In-Character
Full Name: Enoch James PrescottNicknames: Press from close friends, Prescott from associates.
Birthdate: September 8th, 1860
Current Age: 34
Gender: Male
Occupation: Head Pressman at Whitby & Co.
Reputation: 10
Residence: Hogsmeade Slums
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw (1872-1875)
Wand: Cedar, ten and a third inches, dragon heartstring. Whippy.
Blood Status: Halfblood
Social Class: Working
Family:
Cora Prescott nee Brewer, Wife [1860-1893]Appearance:
Maisie “Mae” Prescott, Daughter [1882]
August “Gus” Prescott, Son [1885]
Parents, two elder brothers, and two elder sisters (including Eliza), all living.
The Prescotts have a pet kneazle, called Whiskers, who is remarkably good at finding lost things and a very good judge of character.
Ethnicity: BlackHistory:
Height: Just over five feet, eight inches.
Hair: Black, shaved close, with facial hair.
Eyes: Deep Brown
Build: Sturdy
Attire: Practical, for the task at hand. His clothes show wear, but are well-maintained.
Wand Arm: Right
Face Claim: Martins Imhangbe
Personality:In 1860, Enoch James Prescott is the fifth and final child born to a farming family in Yorkshire. With his siblings ranging from five to fifteen years older than him, he is often tended to as much by his eldest sister as by his mother, and does not exactly have playfellows among his brothers and sisters—the eldest of which has already been to and left Hogwarts!I. The Farm
Enoch’s is a childhood of hard work and familial devotion in equal measure. He learns his sums and to read and write alongside concepts like crop rotation and the birthing of pigs, though as the youngest son of three, he knows from a relatively young age that he will not inherit the family farm and will instead have to make his own way in the world.
The autumn of 1872 sees him leave Yorkshire for the first time, headed to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Swiftly, the ease and good-nature that marked his earlier years left him as Enoch finds himself quite overwhelmed by the castle—and the vivid mix of pupils it contains. Though he does well enough in his classes, having always been a smart lad, it is months before the Ravenclaw begins to feel enough ease to start to make proper friends. The first to properly thaw him out is his housemate, Miss Cora Brewer, sharp as a tack and no-nonsense, but kind as anyone you’d ever meet.II. Hogwarts School
September of 1874 sees the start of his third—and final—year at the school, adding both muggle studies and care of magical creatures to his course roster. In spite of his experience on the farm, it is the former which Enoch takes a greater interest in, and he begins to develop a (mostly healthy) fascination with how muggle objects can work in tandem with magical abilities.
This is also the year of his first crush and first kiss—not with the same girls, mind! Miss — a wealthier girl in his year, but not his house, is assigned to work with him on a project, and to Enoch, she is the prettiest and smartest and loveliest girl he’s ever met. His friends, especially Cora, quickly grow tired of hearing him wax poetic (in his own way) about her, but he is not deterred. Just before the Easter holidays, he builds up the nerve to confess his love (read: infatuation) to her, and Miss — laughs soundly in his face. Enoch is: crushed, mortified, and resolved never to make such a fool of himself again.
He is reluctant to say goodbye to Hogwarts, but knows that his future lies beyond the school’s teachings. Back at Platform 9¾ for the last time, Cora startles him immensely by giving him a quick, chaste, yet meaningful kiss upon the lips.
Enoch does not return home in the traditional sense. Oh, he spends a fortnight on the farm, but a different opportunity has been lined up for him: he is sent to York to apprentice in the printshop of his mother’s brother.III. York
The feeling and the sound of the printing presses grows as soothing to him as a lullaby; the youth learns quickly and finds value in both the work itself and in the sensation of a job well done. In the years to follow, he keeps in touch with his school friends by owl, even Cora—though their kiss is never mentioned. When she leaves school following her O.W.L.s she comes to visit him for an afternoon and he shows her the press, how it works, and feels a strange flutter in his chest as she leaves.
Truly, the only thing he does not love about his time in York is his uncle’s drinking habit. Leonard is not a cruel drunk but an obnoxious one; indeed, by the time that he is nineteen, Enoch is doing much of the running of the printshop himself.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end: with his drinking having steadily increased, Leonard has grown more and more unreliable. This comes to head shortly after the calendar turns to 1880 as a nighttime accident sees the printshop burn to the ground.
Enoch never speaks to his uncle again.
It is a month or two—spent back at the family farm—before Enoch finds his next move, taking work at Whitby & Sons, a printer in Hogsmeade. He can count on one hand the number of times he has been to the village since leaving Hogwarts, and Merlin how it has grown! He lets a small room in a nicer portion of the bustling town’s slums, learning the ins and outs of the new-to-him business—the machines, though, are blissfully familiar and predictable. It is an easier transition than he might have thought. The shop is not as profitable as his uncle’s had been, but here, Enoch feels like part of a partnership, where both he and Edmund rely upon one another—rather than Encoh having to pick up another man’s slack.IV. Steps Forward
It is once back in Hogsmeade that he reconnects with—and ultimately begins courting—Cora, a mediwitch at Hogsmeade Hospital. The pair marry in the spring of 1881, and welcome their first child, a daughter, the following year.
The years pass largely happily. Young Tess Whitby takes a more active role in her father’s business, and while Enoch is at first reluctant to have “a child” underfoot, he must begrudgingly admit that she has an aptitude for it. Cora delivers another healthy baby in 1885, this one a boy, and the Prescotts begin saving in earnest, first to move to the newly redeveloped Pennyworth district of Hogsmeade, and then for the future: Edmund has no sons to take over the business; Enoch is resolved to buy in, to help preserve what he has helped to build for the sake of his own children.
All was well.
Until it wasn’t.V. The Worst
1893 will forever be a year of change to Enoch—change of the worst kind. Edmund grows ill, requiring him to work harder at the shop. Enoch is, of course, happy to do so, but feels an ominous weight pushing down upon him. This weight nearly crushes him altogether in September. Cora, visiting her sister in London, is a casualty of the dragon attacks—trying to help the injured, Enoch is told later, though it is of little comfort to a man who has lost his other half and is now the sole caregiver for two motherless children. He has all but just returned to work when a second heavy loss hits: Edmund Whitby is dead.
So are Enoch’s hopes for the future, as Tess takes over the business.
He stays, though. In spite of his disappointment, in spite of the triple whammy of losing his partner in life, partner in business, and hopes for the future all in one season. He owes that much to Whitby, to the Whitbys, after more than a decade.VI. The Next Chapter
Savings for his future become savings for the children. Instead of renting in Pennyworth, the Prescotts now own a tidy home in the slums, security for the children should they lose their father too. Any remaining savings have been squirrelled away into accounts for Mae and Gus—for school, for whatever is to come after.
A new routine emerges. Helping Tess keep the shop afloat means occasionally saving the shop from her and her activism, prompting the two to butt heads. Enoch does all he can to be there for his children.
Life marches on.
Key Traits
- Loyal: His loyalty is hard-earned, but incredibly difficult to shake once won. He is devoted to those he cares about, and while his devotion may not be as effusive as that of some, it is a truly valuable thing.
- Measured: Enoch has never been the sort to act without thinking. He will not dither about—decisions are often made swiftly—but he will consider his options carefully before deciding on his best course. This extends to his speech; Enoch has never been one to open his mouth unnecessarily.
- Hardworking: Care and precision are put into every task, and he will not leave a project unfinished.
- Intelligent: A combination of book smart and aware of the world in which he lives, Enoch understands and perceives more than others might give him credit for.
- Proud: If Enoch has any sin, it is his pride, the spark that lights most of his internal conflicts.
Core Values
- Actions have consequences. Just as one must live with the ills they have foisted upon themselves, so too do people deserve to be rewarded for their hard work. Unfortunately, the former comes much more freely than the latter.
- Every vow is an unbreakable vow. If your word cannot be trusted, you have nothing to offer the world. Do not make an offer you do not intend to fulfill; do not make a promise you cannot keep. Your word, if honoured, is worth more than any coin.
- Loyalty above all. It is important to honour not only one’s word, but one’s relationships with those around them. Those who have earned your loyalty deserve your loyalty, end of discussion.
Assorted Beliefs
- On Activism: Causes are for people with too much time on their hands. It’s all well and good to worry about others, worry about society as a whole, but Enoch focuses his limited means and time on his hands that he doles out first upon his children, for whom he would do anything, then upon the Whitby girls, then upon himself. Though some of the actions he takes ostensibly for his children suggest that perhaps his own pride might be placed rather high upon that list…
- On Feminism: A woman can do almost anything a man can, but it’s up to her to do it for herself.
- On Class: Your sphere in life—wealthy, middle class, working—is decided by birth and there’s no sense moaning about it. How well you live within your sphere, though, that’s up to you, and there is a great deal you can accomplish through hard work. This is perhaps the only area in which Enoch believes firmly that like will be happiest with like.
TRIVIA:
- Boggart: One of his children engulfed in flames.
- Amortentia: Good paper, peonies, and hay.
- Does not drink, and tends to avoid gambling.
Out-of-Character
Name: KayteAge: Over 30
Contact: PM Aldous Crouch
