Character Name: Joseph (Joe) Alexander Crow
Bloodtype: Pureblood
Gender: Male
Age: 14, Fourth Year
Family Information: His father, Phillip Crow, works as a senior-member of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad in the Ministry of Magic. His mother began working again once Joe had started at Hogwarts, taking up a position as a Healer at St Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies. Joe has no siblings, and is rarely in contact with his cousins, of which he has many.
Hometown: Small village, named Fleet, in Lincolnshire. The nearest city, Peterborough, is forty minutes away.
Wand: 8 inches, oak, dragon heartstring
Pet: Shadowfoot, a pure black cat
Broom: Cleansweep 7

Physical Appearance: With the exception of his skin colour, which is pale-white, a great contrast, everything to do with Joe is black. From his hair, to his eyes, to the clothes he wears. His hair is long and straight, and would completely hide his face if he didn't have to constantly push it back behind his ears. His face itself is made to look alot longer than it is by the long hair which straggles around it. Standing at approximately 5'8'' and of a medium build, he stands out little from the crowd. He constantly wears black, and likes the Hogwarts school robes because of this. He bears a scar on his upper-left-arm from a magical experiment he carried out at the age of ten.

Personality: Joe seems to any stranger or passer-by who comes across him to be a very dark individual, and he is, but not in the way they presume. His black hair and eyes, aswell as the black clothers, give off an aura of unpleasantness, as many would naturally believe him to be a fanatic of the Dark Arts.
He is in fact the direct opposite of this.
Joe despises the Dark Arts, and only wears the clothes he does because he gives little acknowledgement to the opinions of others, and happens to like the colour black alot. Unfortunately, his lack of caring about others' opinions have made him a social outcast, people being intimidated by his very looks. He does not like to show emotion if he can help it, as he sees any emotions as being a distraction from his studies
For he is an extremely hard worker, and the time that he doesn't use up with friends, for he doesn't have many, has pushed open the window of oppurtunity, and he grabs it to learn more and more about the Wizarding World. Whether it be History of Magic, Potions or Charms, Joe is always ready to learn more and more.

Relationships/Social Skills: As mentioned above, Joe has few friends. He enjoys the company of others, but his reluctance to show emotion has cost him many potential friendships. Naturally, this also means he has never had a girlfriend. He is not intimidated by anyone who wishes to be friends, he just tends to not be the sort of friend most people look for.

Weaknesses: Prefers to work alone, especially if studying or learning more of the world. He also is terrible at sports, like Quidditch, having never bothered to try them.

Strengths: He is incredibly intelligent for someone his age. Though no Hermione Granger, he could still easily come up with the answer to a question in class, but only if the teacher asked him. He particular strengths lie in Transfiguration and Potions.

History: Joe was born into a relatively wealthy family, and as such grew up around constant garden-parties and official dinners with high-ranking members of the Ministry. But at a young age he learned that he didn't like what he was having to live with, and turned to reading books and guides on magic. He became far more fascinated with the subject than any other child at his age, and already people began to dislike him because he abandoned friendships to the need for knowledge.

As the years passed on, Joe became more anti-social than ever, locking himself in the Family Library for hours, just to read about another Goblin Rebellion, or to make sure he knew the correct hand-movement for a Levitation Spell.

And so, at the age of eleven, Joe was able to finally put his knowledge to the test as he boarded the Hogwarts Express and went to the school. After being sorted, Joe would pass the First Year with flying colours. But as he entered his second year, he realised there was more knowledge to be learnt, more magic to to be done. He began studying again, and absorbing all the knowledge he could. And so, after a brief year of relaxation, the Joe who used to hide himself in the Library returned.

His third year was much the same as his second, and now he is in his Fourth Year, with his pet cat, Shadowfoot, and the small group of 'friends' who weren't afraid to speak to him.

Here And Now: Right now, Joe is as much as he has ever been. Nothing about the Fourth Year has shocked him out of his routines and habits. He continues to spend his time with books and spell-guides, either in the Library or in his House Common Room. Thought, recently, he has begun to speculate on possible companionships to form with others. But right now this is mere imagination.

Long-Term Outlook: There is nothing at this stage to suggest that Joe will ever change, as he has refused to do for the past three years. But, as he has often considered the pathway his life may lead him down, he has decided on two main rules he will live by. One: He will cut himself away from the high-life of his family, and live modestly, maybe in a small, isolated house somewhere. He has no ambitions career-wise, though his father is putting pressure on him to join the Magical Law Enforcement Squad after he finishes Hogwarts, and maybe eventually become an Auror.

Special Abilties: Able to absorb knowledge with ease (Not sure if this counts as a 'Ability' as such, as it is much more of a habit but I thought I would check)
Reason: As mentioned above several times, Joe has had years and years of knowledge-gathering and magic-learning prior to coming to Hogwarts. It is more of a habit than a special ability, and the 'habit' has cost him many potential friendships. Basically, the ability is similiar to a photographic memory, in which the information is permenantly stored within his mind. Rather than call it 'Absorb Knowledge with ease' a better description would be 'Does not Forget Knowledge with ease'

EDITED



House: Ravenclaw

Also, I'm not going to list your request as an actual special ability (though I am keeping it where it is located on your application), because some people have better memories than others. However, you should not go overboard with it. Simply looking at a page of text without at least skimming it and miraculously being able to recall everything written on it word for word would be considered going overboard. However, allowing him to retain most information more easily than the average person, after reading something carefully or listening to a lecture, for example, is something that can be considered natural for those who are more studious than others (and I think we can agree Joe is that kind of person).

---BB