Topher Frost

Christopher Quincy Frost
Biographical Information
Born	18 January 1981, 37
City of Birth	Norwich, England
Blood status	Half-blood
Also known as	Topher
Physical Information
Gender	male
Magical Characteristics
Wand(s)
12 inches Pliable and Knobby Maple with Willow Handle and Dragon Heartstring (Made by Ollivander)
Education
School	Hogwarts
House	Ravenclaw
Class of	1999
Classes Included
Occupation
Title: Editorial Assistant
Character Information
Playby	Robert Buckley
Biography
Sadie

Topher Frost is an editorial assistant and worked with Dolly St. James on her Slither Girls series.

In some ways Topher Frost is a man living in the shadow of a man he never knew. More like in the void he left behind. He recognizes that he will never be his father, he thinks things through so he’ll never quite be reckless and he would rather spend his time editing wizard books than taming dragons. He’s always ready with a smile and a joke. He won’t stand for broken promises or excuses. He’s an easy going guy who can’t go anywhere without knowing someone If he didn’t have a wall built around him the size of the Great Wall of China, maybe he’d actually be able to trust all those people.

Physical Description

Standing at 6’2 Topher isn’t exactly easy to over look. He’s not overly large but without a shirt on his body is nice enough to warrant some attention. It’s long and lean, with a nicely toned from years of sports and working out. He’s taken a pride in himself and being healthy and active, though he does enjoy his cheeseburgers. His already light brown hair is constantly lightened even more by the sun since he’s almost always outside, whether it be sitting the backyard enjoying the air or out on a surfboard on the coast. He wears it short and spiky more out of necessity than anything, as it almost never lies flat. It was the bane of his mother’s existence growing up. His unruly hair is made up for by a brilliant pair of blue eyes. They are the one thing he knows he inherited from Christopher Knaggs, his biological father, and what an inheritance they are. They are overly expressive and make him a terrible liar. They are where his smile starts and how you know exactly what he’s feeling. When he’s not smiling Topher can tend to look perpetually melancholy. He so rarely is without a smile that is isn’t really an issue. The best way to describe him is as a puppy, when he’s happy it’s easy to tell, otherwise you might think someone’s run over his best friend.

He’s not exactly a primper, the most he’ll do before going out is throw some kind of gel in his hair to see if it’ll tame it and throw on some deodorant. He’ll go for a few days between shavings if he doesn’t absolutely need to shave. Topher’s not one for a full out beard but he doesn’t mind a couple days growth. He dresses for comfort, jeans, t-shirts and button ups. At work its slacks and dress shirts but he still tries to stay casual. It’s rare to find him in a suit unless he needs to impress. He is most definitely not a jewelry man, no gaudy rings or chains for him a watch and pair of sunglasses are the only accessories he ever needs. He’s never gotten any tattoos, not because he thinks they’re a bad thing, he’s just never had anything so important that it deserves a permanent imprint on his body. The only scar he has is a slight indent, barely even noticeable on his forehead from a Quidditch match, one of the players from the other team caught him with a broken broom in a scuffle.

Personality Description

The most important thing to know about Topher is that he’s an independent sort of person. He always has been. Maybe it’s an only child thing, which he was until he was thirteen years old. He was always off on his own making up stories and having his own fun. He’s not a loner but he does enjoy his quiet time, which is probably why he lives alone with the exception of his cat Oliver. Of course part of his independent nature is probably a defense mechanism that stems from his father leaving. He was in a way abandoned twice by the man, once before he was born and a second time when he signed the adoption papers without a word. A part of Topher has always felt that maybe he shouldn’t depend on people too much. He has no problems letting other people depend on him though; he knows he will do his damndest to follow through. He takes responsibility and honoring commitments very seriously. He’s able to take responsibility for the things he’s done wrong. Topher sees no point in beating around the bush and blaming other people; it wastes time and isn’t very honorable. He has no patience for excuses and quitters. He likes taking on new challenges but is the first to tell you if he can’t do it. He doesn’t want to disappoint.

He’s not one to bend over backwards though, he has very strong opinions and has no problem voicing and defending them. He enjoys heated arguments because they get your brain going, you’ve got to be thinking to argue well. He understands that people have their right to their opinions but he doesn’t have to agree. In fact he likes trying to get people to see things from a different point of view and provoking original thoughts. It’s part of what makes him a good editor really. He knows when to step back from his emotions though, even though it can be hard sometimes. He can remain objective and unemotional about most things, so he’s able to criticize without letting personal opinion come into it. He’s good at balancing opinions and judging issues, but can tend to be indecisive when it comes to making up his own mind.

He has very strong feelings when it comes to adopting children. He thinks its an important thing to do and people shouldn’t be wary of it. He was adopted by Jonas Frost and thinks of him as his Dad as opposed to Chris Knaggs who is only his biological father. Topher believes that who raised you is more important that who your biological parents are. The only things he inherited from his biological father is his name, his eyes and his penchant for adventure. He loves adventures and changes in his life, when things get too stagnant life gets boring. That’s when he’ll go out and catch a few waves on the coast not far from his parents place. He loves sports of all kinds, muggle and wizard. More importantly he just loves being outdoors. Topher’s friends always told him he was a weird kind of jock, a geek at heart who will devour any book you put in front of him who also could kick your butt running around a track.

Topher Frost is an easy going guy for the most part, always wearing a smile. He makes jokes to lighten moods and speaks sarcasm fluently. He makes friends easily and he’s the sort of guy who knows someone everywhere you go. He only has a few close friends though; everyone else gets reduced to people to pass the time with. Topher’s close friends become a surrogate family. He likes to take care of people, always wanting to cook for people at his house and making sure they’re alright. He’s the kind of guy you want in your corner. He has few enemies, sure he has people who hate him but he tries not to let it get to him. You can spend far too much time hating people; life is too short to get hung up on the past. He tries to forgive as much as possible but some times it’s just not. He’s been told before; usually by his mother he doesn’t have enough real people in his life. She doesn’t buy the acquaintances as friends thing and it drives her nuts that her son is almost 28 and hasn’t yet found a steady girlfriend. Topher’s had a run of highly unsuccessful relationships since he was about 14. Most relationships in his adult life have started with a bang and ended with a whimper. Most of his girlfriends have complained about his not being able to let them in. Topher figures he’s just too independent for a relationship. Again his mother calls bullshit, she keeps telling him if he doesn’t let down the wall he’s built around himself he’s going to end up alone.

History

Elizabeth Caroline Mercer was a muggle; she worked in a restaurant as a waitress to pay for school. She was a year away from being an elementary school teacher. Lizzie, as she was always called, never planned on meeting Christopher Robert Knaggs. He came into the restaurant on a date; he was devilishly handsome and had a twinkle in his eye that said he was up for any kind of adventure. She was his waitress, and his date was going terrible. She would find out later that they had been set up by a friend who was rubbish at matchmaking. Lizzie thought she would never see him again, London was a big place after all, and devilishly handsome men with a twinkle in their eye came a dime a dozen. But a week later there he was asking her to dinner. They dated for a year but Lizzie always felt as if Chris was holding something back; like there was something he wasn't telling her. She had an active imagination and ran through several different scenarios which included his being a serial killer and his having a few wives tucked away in some little hamlet. He revealed his secret on their one year anniversary, he was actually a wizard. At first she'd thought that his secret was really that he was stark raving mad and wondered how in the hell she had managed to miss that. However, once he'd explained everything to her it actually cleared up some lingering questions she had about his rather eccentric family and the fact that he kept an owl as a pet.

He worked for the Ministry, a comfortable job in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Something his pureblooded parents had figured would keep their rather flighty son entertained. The Knaggs family wasn't exactly pleased when a few months later Chris proposed to Lizzie. They were married in the summer of 1980 and moved to Norwich where Lizzie had gotten a teaching job. A few months later she discovered she was pregnant. She was over the moon and assumed that Chris would be as well. Only he’d been weird the past month or so, testy. He would come home late from work and go out on errands on the weekends. The gleam in his eye was different, not so devilish. When she told him that they were expecting he looked pained, like she’d just told him that he was having something ripped away from him. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and went to clear out the spare bedroom for a nursery. He was gone a month later, with no warning, only a letter left behind explaining. He had gone off to Romania, ROMANIA of all bloody places. He wanted to tame Dragons, he couldn’t be tied down. He’d thought that he could do it but he couldn’t. He told her he was terribly sorry and that he would send money and make sure she was looked after.

Lizzie couldn’t have been angrier; she’d been abandoned, six months pregnant in Norwich. She never really forgave Chris but she named their son after him anyways. If she wasn’t going to have her husband she would at least have a piece of him. Christopher Quincy Mercer was born January 18th 1981, Lizzie’s parents were there and one of her very good friends but no husband. She sent Chris a picture and a letter telling him about their son. He sent a check. Little Christopher became Topher quite quickly he had his father’s bright blue eyes and his mother’s light brown hair. It never would lie still. Much like Topher himself, for a while Lizzie wondered if restlessness wasn’t genetic but it seemed that Topher wasn’t quite as reckless as his father had been. Lizzie had heard horror stories from his parents in the year they’d been married. The Knaggs still came to visit Topher every year but they didn’t talk about their son. Lizzie assumed they knew where he was and how he was. She only knew he was alive because of the checks she got like clockwork every month. She would send pictures to the postmarked addresses and they were never returned so she could only assume Chris received them. Topher grew like a weed, and he was smart as a whip. It pleased his teacher mother that he learned to read quickly and devoured every book that came his way. She wouldn’t let on that she knew of course but she found a notebook under his bed filled with writings, his imagination was as vivid as hers had always been.

The pair never really talked about his father, by the time Topher was five Lizzie had started dating again, only here and there and none of the men ever met her son until she was sure that they were good people. Very few of them ever passed the test for her. Topher was still the most important man in her life. Until she met Jonas Frost, Lizzie assumed that it would be her and her son forever. The man passed every test she threw up against him. He was a teacher at Topher’s school, someone he already knew and adored. He was actually her son’s basketball coach. They went out a few times before telling Topher but her son didn’t react as badly as she would have thought. He seemed ecstatic that a man he had considered a father figure for the past year was now dating his mom. To be honest Topher had thought for a while that it might be nice if Coach Frost was his dad. None of his other friends were missing their dads and he always felt left out because he didn’t get to do the things they did. He knew his father was in Romania but he didn’t know why, and that his grandparents came to visit him every year on his birthday and Christmas.

Lizzie had never told Topher about his father being a wizard; the Kraggs never mentioned it to him either. They had pulled Lizzie aside during his eighth birthday party and explained to her about Hogwarts. They weren’t sure if he would receive a letter or not but they told her to be prepared. She kept an eye on her son but mostly it remained in the back of her mind as their world changed. She and Jonas had been dating for two years at this point. Lizzie had decided that a year obviously hadn’t been long enough for her to know Chris. After two years of dating Jonas though, she didn’t hesitate to say yes when he asked her to marry him. She sent papers to Chris, which he sent back promptly with his signature. It hurt her to think that this was probably the best indication that she’d gotten that he was alright in eight years. She and Jonas were married in the summer 1989 and Jonas, with a written blessing from Chris Knaggs, adopted Topher in the beginning of 1990. Topher, though excited about having a father he could actually see and talk to, was hurt deeply by how easily his biological father was able to give him up. He couldn’t understand why that man wouldn’t want him when it seemed like Jonas Frost wanted him just fine. As much as Topher likes to dismiss his biological father’s influence in his life, it is still something that has colored so many of his choices and relationships.

Things went on as they had for the newly created Frost family; Topher loved trying new sports and excelled at school. Which really isn’t a surprise when both your parents are teachers. Though he was no longer a Knagg in name Chris’s parents still visited twice a year. They told Lizzie they were keeping an eye on him for certain markers, but they never told her what those markers were or whether or not they had seen any.

The Frost family had no idea whether or not Topher would be a wizard until the day of his 11th birthday. Lizzie had been a wreck for weeks. She wasn’t sure if she wanted her son to be whisked away from her to be taught magic. Sure enough when Topher woke up there was an owl sitting on his footboard, with a letter with his name on it. There was lots of explaining to be done. Lizzie mostly left it to her ex-parents in law. Topher became even closer with Robert and Lola Knaggs during the few months before he was to go off to Hogwarts. They told him things about his father that he might not have known otherwise. Though he acted like it didn’t interest him much, he found himself racing to his room to write everything they told him down in a notebook. Part of him hoped that he would find out more about Christopher Knaggs being at Hogwarts, because though he didn’t feel like he was missing anything in his life now, he felt that he did need to know something about the man who could leave him behind so easily.

Topher did not follow in his father’s footsteps like his grandparents assumed he would. Instead of Gryffindor like Chris he was sorted into Ravenclaw. It wasn’t really a surprise; the young boy was everything Ravenclaw stood for. He settled in quickly for the most part, it had never been difficult for him to make friends. It was all surreal at first, things that most of the other students already knew came as a shock to Topher. Other than the owl that had brought him his letter from Hogwarts he had never received mail that way before. All his mail had shown up in the little mailbox at the end of their driveway in Norwich. He opted not to get an owl of his own, he’d never had pets before and carting an owl home every summer seemed like the sort of thing that would draw attention from the muggle neighbours. He excelled in his classes, though he missed the muggle sports he’d always been involved in. He did however take to flying like he had been doing it all his life to the point that he tried out for Ravenclaw’s Quidditch team as a Chaser as soon as he started third year. This was also the year that Topher showed up at Hogwarts with his very first pet, Oliver. He’d never thought of himself as a cat person but he’d seen the Blue Russian in the window on Diagon Alley and his grandparents had thought it was a great idea. Topher thought they were mostly trying to spoil him a little since his brand new baby sister Claire had just been born. Topher didn’t mind Claire so much; he thought it was good that his mom had another kid to look after while he was away at Hogwarts. It only made him sad that she would never get to share in the magic with him.

Topher continued to do well in school. He’d taken Muggle studies in Third Year but he found he spent more time correcting people than actually learning anything so he dropped it soon after. He didn’t need to study about being a muggle, he lived with them. He understood quickly after his Care of Magical Creatures class why his father would be drawn away from his family to deal with magical beasts. They were absolutely amazing. He couldn’t see himself following in his father’s footsteps though. His first love was still writing and reading; he had notebooks full of writings. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be a published author, he wasn’t even sure if that’s what he wanted, but he knew that he’d rather spend his days with books than dragons. He loved things like Ancient Runes and History of Magic but the curious kid in him loved learning new charms and especially enjoyed Transfiguration. By the time he was in his Sixth year Topher knew that the most he had inherited from his father was his eyes. As much as he loved flying and Quidditch, he couldn’t see Chris Knaggs enjoying any of the classes he had. He couldn’t picture himself in Gryffindor where his grandparents had hoped he would end up. For the most part he considered himself a mediocre wizard, he was smart and enjoyed learning but he wasn’t going to be running off and becoming an auror. Besides after everything that seemed to happen to those Gryffindor kids he was glad he hadn’t ended up there.

When he decided he wanted to be an editor most of his friends from school told him he was being silly. That was something he could do just as easily in the muggle world. Topher decided that just made it all the more perfect. His mother wouldn’t have to make up stories about what he did. Their life was already weird enough because of him. Besides wizards read too, someone had to edit their books. He started out interning at the publisher, and while he hated being the person to go and get coffee and make photocopies Topher told himself that this was the price he had to pay for one day becoming an editor. He worked with editorial assistants on small jobs, and was given a chance to edit a piece of an anthology. It was the next step, his break. At 25 he was given a chance to be a editorial assistant himself working with a new author. He did his best work, nothing else would do. It was a crime novel, the author was nothing more than a one hit wonder at best, but it proved to the company that Topher could pull this off. This was all happening as the company had taken on their newest sensation, Dolly St. James. Topher had read the first book, because he’d know of Dolly when they were at Hogwarts, she was only a few years behind him. It wasn’t a literary masterpiece but the writing was good; much better than the literary critics gave her credit for. He hadn’t read the others; he only knew that there would eventually be six because that’s what the company had signed her on for. He didn’t really think it would impact his career that much.

How wrong he was. Fast-forward to two months ago when his boss had called him into the office. His latest job was finished and Topher figured he was being handed his next assignment, and he was right. It just wasn’t the sort of assignment he had expected. Up till now he’d been working with the more adult novels, crime thrillers and mysteries. But apparently he’d impressed the powers that be so much that they thought he could take on something a little more challenging. This was it, his big break. If he pulled this off they might promote him to a Head Editor, and then he could pick and choose his jobs. He could discover new talent. He would finally have realized his dream. Only problem was that the new challenge? His big break? It came in the form of Dolly St. James and her sixth and final Slither Girls novel. Not exactly the form he was expecting. As far as he knew Dolly hadn’t changed all that much from the time she was at Hogwarts. He expected that most of the drunken exploits her main character experienced were most likely written from a first hand account. This was a glorified babysitting job. Suddenly Topher wasn’t so excited.

Career

Topher is currently working for one of the bigger wizard publishing companies as an editorial assistant. He works under editors doing things like pre-reading new submissions; dealing with authors and agents; and dealing with getting things to the production department on time. He hopes one day very soon to be an editor himself so that he can discover new submissions and writers and be more influential in getting new material out to the public. He knew he wasn’t going to be a writer himself but he loves books and thought this was the best use of his skills.