Physical Description: Short and spindly in the manner that only young boys can manage, with a sharp face, olive skin that easily tans, round, alert amber eyes, and shaggy dark hair often worn long with a hint of a curl, Raleigh is a striking boy, constantly animated, constantly carrying a book or two on whatever captures his fancy at the moment - and likely with a temporarily-captured magical creature in at least one of his pockets.

When not in school robes, his manner of dress tends to slide into 'whatever I feel like' and often favors purples, teals, golds and bold patterns. He can make any arrangement look good and can flaunt an innate sense of harmonious color...but everything looks just a little-too-large on him, to his mild annoyance and despite his best efforts.

Mental Description: Raleigh may be a small thing, but his stature only heightens the sheer impossibility of containing him. He is an animated child; adventurous, dramatic, humorous, boisterous and every emotion is worn on his sleeve. And there are no small emotions; happiness is exuberance, sadness is devastation. If he is interested in your idea, it is clearly the best idea ever and will be treated duly.

Everyone has met the type: the theatre kid that always has something to say about something, always aces his tests, even as he makes sure you've never seen him study. The joyful clown, the ambitious socialite.

In Raleigh's case, it's difficult for most observers to glean whether this is overcompensation for nerves and a desire for approval among a new crop of peers, or if he truly is just this animated by constant joie de vivre.

Perhaps it may be both.

Blessedly, his studies too are approached with a similar level of enthusiasm, should he deem them worth his time - and if he does, he has a tendency to hyper-fixate; he has always found joy in reading about and encountering magical creatures - the finding of them often manifesting as a persistent 'knack' just shy of outright underage magic usage - and while he's diligent in the rest of his studies (unless math got in the way. Math. And third-years had the choice of 'Arithmancy,' a class about predicting the entire future with MATH. Were they MAD?!), the ins and outs of magical xenobiology is the boy's true love, and he approaches a challenge with a true thirst to discover and understand.

Biography: In all of his eleven years, Raleigh had never known silence. His upbringing was somewhat unorthodox - but truly, what is ever normal for a half-blood union?

His mother was a witch, a noted Ministry operative in the Detection And Confiscation Of Counterfeit Defensive Spells And Protective Objects Office; one who'd remarried several times and brought with her several children from each - six in total, of which Raleigh was the youngest.

His father was a musician and struggling author - one who knew exactly what he was getting into when entering into a marriage with a rather forthright witch and several talented children - and he'd embraced the challenge as wholeheartedly as he was able, despite being as limited as any Muggle in dealing with challenges unique to young witches and wizards. His approach to such problems fostered out-of-the-box thinking among the family, and did well to air out any musty old pureblood preconceptions.

Both parents fostered each child's interests, creative, magical or otherwise - no matter what state it eventually left the house in; potions, animals, charms and creations, or just regular old Muggle interests were all fostered and encouraged with equal, if oft-exhausted enthusiasm.

But with such a chaotic family, often laboring under the Statute of Secrecy, the options outside were slim. Raleigh's siblings were his closest friends, though many were starting to reach adult age and chalking up accomplishments at school, in the Ministry and elsewhere. No matter how unintentional the effect, it did end up weighing on the boy's mind, and so Raleigh approached his first year in Hogwarts with a nagging need to stand out among them and do them all proud.

First Instance of Magic: As an infant, he would unconsciously summon toys into his crib to cuddle when he was feeling particularly alone. All he knew was that was alone one moment; the next he was not; that was all he knew, and it was good and correct.

An accident once, but like any child when rewarded with discovery - one learned and repeated.

Being barely old enough to toddle, and without the knowledge of what was or wasn't considered 'normal' that came with age and Statute politics, and living in a sibling-filled household where unnatural things happened on the daily, this wasn't particularly bothersome to him at all. If anything, it was a source of comfort for him - and no small relief for his mother.