Xavier Davies in a nutshell: you're watching a ~supernatural~ movie of some sort. The main character has stumbled upon something cursed/haunted/possessed/etc. A side character enters to provide some exposition, knowing entirely too much about this to be classed as a Normal Person, then dies before they can tell the main character what to actually do about the great evil they've unlocked. Xav is that side character. Were someone to tell him explicitly that he is the side character doomed to die when more interesting people do stupid things, he would be largely unperturbed by this.

He was a Gryffindor class of 1877, though only attended through OWLs. He initially worked as a Gringotts cursebreaker but was let go for not actually breaking many curses — he'd much prefer to just collect artifacts and learn to live with their "quirks" than destroy them. They're not evil, they're misunderstood! Since 1880, he has worked as a patent clerk in the Ministry's Ludicrous Patents Office, where his general eccentricities have prevented him from being seen as promotion material. He lives in Cambridge, in one half of a townhouse with Ilyas Bashir on the other side.

where you come in...

CURSEBREAKERS | Xav tries to stay in contact with as many cursebreaking folks as possible from his brief stint at Gringott's, because he likes the stories and hopes they'll occasionally gift him cursed artifacts. He's generally amiable, but was also negligent-bordering-on-dangerous as a cursebreaker, so people who take the career very seriously may not have much patience for him.

INVENTORS | Xav also makes a point of trying to befriend inventors he meets through the patent office because, again, he likes the stories and is hoping for presents. You might like him or might think he's a little tryhard, but in any case he'll never get tired of listening to you talk about your latest project.

OTHER FRIENDS | POV: You send a text to your friend. It is marked read but never responded to. Months pass. You see them at a party and they attach themselves to your side for the entire night, talking your ear off as though you are best friends and referring to things that have happened recently that you have no context for. If you ever bring up the text, they seem confused. Do they even have a phone? If this is the sort of friendship you can tolerate, Xav is the guy for you. Plenty of room here for frustrated would-have-been-friends as well :]

THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY | At some point (very flexible, between 1880 & 1890) Xav met a girl and they had some chemistry. He never made a move because... well, if you asked him now, he wouldn't really have a very good reason. He was busy? He forgot? It didn't occur to him that time was passing until suddenly she was engaged to someone else? In any case, he still thinks of her fondly and now assumes he will likely never marry. This woman can be any blood/class and should have been romantically available when they first interacted, but romantically unavailable now.

HURLING | Xav isn't exactly a catch but he is a stable MC male who attends society things at the standard MC male rate. His ideal match is probably patient (to tolerate his collection) but firm enough to push some standards onto him. IDK his sexuality yet except that he had a thing with one girl one time. In addition to traditional hurling, there's potential for "our meddling parents pushed us together because they think we'd be good for each other" sorts of interactions here.

RECENT HOGWARTS GRADUATES | Beginning in 1890, some stupid teenagers dared each other to break into his house and steal something from his basement. This happened again in 1891 and 1892 as a sort of rite of passage/hazing thing. I'm very interested in backdating threads dealing with the fallout if anyone is interested <3 Your character could be one of the ones who broke in or could just be in the same family/social circle as one of the hooligans and suffering Consequences as a result of proximity to cursed stuff. Xav always handles these "off the record" and doesn't get law enforcement involved because he reaaaaaaally doesn't want law enforcement conducting an inventory of his basement.

CRIMINALS / SHADY TYPES | Xavier is interested in buying things on the black market occasionally, but not involved in shady things beyond that. He's a cinnamon roll, he just has an obsession with collecting cursed things. That said, he's also quite naive and could be tricked into being an accomplice to a (non-violent) crime if a "friend" from Knockturne asked him to or if there was a chance he'd get a cool new trinket out of it.

MISC |
— from his profile: One of the spare bedrooms sports a sign on the door reading WARNING - DO NOT ENTER - CARNIVOROUS OCCUPANTS - NOT A JOKE / The last line of the sign was added after someone lost a finger inside the room and defended themselves by saying "I thought that sign was a joke!" This could be you. You would have to have been close enough to have visited Xav's house at some point between 1887 & 1891 (or one of the Hogwarts kids, above). Maybe you're still missing the finger or maybe it was magically repaired. Maybe you've forgiven Xavier by now, maybe you never will.
— If your character needs a 'cursed object' plot please hit me up at any time <3
— If you're friends with Ilyas, Xav probably assumes you're friends with him too.
— If your character has need of a weird object - come ask for a tour of the collection! Xav would only consider selling or lending something out if he feels it's going to a "good home" and would be "happier" with its new owner but as stated above, he's very naive so this doesn't necessarily mean you have the best of intentions.

  

I can see Marvolo Gaunt wanting to take a look at his collection. He works for Borgin & Burkes so may come there interested in buying or selling something his bosses want. He could even try to steal something if it catches his eye.

I also offer Edgar Minks who may be known as somebody willing to invest in the development of some inventions.. maybe somebody Xavier recommends for funding help? It's also possible he may just want a weird object.

If you really want to make him uneasy, Walter could come sniffing around, maybe got a tip Xavier keeps dangerous dark magic kind of stuff in his home. He won't have a warrant to search but he could come by and ask questions, maybe innocently ask about a tour.

  

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I can offer ya~

Cassian Valenduris Ministry peer but also likely to have questions/needs around understanding a dark object/how it works. ‘Strictly hypothetically speaking’ things


Thomas Harvey Class of 81 so bit younger. Did a stint at Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures form 80-84 and hateddddd it, they could have gotten friendly around then. He’s the type to think it was a joke but I would like him to have fixed his finger lol. Also fits bill as ‘other friend’

Well you know @"Sophia Voss" who I think will be more useful later as she gets into Bibliomancy things

Finally Ida Chang here will have a cursed object/liable to find many cursed objects. She’s not the type to have broken into his house post-grad but would absolutely want to know everything about it and so will probably know of him so might seek him out. She also has to sell a dark object potentially

  

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3

Timothy Ainsworth is an inventor who would love to see all your weird stuff. He has weird stuff too if you want a look. That sounded kinda dirty to me upon a re-read but it isn't. They could also have been school friends!

We kinda talked about how George Robins might connect with him!

We spoke about Sage Macnair and Bibomancy things!

I likely have a whole bunch of other possibilities but I thought these three were the most promising/exciting to me to start with!

  

I can see Marvolo Gaunt wanting to take a look at his collection. He works for Borgin & Burkes so may come there interested in buying or selling something his bosses want. He could even try to steal something if it catches his eye.

I also offer Edgar Minks who may be known as somebody willing to invest in the development of some inventions.. maybe somebody Xavier recommends for funding help?  It's also possible he may just want a weird object.

If you really want to make him uneasy, Walter could come sniffing around, maybe got a tip Xavier keeps dangerous dark magic kind of stuff in his home. He won't have a warrant to search but he could come by and ask questions, maybe innocently ask about a tour.

Ooh Marvolo Gaunt seems like a good connection, Xav probably peeks into Borgin & Burkes periodically to see if they have anything interesting. Xav doesn't actually invent things - his conenction there is that he works in the patent office - so would not be seeking funding help for himself, but if you wanted an NPC inventor we could swing things that way? It would have to be something not-overtly-illegal though because Xavier isn't on board with actively creating things that will hurt people :P

And I'm also very interested in Walter sniffing around >D I'm headcanoning that most (if not all) of Xav's objects aren't actually illegal to just own (especially in the minimally regulated victorian era) but he could definitely get in legal trouble if he let any of them get out of hand (hurting people, breaching statute of secrecy since he lives in a Muggle area, etc) and the ways in which he acquires them aren't necessary legal so an auror asking questions could make him sweat for sure.

I can offer ya~

Cassian Valenduris Ministry peer but also likely to have questions/needs around understanding a dark object/how it works. ‘Strictly hypothetically speaking’ things


Thomas Harvey Class of 81 so bit younger. Did a stint at Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures form 80-84 and hateddddd it, they could have gotten friendly around then. He’s the type to think it was a joke but I would like him to have fixed his finger lol. Also fits bill as ‘other friend’

Well you know @"Sophia Voss" who I think will be more useful later as she gets into Bibliomancy things

Finally Ida Chang here will have a cursed object/liable to find many cursed objects. She’s not the type to have broken into his house post-grad but would absolutely want to know everything about it and so will probably know of him so might seek him out. She also has to sell a dark object potentially

OMG YES Thomas Harvey can be the finger friend (since regrown) >D And I love the idea of Xav accidentally offering people dark magic advice because he really does think this is just a fun hypothetical xD I'd be up to thread either of them immediately, and then your girls down the line as they're relevant? <3 <3 always

Timothy Ainsworth is an inventor who would love to see all your weird stuff. He has weird stuff too if you want a look. That sounded kinda dirty to me upon a re-read but it isn't. They could also have been school friends!

We kinda talked about how George Robins might connect with him!

We spoke about Sage Macnair and Bibliomancy things!

I likely have a whole bunch of other possibilities but I thought these three were the most promising/exciting to me to start with!

Oh yes please Timothy for friends! Xav is THE MOST DISORGANIZED PERSON EVER which I imagine might make for an interesting dynamic with the head librarian, lol. I can imagine Xav visiting the library to look something up and leaving a trail of chaos behind him and Timothy being like "sigh, really?"

I already have the thread opener for Sage/Xav in my head, I'll get to it asap (work stuff has been... uh interesting to say the least, heh). What kind of thread opportunities do you think we could use for him and George?

  

I can offer ya~

Cassian Valenduris Ministry peer but also likely to have questions/needs around understanding a dark object/how it works. ‘Strictly hypothetically speaking’ things


Thomas Harvey Class of 81 so bit younger. Did a stint at Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures form 80-84 and hateddddd it, they could have gotten friendly around then. He’s the type to think it was a joke but I would like him to have fixed his finger lol. Also fits bill as ‘other friend’

Well you know @"Sophia Voss" who I think will be more useful later as she gets into Bibliomancy things

Finally Ida Chang here will have a cursed object/liable to find many cursed objects. She’s not the type to have broken into his house post-grad but would absolutely want to know everything about it and so will probably know of him so might seek him out. She also has to sell a dark object potentially

OMG YES Thomas Harvey can be the finger friend (since regrown) >D And I love the idea of Xav accidentally offering people dark magic advice because he really does think this is just a fun hypothetical xD I'd be up to thread either of them immediately, and then your girls down the line as they're relevant? <3 <3 always

Heck ya. Re Tom/Xav. Happy to backdate the finger incident if that's fun! I enjoy making backstory x) Otherwise yes lets pick up something recent! Let's start there! Cass might need to be a fast follow once he learns about the 'hypothetical object' he'll be asking about, just realized that hasn't happened ICly for him yet.... Soph though, always happy for a random meet/greet where the book story comes up It'll help her know to ask for it from her source

  

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stefanie made this beautiful set <3