Terry Boot

OOC

Game	Journal	Portrayed By
Sidelines	geek_dad	Julian Morris

Basic Stats

Full Name: Terry Irving Boot
Nickname(s): Ter
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Date of Birth: November 23, 1979
Zodiac: Sagittarius
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship Status: Widower; dating Su Li
Bloodline: Halfblood
Hometown: Nottingham, East Midlands, England
Current Residence: Whitby, Yorkshire, England
House & Year: Ravenclaw 1998
Occupation: History of Magic professor: Hogwarts
Wand: 9.5 in, ash, phoenix tail feather
Pet: None

Family

Father: Edward Boot (wizard; Hufflepuff 1968; herbologist)
Mother: Deborah Boot (née Shimpling; witch; Ravenclaw 1973; potionere)
Sister: Thalia Boot (witch; Hufflepuff 1996)
Brother: Tristan Boot (wizard; Hufflepuff 2001)
Brother: Tyler Boot (wizard; Hufflepuff 2003)

Wife: Brigitta Boot (née Wiegand; witch; Durmstrang 1998; healer; b. August 17, 1980; d. February 27, 2004)
Son: Leopold John Boot (wizard; b. February 27, 2004)

History

Terry is the second of four children, and eldest son, born to Edward and Deborah Boot, following Thalia and followed by Tristan and Tyler. It was Deborah's idea to give the kids all names that started with the same letter, and Edward's idea to go with T. Although Thalia called him weird for it, Terry enjoyed having that little bit of extra commonality with his siblings. But Terry always was a little bit weirder than his brothers and sister, just a little bit different from the rest of them. He loved to read, he just couldn't get enough of books. In fact, he learned to read right alongside Thalia, because he was jealous that she would get to do this and he couldn't. He would stay up for hours after bedtime, hiding under the covers with a torch and a book, just absorbing all the knowledge he could get. He was more interested in histories and biographies than fiction, but there are a few exceptions to that. He was particularly interested in far away places, so any fiction that involved somewhere far away or travel (something he desperately dreamed of one day doing) was of great interest to him.

His childhood wasn't all books and geekiness. He was teased and bullied, and even beaten up, quite frequently as a young child, all because of being a bookish geek. He got into sports as a way of trying to shed the reputation of being Wussy Girl Terry. And, well, sports also helped him bulk up a bit (he was a bit on the small and skinny side as a kid) so that he could fight back from the beatings from his bullies. At the muggle primary school his parents sent him and his siblings to, he played football, but he also got into quidditch, as any sports-interested young wizard would. Once he got to Hogwarts (where he was sorted into Ravenclaw), he was quick to make friends within his new house (particularly Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, and Su Li), and he was immediately fascinated by his History of Magic class — taught by an actual ghost! And, of course, there was quidditch. He was a reserve chaser for most of his time at Hogwarts, but he played starter on the team for his sixth and seventh years.

In his fifth year, he joined Dumbledore's Army, and was one of the DA members to come to Harry's aid on the train at the end of the school year, when Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle tried to attack him. He used a spell on them that left them looking like giant slugs. In his seventh year, Terry rejoined the DA as it was re-formed in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's absence, to fight back against the Carrows and Snape. He fought in the Battle of Hogwarts at the start of May, and nearly died on the battlefield. He was in the midst of a duel with a Death Eater (more of a fistfight, really, as the Death Eater attacked with his fists after Terry disarmed him) when another Death Eater caught him from behind with some kind of dark magic curse that sliced up his upper back (sectumsempra, though he didn't know that). They left him there to die, and he almost bled out before he was found and tended to. As the healers were working to stop the bleeding from the cuts on his back and get more blood into him (as the wounds were caused by dark magic, they couldn't be healed with magic), they overlooked damage done to his right ear during his fistfight. It wasn't until much later, when he was conscious and on the mend, that he realised he couldn't hear out of his right ear. The healers did what they could to repair the damage to his eardrum, but he never regained full hearing in that ear.

After he had fully recovered, Terry still yearned to travel. For years, he and Su had planned to go on a great trip all over the world after finishing school. Once he was up and mobile again after his stint in St Mungo's, they did just that: they took their NEWTs with the rest of their classmates that summer, then took off to travel the world. Terry was practically obsessed with the notion of going somewhere and just living and working there among the natives for a while while he soaked up their history and culture, so they did do that for quite a bit. They finally returned to England in late 2000, when Su was ready to return to the "real world," though Terry still had the travel bug. He had been taking notes all throughout their travels, and he moved into a small, cramped flat as he got to work writing books: insider travel guides to some of the places that he spent more time in (guides that would send you to the sorts of places that give you the real experience of the country or city, not just the tourist traps), as well as histories gathered from the stories of the natives.

Once he published his first book in late 2001, he returned to traveling, this time on his own, and on a more temporary basis than the two-year stint he and Su had gone on. Sometimes he went on research expeditions, sometimes he just travelled to enjoy the sights. In early 2003, he ended up in South Africa with a group of witches and wizards who were providing aid to some less fortunate wizards. There, he met Brigitta Wiegand, a young, pretty German Healer who shared his love for travel. Theirs was a whirlwind romance, and they were married before long, with a child (a son) on the way before the year was even over.

But tragedy struck, horribly, on February 27, 2004, when their son was born. The labour was exceedingly difficult on Brigitta, and despite the best efforts of the healers, she passed on after only being able to hold their son for a few moments. Leopold (Brigitta had wanted a strong, German name for their son) was, by contrast, healthy and hardy. Terry was completely devastated by his wife's death, and had no idea how he would care for a child by himself. Especially with only the money he made as a writer to support them. Su, his best friend of over a decade, was there for him as he grieved for his wife and struggled with raising Leo. When Leo was only a few months old, Terry got word that Professor Binns was actually considering moving on with his afterlife and leaving his position at Hogwarts. With a little bit of urging, he applied for the position of History of Magic professor, and began teaching the subject at the start of the 2004-2005 school year.

With a baby at home, of course he chose not to live in the castle: instead, he keeps an office there, and he's only at the castle for his classes and his set office hours; the rest of the time, he spends at home, bonding with Leo. His parents and Su were enormous helps to him following Brigitta's death, helping him to care for his son … and to care for himself. It was in the summer after his first year of teaching at Hogwarts, when he finally had more time to himself with his son, that Terry finally looked at Su- really looked at her!- and saw that he felt more for her than just friendship, or just gratitude. Risking everything, he asked her out on a date, and they have been dating ever since. Luckily, Leo has known Su for his entire life, so he doesn't have to worry about his son adjusting to Su being such a big part of his life.

Personality

To call Terry a geek is to pretty much hit the nail right on the head. He is a geek, and it's something he's come to terms with over the years, and he completely accepts it and owns up to it. He is absolutely obsessed with both history and travel, they are his two biggest obsessions. If he could just travel forever and dig around in the history of places far away, he would be happy. History is something that has always fascinated him, and he is literally living his dream right now, with teaching History of Magic at Hogwarts: he hopes to bring that class out of the "boring, everyone drops it after OWLs" territory and actually make it fun and interesting. Unlike Binns, who simply droned on through his lectures, Terry likes opening up the floor for discussion with his students.

He's also very interested in sports, an interest he cultivated as a child to try to break out of the mold of being the geek who always gets bullied. He doesn't play sports so much anymore since the Battle of Hogwarts (though he wouldn't say no to kicking a football around a bit!), but he loves watching quidditch matches, cheering on his students in the Hogwarts games, and trying to bring Leo to professional matches when he can (the rest of the time, he'll be tuning in to the wireless to at least listen to the matches). His team has always been the Appleby Arrows, and he'll cheer for them loudly.

Terry suffers greatly from Foot In Mouth Syndrome. He has a tendency to say or do things without fully thinking them through first, often resulting in, well … sticking his foot in his mouth. Generally, his friends who have known him for years understand and don't get too upset with his stupid comments, but there's always people who get offended and mad at him. Usually as soon as he does or says something stupid, he realises it and apologises profusely, at least.

Leopold is the most important person in Terry's life. He doesn't make any major life decisions without first figuring out how Leo will be affected. Sometimes it feels a little overwhelming to be responsible for another life, and one so young and fragile, but one look into his son's big brown eyes, and he feels like he can handle it. It helps that he has help from family and friends, but he just feels like it's his duty to do right by his son.