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Robyn Stone-Locke
1st Year Ravenclaw
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(10/22/05 9:34 am)
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Salem Liam Grimm
OOC
Name: Kat
Contacts:
aim//xxBlackxWolfxx
email//kat.blackwolfxx@gmail.com
Age: 12
Code: Rita Skeeter Illegal Animagus
IC
Name: Salem Liam Grimm
Nickname(s): Salem has no nickname, however; he does prefer not to be called by his middle name, Liam.
DOB: 10.21.1974
Blood: Muggleborn
Previous School/House: Hogwarts/Hufflepuff
Subject To Teach: Care of Magical Creatures
Qualifications: When he was older, he worked at a muggle-zoo, learning how to care for each animal, including the bigger ones like tigers. He excelled at Care of Magical Creatures, receiving an ‘O’ in his OWLS. He loves all animals, magical especially. Salem also knows a few basic health-spells, in case of emergencies. He worked at the Magical Menagerie, which involved caring for the animals as well as dealing with Hogwarts students wanting a pet. As well, he is an animagus and, if needed, can fly to some location to get help quickly.
Physical Appearance: Salem is a little on the lanky side- his arms are short and his legs aren't notably long or short. He weighs around 155 lb., and is 5'7" tall. His hands are rough, and his palms are calloused just from doing various work over his life. While his nails are usually clean, they are not neatly trimmed and cared for. His skin borders on the edge of dark, but is several shades off from being truly dark; instead, it is tanned from hanging outside on sunny days. There is a slight sprinkling of hair along his chin, hardly noticeable as it is blonde.
Salem has shaggy hair, cut short in the back; in the front, it frames his forehead, which is broad. His hair is a shade of brown, almost tan-blonde. His eyebrows are very thin, and a dark brown, almost black color. His eyes are dark brown, shaped like a half-oval; they are straighter on the bottom than at the top, where they curve. Usually sparkling or shining, they seem to always hold a warm spark. His nose is large, and angular; and his nostrils are teardrop shaped. He has a very large smile- he literally grins ear-to-ear. His mouth is very wide, allowing for his grin. His grin itself is warm and friendly. His teeth are usually off-white, depending on the last time he brushed his teeth.
He has a very easy-going gait, hands in his pockets as he lightly steps. Salem always appears to be relaxed, especially when he smiles. He has a friendly aura on him. Even when he is down, it[the aura] remains warm. When he smiles, three little dimples appear in the corner of his mouth causing his lips stretch and seem to disappear.
Salem prefers cool colors over warm colors. It's more likely to see him in purple, than in orange. He wears mainly solid colored shirts, and solid colored trousers with no patterns at all in his attire. On special occasions he wears white. Unless it's a mournful occasion; then he wears black.
Being a animagus, he has an animal form- a Chinspot Batis. A Chinspot Batis is a smallish bird, being very lightweight(around 2 to 3 lb.). It is very spherical in shape, with little neck and a round skull. It's beak is black, round and pointed, while it's eyes are bright yellow. The Batis's belly, chin, and cheeks are a clean white. The Chinspot Batis' wings are alternately striped with first a black stripe, then a white, then a black. Black forms a mask around it's round little eyes. Blue forms a vee on it's back, and caps his head.
When Salem is a bird, the bird's eyes seem to glow in merriment. He twitters cheerily, and moves rather gracefully for a spherical bird. His aura is bright and cheerful, definitely more perky than in human form. He even moves with more energy, more perkiness than in his carefree human form.
Personality: He is very laid back, easy going, friendly. Constantly smiling, that golden grin doesn't even fade when he is down. While Salem hates to be the bearer of bad news, and tries to put a positive spin on everything. He is optimistic and very enthusiastic. One could say he sees the world through a pair of rose-tinted glasses. Although he is enthusiastic, he isn't overly energetic- he is relaxed and calm, lazy, even.
Salem is very hard to make angry. In fact, he is rarely ever angry. He does, however, get annoyed- in which case he will politely tell whatever is bugging him to stop- and, when doing so, stop smiling. When he doesn't smile, his whole face seems to freeze up in a cool ex-pression. Putting all of that aside, he loves to laugh, and loves to here other people laugh. He isn't very good at jokes, but has many stories- some fictional, others not- that he tells to entertain and amuse.
And boy, he can't stand to have people angry at him.
However, he is human. Salem snaps when someone is being impolite to someone else(not himself, however, he doesn't mind that so much). Salem most often finds his friends in those who are loyal and honest, as those are what he values most, along with kindness and politeness. However, his friends are rare and few, as Salem prefers to be away from the center of attention. When he does get together with a group of friends, he hangs on the outside of the group, just barely interacting.
Salem is very disorganized. He can't hold on to anything for more than a moment, and when things are lost, he remains optimistic('We'll find it, I'm sure!'). He believes that life is good, and should be treated as such. He also is adamantly against animal cruelty and will monitor his students carefully to see how they treat the animal of the lesson. If the animal is mistreated in any way, he sends them a message which states, quite cheerily, that they must improve their behavior or else. Second offense is an 'I mean it', third is a detention. It may appear strict, something Salem is not, but Salem is adamant and stubborn about this one subject.
In bird form, he is quite cheeky. One of his favorite pastimes is making others laugh, by doing aerial stunts and performing little 'shows' out on the grounds. He enjoys singing and chirping. Although he is fond of his bird form, he tends to stay in human most of the time. His most unique trait is how he delivers special messages to people in the castle in bird form. However, this is done only with staff; and only if it is something light and personal. He might, on a rare occasion, do this with a student, but only if he want to ensure the student reads the message.
History: Salem Liam Grimm was born in Staffordshire, England. His parents were both muggles. His toddler ages were rather uneventful- his father worked for a muggle law firm, as a lawyer, and his mother was a secretary. When he was born, however, she abandoned her job to care for him, as was the customary thing to do in those times. They enrolled him in school when he was old enough, and his quest for knowledge thus began. He was average in school, never perfect but always satisfactory in his work.
His early ages faded into a new round- the years of the pre-preteen. His life suddenly became interesting during this time- his father was fired from the firm, and he became a novelist, while, in the meantime, to make up for it, his mother took a job as a journalist. So every day she'd come home, as Salem rested on the couch, reading, and his father typed, and sigh- breaking into some interesting and funny story about the latest person she'd interviewed or the places she'd seen. Occasionally she'd leave for a week to go somewhere new- on those weeks Salem would shut himself in the bedroom and only come out to eat, because he and his mother clicked; his father and him not so much. Salem wanted to be a scientist or an adventurer, while his father wanted him to become a lawyer.
As the years went by, his father's books were never published, but Salem kept them because they were highly imaginative, if not funny. He had discovered he had a flair for storytelling, and kept his few friends amused by telling them tidbits that his mother told him, only making them more interesting. Salem only had a few friends, because he was rather different with his excitable and optimistic manor. And quite frankly, he annoyed them. When he was younger, he was much more hyper and would buzz around for hours, talking rapidly and happily. He didn't slow down and calm down until his years at Hogwarts.
For his eighth birthday, his mother bought him a puppy. This puppy was a mutt, black with a white splash across his eye and a white tail tip. It’s ears were half-floppy, and it’s eyes were bright bronze. It was the most excitable, and stupid puppy they had ever seen. Salem named it Licorice, because it’s coloring reminded him of his favorite candy.
Licorice would spend hours launching himself at windows in a attempt to get outside. He bumped into walls, he chased his tail, violently growling as he twirled. When he scratched himself, he fell over. When he scratched himself lying down, he ended up kicking himself. Salem was crazy in love with this puppy, but his parents couldn’t stand it. Licorice was on thin ice with them. After a particular incident where the puppy launched himself at Salem’s mother’s legs, knocking her down and spraining her ankle, his father decided the puppy had to go. The puppy was a year old, Salem was nine years old. He tried to be optimistic, but when his father said he[Licorice] was going to the pound, Salem broke down and cried.
Licorice was gone the next day, but not of his parents doing. His parents figured it a stroke of luck, since they figured he had just run off. Salem had, in reality, snuck the puppy to his friends house. Salem never knew what happened to Licorice after that. In fact, his friend's family ended up abandoning the puppy at the pound. They couldn't stand it, and they were moving in a week, anyway.
The rest of his nine year old life passed peacefully. When he was ten, someone his mother interviewed came to stay at the house. His name was Oliver Jacksone, a retired soldier, and she was doing a special report on the past wars. He was an interesting fellow, and not in personality but by nature. He inspected each door, before he went out, to make sure they were all locked. He greeted them with a ‘Salute, solider!’. He was very confused and senile, and throughout his entire stay he called Salem ‘Sally’ or ‘Sammy’.
More importantly, this was the year his unusualties became noticed. His parent’s were very much alarmed when his spinach turned into a potato(his very favorite). They were also alarmed when he magically turned up on top of the house, claiming he was just thinking about the sky when poof, he was up there.
When he turned eleven, his letter came. This was met with some difficulty as Oliver was reading their mail, before they could get it. His father was becoming a recluse and rarely left his room, and so when Oliver hollered, it was amusing to watch his father creep from the bedroom towards the sitting room. Oliver waved about the letter, and while he flailed, his father snatched it away. His strained eyes leapt over the page, then he wordlessly handed it to Salem. Salem was overjoyed to know there was a reason behind his strange abilities. His mother returned later that night, and after a discussion, during which Oliver was bribed to go out for the night, it was agreed they should allow him to go.
When he arrived there, he was equipped with all his supplies and a small black owl with ghoulish silver eyes, which was named Licorice(again). He was delighted with his new pet. Salem was delighted with everything. His already friendly nature blossomed, and his hyper activity faded into a sort of relaxed demeanor. He was sorted into Hufflepuff and soon made a friend, a girl named Linda D’Amore, who was a slim girl, with large black eyes and a very pale complexion. She was quiet and shy, and also was in Hufflepuff.
Meanwhile, outside of school and his life, back before he was born- Voldemort’s rise in power was beginning. His family, being muggles, didn’t really know about it, only what they could glean from news reports. They worried, as the killings increased, but they kept all of this from Salem, to "protect" him. Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter when Salem was 7, in 1981. To this day, Salem can remember hearing the faint cracks and bangs of fireworks off in the distance, and seeing the bright colors. For his 8th birthday, his parents took him to the pictures. The movie happened to be a scary one. Salem spent most of the movie curled up on a seat, refusing to look at the screen. In the middle of the picture, someone on screen screamed. Salem's small hands clapped over his ears. A second later, several people in the movie theatre started yelling. He glanced up and saw that there wasn't s movie playing anymore; the screen had gone black.
In his first year, he heard all about Voldemort’s reign of terror and the Boy-Who-Lived. Beside this, his first year ran pretty smoothly- and by smoothly I mean very uneventfully- he found himself often lost, and his best class was Charms. He constantly lost papers and essays, and his bag was a jumbled, disorganized mess. Linda helped him clean it once and then, decided it was a lost cause when he returned an hour later with papers falling out.
In his second year, he gained another close friend. She was another girl, named Catherine Smith, who was much more outgoing and hyper, and soon became the ringleader of the group. As far as subjects go, Salem excelled at charms again. But one thing soon dominated his life; Quidditch. While he never expressed any interest in playing, he chose a team, the Appleby Arrows, randomly, and supported them. He was always so optimistic before one of their games, which he would read about in the daily prophet, borrowed from Linda. “Oh, oh, they’ll win for sure!”, and smiling big when they won, smiling anyway when they lost[“Oh well! They’ll do better next time!”].
However, third year at Hogwarts was, by far, his best year. Salem was now able to enjoy the privilege of Hogsmeade, and he loved it. He was still good at Charms, but had definitely found his calling- Care of Magical Creatures. He and Linda hung out less and less with Catherine, who was much too active for them, and more and more hung out with just each other. Linda was better at Transfiguration than at anything else. She wanted to be a healer, however, and worked hard to excel in Herbology. Salem became a social butterfly- he became more social with the other Hufflepuff house members. He would often round a bunch of third years up and tell them funny stories about Oliver or the people his mother interviewed.
As third year melted into summer, which melted quickly into fourth year, Salem became highly interested in Animagi. He dreamed of himself, being an animal of some form; sometimes a bird, sometimes a dog, sometimes a cat, sometimes a frog. Linda studied it a bit, but it failed to grasp her interest. They couldn’t wait for the year to be over, so they could be in fifth year- the year of owls, career pep talks, etc. They didn’t look forward to the OWL exams, obviously. Licorice was attacked by a Slytherin student’s cat- he suffered serious injuries. Salem tried to take him to the Care of Magical Creatures professor- but Licorice was died before he could get him there. Linda was one of his only sources of comfort; Catherine had drifted off to be a Chaser on the Quidditch team.
Fifth year was the year of stress overload. At first, he was disappointed because he wasn’t made a prefect; Linda, however, was. That soon gave way to insecurity. The only class he felt confident in was Care of Magical Creatures. Linda was studying at every waking moment, wearing herself to a thin haggard wither. Basically, Salem had two modes- stress over school or worry over Linda. Finally Linda became sick and was removed to the nurse for a few days. The OWLS came and passed, and Salem found himself unwilling to do anything. He was so overloaded from stress he just went into quiet mode, and has remained calm and lazy ever since.
Sixth year was a lot less stressful for him, even though he was still being over loaded. He got a second owl, a large stone grey owl dappled with brown speckles. It was a female, and he named her Cassandra. He blossomed this year. He became friends with almost everyone in Hufflepuff, in his grade. He wasn’t popular, but rather a source of entertainment. He also decided he would become an animagus, but to wait to start training until when he was in seventh year. He read up on it in bits and pieces, but found himself more willing to lay still than to get up and march to the library.
Sixth year melted out into summer; summer was incredibly peaceful. Oliver was gone- he was dead. Salem didn’t really mourn, at all- he was too excited with his plans to become an animagus, and besides that, he hadn't been fond of the man whom called him 'Sally'. But, back to the point of animagi. Salem found he highly hoped he’d be a dog of some sort, but, he knew you couldn’t chose your animagi form. The entire year was spent between studying for exams and studying animagi and transfiguration. Salem surprised both himself and Linda by asking her out to the Christmas dance. She accepted, and they had a wonderful night.
Exams passed rather quickly, and suddenly Salem found himself quite alone in his house again. His father had finally gotten his book published, and they were moving away to live in Wales. The house was rather large, and empty feeling, but Salem was rather pleased.
Seventh year shaped up to be a rough year. Linda and him were more than just friends now; they were dating. The year itself was hard, filled with crammed knowledge, NEWT exams, and career talk. He started animagi training on Saturdays, ducking away when time was available. Linda helped him quite often; they kept it a secret from their Hufflepuffian friends. But after a month Salem realized he had to tell an adult of some kind; he couldn’t handle the paperwork that made him being an animagus legal; and quite frankly, how he was supposed to train was beyond him.
So he went to Professor Cyrene, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Daniel Cyrene was Greek, around fifty. He was reasonably friendly and helpful with the students' personal lives. Professor Cyrene realized that Salem had no idea what he was doing, and took control of his practice sessions. His life settled into an even schedule, unbroken by anything. Monday thru Friday belong to school and homework. Saturday- animagus lessons. Sunday was homework, homework again, and then, Linda.
After NEWT exams, he still wasn’t ready to transform for the first time. Far from it- he was still practicing transfiguring things. School ended rather too quickly, forcing him back home, where he shut himself in his room, released Cassandra to stretch her wings, and started practicing. That year everything in the house was changing; constantly transfiguring. Teacup to mouse, wine glass to parrot, couch to monkey and back again. His parents tolerated it, until one day he transformed his mother's prized glass vase into an eagle. It immediately flew off and was never seen again. They forced him to confine his transfiguration sessions to one room, on the second story. After a while Salem grew bored of being under his parent's rule- as much as he loved them, he was an adult now. He had been saving money and bought a small home in London. The day he left, he turned the car into a dog and back again. Thankfully nobody was around to see him- muggle or otherwise.
He was settled in his house the next day. Salem felt ready to begin the next stage of practice. After all, he was nineteen, and felt that in the course of two years, he had almost completely mastered the subject; which was a good accomplishment for him- Transfiguration wasn’t one of his strong subjects in school.
By the time he was twenty one he could successfully transfigure different parts of his body; he had fun by adding feathers to his hands and feet(Apparently his animagi form was a bird). One time, he even was able to transfigure a tail. He kept with this for a very long time, almost four years. But after a while he felt he was able to attempt a full body transformation. He was 23 years old, well situated in his small home. He had a job, and two cats. Cassandra, his old Hogwarts companion, also inhabited the house.
He sent an owl to Daniel Cyrene, informing him of his progress and stating that he believed he was ready to try it for real. The owl came back the next day stating that he would be arriving via Floo around three p.m. Sure enough, he arrived; clutching a cauldron which contained all the necessary ingredients. Of course, they[meaning Salem] had to practice the potion first; there were enough supplies for three days of potion-making. Salem made potion after potion, until finally Daniel decreed he could do it correctly. Salem remade it, just to be safe, and Daniel sat to wait for him to transform for the first time.
Salem drank the potion, focused, said the spell he needed mentally, and it began. His eyes squeezed shut as his skin tingled. It felt strange, to say the least- painful, even. Salem found himself sitting on the floor, resting on his knees. His eyes remained shut until the tingling and pain stopped. Salem's eyes cracked open cautiously, and he blinked. Everything appeared rather huge to him.
The birds instincts and mind surged up, causing him to flutter up in panic. His wings flexed, the shiny feathers individually directing his path of flight. Daniel snapped his fingers in front of Salem, causing his attention to be diverted to the human face. In that moment Salem’s mind took control, squashing the instincts of the bird. He landed on the table, flexing his wings again. His beak took up half of his view. Salem was disoriented and dazed. He turned a yellow eye on Daniel. If birds’ beaks could smile, his would be huge. Daniel made a motion Salem took to mean transfer back.
He did as he was told. A large grin upturned his lips as his whole face seemed to light up. He thanked Daniel profusely, who departed shortly after(only staying long enough to accept a biscuit and some tea). The next day, Salem, with Daniel, went and registered so he wouldn’t be illegal. And then, of course, he flew around his house for the rest of the day, chirping happily.
Of course, while he had been training, troubled times were about. When Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived entered his fifth year(Salem was twenty-two); the second war had begun. Thankfully it ended in the boy's sixth year; sparing the lives of many innocent muggles, witches, and wizards. His parents were almost amoung the many that were killed when the Blockdale Bridge was destroyed; luckily they got held up and the bridge was destroyed before they could get on it(they were visiting Salem's cousins, who were on vacation). However, his great-aunt was murdered by Death Eaters(exactly how was never found out). He wasn't terribly affected by that, though- he wasn't overly close to her. That was the last he heard of the war for a while; and then one day he walked into Diagon Alley, only to be overcome with confetti, fireworks, and much loud cheering. Voldemort was truely defeated.
It seemed that while he was in training, he had tossed aside his laziness and rose-tinted view of the world in exchange for a practical Salem that could get his training done. Now that he was finished, he picked them up, placed them on, and thus has been has cheerful as ever since. He soon learned to be wary of flying around the house, after a particular incident where one of his cats tried to eat him. He went to the pet shop at Diagon alley one day to get himself a real magical creature. He ended up with three; a Kneazle, a Puffskein, and a rat. The Kneazle, Hyrde, got along famously with the cats. The Puffskein, Lorne, was kept in his room with the rat, Shadey.
He would let the rat and Puffskein out occasionally and take notes of how the animals interacted; finding that the rat was able to dodge both the Kneazle and cats every time. Salem wondered if it was because it was a magic rat. Over time, his notes collected into a mass of parchment, which he carefully placed in a drawer of his desk. His work was terribly boring, he thought, but he couldn’t be jobless. Every day has he trudged down Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron, he stared hopefully at the pet shop, hoping one day to see a 'Help Wanted' sign. When he was twenty six, one of his cats died. She was terribly old. The other cat got sick shortly after and had to be euthanized.
He was depressed but remained cheerful for the sake of those who knew him. His magical creatures were all that remained of his menagerie. He gave the kneazle away to a friend(after closely examining the way she treated her other pets, of course).
A while passed, and then one day, out of the blue when he was twenty eight, he received a letter from someone he hadn’t heard from in ages. Linda. She was living in America, in New England. She was an English professor at a college. Linda asked if she could come over for a little while. His reply was, of course, yes. She arrived the next day, suitcase in hand. When he asked her why, she replied that she missed England and couldn’t afford staying in a hotel. Besides, they were still friends. Salem caught her up on his life so far. She did the same.
Linda remained for three years. During that time he got a new job. It happened rather fast. He was once more walking to his work, in Diagon Alley, when he saw the sign he had been hoping for- 'Help Wanted- Must be good with Pets'. Salem applied for the job immediately, and was told to start Monday. As far as he and Linda were, they weren’t in a romantic relationship- they were just good friends. She picked up a career at a school as a English teacher, to help pay the rent. The puffskein adopted her; and it was obvious she’d leave with him. At the end of three years, Linda decided she had to leave- she couldn’t stay in London on her own, but she thought it was unfair to encroach on Salem’s rights any longer. After she left his house felt empty- it was just him and his rat. He resumed a normal lifestyle- he slept, he ate, he took care of the rat, he worked, and he read. The year passed in this fashion. But for his thirty- second birthday, he received a present from Linda- a baby kneazle. IT was the prettiest little thing he had ever seen- she, for the kneazle was a girl, was petite and tiny, with soft fur. Her eyes were large. And she was smart, too. She was named Chavi. The rat hated her, however, and Salem found himself with his old scrolls on the behavior of his pets.
Only this time, he was writing about Chavi and Shadey- and no one else. Chavi wasn't much of a threat to the rat, who was at that point quicker. But the main reason was because Chavi didn't want to hurt him- she wanted to be his playmate. Their antics were all recorded in the scroll. Chavi grew rapidly into a sleek adult, who's favorite playtime antic was to sneak up on Shadey and push him with a heavy paw. The job with the pet store went very well- it hardly covered the costs of living, but he was happy, and that was enough. Shadey escaped one day, got outside. He was killed by a neighborhood cat. Salem was upset but he quickly got over it; he had Chavi to take care of as well as the pets in the store. Chavi mourned for a long time though. She ate little and hardly moved. Salem was beginning to worry about her.
Then, curiously enough, he received a letter shortly before turning thirty-four. They wanted him to teach at Hogwarts. He accepted gladly, hoping being around others would cheer up Chavi- and because it was his best, and most enjoyed subject.
Roleplay Sample:
Salem was grinning. Right now, he worked to straighten his office; customize it- notes in a drawer on his small, yew wood desk, lesson plan on the top of the next. Pictures of magical creatures littered the walls, while his desk sported several of his old pets, and one of him and all his friends from Hufflepuff back when they were in Hogwarts. The walls were a pale green, trimmed with gold. A single window was placed on the wall and charmed to make it look like it was whatever weather Salem wanted outside. Right now, the skies were clear and a pale fringe of cloud drifted across the sun. The reason he was grinning was because as soon as he was finished, he would be able to transform, become a bird, and twitter around the office in pure, unadulterated joy.
He stepped back to admire his work. It was littered, clumsy, and yet he liked it. And so, grinning to himself, he thought of the spell. His eyes remained open this time; he had gotten used to it a long time ago. The first thing had happened, right after the tingling, was the feathers. They sprouted every were, as she shrunk rapidly. It was over rather quickly- he was a small, black and white bird struggling to get out of a heap of clothing.
He poked his small head through the neck hole. Bright yellow eyes blinked as he hopped out onto the smooth floor. Salem flexed his wings, and took to the flight, subconsciously squashing the bird’s mind down. He drifted in the air for a moment, then flapped vigorously and circled around his office. Salem began to chirp, and soon the chirps turned into a collected mass of notes that became a song. A very joyful, happy song. After about a moment, he landed on the desk, to rest his wings. He blinked and chirped once, before preening his wing. Then, feeling satisfied, he switched back. And, of course, threw on his clothes. Thank goodness his was a charmed window, eh? Or everyone would have seen that.
Now Salem sat, fiddling with his pencil. His kneazle, Chavi, whom had been eyeing the bird with interest- which had changed to disgust as it transformed back into her master- came up and rubbed his leg. He absently scratched her head, a distant ex-pression on his face as he stared at one of the walls of his office. His office. Those words would never get old.
Celebrity Avatar: Matt Gallant.
lyrics credited to greenday
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