Andy's background Andy Carver was born in Poppleton, England, a small town near York. He and his family, Carl, Susanne and Lara Carver still live there in their cosy cottage, which stands apart from the other houses of the quarter. Andy's parents are quite well off. His father Carl is a passionate trombonist and plays in the famous magic jazz band 'The Broken Brooms'. Having a short duel, which had taken place after one of his shows he met Susanne for the first time. As a healer she could help him with his cursed ears, which were bubbling of polliwogs. Susanne always had a soft spot for musicians and after two years they got married. Andy's sister Lara was their first born child. Then, eight years later, Andy was born. His parents always were very caring, Susanne is the stricter one, Carl the more liberal. It always bothered Andy that his older sister had more rights and during her time at Hogwarts he had all his parents' attention and has become the pet of the family. His maternal grandparents, Matilda and Humphrey, wizards as both his parents, use to visit them at least once a month. Andy always was fascinated about the adventurous stories his grandfather uses to tell him after a cup of tea and some of Susannes extraordinary blueberry cake. Humphrey has founded the first zoo for magical creatures and could not hide his pride of the endless number of expeditions in order to catch and tame new species for his amazing collection. He always condemned poachers and concedes that it would be better for the creatures to be out in their natural hunting-grounds, but he also has supported the scientific work and informative entertainment that they made possible. So Andy got many impressions about magical creatures and still is very interested in them and adventurous expeditions through the neighbourhood. Since he was 7 years old he looked after his parents owl Ceara and always mixed well with Lara's black tomcat Ryder. He never got to know his paternal grandfather Vincent who was a muggle and died in war. Tabitha, his other grandma now lives in Africa and helps to teach basic magic at the tiny and newly founded Akili School. She writes about twice a year and never came to visit the Carvers. Despite of some bagatelles Andy always had a good relation to his big sister. Lara has always been interested in arts and the whole Carver home has been decorated with her beautiful warm-coloured paintings. At the age of fourteen she started to design and sew her own clothes. But that was not enough for her. Over the next years the family's wardrobe had been continuously filled with the 'Carver collection'. Especially Andy likes the colourful, positive style her sister tries to render and her robes are still a vital element of Andy's clothing. His sister was a less than moderate student at Hogwarts and - what a surprise - became a wizard fashion designer, but unfortunately also with moderate success, yet. That is why his parents do not push Andy for achieving high marks or awards. But they expect that he makes an effort and tries the best he can and they think he should be placed in Gryffindor because the rest of the family had been there and they also consider him a pretty courageous guy, who proved his bravery in various situations, sometimes even unintentionally and mostly in connection with helping the beloved animals. When he was four years old, for example, he saved an injured pigeon from two foxes. With six he used to walk to the near river to throw stones into it where the fishers were sitting - and oh yes, he learned how to run there. At the age of seven he jumped in front of a car to keep a frog from being flattened. He was lucky the car did not roll over him but the frog just jumped onto the other lane and the next car got him awfully. Frogblood was on Andy's face and he had been crying for the rest of the day. From this day on he was really nervous about cars. Lucky that his family did not travel with these 'murder instruments', he thought from now on. Until Andy got the invitation to Hogwarts he had been tutored by his father, because Susanne mostly worked in the daytime. They tried a private teacher for two month, when Andy was nine, but this did not work very well, because he was too accostumed to his father's way of teaching and Mr. Seedish was the complete opposite: rough, strict and attached to discipline. Basically, he and cars were Andy's most despised things on earth. Because of his home tutoring he did not have much contact to the kids of the neighbourhood. He never had a real friend besides his family so now that he got the letter from Hogwarts, he is looking forward to make new friends and also would like to become a quidditch team member, because as his father told him about his days in Hogwarts he also mentioned that he had been in the Gryffindor team and how he failed as he was up to smash in the deciding quaffel to victory and the school championship. Andy has always been a bit weird in his decisions and opinions and so he said that, when he gets the chance, he will try to make good what his father made wrong. One thing his father definetly did not make wrong: inspiring his son for music. On his tenth birthday Andy got a harp and has practised to play virtually every day. His father even asked him once to play a little solo at one of his bands shows, but Andy declined. He did not want to be in the spotlight, because he knew his father would present him to the audience. Also Andy can't imagine to become a pure professional musician later on. He dreams of a profession that has something to do with magical creatures combined with music. Andy's showed magic abilities for the first time when he was seven years old. His mother bought some living fish in the market and Andy played with him, right after his lessons were over. Then Susanne send him to call Carl, who was painting the house's facade, because she did not want that Andy sees her chopping the fishes' heads off. But just as she lifted the knife to execute the first one, Andy came back and peered around the corner. Suddenly the knife turned into a huge brush which was soaked with red ink. Susanne first thought it was the fish's blood that spilled around, but then she looked towards the door and it was obviously to her what had happened. She called Carl excitedly and told him what Andy had done. Then he turned to his son and explained him that he just completed his first obvious magical action and that one day he will go to Hogwarts and meet many other wizard children, that he will be tought how to use his abilities properly and that he will experience a lot of adventurous, funny and necessary things there. From this day on Andy knew that Hogwarts was a place he desired to be in. And since the invitation letter arrived there was no other thought. He wanted to get to know his classmates, dreamt of the Housecup and imagined himself flying in a formation with the Gryffindor quidditch team. He thought about what wonderful creatures would be living in the Forbidden Forest and wondered if he would have enough time to keep on practising to play the harp. His first year in Hogwarts was not notably adventurous, but still he made several friends and improved his self-confidence noticeably, after a short phase of adaptation. Contributing more to the housepoints by his mostly properly done homeworks and fair cooperative actions than by outstanding performance in lessons, Charms, Herbology and Potions suit Andy better than Defense Against the Dark Arts or Transfiguration. When the weather and the homework allow it, Andy uses to spend much time outside, preferably with one of his friends. On colder or rainy days he loves to roll up in one of the Common Room's armchairs or to improve his skills playing the harp in his dorm. testtest