Professor Rufus Raine

## Academic and Professional Career

Professor Raine is widely considered one of the wizarding world’s greatest living duelist. Wizards and witches from around the globe come to duel and train with him. His training methods are short yet extremely effective at teaching both offensive and defensive duelling techniques.

Raine was a Triwizard champion during his time at Hogwarts and is highly skilled at Transfiguration, despite the fact that he's beyond done with the Transfiguration Pandemic that has struck Hogwarts.

Professor Rufus is known for his quick wit and sharp tongue. Very few can compete with his pithy comebacks and he is commonly referred to as either a Sass God or Professor Sassmaster by the students. However, many believe that he would struggle to hold his own in a prank war with the legendary prankster Professor Khanufasa although this opinion may, in fact, be held largely to prevent individuals from becoming targets of a prank war from the legend herself.

## Personal Life

Rufus is a talented singer and dancer as well as having a considerable amount of fashion sense.

Rufus comes from a long line of powerful wizards and witches. His parents were exceptionally talented students and both contributed greatly to Wizard society. His dad was the top Auror, and his mother was head of Magical Cooperation. His brother, Desmond, showed an amazing amount of talent as well. Unfortunately, this put a lot of pressure on young Rufus to perform, and he felt that pressure acutely, working earnestly to gain his parents’ approval and respect.

And perform he did. Even under such incredible scrutiny he continually exceeded expectations; leading many professors to call him a ‘prodigy among prodigies’. Despite this incredible success, his parents, so busy with their own endeavors, never really recognized Rufus’ hard work and giftedness. Indeed, even though they shared the same last name it was difficult to see the Raines as a ‘family’ at all. The parents were always away working for their next prestigious award and the brothers, who were by no means friends, studied diligently but independently. Being sorted into different houses, Desmond was the first Raines to ever be a Slytherin, certainly compounded the problem.

During his sixth year Desmond vanished. Rufus was very worried about him but showed little in the way of outward emotion, a trait he had picked up from his father, and despite assisting in the initial searches his parents seemed more bothered by the inconvenience Desmond’s disappearance posed to their careers than anything else. His disappearance remains unsolved to this day. Because of some personal testimony, it is believed Desmond may have been trying to learn Dark Magic. This, of course, would have tainted the Raines’ superb family name which could be the reason for his parents’ lack of compassion.

Despite appearances, Desmond's disappearance shook Rufus to his core. He worried about his role in the disappearance of his brother, and wondered whether he could have prevented the dark turn Desmond’s life had taken. What Rufus decided to do shocked the world. He could have easily had any position he wanted, so great was his reputation and pedigree, but instead of taking a prestigious position at the ministry, or even making a name for himself as a professional dueler, he decided to teach. He wanted to do for other students what he and his family had neglected to do for Desmond, be there when they were in need of support. He has since become a gifted teacher to his students, no one would have expected anything less, and a trusted friend to his colleagues.