Corban Yaxley

**Corban Yaxley** (7 December, 1924 - 2 May, 1998) was a pure-blood wizard, the son of Bertram Yaxley and his wife Mathilda Yaxley (née Greengrass). He was a member of the Noble and Ancient House of Yaxley. He had three sisters, each older than him: Florinda, Serafina, and Eugenie. The fourth sister, Lucinda, was a suspected Squib, and subsequently erased from most records from the House of Yaxley when he was an infant. He was significantly younger than his sisters and attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from September 1936 to June 1943.

He later became an employee for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and married fellow Slytherin Lisette Burke. When Voldemort rose to power a second time in 1997, Yaxley was appointed Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

## Biography

### Early life (1924-1936)

Corban Yaxley was born on 7 December, 1924, in Upton Noble, Somerset, England. Upton Noble is the place where the Yaxleys have made their homes for generations; and is home to a medium-sized Yaxley family property, where Corban grew up. He was the son of Bertram Yaxley, of Upton Noble, and Mathilda Greengrass, of Bath.

He had four sisters at the time of his birth, and they were all significantly older than him. The oldest, Florinda, was born on 24 June, 1900, and later became the wife of Marcelin Rosier, a member of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Rosier. Florinda was followed by Serafina, born 30 October, 1906, and by Eugenia, born 5 September, 1910. Then came Lucinda, born on 13 August, 1915. She was, unfortunately, a Squib, and subsequently disowned and cast out into the muggle world at the age of ten. In his later life, Corban reportedly always regretted looking for her: it was rumoured that Lucinda was shuttered away to live in a muggle orphanage, but no one ever knew what became of her. The plot was largely hidden from Corban for most of his childhood, as this event occurred when he was still an infant.

### Hogwarts years (1936-1943)

Corban Yaxley received his Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1936. Before attending, he purchased a wand made of poplar and dragon heartstring from Ollivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley. He then boarded the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross Station on 1 September, 1936, and was Sorted into Slytherin House later that night.

Corban grew up surrounded by other members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, upon getting sorted into Slytherin. Others in his year and house included Walburga and Lucretia Black as well as Odella Burke, daughter of Cantankerous Burke, who he later married.

Most interestingly, Corban was two years ahead of the notorious Dark Lord Voldemort, or as he was known in those days, Tom Riddle, as well as his earliest accomplices, Cyrus Lestrange and Rolph Avery.

As a student, Corban was described to be an extremely studious pupil, and as a result did not care much for friends. Others mocked him for his interest in Gobstones, and some remember him as somewhat of an outcast. He left Hogwarts with nine O.W.L.s and nine N.E.W.T.s.

### Department of Magical Law Enforcement (1943-1970)

Corban began his work at the Ministry of Magic in 1943, just a few years before the Dark Lord Grindelwald's power reached its largest height. Although Grindelwald was never able to take over Britain, it was a turbulent time for many.

He began his work as a trainee and later rose up the ranks. He did not see conflict by the end of the Global Wizarding War, when Grindelwald was defeated by Albus Dumbledore in 1945.

In 1947, Yaxley married Lisette Burke, the daughter of Cantankerous Burke, the owner of a well-known Dark Arts establishment in Knockturn Alley. He attended frequent meetings that were rumoured to have been the start of Tom Riddle's gathering of followers, for Tom Riddle was an employee at Burke's shop. The group consisted of Tom Riddle's old school friends, who had already been involved with a smattering of bad deeds whilst at Hogwarts, and others who were interested in Riddle's ideas. At that time, the society was known as the Walpurgis Knights, and other attendants later became Death Eaters in Voldemort's inner circle.

### First Wizarding War (1970-1981)

Corban Yaxley was one of the many Death Eaters who fought in the First Wizarding War. He was captured on 27 August, 1981, after he murdered Otto Cattermole, a well-respected Auror, and managed to just avoid imprisonment by pleading the Imperius Curse. Like many others, Yaxley believed Voldemort had been finished and, thus, did not attempt to find him after his downfall.

### Second Wizarding War (1995-1998)

Yaxley returned to Voldemort after his rebirth. Yaxley immediately became, once more, an active Death Eater during the Second Wizarding War.

On 27 June, 1995, three nights following Voldemort's return, Yaxley arrived at Slughorn's house under cover of dark, intending to recruit him or take him by force to Voldemort. Transfiguring himself into an armchair, Slughorn successfully evaded the Death Eater's detection. A few days later, Slughorn locked up his house and went on the run, often squatting in Muggle dwellings while the owners were away, where he felt undetectable.

#### Battle of the Astronomy Tower (1997)

In June of 1997, Yaxley was among the group of Death Eaters who led an assault at Hogwarts Castle. Along with Alecto Carrow, Amycus Carrow, and Fenrir Greyback, they managed to overpower the Aurors who were assigned to guard the castle , reaching the Astronomy Tower where he pressured Draco Malfoy to do the deed Voldemort ordered him to perform: murder Albus Dumbledore. Yaxley was determined to follow the orders, attacking Greyback when he moved forward to attack Dumbledore. Before Draco could bring himself to kill him, Severus Snape arrived and, seeing Draco unable to do it, murdered the Headmaster himself, blasting the body from the tower.

The Death Eaters proceeded to flee from the castle, before any of the Order of the Phoenix summoned Ministry of Magic reinforcements. While getting down from the Astronomy Tower, Yaxley was hit with a Full Body-Bind Curse by Harry Potter.

Later, when Ministry of Magic officials searched the Tower, they found Yaxley and he was arrested and taken to Azkaban.

#### Ministry take-over (1997)

*"Yes — my Lord, that is true — but you know, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact not only with the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy, now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down."*

—Yaxley elaborates on the plan to overthrow the Ministry

A few weeks later, Yaxley had already broken out of Azkaban, and instigated his master's plan to subjugate Ministry officials to begin the silent coup. Yaxley attended the Death Eater meeting at Malfoy Manor in July of 1997. During that meeting, he reported that he had placed Pius Thicknesse, then head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, under the Imperius Curse as part of Lord Voldemort's plan to take over the Ministry of Magic.

Many of his fellow Death Eaters were impressed, though Voldemort believed Snape's estimate of when Harry Potter would be removed from his relatives' home over Yaxley's. Yaxley fell for the trap set by Alastor Moody on that count, whereas Snape knew the true date, setting the stage for the Battle of the Seven Potters.

#### Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (1997)

*"But if my wife were accused of being a Mudblood — not that any woman I married would ever be mistaken for such filth —and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I would make it my priority to do that job, Cattermole. Do you understand me?"*
—Yaxley using his power to intimidate other employees
On 1 August, 1997, Voldemort's plan and Yaxley's efforts succeeded when Minister Rufus Scrimgeour was murdered and Pius Thicknesse became the puppet Minister for Magic. The Ministry fell under Voldemort's control and Yaxley, as an inner-circle Death Eater, was made the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

In this role, he participated in at least some of the interrogations and harassment of Muggle-borns, along with Dolores Umbridge, Head of the new Muggle-Born Registration Commission, while using his cruelty and new authority to intimidate lower ranking employees such as Reginald Cattermole. The Ministry also designated Harry Potter as "Undesirable No. 1", under the excuse of him being wanted for questioning of Dumbledore's death. Snatcher groups were then dispatched to capture any Muggle-borns who refuse to register, along with Order of the Phoenix members and Harry himself.

The Death Eater led Ministry also took over Hogwarts. Severus Snape was made Headmaster, and Amycus and Alecto Carrow were appointed Professors.

#### Infiltration of the Ministry of Magic

**Mary Cattermole**: *"They're frightened, they think that I might not come home —"*
**Yaxley**: *"Spare us. The brats of Mud-bloods do not stir our sympathies."*
— An exchange during the interrogation of Muggle-born Mary Cattermole
Yaxley played a major role in this infiltration alongside Dolores Umbridge. During Umbridge's interrogations of Mary Cattermole, as part of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, Yaxley sat next to her observing the case. He refused to pity her children, while mocking her questionnaire answers, and having intimidated the man who disguised as her husband earlier to get his office dried in time. When Harry and Hermione reached the courtroom, they saw Umbridge, whom had the locket around her neck. Harry (under the Invisibility Cloak) stunned Yaxley and Umbridge. When Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley freed the Muggle-born prisoners, Yaxley woke up and pursued angrily.

Yaxley madly began to chase the trio as he ordered all Floo Network transportation to be sealed. At the last moments he grabbed Hermione's arm as the trio Disapparated. Hermione managed to evade him by using a Revulsion Jinx, but not before revealing the location of 12 Grimmauld Place. Thus, the house was no longer a safe hideout for the trio while leaving Ron splinched. After this the trio had to go to their tent in the forest. Harry speculated that Yaxley was bringing fellow Death Eaters into the house via Apparition.

#### Battle of Hogwarts and Death (1998)

On 2 May, 1998, Yaxley participated in the Battle of Hogwarts. He and Antonin Dolohov stood guard in the Forbidden Forest during the brief interlude that followed Voldemort's ultimatum to Harry Potter. They were followed back to the Death Eater camp by Harry under his Invisibility Cloak. During the final moments of the battle, Yaxley was defeated by Lee Jordan and George Weasley, and he was struck with a fatal cutting curse which ended his life.

#### Post-Mortem

Corban Yaxley's body was taken to a separate chamber where it laid with other fallen Death Eaters, as well as the body of the Dark Lord Voldemort. It was formally identified by Yaxley's wife, Lisette, and a funeral was held in Upton Noble. Yaxley's son, Corvus, formally denounced his father's actions in the year 2000, though it was rumoured that the entire Yaxley family participated in some way or other.

## Physical Appearance

Yaxley was described as having hard, blunt features and an unpleasant smile. He was relatively tall, and has long, pale blond hair tied in a neat braid that hangs down to his lower back. In spite of his snide comment about Lucius Malfoy's fondness for luxury upon seeing a peacock on his property, he shared Malfoy's sense of superiority over the rabble surrounding him, attiring himself in long, magnificent flowing robes to set himself apart from his fellow Ministry officials and highlight his position of power and authority.

As a Death Eater, he bears the Dark Mark on his left inner forearm.

## Personality and Traits

Haughty, blunt, and domineering, Corban Yaxley was a proud, ambitious man with little patience for the feelings and the problems of others, instead choosing to devote his energies towards the fulfilment of the Dark Lord's plans and the fruition of the peaceful society he and his comrades had been promised would follow their master's triumph.

Like many other Death Eaters, he subscribed very strongly to the ideology of Pure-blood supremacy, and had no qualms whatsoever in using demeaning phrases when referring to Muggle-borns. Upon becoming the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in 1997, he worked alongside Dolores Umbridge and the newly established Muggle-Born Registration Commission to imprison innocent Muggle-borns in Azkaban on false charges of having stolen their magic from "real" witches and wizards.

While he did display a rather ruthless streak, he lacked, or at least overtly lacked, the sadistic and bloodthirsty nature of such comrades as Antonin Dolohov and Bellatrix Lestrange, being intelligent enough to weigh political reality against a desire for personal, petty revenge. Whereas this shrewdness would've been a necessity in regard to maintaining his role of as an agent of the Dark Lord in the Ministry of Magic, it was perhaps best shown through his participation in the plot to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, during which, once they had the Headmaster cornered, wandless and alone, he contrasted Alecto and Amycus Carrow's gleeful enjoyment of seeing their enemy in such a compromising position by impatiently demanding that Draco Malfoy killed him so they could flee the area before the school got the chance to notify the Ministry of Magic, as every Death Eater captured in the wake of Dumbledore's death would mean the Dark Forces became a little weaker.

While his loyalty was questioned during the Return of Lord Voldemort in 1994, it would appear that Yaxley's decision not to search for his master came, rather than a wish to not compromise his freedom and social status after avoiding Azkaban, from a genuine belief that the Dark Lord had met his demise when he failed to kill Harry Potter on Hallowe'en in 1981. This was shown by how he could be rather harsh with his fellow Death Eaters whenever they went against the Dark Lord's orders, such as when he violently blasted Fenrir Greyback aside for trying to kill Dumbledore without letting Draco Malfoy have a chance. However he did subside when Snape stepped silently forward to accomplish the deed, showing that Yaxley may have a certain level of feared respect for him, or that he might just have been aware that in the event of Draco failing to complete the task at hand, the Dark Lord would naturally have turned to Snape to do it and hence simply let him.

## Magical Abilities and Skills

Evidently an accomplished wizard, the fact that Lord Voldemort sent Yaxley on missions such as collecting Horace Slughorn (whose own magical prowess he respected) and capturing the parents of Hermione Granger (a good friend of Harry Potter's whose house thus were not unlikely to be under the protection of the Order of the Phoenix) single-handedly speaks for the faith the Dark Lord had in his abilities.

* **Dark Arts**: One of the Dark Lord's most devious and powerful agents, Yaxley seemed to have opted to turn his talents largely towards coercion, torture, and murder, all of which most Death Eaters were guilty of. For example, Yaxley was skilled in the use of the Imperius Curse (which requires genuine ability to perform), being able to keep Pius Thicknesse under his control throughout the entire war, despite the fact that Thicknesse was actively trying to resist him.
* **Nonverbal magic**: Yaxley hit Greyback with a powerful knock-back jinx, possibly *Ventus*, without speaking an incantation, which is highly advanced magic, given the difficulty of casting spells non-verbally, and proof of his superior magical skills.
* **Duelling**: Yaxley was a very proficient duellist, able to hold his own extremely well against former duelling champion Filius Flitwick and fight him to a stalemate while Antonin Dolohov, one of Voldemort's most sadistic and feared Death Eaters, was defeated by said opponent. Yaxley also took part in the Battle of Astronomy Tower where he likely had to fight off both Aurors and Order of the Phoenix members and was only defeated when Harry hit him from behind. He also showed no fear in attacking the savage werewolf Fenrir Greyback when the latter attempted to disobey orders, nor did he back down when Greyback expressed anger. Yaxley was amongst the Death Eaters who managed to last until the end of the Battle of Hogwarts and it took George Weasley and Lee Jordan to finally take him down. He was also single-handedly sent to recruit or capture Horace Slughorn who was a very skilled wizard.
* **Apparition**: Being an accomplished adult wizard, Yaxley was capable of apparating. Yaxley apparated to Lord Voldemort's side upon his rebirth. He also apparated to the Malfoy Manor to report his progress.

## Etymology

The word “*corb*” meant “crow, raven” and was usually bestowed upon a man with shiny black hair or one with a raucous tone of voice.

The surname Yaxley is locational and derives either from the two villages called Yaxley in the English counties of Huntingdonshire and Suffolk.