Sunny Smitherson-Smith, First Year, Gryffindor

Sunny is a half-blood, 142cm tall, and has coffee-colored eyes and short-cropped, thin, dark, and unruly hair that always looks like he just rolled out of bed without brushing it first. He looks shorter and younger than his age (a source of teasing), but he's still got clean skin and some nice eyebrows, well shaped, not quite caterpillars, but ... eyebrows. His fingers are long and thin and nimble, great for playing the piano (which he doesn't play).

Sunny is... well, Sunny. He loves to play games, he likes to learn things, he likes going outside, and doing things with his hands. He's the last person you'd find studying up late in the common room - unless he fell asleep with his nose in a book (that funky book smell does that sometimes). He has trouble making friends because he has trouble doing what other people are doing for the sake of doing it, so he can seem quiet and introverted to others, he's just slow to warm up. He just sort of does his own thing, and he doesn't mind if others join in. He's not afraid of hard work or of going first, but that doesn't mean that he's a particularly brave person (he's terrified of girls!).

When he was with his parents working the family business, there was never a shortage of things to do and he was always doing odd jobs like mending blankets (poorly), pushing barrels, hauling water, digging, mucking, storing hay, and so on. He is interested in being outside where there is stuff to do, explore, and look at. He likes to wander, examine things, poke things, and make up ideas of random things to entertain himself. One day he might skip stones, another day he might look for frogs, another day he might make up a story and tell it to an elephant. He does like to collect little things that he finds in his scrapbox. He is always hungry, he burns a lot of energy being active outside.

Krit Pachrapa - Step Father , homestead in Thailand
Tuani Smitherson - Mother , homestead in Thailand
Ploy Smitherson-Pachrapa - infant sister, homestead in Thailand (She will grow up to be a witch )

David Smith - (absent) Father , abroad
Bee, Lois, Sue, and Luis Smith - Aunts & uncles, mostly in England
Granny and Po Smith - Grandparents, Wales

Gan Pachrapa - Step-brother, homestead in Thailand (married to Kanok)
Makok and Kovit Pachrapa - Step-brothers, elsewhere in Thailand
Jane, May, Nan, Aat, Charlem, Lek, Sadka, Sadka, Songkarn - Cousins, homestead in Thailand
Achara, Anong, Sud, Lek, Kovit - other adult extended family, homestead in Thailand

Julia and Mees Smitherson - Grandparents in Denmark
Agatha, Aubergine, and Noah Smitherson - Great aunts and uncles, in Denmark and Netherlands
Olivia, Sophie, Mona, Miles, Mike, Michael, and Jules Smitherson - Aunts and uncles, in the UK
Mila, Yara, Tess, Tessa, Tamara, Jan, Theresa, Mona, Tim, Mark, Thomas, Tom, Jeroen Smitherson - Cousins, in the UK

His family is in Thailand, where Sunny goes by Thith. Sunny was midwifed at the family home in Phuket, Thailand. Sunny's mother's side has a few witches and wizards but Sunny's father's side has more (such as Sunny's father and aunt) . Sunny attended local primary (muggle) school, and lived with his step-father and mother (Krit Pachrapa & Tuani Smitherson ) who operate a tourist attraction (elephants, lodging, breakfast, & tour sort of thing), with the help of many other family members. They're doing fine, business is good.

It's just that when Sunny did magic for the first time, Sunny's aunt in England (Aunt Bee Smith) went on and on about Hogwarts and how awesome it was for her to go back in the day. Aunt Bee convinced his parents that Sunny would have a better education at Hogwarts. After all, Aunt Bee hasn't gotten to see her brother's child hardly any after he moved to Thailand. And also, after graduating Hogwarts, Sunny would have a prestigious education and probably get scholarship at an Ivy-League university. After a careful 1 second of consideration, his parents said: No. No way. This is our child and he should be with his family. Besides, the business needed all the family hands it could get.

A few months later, coupled with the government tightening restrictions around elephants, a tourist caused legal trouble for the tourist attraction. Aunt Bee offered the use of her lawyer, a loan to install the requisite safety devices and to settle the suit and to help comply with new elephant regulations, in exchange for custody of Sunny for the duration of his Hogwarts education. His parents said: No, no way. The tourist's lawyer said: we want more money. Then his parents agreed, as long as everything was in writing, and that when Sunny got back, that he would go to a fancy school to become a lawyer or doctor on scholarship (nothing else, strictly only those things), and that he would marry the woman his parents picked out for him when the time came (unlike their other son). Also, Sunny should be sending money back home regularly to help out the family.

Sunny's legal guardian is Aunt Bee Smith and he is a resident of Hetton, England. Aunt Bee wants Sunny to focus on his school work, so she gives him money to send. Sunny sends it back home with periodic letters to his family (postal mail).

Sunny's first instance of magic was at home in Thailand. He was 8 years old, it was afternoon, and he was on the trail alone with one of the newest elephants and he was helping it get some tree bark during a rest stop (they love tree bark) when it spotted a bee and suddenly fled. Sunny was not able to coax it back to him and grew more anxious as evening approached. Suddenly, the tree bark he had been using to try to coax it back grew an elephant apple. and Sunny was able to use the elephant apple to coax it back to him and get back home safely. But that was in Thailand and Hogwarts doesn't accept international students. Sunny's immediate family didn't care this way or that about having another wizard in the family, just as long as he kept up his chores helping with the family business. But his aunt was elated and immediately started thinking up plans for Sunny to go to Hogwarts, where she attended, and also so that she could spend more time with him in England.

Once Sunny had moved into his aunt's house in England, Sunny was very nervous about not getting into Hogwarts, as he had to do a magic accident not on purpose, and what if he didn't do it in time to be accepted for his first term? When he was 10, carving some wood with his moving-in present of a pocket knife ("because every boy should have one"), he slipped badly - but somehow the knife bounced away and he didn't cut himself. He didn't realize anything special had happened.

Two weeks later (10 years old), he had an anxiety melt-down about not getting into Hogwarts due to not doing a magic accident (it just wasn't time for the letters yet). An hour later, there was a knock on their door from a kind stranger who had his suitcase, explaining that it had just appeared suddenly at the nearby bus stop. Since Sunny had left on his airport luggage stickers on (whoops), the stranger was able to deliver it to their house. The stranger was very confused, but Sunny was able to stammer out a fake story about being mugged. Later, Aunt Bee excitedly explained that Sunny must have teleported his suitcase accidentally. Sunny was relieved and finally slept a good night's sleep, dreaming of the day when his owl would certainly arrive: sometime soon.