Your Nickname: Nuri
Have you read and do you agree to the Code of Conduct?: Yes
Are you over thirteen? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? Friend
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Fine! Raine Almasy, Dietrich Eisenberg, Roger Lemon, Ira Almasy, Rascal Rosier, Arthur Lemon, Peter Thackeray, Virgil Carstairs, Nathaira Spectre, Solomon Carstairs, Sylvain Onuris, Edgar Carstairs, Jebediah Layton, Koko Yukawa, Tristan Vaillancourt, Balthair Spectre, Harper Graves, Adrestia Gamp.
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary


Character Birthday & Age: 20th July 2000, 11 years old
City & Country of Birth: Moscow, Russia
Blood Purity: Pureblood

Wand: 11 inches, bendy. Maple wood with Phoenix Feather core. Wands made of maple often choose bearers who are natural explorers or adventurers. It favours an ambitious personality, or else the user's magic will grow lacklustre. This wand will shine when it regularly encounters fresh challenges.

Physical Description:

A wiry young boy. In spite of his skinniness, Feliks is resilient and bounces back from scrapes or falls quite easily. He is tall for his age. His abilities as a metamorphmagus are still volatile and does not extend to him being able to yet alter the structure, height, or shape of his general body frame. At most he can affect a change in his colouring and facial features.

As far as can be told, Feliks was born with a shock of red hair and eyes so dark a shade of brown they were almost black. His curls (always a mess) can often take on different colours but he has mastered the ability to keep it in check, altering it to whatever he thinks will make him look normal in a given place or time. Nowadays he wears it black. He doesn’t tend to wild colours unless he is throwing a tantrum or experiencing other extreme emotions.

Feliks has an easily recognisable countenance. A long nose, jutting out above a wide and childish pout that happily lends itself to smiles. He doesn’t think much about his face, still being young enough to like it. His skin is pale in the winter and freckled in the summer. Feliks doesn’t really have much of a wardrobe; he will wear whatever is given to him, as has been the case for most his life. But he loves a cosy jumper. Give him something made of cashmere and he’ll be in heaven.


Personality Description:

Having grown up amongst old witches and Squibs around his age, Feliks is an odd mix of polite and arrogant. He finds himself vulnerable and respectful to adults, but rowdy and proud around peers. In some ways he still believes that grown-ups can tell if you are lying - when he does lie to them, it usually ends with a tearful confession at the end of the day. He has never really had friends who were witches or wizards; as a result, he is naturally bookish, and has tried to understand much of the wizarding world through its popular or classic literature. Feliks is fairly knowledgable about muggle culture, having learnt and interacted with it alongside his Squib peers.

He carries himself gracefully but with the slight awkwardness of someone who hasn’t stopped growing. There is an unblushing, forward playfulness to him when he is finally comfortable around you. His idea of a good time includes board games, puzzles, pranks, hiking, and any kind of comical humour. He loves animals but is shy to play with them. If introduced to music Feliks would fall in love. As it is, he has had very little exposure. He is trilingual, speaking Russian, English, and French. The latter two are out of practice.

His tantrums are of the cold, sulking sort. He prefers to run away and find places to hide. Losing his temper has never worked before (it only ends with him crying) so he doesn’t really know what to do with anger. He wants very much to be liked by witches and wizards his own age, but can be quite defensive about befriending new people. Feliks is not very fond of himself. Still, he tries to keep a chipper attitude. Not a hard thing to do when you’re being properly introduced to a whole new wizarding world.


History:

In late July of the year 2000, Ira Almasy delivered a newborn baby to a cottage settlement in the Siberian countryside where the Almasy clan tend to keep their Squib children. The Cottage is run by a Sisterhood of retired, old witches. They see to the upbringing of these young ones and to their eventual integration with muggle societies, if that is what is desired by their respective families. Ira was certain that no son of hers could be a Squib - even so, this was the only place she could leave him where he would be hidden and protected until he could finally be of use to her.

Feliks did not turn out to be a Squib. Neither did he ever become pertinent to her plans, not until her death in April of 2011. But that is getting ahead of ourselves.

The Cottage is a dismal place to grow up. It is cold all year round and there are few towns within walking distance…not a place meant to be discovered; not by wizarding folk, not by muggles. Feliks knew from the start that he wasn’t going to be like the others. His metamorphic abilities gave him away, though everyone got along well enough in spite of it. They liked him and told him whatever they knew about their families, as Feliks was never given information about his birth parents. He envied those who had come to the Cottage in their older years, when they were discovered to be Squibs. He was the only child raised in the Cottage from birth.

Life was nothing without routine. Days began at dawn and every child had a roster of duties - usually things to do by hand that would enable them to live independently one day. The washing of clothes, cooking, cleaning. These chores were followed by lessons. Feliks always had the extra one, in which he would sit with Sister Masha - the witch tasked with preparing him for wizarding society. Afternoons in the Cottage were when children worked on their respective hobbies. For Feliks this often meant board games or scrapbooking. Or sitting on the porch with a book, swaddled in blankets while he read by candlelight.

When the weather was good, all the inhabitants of the Cottage would be taken on hikes in the cold country. These were Feliks’ favourite days because they reminded him with certainty that the world outside the Cottage actually existed.

His years in the Cottage rarely deviated from these humdrum routines. Once, when he was about ten, he woke up in the middle of the night in the long room where all of them slept. There was a thick, unfamiliar perfume in the air. A perfume that had no right to be there. His cheek was warm, as if though someone had just held their hand to it for a long while. The next morning he was told by a Sister that someone had come by with a gift for him: a fine set of clothes, too big, and a pair of shoes enchanted to fit him as he grew. 

This brings us full circle to the 28th of April in 2011, which was the second and last time that Sister Masha spoke to him about his mother. The Cottage had received a letter that day, informing them that Ira Almasy would soon not be among the living. Another envelope was contained in this, to remain unopened and carried by Feliks for when he would be sent to his father, which was what Ira had always instructed in the case of her demise before he came of age.

Now, the sisterhood of the Cottage are no fools. They do not send children off to their fathers posthaste. They do not send Almasy blood to foreign shores just like that! Sister Masha took it upon herself to ensure that the wizard identified in Ira’s papers would make a suitable parent for Feliks. She disguised herself in her animagus form, an especially severe looking lammergeier, and journeyed to Scotland. Here, she studiously observed the comings and goings of this strange clan, for well over two months. Sister Masha was eventually able to send word back to Russia that the estate had her approval, and that they should send over young Feliks as soon as was convenient. The bearded vulture would wait until he arrived.


Feliks, of course, has no idea what lays ahead of him. He puts on the clothes and shoes his mother gifted him. He packs a very small bag of books, games, notes of friendship. He is given a letter for his father - Balfour Spectre, a name he constantly repeats, so as not to forget.

But he can’t possibly forget. He has been waiting all his life to meet his family.


Describe your job duties and how you go about them: N/A
Elaborate on your expertise in your field: N/A
Writing Sample: N/A

Sum up your character in one paragraph:

Feliks Spectre is a young boy who grew up amongst old witches and squibs in the Siberian countryside. He is initially courteous to adults but, on closer examination, can be quite lively and arrogant. Especially around people his age. He loves to read and play games. Most of all, he would love some friends, and to see more of the wizarding world he finds so wondrous.

Character Name: Feliks Spectre
Age: 11
Character Biography: Feliks Spectre
Do any of your other Characters have Special Abilities?: Yes
If Yes, then Please provide their name and a link to their bio: Raine Almasy (Animagus), Balfour Spectre (Animagus), Virgil Carstairs(Legilimens/Seer), Jebediah Layton (Legilimens)

What level is this ability at?: Intermediate

At what age did your character gain this ability?: Birth

How did they learn or hone this ability?:
Feliks was born a Metamorphmagus. His abilities manifested themselves from very early on, by allowing his moods to affect the colouring of his skin and hair.

Describe how the Special Ability influences their life.  What do they use it for?:
He has since learned to control how his moods are reflected in the alteration of his appearance. Feliks can now consciously affect changes in his colouring, and will do so if he thinks it will make him fit in better somewhere. Sometimes when he is too emotional, his appearance will change without him meaning for it to do so. For example - when he is very angry his hair will grow increasingly red.

Write a description of what happens when your character is exhibiting this Special Ability: Changes to Feliks' hair colour isn't instantaneous, often happening as a quick but noticeable gradient. He must concentrate harder to alter facial and body structure. He does not suffer any side-effects from these alterations, although sometimes he might forget that he has changed something until it is pointed out again.

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Layout
The main building is a small, old fashioned two-storey structure with typical Siberian facades. It was once painted bright turquoise, a colour which has been worn down by many harsh winters. Intricate windows give way to the landscape: on one side a vast forest and on the other a shallow stream that freezes over most of the year. The first floor consists of a kitchen, dining room, and library that doubles as a classroom. The floor above is where the children sleep, wash and rest. They share a single long room as their dormitory.

Behind the main building there is a small single-storey house of similar design. The witches retire here at the end of each day, leaving behind one of the Sisters to watch their charges overnight.

The third and final house is very little more than a one room cottage. Children who misbehave are confined here overnight, often without lunch and supper.


Lifestyle & Training
Children are expected to rise at the crack of dawn, make their own beds, wash and dress before being allowed downstairs. They maintain a roster of chores in which everyone alternates preparing breakfast, doing laundry and cleaning up each morning. Table manners are far from strict but ruckuses are forbidden. Breakfast is followed by lessons.

The squibs learn mathematics, art, science, muggle history, and basic herbology. In addition to native Russian, they also learn French and English. Both boys and girls are taught Kulachniy Boy, which is a form of Russian bare-knuckle boxing. Feliks, as a wizard, was given rudimentary lessons about wizarding life and magic.

In the afternoons everyone is encouraged to occupy themselves with a chosen hobby. This time is also allocated to hikes and walks when the weather is amenable. Children will help the Sisters prepare dinner in the evenings. Curfew is at half past nine (or ten, in the summer).

Older squibs are sometimes taken to the closest cities to take examinations if they wish to pursue muggle academics after their life at the Cottage. The Sisters rarely use magic around the children as they wish for them to grow accustomed to living muggle lifestyles. The only exception is healing magic and the brewing of potions.


Interaction With Outside World
As as rule, the Sisters discourage outside socialisation.

Almasys are embarrassed by their squibs and, after sending their children to the Cottage, might pretend to outsiders that their daughter or son had never existed (or had even passed away due to illness). They nonetheless make discreet, annual visits in which many consoling gifts or words are conveyed to the unfortunate squib.

Occasionally, hunters or travellers passing through the forest will be given refuge. This causes quite a bit of excitement for the children and the adults! Even the Sisters need some company. Such visitors typically assume that the Cottage is an orphanage.


Feliks Spectre
Unlike the other children, Feliks was brought to the Cottage when he was still a baby. His life growing up involved watching young squibs arrive and older squibs leave. They were generally quite friendly to him: he envied them their families, they envied him his magic.

He was told nothing about his parents and assumed that they were either dead or that they simply didn't want him. The Sisters were instructed by Ira Almasy to raise him like the other children. He was to be sent to Durmstrang should she have continued to live.

Feliks discovered that his mother was still alive when he was ten years old. Ira Almasy had visited him whilst he was asleep, and left behind a set of clothes and shoes. The following year, he was told that she had died. Feliks was consequently sent to live with his father in Edinburgh.