James Carsdale

Backstory

I come from a long, long line of pureblood wizards. When my mother decided to run off with a muggle, she was practically excommunicated. Her shame was cast upon me as well, and I despise the fact that I am a half-blood. It's my best kept secret -- none of my friends are aware. Very soon after I was born, however, the clouds must have lifted from my mother's eyes and she completely up and left, leaving not a trace. I was left with my completely incompetent father to take care of me. My magic was strong, even as a little kid, and it began displaying quickly. My father had no idea what to do about it, and I'm pretty sure he was scared of me. Not to mention that I had the fortune to display the recessive metamorphmagus gene on top of my inherent magical ability. Looking back, I almost feel sorry for the poor guy with no inkling of how magic worked. Almost.
I lived with him for a good portion of my young years. I was a reminder of the wife who left him and of the world he could never be a part of. He absolutely hated me. He never hit me, but I could tell he wanted to. When I was about eight, my mother's family located me. My father had no sentiment for me and gave up his guardianship in a heartbeat. I went with them and I've never looked back.
I live with my aunt, uncle, and their two children -- a boy, older than me, and a girl, younger. They gave me a crash course in magic and our family's history and I could immediately tell that the only reason I was here was to try and atone for the sins of my mother. I never received much love from this family, but at least they didn't hate my guts.
Fast forward four years and I arrived at Hogwarts for my first time. I was sorted into Slytherin, no surprise. It was this year that I found out being able to manipulate my appearance at will wasn't a normal thing -- I had always hidden it at home, as my father had ingrained the taboo nature of my magic into my brain and it took a long time to rewire that, but here I was free to do whatever I pleased (apart from becoming even more of an embarrassment to the family). Even though I possess this rare talent, I don't use it in noticeable ways. I've found and appearance I like, and I stick to it. Most of the friends I had when I was really young have parted ways from me, so nobody knows exactly how I look naturally. Lucky them.
I haven't gone home for a single holiday apart from summer break since I got to Hogwarts, and I don't intend to. My favorite subject is divination, which may seem odd, but I love the exceedingly mystic air about it and the way it unsettles so many people. I also love transfiguration -- I've just got a knack for it. I am a natural transfigurer, after all. I'm in my fifth year now, and I have lots of acquaintances, but no real friends. I like it better that way. Then there's nobody prying to find my secrets.
Okay, that above statement is a lie. I've got more friends now than I did at the beginning of the year, but I've also made some enemies. My fifth year at Hogwarts has definitely been my most eventful so far. I ended up coming out to everyone after a particularly... stimulating meeting with the Hufflepuff house ghost no less, currently my boyfriend, Ji-Woo Jung. Suffice to say my family was definitely not thrilled but they still haven't really processed it so at least they aren't trying to hex it out of me yet. However, like I said, I made some enemies, most notably Catherine Addamis, the batcrap crazy girl who lives in the woods, proclaims herself a death eater, and decided to brand a dark mark on me. Uh, yeah.