Augustus Rookwood

**Augustus Rookwood** was a British Dark wizard and a Death Eater loyal to Lord Voldemort. During the First Wizarding War he was a spy who worked as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries, but, despite the Unspeakables' oath of secrecy, Rookwood willingly leaked information from inside the Ministry itself (although he was not the only spy inside the Ministry, and was in fact only one member of a network of wizards who's loyalties lay not with the Ministry, but instead with Rookwood's master). After the end of the first war he was named by his comrade Igor Karkaroff, Rookwood was arrested and imprisoned in Azkaban.

Rookwood escaped during the 1996 mass break-out and served as a Death Eater once more. He fought in several battles of the Second Wizarding War, including the Battle of the Department of Mysteries after which he was imprisoned again, but escaped in 1997. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Rookwood was defeated by Aberforth Dumbledore. His fate after Voldemort's final defeat is unknown. It is possible that he was imprisoned in Azkaban once again for his various crimes.

## Biography

### Early Life

Augustus Rookwood was born was born prior to 1964 into the pure or half-blood Rookwood Family, most likely somewhere in the British Isles.

Augustus Rookwood attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in his youth, and was a member of Slytherin House. Sometime during his seven years of education, Rookwood became part of a Gang of Slytherins aspiring to become Death Eaters after graduation. He must have been a very prominent student in many of his subjects, since he managed to be admitted as an Unspeakable and worked in the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic, which, like the dark wizard-catching Auror Office, took only the most keen and skilled Wizards and Witches as workers.

### First Wizarding War

Rookwood worked as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries, but, alongside his colleague and friend, Cassius Grey, became a Death Eater and spy for Lord Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, apparently agreeing with the Death Eaters' ideals of pure-blood supremacy. That feat was very difficult to accomplish due to the many oaths he had to make when he became Unspeakable and was given the Dark Mark, which he concealed. He had an information network inside and outside of the Ministry of Magic with a number of well-connected wizards. Whether or not all these wizards knew they were being used for information by Rookwood is unknown, although the network consisted of fellow Death Eater spies, wizards and witches forced to serve the Dark Lord out of fear for themselves or their friends and family, man and woman Imperiused into helping the enemy and people who Rookwood and his cohorts had deceived into believing they were providing information to the Ministry and Order. What is known is that Ludo Bagman, a Beater for both the Wimbourne Wisps and English National Quidditch Team and future Head of the British Department of Magical Games and Sports was among the latter, giving Rookwood information. Bagman was likely ignorant of the fact of Rookwood's real affiliations, since Rookwood dangled the prospect of a Ministry position before him. Bagman's testimony revealed that Augustus Rookwood was friends with his father. He also referred to Rookwood rather affectionately as "Old Rookwood", despite the man being a Death Eater, during his own court case.[4] From that information, it can be deduced that Rookwood was outgoing and perhaps affable during his years as a spy, breaking the mould of so many other Death Eaters to serve as a cover.

In 1981, Rookwood was captured and convicted on testimony from Igor Karkaroff as to his Death Eater activities and imprisoned in Azkaban. This was one of many names that Karkaroff surrendered in order to achieve his own freedom, and the first one to be viable, as the ones before were already caught, had turned (in Severus Snape's case) or be (in Evan Rosier's case) killed. Soon afterwards, Rookwood's comrade, Cassius Grey was also captured and convicted both of his betrayal of the Ministry of Magic and his ruthless murder of his wife, Matilda Webb, a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix after she discovered his secret loyalties soon after the end of the first war. Augustus spent the next 13 years in the dreaded island prison, enduring the torment of the inhuman, joy-sucking Dementor prison guards, repeatingly remembering the worst times of his life.

### Second Wizarding War

During the beginning of the Second Wizarding War, Rookwood escaped Azkaban along with nine other Death Eaters, including the Lestranges and Cassius, in 1996, when the Dementors defected to the recently returned Lord Voldemort. This was Azkaban's second-largest (second only to the breakout in 1998, which Rookwood was also a part of) and most notorious breakout and helped set the stage for the Second Wizarding War.

Rookwood was responsible for getting Voldemort on track with stealing the prophecy which concerned the Dark Lord and Harry Potter, who saw Rookwood in one of his dreams, during which he informed his master of the reason for the imperiused Unspeakable, Boderick Bode's inability to retrieve a Prophecy located in Rookwood's former department concerning Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. Voldemort forgives his Death Eater after the treacherous Unspeakable assured him of the facts he had given the Dark Lord and dismisses Rookwood from the room the had conversed in, ordering him to send in Avery for punishment. Obviously, his experience in the Department of Mysteries, where the Prophecy was held, made him a valuable asset in the organisation of Dark Wizards' plans to steal the prophecy.

### Battle of the Department of Mysteries

After numerous attempts at stealing the prophecy failed, Voldemort lured Harry to the Ministry by sending him visions of his godfather Sirius Black being tortured there. Rookwood was one of the Death Eaters who participated in the ambush of Harry and his five friends in the Hall of Prophecies, and in the battle which ensued when the teenagers resisted. He was the only one not assigned a partner as the Death Eaters pursued the six D.A. members, possibly due to his knowledge of the Department's layout. It is unknown if Augustus encountered any of the teenagers, but he was eventually unmasked, although whether this happened during his search of the Department or in the following battle is unknown.

When Order of the Phoenix members arrived he was duelling with Kingsley Shacklebolt without his mask on. Kingsley presumably came out victorious, as he later met Bellatrix Lestrange in combat. It is presumed that Rookwood, along with all the other Death Eaters aside from Bellatrix Lestrange, was captured and imprisoned in Azkaban after the battle.

However, he was again at large the following year, after another Azkaban break-out, alongside all the other Death Eater inmates. It is possible Rookwood may have attended the Death Eaters war meeting during which they plotted to take over the Ministry of Magic and participated in the Battle of the Seven Potters, pursuing one of the seven Polyjuice Potion-disguised "Harrys" and their guardians. It is also very likely, given his position as a former Ministry employee, that Augustus Rookwood may have been among the Death Eaters who were evaluated to positions of power within the Ministry after the death of Rufus Scrimgeour and the appointment of the Death Eaters' Imperiused puppet, Pius Thicknesse.

### Battle of Hogwarts

Rookwood, alongside the entire Death Eater army, was summoned to battle by his master and fought during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998. After Fred Weasley was killed in an explosion, Percy Weasley chased after Rookwood as he was attacking some of the other students who had stayed to fight rather than evacuate the school. Later in the battle, he was stunned by Aberforth Dumbledore. It is unknown what happened to him after Voldemort was defeated, but it is likely he survived, as he simply stunned by Aberforth, which most likely simply incapacitated him. If this the case, it is likely that he was captured and again sent to Azkaban for life.

## Physical appearance

Rookwood was described, judging by his mugshot seen in the Daily Prophet, as a tall, pock-marked and grey greasy-haired wizard. As Ludo Bagman described him as "old Rookwood" and given his status as a friend of Bagman's father, he was likely an older man by the time the First Wizarding War ended. As a Death Eater, he bore the Dark Mark on his left inner forearm.

## Personality and traits

Judging by his mugshot seen in the Daily Prophet after his escape, Rookwood seemed bored, contrasting from most of the other Azkaban-escaped Death Eaters, who were sneering and glaring. He also appeared being outgoing and perhaps affable, being a friend of Ludovic Bagman's father. This is further supported by everyone's surprise when Igor Karkaroff sold him out as a Death Eater. He was also shown to be rather fearful of Lord Voldemort when delivering bad news to him. However, during the Battle of Hogwarts, Rookwood showed his power in combat, as he did not hesitate to attack students who remained in the battlefield and was able to successfully cast the Avada Kadavra curse, which requires general malice to perform. Despite joining Voldemort out of fear, Rookwood was highly loyal to his master.

## Magical abilities and skills

* **Dark Arts**: Rookwood was highly accomplished with dark magic, being a Death Eater. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he attempted to kill Kingsley Shacklebolt with the Killing Curse. He was presumably skilled in casting the other Unforgivable Curses, along with other dark charms, spells and jinxes.
* **Martial magic**: Rookwood was proficient at duelling as he fought Kingsley Shacklebolt head on in 1996 during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. It should be noted however that he was defeated by Kingsley during the same duel. He participated in the Battle of Hogwarts, invading the school and attacking students. He was also shown chasing after a group of students, implying that even together they were unable to subdue Rookwood. He was however stunned defeated during the final battle by Aberforth Dumbledore.
* **Magical knowledge**: Due to his past employment in the Department of Mysteries, Rookwood came to amass certain important information from the various research there, such as the consequence of an unauthorised person trying to remove a prophecy. He relayed these valuable information to Voldemort. This also indicated good spying skills, as he was convicted only when one of his fellow Death Eaters betrayed him. This knowledge of prophecies likely means he may have worked in the Prophecy-studying fraction of the Unspeakables. He presumably also had knowledge of the Unspeakables' magical studies of the concepts of Though, Death, Love, Space and Time, which were all studied by Unspeakables in their separate chambers located in the Department of Mysteries.