Gaillard

This character is retired, and is no longer in play.

The Bow-Tie Is Too Far
Portrayed by David Garnett
Name: Gaillard Beauclaire, Esq.
Aliases: Gally
Birthday: October 7th, 1903
Position: Literary critic
Lineage: Half-blood

Description

A slight, youngish looking fellow in a beautifully cut grey suit (straight from Muggle Jermyn Street) which has, however, seen much better days, being tainted with dust, ash, small burn holes (cigarettes or curses?) and occasional opaque stains (potions or cocktails?). His hair has been neatly cut, combed, and parted - about six months ago. It is dyed (or charmed?) much more often than this - sometimes deep auburn, sometimes sable black - its natural sandy colour only emerging during moments of intense distraction and distress. On occasion the pallor of the man's face looks to have had cosmetic assistance. He wears a silver ring with a blue opal in it, and a persistent, derisive smile, in his mocking, curling lips, his dreadfully crooked teeth, and his goggling, rather amphibious pale blue eyes alike. There is always a tie in a neat Duke of Windsor's knot, dark blue with diagonal stripes in paler blue, dangling from his throat.

Background

In early October, 1903, a younger son was born to Mr. Guildford (‘Billy’) Beauclaire, of Eaton Square, London, and Co. Kildare, Ireland, and his wife Artemisia. The Beauclaires were an old family, well known and well thought of in both kingdoms, despite being Roman Catholics; but Billy’s darkly beautiful wife Arty was regarded with some suspicion, for all that. In London she was assumed to be wild Irish, in Ireland rumoured to be, perhaps, of Red Indian extraction. All anyone knew about her was that she was fabulously rich – ill-gotten wealth, no doubt – and her maiden name had been Prince. All anyone in the Muggle world, that is. In the wizarding world, Artemisia Prince’s marriage to some horse-obsessed Muggle was regarded with a gloomy lack of surprise. Those Princes had always been as strange as they were rich. Artemisia’s elder son showed no sign of magical ability, but in this his younger brother, Gaillard (always known as Gally) did not resemble him. So it was that Artemisia - who had trained as an Obliviator prior to her marriage - secretly packed her younger boy off to Hogwarts in 1914, moderating the memories of her Muggle husband and son to assure them that Gally had followed his brother to Eton, and setting in motion a long-serving deception.

The Sorting Hat long lingered over the half-blood before settling upon Ravenclaw, and Gally would not be the only one to wonder if it had made the wrong decision. He knew he was capable enough, but could not, in truth, rouse his energies to truly shine. Outside the castle wars the Great War was raging, touching both his parent’s worlds, and claiming much more of his interest; rarely had Hogwarts seen so ungrateful a student. He flourished to a high degree in Charms despite himself, and proved an adequate potioneer. When more disciplines were offered, he dragged an unenthusiastic path through Care of Magical Creatures; but it was in Muggle Studies that he surprised everyone. The truth was, the boy missed the glamorous, gossipy surroundings of the West End and the castles of Ireland, and the high culture and literature which had, in a no-nonsense way, infiltrated his childhood. Writing about Muggle thought and society, Gally finally showed true and unswerving quality. He attracted the notice of a famously picky patron, Professor Slughorn, and became a stalwart of the Slug Club. A few Purebloods muttered that old Horace was losing his touch by choosing a Muggle aristocrat and expert, but even more were won over by Gally’s sharp tongue and increasing confidence. He began to make real friends among unlikely characters – most of them Purebloods and many of them Slytherins – and to realise that magical society, too, had its social elites to be infiltrated and admired. In 1921, Gally left Hogwarts with three NEWTS in Charms, Potions and Muggle Studies.

But Gally’s education was not, in fact, over. Exploiting his father and brother’s charmed state, he chose – to Artemisia’s annoyance – to do the very thing they thought he was doing anyway – to join his elder brother at Magdalen College, Oxford. Here Gally fell back in love with Muggle high society – and, briefly, with a Muggle, Lady Laetitia Montagu, whom he married straight out of Oxford. They divorced rapidly; Gally’s friends assumed this was a case of ‘the usual thing’, as he was becoming increasingly aesthetical and outrageous in his manners and appearance. After the divorce, Gally tentatively approached some Slug Club friends – some dismissed him contemptuously, but many welcomed him back. For almost twenty years he has perfected a double-life – not the one his Muggle friends assume he leads, with low haunts and catamites, but rather, with two separate versions of high society. He has become noted in both as a literary man as well as a party-goer and gossip, submitting elegant pieces with titles like Shakespeare’s Enchantment to the Times Literary Supplement – or the Daily Prophet

Quirks

  • Ironical Aesthete - The main principles to which Gally adheres are various severe standards of quality in literature and art, but even on these subjects he does not always seem to talk entirely seriously.
  • Perennial Outsider - Once made lonely and insecure by his uncertain character and life, dangled between two worlds, Gally has come to revel in his strange position and learnt to exploit it, thriving on deception and ambiguity.
  • Languid Charmer - Gally does not move about all that often, especially when there's a nearby chaise longue, but his lively tongue more than compensates for this. His voice drawls and his eyes gleam as he draws in listeners as if letting them in on a conspiracy.
  • Wealth: Well-To-Do - Gally is a younger son, which in his opinion is a very fine thing to be. He will not be expected to help with his father and brother's estate and investments, but is amply supported by them anyway. He also shares in a secret source of revenue from his mother Artemisia - the small nest-egg she appropriated from the Prince fortunes when she eloped with Guildford Beauclaire.

RP Hooks

  • Were you one of old Sluggy's favourites, 1914-21? If so you'll either find Gally a likeable acquaintance…or a fraudulent upstart.
  • Do you like books, or parties, or book parties? So does Gally.
  • Do you know or care about the Muggle World? Maybe you'd like to? Maybe you even are one? Gaillard Beauclaire is well known in the small world of Muggle literary London (as well as its even smaller magical counterpart…)
  • Fond of the London Library? You'll find Gally there, in any and all sections, possibly even after hours - he has come to a certain level of understanding with the staff.
  • Are you a Prince? Gally can't be blamed for his mother's imprudence, and is generally an affectionate and amusing relative to have.
  • Are you a rich Pureblood? You may find this half-blood social butterfly very eager to befriend you and be invited down to your old place at weekends…

Logs

Logs featuring Gaillard Logs that refer to Gaillard

Relationships

Slughorn

Slughorn
My first and most important influence, until I went up to the Varsity and met Sligger, Bowra, Colonel Kolkhurst and so on. No, speaking entirely seriously, I owe the old bore a lot. He taught me the way the world wags.

Fabia

Fabia
The most irksome, infuriating, inconvenient woman of her entire, venerable generation, I imagine. But would she have such power to irritate me if I did not in some sense see and fear a reflection of my…argh, enough.

Frid

Frid
An annoyingly able manservant with queer taste in employers.

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Pelafina
Horace's niece is a useful and amusing new acquaintance, but has a habit of appearing unexpectedly and making sly, teasing insinuations. Above these I will rise.

Cooper

Cooper
Were she a Muggle, Miss Cooper would clearly be an insufferable radical blue-stocking prig. As she is a Muggleborn witch, though…she's a sufferable one. Possibly even slightly more than sufferable.

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Henrietta
Just how I like my Muggle friends - not overeducated or undertitled. I bask in the reflected glory of being her younger boy the Hon. Theo Lovell's godfather…and in that role, have lately received a most amusing and ironical letter…

Gallery

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