size for the first time: fellow original member Archibald Pilliwickle was killed by Death Eaters in April after vowing to restore voices to the victims of the protest that March. In November of that year (coincidentally, on the anniversary of Elphias' muggleborn father's death), a fellow Wizengamot member, Lancelot Walker, voiced his concerns that the muggleborn troubles were affecting the safety of all wizardkind and it would be valid to restrict their rights. While Elphias normally stood behind the Ministry, that was one thing he simply could not stand behind.

With Walker's proposal to cut muggleborn rights, naturally, came dissent. When a muggleborn rights activist disappeared shortly after consenting to an interview, the Order prepared for a potential attack against her interviewer, Felix Bloom. Their preparation wasn't for nothing, as Bloom's family was attacked by werewolves on the first night of the full moon that January. Elphias and [name] were able to save Bloom's daughter Sophia, but unfortunately not before she had been bitten. He is proud of Marlene and her family for taking in the little girl, and has offered to provide assistance if they ever need it. A couple months later, Elphias once again provided assistance in protecting a civilian who spoke out against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and participated in the trap that they had set up for the Death Eaters who came to take care of the dissenter, happy to be able to put his duelling skills to good use in the skirmish that erupted. That November, as Elphias and was remembering Cecilia's death alone for the first time (Briony had joined her siblings at Hogwarts that September), he was grateful that his youngest children were all safely at Hogwarts, because the Dark Army attacked again. They left Tinworth unscathed this time, and there were no werewolves involved, but Elphias was still renewed in his desire to end this war before too many other people were mourning the loss of loved ones.

And then there was 1980. The dawn of a new decade, hopefully the decade that would finally see the downfall of Voldemort. Instead, the year was still relatively new when, in early-mid February, Minister Hobday was murdered by a Death Eater while giving a speech outside the Ministry. This time, when Albus Dumbledore's name was mentioned again, Elphias was torn between wanting his old friend to take the position, and wanting him to not paint a bigger target upon himself. He was, needless to say, somewhat relieved that Albus again refused the position (though if he had been Minister, perhaps the year would have unfolded differently). June found the Order reduced in number yet again, as another founding member was murdered by Death Eaters: Lorraine McDonald was murdered after trying to get information on Albion Nott from his gardener. But the biggest loss, in Elphias' eyes, came two months later: after tips filled the DMLE's tip line about suspicious activity on Diagon, the Order braced for something. A fight erupted on 1 August on Diagon, between the Death Eaters and the "good guys": Order and DMLE. Elphias participated (in disguise, of course), because he is one of the duelling experts of the group. The end result was a tragic loss: the head of the Aurors … and Albus Dumbledore. The loss of his best friend shook Elphias almost more than any of his wives' deaths had: Albus had always been there for Elphias, as Elphias had been for Albus. Even though he knew better, Elphias always wondered, a little bit, if Albus might just be immortal, he seemed as though he would never die, he would bring about an end to this war as he had the one with Grindelwald. He had started the Order, what would they do without him?

Keep on fighting, that was what. Elphias and the others had to stay strong and carry on, they had to continue fighting and keep going until Voldemort and his Death Eaters were destroyed.

Personality

Elphias believes in true love, but he doesn't believe that there is necessarily only one true love out there for everyone: he truly believes that all three of his wives have been his true loves. Had Alma lived, would he have left her for Elisabeth? No, of course not. Had Alma survived their daughter Rose's birth, perhaps Elisabeth would never have been one of Elphias' true loves, or they simply would have met at a later point in life, had Alma still died later on. Elphias believes in fate, that what happens is meant to happen: he was meant to have all three of his wives in his life, just as he was meant to lose all three of them. He met Alma, Elisabeth, and Cecilia at the times in his life when he was meant to, when he needed their love and companionship, and when they died, he just wasn't meant to have them forever. He tends to take what happens, accept that it was meant to be, and go with it. Of course, that doesn't mean that he'd be content to just sit back and watch innocent muggles or muggleborns be tormented or blamed for murders that these Death Eaters are behind; sometimes fate needs a helping hand, and that's exactly what the Order provides.

Elphias draws his strength from his family and his friends. If entirely cut off from these support systems, he would very much start to feel his age, and to feel helpless and lost. But even just knowing that his family is out there, that they are still counting on him and depending on him, or able to support him, he feels as though he could fight on forever, as long as he needs to.

He is both old and young for his age. He has a wealth of experience, from travel to a variety of jobs to a large extended family, much more experience than even other 99-year-olds might have. But at the same time, his children and grandchildren keep him young, and where others his age might consider retiring, he is still youthful and vibrant and full of life, and a bit of a jokester. He has a tendency for irreverence and jokes about his age, which causes many people to write him off as a silly old buffoon. In actuality, he's as sharp as a tack, he just prefers to bring a bit of humour to the situation. Of course, he's all seriousness when it comes to Wizengamot business and Order business, or just whenever it's necessary.

Elphias is a hard worker who dedicates himself to his task. His parents instilled in him from a young age the understanding of how important hard work is, and he has stuck with it. He has always been determined to try things for himself first, only asking for help if he absolutely needs it. He knows that he is at an age where he could retire, and he is financially secure enough that he doesn't need to work … but in all honesty, he cannot imagine what he would do with all of his free time if he wasn't working. He doesn't plan to be a Wizengamot jurist forever, and considers resigning from the position whenever the war ends, to find another job and another set of skills to learn about and develop. Who knows, he might take up juggling and join the circus.

Strengths & Weaknesses: One of Elphias' greatest strengths is definitely his vast sum of experiences: he has travelled, he has duelled with some of the greatest duellists of the time (around the turn of the last century, granted), he has had a large list of former jobs. He does not make career decisions lightly, but he does have a tendency to grow weary of the same job day in and out for long periods of time, and will change careers when his current one no longer brings him challenges, which has led to a wealth of varied skills that many others may not have in the same combinations (how many people in the Portkey Office could also claim to have been a professional duellist?).

One of his greatest weaknesses is sort of the flip side to his wealth of experience: his age. Elphias might not like to think of it as a weakness, but he is nearing his century birthday, and while his children might keep him young, age has not been wholly kind to him. He is old, his reflexes might not be exactly what they used to be, his bones might be a bit more fragile. He is physically becoming slightly less strong as more time passes, simply because age does wear away at a man, and the loss that he has experienced in that time has begun to wear on him. His family is also a weakness of his: he fears the notion that he may outlive one of his children or grandchildren (especially Amelia or Edgar, as Amelia is an Auror — now Head Auror — and Edgar is a fellow Order member; neither position is particularly safe, but at the same time, he knows better than to try to suggest to either of them that they seek safer paths). His youngest ones, Cecilia's children, he especially worries about because they are still young, they are less capable of protecting themselves. They are his weakest spot.

Mental Health: Pretty darned sound for a man who's 99 years old. Although he might seem scattered and forgetful to those who don't know him well, he's actually as sharp as a tack.