Hugo Allbrass

Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher 

Also known as The Albatross

Professor Allbrass is an elderly Wizard who appears to be a man in his sixties but is considerably older.

He is of average height and build, with collar length white hair and a face that can most charitably be described as stern. He walks with the upright gait of someone with a lifetime of dignified self discipline and he dresses in slightly anachronistic late victorian garb - often a black frock-coat and waistcoat. He has very clear blue eyes and misses nothing.

Allbrass is a stern disciplinarian. Pupils do not misbehave in his class, ever. He does not have to raise his voice or throw around point-deductions to ensure that either -he is just one of those iron-willed Professors who emanate an aura of authority. He's fought in several major wizarding conflicts before retiring to teach, and that probably helps - a few rowdy teenagers are nothing in comparison. All this is not to say that he is an unkind man. He is an excellent teacher with a lifetime of real-life experience in DADA and is excellent at passing on that information to those pupils who are ready to learn from him and he will take infinite care to ensure they are well prepared.

Quirks: He often stands with gripping the lapels of his frock coat with his head back and glaring at recalcitrant pupils, or when deep in thought. He is prone to asking rhetorical questions.

History



Hugo Allbrass was born toward the beginning of the twentieth century – he is somewhat coy about the exact date, but according to one of the Hogwarts ghosts (a notorious gossip) he joined up to fight in the Great War (1914-1918) when still too young to legally enlist after lying about his age. He has always been focussed on the combative aspects of magic and during the Second World War he found himself working unofficially for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) planning and carrying out raids behind enemy lines. This was technically in breach of international magical law, since the various magical authorities across Europe had established a Pax Magica stating that they would not interfere in Muggle political conflicts. In practise the Pax Magica was so much thestral-poop however and every side happily deployed its magical assets unofficially, with the proviso that they targeted each other and not the muggle military.

Allbrass continued his work in the immediate aftermath of the war, leading a small team of magical specialists in mopping up the dark wizards who sought to capitalise on the chaos caused by the conflict. Back in those days he was a hard drinking, chain smoking, cold-eyed and ruthless man. But he soon toughened up enough to take on a role as a Hogwarts teacher…