Professor Octavia Watson

House: Gryffindor

Class: Muggle and Magical Law

User: foxygryffindor

## Academic and Professional Career

Although both Octavia’s parents were muggles they were extremely supportive of her magical abilities. Even her sister, who was also a Muggle, seemed to idolize Octavia. Her dad, being a Muggle policeman, insisted that both both his daughters, witch or not, learn several self defense and fighting techniques. He knew what the world could be like and wished to do his part to prepare his family for any encounter they might face.

Octavia did exceptionally well in school and had high marks in all her classes. Upon graduation she trained in law and eventually became one of the ministries top lawyers, working on high profile cases involving extraordinarily dangerous witches or wizards. Always trying to keep the legal system just, Octavia did some pro bono work with cases involving muggles to ensure they received a fair trial. Several of her Muggle clients had gone on to be quite successful and she was proud to have helped.

During this time Octavia also started cultivating her ever growing list of underworld and ministry contacts. These were informants she could depend on, as much as anyone could actually depend on people who would sell you back the wallet they just stole from you. One such contact was Helwry Gene, a criminal smart enough to stay away from serious crimes but savvy enough to make friends among all the factions he had to deal with; Ministry and criminal alike.

Winning case after case, her record was so impressive that the Ministry allowed her to choose which cases she was assigned; a rare privilege. Whether it was her intuition, professional experience, or downright cynicism, one particular case caught her eye and she immediately requested it, but as she investigated more and more issues arose; as if someone was trying to prevent her from getting any of the information. Out of frustration with all the dead ends and ‘lost‘ paperwork, she asked to interview the defendant, a werewolf accused of attacking and killing several muggles and muggleborn. Escorted to a holding cell by two Aurors who stood guard in the room with her, she awaited the prisoner’s arrival. Suddenly, she heard a commotion outside, and rushed past the guarding Aurors to investigate. When she got into the hall she was surprised to find the criminal running straight at her, and with his wand! He immediately hurled a deadly curse at her. Unprepared to defend herself, she barely had time to block the attack, and was thrown to the ground. As she lay there, stunned, she looked up just in time to see the prisoner making his escape, then everything went black.

She awoke at St. Mungo’s hospital. Her wounds had not been critical but were severe enough to warrant immediate attention and would take some time to heal. Her parents and sister visited her as did her coworkers. Her boss came by and put her on psychiatric leave until further notice. Eventually she was released to return home.

But something bothered her. Where were the Aurors? She had read the official investigation report, and their stated testimony said they didn’t have time to get to the door and apprehend the escaping prisoner. But she knew this wasn’t true, for she herself had made it all the way to the hall. There were also inconsistencies with how the prisoner had escaped in the first place. The investigation had been closed, but she was suspicious.

Because she was on leave, she started investigating the matter on her own. While obtaining the research materials to bring home, she felt watched, but shook it off as just needless paranoia. She got home, spoke briefly with her parents and sister, who were staying with her while she recovered, and went to her room to pour over the materials. As she discovered more the pieces of the puzzle slowly fell in place. She realized that the prisoner hadn’t ‘escaped’. There had been a high level conspiracy in the Ministry to set him free. Even more troubling, the remains of a few of the werewolves’ muggleborn victims seemed to be unaccounted for; lost in the Ministries’ mounds of bureaucratic red tape.

As she came to this realization she heard a noise outside her bedroom door and quickly extinguished the light. Even without it, the house was illuminated by a full moon brightening the night sky through the windows. She easily located her wand and proceeded slowly towards the door. Suddenly, several screams and shouts pierced the quiet house and there were sounds of a struggle. She raced to the door and dashed into the hall only to find a werewolf standing over the dead bodies of her family. Rage rose inside her as she flung a spell at the monster. The wolf, unprepared for the sudden unexpected assault was injured badly by the curse, but still managed to lunge at her. Her father’s training kicked in and she used the beast’s own momentum to throw him through a window, but not before her attacker managed to bite her arm and claw her face badly. She knew the werewolf would be unconscious for only a short time, so she immediately made her escape, not even stopping to grieve for her beloved family.

Not knowing which wizard or witch she could trust, Octavia decided to visit some of her former clients in the Muggle world. She called in some favors, got some money, and went into hiding. Knowing that she most likely was now a lycanthrope herself, Octavia procured enough Wolfbanes potion to keep her ‘other side‘ under control. Having just watched her family torn apart by a werewolf she greatly feared what she had become and began having terrible nightmares.

Several years went by and no one seemed to be after Octavia at all. Running out of resources and desperate to continue her investigation, she took a position teaching at Hogwarts. Using the Hogwarts well kept current event archive to bolster her findings, she made excellent headway at first, but soon the trail seemed to grow cold once again. Octavia decided to take a risk she had been able to avoid, call her most useful contact, Helwry Gene. Having taken pleasure at how far Octavia had fallen. Helwry did not miss this opportunity to gloat, but eventually came through with exactly what Octavia needed, a set of coded letters stolen from a known criminal operative dealing in human trafficking of a very particular type of person: muggleborn wizards and witches. Eventually deciphering the letters, everything pointed to an unknown Auror who worked closely with the department of mysteries- Auror Ferguson. She decided she must go to the Ministry itself to investigate. However, the parts ministry she needed to infiltrate were most likely tightly guarded, and she had no idea how to get in.

But fate would afford her the opportunity. In an effort to investigate Hogwarts, Minister Umbridge had brought a large portion of the Aurors with her, leaving the actual Ministry relatively unguarded. Octavia knew this would be her best chance, so she asked another professor to cover her classes and left for the Ministry.

Seeming almost abandoned the Ministry was relatively empty as she wandered the halls trying to figure out where to go. After a while, Octavia was approached by an elderly witch who asked if she could help. Assuming her to be a receptionist Octavia asked for Auror Ferguson, to which the receptionist, whose name was Madam Axwater, promptly informed her that he worked on the next floor but was out on business, as were most of the Aurors. Madam Axwater then asked Octavia to leave, seeming very suspicious of Octavia’s questioning. Madam Axwater almost seemed to threaten Octavia, although when Octavia confronted her she immediately claimed she was only ‘offering advice’.

Octavia left Madam Axwater under the auspices of leaving but immediately went to the next floor in an attempt to find Auror Ferguson’s office. The floor was deathly quiet as she made her way around the darkened corridors. A piercing scream cut the silence like a knife and Octavia courageously went to investigate. Much to her surprise she found what could only be described as a room of horrors. Muggleborns were being experimented on in the most gruesome ways imaginable. Suddenly, Madam Axwater appeared behind her startling Octavia out of her shock at the terrible sight.

Madam Axwater claimed to be behind everything from the Muggleborn disappearances to the vicious experiments before them. The ‘receptionist’ also knew of Octavia’s disappearance and her families murder. Feeling increasingly trapped, Octavia attacked but was quickly beaten by the superior opponent. Calling her minions, Madam Axwater ordered Octavia taken away. She was to become one of many experiments in the Chamber of Fear.

The Chamber of Fear was a magical room designed to bring people’s worst fears to life in an attempt to determine why people experience fear, but the chamber was smart, almost sentient itself, and terribly sadistic. Starting with small fears, it would give brief periods of respite from the constant onslaught of terror, simply to scare the subject by suddenly manifesting multiple terrors at once. Most victims lasted only days before going mad. Octavia survived for weeks, much to the disappointment of Madam Axwater.

But Octavia was beginning to lose her sanity. She knew the Chamber had reserved her worse fear for last: the fear of what she was becoming, the fear of the wolf. Finally, after several frightening weeks, the chamber unleashed the beast within her, and Octavia met the monster inside. But Octavia has a strength of will the Chamber did not anticipate, and she did the one thing that could break the Chamber- she met her fear head on, and made peace with the wolf. The magic of the Chamber along with her bravery allowed Octavia to meld with her wolf, making her far stronger than before.

With her newfound power, she easily broke out of the what remained of the destroyed Chamber of Fear. She overcame the guards and retrieved her wand. Then...she went hunting. This time, the duel between Octavia and Madam Axwater was far different, and in the end Madam Axwater was arrested and sentenced to 50 years in Azkaban for her crimes against the Ministry and running a clandestine operation dedicated to unethical experimentation on Muggleborns. But before her arrest, Madam Axwater warned Octavia that she would not be safe. She had made powerful enemies and they would be seeking their revenge. Many dismissed her threats as the rantings of a mad woman, but Octavia wasn’t so sure.

## Personal Life

Fearing for the safety of others, Octavia tends to keep to herself and push people away.