Name of PC: Robin Marie
Name of iNPC: Malik Batiste
School of iNPC: Ilvermorny
Year: 2nd Year
Nationality: American.
Species: Human
Residence: New Orleans, Louisiana, US

Appearance
With a thin face, strong jaw, and smile that lightens up anyone's heart, Malik is a tall, sturdy black boy from New Orleans, Louisiana. He walks confidently, chin up and chest puffed out for the entire world to see. Brown skin and dark brown eyes to match, Malik has a head full of neat locs, finger-length and styled with the perfect amount of hair oils. Malik is thin-framed, but muscular from his love of movement and the outdoors. Baggy jeans and oversized shirts paired with silver jewelry are the everyday apparel for Batiste. Still, in formal situations (because his pure-blooded mother would never allow him to leave the house in jeans), he can always be found with an elegant and brightly colored tuxedo. Malik looks good in anything he wears - it's all in the walk, he would say. In the throes of puberty, Malik's voice cracks quite often when he's yelling or trying to stay composed- especially when he's trying to flirt with a pretty girl.

Personality
Malik is an outgoing and generally happy guy - he finds life to be absolutely hilarious. Nothing can cause the smile to drop from his face, considering he can take absolutely nothing seriously. Others call him a class clown, while Malik calls himself laid back. He doesn't understand why everyone must be so stuck in the nitty-gritty of life. He likes to kick back and relax - things will work out for themselves. Growing up in the city of New Orleans, Malik has a large community of people he sees on the regular. Something about the black population of his street always brings the community together, despite the everlasting rumors of voodoo that revolve around his family. Not one to really care about School or his future in general, Malik gets a lot of slack from his mother, who is concerned about how she has allowed him to grow up. Free from the restraints of rules, parented by the neighborhood and culture of the streets. He always has to be the one to remind her that she rejected the way of the Pureblood ideologies. He was a half-blood, his father a Muggle-born, and neither felt any shame. She always chastises him for "being so big-headed" and reminds him to do his homework. Which he never does because, "I'm a wizard, mom. And algebra is stupid." Having been privately tutored his entire life, he had to purposely venture out of the house in order to make friends. He was never alone - always with "the boys," or a friend, and preferably, a pretty girl if he could help it. Malik has wizarding friends and muggle friends - a testament to the unique culture the Batiste's had cultivated due to Solange's interests in the mundane world. He could never truly connect with any of his muggle friends, unfortunately. He could only share half of himself with them - something he was extremely relieved to find wasn't a problem after going to a Wizarding school. The most Malik could do to continue seeing his muggle friends was to attend all of the summer cookouts - dance and play his instruments in the street, and the common denominator between them all: laughter.

Malik's favorite pastime other than Quidditch is music. He is all about music, dance, and creative expression. Malik is always making a beat, hitting a dance move, or humming a tune aloud. He lives and breathes melodies, feeling them in his skin and proving it in how he moves. His mother and grandparents encouraged his interest, helping him excel at various instruments. Piano and saxophone were his favorites - but he could still make a mean beat on a drum when given the chance.

Biography
Solange Batiste, 33, and full of whimsical life, grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, alongside her pureblooded wizarding family, prominent and known in the wizarding community as a friendly and homely sort of folk. As the only daughter of the Perly and Begonia Batiste, Solange was given the utmost of special treatments that the African-American family could procure. Hidden away in a magical, private townhouse in the French Quarter, the Batistes are no strangers to Muggle culture. The New Orleans culture gives the wizarding community a sort of freedom - magic and the city have always been closely entangled, explained away by the mundane as good 'ole Louisiana Voodoo and deep-rooted spiritual gris-gris. The magic can hide away in plain sight in this city, as long as one is sure never to draw too much attention. Solange grew up walking the streets of New Orleans, drawn by Muggle culture and intrigued by the sense of community the African-American population of the city held. She would stare wide-eyed as musicians would play their songs on the streets, the sounds of the instruments waking a part of her she didn't know she'd missed. With the begrudging permission of her parents, the girl began to explore the Muggle city as she grew older, just happening to meet the man who would become the future father of her son.

Solange was twenty years old when she had her only child, Malik. She had fallen in love with the Muggle-born Lorenzo Duval, who'd lived in the lower Ninth Ward down the way—a part of New Orleans known to a particular struggle, particularly after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina struck. Having met at Ilvermorny at 16, Duval and Batiste fell in love, very much to the disappointment of Solange's family. Perly and Begonia could barely tolerate that their daughter interacted with the muggles - opening up a business for tarot-readings, coming home from the muggle bars with stories of young men and women who'd lived wilder and freer than she could ever imagine, falling in love with a damned muggle-born wizard. They could hardly stand it. The thing about Solange is that once you tell her what to do, she'll always do the opposite. Over the years, the two were in and out of relationships – the two truly fell closer together at the loss of Lorenzo's family to Katrina, who could not exit the city in time due to lack of funds. The two were together consistently for four years before the birth of Malik - he was their pride and joy. Loved, cherished, and protected despite the roaring disapproval of Solange's family. Still, Perly and Begonia loved Solange, and after meeting the little, smiling, curly-haired Malik as a newborn... they were taken. Something about Lorenzo – something about Malik was just irresistible. The family of three moved into the neighboring townhouse. Community had never become so crucial - Perly and Begonia, previously averse to any sort of community within the Muggle world - music, theater, food, and people with rich traditions... found themselves charmed by Lorenzo and his world, influenced by the same Creole & Haitian lifestyle that they themselves grew up with. Though no muggles were ever invited into the Ancestral home of the Batistes – known as the Maison Mélodie – the Batistes were known to venture out into the French Quarter to share their own prowess and love of music, considering that's what the Batiste name is known for. Music, art, and community. Perly and Begonia accepted their daughter's choice and were prepared to grow to love Lorenzo.

Tragedy struck when Malik was only two. Lorenzo, having been deep in a curse-breaking job in recently discovered catacombs, succumbed to a terrible death. This left Malik and Solange to pick up the pieces of their broken lives as a unit, with the unwavering support of Perly and Begonia.

Throughout the years, Malik has watched his mother navigate through endless flings to bury her lost lover- muggles, half-bloods, muggle-borns - yet never a pureblooded man, to the mild displeasure of her parents. They had wished for their only child to produce a pureblooded male heir. However, despite their initial expectations, Solange's parents - Perly and Begonia Batiste - adore Malik. He wasn't their first wish, but it didn't matter. Malik had stolen their hearts despite the impurity in his bloodline, and their love and acceptance of him is a testament to the warmth and inclusion within the Batiste family.

Alonzo, unfortunately, died from an accident during Malik's youth. The two were never married, and Malik has no strong memories of his father. For as long as he can remember, it's just been him, his Mama, Granmè, and Granpè. The Batiste family has long been known for their history in music, deeply tied to the South and the black struggle. The Batiste name is synonymous with jazz and dance, and Malik is no stranger to nights out in the town with his family - music in his ear, good barbecue in his belly, and muscles aching with the amount of dancing and laughing he'd done.

First instance of Magic
If anyone asks, Malik's first instance of magic was when he was playing a game of Quidditch. Yep - he was flying on an old broomstick of his Granpè's as a chaser flying through the sky as fast as lightning. A beater was just ahead of him - his bat was sending a speeding bludger directly to his face! Malik tells whoever asked about how he had the quaffle in his arms and right as he tossed the ball toward the third loop, the bludger slammed into the arm shielding his face, sending the quaffle flying in the entirely wrong direction! Without meaning to, Malik was able to prevent the quaffle from flying in the COMPLETE wrong direction. The quaffle did a full loop-de-loop around the third hoop before flying right through the center of it.

Now... what had really happened was a bit more embarrassing (despite him laughing it off in the face of all of his buddies) and straight to the point. He was on the blacktop basketball court of the elementary school he would been going to if he weren't privately tutored, hanging out with a few boys his age. They were doing a three-vs-three match, and Malik had been trying his best to keep up with his pals despite not being extremely familiar with the sport. He grew up with a broomstick, alright? Basketball was similar enough to Quidditch - but with only one hoop per team rather than three. He wore a pair of sneakers - the laces were loose, and his basketball shorts were perhaps too short. Malik was speeding toward the court's opposite side, the ball bouncing furiously against the blacktop.

His foot caught on his too-loose shoelaces, sending him flying face-first onto the ground. He could feel the obviously bloodied scrapes on his knees and elbows the moment he landed, and he dreaded the moment he looked up at the more experienced players, covered in blood. It was too embarrassing. He - Malik Batiste - heir to the family of Batiste - covered in blood because he wiped out at a stupid school game. That wasn't even Quidditch. The horror!

But there was nothing when Malik jumped to his feet and examined his body. Not a scrape. Not a scratch. Not a drop of blood. Immediately laughing with ecstasy, his friends teased him about taking a trip to the doghouse, and that was that. No bad Juju jokes - no teasing about him being unable to walk on his two feet.

He ran home to tell his mom immediately.

His family had celebrated that night (after a stern talking-to from his grandparents about fraternizing with muggles), and he was highly pleased to know that he was indeed magical. But there was never really any doubt, was there?