Hugh Bradley
OOC
| Game | Journal | Portrayed By |
|---|---|---|
| Sidelines | hughmanatee | Matthew Goode |
Basic Stats
Full Name: Hugh Reynold Bradley
Nickname(s): None
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Date of Birth: August 15, 1979
Zodiac: Leo
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship Status: Dating Morag MacDougal
Bloodline: Muggleborn
Hometown: Falmouth, Cornwall, England
Current Residence: Cheddar, Somerset, England (with Mo)
House & Year: Ravenclaw 1997
Occupation: Stage and wireless actor (Timeturner Tales)
Wand: 11 in, cedar, phoenix tail feather
Pet: None
Family
Father: Verne Donald Bradley (muggle; bank manager; b. November 30, 1945)
Mother: Stella Anne Bradley (née Layton; muggle; interior decorator; b. June 8, 1948)
Brother: Samuel Richard Bradley (wizard; Gryffindor 1995)
Sister: Chelsea Rachel Bradley (witch; Hufflepuff 2001)
History
Hugh Bradley was born the second child of Verne and Stella Bradley (a bank manager and an interior decorator, respectively), about two years behind his older brother Samuel and about two years before his younger sister Chelsea. Growing up as muggles in Falmouth, the children had no idea that there was another world out there, coexisting right in their own backyard. Hugh's childhood seemed rather normal to him, aside from a few weird things happening around him and his siblings on occasion, though those were always chalked up to "kids being kids." Whatever that meant. Hugh suffered a bit from middle-child syndrome growing up: Sam was the golden child, the eldest, while Chelsea was the baby, the youngest, the princess. Hugh was stuck in the middle, striving to do what he could to gain his parents' attention and affections and to stand out from his siblings. He did so by acting out a bit, doing all sorts of crazy and stupid stunts, ranging from jumping off the roof of the house (and breaking his leg) to trying to jump his bicycle over a parked car (and breaking his arm) to painting the cat blue (and getting scratches all over his arms). His best friend and partner in crime in many of his stunts was his neighbour, Mark Cross. Mark was a year older than Hugh, but the difference in age didn't bother them: they grew up together like brothers. It was more unusual, in their childhoods, to see one boy without the other than it was to see the two of them together. Together, they got into all sorts of hijinks around the neighbourhood, from frying ants with magnifying glasses in the park to pulling elaborate pranks on unsuspecting neighbours. The Twin Terrors, they were called.
It came as a shock to the Bradley family when, in the summer of 1988, a representative from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry came to their house and informed the family that Sam was a wizard, and that he was invited to attend school at Hogwarts to learn all about his new heritage and how to use his magic. A few demonstrations on behalf of the representative — as well as answers to all the inexplicable instances surrounding the children — had the Bradleys convinced, and the representative also pointed out that it was highly likely that both Hugh and Chelsea would be attending Hogwarts, as well. So on September 1st, the family went to King's Cross, where they had assistance in crossing over onto Platform 9 3/4 to see Sam off to school. Around the neighbourhood, and with the kids' friends, it was explained away as sending the children off to a private boarding school. Verne and Stella, very accepting of their children's new magical heritage, bought an owl to be able to send letters to the kids at school, and letters to and from friends were to be sent to the house, then to the friend, so as to avoid having to explain why they were sent via owl.
In the summer of 1990, an owl arrived with Hugh's Hogwarts letter, but he had mixed feelings about it all. He was excited to learn about being a wizard, and getting to go to the really cool school that Sam came home for the hols going on and on about (the staircases moved! The suits of armour moved! The paintings talked!), but at the same time, he didn't like lying to Mark about where he was going, and he'd really been looking forward to joining their school's rugby team with him when they were old enough. But the lure of new and interesting knowledge (and new and interesting ways to get into trouble) was simply too much to resist, and Hugh ultimately boarded the train with Sam on September 1st and went off to Hogwarts. Once at Hogwarts, he was sorted almost immediately into Ravenclaw. The Sorting Hat briefly considered putting him in Gryffindor with Sam, but decided that Ravenclaw was better-suited for Hugh. He fell in easily among the other Ravenclaws, those who (like him) loved knowledge for its own sake, and loved learning new things.
Hugh's first few years of school were more or less a blur to him. He made friends with his fellow Ravenclaws, including those older and younger than him, and friends with his fellow yearmates, including those in other houses. He joined the Ravenclaw quidditch team in his third year as a chaser, the same year that Chelsea joined her brothers at Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Hufflepuff. The threat of the Heir of Slytherin being after muggleborns that year worried Hugh a little, especially with his brother and sister in different houses. All three Bradleys survived the Heir, but not without Hugh realising just how much this new world of his disliked "people like him" — muggleborns (or "mudbloods" as he was referred to by some of his more purist schoolmates). The frequently changing Defense teachers didn't make much of an impact on him, except perhaps for Lockhart, who was quite possibly the most annoying teacher he had ever had.
When the Tri-Wizard Tournament came to Hogwarts in his fifth year, Hugh wanted desperately to be part of it, and even tried a few different tricks to cross the age line around the goblet with no luck. He even tried to talk Sam into putting his name into the Goblet for him (being a seventh year, Sam could — and did — put his own name in), but Sam refused. Naturally he didn't think it fair that some fourth year (growing up muggle, Hugh hadn't heard of THE Harry Potter until after he'd started Hogwarts, and even then not until the kid had shown up a year after Hugh started) had managed to work his way past the age line and not only get his name in, but somehow trick the goblet into choosing two Hogwarts champions. Hugh mostly just cheered for the Hogwarts champions throughout the tournament, figuring that at least they had a 50% chance of their school being victorious this way. The death at the end of the tournament of sixth-year Cedric Diggory was shocking, as were the Headmaster's claims of You-Know-Who's return — Hugh had learned enough about the wizarding world to know how Very Bad that would be. But he tried to put it out of his mind as he returned home that summer with his siblings.
As he awaited his scores on the O.W.L. exams, he and Mark found all sorts of new ways to have fun now that Mark had a car (granted, a junky old car that was held together with rust) and could drive. They went on day-trips to just about anywhere they could get to from Falmouth: buying leather-and-hemp wristbands from a pretty little blonde hippie girl at the beach and picking up girls in bikinis one afternoon and seeing how fast they could get the car to go down abandoned streets the next night. Mark also took it upon himself to teach Hugh how to drive that summer. Of course, someone who had only just learned to do it himself wasn't necessarily the best teacher, especially since Hugh was a year too young to officially learn. That, however, just made it all the more fun. It was a hot night in late July when Hugh found himself behind the wheel of Mark's car, careening too fast down a road that had a sudden curve. He jerked the wheel, but he was going too fast to make the turn, and the car left the road, rolling over several times before coming to a rest on its roof. Hugh had whacked his head on the doorframe and was knocked out, and when he came to, he found himself alone in the upside-down car. Carefully freeing himself from his seatbelt, Hugh crawled out of the car's wreckage, his head spinning as he tried to call out for Mark. He found his best friend lying several yards away. Mark hadn't been wearing a seatbelt, and he'd been thrown from the car. It was hours before someone else happened to be driving by and could hear Hugh's cries for help. He was checked into the hospital with a concussion and broken wrist while Jon was checked into the morgue with a broken neck from when he hit the ground. It was chalked up as pure dumb luck that Hugh had survived with only a concussion, broken wrist, and a few cuts and bruises, but he thinks he might have accidentally used magic to protect himself.
Hugh blamed himself endlessly. He was charged as a minor for reckless accidental death, but the charges were dropped at Mark's parents' request. Because he was a minor, the record was sealed. The Crosses moved away from Falmouth that October, after Hugh had returned to Hogwarts for his sixth year, a changed young man. He had missed out on all the wizarding world drama that summer, with the Ministry decrying the Headmaster and the Potter boy as lying about You-Know-Who. Even though it had barely been months since the death of Cedric Diggory, it felt like decades to Hugh, and he couldn't bring himself to care. He reverted to his old methods of dealing: he acted out for the attention, which landed him in more detentions that year than in all his previous five years combined, particularly with Professor Umbridge. He just couldn't bring himself to care about much of anything at school outside of quidditch (in which he put all of his anger at himself into his playing). He refused to talk about the incidents of the summer, even with his closer friends at school. He completely shut down that part of his memory, cordoning it off from everything else. But he did always wear the wristband, never taking it off, not even to shower.
By the time he was drawing near the end of his seventh year, Hugh had more or less managed to regain his jokester side, but he was still clearly haunted. He was just glad to be nearly done with school. He had no idea what he wanted to do with himself after finishing Hogwarts, just that he wanted to stay in the wizarding world and away from the muggle world, in part because he'd developed a phobia of cars and driving after the accident, and travel in the wizarding world didn't require any kinds of explanations as to why you weren't using a car. He did end up staying in the wizarding world, but not in the manner he'd wanted: the summer after his seventh year, a Muggleborn Registry was started up. Not particularly knowing better at the time, Hugh and his siblings all reported to the Ministry to be registered, and they were all accused of stealing magic, found guilty, and sentenced to Azkaban. Hugh clearly saw the irony in being locked up for the charge he wasn't guilty of, while he'd gotten away free and clear on the charge that he actually was guilty of two years previous. And the Dementors at Azkaban certainly didn't let him forget it: every day and every night, he was haunted by memories and nightmares of that fateful July night when he killed his best friend.
Azkaban was hell for Hugh. With such horrible memories haunting him already, having the Dementors draining him of any hope or positive memories he had sent him spiraling into despair. He and Sam shared a cell, with Chelsea in the next cell over. Hugh became haunted by Chelsea's screams for mercy from the Dementors: she had so many more happy memories than her brothers, making her a treat for their guards. While he was in Azkaban, Hugh took to digging his ragged nails into the palms of his hands, to remind himself that he could still feel, a habit that left a series of faint scars visible. While he knew, once he was out of Azkaban, that the Healers could make the scars go away, he wanted to keep them, as a visible reminder. When they were finally released from Azkaban, the three Bradleys were all hollow shells of who they had once been. Sam and Chelsea got their feet back under them relatively quickly, and Chelsea even returned to school the following year to make up for her missed fifth year. But Hugh, tormented as he had been by his past, took longer to recover. For a year, he simply bounced from job to job, aimless. He had moved into a small, slightly run-down flat in muggle London — close enough to Diagon Alley to be among other wizards, but also able to have a phone hooked up at home to stay in contact with his parents — but he suffered from frequent nightmares, jolting awake in the middle of night, covered in sweat. Nightmares of his time in Azkaban, of the accident that killed Mark. He was often disoriented when he woke up alone, so he started sleeping around, getting into relationships with women that lasted anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to a few months. None of them particularly meant much to him … they were simply a warm body in his bed, someone to assure him that he was awake and not still dreaming when he woke up in the middle of the night.
One of these girls, Denise, was about five years older than him, and an actress. They dated for about two months in early 1999, and she told him about acting, about taking on other personas for the duration of a role. That appealed to Hugh more than anything had since his release from Azkaban, and he decided to pursue it, applying to the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts. WADA was like a breath of fresh air for Hugh. Attending classes gave him something steady to concentrate on, and it was a wonderful break from himself to step into characters. He was on a three-year course plan, and made friends among the other students — not just in the drama department, but singers, musicians, dancers — and he finally had a direction in his life. He still worked part-time jobs to pay his rent, bouncing around among jobs, both in the wizarding world and the muggle world.
In October of 2001, Hugh's world changed again … but this time for the better. He had been close friends with Morag MacDougal for years, ever since school. She was a year behind him in Ravenclaw, but they became friends regardless. One night, he woke up from nightmares and his current girlfriend refused to come over. With nothing else to do, Hugh turned to Morag. She came over in the middle of the night and stayed with him through the night, and they spent the next day together, too. After a bit too much to drink, Hugh kissed Morag, and she admitted to having feelings for him. Hugh put the brakes on before they moved too far, and woke up in the morning to discover that Morag had slipped out of the flat while he slept. After a miserable few days, Hugh showed up at Morag's flat and serenaded her. He needed her in his life.
Since that day, Morag has become a steady constant in his life. He loves her dearly, but is afraid of upsetting the status quo of their relationship, of ruining things with her, so he has hesitated to take the next step, to proceed beyond the "boyfriend/girlfriend" stage (despite his mother's frequent comments about wedding bells and grandbabies). During this time, his career has also taken a leap forward: he graduated from WADA in June of 2002, and became a regular actor in productions at the Melpomene Theatre on Diagon Alley, thanks to recommendations from one of his professors. Also on a recommendation from a professor, he got a job with the WWN melodramatic serial Timeturner Tales in August of 2002, replacing a departing actor in the role of Ryan Specher, the fun-loving son of the serial's resident Aethonon breeder who dreams of being a famous racer.
Hugh has been glad to have a regular job that he enjoys, and a long-term girlfriend who he loves. His pre-Morag tendency of sleeping around is gone, and he is a devoted boyfriend to her. He enjoys stepping into the character of Ryan, and does the occasional stage production at Melpomene whenever he feels like he needs to be someone new for a while. He kept his little run-down flat, even though he could afford something better, because it helped him feel more grounded, though he and Morag were spending more time at her (considerably nicer) flat than at his.
By early 2006, a combination of things led to another change: Hugh and Morag bought a house together in the country. They were practically living together anyway by this point, and they wanted something that was theirs (not his vs hers). There was also the additional push from everyone around them who were wondering when they were going to take the next step in their relationship. And, more importantly for Hugh, it was the kind of sign he could give to Morag that he was truly serious about her, and that he thought of them as permanent, without actually … getting married.
Personality
Hugh likes to be noticed. He likes to have people paying attention to him. He's full of life: wild, crazy, loud, outgoing, and prone to doing things just for the attention it garners. It's a combination of classic middle-child syndrome and the desire to feel alive again, after his time in Azkaban. He never does anything that might harm other people, and tends to avoid things that would harm himself, he just has a need to be noticed and acknowledged. He sort of has a slight fear of just being forgotten.
Acting is a great solace to Hugh, it gives him an opportunity to be someone else for a while, especially when being himself gets too hard. When he acts, he can forget his own past and just be free from it. As a result, he really gets into developing his characters, wanting to know figure out everything he can about them, what their motivations are, everything. By now, he knows his character of Ryan Sprecher on the serial inside and out, but he loves throwing himself into a new character when he does stage work.
He's haunted by his past, by the car accident that killed his best friend, by his months spent in Azkaban. He doesn't like talking about either event, though he would be more likely to speak of the latter than the former. Nobody in the wizarding world, outside of his siblings, knows about the accident, not even his girlfriend. And he would greatly prefer to keep it that way. He just lets everyone assume that his nightmares are related to Azkaban. And he does have nightmares: he will wake up sometimes in the middle of the night from nightmares, sweating and with a pounding heart. The nightmares are often either of the accident, or of his time in Azkaban. Nothing he does in either nightmare ever changes the outcome. Because of the nightmares, he doesn't like to sleep alone, because he becomes very disoriented if he wakes up from a nightmare alone: unsure of whether he's actually awake or if he's still asleep and dreaming.