CAIUS BURKE is TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD and a SHOP ASSISTANT at BORGIN AND BURKE’S in KNOCKTURN ALLEY. He looks remarkably like GREGG SULKIN and considers himself aligned with THE DEATH EATERS. He is currently UNPLAYABLE.
→ OVERVIEW:
Always the life and soul of the room, Caius Burke is from a long line of sorcerers who know that simply to be liked is a very undervalued power. The eldest son of KRATISTA FLINT and EELIS BURKE, Caius was born into a family of great privilege and thus in the best possible position to ascend amongst the wizarding elite residing in London. From the incredibly wealthy and noble house of Flint, his mother Kratista was not overly thrilled at the prospect of becoming a Burke. A woman raised with finery on a sprawling estate which held large dinners and lavish parties, moving into the Burke residence in Bloomsbury was a dark and dismal downgrade. The townhouse stood tall over four floors surrounded by beautiful gardens, but for Kratista it was less than enviable. Whilst Caius’ uncle had kept his mother’s family home to raise his children, his aunt married into the Yaxley family and moved to their estate. His cousins were often said by his mother to have a similar upbringing to that of her own, taking tea and scones in great glasshouses and hosting other families for long weekends. Meanwhile she had been landed with his father whose assets were tied up in a shop in Knockturn Alley she had no love for and was owned by Caius’ grandfather CARATACUS BURKE who refused to sell it or bump out his partner CALLISTHENES BORGIN and thus prevented his mother from living her dream life in the Home Counties.
For Kratistia Burke, Borgin and Burke’s was the chain around her neck she’d been burned with but had taken it on to ensure she was married and children to someone within The Twenty-Eight. But to Caius and his younger sister LYRA, Borgin and Burke’s was their entire world. Whilst most children shied away from things they found strange, he had a fondness for dark objects and odd things just as his grandfather did. Caius liked the grandeur of Borgin and Burke’s. His family were in possession of centuries worth of strange and wonderful pieces of history, each with its own backstory. Whilst his father worked for Borgin and Burke’s in a travelling capacity, scouring the county for new artefacts to bring home to the shop, his mother was doing the rounds of various tea rooms, restaurants and houses rubbing shoulders with important families to ensure her children would make good marriages. It was because of this, Caius and Lyra were often left in the care of their grandfather. Their days were spent on the shop floor and making up scary stories about the things they found there and never failing to get chills when Caratacus and Callisthenes told them the real history behind them. There he and his sister would be each day, their eyes wide and beaming smiles on their faces as they explored the wonders of the shop, marvelling over each new addition and pouting when ones were removed.
It was the time spent in Borgin and Burke’s that ignited a deep love of magical history within Caius and a respect for those that had come before them. His mother had certainly raised him a traditionalist and Caius was incredibly proud and honoured to come from two incredibly important families. Social status certainly mattered to him and from an early age he began to understand the importance of presentation, being well liked and that intelligence, charisma and good connections meant a lot within the circles their family moved. Caius was proud of Borgin and Burke’s and of his grandfather’s achievements, but he had a feeling their family could do more with what they had. Unlike his mother, Caius had little interest in ousting the Borgin family from their shop, it was an important part of Borgin and Burke’s history and with such big dreams and ideas he knew that having help was certainly important. Thankfully, his best friend understood that too. ERIK BORGIN was the great nephew of Callisthenes Borgin and the only person who could continue to run the shop from their family after he passed away. The same age as Caius, the two quickly became close. Erik was like Caius and Lyra. He was strange. He wasn’t frightened by darkness; he was curious about it and had enough charisma to convince other people they should be too.
The three of them fit together perfectly, the next generation of Borgin and Burke’s laughing about the future and concocting great plans as they watched Knocturn Alley bustle below from the windows. Caius knew his and Erik’s talents lied with running the shop. His sister, however was destined for better. Lyra dreamed of adventure and distance between the restrictive arms of their mother, she had always known her own mind and Caius admired her persistence in trying to forge the life she wanted. Whilst Caius was happy for his mother to speak on his behalf and arrange marriage contracts for them both, Lyra despised it. Love meant something more to her than it did for him and Erik. For them their life would be the shop, marriage would be for security and status but Lyra didn’t want that. She was his very best friend and the only person he would willingly face his mother’s wrath for. Leaving Lyra to go to Hogwarts hurt him, but at least he had Erik and they were determined to ensure their presence was known at Hogwarts and amongst the rest of the young members of the wizarding elite. Sorted into Slytherin, Caius felt at home with fellow intelligent folk and natural born leaders. He was every inch the Slytherin, sure of himself willing to do and say anything to win the opinions and favour of others and attracting friendships with incredibly influential figures, LAVENDER BULSTRODE and CORNELIUS CRABBE.
Though he was the head of his small group of Slytherin students, Caius was part of a much wider group he shared with Erik. ANYA ROOKWOOD, LACHLAN MCTAVISH, Caius, Erik, Lavender and Cornelius owned the halls of Hogwarts, garnering a reputation amongst their fellow students of being elitist and pureist. Caius himself, was neither of these things. Erik was a ¼ veela and not from The Sacred Twenty-Eight, though Caius had never viewed him any differently. He didn’t think blood made you better than anyone else, but that was the society they lived in. Caius wanted to be somebody and was he was willing to play the role life had handed him in order to get there. Graduating from Hogwarts a member of The Slug Club, with brilliant grades and important friends, Caius returned home to Borgin and Burke’s to begin his education with his grandfather. For the first few years he lived a double life, spending his days learning about how to identify objects, studying their history and dealing with cursed items, travelling with his father and searching for objects before he was trusted to take the occasional one himself. The other side of his life was rubbing shoulders with the elite under the instruction of his mother. Kratista had big plans for her son and had entered him into a marriage contract with ALECTO CARROW some years ago before her family had lost their fortune.
Now she had designs on someone else she firmly believed was a better match for him. ADRASTIEA GREENGRASS, was a beautiful witch from a very powerful and wealthy family. Though his mother liked the idea of Caius and NARCISSA BLACK, which Caius liked as well, Kratista thought Adrasteia was a good match for him. Adrasteia was certainly beautiful and a handful, which Caius liked, but as a natural flirt with a fondness for forbidden fruit, a certain redhead still held his attention. Alecto Carrow would never bring him any happiness only trouble. But for a young wizard who liked to dance with danger, trouble was exactly what he wanted. It was this same love of darkness and dangerous situations that have resulted in Caius ending up in the midst of a war he has little interest in the cause for. Convinced to start speaking with BELLATRIX BLACK through his close friend RABASTAN LESTRANGE, the pair quickly had their services called upon. Given a list of artefacts including Salazar Slytherin’s Locket, The Sword of Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup and Merlin’s Book, the boys have been doing their best to track down the objects but have increasingly felt out of their depth. After his cousin ROSALIE FLINT went missing after The Yule Ball, Caius considered the worst and has been doing his best not to put a foot out of line ever since, even if there is an ever growing voice in his head telling him to run for the hills and take Alecto with him.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Blood Status → Pure-Blood
Pronouns → He/Him
Identification → Cis Male
Sexuality → Up to Roleplayer
Relationship Status → Single
Previous Education → Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Slytherin)
Societies → N/A
Family → Eelis Burke (father), Kratista Burke (mother), Lyra Burke (sister), Caratacus Burke (grandfather/boss), Dionysus Flint (uncle), Lotte Flint (aunt), Decius Flint (cousin), Rosalie Flint (cousin), Elijah Yaxley (uncle), Ismena Yaxley (aunt), Eleanor Yaxley (cousin), Victor Yaxley (cousin)
Connections → Erik Borgin (best friend/colleague), Lavender Bulstrode (best friend), Cornelius Crabbe (best friend), Anya Rookwood (close friend), Lachlan McTavish (close friend), Rabastan Lestrange (close friend), Walden MacNair (close friend), Christiano Parkinson (close friend), Adrasteia Greengass (friend/potential love interest), Alecto Carrow (friend/potential love interest), Jonathan Reeves (friend), Bellatrix Black (boss)
Future Information → N/A
CAIUS BURKE IS A LEVEL 6 WIZARD.
