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GENERAL
Name: Artemis. Ethan. Summers
Gender: Male
Birthday: Leo
House: Slytherin
Blood Status: Pure
Wand: 11" black walnut, dragon heartstring core, earnest and creative- Dragon heartstring is a fast learning, flamboyant but fickle core, much like Artemis. The black walnut is a less common temperment, seeking someone of keen insight and self awareness; his wand speaks of his flashy, tempermental attitude and his rather high intellect. He is flexible in his application of his intelligence and able to get past his own ego.
Wand Hand: Left

PERSONALITY
General:

Lacking Dedication- It isn't that Artemis doesn't dream big or have big goals and ideals; he does. The problem is that Artemis loves starting lots of things. He loves the energy and input he gets at the start of a new project; but he has little staying power. This is a combination of problems; first, he's pretty lazy, second, he gets bored too quickly. His brain works out inevitable outcomes in relationships long before they are a certain and he's usually the first to dump others. He has a lot of potential, but potential without dedication is just wasted. Most of his report cards read 'would have done better if he had applied himself in this class' for all the classes that he shows less interest in.

Introspective- Art knows all of his own flaws and problems; he works on trying to finish tasks, on being less flaky and not skipping class as often. He knows the root of his problems, and he hopes to one day control that part of him. But that doesn't stop that from still being a part of him. He dreams big, sometimes beyond his own means, but it's better to have dreams than wander aimlessly, right? He isn't fooling himself, he knows he has to put effort in sometimes, and he manages.

Adventurous- Art is typically ready to try new and exciting things. He's a thrill seeker; from exotic spicy curries from the orient to bug candy or even the sort of 'local' dishes that never caught on for a reason. Then there's a willingness to visit strange and exotic locations, to hike in the mountains, to dive in the ocean, to explore and see the world. He's not afraid of finding new experiences, even the bad. The trouble is getting him to complete them.

Clever - Artemis is capable of applying his brain to problems. From quick retorts to finding ways out of difficult situations. He is reasourceful, sometimes if only so he can be lazy later. Artemis is a pretty smart indivdual and he excels in the classroom as it requires him to memorize and repeat back what he's heard. He takes advantage of this by rarely doing homework and getting by with passing grades in his earlier years. Although he has started putting a bit more effort in since fourth-year as now he realizes he doesn't have long before the OWLS and he wants a good result.

Mature- while he might not seem like it, he has seen a lot of young harrowing that has left him prematurely aged in mind; he does away with a lot of the silliness of youth and spends a lot of time thinking seriously about things. This is a double edged sword, while he is easy to have a serious conversation with; he's a lot harder to relax and have fun with. He might seem uptight and boring to others because of this.

High Functioning Depression- for the most part, Art doesn't seem like the sort of student that should have anti-social tendencies, he likes fun and he seems fairly easy to get along with to other students. But he is basically a high-functioning depressed soul, who holds his emotions and heart back from others for fear of abandonment and rejection. It's possible that his lazy nature and inability to commit to small scale projects, homework and people, is a symptom of this much larger issue of his.

Habits:
juggling and playing with his hair- he curls it around his fingers when he is thinking.
Hobbies: Artemis is big on flying and when he is at home he is more often on his broom, flying about the backyard than in the house. He follows the Quidditch season closely.
Likes:
Reading and writing
Flying
Quidditch
Deep fried muggle sweets
Metal music
Super spicy food
Dislikes:
Cheese
Bugs
People trying to cut his hair as a joke
Candles
Humidity
Tea (he is a coffee drinker)

FAMILY
Mother: Clary Summers (hufflepuff- pureblood)
Father: Hamish Summers (hufflepuff- pureblood)
Siblings: Celeste Summers (ravenclaw- deceased)
Extended Family:
Relationship with Family: His relationship with his mother is a little stronger than his father, but for the most part, it is strained.


HISTORY
General History:
Art comes from a proper wizarding family.

His father is from Edinburgh and his mother from Bath. They were both Hufflepuffs in school and had a rather ordinary romance. Highschool sweethearts who married and had two children, Celeste and Artemis.

His Scottish heritage are a long clan of wizards dating back to days when they had their own clan keep and Artemis' uncle lives in the old family castle (it is small, haunted and dusty). Though there is no inheritance to his father or children.

His mother, Clary, comes from a family with a few muggle tie-ins but nothing particularly scandalous. Her great grandmother was Bathilda Bagshot.

While neither of his parents are exceptional in any way they got by as simple folk. His mother works at the Tempestuous Tonic as a sous chef and his father works as a charm designer for the Firebolt company.

They might be considered perfectly average wizarding folk.

Mrs Summers was 24 when she got pregnant with their daughter Celeste. Artemis was born three years later.

They had a perfectly normal childhood, playing chase games around the house, flying children's brooms all over the backyard, getting into mischief and generally being children.

A happy, normal wizarding family. If anything was strange or wrong, Artemis never noticed.

Then it happened, Celeste and Artemis were playing in a field late one afternoon, the day before her birthday. She had a new broom but he insisted she let him ride it instead. She got on his broom and they played as usual. Night fell and a storm came in, wafting out of no-where in particular. Celeste lost control of her broom and was swept away into the clouds, wind and rain. A moment later, the charms on the old broom gave out and she fell. Artemis was too young, too slow and trying to hold his own broom in check to save his sister. She hit the ground.

The death of a child, the guilt from his father and the anguish of his mother, broke up the family. His parents divorced and his father, unable to face his son, left, quitting his job and going on a sabbatical to America, claiming it was in an effort to look for work.

It was a lot for a ten year old to handle.

His mother took to working long hours and drinking heavily to cope.

Artemis grew up rapidly. He took care of the both of them. From nursing his mother through the worst of her benders, to taking care of himself- cooking, cleaning, shopping. He had to become a functioning adult when his mother began to shut down.

Then his letter from Hogwarts finally came.

For a while, Art could be a child again. Surrounded by the light and laughter of other students. But the tragedy of his family, many know his older sister died, few know the details or what happened to his father., still lingers in Artemis. That knowledge and all the turmulous anguish that he has supressed over the years lies behind his carefree facade.

He has a terrible habit of not dealing with his own emotional needs. This causes backlash in a lack of commitment to things, an inability to be emotionally vulnerable for fear of hurt and morose moodswings from time to time. He is often told he lacks a lot of the drive that make Slytherin's great. Ambition to achieve does not bely other quirks of character that hold someone back. All the ambition in the world will fall flat with someone who is unwilling to take risks and get hurt.

He has survived in the first few months of Hogwarts with a somewhat porcelain mask. He hopes to become seeker for the Slytherin team, if there is one thing that Art is obsessed with, it is flying. His sister's tragic accident, his own guilt and self blame, push him to practice like crazy and his many hours on the broom shows in his ability.

MISCELLANEOUS
The Sorting:
It was the first time in almost a year that Art had seen other children. Young folk his own age; smiling and happy, laughing, excitable sorts. Some dark knot in his chest that the boy had carried for so long- through sleepless nights waiting for his mother to come home from work, to grey mornings cleaning up vomit from the bathroom floor- tossing empty bottles in the trash and staring out the window of a house shrouded in darkness and misery.

He'd struck up conversations on the train to the school- eaten candy that suddenly had a taste; shared gossip about the Norwegian Quidditch team's chances at the finals.

He'd been able to smile- to laugh- to share his thoughts in a forum of his peers. But so much of his innocent smile was forced. Now, standing outside the great hall of the most famous school in the wizarding world, he remembered that his sister wouldn't be on the other side of those doors. He'd thought, as a child might, that he would wish to be a part of his parents house- that he might be suited to his sister's house. But now, his brain whirled with a rejection of all those ghosts.

"Follow me, first years," The teacher announced and Art followed with the crowd of students. A nervous energy gripped him as he looked around the hall- filled with happy, smiling kids. He looked up at the spelled ceiling and wondered if he was supposed to be here.

They began the sorting ceremony, the hat sang its verse, and students began to filter through to the houses. Polite applause and false congratulations. He'd read all of Hogwarts, A History. Would he feel any pride in any of these houses? Probably not. But, Art reminded himself, this was a school- a place to prepare him for future life. Whichever house served him best in that regard was all he needed, wasn't it? A house was just the teacher's method of dividing the students into easily managed groups.

Finally he was sitting on the stool, and the hat fell over his head. That croaky voice grunted. Maybe it didn't like what it saw in Artemis' head. He didn't much like his own thoughts most days. He wasn't at school to make friends, and he didn't want to be part of Hufflepuff. He couldn't bare the thought of Ravenclaw- knowing that his sister was the one who should have been in that house; her ghost would simply dog him there. And he wasn't brave, not by half. So not Gryffindor. Was he ambitious? He was- but was he ambitious enough.

Time seemed to tick on for a long while and Art began to worry that the hat decided he wouldn't go to school here. He would be sent home.

He thought furiously at the headgear then; just pick the best place for me to get through this and graduate. He didn't want to go home. No, he wanted to forget all about his home and go on to bigger and brighter futures.

"Slytherin!" The hat bellowed.

Relief flooded Artemis.

Boggart: His sister on her broom, being pulled up into the clouds. He would be relieving all the helplessness and fear of his worst trauma.

Mirror of Erised: Winning the Quidditch world cup for England.

EXTRA CREDIT
Everything in this section is completely optional, but if you feel like going above and beyond the above required sections, this is for you! You can pick and choose which ones to fill out or not. Feel free to cut this section out of your form or just leave it blank if you opt not to fill it out.

Patronus: Sparrow- a creature with wings to fly.

Greatest Treasure: He has a girl's loveheart earring in both ears- a gift his older sister gave him only days before the accident.

Manner of Dress: Arte likes to not wear his tie, he's lost points for this in the past so he really only does it up during lessons. He has a girl's loveheart earring in both ears and he usually slouches and human-cats (the act of moving like a cat, stretching, lazy flopping, etc. ) where-ever he goes. He keeps his hair in a braid, tossed over one shoulder because otherwise it goes everywhere.


Favorite Class: Study of Ancient Runes- Artemis is good at absorbing knowledge; he learns best in a classroom and tends to excel when it comes to dates and memorising from text books.

Worst Class: Herbology- Artemis has a black thumb when it comes to plants.

Name: Pepper
Gender: Female
Breed: Phoenix or Snidget
Focus:
Inspiration: https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/unisonleague/images/6/67/Gear-Quetzalcoatl_Render.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/350?cb=20150804035859
Unwanted: Optional. Anything you especially don't want on your familiar, list it here. This can include any colors or patterns that you don't like, within reason.

Total Price: VOID (quests are given out for free)

The weather overpowered the charms and they stopped working- meaning that it became a normal broom and just fell to the ground. It was an old broom, the charms worn down and probably needed replacing anyway.

It's been a little while since I read the book but I believe in the very first book during bad weather one of the brooms got struck by lightning and lost its magic? I don't remember the match at the beginning of goblet of fire very well, but didn't a similar thing happen there?

Ahh, my misremembering then.
Okay, then if it is totally 100% infallible that a charm cannot be weakened or eventually break/fail and no level of realistic expectation that an old faulty object would have a fault or fail, then can I say simply that the broom didn't have the strength to outrun the storm?
I was sort of assuming it as a law of atrophy that most enchantments have a shelf-life. Otherwise no one would ever need to replace anything, ever.