Person
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Name: Griffin “Griff” Langdon
Age: 22
Status: Hrm… He has several Muggles in his family, including a grandmother one on side and grandfather on the other… Both of his parents are magical themselves… More than a half-blood, less than a pure-blood. Three-fourths, perhaps?
Wand
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Length: 11” even
Wood: Fir
Core: Dragon Heartstring
Extra Info: Remarkably resilient, and a bit heavy, making slower, more deliberate and powerful action favorable. In duels, it is better suited to Shield Charms and defensive magic in general than full-on attack, though when it gets a Hex or Curse in, its opponent will definitely feel it. The Fir wand is most accustomed to and useful for Transfiguration magic, as well as the deeper, more specific schools, such as Artificing, Earth Magic and (regrettably) Dark Arts. In this way, besides the Dark Arts, Griff is very similar, drawn to the deep and fundamental magics of the world.
School
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Name of School: Hogwarts
Graduated: Yes
House: Ravenclaw
Best Class: Transfiguration
Worst Class: History of Magic, if only because it had no practical elements. He was bored.
NEWT Scores:
Alchemy: O
Charms: O
Transfiguration: O
Herbology: E
Defense Against the Dark Arts: E
Potions: O
Arithmancy: O
Astronomy: E
History of Magic: A
Ancient Runes: E
Extra Info: Griff’s experience at Hogwarts was enlightening, putting him in contact with some of the most talented witches and wizards of his time, but especially near the end, he knew he should be doing more, learning more. On top of all of his schoolwork, he began to do research and experiments on his own, and once he had taken his N.E.W.T.s, he knew he had just barely begun to scratch the surface of possibility. His love of magic, instilled in him through his time at Hogwarts, combined with a powerful determination and a fair bit of talent lead directly to his current place in life, and he couldn’t be happier.
Career
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Job Title: Apprentice Artificer (and Amateur Historicist, but that’s more of a side project)
Job Location: The Wickwell Workshop and Laboratory, Diagon Alley
Short Job Description: As the current Apprentice and lab assistant of the illustrious James Wickwell, Griff is learning the very complex art of bonding usable magic to objects (Artificing), and helping his mentor with all manner of magical experiments. His earlier training in Alchemy and Arithmancy are very useful here, as Artificing involves intimate knowledge of an object and its magical and nonmagical properties.
One of his current personal projects, something he’s dreamed about for years, is his own, self-made broomstick, and while the difficult Flying Charms are just now beginning to work, there is still a ways to go before it’s ridable. The challenge after that? His own Portkeys. On top of these, and his work with Wickwell, he is using the facilities to assist in his training as an Animagus. After seven years of work and practice, he is getting very close to his first viable transformation. As you can see, despite his assisting Wickwell, he is given freedom, encouragement, time and resources to pursue his own interests. The bit about being an Amateur Historicist? Wickwell has a personal Time Turner! Griff has seen and used a similar device before, at Hogwarts, but that was a very simple model, fit for nothing more than a student with too little time on his hands. Wickwell’s self-made and powerful version is much more useful, especially for the difficult science of Historicism (using magic to study the true past). However, it is also very dangerous, and Griff has never been given the opportunity to use it alone; only under the watchful eye of his mentor.
Do you enjoy your job? Definitely! It is a powerful learning experience, and there are few other careers he’d rather pursue. Eventually, once he is more skilled in Artificing and Historicism, he is preparing to apply for a position as an Unspeakable. The work that goes on in the Department of Mysteries is exactly what he wants to be involved in.
History
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By the time Griff arrived, Voldemort had returned, and his war was soon to be in full swing. His grandparents all remembered his first grab for power, and gravely advised their children to leave the country before things got worse. Because of this, and their family history, the Half-blood Langdons (his parents) sent the very young Griff, as well as each set of his grandparents, across to the mainland, his mother following soon afterwards. They settled into hiding with an old magical friend of his Muggle grandmother’s in Amsterdam, patiently and nervously waiting out the rest of the war there while his father kept up appearances in Britain. After close to two years of hiding, Griff’s father burst into the house in Amsterdam and spread the news: Voldemort was gone! He had been defeated by the same child that had forced him into hiding nearly twenty years before, Harry Potter, but this time, he was well and truly dead. The family all relocated back to their home, and life went back to the peace of the previous era.
Griff grew up there, in the house his mother and father had built, surrounded by powerful magic day in and day out, and became possessed with a powerful curiosity about it. Once he finally gained his wand, and his letter of acceptance from Hogwarts, the boy was overjoyed. He bought up as many books as he could fit in his cauldron (as his parents had no shortage of money), and by the time he actually arrived at the school, he knew more about it and magic than the vast majority of his peers. His placement into Ravenclaw was then no surprise, of course, and neither was his powerful academic excellence, his curiosity and enthusiasm pushing him through most, if not all of his classes with high marks. Though he was never particularly social, always busy with something or other, he still found time for a few close companions, who helped him to mellow out and relax, things that would be impossible for him to accomplish himself. He graduated with very high marks from the school, and with his father’s urging immediately contacted several workshops and laboratories to apply for Apprenticeships. It wasn’t long before he was packing his bags to go work on Diagon Alley, with the famous James Wickwell. It was like a dream come true.
Family/Extra
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Parents: John Langdon and Mary Langdon neé Greenwall are both Half-bloods, as John’s father and Mary’s mother are Muggles, albeit very intelligent Muggles. They know more about the Wizarding World than many wizards, and come from intellectual backgrounds that help them fit in fairly well amongst their new magical friends and family members. John and Mary themselves are Alchemists, and Mary is also a Healer in her spare time, meaning that they are experts in Potion-making. They take contracts with the Ministry of Magic, individual patrons, schools, and other organization to develop and produce powerful and useful potions. They have always cultivated Griff’s curiosity and drive, hoping for a son that surpasses them both in knowledge someday.
Familiar: Adonis, a large Kneazle given to him when he was young by his paternal grandmother, who has raised them since she was a young woman. He is very protective, and is often in Griff’s presence, either lounging around and sleeping or watching him work with bright eyes.
Patronus: A large heron.
Animagus Form: Bottlenose dolphin
-3m from tip of the nose to tip of the tail
-Red-tinted skin at the top of its forehead, surrounding the blowhole (analogous to Griff's hair)
Originally Posted by Scribz
