Nicodemus Merrick | First Year | Ravenclaw

Eleven years ago on April 18th, Nicodemus Merrick was born to two loving parents - an extraordinarily talented witch and a Muggle. They resided (and still do) in beautiful Belfast, Northern Ireland, where Nico's father (Domnhull Merrick, of Muggle Irish descent) worked at a marketing firm and his mother (Gemma Lontoc, of magical Filipino-British descent) worked with magical creatures. Nico sees more of the Merrick side of the family, as they reside in Northern Ireland, while the Lontocs keep themselves in London, but he always has more fun with his mother's family because they show him all sorts of magic.

For the most part, Nico is educated much like the other kids in Belfast - he learns to read, how to do basic maths, and about Muggle history alongside everyone else at a primary school his mother's magical friends also send their children to. He makes friends - notably his two closest, a witch called Ridley and a Muggle boy called Luke - and goes on about his childhood in a similar way to everyone else.

(The time his temper tantrum caused the lights in his living room to explode does mean any playdates are henceforth relegated to outside-only. Gemma gets a kick out of the display and is over the moon to see her four-year-old exhibiting magical talent, but Domnhull struggles more with the idea. He's seen magic, of course he has - he married a witch, after all - but he is understandably intimidated by the idea of raising a child with it. Gemma assures him she knows what she's doing and Nico will be off to Hogwarts to learn to control and master it as soon as he's old enough. Even still, Domnhull discourages Nico from trusting the people around him too much, as one can never know if magic like that will showcase itself again and he doesn't want Nico in the wrong place at the wrong time. After this, Nico almost exclusively maintains his friendships with Ridley and Luke and no one else.)

Though it is not unusual to see Nico longing to join in with other children as they play around the neighborhood, he uses the time he has from not playing so much and takes an interest in art. He starts out with simple tools like crayons and moves on to paints, where he finds his stride. He's good enough for his father to joke about hiring him at his office by the time he's ten. He doesn't want to draw products or things like that, though; Nico loves to paint people, and he loves to paint landscapes. His family takes a vacation to the countryside one winter and he spends the whole time gazing out the window and perfecting his oil-paint interpretation.

His love of color doesn't just extend to making art, though. He expresses himself through hair color, switching it up often, almost with his mood. There's a satisfaction in a child being able to show how he feels with the color he's chosen.

As a person, Nico is full of conflicting qualities. He is soft and kind but can snark and snap when he feels threatened, and when bitten, he bites back. He is sarcastic and compassionate, selfish and generous, and incredibly curious about the world around him. (He does enjoy being taught, but he also enjoys figuring things out for himself.)

Importantly, though, Nico knows he's different from other children because sometimes he feels like a she, and other times he feels like he, and sometimes he feels like they or even nothing at all. He thinks pink and blue are both pretty colors and wears both as his hair many times.

Naturally, though, his hair is brown (but he favors a light green when he can change it). His eyes are a hazel-brown color, not green enough to be fully hazel and not dark enough to just be brown. His skin takes more after his mother, whose family originates from the Phillippines, with a darker tone than his white father, whose genes come through more in Nico's facial features.

Nico's journey at Hogwarts has only just begun, but he has been sorted into Ravenclaw and is utterly ecstatic to be in the same house as his mother.