Aehlstan S. Wollington-Yarns acted as the Keeper of the Keys, Game and Grounds at Hogwarts School from 2056 - 2058.
Basics[]
Born: 2019
Place of Birth: Britain
Blood: Half-blood
Physical Appearance[]
Yarns is not one to look his age. In fact, if you didn't know the numbers, it would be very hard to guess his age at all: one could say 25, the other could say 45. Yarns's complexion is tanned from spending years at sea, and his face is somewhat weather-worn. His straight nose and chiselled jawline give him the look of a straightforward persona, and may be deemed as attractive.
Despite the rugged impression, his dark eyes have a warm glow in them. His hair, long and dark, is nearly always worn in a thick braid. Yarns has a mysterious long scar that runs down from his right temple, which he got from getting involved in a skirmish with some dodgy characters.
Yarns wears a faded black travelling cloak over his clothes: boots, flannel pants and a loose white cotton shirt tied with strings. Around his waist he wears a thick brown leather belt from which hang a number of pouches and bags, as well as his wand, a silver dagger in a sheath and a big cluster of keys to everywhere within Hogwarts.
Personality[]
Yarns is always somewhat wary of new people, but once he befriends someone, he trusts them infinitely. Thus his character may seem distant at first, but once you warm up to him, he'll make good company. He doesn't rush head first into new acquaintances though, and he regards the students with a bit of calculation. Having been a captain on a ship for years, he likes to make clear who is in charge: alas, he won't get too cuddly with the pupils, at least not at first. The staff members he views as his equals and doesn't have a problem with them.
History[]
Aehlstan S. Woollington-Yarns was born into a family of sheep farmers. At an early age, he realised that the little fluffy cotton buds were not to be his future, and he craved to see the world. Once on a fishing trip with his grandfather, he fell in love with the sea. Every weekend he would travel to the coastline to fish or sail or, if it was too stormy, to simply watch the sea live.
At age 11, he was admitted into Hogwarts and was placed in Hufflepuff. He attended this school from 2030-2037. He was a bit of a loner, and often the one left partnerless in activities. He loved the school though. He was a mediocre student, enjoying physical outdoor classes like Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology most. During the summers he learned to operate and sail his grandfather's little boat, which he had left in Aehlstan's posession after his death. Getting up at dawnbreak, he'd spend all day at sea and come home after twilight.
After Hogwarts, Yarns decided to go even deeper into the seafaring business. He left home altogether, with only his wand, equipment and a little doe goat, Willow. He travelled the coasts of Britain, France and Portugal, making lots of new international acquaintances. After a couple of years, he'd already been in several brush-ups with other sailor wizards of, well, questionable professions. Being young and willing to take on any new challenges, he soon found himself working on board a ship carrying mysterious cargo between Brazil and Europe. His job was not to ask questions, so he didn't. Life on the ship wasn't always easy: sometimes foreign ships would tail them for days, waiting to catch them in the quiet of a secluded bay. Aehlstan was involved in a couple of fights between the crews of his ship and another, and he has several scars to show for them.
After over 10 years, he realised that pirating was not for him. The old Hufflepuff honesty was strong in him, and he left the crew he'd been a part of for the last five years. His wanderlust wasn't quenched, though, and he began to gather up his own men. Being captain now, he decided his ship would to be used for transporting rare medicinal plants from the Indian Ocean to Britain and Europe. The crew got on well together and he finally got a decent dosage of sealife.
But things didn't stay perfect. When Aehlstan was 36, he ran into his old shipmates at a dodgy harbour just off Calais, France. The men demanded Aehlstan why he had left them and persisted that he had grassed them on to the police. Despite his numerous attempts to calm them and quietly slip away, the men only got madder, finally drawing out their wands and starting a fight. But Aehlstan was outnumbered. His fate was sealed by several squarely hit jets of aqua light: the Seaman's Hex.
Aehlstan was never able sail the seas again. The Seaman's Hex, when cast by a single person, simply induces a temporary feeling of sea sickness in the victim. But Yarns, hit by more than one, was permanently affected by it: setting foot on a sea-bound boat would make him violently sick. Luckily, the curse was only limited to the sea. Sailing on inland waters and rivers didn't have an effect.
Left now with only the original small boat of his grandfather's, Willow the goat and his few earthly posessions, Yarns realised he was in need of a job. He saw an advertisement in the Daily Prophet endorsing an opening in the staff at Hogwarts. He really had missed that place: besides the sea, it felt more like home than any sheep farm had ever had. Thus, he applied for the job of Gamekeeper.