Iago is a tricky sort of man. Like a snake that slithers out of your grasp just when you think you have a handle on him, his past is as difficult to piece together. Not a lot of it is widely known to many, the truth only to a select few. Below are the recorded facts of the origins of such a man, in some areas grey and hazy where truth is hard to pin down.
Pre-History & Birth (1863 - 1865)
Bartholomew Iago Sr. was once a prominent, powerful wizard from a respectable family. He was of the finest uppercrust, pureblood lineage and even formed part of the Wizengamot of the time. (He served in the capacity of interrogator.) He was a man of vices however and had many a flaw that often caught him out. He gambled, cheated freely (discreetly), and later in life even fraternized with would-be criminals that his corruption had let walk free on particular arrangement. He was married for a first time at an older age for a man of such prestige. His first wife was beautiful, young, and vibrantly full of life. She too had a spectacular pedigree and society deemed them a good match, all things considered. She was vain however, and trapped in a loveless marriage, drank heavily and threw lavish parties to fill the void. They struggled to conceive a child. Over time the funds for the family diminished between the parties, gambling, and all around hedonism. And still, that first wife never bore a child. Rumor abounds that on a particularly low evening, after much drinking and further waning of funds, Bartholomew killed his first wife for being so feckless. He blamed her for their misfortunes, seeing none of his own part in the matter.
As such rumors circulated, more started to be lost. Bartholomew was kicked out of the ministry, he lost his position in the Wizengamot, in society, and further rumor even suggests he served time in Azkaban for the murder of the late Mrs. Iago. (This rumor has never been proven, but the stigma that goes with it haunts the youngest Iago to date.) With little left to capitalize on other than a somewhat tainted upperclass lineage, Bartholomew moved into the muggle world and sought a wealthy wife. He married for a second time, this time to an even younger muggle heiress. She bore him a son within that first year - Vincent. Despite this success however, Bartholomew was displeased with his lot in life. He had a halfblood for a son, and heir. He was married to a muggle woman (whom he secretly despised), and he'd lost all prestige and society in the Wizarding world. Drinking heavily, and gambling still, he managed to loose a vast amount of the new fortune his wife had brought and he was violent. The new Mrs. Iago was clever, however, where the late Mrs. Iago was not. She is said to have poisoned him in his sleep, though this could never be proven. The authorities simply found Bartholomew Iago Sr. dead, in a drunken fit early one January morning.
Childhood (1865 - 1874) London
Born in the chaos of his father's demise, Vincent was a quiet boy. He displayed his first signs of magic very early in life, but was raised primarily as a muggle so the magic went unrecorded. After the fall from grace his lineage had suffered in both the muggle and Wizarding worlds, he and his mother were plunged firmly into the middle class - held afloat only by what fortune she managed to retain, and her family's influence in their circles. For eleven short years, Vincent grew into an accomplished boy. He had a governess early on and from her he learned: Italian, French, and German. He studied hard, and his mother always pushed him to be better than society expected of him. They were close, and he pushed for her sake. He was always the cleverest boy in the room, but he could never quite escape the slightly malicious streak he had too. He was once caught by the housekeeper hiding mice in jars and torturing them.
Student Career (1874 - 1881) Hogwarts Castle
It came as only partially a surprise to the family when Vincent received a Hogwarts letter. Mrs. Iago knew of her late husband's abilities, what he was, and she'd suspected some of it had passed onto her son. That said, she had never expected an institution to seek him out since the occasional odd thing only really occurred when he was emotional. Still, she allowed him to attend and it was there that Vincent really grew into himself and learned more about his father's supposed crimes.
Sorted into Slytherin as a first year, Vincent found himself avoided pretty spectacularly by others - even those in his own house. He was picked on most mercilessly by other Slytherins and eventually grew to resent his house altogether. He hated having his lot thrown in with this classist, elitist, purist group of bastards. He wished endlessly that he'd been sorted into Ravenclaw. It seemed such a noble, intelligent house - one he could have been proud to represent! (Not that those students were much friendlier to him.) Still, throughout his tenure at Hogwarts, Vincent did his best to achieve top marks and strove to break the stigma as far as it came to his deportment and personality. He was a quiet but friendly bloke, charming on the best of days, and always there to lend a helping hand to those who might need it. That said, he had his moments of revenge and vindication, like the worst of them. He played nasty tricks on those that were mean to him and learned very early on how to manipulate a situation such that he would come out immaculate and the offending party, decimated.
As years wore on, his abilities only increased with practice. Vincent became quite the silver-tongued innocent and learned the best way to achieve power was to get in with those seen as more powerful, more worthy, than others. He never quite managed it in his time at Hogwarts, but he observed it clearly in the hierarchy structure and it drives many of his decisions to date. He also managed to befriend a handful of folks in his time there, none more notable than Cassian Valenduris.
They met in passing a few times prior to the chance encounter that would thrust them into friendship. Vincent never had much of an opinion of the Gryffindor other than observation that he seemed like a bit of a hot head. Sometime in his third year however, that very temper came in handy. Trapped, as per usual, by some obnoxious seventh year and held at wandpoint only to hear his father berated for his crimes, Vincent swore this time he'd loose an eyebrow, or worse. Luckily, Cass stumbled upon him and managed to turn the entire altercation in time for Vincent to retrieve his own wand. Between the two of them, they sent the seventh year off to the infirmary with a new respect for Gryffindor muscle, antlers, and a black eyed warning to never mention it again. From there, the friendship blossomed easily. They became best friends, and Vincent grew rather attached to Cass over the years. Sometime in his sixth year he grew to realize just how attached he'd become despite the warnings that it was so wholly unnatural to feel as much.
In fourth and fifth years, Vincent focused more academically on charms and transfiguration. He studied tirelessly for his animagus transformation (eventually completing that in his sixth year) and became particularly adept with camouflage spells. (Mostly out of necessity.) In his sixth and seventh years, the Slytherin grew into a fondness for occlumency and legilimency and studied obsessively to become accomplished.
In his seventh year, Vincent managed to complete his chosen N.E.W.T.s with top marks and left Hogwarts with a bittersweet feeling of both loss and satisfaction.
Adulthood & Ministry Career (1881 - present) Everywhere
After graduation, Vincent moved into a decent enough ministry position in the Law Enforcement Office. He became an obliviator while Cass became a trainee hit-wizard. He's worked tirelessly over the years to become one of the best obliviators in the department, hoping for a promotion. These days, Iago feels he's due for a bit more. He's on the cusp of thirty; it's time to move up and become a department head or at least assistant to one. And, probably, find a wife - however useless he might be to one. He's recently managed to befriend a man by the name of Othello Timoleon Maxime. Maxime is a powerful man in the ministry, one Vincent knows will be a great ally in his volly for promotion. He introduces Cass to Maxime in a gesture of good will. Perhaps his friend too could benefit from the acquaintance one day. They become friendly. Friendlier than Vincent would have liked, or even imagined.
In October, 1891 Cass is promoted by Maxime to a higher position, instead of Vincent.
November 1891 - Vincent tries not to let his anger, betrayal and jealousy get the better of him.
December 1891 - "
January 1892 - "
February 1892 - "
March, April, May 1892 - "
June 1892 - Vincent hatches a plot to ruin Maxime's career in retaliation. He doesn’t care who else gets hurt in the process.
