Elijah Grimes

Elijah Christopher Grimes is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is a 6th year in Ravenclaw House.

Appearance
Elijah stands 5'10" (177.8cm) and weighs about 160 lbs. He has very untidy brown hair and has brown eyes. While he often wears his uniform during the week, when dressing casual, he tends toward light sweaters and rough collared shirts. Flannel is common, though he just wears a t-shirt just as often. His clothes are all second-hand, though well-maintained. He sometimes wears glasses, though usually only when he's reading or writing something.

Personality
Elijah is somewhat awkward with a dry sense of humor. He's trusting of others and tries his best to be polite, though he tends to be somewhat pessimistic. Elijah is nervous and soft-spoken around others, stammering and freezing up around new people. He has a nervous habit of adjusting his glasses or running a hand down his tie when under stress.

Very intelligent with an analytical mind, Elijah is a natural problem-solver. He tends to approach issues very logically, doing an inordinate amount of research in order to collect as much data as he can before he comes to a conclusion. He has a habit of jumping to strange, far-fetched conclusions but this has a higher function: by stating and dismissing these ideas, he can get them out of the way.

Growing up friendless and alone, he developed a deep-rooted love of science and has a natural understanding of electronics, mechanics and how things grow. He loves observing and studying things, even things like dirt. He enjoys taking things apart to see how they work before putting them back together again. He has a love of systems, both natural and synthetic, and he finds a strange kind of beauty in a million little components coming together into a function.

Despite his weird, shy, awkward demeanor, Elijah has a surprising charm about him. When he feels comfortable in a situation, he shows a measure of confidence and a witty, dry sense of humor. He is also brave, stepping up to situations and refusing to back down, despite how painful this determination might be.

Elijah is painfully shy, with a deep reluctance to speak up or be heard despite his longing to fit in. He dislikes having people look at him and he is terrified of being the center of attention. He has a tendency to freeze up and stammer in such situations. Even when he tries to get others' attention, he's almost never loud enough to be heard and he often goes unnoticed. He hates how shy he is and while he desperately longs to make friends, he is unable to talk to others in any meaningful way. Even when he does, he often screws up and embarrasses himself, which is shame, because the one thing he wants more than anything is to be accepted and valued by actual people, instead of just the people in World of Warcraft.

Backstory
Elijah was born in Italy, the only child of Larry and Savina Grimes. Growing up in the Tuscan countryside, Elijah was always a curious, quiet child. Larry, a muggle science teacher, was constantly away for work so Elijah spent most of his formative years with his mother. The two shared a very close relationship, and it is partially due to her that Elijah loves photography, as she taught him how to use a camera. In fact, his camera was actually his mother's first.

When Elijah was eight years old, his mother became very, very sick and before long, she was mostly bed-ridden. Elijah had a habit of bringing his mother flowers every to "help her get better". One day, when he was ten, he arrived home to find his mother had passed away. This incident destroyed young Elijah, who became extremely introverted and unwilling to meet new people, as he has always been afraid of losing them.

Less than a month after the funeral, Elijah and his father moved to London, where Larry began teaching science in south London.

When he was eleven, Elijah was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he was sorted into Ravenclaw House.

Romantic
--Alice Lovelace: Elijah's first and current girlfriend, the two started their relationship simply as best friends. Elijah always found that he was comfortable around her and the two shared the kind of friendship where they were just as comfortable reading in silence as they are when they talk. While Elijah didn't seem to return Alice's romantic interest at first, he slowly began to develop feelings for his best friend and, once his Kit blinders were off, understood that he did, in fact, have feelings for her. Today, he loves Alice very much and wonders how he ever lived without her. She makes Elijah feel wanted, accepted and even a little cool. While it can be difficult keeping up with some of Alice's issues, Elijah doesn't really mind; as much as she's there for him,  the least he can do is tough it out and be there for her when she really needs him.

--Kit Flint: Elijah's first big crush, Kit was beautiful, charismatic and generally very cool. The two had a stragne pseudo-relationship that never quite was. While she was never technically his girlfriend, the two went out on a date and he did often go out of his way to try to do special things for her, such as arrange a field trip so she could catch a Quidditch game. Despite his attraction and feelings for her, she rejected his offer to go steady and he accepted that she would never choose him; she would rather pursue Alex and even if they got together, Elijah remarked that he would always feel like he was a consolation prize with Kit. Despite a romantic relationship not working out, he does consider Kit one of his close friends and, despite it being a little awkward, does try to maintain a friendship with her.

Friends
--Aline Connally*

--Kit Flint

--Fiorenza Bianchi

--Neville Packowski-Grace

--James Kholin

--Cassidy Betoverand

--Ronin O'Rourke

(*)= Denotes a best friend.