First and Last Name: Nicodemus Tihalt
Bloodline: Pureblood
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
General Build: Petite
Height: Average
Birthplace: London, England, UK
Brief Childhood History: Nicodemus named by his father, Jon. His mother (Marielle) wanted to name him Frank, but Jon stuck to his guns. As a pureblood, he'd always been ashamed of his rather "stereotypical muggle" sounding name. "A man grows into his name," he had always said, and Marielle gave up on Frank as she signed off on her son's birth certificate. Nicodemus was born a month early, but thanks to Jon's rather hefty Auror paycheck, received the best of care until he was strong enough to leave St. Mungo's. It did take a rather long time, considering. His childhood was remarkable in a few ways; he was frequently sick and even more running into terrible luck. The sickness was attributed to his premature birth, and was generally not serious. It did, however, always seem to strike before important events in a young boy's life; the first day of school (every year), any field trips or spirit days, recitals, school plays. St. Mungo's was no strange place to Nicodemus, who possibly broke the record for how frequently he came down with Mumblemumps. As he grew older and (arguably) stronger, he began getting sick much less, and began blowing things up much more. The first instance (blowing up his desk at school in a fit of joy after receiving the highest marks for the school year) was no surprise to the Tihalts, as they had expected their son to begin showing signs of magical potential. However, the accidents seemed to follow Nicodemus around. There was a meaningful few days where Nico created small explosions underneath his sneakers each time he took a step. He broke the glass of his ant farm a record 14 times before Marielle decided she'd get him a puppy instead. The "puppy" turned out to be an especially large rat with a missing tail, which Nicodemus quickly found out didn't appreciate being leashed and collared, and ran away within the first week. Marielle tried to get her money back from the pet shop, and was received with much laughter. She thought about attempting a frog, but remembered the ant farm disaster and held off. It was probably for the better.
When he was seven, Nico's father Jon was killed in an entanglement with a werewolf. He was working as an Auror, but had gone to the forest where there had been sightings off duty, as the witch who had kept calling in had cried wolf many times in the past. Jon's department had been in trouble a few times for wasting money on false alarms, so he had opted to check the legitimacy before sending a team out. As such, the ministry took no responsibility for his death. Marielle received no money from insurance, and no bereavement pay from the Ministry. She tried to find work in London for months, nearly exhausting her savings, to no avail. No one seemed interested in hiring a previously stay-at-home mother with no work experience. She took the rest of her money and moved with Nicodemus to her parents' flat in Dublin, Ireland. The rest of her savings she used to go to muggle technical school, in order to become a travel agent (a career path that, to her, seemed exciting, lucrative and unique). Nico was left to be home schooled by his grandparents. He quickly grew accustomed to the light scent of cat covered by the rather strong scent of potpourri, but missed out on the chance to make many friends in Ireland. His social skills became rather stunted. When his Hogwarts letter came, he was ecstatic. A chance to go back to a real school with real teachers and real classmates was more than he could have wished for. His mother, having gotten a job quickly out of school, had saved enough to fund his scholarly pursuits, and agreed to send him on his way.
He has not, as of yet, "grown into" his name.
Strengths (Including Personality and Academic): Nicodemus is naturally smart, and works very hard to make himself more so. He devotes himself wholeheartedly to his studies. His frequent accidents and sicknesses have made him roll with the punches, and he has a good outlook on live. Nico never gets down on himself or has self pitying thoughts. He's inherently optimistic. Academically, he excels in most classes, especially Potions, Herbology, History of Magic, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Weaknesses (Including Personality and Academic): He is extremely unlucky. If it's possible for something bad to happen around Nico, it will happen at least 90% of the time. Due to this, he sometimes overcompensates by trying too hard to be good at everything, which then results in further accidents. Nicodemus is both fickle and flighty. He is afraid of following through with things because of how often he loses or ruins them. He is over dramatic and excitable (i.e. annoying), tends to blame others, and runs away from his own problems. He's terrible at Quidditch and struggles with Transfiguration.
What House You Feel Your Character Belongs In and Why: Ravenclaw. School is one of the few things Nicodemus is actually good at, and so he works furiously hard at it. Smarts are everything to him. He feels like if there weren't books, life wouldn't be worth living.
