Alexander Harland - Second Year, Hufflepuff

AGE Twelve	BIRTHDAY September 13, 2010	WAND 20,1 cm walnut wood and unicorn hair
BLOOD STATUS Half-blood	GENDER He/him	SPECIES Human

PATRONUS
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HISTORY

A golden-haired Mancunian boy named Alexander was born on the rainy Monday evening of 13 September 2010. His mother was Christina, a witch working for the Department for International Magical Cooperation, and his father, Steven Craig, a promising Muggle historian at UCL. Alexander the Half-Blood spent the first four years of his life, which naturally he cannot remember much of, as carefree and joyful as any baby. His father, of whom he had only vague memories, tragically passed away of a sudden heart attack in December 2014, before his first and only son's fifth birthday. Steven left behind a detailed historical study of the land regime in 17th-century Ottoman Albania. The death of his father was the main dramatic event that drastically changed the environment in which Alexander grew up.

Christina, now a widow, moved to Manchester to live with her mother, Mathilda, who had retired from her long-held position at St Mungo’s a year prior to Steven’s unexpected death. Mathilda provided moral support for her bereaved daughter and took a significant role in raising the orphaned Alexander. This old and extremely compassionate witch left a deep and lasting impression on Alexander’s character during the formative years he spent under the care of his granny.

Growing up in the company of two widows, Alexander learned and inherited many virtues commonly associated with women, such as loyalty and considerateness. Although he slightly felt the lack of attention from his mother, who found solace in his career after Steven’s passing, the presence of his grandmother filled the void and prevented the boy from feeling neglected. Again, under Mathilda’s guidance, it must be stated, Alexander gained his very first insights into life and acquired his basic knowledge of the Wizarding World. The old witch, in this respect, holds a special place in his juvenile heart.

Since Alexander’s father Steven Craig was half-Albanian on his mother’s side, and his parents lived in Tirana, travelling the Balkans for a few weeks every summer was one of the annual routines the boy’s life. These weeks spent in Tirana at the home of his Muggle grandparents were always therapeutic and healing experiences for Alexander. His granddad, Clifford, a highly intellectual man, taught Alexander some of the crucial virtues that would later play an important part in the boy’s life. As an old man who never stopped believing that the world could be otherwise, he dutifully taught his grandson that the notion of competition is inherently evil, and the only noble task for people should be to dream of another world where everyone finds contentment, both materially and morally. Even to this day, Alexander believes in these two things with all the sincerity of a child’s heart. His grandmother, Shefika, on the other hand, became an embodied example for the boy on how to deal with life’s endless difficulties and challenges. The old woman’s steadfast perseverance, persistence and unbending attitude were a source of inspiration and a manual for success for Alexander. Also, since they could only see him from one summer to the next, Alexander was treated like a king at home in Tirana and was never scolded – in this respect, Albania was Alexander’s paradise.

When Alexander turned seven, considering that it would contribute to his social skills and general knowledge, his mother and grandmother decided to enrol Alexander in a nearby Muggle primary school. The boy learnt the basics ranging from the alphabet to the four operations at that school. As a child who rarely ventured outside of his home, he made his first friends there. During the few years he spent there, Alexander developed a keen interest in language-related classes. He found great enjoyment in both English & French lessons.

PERSONALITY

Throughout his pre-Hogwarts years, Alexander spent a considerable amount of his time in solitude, occupying a corner and engaging silently with his toys. While he never thought of blaming her for this, he grew up with a slightly indifferent mother figure and limited interactions with peers, mostly surrounded by older individuals. Even though Alexander had not experienced the death of his father in a traumatic way, he could not escape its lingering sadness, especially in situations where he had to socialise, such as school. All these factors, somewhat impoverished Alexander’s social skills while enriching him internally. Even at a very young age, the Mancunian boy had the tendency to take refuge in an alternative world he had crafted within his mind, wandering for hours through its depths. His imaginary friends almost always outnumbered his real-world friends.

Lonely people, regrettably, is and have always been, an easy target for others – a truth Alexander had to come to terms with at a very early stage of his life. The fact that he enjoyed being on his own, avoided competitive games, and preferred to converse with himself rather than others did not go unnoticed by other children. Some of them, kind enough, just found him odd. Others, however, those who did not hesitate to bully people openly, treated him as if he were a lunatic. Yet, Alexander harboured no grudge against all these experiences. Perhaps under the strong influence of the moral exhortations of his grandfather, Alexander was imbued with the belief that the world and its dwellers owned him nothing. This general pattern of his childhood added various shades of defensiveness to the canvas of Alexander’s personality. This defensive attitude, especially in the company of new acquaintances with whom he had not yet developed a rapport, is even evident in his posture.

Since he was predominantly raised by people two generations older than him, it can be easily asserted that Alexander’s outlook on life was inevitably influenced by their olden values. His kindness, which some might misconceive as sycophantic, can be traced back to those features of his upbringing. The golden-haired boy dearly values kindness, even though it is oftentimes neglected or, worse, despised by some. With a personality almost solely armed with kindness, his anxiety about the possibility of acting unpolite makes him somehow aloof. However, beneath this aloof exterior, he is genuinely a warm and sincere boy.

Alexander’s personality oscillates like a pendulum between two edges, namely humility and self-deprecation. A modest gesture, which at most times could be considered in a favourable light, sometimes leads him to moments of self-deprecation. But Alexander experiences these swings with the utmost naturalness, without feeling depressed or ashamed. To put it more succinctly, Alexander is a boy who “has yet to learn to take himself and his life seriously.”

Some, especially his maternal grandmother, say he has a strong intuition. Even if he refuses to accept such attribution out of modesty, he, too, secretly believes it to be true. Therefore, he does not think that people he dislikes, at first sight, are likely to become good friends later on, and vice versa.

Alexander is extremely prone to feel admiration and he excels at it. He can quickly and passionately admire everything beautiful whether it’s an old tree in the garden, a talented rockstar, an appealing classmate he has met, or an impeccably crafted poem he has read. The Mancunian boy, despite usually being calm, is at his most energetic when he feels such admiration. In a way, he owes a great deal of his life force to his admiration of beauty, both in its artistic and physical forms.

FIRST INSTANCE OF MAGIC

Alexander was seven when, despite usually being a content and unassuming child, he developed a strong aversion to the deer patterns on a sweater gifted to him by his kind-hearted grandmother for Christmas. His strong dislike triggered an involuntary and accidental display of magic, causing the deer patterns to momentarily transform into vibrant yellow daisies. Once the effect of his uncontrolled magical ability, known as FIOM, faded, the sweater reverted back to its original design. This occurrence not only came as a significant surprise to young Alexander but also to his family.