BENNETT, ryker

ryker bennett

THE RECORDS

PERSONALITY

Ryker can easily be described as very rough around the edges at first glance, it isn't uncommon for people to hate him when they first meet him all things considering. One moment he can be cold and heartless whereas the next he can be considerate to a degree - but that consideration only seems to go so far. He doesn't really have a truly arrogant nature, instead he seems to doubt himself and his finer traits at times. Than again his self-confidence can seem overwhelming since he does pride himself on his work and his wits because he knows that he has outsmarted people before and he can do it again. He likes to think on his feet normally that is where all his good ideas come from, he can think in situations that don't require stress but he is slower usually than coming up with the solution to the problem. Resourceful as his quick second solutions seem sometimes they are always not the answer to the problem, admittedly like anyone else Ryker can be wrong too. When he is wrong he hates to admit it and will stop at nothing to allow his stubborn nature to cave instead he happens to shuffle around the truth and the situation.

When it comes to women Ryker can be something of a womanizer, especially since his only steady girlfriend while he was at Hogwarts in his fifth year dumped him for his best friend at the time. Obviously that friendship didn't last very long all things considering, but it also taught Ryker a valuable lesson which he holds closely these days -- never trust a woman no matter what. In general he normally doesn't trust people but he is overly mistrustful of women seeing as how he has trusted them in the past and watched them turn on him. As depressing as that sounds he doesn't let it get him down instead he's willing to see women still as any other object in the world that one can obtain or drive away. As far as most things go he is by no means selfish, but he is not exactly selfless either. Depending on the situation he often opts to give things up rather than keep them for himself -- money is no object to him even though he hasn't had a lot of it for years. More often than not what he does steal he normally ends up giving the better things away.

Bitterly regretful over what happened to his brother, Ryker has always harbored that guilt for feeling as if he were the one to blame for his brother's death. Even though he knows he wasn't the direct cause of it he still believes that he was one of many things to cause his brother's death. He regrets deeply never making amends with his brother before he left for Hogwarts, and feels even worse knowing that his brother might have died angry with him. Despite these bad feelings Ryker tries to keep them bottled up since he has already lived enough of his worst moments over and over again during his brief imprisonment in Azkaban. He seldom talks about the bad things in life yet he never really sees the glass as half full either -- in this way he has a sort of neutral outlook on life and it does happen to get him by.

HISTORY

The new year at the Bennett household would start like any other, just another argument to smolder the already low burning flame of the couple’s love. It was the first of many arguments to start that new year, but it was the single argument that ignited Iris’s masterplan another “sure” way to save her marriage to Rastus Bennett. Unfortunately this plan involved getting pregnant again and baring another one of her children, yet she thought that she could handle it. For a while she allowed the idea to linger before she even considered proposing it to her husband – of course she had to do it in such a way to make it sound favorable. What was there not to like? The plan provided another heir to the Bennett family fortune not to mention a potential playmate for their three-year-old son, Ridley. At first Iris’s prospoal was shot down, but it didn’t take her long to seduce her husband into giving her to desired answer. Nine months later Ryker Bennett was born on a windy October evening, the twenty-nineth to be exact, as the younger brother he had a path laid out in front of him with no expectations and no immediate plans for his future. As for his brother Ridley, it was assumed that he would follow in his father’s footsteps of course. Despite the supposed initial magnificence of Iris’s masterplan, it failed and almost immediately at that because a newborn child brought difficulties and even more arguments into the household. The arguments from there would only continue and grow worse as the years wore on, tears were shed and heated words were exchanged yet nothing seemed to latch onto either side. In this war neither party was the winner no matter how good the odds might have looked for one or the other at that moment because it was an impossible war to win or even lose. Rastus and Iris were prohibited from splitting up and getting a divorce considering the pureblood lines were dying, their family was needed whole and thriving as it supposedly was [ yet this was only a mask in front of house guests, friends, family, and neighbors ]. The pureblood lines could not be driven to extinction just yet, so Rastus and Iris remained together weathering through the arguments both petty and insecure.

Ryker’s childhood was relatively boring aside from the constant bickering that his parents initiated round the clock and the curiosities that the basement of their large mansion had to hold there was nothing remotely interesting about it. From the beginning Ridley and Ryker were close, unlike most siblings do they never really argued much which can be considered a small miracle considering their parents put on enough of a show arguing to initiate more than quite a few between their young children. Most people actually considered them twins since the two brothers looked nearly identical versions of one another – merely a variation of heights. Ryker’s first signs of magic came at the age of three when he successfully transfigured his supper into a flock of pigeons. As startling as it had been to the family they were all too pleased to see that their youngest son did possess magical talent and that it had developed at such an early age. During the years leading up to Hogwarts Ryker had to struggle to keep himself under control as well as his emotions in check, with his parent’s constant arguing it wasn’t uncommon for things to break or shatter when he walked by. He was always very agitated by their arguments and easily annoyed at the fact that their yelling never stopped, no matter the time or even the place. Things only got harder for him when Ridley finally got his letter to Hogwarts, having been eight at the time Ryker found himself rightful jealous – although he never mentioned it. Seeing Ridley go without him was the hardest thing he had to do considering he was now left alone in the house with his parents and their arguments. Things only continued to progressively worse after his brother left, now Ryker waited impatiently to get his letter to Hogwarts as well. The letter finally came three years later and Ryker couldn’t have recalled a day happier because he was finally free of his parents fighting for a while. Like everyone else in the Bennett line he was immediately sorted into Slytherin upon arrival at Hogwarts from that moment on he quickly fell into what could lightly be considered the “wrong crowd.” Despite the company that he kept he was still able to maintain his grades and somehow never really earned the everpresent tag of “bully” that his older brother had somehow acquired. Instead Ryker was constantly in the shadows appearing just as another Slytherin following the crowd when in reality he was setting his own norms that had nothing to do with their petty bullying. It was easy for him to break away from the crowd to be his own person, whereas for his older brother it always seemed as if he were striving the be the person that his father always fantasized him as. From the moment he entered Hogwarts Ryker realized an immediate change in his brother’s personality, he didn’t appear as he as at home. He always acted different which bothered Ryker immensely, although he refused to confront Ridley about it at first in fact it would take another four years before he even said anything about it.

Time seemed to be fly after Ryker’s first year at Hogwarts, soon enough he was sitting through the first round of his classes for his fourth year and Ridley was coming back for his seventh year. That very same year would cause a multitude of problems for Ryker considering it was at the end of that fateful year that Voldemort rose to power, not to mention it was also the year that he confronted his brother about his demeaning behavior. It took a few months for Ryker to even work up to courage to approach Ridley, but finally he gave in and did it. The argument that the brothers had was something new to them since they never argued, but it was also life changing. The argument left them both feeling rather sore and injured and after that nothing was ever the same again. Ridley claimed that he hadn’t changed and if he had it was for the better because it was what their father wanted to see in his only heir to the family fortune and name. Ryker called him out on those words only to taunt him about how the pressure was so little and his reaction had been out of proportion. Needless to say the argument endedly badly and it forced both of the brothers on barely talking terms for the remainder of the school year. Things did not get any better the summer following that year because Voldemort was gaining more power and popularity. Ridley had “jumped” at the chance, Rastus would later claim, to join the death eaters. Rastus favored the idea of pureblood supremecy and Voldemort's prideful preachings of power beyond their wildest dreams. Ryker was worried for his brother’s safety, yet his bitterness over their argument kept him from saying much on the matter. Despite the immediate danger that Ridley had thrown himself into it would be a year and a half later when he would truly suffer the consequences of his decision. Ryker was in his sixth year when his brother and father “disappeared” as his mother had written it in one of her letters to him. The news did not prove strange at all because Ryker had seen them do this before time and again since the Dark Lord’s duty was always calling for them to be elsewhere. Ryker ignored his mother’s concerned and went on as he normally would at school keeping his grades straight and hanging out with his friends.

Only during Christmas break of that year would he find out exactly how serious things were at the moment. Like every year he packed up got on the Train only to come home to a near empty house and his mother in hysterics. His brother had been killed. The news hit him like a bucket of cold water and he felt his legs grow numb at the mention of death, especially for someone so young and especially since they had still been arguing when Ridley left. An immense wave of guilt washed over Ryker and before he could make any rational decisions or even let the true gravity of the situation hit him, his father got to him. At sixteen Ryker was nowhere near old enough to even be considered to join the Dark Lord’s army, certainly exceptions were made but where the Bennett family was concerned that sort of prestige was out of the question. Rastus’s proposal as to how to fix the situation and save the family name was for Ryker to take Ridley’s place – literally take his place, assume his name and his position. Iris was appalled at the idea immediately already having lost one son to the ranks of the Death Eater army she definitely did not see her remaining son go too. But her anger and her hysteria were far beside the point because Rastus was already trying to persuade Ryker that it was what his brother would have wanted. Even though Ryker knew better than to believe his father at that moment he truly fell into every word that Rastus said because Ridley’s main goal in life had been to please this man and no one else. On the spur of the moment Ryker agreed to his father’s plan and took on his dead brother’s name. Ridley was buried under his own name and that was the end of it, the family name was “restored” and Rastus took Ryker from the household one last time. The day of their departure was the last time that Ryker ever saw the house since he would soon find out that Ridley was wanted for murder, the murder of an aurora to be exact – one that had been killed the day of Ridley’s own death. Underneath the calm assurance of his father, he kept a low profile while excuting whatever small tedious deeds he had been given for the day. Over the next half of year it was then that Ryker learned how to transform into an animagus. Always having had a fondness for transfiguration he had decided to teach himself the art earlier on at Hogwarts, although it had taken some time he was finally able to perfect it. The form he took on, that of a black wolf, was one that helped him camofladge himself easily considering all the forests around the areas that him and his father mostly took to.

Not long after he had joined the ranks of the Death Eaters, Voldemort met his untimely demise the first time, yet it was already too late because Ryker's brother was already dead. Ryker had barely been seventeen at the time. The ministry begun to comb the area looking for Death Eaters. He changed into his animagus form when he ran away and took cover in the woods, even though the ministry was overturning the woods he was able to avoid capture. His father was not so lucky though, Rastus was sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban for crimes against the muggle population and multiple murders committed. Now Ryker was truly on the run wanted for a murder that he hadn’t even committed only to have slipped away clean from the ones that he had actually committed himself. At first things looked a little bit hopeful even though he did spend the majority of his time in wolf form he had a feeling that the ministry could only look for him for so long. Yet this hunch had proved wrong because a year slipped by slowly and he was still wanted, he continued to live in forests bordering cities and only hunted at night – his meals consisted of raw meat specifically. After a year Ryker decided to try and explain the truth since it had been slowly killing him the whole time while in hiding. Having handed himself over to the ministry he didn’t think that they would doubt the story that he would tell – not with his own father’s testimony and maybe that of his mother? To his dismay his father would not vouch for him because he felt betrayed since Ryker had not sat around to try and fend off the ministry when they were in pursuit of them. As for his mother she had been spending her fair share of time in and out of St. Mungos for what was said to be “severe” depression. With no one to justify his story he too was slapped with a life sentence like that of his father and put behind bars. It would be another three years until he finally saw freedom again and underneath the most random of circumstances. Nearing the middle of what was to be his third year in Azkaban rumor had it that Iris would not stop talking about how Ryker was still alive and rotting in Azkaban for crimes his brother had committed. With her only surviving son in Azkaban and her “youngest” son dead Iris was unable to stand the grief any longer half a year later she turned up dead. By what means? Really it is a mystery although it does state that she died by “natural means” centered around some “grief stricken” illness. Shortly after her death the Bennett family funds and all property to the family name was confesicated and handed over to the ministry to help settle the debt the family owed. Besides with the sole surviving heir in Azkaban what use was the money to them? Barely two months later Ryker’s case was once again put up for reinvestigation due to a tip off received half a year ago. Why the long wait? Well, he had been accused of murdering an aurora and that definitely takes a hefty toll especially since that aurora did work for the ministry. The retrial uncovered evidence and even dug up the body of his late brother, this time truth serium was used and things prodded and picked apart even more than the time prior. Before a full investigation had not been called for, but with all this evidence brought to light it was confirmed that they did not have Ridley Bennett in their custody but his younger brother, Ryker Bennett. Quickly the decision was made that he was to be released and the ministry hurried to tie up any lose ends considering they had nothing on him as far as crimes were concerned – certainly he was marked, but what else could they prove?

After having spent three years locked up Ryker found himself on the street for the first time in his life at the tender age of twenty two with not a penny to his name or a house to go back to. Everything had been sold and cast off. His father was still behind bars and he now had no surviving family to turn to, he found himself thrown rather blindly into the word. Never having been given the chance to finish his Hogwarts education, Ryker found himself without any proof of his education not to mention a record of two years in tow and a mark that guaranteed he would never see a shred of business or employment for the rest of his life. Not the least bit regretful of what had happened prior to his release, Ryker found himself more agitated than anything. Those first twenty four hours after getting out of Azkaban are still something of a blur for him considering he drank rather heavily that day – but in the long run it helped. During one of his drinking binges the next day a card game going on in the back of the bar caught his attention, money was being put down as a bet on the table. The idea of winning money looked rather attractive to him so he didn’t waste any time in heading back to the table to see what was happening. That game was the first time that Ryker ever gambled, and it definitely wasn’t the last because once he learned the rules it seemed easier enough. Despite playing fair he still found himself unable to beat everyone at the table, walking away with less money than he had expected Ryker decided that he needed to find a way to beat the game. Obviously card counting was not an option, but there were other ways out there to earn quick money – that was preciously when the idea of conning people came to mind. There were so many possibilities and it seemed almost easy to be able to talk someone into giving him something. That was the start of a lifestyle that Ryker quickly became accustomed to – another lifestyle that involved running mostly only if people caught onto him. Alongside conning people out of their money Ryker also took up a series of odd jobs all of questionable legality, on occasion he would steal things but never found it as challenging as trying to talk people out of their money. For the next eight years he would continue to live the same lifestyle, always on the verge of packing up and running to a different city or even a different country. He has nearly traveled the world now, but most of the time he barely gets by and he’s lucky to have secured any financial standing whatsoever. Now with the revival of the Death Eaters as well as the threat of the rising of the Order of the Pheonix once more, Ryker again finds himself in the compromised position of having rejoined those ranks he was once forced into. Why would he do such a thing? Well he has absolutely nothing to lose and he can only make so much money stealing from people so maybe if such an ugly cause does bring him some entertainment and some revenue – why not?