[hider=James Dalton]
[b]Name:[/b] James Dalton
[b]Age:[/b] 30
[b]House:[/b] Gryffindor
[b]Occupation:[/b] Professor of Transfiguration

[b]Time on Staff:[/b] New staff member

[b]Appearance:[/b] James is on the short side of average height, measuring approximately 5'6" with a slim, runner-like build, but don't let his size fool you; he is surprisingly strong for his small build. He keeps his brown hair short and out of his face, which is round and fair-skinned and devoid of facial hair. His eyes are leaf-green and alight with kindness and intelligence.

[b]History:[/b] James was born to an accomplished wizard who had gone from a clerk at Flourish and Blott's to Undersecretary to the Head of Magical Law Enforcement in five short years, and a muggle professor of chemistry at a college in a small town in western England near the Welsh border. He grew up in a small house in the country where his favorite pastimes included reading everything he could get his hands on and going on adventures in the vast woods and fields outside his home. He discovered his talent for magic on one of his adventures when he was deep in the woods and ran into a large cat. James was not an expert on the local fauna, but he was pretty sure there weren't any big cats native to his particular part of the country. None of that mattered, though, as he was there, and the cat didn't look friendly. James wasn't sure what to do. He knew he couldn't outrun the cat, and he couldn't take the cat on, and the cat didn't seem to be the least bit scared of James. James was rooted to the spot in a mix of fear and uncertainty, and suddenly the cat came forward. James could never truly say what happened next, but one moment he was facing a large cat approaching him, and the next there was a harmless kitten scampering away from him. He returned home to tell his parents about what had happened. When his dad heard about this adventure, he swelled with pride and explained that he knew his boy would be a great wizard. Like any young boy, James was naturally excited at the prospect of being a wizard, and from that moment, he would read anything he could about magic and Hogwarts and the Wizarding World. He found his dad's old Hogwarts textbooks and began reading them, trying to memorize as many spells and potions from the books as possible. During his outdoor adventures, he would often take a stick and pretend it was his wand and that he could perform great magic with it, even though he could hardly even control the outcome of the magic he did most of the time. He finally got his letter from Hogwarts and all but begged his dad to take him to Diagon Alley right away so that he could get his stuff. He had to settle with waiting until the weekend to go, but once he did, he got his robes, his textbooks, his wand (sycamore and phoenix feather, 10 1/2 inches, slightly bendy), and a pet (a barn owl named Jareth). James was willing and excited to begin his education at Hogwarts.

On his arrival at Hogwarts, James proved to be a hatstall. The sorting hat could not decide whether James's bravery or intelligence was his more important trait and waffled between sorting him into Gryffindor or Ravenclaw for a good ten minutes (his kindness and fierce loyalty also gained a brief consideration for Hufflepuff, but this was quickly rejected as his bravery and cleverness eclipsed his kindness and loyalty). In the end, bravery won over intelligence and James was sorted into Gryffindor, but the hat admitted during the process that James could just as easily fit into Ravenclaw. During his time at Hogwarts, James continued to pursue his passions of adventuring and learning and would be frequently found, outside of class times, either in the library or exploring the grounds, sometimes in places where he shouldn't have been, due to his thirst for adventure. James worked hard and earned good marks in all his classes, but he showed a special talent for Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures, even writing an unassigned essay on phoenixes for the latter, to the jealousy of one of his Ravenclaw classmates. In his fifth year he was made Prefect for Gryffindor House (despite a slight tendency to break the rules) as well as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, for which he played as a Chaser. That year he achieved a full set of OWLs and went on to NEWT levels of all his classes, and while this made James busier than ever, he still found time to indulge in his other interests outside of classes and even become an animagus.

Upon finishing his education at Hogwarts, James spent some time traveling, having no clue what he really wanted to do with his life. After a year of traveling, James decided he wanted to follow in the footsteps of New Scamander and other illustrious magizoologists and study the magical creatures of the world. His work took him further afield than his travels after graduating Hogwarts, and he explored some of the most remote, uninhabited parts of the world. He expanded on the work of his predecessors and discovered five new species of magical beasts and rediscovered a hidden enclave of a creature that had been believed to be extinct for nearly a century, and was even still endangered. After nearly eleven years of exploration, discovery, and reports far too long for most people to care about, James felt a change of pace was needed.  He loved the work he had been doing up to this point, but the extensive travel and physical demands were also starting to wear on him, and so he figured he might do well to take a slower job for a few years.  With the Wizarding world in turmoil due to the rise of Voldemort, James figured the safest place to be would be Hogwarts, so he went back to Hogwarts and asked Professor Dumbledore (who was now Headmaster) if there were any positions that needed filling.  James happened to be in luck as the previous Transfiguration professor had recently tendered his resignation.  With James's aptitude for transfiguration, he accepted the open position.

[b]Personality:[/b] James is a smart and adventurous young man who is enthusiastic about the things that he is most knowledgeable about and can happily spend hours talking about magical creatures, transfiguration, and quidditch, to name just a few of his most passionate interests.  Something of a prodigy from his youth, he remains a high achiever in all that he does, never willing to settle for anything less than his absolute best effort in any endeavor.  This bleeds over into a very no-nonsense teaching style that pushes students to try their very hardest at their lessons.  Nevertheless, he is also patient with students who are struggling and will do his best to help them in whatever area they are having difficulty.  He will even offer private tutoring sessions for students who need extra help, even if they need extra help in a subject other than transfiguration.

[b]Goal/Motivation:[/b] James loves the world and wants to protect it in any way he can, whether it be by saving an endangered species or by stopping a rogue wizard committing horrible atrocities, but while James is perfectly capable of protecting himself, he is by no means a fighter in the type of battles that the war with Voldemort will entail.  Thus, he feels that his best chance at doing his part to protect his world is to arm young wizards with whatever skills they will need.

[b]Extra:[/b] James is an animagus.  His animal form is a phoenix.
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