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Return of Twenty Random Facts
Happy Halloween! Now back to marketing. And accounting. And finance. Joy.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Title: Twenty Random Facts about Alastor Moody
Pairings: brief mentions of Moody/OC and some unrequited feelings
Rating: mild PG-13 for discussion of violence and sexuality
Word Count: 1142
Disclaimer: Still not JKR or interested in profiting from her creations.
Notes: Written for the Harry Potter Random Facts Fest.
1. Those who know Alastor Moody’s family history believe he has lived his life trying to make his father proud. Like his son, Agamemnon Moody was a Gryffindor and respected (if eccentric) Auror. Unlike his son, he was killed in the line of duty early in his career, leaving behind his pregnant wife. Alastor was born four months later.
2. Those who know Alastor Moody – which is to say, Alastor himself – believe these people to be idiots. Everything he is, he owes to his mother: Beatrice McKinnon Moody, Ravenclaw and Daily Prophet investigator, who taught her only child never to accept anything at face value.
3. Alastor holds the distinction of being the only student in recorded Hogwarts history who needed to be forcibly restrained before he could be made to put on the Sorting Hat. Even then, it took the poor thing at least fifteen minutes to convince Alastor that it didn’t intend to use his thoughts for malicious purposes.
4. Although popular imagination and his later career have characterized him as an inveterate loner, Alastor had friends at Hogwarts. No bosom chums in whom he would have been willing to confide his deepest secrets, with the possible exception of his cousin Walter in Ravenclaw (and then only because Wally would never have asked), but friends nonetheless.
5. He was even a prefect. For all of two months, until his housemates and colleagues complained about his overzealousness. In hindsight, he realizes that requesting a series of meetings with Headmaster Dippet to review security procedures might have been pushing it. (Their loss. He bets the old man regretted not implementing regular bathroom inspections after that Heir of Slytherin business.)
6. The first time Alastor heard the phrase “constant vigilance” was during Auror training, from Reginald Watson, who taught surveillance. Old Reg only mentioned the concept once in passing, but Alastor scarcely heard the rest of the lecture, so taken was he with the simple, almost poetic encapsulation of his lifelong philosophy. Within a week, the rest of the department was avoiding him (or walking past briskly with their hands over their ears) and furious with Reg for having said anything.
7. A month later, when Alastor received the highest marks ever on the surveillance practical, the complaints abruptly stopped. His contact with Reg was limited from that point forward, though.
8. Alastor has only slept with a woman once. He was celebrating the successful conclusion of his first investigation at the Hog’s Head. She had masses of raven hair and storm grey eyes he could have studied for hours, and an impressive knowledge of fine whiskeys, which she was happy to share with him right up until the point when she suggested they get a room.
The next morning, he awoke alone and tied to the bed. His clothes, wand, and wallet were nowhere to be found. This was when he decided to carry a flask.
9. Despite the rumors about how he persuaded Dumbledore to let him take NEWT-level Transfiguration, he has never been with a man. Not that he sees anything wrong with the concept in the abstract. With so much genuine evil in the world, those who are capable of finding comfort should take it where they can.
10. He has fallen in love twice, but both Minerva McGonagall and Amelia Bones gently informed him that they were “not the marrying kind.” Sometimes, he thinks he should have done them a favor and tried his hand at matchmaking, but he expects he would have bollixed it up something awful.
11. Madam Bones may have been Alastor’s favorite administrator, but Crouch was definitely his least favorite. Not only did Crouch table investigations he felt would make the department look bad, he would put the Aurors on babysitting duty whenever he brought his son into work. Neither Alastor nor young Barty approved of this arrangement.
12. Marlene McKinnon was Wally’s granddaughter. At her family’s wake, a drunken Sirius Black accused the Order of insufficient concern for her safety or remorse over her death, and Alastor socked him in the jaw. He does not deny this incident predisposed him to believe Black was the traitor, and does not apologize for it.
13. By his count, he has survived seven hundred and thirty-one direct attempts on his life. This includes both the near-misses and the more outlandish (some would say implausible) threats, but not self-imposed dangers, accidents, and the hazards of everyday life. He’s tried calculating that total, but Arithmancy has never been his strongest subject.
14. Officially, he has “resorted to lethal force in self-defense” four times. In reality, it was three. He could’ve brought Rosier in alive, injuries and all, but there was too much of a chance the bastard would walk: if not immediately, then far too soon. None of the kills keep him up nights, but he feels more at peace with that one than any of the others.
15. If he’d known he’d get a fear-inspiring nickname and the ability to see through walls out of the deal, he’d have put the blasted eye out himself ages ago.
16. He wasn’t nearly as thrilled about being taken off active field duty, but teaching the new recruits proved an unexpected pleasure. Especially Tonks: he knows the other students found her questions annoying, but he can’t help but approve of anyone who wants to really understand the rules rather than stop at learning how to enforce them. A bit less sentimentality, and she’ll go far.
17. While Alastor is prepared to move heaven and earth to avenge the Diggory boy’s death, he can’t muster much anger toward Barty for the capture and impersonation. Even overlooking the fact that justice has been done and then some, he was the one caught off-guard; he deserved the consequences. And if he couldn’t bounce Lucius Malfoy’s brat off the walls himself, he’s glad it was done in his name.
18. He is a little irritated nobody else suspected the switch, however. He’s seen some of the memories, and Barty’s inflection on “vigilance” was completely off.
19. Actually, he’s not so sure Dumbledore didn’t know. But Alastor is all too aware that even his paranoia’s no match for his old professor’s long-term planning, so he never asked. Why bother with the frustration?
20. Alastor is not a man in the habit of dreaming (or sleeping, for that matter; he feels he’s spent enough time unconscious against his will as it is). Lately, though, he’s been host to a number of nocturnal visitors: his mother, Wally, Marlene, Amelia, and others whose names he had all but forgotten.
The ever-vigilant parts of his brain are mildly alarmed by this development. But even if taking Dreamless Sleep were not out of the question, he would not. After so many years of hard work, he’s earned a pleasant rest.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Title: Twenty Random Facts about Alastor Moody
Pairings: brief mentions of Moody/OC and some unrequited feelings
Rating: mild PG-13 for discussion of violence and sexuality
Word Count: 1142
Disclaimer: Still not JKR or interested in profiting from her creations.
Notes: Written for the Harry Potter Random Facts Fest.
1. Those who know Alastor Moody’s family history believe he has lived his life trying to make his father proud. Like his son, Agamemnon Moody was a Gryffindor and respected (if eccentric) Auror. Unlike his son, he was killed in the line of duty early in his career, leaving behind his pregnant wife. Alastor was born four months later.
2. Those who know Alastor Moody – which is to say, Alastor himself – believe these people to be idiots. Everything he is, he owes to his mother: Beatrice McKinnon Moody, Ravenclaw and Daily Prophet investigator, who taught her only child never to accept anything at face value.
3. Alastor holds the distinction of being the only student in recorded Hogwarts history who needed to be forcibly restrained before he could be made to put on the Sorting Hat. Even then, it took the poor thing at least fifteen minutes to convince Alastor that it didn’t intend to use his thoughts for malicious purposes.
4. Although popular imagination and his later career have characterized him as an inveterate loner, Alastor had friends at Hogwarts. No bosom chums in whom he would have been willing to confide his deepest secrets, with the possible exception of his cousin Walter in Ravenclaw (and then only because Wally would never have asked), but friends nonetheless.
5. He was even a prefect. For all of two months, until his housemates and colleagues complained about his overzealousness. In hindsight, he realizes that requesting a series of meetings with Headmaster Dippet to review security procedures might have been pushing it. (Their loss. He bets the old man regretted not implementing regular bathroom inspections after that Heir of Slytherin business.)
6. The first time Alastor heard the phrase “constant vigilance” was during Auror training, from Reginald Watson, who taught surveillance. Old Reg only mentioned the concept once in passing, but Alastor scarcely heard the rest of the lecture, so taken was he with the simple, almost poetic encapsulation of his lifelong philosophy. Within a week, the rest of the department was avoiding him (or walking past briskly with their hands over their ears) and furious with Reg for having said anything.
7. A month later, when Alastor received the highest marks ever on the surveillance practical, the complaints abruptly stopped. His contact with Reg was limited from that point forward, though.
8. Alastor has only slept with a woman once. He was celebrating the successful conclusion of his first investigation at the Hog’s Head. She had masses of raven hair and storm grey eyes he could have studied for hours, and an impressive knowledge of fine whiskeys, which she was happy to share with him right up until the point when she suggested they get a room.
The next morning, he awoke alone and tied to the bed. His clothes, wand, and wallet were nowhere to be found. This was when he decided to carry a flask.
9. Despite the rumors about how he persuaded Dumbledore to let him take NEWT-level Transfiguration, he has never been with a man. Not that he sees anything wrong with the concept in the abstract. With so much genuine evil in the world, those who are capable of finding comfort should take it where they can.
10. He has fallen in love twice, but both Minerva McGonagall and Amelia Bones gently informed him that they were “not the marrying kind.” Sometimes, he thinks he should have done them a favor and tried his hand at matchmaking, but he expects he would have bollixed it up something awful.
11. Madam Bones may have been Alastor’s favorite administrator, but Crouch was definitely his least favorite. Not only did Crouch table investigations he felt would make the department look bad, he would put the Aurors on babysitting duty whenever he brought his son into work. Neither Alastor nor young Barty approved of this arrangement.
12. Marlene McKinnon was Wally’s granddaughter. At her family’s wake, a drunken Sirius Black accused the Order of insufficient concern for her safety or remorse over her death, and Alastor socked him in the jaw. He does not deny this incident predisposed him to believe Black was the traitor, and does not apologize for it.
13. By his count, he has survived seven hundred and thirty-one direct attempts on his life. This includes both the near-misses and the more outlandish (some would say implausible) threats, but not self-imposed dangers, accidents, and the hazards of everyday life. He’s tried calculating that total, but Arithmancy has never been his strongest subject.
14. Officially, he has “resorted to lethal force in self-defense” four times. In reality, it was three. He could’ve brought Rosier in alive, injuries and all, but there was too much of a chance the bastard would walk: if not immediately, then far too soon. None of the kills keep him up nights, but he feels more at peace with that one than any of the others.
15. If he’d known he’d get a fear-inspiring nickname and the ability to see through walls out of the deal, he’d have put the blasted eye out himself ages ago.
16. He wasn’t nearly as thrilled about being taken off active field duty, but teaching the new recruits proved an unexpected pleasure. Especially Tonks: he knows the other students found her questions annoying, but he can’t help but approve of anyone who wants to really understand the rules rather than stop at learning how to enforce them. A bit less sentimentality, and she’ll go far.
17. While Alastor is prepared to move heaven and earth to avenge the Diggory boy’s death, he can’t muster much anger toward Barty for the capture and impersonation. Even overlooking the fact that justice has been done and then some, he was the one caught off-guard; he deserved the consequences. And if he couldn’t bounce Lucius Malfoy’s brat off the walls himself, he’s glad it was done in his name.
18. He is a little irritated nobody else suspected the switch, however. He’s seen some of the memories, and Barty’s inflection on “vigilance” was completely off.
19. Actually, he’s not so sure Dumbledore didn’t know. But Alastor is all too aware that even his paranoia’s no match for his old professor’s long-term planning, so he never asked. Why bother with the frustration?
20. Alastor is not a man in the habit of dreaming (or sleeping, for that matter; he feels he’s spent enough time unconscious against his will as it is). Lately, though, he’s been host to a number of nocturnal visitors: his mother, Wally, Marlene, Amelia, and others whose names he had all but forgotten.
The ever-vigilant parts of his brain are mildly alarmed by this development. But even if taking Dreamless Sleep were not out of the question, he would not. After so many years of hard work, he’s earned a pleasant rest.
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