Carwyn Pendragon

Carwyn Pendragon comes from a long line of proud Gryffindors. His parents met in the Gryffindor common room when his father, Gareth, was in his third year at Hogwarts and his mother, Carys, was in her first year. Gareth’s younger brother, Dylan, was also a first year with Carys. Carys and Dylan had an interest in each other while in their second year at Hogwarts – innocent as can be, but it started to become more serious in their third year. Dylan was obsessed with quidditch and made the house team their fourth year, which turned his attention away from Carys and completely onto the sport and his studies. Through her heartbreak, Carys was comforted by Gareth, who was now in his final year at Hogwarts. Carys and Gareth clicked in all the ways she had originally hoped to click with Dylan.

Gareth waited patiently for Carys to finish her schooling – writing her, sending her care packages, meeting her in Hogsmead when he was able to, coming to visit her at Hogwarts on family days, and spending time with her family and her with his during holidays. It was never awkward between Carys and Dylan when she came for holidays. Dylan was very supportive of her relationship with Gareth and was proud to be best man in their wedding, which took place when Carys was eighteen and Gareth was twenty-one.

Carys and Gareth enjoyed married life and pursued their careers for five years before they decided to have their first baby – a boy named Iwan. Though they tried, Carys wasn’t able to get pregnant again until Iwen was nearly eleven. By the time baby Carwyn had been born, Iwan was off at Hogwarts – the boys never really knew each other or had anything to do with each other. Iwan took after his parents almost to a tee. He was bookish, shy, and no sense of adventure – exactly like Carys and Gareth. Carwyn, as was established very early on, took after Dylan more than his parents. Dylan, unlike Gareth, was outgoing, rarely dated other Gryffindors once Carys and he split up, and was a natural born athlete – Carwyn was Dylan in miniature.

Uncle Dylan had been present when Iwan was growing up but became a lot more involved in the raising of Carwyn – nurturing him in the ways of sports that Carwyn’s parents didn’t understand. By the time Carwyn was five years old, Uncle Dylan had Carwyn playing football to teach him strategy and fast foot work, rugby and hockey so Carwyn would know how to take hits and give them back just as aggressively, swimming because all kids should be good swimmers, track and field, and three evenings a week flying and quidditch lessons from Dylan himself. Dylan Pendragon was a keeper for the professional quidditch team the Caerphilly Catapults. A Welsh team founded in 1402, known for their vertically striped scarlet and light green robes. So, for Dylan to teach Carwyn how to fly and play quidditch, it sparked a true love of the sport in Carwyn as Carwyn was taught with passion and reverence for the wizard sport.

Once he had more understanding of the muggle sports and more coordination overall – around the age of seven – Carwyn became the leader of the teams. He became the best at whichever sport he was playing. Fastest on the field or in the water, the player the other kids on the team looked to for their cues, and the player most likely to intimidate the toughest player on the other team.

School was much the same. Carwyn wasn’t the best student, but it wasn’t because he was stupid, it was because he was more interested in playing sports than applying himself in his studies. He did what he had to, to get by. Even with barely passing grades, all the kids followed Carwyn. They all wanted him on their team when they played games, they wanted to sit next to him in class and at lunch, and he had standing invitations for play dates after the school day was over. But once the school bell rang, Carwyn was at practice.

Gareth understood Carwyn’s obsession with sports as he had watched Dylan go through all the same phases. Only this time, he was the proud father of the best kid on the team and the most popular kid in class, rather than the nerdy older brother that was always studying while waiting for his popular younger brother to finish practice. Carwyn was the star, which made Gareth the star’s father and Carys the star’s mother. Invitations to social events that never would have presented themselves if Carwyn hadn’t been playing alongside some of the most popular parents in town’s children, and because the children liked Carwyn, Gareth and Carys were invited to join in at events.

Gareth and Carys were never considered popular. If the opportunity had been presented to either of them in their lives, they would have taken it. The closest Carys got was when she was dating Dylan, but when they split, everyone's attention followed him, not her. But Carys and Gareth had settled into their quiet lives with a first son that was exactly like them. But then Carwyn unexpectedly came long and now Gareth and Carys were at the top of the guest lists as every parent wanted to solidify that Carwyn stayed on specific teams and wasn't sharked away by other leagues or teams.

When Carwyn turned eleven and it was announced to the muggle world that Carwyn had been accepted at a boarding school abroad and would not be playing in any of the leagues that had come to rely on his talents, the invitations to the parties and events stopped for Gareth and Carys. They went back to their quiet lives as Carwyn set off for Hogwarts with vision of quidditch in his eyes.

Everything happened exactly as Carwyn expected it to - the way Uncle Dylan told him it would if Carwyn followed what Dylan had taught him.

He strolled onto the platform in an old Caerphilly Catapult’s quidditch uniform his Uncle Dylan had worn during a Quidditch World Cup from a few years ago. Dylan had given it to Carwyn to wear as a conversation starter. And the conversations started. The word spread on the train that there was a nephew of a professional quidditch player on the train and, within an hour of leaving the station, his compartment was full of fellow students – both his age and older – volleying for his attention and stories of learning to play quidditch from a professional. Carwyn was charming, forthcoming with stories, funny, and a little braggy without being tediously egotistical. He exhibited the perfect balance of confidence and fun that attracted them all. Thus began Carwyn’s popularity at Hogwarts.

A popularity that only grew as Carwyn was not shy by any means. He would talk to anyone he thought was worth his time, was gracious with his smiles, never ceased to make people laugh, and knew exactly and how to target his victims of ridicule. Carwyn was not the “nice guy”. He was a bully and he knew it. But the people who filled his orbit expected it from him; practically provoked it out of him. He was the guy that everyone wanted to be friends with just to avoid his witty tongue and practical jokes.

Girls loved to hang on him. Their house didn’t matter, if she was in a skirt, hot, and wanted to hold his hand, she had a spot whenever she wanted it. It was actually his female attention that got him through most of his classes. A kiss to the cheek, a few whispered sweetnesses, and his homework usually got done for him. No one liked to see him in trouble, and he always promised to make it up to them with some one-on-one study time, which he always made good on.

In his second year he made the Gryffindor quidditch team as a beater – the position his Uncle Dylan had been grooming him for since he was five. It was one of the proudest moments in his life. Only topped when he became the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain in his sixth year! Quidditch was his life!

It was also in his sixth year, when everyone else was sitting their N.E.W.Ts, that Carwyn performed some grueling stunts and played a scrimmage game for a dozen scouts for professional quidditch teams. He impressed them and he waited with bated breath on who he would hear back from.

A representative from the Caerphilly Catapults, his uncle’s team, was there, but Carwyn didn’t want to be under the constant watch and scrutiny of his uncle. So, he had already decided to pass that offer up if it came. Apart from the Caerphilly Catapults, there were reps from the Appleby Arrows, the Ballycastle Bats, the Chudley Cannons, the Falmouth Falcons, the Montrose Magpies, Pride of Portree, Puddlemere United, the Tutshill Tornados, and the Wimbourne Wasps.

Carwyn had three teams he was hoping to hear from: His first choice was the Falmouth Falcons. They are well known for very aggressive playstyles and the motto "Let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads". Next in line was the Tutshill Tornados. And lastly, Wimbourne Wasps.