Apollo Évaritse Giouard

Personality

Apollo is a passionate man where the years have done little to tame his wild heart. He does everything with an intensity that can be matched by few others; his desire to find excitement always pushing him towards the next great adventure or challenge. He is someone who is eager to discover new horizons whether it’s meeting new people, going to new places, or trying new things – there are few things he’d say “no” too. This attitude, however, also makes Apollo restless if he thinks things have become stagnant, and it’s never more apparent than his inability to stay in a committed relationship. The closest he got to settling down was to a woman named Marcella Landry, but since then, no one else has captured his attention in quite the same way. Apollo enjoys flirting and charming women; his bold nature makes him a natural for taking the initial step in breaking the ice. He's never crossed the line to admit infidelity and has always given the woman the courtesy (although sometimes not appreciated) breakup line, “It’s me, not you” because honestly, he figures it probably is.

Also unbeknownst to him, Apollo’s desire for excitement stems from the fact that he does it to keep from missing home too much. He’s settled in England and likes it well enough, but it’s not home. That title and honor will forever lie in Vacherie, Louisiana.

And while Apollo’s brash appetite for adventure can come off as reckless, he does have a pretty good head on his shoulders. He might seem like the type of guy who leads with his emotions, but he is perfectly capable of seeing the bigger picture. Apollo is quick-witted, astute, and possesses a sharp sense of humor. He prefers to volunteer for work assignments that offer more risk than others – preferring to toss his desk duties to the rookies. Apollo also enjoys a bit of drinking and gambling; he’s got an excellent poker face and the times he’s spent playing cards has earned him some decent connections in the shadier parts of the wizarding world. Despite it all, Apollo does have a sense of honor (even if it seems a bit ambiguous at times). He loves his family and would never do anything to betray them or anyone else in his life that he cares about. He’s the first one to step up to help, and the last to give up.

Apollo is and always will be a Cajun boy at heart. Despite moving to England 20 years ago, Apollo has never been able to completely shake his accent. At first, it was difficult as people had a hard time understanding some of his words and expressions – confused by the perverse use of the French and English language with a twist of Southern drawl. It’s improved over the years, but his accent is still present. It becomes more prominent and thick after he’s been drinking, tired, or talking to one of his siblings. Apollo is also someone who still fully embraces the typical Cajun pastime: eating, drinking, and shooting the breeze with family and friends. He knows how to be a good host and tries to find various opportunities to get people together. He doesn’t mind having unexpected visitors at his home and is more than willing to let them crash on the couch if they need a place to stay.

Lastly, Apollo is a damn good cook who knows his way around the kitchen. One of the greatest hardships after moving to England was adjusting to the food. He found it to be bland or salty with few exceptions and spent most of his earlier years cooking at home. Now he loves to cook not only for himself but for his more adventurous friends and family. Apollo naturally makes a mean Gumbo and always claims that the majority of his dishes start with the “holy trinity” of onions, bell peppers, and celery. He’s still trying to figure out a reliable way to ship over quality crawfish, but he is having a hard time getting them through customs. It’s not easy to find a seller in England as few people think about eating crawfish, but he’s determined to somehow make it work. Apollo thinks that if he hadn’t become an Auror then he would have opened a Cajun restaurant. Maybe he’ll still do it one day if the allure of the Auror lifestyle ever starts to lose its appeal.

History

When pureblood, Gaétan Giouard, sailed to Louisiana under the influence of Henri Peyroux de la Coudreniere in 1785, he joined some 300 Acadian exiles of wizarding descent who hoped to find a better life in the new world. He and his young wife, Corinne, settled in the rural community of Vacherie, Louisiana where Gaétan secured land in order to lay the foundations of their small sugar and rice farm. Luckily as time passed, Gaétan found prosperity in Louisiana. His little farm grew as profits continued and by 1807, Gaétan was the affluent proprietor of one of the few wizard-owned plantations in southern Louisiana. It was large, it was ostentatious, and most importantly, it showed wealth. Despite a formal class structure not existing among the Acadians at the time, the few families who found power and monetary success as merchants or farmers took to calling themselves “Genteel Acadians” to the rest of the world.

Thus the Giouard name now carries significant weight throughout the southern parts of the United States, especially to those in the magical world. Though the word “Acadian” eventually devolved into its “Cajun” replacement, the Giouards have kept their status as an esteemed pureblood family. They have supplanted themselves as one of the largest sugar and rice suppliers to the wizarding community – all while managing to keep the business within the family. So when Apollo Évaritse Giouard was born on November 11, 1933 as the eldest child of Emeric and Josette, there was a great expectation for the boy to reign as heir to the grand enterprise.

It quickly became apparent, however, that Apollo was anything but the typical southern gentleman. While he was raised to be courteous and respectful to his elders and women, there was a reckless wild streak within the Cajun that could not easily be contained. Apollo spent most of his childhood getting into trouble – whether it was playing harmless tricks on his family or staff, climbing to the tops of the large oak trees that stood in front of the plantation, or wandering away to explore the nearest bayou. It was stressful enough for Josette that Apollo did it without any thought to consequences, but when he started bringing his two younger siblings, Sebastian and Leonie, into his adventures; the family matriarch firmly put her foot down. It didn’t help much, but it did teach the Giouard children to be sneakier around their parents when they were up to no good.

Apollo loved his childhood as a Cajun growing up in Vacherie, Louisiana. He grew up speaking Cajun French at home and English at school, alternating between both worlds as he needed. There was also plenty of crawfish boils on the plantation -- a social occasion for drinking beer and talking amongst family and friends. Apollo liked to sit with the other men at the 12 foot long tables, feeling like one of them as he piled his plate with crawfish, corn, and potatoes. There was frequently music and dancing at the family home or nearby estates – a close-knit community that Apollo relished being a part of.

By age 11, Apollo was sent to Ilvermorny and sorted into Thunderbird where he quickly found his place among his boisterous housemates as another mischief maker who was just charming enough stay out of any serious trouble. He did well in his studies, preferring to study Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Apollo discovered the wondrous world of the prettier sex during his fifth year. He never considered himself to particularly be a heartbreaker, but it did provide a new hobby and an actual purpose for broom closets and the Restricted Section of the library. Apollo even took the time to look out for his younger siblings once they started school – diligently keeping an eye on any boy’s wandering eye that happened to land on his baby sister.

After graduating Ilvermorny, Apollo was in no rush to start a career outside of the family business. He would assist Emeric with some of the day-to-day management, but he mainly continued to explore everything Louisiana had to offer. It was during one of his trips to New Orleans in 1953 that Apollo met a fair-haired woman by the name of Marcella Landry. They crossed paths one night at a jazz club and the attraction was immediate. Marcella was a pureblood witch from the Crossroads region who was spending her summer in New Orleans  in order to setup her father’s newest investment contracts. Apollo found her to not only be beautiful but someone who challenged him. She had an intensity within her much like the hurricanes Apollo remembered as a child – a terrifying force so fierce that one couldn’t help but be in awe of its presence.

Apollo and Marcella spent the next year together – occasionally at each other’s throats, but perfectly happy nonetheless. He was convinced this was the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. In the fall of 1954, however, an owl destroyed it all. Marcella’s father requested that she return home in preparation for her upcoming engagement to Mathieu Fontaine, the second son of a prominent pureblood family that controlled much of the lumber resources in Northern Louisiana. Apollo pleaded with her to marry him – that he would convince her father that the Giouards carried much more prominence than the Fontaines and could easily access whatever doors he was looking to open. It was the first and last time Apollo used his family’s name as a bargaining chip. Unfortunately, in the end, Marcella chose her family and returned home as the dutiful pureblood daughter.

Heartbroken, Apollo drowned himself in liquor, cards, and women. Due to his carelessness, he neglected to see what was happening to the rest of his family. It wasn’t until Sebastian angrily pulled him out of a bar one night that Apollo finally noticed. His baby sister, Leonie, was pregnant and the tchew who knocked her up had run out and hightailed it to Ireland. Apollo vaguely remembered Leonie telling him about an Irish wizard she had been seeing, but he regretfully hadn’t been paying attention. Either way, it didn’t matter – the guy was a dead man after Sebastian and he were finished.

It took little effort on Sebastian’s part to persuade Apollo to track the Irishman down. Maybe because it was a distraction from Marcella or maybe it was because he wanted to do right by his baby sister, but the boys headed to Ireland the very next day. It didn’t take long to find the man, who Apollo learned was named Seamus Sayre. Leonie’s pregnancy was a surprise to Seamus, but the brothers demanded that he “be a man about it, grow a pair, and do the right thing.” Fortunately there needed to be little convincing from Apollo or Sebastian as Seamus seemed to come from good stalk and reached out to Leonie.

Seamus and Leonie were married in Ireland and shortly after she gave birth to a son. Much to her indignation, Apollo and Sebastian stuck around to make sure the young family settled in. The rest of the Sayre clan seemed decent enough, but Apollo knew nothing about them as they hailed from a different world than the ones back home in Louisiana. On several occasions, the boys’ father wrote to them, pleading with Apollo to come home and continue with the family business. Sebastian and Apollo, however, decided to remain in Ireland until they felt confident enough to leave Leonie in Seamus’s care.

Though despite their plan, Apollo and Sebastian found themselves in the United Kingdom far longer than anticipated. One month turned into six, six months turned into a year, and 20 years later, Apollo is still across the pond with Sebastian. Now the brothers are Aurors with England’s Ministry of Magic after Apollo suggested that they pick up a hobby (chasing down dark wizards seemed entertaining enough). And surprisingly, they’re actually pretty good at it. It’s a decent job that provides plenty of excitement and remaining in England allows Apollo to have a close relationship with not only his baby sister, but also with his nephew and niece – two kids he has come to adore as his own. The Sayres have stepped in to be a good and welcoming surrogate family, embracing Sebastian and him once everyone realized there was no need to come to blows.

But as the years have passed, Apollo realizes that he does miss Louisiana. England is a fine enough place, and he has secured a respectable life for himself, but it’s nothing compared to home. He keeps in touch with his two cousins, who are managing the plantation in his absence. He occasionally gets updates from them on the farm’s development as they hope to keep Apollo involved. Maybe one day he’ll return to Vacherie, Louisiana.

For now, however, laissez les bons temps rouler.