Samuel is on the short side of 11, with curly brown hair that he keeps short but not cropped. He is a fairly active child with a slim build, making him look skinnier than he actually is, but with a healthy tan that speaks to a happy childhood spent outdoors. His life to this point has been quiet and calm, with his parents Ed and Georgie and their cat Simba. He did well in primary school, above average but never quite top of the class. He was on the football team and in the surfing club, as well as singing in the school choir. The place he loves most in the world is the beach, and living in Cornwall he has access to plenty of them. He is an avid surfer and spends most of his summers catching waves. This actually lead to his first instance of accidental underage wandless magic. When he was around 8 years old, he and his mum were out surfing on a fairly rough day. The waves were high and strong, and one of them hit the board wrong and bucked him into the sea. As he surfaced he looked around for his board and saw it floating away out into the ocean. He held out a desperate hand and, as if by magic, the board came floating back to him. He climbed back on and continued into shore, not quite understanding what had happened until the day he received his letter.