Post by Dimitri Mikhail Zolnerowich on Apr 11, 2011 20:20:11 GMT 1
Alias: Bianca
Other Characters: Remus John Lupin, Nessa Laurentius, Katsurou Akiyama, Waldemar Yrjö Järvinen
Other Characters: Remus John Lupin, Nessa Laurentius, Katsurou Akiyama, Waldemar Yrjö Järvinen
DIMITRI --mikhail --ZOLNEROWICH
||twenty-nine||he went toв новолуние||bisexual||
||blueish gray||dark brown||148lbs||5'8"||
||trustworthy||intelligent||kindhearted||professional||dedicated||
||doesn't have the best social skills (depending on the situation)||(allegedly) asexual||tends to put the wellbeing of others above his own||
||twenty-nine||he went toв новолуние||bisexual||
||blueish gray||dark brown||148lbs||5'8"||
||trustworthy||intelligent||kindhearted||professional||dedicated||
||doesn't have the best social skills (depending on the situation)||(allegedly) asexual||tends to put the wellbeing of others above his own||
Let me tell you, a little something about myself[/color]
[/size][/color]Dimitri is originally from Russia. He was born in Taiga (near Novosibirsk) to Nikita and Miraise Zolnerowich (his mother's maiden name is LeFurgey), who are both known Dark Wizards. In fact, the name Zolnerowich has been linked to dark magic for centuries and is known throughout Europe. By marrying other pureblood families wisely, the Zolnerowich family has expanded their wealth, but they're also closely connected with the head of the Russian mafia - not because they sympathise with muggles, they just like being powerful in both worlds.
Miraise and Nikita were not particularly happily married. It had been more of a business contract than a romance, after all, and because of this they were glad their firstborn was a son - it meant they had an heir, it meant they could go back sleeping in separate beds. Knowing this, it's not very surprising that Dimitri's childhood wasn't quite happy-cozy-family. It was made very clear from the beginning that he was going to be the only son and heir, that he would inherit all the family capital, and that meant his parents expected Dimitri to do the best and nothing less. Luckily, Dimitri already showed a lot of magical talent at a young age, and his parents hired the best teachers, schooling him at home. There was not a doubt that he would go toв новолуние, a famous school for the Dark Arts located in Siberia, and by the time he was ten, Dimitri couldn't wait to go. Not because he wanted to be a dark wizard, but because his situation at home was becoming more tense every day.
Dim is and always has been an obedient person, so he did what his parents asked of him, learned his lessons, was polite and quiet at dinner - until he got a new governess. The old one had been let go (Dimitri now assumes she was eleminated, rather) for thefth, but the new governess wasn't who Nikita and Miraise thought she was. She was another witch, belonging to a small fellowship of Russians similar to the Order of the Phoenix in the United Kingdom, sent to infiltrate the Zolnerowich family. Although a hardened veteran of fifty-six, she was kind to Dimitri, and he still claims he learned the most important lessons in his life from Evelina (even if he knows it wasn't her real name). Evelina, whilst also gathering information, figured that as a governess she might as well teach Dimitri some valuable lessons. Important lessons of compassion and equality, but that didn't make his already strained relationship with his parents much better. (I will not go into detail.)
A few months before his eleventh birthday (which is, by the way, on the 21st of December), he left for в новолуние, which (like Hogwarts) is a boarding school. Throughout his years there, he showed a lot of talent, specifically for the dark arts, no matter how much that annoyed him. He became the odd one out, Evelina having changed his views so thoroughly that he would never fit in with his family's sort of crowd ever again. His parents often threatened to disinherit him, but Dimitri didn't think they would (as he was the only son, after all, and it was too late to conceive a new child) and even if they did, he didn't think he'd care.
By the end he left the school, at age seventeen, Dimitri had grown into a lean young man with dark brown hair and piercing grey-blue eyes. He had learned a lot, but not what he had wanted to, and after being around future death-eaters and other dark wizards had only strenghtened his views, and on the train home, he decided the best option would be to leave. Knowing his parents, they might expect him to plan something, so Dimitri decided to plan nothing and not even go home. He got off the train a few stations early and hide himself away on a cargo train to Europe, as his parents might be able to track him down if he disapparated or used other magical means.
Truthfully, it had been a little silly of him to just take off like that. All he had with him was his trunk from school and the clothes he had, and the only languages he spoke were Russian and French (as his mother was from France, originally). The train's destination was the harbour of Rotterdam (which, trust me, takes over a whopping thirty hours to reach!) and by the time he arrived and stumbled from the compartment, hungry and tired, he was not so sure about his choice anymore. Walking the streets of Rotterdam, he got hopelessly lost, didn't understand a word of the language, nor did he have a place to stay for the night.
It was just his luck that the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse was in town, and he was even more lucky he met the promising young cello-playing debutante called Emily Rousseaux. She was a twenty-year old single mother and this was her first tour with the orchestra. After a lot of trouble, she had been allowed to take her four-year-old daughter Brittany along, as long as she would arrange someone to babysit the girl and she wouldn't get in the way. Unfortunately, the person she had arranged for the evening had fallen down a flight of stairs. As she knew no one in the foreign city she was in, she had eventually started asking people in the street as a lost resort. Guess who she asked and guess who accepted (delighted to hear a friendly voice he could understand!).
This was the start of a close friendship and as Emily moved back to France, Dimitri moved along and moved in with her. As Emily was a muggle and Dimitri was all to happy to just leave his magical past behind him, he put his wand and trunk in the back of a closet and half forgot about them. He happily lived in France for a few years, staying at home as he didn't have any qualifications for a muggle job and besides: Emily was away from home a lot, so it was all the more convenient that he remained at home while she was on tour with the orchestra.
As Dim had always been an intelligent young man, he taught himself a number of other languages during the hours he wasn't taking care of Brittany or doing chores. After having been stranded in a country without any means of communicating, he was determined to make sure that never happened again, so next to Russian and French he taught himself English and Italian.
Of course all good things have to end, though. Throughout the years he lived with Emily, Dimitri was convinced he had grown to love her - and she likewise. They had gotten engaged at some point, Emily having fallen in love with Dimitri due to his gentle, caring nature and the fact that, well, being a single mother wasn't easy, and he didn't object to her carreer as a musician. There was one problem, though. It wasn't that Dimitri didn't love her back, he had just never been accustomed to love in general, let alone the physical aspects, and although Emily loved him a lot - well: women have needs, don't they?! (xD)
In other words, their relationship became a lot more strained, especially as Emily (who had always been a little chaotic) started to realise she didn't even know that much about him. She had never met his family, and why had he left Russia? It had never occurred to her to ask that before, living in the here and now, from day to day. But wait, that trunk of his-! There might be clues in there. Where had he put that?
It would be an understatement to say that Emily was shocked by what she found. She wasn't sure whether to take it seriously, but the mere idea of leaving her child with a man who carried books with intimidating graphics and obscene dried up animal body parts in flasks around with him - that couldn't be good. She confronted Dimitri with it that evening, but he didn't know what to say and, as a result, said nothing - only infuriating his lover even more. In the end, Emily got fed up and terribly angry with him, and threw him out in a fit of passion (she deeply regretted it, later, but by then Dimitri was already gone and they never saw each other again).
So here he was again, homeless and without purpose, but at least with a few extra sets of clothes, some money, and the ability to communicate. Italy was a little far, and he knew his funds wouldn't hold out until he got there, so he went to England instead - it was but a matter of crossing the channel.
Dimitri was twenty-four by now and he knew his future wasn't going to come to him, so he was going to have to make his own. Even though he wouldn't have minded a muggle profession, he didn't have any muggle education, so the only option was the wizarding world.
He met professor Dumbledore in a waiting room at the Ministry of Magic (he had been summoned there to be registered as a 'magical migrant' as his surname had a rather negative connotation). You all know Dumbles, so I'm sure you're not surprised that they ended up chatting and in the end, Dumbledore offered him the job for the teaching positions for Defense Against the Dark Arts. After all: Dimitri was quite the expert.
He has been holding the post for several years now (I know, this is au, because the position is supposed to be cursed, right? forgive me xP) and absolutely loves it. If he could, he'd live at Hogwarts all year round, the school does tend to be pretty lonely in the summer, so he prefers living in his muggle home in the muggle neighbourhood in Essex.
