Being brought up by his parents being the two most liberal people on the planet, Axel has learned to accept everyone as they are, for who they are. Whether that means that someone is straight, bi, gay, male, female, somewhere in between, or whatever, he does not care and will treat everyone the same. The phrase "It does not matter who you are, everyone is walking around with a bit of poo in them" is definitely one of his favourite ways to explain why he will treat everyone as a human being. There was once a time when he would look down on people for not being as academically or street smart as himself, and he would idolise those who were more than himself, however, almost as if someone flicked a switch in his light, he decided to stop being such an elitist. Being surrounded by people of all different backgrounds has always been important to him; it allows him to feel as if he has a better understanding of how and where people come from in their lives.

As his parents made the move from the beautiful town of Bayeux to Brighton when he was only 6, it has allowed Axel to be fluent in English. While he will only speak English to his peers at school, unless they are fluent in French, he always converses with his family in his mothertongue; it is highly important to him to keep up his ability to speak French and never forget where he came from. Being in school most of the year, it means he misses out on a lot of the French celebrations which he would have loved to be back home for, so in his own way, he does celebrate events, such as Bastille Day. Heritage is something he holds dear to his heart; it is of his belief that everyone should be proud of where they came from and should celebrate their country at every given opportunity.

If there was one thing that people would be able to say they knew him for, even if they didn't know him personally, it would be how excitable and quickly he would jump into conversation if it was on a topic he was fond of, or, on the flip side, if he had strong opinions about a certain subject and people were expressing opposing opinions. He will not stand for discrimination, and if he hears any words spoken that discriminates any group, or person, he is one of the first people to stand up and say something. On the down side, this sort of 'courage', as some have called it, has landed him in his fair share of detentions, and a stay in the hospital wing once or twice. While Axel does not claim to be the strongest wizard out there, he will also never back down from a duel; the pride of knowing he at least tried is strong for him.

Believe it or not, Axel is rather humble about his abilities. While he may look down on people fourth year or below, it is not because he does not want to associate with the younger students, it is because he does not want to end up being their personal tutor. While he will talk to and help anyone out, he has got to look out for himself and as number one. There have been situations in the past where he has learned to not trust people too easily and to put a wall up, and as much as he says he has done that, it is a lie he tells himself. Anyone can easily get him to help them, or hand over the key to his trunk.

There has been the question raised in the past for him of whether or not he has been seeing a girl because they would cuddle up on the sofa in the common room. The answer would be no; he is quite strictly only looking at the guys in the school. While he believes everyone should be able to do their own thing, it is a huge insecurity for him. Painting a red target on his own back would be the worst thing for him. 'I will not get into a relationship while in school still' is a mantra he continues to tell himself, yet he's fully aware that one day, it will probably happen. Secretly, as much as he is denying it to himself, he knows he is desperate for attention and the love of someone.

Way back when, in the days of the old, it was down to Axel's parents to fight through the struggles of initially being a wizard, and a muggle. Meeting in the town on Saint Lo, not far from Bayeux, they hit off a spark during a night of drinking in a small bar. Nothing exciting, but it was enough for them. Their lives were about to be completely changed, so much so that Genevieve arrived at Remi's house in Bayeux one foggy morning, announcing her pregnancy to him. They had been dating not even a month, but that, for Remi was enough to make him realise that this was the lady for him. She could have run away herself, she could have hidden it from him, or even worse, got rid of the child. It was now time for her to find out the best kept secret that Remi had. He was a wizard. Being a muggle, she didn't take this too well initially. She berated him for trying to make a fool of her, then once she realised he was serious, she told him he had issues and needed to see a doctor. She believed he was insane, that was until he proved it to her.

Within two months they were married in their own home. Still uncertain of what the future was going to hold, she kept herself at arm's length; there was no way she was going to put herself in any danger, especially now she was carrying. Fortunately for both Remi and Genevieve, she quickly realised that he was no threat, and he had in fact fallen in love with her, as she had with him. It wasn't long before Axel was about to make his appearance, and if anything was going to be an indication of how easy and laid back he was going to be, it was the ridiculously fast birth. They didn't even have time to get her to the hospital. By the time they realised what was happening, he was already almost ready to pop out. A little home delivery never hurt anyone, did it?

Being raised in a half muggle half wizarding household meant that Axel got the best of both worlds; he was never short of anything, he got to sample both life styles and more importantly, he got to see what the world was for how it was. That was until his parents were due to deliver his brother. Being at such a young age, Axel detested the idea of sharing his parents and their love for him, and so his magical abilities began to manifest. Of course, his father knew exactly what was going on, but his mother on the other hand was unsure and put on edge. She was almost insisting on packing her bags and heading off to her mother's house, that was until Remi spoke to Axel on a serious, yet child-like level so he could completely understand what he was putting the family through. Things began to settle down, things went back to normal for the family and Remi began to feel the family love for his brother, it wasn't going to be an easy ride, but he was going to attempt to at least see what the sibling thing was all about.

By age 6 the family had found themselves uprooted and living in Brighton. Learning a new language was definitely hard for Axel; he had just about mastered a good level of French, and now he had to learn English as well. Fortunately enough for him, his family were French speaking in the home, but when out and about they were speaking English, or broken English at that. At least they tried, right? There was nothing major in their lives up until Axel went to Hogwarts. Then there was the Harry Potter incident, the boy who lived, the boy who destroyed Voldemort. With a new sense of safety, he set off on that big train, off on a new adventure in his life, leaving his family behind. Adjusting to his new life was definitely troublesome; he felt like the only French person in the school and for the majority of his first year, people either imitated his accent, which was still definitely there at that point, or attempted broken French which just infuriated him more.

Then, summer before Axel was due to depart to Hogwarts. That was when the 11th anniversary of the Harry Potter incident hit. The wizarding world was in a riot of party, there were celebrations all over the place. His father was celebrating harder than he did on Bastille Day, in fact, he had never seen such a look of relief and safety on his father's face, it was almost like his father truly believed there was no longer any evil in the world. The boy who lived was finally able to go to Hogwarts. Axel could not quite understand his father's excitement, to him it was just an unfortunate boy who had lost both of their parents in one go as a baby and would never actually get to meet them. First year at Hogwarts was definitely no easy ride, reading in English and needing to translate it in his head to French was one of his biggest tasks, but the upside to that was his English was improving vastly. By the end of the first year, most of his year group had come around to the fact that there was a French person in the school, and that he did speak English, even if it wasn't as good as the native speakers.

This year was going to be Axel's year. He finally got on top of his grades through doing a fair bit of catching up and pre-school reading. Things were quite normal at the school, but towards the end he found rumours of Harry Potter being up to no good, and asking questions about things that he shouldn't have been. More reason to avoid the boy. He still didn't understand how Gryffindor won the house cup that year, the end of the year ceremony seemed a bit cryptic to him with those extra points being awarded. Not something to dwell on, however, this was the point when he truly had a turning point in his attitude to people, and as the french would say, 'c'est la vie'.

Second year. One of the most crucial years or him. This was where he needed to start really deciding what subjects to focus on. Being in Ravenclaw, and being the kind of person he was, he always needed a total end goal for his school career. Deciding on wanting to be a shop owner, but what of yet he had not decided, he made a conscious decision to continue being good in every subject, rather than everything. Except potions. He knew he was never going to go into anything that involved making potions for a living. That was definitely a no go. Potions was the one subject that while his father excelled, he was absolutely abysmal. Chamber of secrets, anyone? People being petrified left right and centre. His parents wanted him home, and with Harry Potter and his little clan of friends being at the centre of it once again, he wanted to steer clear of them as much as possible. He made it clear to his family he was safe, and nothing was going to happen to him, after all, Hogwarts is the safest place on Earth, right? Somehow, by some miracle, he managed to make it through the rest of the year without any issues, without any complications and without being petrified himself.

Turning up the following September was a good one, his hormones were all over the place, he was meant to be looking at girls, but was looking at guys, he was supposed to be focusing on school, and with yet another Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, of course his education hadn't had a stable course. Well, things weren't going to get any easier. A new professor that disappears randomly at certain points of the month? Being covered by other professors? Of course, why would it be any other way? Sirius Black is on the loose, too, and there's dementors. Was Hogwarts actually safe to be in? Probably not, but Axel wanted his education, and, half way through the year, he had that daunting realisation. He was not straight. In fact, he didn't even find girls attractive. It was his secret. It had to be. Oh, not only that, his brother had joined the school. That's right ladies and gentlemen, remember little brother Baptiste from earlier on? Surprise, he's a wizard too. Eventually the Sirius Black hype died down, and eventually things went back to normal. Axel could go home for the summer.

That Summmer was an odd one, in fact, he felt awkward around the house. His parents would ask him about any girls he had met, and he had to tell them there was no one that was his type at school, which definitely raised questions. His father took him down the garden one evening for a beer or two, for some father son bonding time, which was where Axel had his first beer, and got drunk off of two beers. Strong beers, though. He had to keep reminding himself not to spill it, and no matter how much he felt he could trust his father, it wasn't time to come out yet. He knew his parents would have no issue with it, or he hoped they wouldn't. They live in Brighton for heaven's sake. It was more his brother he didn't want to let down.

Time to head back to good ol' Hogwarts, this time with a lot of protesting from his parents, for them to actually for once put their foot down and have an adult conversation with him. Once again, they agreed he was allowed to go, it was probably the most important year for him to go. This year, was not only his O.W.L year, but when he arrived, he soon found out that there were other schools joining them. Immediately he found the guy that was about to fulfil his crush position. Viktor Krum. What a man. The way he strolled through, the air around him. Then, to his surprise, Beuxbatons turned up, too. He had heard of the school from his father, and he was right, the girls were good looking, but poor Axel could not keep his eyes off of Krum. Of course, just like everyone, or nearly everyone, Axel attempted to be chosen for the Hogwarts champion, but was rejected. No skin off of his back. He made friends with the girls from Beauxbatons, being able to speak French meant they had a connection. Some of the guys in his house were asking him to wingman them with the girls, but Axel being Axel stood firm. He was not about to be a pawn in their little love game. There was no way. Besides, he knew they weren't interested, and he was more than honest with them about it. Don't waste your time, he would repetitively tell them.

Seeing Cedric Diggory's body fly back through the portkey messed him up for a while. While he wasn't overly close with him, they had shared a few extra-curricular classes, and the odd detention together, and had a conversation or two occasionally. He seemed like a real good guy, and that was the point he began becoming more suspicious of Harry Potter. Voldemort was dead, wasn't he? That was when things took a real turn for the worse, when he returned for his sixth year and that wicked old bat Umbridge was put in place. Things weren't right, the government were certainly up to something in his eyes, and definitely attempting to cover something up. Axel wasn't going to stand for it. He was sure that now he had to do something to actually get the truth. At this point, he was willing to do anything. However, he was not quite going to end up in the D.A. He was going to observe from the side lines. Axel now had a choice to make, was he and his brother to return the following year, or were they not?

Being the curious soul that he was, of course Axel returned, but he advised his parents it would not be safe for his brother to return any longer, not until things had settled down. This worked well for him, after all, there was a huge battle. The battle in which Axel genuinely feared for his life; at this point in time he was so glad he had studied a bit more than most students and knew spells, charms and hexes which would help him and others, but he was petrified. There was a point where he saw his own life flash before his eyes, there was a point when all he thought about was his family and was ready to die, he had accepted he had done his all. Still unsure of the repercussions of this whole entire thing, he continued fighting. Surely the more Death Eaters he defeated and disarmed, the better it would work out for him, right? One thing he couldn't get his head around was why were students only allowed to disarm? They had been taught enough spells to able to actually do some damage if they wanted to, but being only allowed to disarm seemed a bit futile. Rules were rules, he knew that, and they were probably in place for a reason.

Dumbledore was dead. A lot of students were dead. He was alive. Survivor's guilt had kicked in strongly over that Summer and he isolated himself, it took a lot to bring himself out of it, and the anxiety of returning and seeing the state of the school was almost too much, but he swore to himself he was going to finish his schooling, get his N.E.W.Ts and open that shop. At that point, he knew exactly what he wanted his shop to be for: defending yourself. He was going to sell classes, books purely on defensive magic with counter curses. Maybe he might be able to find someone to pull him out of his anxiety hole, maybe he will find someone to hold and cuddle, maybe he will finally get out of that closet that he has been keeping himself held up in. However, the whole battle had sparked a change in him, something was different, something about him seemed darker. Not just his mood, but his outlook on life. He had seen many die that he cared about. From here on, Axel wasn't going to take any negativity from anyone.