Character.
Character Name: Amaury Girard
Age/Birthdate: 16, March 12th
This is not the most natural of sun signs for a Slytherin to be born into, but it's not unheard of, and when it happens, the results are usually interesting. These Slytherins dream big. Because of their romantic streak and their need for mystery and glamour, their dreams are often the most dazzling of all. To put them into fruition, they either need to develop a pragmatic streak, or partner up with a practical wizard who will help midwife the dreams and keep them going. These Slytherins are loners or followers rather than leaders, but don't assume that they are doormats - they wouldn't be Slytherin if they didn't have some backbone. They will accomodate people to the best of their limits, but if those limits are pushed or violated, they will get angry - and they will remember. A Pisces never forgets a cut or a kindness. Ever. Slytherin Pisceans often delve into mysteries involving death and afterlife, for Pisces is naturally placed in the house of endings; Pisces wizards in House Slytherin will also be brilliant seers and potion brewers. Because these wizards are good with people and human psychology, they understand everybody around them; and because they are so quiet and unassuming, nobody notices that they are there. The wise Pisces in House Slytherin of course is aware of this, and uses it to advantage.

House/Year: Slytherin/6th
Bloodline: Pure

Physical Description. Amaury’s always bewildered whenever someone mentions that he’s good looking, but this seems to be how most people see him. Amaury has a boyish face, due in part to his rounder jaw line. He has dark blue eyes, a pale complexion, and full lips. His main distinguishing mark is a scar on his left cheek from a rather violent outburst from his brother when he was younger; it’s mainly only visible when he smiles and is often mistaken for a dimple. His face is easy to read; for the most part, he wears his emotions openly and it’s easy to tell what he’s feeling by reading his expression.

He has dark hair, generally kept short but there are periods when he lets it grow out simply because he is too lazy to cut it. This should give you an idea of his thoughts on appearances; while he’s fairly well dressed just due to the way he was raised, he has little interest in fashion or clothes. His only requirement is that he doesn’t look too sloppy but he doesn’t really have a style. He stands at just shy of 6’0 with a slender build. He’s more lean than scrawny though perhaps he is a tad underweight.
PB: Gaspard Ulliel

Personality:
At first glance, one wonders how Amaury got himself into Slytherin. He himself often wonders at this and he firmly believes that he should have been a Gryffindor or possibly a Hufflepuff. Then why is he a Snake? His ambition. While he may have a lion’s chivalry and attitude, his ambition is undeniably his strongest trait. From a young age, he was determined to do something with his life, to be something and he long ago decided that he’ll let nothing stand in between him and his goals. He always strives to do well in school so he can become the person he wants to be after graduation. He can be incredibly single minded for he desperately want to be at the top. Failure, especially when he knows that he’s capable of better, is something he will not tolerate.

This trait can often make him a bit of a spoilsport because he can often be reluctant to do something when he knows that a) he has a good deal of work for b) it could jeopardize his future. Still, he likes to have fun and sometimes he’ll bend the rules a bit in the name of a good time.

Luckily for him, he is decent at getting himself out of a bad situation. The reason is the fact that he’s charming. Of course, telling someone that he considers himself as such may cause his friends to laugh, call him a ‘manipulative little berk,’ and clap him on the back. Still, he prefers to think of himself in a more positive light and he really is more charming and charismatic than controlling and scheming. He’s a generally likeable person and paired with an attractive, boyish face, he generally just looks like someone you could trust. Plus he’s been informed that his still present French accent is nothing short of charming, something that rather baffled him but he accepted nonetheless. Is it really his fault if people think the best of him based on superficial reasons and proceed to allow themselves to be used? He thinks not. Still, his heart is in the right place and he would never think of doing something drastic. He usually just tries- and not necessarily succeeds- to get people to do little things for him. And it helps that he’s naturally a good liar.

That being said, Amaury is a basically sweetheart. He’s generally good natured, with a kind word to say to everyone. He’s very much a people person, and he’s quite sociable- though in a quieter, calmer sense rather than being the life of a party. He gets along with most everyone, and he does his best to refrain from judging someone. He values a good sense of humor, and he’s constantly joking and teasing his friends. He may be a bit shy at first but he’s certainly friendly enough. He leans towards the line of caution and he usually rational in everything he does. He isn’t really the most spontaneous of people but he has his moments though in retrospect, they often make him appear to be a bit mad.

Chivalry is alive and well in Amaury Girard. More often than not, he’s the dictionary example of polite; he was raised to be well mannered so he behaves accordingly. Of course, he’s often been accused of being a kiss up but he’s perfectly happy obeying the laws of cordialness and manners. He likes to think that he’s a gentleman, the type who always remembers his ‘pleases’ and ‘thanks you’ and hold open doors and other such things. He just doesn’t understand why one would want to be rude; it hurts others and it reflects badly on you. He fully believes in sugarcoating and holding one’s tongue; just spurting out whatever comes to mind or being tactless is just foolish.

He’s good person to go to when one is in need of a shoulder to cry on because he genuinely wants to help people. He’s already decided that that’s what he wants to spend his life doing. Almost paradoxically though, he tends to keep things to himself and he tends to be a bit introverted. While most would peg him as an open person, he actually tends to keep things involving himself a secret; he doesn’t really like people meddling in his business. Hypocritical? Sure, but his intentions are good.

He has a strong sense of justice and he will not tolerate bullying just for the sake of bullying. It isn’t an uncommon sight to see the normally passive, easy going Amaury snapping at someone for needlessly hurting someone- physically, emotionally, or magically- just because he or she is weaker or younger or of a different blood. He has a bit of a hero complex; he believes that it’s his duty to help others, and he’d feel unbearably guilty if he just walked away without trying to help. Of course, this has gotten him into trouble as he really isn’t all that capable of defending himself but that doesn’t stop him.

Along those lines, he’s surprisingly vindictive. While normally he perfectly fine being the nice guy, if you get on his bad side he will do almost anything to get his revenge and this is easily one of his most negative traits. He simply doesn’t believe in second chances and he doesn’t have enough faith in karma to wait it out and hope that something happens to the person in question. No, if you hurt him or one of his friends he will personally make sure that everyone knows just what you tried to do. Of course, he’s more of a lover than a fighter so he wouldn’t do anything as crazy as try to actually seriously injure said person; he’d usually just resort to insults and yelling and perhaps an occasional punch throw in. On the plus side, he’s hard to anger. He’s even tempered so most things don’t faze him in the least. It’s only on occasion that he gets really angry.

Another big weakness is girls. Sure, he’s perfectly fine talking to anything female but throw in a crush from either side and he morphs into awkward!boy. He just doesn’t know how to deal with liking a girl or a girl liking him so all rationality is thrown out the window. He’s consider it a Very Good Day if he manages to say a few words to a girl he fancies without uttering ‘um’ every other word or appearing to be a complete tosser.

Speaking of his love life- or lack thereof, as the case may be and often is- he’s a complete romantic. Heaven forbid that anyone ever finds this out, of course, but it’s true. He’s in love with the notion of love. He’s the type of guy who’d give a girl flowers and write poetry and generally act like the hopeless romantic fool that he is. He hates all of this flirting and serial dating that seems to have taken his generation by storm, and he avoids such things like the plague. He just doesn’t really understand why you’d go out with someone or flirt if you don’t care about said person. Of course, he couldn’t flirt if his life depended on it but that’s beside the point.

Personal History: (also include why were they sorted into their House?)
Jacques and Genevieve Girard were both from prominent pureblood families France and had known each other since they were young. Furthermore, they had both been well aware that they would one day marry from the day they met; both sets of parents though the match would be perfect, regardless of how the two felt about the matter. Luckily for Jacques and Genevieve, they got along fantastically and began dating during their 5th year of school. Soon after graduation, they were married and not long after, they found themselves with three children. Amaury is the middle child; his older brother, Sebastien is only 14 months his senior, and his younger sister, Belle, is three years younger. For the most part, the three get along quite well. Openly, anyway; Amaury isn’t nearly as close to his older brother as he lets on. Bastien’s antics- read: flirtations and generally being completely fake- never really sat well with him and, especially when they were younger, Amaury was a tad bit jealous of all of the attention and praise his older brother received. This led to some odd thirst to prove himself and show his family that he was just as capable as Bastien.

He fared far better with Belle; he quite enjoyed being the younger girl’s idol and he was always more than happy to help her, ever eager to play the role of a perfect older sibling. Really, he dotes on her far too much, and he’s become quite the protective older brother.

For the most part, his childhood was fairly eventful. He grew up attending pureblood functions and learning how to be the perfect gentleman. From a young age, he was forced to learn how to behave properly among adults and now, he’s perfectly comfortable talking to those older than him. Still, he lived a pampered life and didn’t really have to face too many difficulties.

The first importance occurrence was the family’s relocation to English when Amaury was 8. His father wrote for a French paper but because of conflicting opinions, he applied for a job with the Prophet and was accepted. With little hesitation, he moved his family to Chelsea, London. Amaury’s mother though was less than enthused. She didn’t particularly care for England, and while living there may cause some to like it more, it only solidified her dislike for the country. And she really wasn’t terribly excited that her children would attend Hogwarts rather than Beauxbatons. But she understood the purpose of the move so she didn’t openly object too much. Instead, she insisted that all three children be taught by the best French tutors- much more competent than anyone British, she insisted- and until they entered Hogwarts, she constantly brought them back to France. The way she saw it, their house in Chelsea was only a vacation home, and she was always traveling back to France with Bastien, Amaury, and Belle. It was partially because of this that the Girards never had the best relationships with fellow pureblood families; while they ended all sorts of functions and parties on occasion, Genevieve was generally considered rather snobbish- with good reason, really, as she openly expressed her distance for the UK and tried to keep her family as French as possible. Needless to say, none of the three Girard children were around other children too often.

From a young age, Amaury knew he wanted to help people. At first, he wanted to be a healer but soon gave up on that idea when he realized that he really wasn’t interested in medicine. He then decided that psychology would be the field he would pursue and his mother was quite surprised when little eight year-old Amaury declared this. Surprisingly, this really hasn’t changed at all.

Of course, she also thought that it was lucky that he decided on a profession that would translate to the muggle world. As a child, he never once showed signs of magic so his family was convinced that he was a squib. While most just tried to pretend otherwise, his mother had taking to mentioning that he shouldn’t be too disappointed if he didn’t make it into Hogwarts. Needless to say, she- and everyone else- was ecstatic when he received his letter from Hogwarts.

His early years at school were straightforward enough. The only surprise was his sorting. The hat had difficulty with him because he showed traits from all houses, but he was extraordinarily ambitious, especially for someone so young, with that slightly ruthless undercurrent that defines a Snake so he was eventually placed in Slytherin. While he didn’t know too much about Hogwarts upon his arrival, he had heard rumors that Slytherin was the ‘evil’ house, and he didn’t have the highest opinion of it simply because it was his brother’s house; his brother had never been the most moral of people, and at first, Amaury was apprehensive about his new house for he assumed it would be filled with people like Bastien. But once the year really started, he was pleasantly surprised that he got along well enough with many of his housemates; most really weren’t quite so horrible as he had imagined.

Once school started, he did well enough. While he isn’t naturally the most intelligent of blokes, he worked hard so he got by just fine. He got along well with most of his year and house-mates, mainly because he tried hard not to step on too many toes. He became quite enamored with Quidditch as a first year, much to his mother’s chagrin for she found the sport far too dangerous.

Classes: (maximum 3 best classes; unlimited worst classes) His best subjects are Herbology, Transfiguration, and Potions. Doing poorly in a subject? Blasphemy! Fine. If he was going to be honest about it, DADA and arithimancy have always been a bit of a struggle.

OWL scores: (if applicable)
Potions- O
Herbology- O
Astronomy-E
History of Magic- E
Defense Against the Dark Arts-A
Charms- E
Transfigurations- O
Arithmancy- A
Muggle Studies- E