Stefan Althaus - A Profile of Insanity

Name: Stefan Althaus
Age: 62; born at 11:59:59 pm on October 31, 1983
Profession: Medical Magic Researcher... though has other specialties... ; Former employee at ECHO, may once again work for the reinstated ECHO in Fixed Future
Blood status: Pureblood

Family:
- Mother, Brunhild, Deceased [Homicide; Stefan]
- Father, Lothar, Deceased [Homicide; Brunhild]
- Brother, Conrad; age 54, disowned; Svetlana Kaminski’s Healer
- “Girlfriend” of sorts, Gayle Welch. Deceased [Homicide; Stefan]
- Daughter, more or less, Cheryl Welch. Deceased at age 4 [Homicide; Stefan]
- Wife, Irene, deceased [homicide; Stefan] and brought back to life as an Inferi
- Daughter, Lydia, aged 18; hates and fears her father after having witnessed Irene’s murder at his hands
- Son, Kai, aged 13; devoted to father (not a witness to Irene’s murder, and doesn’t believe his sister about such things) but has the Drain Illness, causing Stefan to be less than “cuddly” ... not that he was really of that disposition to begin with


Picture:

Playby: Hmm... who could that possibly be? XD [coughAliceCoopercough]

Personality: Stefan is rather wild and rebellious, more than willing to make a little trouble if he can’t find any nearby, and for the most part completely out of his mind. He is passionate about what he does and rather obstinate about every stand he makes on a decision. Merlin help the poor unfortunate soul that prevents him from getting what he wants, when he wants it! The wizard is inescapably mentally unstable and craves performing the next twisted experiment on man or beast for his own personal amusement. Stefan, simply put, is but one of many human embodiments of chaos, with a dark sense of humor and a very short, violent temper. He’s also occasionally just plain violent when the mood strikes him to be so...

Despite his dementedness, Stefan is a rather talented (albeit dark, more often than not) and intelligent wizard. He also has a thing for muggle technology despite his Death Eater roots and pure-blood mania drills. A bit of a sado-masochist, Stefan likes giving pain as much as receiving it, although there are limits on the receiving part. He has the potential to weave between being rather excitable, bordering on hyperactive, to being as calm and collected as a snake coiled and prepared to strike at an instant’s notice. It wouldn’t take a Ravenclaw to notice he is calculating and manipulative.

The fact that Stefan has two children shows that he has the capacity to love, but it is almost never directed at someone other than his immediate family. He has no romantic agenda, still being rather attached to his late wife who now roams upon the earth as an inferius... bound to carry out Stefan’s bidding at his whims. What is startlingly disturbing is the fact that the wizard loves her more now as a reanimated corpse than he did when she was actually alive...

Don’t expect him to put his neck on the line unless he feels it’s a worthy cause – he might enjoy working with the deceased Inferi but that doesn’t mean he wants to join them! Therefore, if you don’t have his undying loyalty (which is possible to attain... just exceedingly difficult unless he wants something from you) then he won’t have any qualms whatsoever about back-stabbing. In fact, back-stabbing and back-cursing are two of his favorite pastimes.


History:
Stefan Althaus was born into a pure-blooded family of Death Eaters late on the evening of October 31, 1983, in Nuremberg, Germany. His parents were Brunhild and Lothar Althaus. Conrad Althaus, Stefan’s younger brother, works at Saint Mungo’s while Stefan’s services are more along the lines of medical research, yet he’s still termed a Healer. For the most part the Althaus Clan stayed neutral in regards to selecting a ‘side’ of magic to practice: some immersed themselves in Dark Arts, others in magicks of good, and yet even another group that stuck true to Althaus ideals and remained neutral in their magical endeavors.

Both Stefan and Conrad attended Durmstrang Institute, but only the latter managed to graduate from the school. While there, Stefan made quite a few friends, but also his fair share of enemies. One such vic- ... er, classmate was Damon Highever: an enemy and a rival, particularly during Potions lessons and any spare moment Stefan could find to be more than the typical plain-vanilla school bully. It was rare for a week to go by without at least one major incident to occur between them.

Being a ‘junior Death Eater’ in the ranks during the Second Wizarding War did much to inflate his ego and therefore his penchant for being a menace. Conrad was more or less disowned during this time for not taking the Dark Mark like his brother had. Stefan took the mark on New Years Eve of 1996, and had been 13 years old at the time. Leviathon Viper, an older Death Eater youth in the ranks, befriended him rather quickly. It didn’t take long at all before Stefan considered the other lad the older brother he didn’t have, looking up to him quite regularly in addition to his father.

The worst of Stefan’s eras was when he entered his fifth year. It started over the summer holidays, when his parents’ relationship had begun to decline. Brunhild and Lothar were on the verge of splitting up – each rather tired of the sniping and domestic violence intensified by the Second Wizarding War’s immediate aftermath – when Brunhild murdered Lothar in cold blood before Stefan’s very eyes. Brunhild proceeded to make the death look like an accident, then subsequently threatened Stefan to tell no one and schooled him in regards of how to act when interrogated by the aurors. While not the kindest of wizards, Lothar had been on of Stefan’s role-models. Despite the atrocities committed while a Junior Death Eater, and all that he would go on to do Stefan never truly got over the premeditated demise of his father.

And he took out his pain and anger on all those around him with no qualms as to whether they were friend or foe...

Once he somewhat came to terms with the death, well into the school year, he and a group of friends began dabbling rather heavily in curses and other Dark Arts. None of his half-dozen or so compatriots are completely certain who fired the curse but somehow Stefan ended up being ‘cursed’ to have dark markings appear around his eyes, expanding and vanishing with seemingly no rhyme or reason... or so they thought. It was after watching Stefan for a while that they learned it was somewhat directly tied to his emotions and tendencies (think The Crow only a bit different), but there was no definitive key where a specific pattern indicated a certain mood. Some of his friends suggested he should see the nurse and have the curse removed, since all of their attempts to remove it on their own went in vain. Yet Stefan did no such thing, rather liking how the curse made him stand out from the rest of his peers.

Ultimately, three-quarters of the way into Stefan’s fifth year at Durmstrang, the young man was expelled by Headmaster Orlov for having killed 3 classmates in a brawl, all of them like Stefan having belonged to Death Eater families. No one knows what provoked the attack, and Stefan never gave the same answer twice. One report claimed it was the classmates that provoked Stefan deliberately, while another claimed that Stefan simply flew off the handle at the most trivial and mundane of words exchanged. With some legal help that was worth every galleon of the lawyer’s overcharged services, Stefan managed to come out of the ordeal with a suspension and a ban from attending Durmstrang ever again, or even setting foot inside it with the hopes to seek knowledge (sending any of his future children to the school notwithstanding).

Stefan’s suspension was over by the time September the First rolled around, by which time his mother had enrolled him into Hogwarts. Conrad remained at Durmstrang. The sorting hat declared Stefan a Slytherin upon being within six inches of the youth’s head. Various sorts of trouble, detentions, and chaos filled the two years he more or less terrorized the school... albeit on watered-down terms compared to his antics at Durmstrang. In Stefan’s own words, despite having toned down a bit he still, “rose Hell itself from gargoyle’s fire”. He completed his schooling with very good marks. Perhaps not his best marks, but good ones nonetheless.

It was on December 16, 2000, the day before Amaranth Viper’s birthday, when Leviathon was given the Dementor’s Kiss. Stefan had been one of the witnesses, whether Leviathon had wished it or not. In his mind it would be the last positive act he would do for the man: honoring whatever bravery Levi had in meeting what was more or less his demise. Unlike the death of his father the previous year, Stefan had a companion in his mental anguish: he and Amaranth – both of whom that were exceptionally close to Levi – leaned on each other when one or the other was in need. The wizard attempted to bottle the emotions as much as he could, trying to be strong for the then-five-year-old Amaranth, and did a fairly good job of it. Stefan then made a silent vow to do his best, when able, to take over where Leviathon left off in looking after Amaranth.

During finals week in his last year at Hogwarts, Stefan impregnated one Gayle Welch of Gryffindor, though whether because they were the typical rebels that didn’t honor the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry or if the act had been out of malice has never been determined. Regardless of how she felt about Stefan, Gayle gave birth to a baby girl, whom was named Cheryl. For a time, the wizard lived Gayle – much to her irritation – and their child but refused to commit to marriage. Judging by the glances Gayle occasionally shot at him, that was apparently just fine by her.

Almost immediately after graduating he began an internship at ECHO, turning down his initial recruitment to a little-known clinic in his hometown of Nuremberg, Germany. His goal was simple: acquire enough knowledge about medical magic to become something like a Healer, but without the hassle of tending to patients. He really wasn’t one for dealing with pediatrics, geriatrics, or any other sort of “-atrics” for that matter. He barely had enough patience to deal with his own daughter let alone someone else’s kids!

In 2005, at the age of 22, Stefan tore down the family he’d inadvertently created: first murdering Gayle... and then set his psychotic, homicidal sights on the four-year-old Cheryl. There was no precise explanation as to what had possessed him, literally or metaphorically, to do such a thing.

Two years later, shortly before his twenty-fourth birthday, Stefan completed his internship, and was declared a full-fledged medical researcher within ECHO. Both he and his brother able to live on their own now, Stefan celebrated this accomplishment by doing in the woman that had taken his father from him: Brunhild Althaus, his own mother. All Conrad knew was that she’d been attacked in their home while both boys were ‘away’ and brutally killed. Some small part of Stefan’s mind didn’t believe his disowned younger brother should know the truth of such things, almost as though to protect him. Conrad had really been the only reason Brunhild hadn’t been offed sooner, according to an excerpt in Stefan’s journal, which was read in an official court trial some eight years later on November 28, 2013.

Stefan steadily rose through the ranks at ECHO, earning much success after several bouts of trial and error. He wasn’t the quickest-ascending employee on the corporate ladder, but he did have a way with words. Therefore, when ECHO was going through a rough patch due to some legality issues, the organization began holding lectures and seminars at various magical schools and locales. Stefan was just one of those employed to ‘shed light’ on the good works of the company. Banned from ever setting foot in Durmstrang, except as the guardian of a potential student, Stefan went back to his second alma mater - Hogwarts - and to various places around the Wizarding portions of England to host these academic conferences.

He wasn’t at all surprised to find Amaranth Viper there, having taken quite an interest in the company and in potions in general.

The seminar involved brewing a difficult potion well beyond that of seventh-year’s teachings, though not so difficult as to be Master-level exclusive. Not even Stefan himself held such an accolade as Potions Master. It surprised him that a few managed to brew the potion successfully by the end of the seminar. What didn’t surprise him, however, was the fact that Amaranth Viper was the only student at the lecture to brew the concoction without noticeable flaw. As a reward for her efforts, Stefan awarded her with a small bottle of Felix Felicis.

And though she wouldn’t know it right away, Stefan was also going to put in a good word for her when he noticed her application cross important peoples’ desks. He would be watching vigilantly for that particular sheet of parchment. In his opinion if there were to be any ECHO recruits from the lot he’d just taught, one of the first brilliant minds would have to be Amaranth Viper! If research and potioneering were her dreams, he would do all he could to help her attain them! Stefan would be helping her, and actively keeping his unspoken last-minute promise to Leviathon. The German wizard and Amaranth would eventually strengthen their alliance once Stefan secured her position within the organization for her: they each fought for each others’ projects, and came to the other’s defense when needed.

Stefan was eventually apprehended for various crimes against humanity, having broken every code of ethics known to wizard- and muggle-kind. A trail of evidence had been unearthed that linked him to the deaths of Brunhild Althaus, Cheryl Welch, and Gayle Welch, and thus the Ministry sent out aurors to bring him in for questioning. Thirty years old at the time, Stefan doesn’t remember much of how or when he was apprehended, although a brown haired witch and captain of the team sent out to retrieve him stands out in his memories. The wizard, however, only caught her last name: Riddle...

It had been Stefan’s second time in a courtroom, but that made little difference to him. In his mind he was certain he’d committed no crimes, and held no remorse for his actions. He even still made excuses to attempt to leave early that had to do with the long-deceased Cheryl, and became highly agitated when reminded the child was dead. He found it somewhat odd that the same witch that had been on the apprehending party was also serving here as part of the prosecution, and he finally learned her full name: Kiara Riddle. She asked some rather interesting questions of him, most of which he generally answered with his own consolidated, twisted version of the Nuremberg Code or information that had little to do with the question being asked, though stayed to the subject matter of whom or what was being discussed. The Wizengamot eventually declared by their own observation that Stefan Althaus was criminally insane and therefore to be sent to a mental ward at Saint Mungo’s Hospital for treatment, after which if there were any significant improvements the trial would then be re-opened... if not simply dropped due to the case of his sanity or utter lack thereof.

Stefan freaked out when Law Enforcement Wizards tried to escort him to Saint Mungo’s, and fought them every step of the way.

Fourteen days after his incarceration at the ward, Stefan managed to escape with the help from some like-minded friends he’d made. The magical straitjacket was murder to remove, and thus used it to his advantage instead by strangling a muggle man preparing to ride out on his motorcycle. At the last moment, however, Stefan backed out on his grand plan to escape by motorcycle because he hadn’t a clue how to operate the thing and instead took to the streets. It didn’t take long for medical and security staff to find him, but getting him back to Saint Mungo’s was quite the trip. It took half a dozen stunners and three phials of a gaseous form of the calming draught to subdue him.

They placed him in a ward featuring higher security, and assigned to him a specialized nurse to deal with his antics and escape attempts. Her name was Irene Eckstein, and one could say it was love at first ‘bite’. Irene’s first day on the case of providing medical care for Stefan resulted in him biting her hard enough to draw blood. Her response had been to inflict pain right back, using the Cruciatus Curse. It bordered on ethics, true, but she had seen the Dark Mark on his arm, and thus determined that he was a patient that required much more forceful handling than most others despite if he was truly aware of his actions or not. Through some demented mental process of Stefan’s, her initial use of the Cruciatus on him eventually allowed for the two reached an understanding. It took him quite a while to admit even to himself that he had fallen madly (pun intended) in love with her, much less express the sentiment out loud.

While more or less incarcerated at the mental ward, Stefan was not without a few visitors. His brother, Conrad, for one, visited him at least once a month. Yet, despite the gesture, Stefan could tell that the other man had distanced himself a great deal from the young boy that hung onto Stefan’s every word. A few ECHO employees stopped in for visits, and of them (though separated from the rest in his mind) was Amaranth Viper. Despite how close they had gotten in terms of friendship and alliances, he had been rather surprised to see Viper there. Stefan only wished he had been just a bit more lucid rather than partially out of it thanks to potions and tonics the first time he remembered her dropping in.

To Stefan’s pleasant surprise, Viper visited on a fairly regular basis when she could and either sent a gift or wrote to him when she could not... as opposed to Conrad’s once-a-month-if-you’re-lucky policy. Even though the ward staff read every letter and opened every parcel to make sure there wouldn’t be a breakout, Stefan always wrote back to every letter Amaranth had sent him... even if he knew he was going to see her the next day. The wizard also often made it a point to send her a card for every birthday or major holiday, timing the sending out and arrival of the cards like clockwork despite the miniscule amount of control he had over such a thing. Yet, it truly irked him that he was unable to give her birthday or holiday tidings in person. Only once had he been allowed to do that, during a rare outing with some of his other ward-mates, though he had been tightly secured into a wheelchair at the time. It was happenstance that he had spotted her, and a stroke of luck that it was Irene ‘driving’ the wheelchair. Had it not been the raven-haired nurse, Stefan probably would’ve missed the opportunity altogether.

During group therapy and interactivity sessions Stefan saw how certain others that were ‘recovering’ managed to gain more privileges and were eventually released from the place. He attempted to mimic their examples to the best of his ability, but still had a few issues in pulling it off flawlessly. It took him five years to perfect it, and concluded his faked recovery with proposing marriage to Irene once he was free to go and get her a proper ring. Despite the troubles Stefan gave her as a patient, and by some miracle, Irene accepted the proposal.

After getting cleared by a man Stefan only knew as ‘Warden’ he actually did go and get Irene a ring... and married Irene early the next year. They decided to wait a few months so Stefan could re-integrate himself into ‘normal’ society again. During that time he worked with lawyers and court proceedings to weasel his way out of a life sentence in Azkaban for his crimes... and get his license to practice medical magic reinstated. He had to be on his guard not to slip too far back into his insanity out in the open, for he didn’t fully trust Irene to not send him back to the mental ward at the first sign of disturbance.

Everything was going well for the newlyweds, though the couple was particularly blessed in the year 2027 when their daughter Lydia was born. Stefan was present at the child’s birth, though was rather awkward about once again being in the presence of an infant despite being 44 years old and having experienced fatherhood once before. Five years later, the family expanded again with the birth of a son, whom the proud parents named Kai.

Stefan kept his impulses and urges to his work, having learned while in the mental ward to for the most part how to exclude certain individuals from seeing that part of him. There were times when he mixed up Irene and Gayle, and Lydia and Cheryl, but only rarely did he voice the confusion. Admittedly the wizard was not exactly the cuddliest of parent figures, nor was he the best role-model. He raised his children much in the way he himself had been raised, being rather strict with both and stressing the value of pure blood while Irene was more lenient and caring. Their magical learning with Stefan began almost the instant their magic surfaced and they could speak, wanting to make sure his children were intellectually a cut above the rest when they started school. Stefan wanted to prove to the world that though he might be completely out of his mind he wasn’t like most other lunatics, and was instrumental in raising two very smart children. A speck of sanity amidst lunacy, some might say.

Tragedy struck the family in 2042, when Irene became deathly ill. Stefan did all he could to nurse her back to health, and she eventually recovered, but not completely. When he attempted to get Irene to exercise her magic, it concerned him greatly how much it had diminished. All of his attempts to restore his wife’s magic went in vain, until she was reduced to little more than a muggle. The conundrum and gravity of the situation in Stefan’s eyes nearly had him being carted back off to the mental ward before dinnertime. He was a pureblood: a magical spouse was a requirement... and a non-magical one, even though drained of magic by an illness, was unthinkable! Then came thoughts about the disease itself: was it contagious? Would he or the children get it, now that whatever it was that drained Irene’s magic had no more arcane power to feed on? He couldn’t afford to lose his magic, and couldn’t afford his children getting it, either. It would all be for the Greater Good...

And so after getting Irene situated to watch the sunset (though not before fully demonstrating his frustration at his wife’s lack of powers), Stefan placed some poison in Irene’s potion therapy and watched as the toxic blend slowly killed her. Halfway through the poison’s progresses he revealed in soft words what he had done and in even softer tones why, thinking that if she knew his reasons she would understand. Widened dark eyes being the only immediate response to his words told him it had had the exact opposite effect. The sadist in him gave her several moments to beg and plead for the antidote and her life. Once he had tired of her pleas, Stefan administered the Killing Curse to ease her passing.

“Goodnight, Irene,” he murmured with dark humor as the wings of death descended upon her, the light of life leaving her darkened onyx pools forever. The terrified gasp of his fifteen-year-old daughter, Lydia, startled him enough to raise a wand to her, lashing out at her with a diversion-causing cutting charm. In a vicious circle of events, the pair stared at each other with wide frightened eyes before Lydia took off down the hall, Stefan chasing after. There was little difference between his actions and the way Brunhild had swooped upon him for witnessing a spousal murder... except that Stefan was being a bit more physical rather than employing magic.

“How could you?! You killed her! Your own wife! She didn’t have to die! She begged you not to let her die like that!” Lydia shrieked at him once he’d finally caught up to her, pinning her shoulders against the nearest straight section of wall. “You killed her!” she repeated over and over, hysterical, through her tears and attempted to pound on her father’s chest in protest.

Stefan let her hit him a few times, her small fists assailing every bit of his upper chest that they could reach. He did not anticipate that a young teenage girl would be capable of causing much pain. “Get a grip, girl! She was little more than a muggle and of absolutely no use to us now without her magic! I did what I thought was best, for all our sakes. Your mother doesn’t have to suffer with the shame of losing her magical abilities – you and Kai don’t have to worry about contracting the same illness, and meeting the same fate as she did! If I lost my magic, I’d expect you ... no, I’d demand you kill me, or lock me up where I couldn’t infect anyone else, and move on with your lives!” he shouted at the teen, shaking her by the shoulders at every turn he made to emphasize his words.

Lydia continued to cry, stealing occasional glances toward the patio chair that contained the body of her mother.

“Can I count on you to do that, if I fall ill? Would you kill or incarcerate me, to protect yourself and your brother from a similar fate?!” Stefan asked. His voice was hard as steel and rough as sandpaper, scraping against the girl’s ears without so much as a hint of mercy.

Silence...

“Answer me!” he shouted, then backhanded the young lady. Stefan earned a yelp of pain for his efforts.

“I hate you! Leave me alone!” Lydia cried once she’d recovered and, after a bit of a struggle between father and daughter, managed to escape to her bedroom. She placed a strong locking spell on her door so her father couldn’t get in. It was right then and there that Stefan cursed himself for desiring intelligent children.

Losing no time or sleep over trying to coax Lydia out of her room, Stefan continued about his business of creating a Horcrux from his wife’s murder, and riddling out what to do with her body. In all honesty and in contradiction to his character he hadn’t wanted to kill her. Throughout most of that night he kept Irene’s body frozen in time, disinfected of the Illness – merely spending hour after hour caressing her pale features and showering unhearing ears and still lips with affections. The wizard couldn’t explain why or how, but for some reason Irene looked even more beautiful in death than she had in life. Without delay he found a way to indefinitely preserve her body in its recently-deceased state, and turned Irene into an inferius. It was really the best he could do for she had not made the same provisions as the Dark Lord, making complete resurrection impossible. The children never saw or were told what happened to their mother after her death. This was particularly so for Kai. However, Irene is often an assistant to Stefan, and still performs her “wifely duties”... albeit at Stefan’s whim rather than spontaneously. The children have since been banned from entering his bedroom, as well as other rooms Irene may frequent.

Not even a week later, Kai began displaying symptoms of the Drain. Stefan watched each agonized movement from his son and only child to carry on the Althaus name, both in hopes to have a brilliant epiphany and to feed his sadistic nature of seeing others in pain. He knew it was sick, to enjoy the suffering of one’s own child, but that didn’t deter him. Kai, who had been close to his father, began noticing Stefan wasn’t nearly as warm toward him as before. Not that he had really been very warm of a presence in the first place, but it was noticeable decline. The wizard would often send Lydia to take care of the boy, too paranoid of getting the disease as well to put his neck on the line. On the rare occasions Stefan had seen the recovering child, there was nothing but ice in those sapphire orbs.

His own son... reduced to a common, filthy muggle...

”Kill him... for the Greater Good!” shouted a demon in the wizard’s head. Stefan would’ve done so, if it weren’t for Lydia. The young witch had seen the madness flood her father’s eyes like they had the night of her mother’s murder and instead of letting it all slide by she stood between the two males. A deafening spell was promptly placed on Kai. It was difficult to say which of the two had cast it, if not both.

“He’s just a child! I don’t care about your insane ideology about the ‘Greater Good’! Leave him alone!” Lydia practically screamed, making a plea she knew her mother would make if the woman was alive and knew what Stefan had planned to do.

“It’s for the Greater Good. He’s a threat to your magic, and mine, just like your mother was!”

“Neither of us has lost our magic yet. Don’t you think that if it were going to harm us it’d have spread to all three of us by now?! Instead of just one at a time?!”

With an irate glance at Kai, Stefan grabbed Lydia by the nape of the neck and escorted her out of the room. He locked the door once they were both out in the hall. “There is always a chance – always a risk. I’ve already lost one child to the blasted Muggle Disease, and I refuse to lose another because she’s too foolish to see the logical decision that’s right in front of her face!”

“Then do what you always do – research the damn thing! Do something productive to get his magic back! You’ve always said pure blood is a terrible thing to waste! For Merlin’s sake – he’s only a child!”

“You sound like your mother,” Stefan sneered.

“Someone has to be the voice of reason around here...” Lydia quipped, rolling her eyes.

Stefan didn’t exactly appreciate that comment... yet decided to humor the girl anyway. It had been a while since he had a conundrum he couldn’t quite solve.


Amidst his own research, Stefan came across a familiar name in papers chronicling the upsurge of the Drain Illness: Damon Highever. He didn’t usually read the Prophet, but the page Lydia had left it opened to had caught his eye. This Damon Highever was very same it seemed, judging by a photograph, as the youth Stefan had tormented at Durmstrang. Stefan had matured a great deal since those days (though his sanity still remained questionable) and hoped that the Potions Master would assist him rather than turn him away. Ergo, he promptly went to Damon – children in tow – in hopes of making a proposition that several decades ago would’ve been unheard of due to their rivalry:

Cure the boy [Kai], and Damon would have Stefan’s unwavering loyalty and service regarding medical research.

Upon striding through the doors of Damon’s headquarters, Stefan couldn’t help but remember fondly all of the pranks and dangers he’d wrought upon the other wizard. However, due to his grave situation the wizard didn’t even smirk when his eyes rested upon the form of his old rival. Not even Damon stiffening warily upon seeing him was enough to coax a smirk from Stefan’s lips.

“My, my... Karma sure has a weird sense of humor... doesn't she?” Stefan remembered being greeted. He did not see or appreciate the humor of the statement, and was glad that thus far his magic remained unaffected just in case the other tried to get the better of him instead of help. Really – why would Damon consent to his request? Not that Stefan had any regrets... There were no favors owed, no outstanding debts between them. Yet Damon had agreed to help, at a price: as typical of any alliance, Stefan was to join forces with and work for Damon to find a more lasting cure. Since it was for the wizard’s benefit as well as Damon’s, he agreed.

A few days later, Damon had yet another condition for Stefan to meet before Kai underwent treatment. Too curious for his own good, Stefan followed his peer down a narrow hallway despite being claustrophobic – something that had been fairly mild in school but intensified after being tossed into a padded cell at Saint Mungo’s. He balked at the tiny size of the room Damon wanted him to enter: it looked just big enough for a chair and desk, with a meager amount of extra space... almost cell-like. Upon being asked how going to this little room was supposed to help Kai, Damon responded that this latest favor was to be considered payment for the boy’s treatment.

Hooded figures and Damon himself pushed and pulled Stefan into the tiny room and into a chair at the center of it. It had been a normal-enough looking chair. With an unknown spell from Damon, however, Stefan was snugly secured into the piece of furniture with rather durable locks and straps. When it was revealed that this “payment” was merely to watch a film, the wizard became confused at why the restraints were necessary and why they had to watch this film in such a small room.

At first, Stefan was amused that the movie was called IT and was based off a (muggle) novel written by Stephen King. He’d never heard of such a person, being generally biased toward purchasing all-magical products when it came to just about anything. The means of watching the film consisted of a screen that took up the entirety of one wall, with the quality of an in-home IMAX theater system. Damon, unbeknownst to Stefan, observed him from a back room as the movie played.

Stefan’s near-deathly fear of even the most chipper and harmless-looking clown had him screaming bloody murder and obscenities – as well as a few less than sane remarks – the moment he caught his first, albeit exceedingly brief glimpse of Pennywise the Clown. Had the antagonist been anything but a clown, the wizard probably would’ve enjoyed the film immensely. Nearly catatonic after one-hundred and ninety-two minutes worth of the evil serial-killing clown, Stefan was released from the restraints and practically bolted from the room. Damon and a few of the hooded figures from before led him outside for some desperately-needed fresh air before showing him around the compound, and then Stefan was free to go where he wished. Insomnia and nightmares haunted Stefan for about a week after that, his phobia reduced to a pulsing heap of raw nerves. Thus began a long and drawn-out process of plotting a way to get Damon back for that, which wouldn’t result in harm coming to his son via the needed treatments to cure him of the Drain.

Although it took a while for the pair to trust and respect each other, Stefan and Damon are at present but two of many in the “terrorist group” going around stealing the magic from other witches and wizards in temporary cure for the Drain. They still find time to come up with ways to harass the other, but unlike their days of old the shenanigans are usually all in good fun... even though the recipients don’t necessarily see it as such. Stefan also works for the newly-reinstated ECHO at Amaranth Viper’s request, oddly yet enjoyably performing similar tasks in both realms.

Woe betide any person that interrupts him from “playtime” with a less than earth-shattering piece of information!


Patronus: Tarantula (or some other huge-ish spider that isn’t quite acromantula size... and that’s only when/if he can cast it. Most of the time doesn’t bother)

Animagi: Rattlesnake

Amortentia: Egyptian Musk, Leather, Whiskey

Boggart: Primarily clowns, as irrational as it is. He is also highly claustrophobic and fears going to sleep and not being able to wake up again.

Other:
- Good friend of Damon Highever, though used to be brutally nasty to the man when they were at Durmstrang
- Specializes in: medical magic, curses, Horcruxes and other Dark Arts, and – most notably – the creation of Inferi
- Has the Dark Mark tattooed on his inner left forearm, and has no qualms with displaying it for all to see
- Made Horcruxes from the deaths of Gayle, Cheryl, Brunhild, and Irene
- One of the primary medi-magical professionals performing the experiments on witches and wizards in the terrorist group

- In the Dark Future Stefan died in 2027. He was slowly tortured and then decapitated by his wife, who despite her dark appearance was really an undercover purger.


Theme song: TBA ... but you can bet it’ll be by Alice Cooper xD

Life CD: TBA ... being listened to atm

More pictures...

^ Stefan isn’t happy Lydia brought the camera...


^ Irene enjoying a cup of tea (before her death) [Anjelica Huston]


^ Their daughter, Lydia


^ and their son, Kai