samtaro:


Basics:
Full name: Melchor Samuel David Ruiz
Nick names: Sam
Hometown: New Orleans, Louisiana
Age and birthday: 19 & February 18, 1993
House and year: University second year, former Appalachia
Boggart: Himself turning into a werewolf with his friends around
Riddikulus: The werewolf being chased off by a dancing full moon with a cane and top hat
Patronus and why: Sam's original patronus would have been an otter because of his playful and cheerful outlook on life but after the summer 2009 his patronus changed to a brown bear because of it's protective instincts.

School Information:

Wand: 12½ flexible birch with fire crab shell fragment

Classes:
MWF - 9:00-10:10 Advanced herbology
10:15-11:25 Advanced brewing II
11:30-12:40 Potions in the natural world
1:45-2:55 The art of potions

T TH - 9:00-11:00 Advanced antidotes
12:00-2:00 Potions lab
2:30-4:30 Finding the right ingrdients (outdoor lab)

Major subject and focus: Potions, holistic brewing
Extracirriculars: University cheerleading captain, outdoor club, and band (drums)
Animagus form, if applicable NA

Family and Relationships
Parents: Tito (muggle born wizard) and Anna (witch) Ruiz
Siblings: Felix (deceased 04/17/1992-8/10/2009), Marina (18), and Ema (15)
Extended Family:
Mother's side: (all magical)
Thomas and Louisa Corey - grandparents
Benjamin & Ellie Corey, Ellery & Michelle Corey- uncles and aunts
Several cousins

Father's side:
Sofia and Juan Ruiz - grandparents
Anabella and Carlos Mendez, Jose & Micaela Ruiz, and Lola Ruiz - aunts and uncles
Pepe and Julia Mendez, Francisca and Lidia Ruiz - cousins

Familiar: Franklin, a small Boston terrier/bulldog mix
Sexuality: Heterosexual

Appearance:
PB: Stephen Gomez
Physical Description: Sam isn't too tall or too short, standing at six foot even. He's in pretty good shape from cheerleading, gymnastics, and running. He has his father's dark features while carrying the bone structure from his mother's side. He usually lets his hair do whatever wild thing it wants to do and hasn't taken a comb to it in years. He's always wearing a lazy, mischievous smile.

His style is pop/punk with skinny jeans, baseball caps (he has about fifty Yankees caps in every color imaginable), plaid shirts, and band t-shirts. When he turned 18, he started working on a series of tattoos. From his shoulder to right above his elbow is a Halloween sleeve, he plans on extending it all the way down his right arm when he has enough money.

He has assorted scars on his legs and elbows from falling off his skateboard, these are nothing when compared to the scars on his chest and back. He has five huge scars running down his back from his right shoulder to his left hip and four long scars running across his chest from his left shoulder to right below his right pectoral. The most recent addition to his scar count is a ragged cut that stretched diagonally from mid neck toward his nose and stops about mid cheek, half way up his nose.

Personality:
Likes: Pop punk, power punk, happy hardcore, straightedge lifestyle, music, dancing, joking about psychic twin powers with Marina, guitar, drums, ice cream, food, photography, girls, cheerleading, gymnastics, the Yankees, Blue Ridge, his boston terrier/bulldog mix Franklin, canoes, fishing, skateboarding, Halloween, candy core, lime flavored tortilla chips, triple rainbows, watching quodpot, his band The Hobgoblins

Dislikes: School uniforms, keeping secrets from his friends, doxies, de-gnoming his parents garden, vocoders and auto tune in music, country music, celebrity "news" shows, fighting (he'll do it if he has to), socks, grease, over kill with popular jokes, studying, corny people, rude people, politics, the smell of cigarette smoke

Quirks:
*He has never done drugs or alcohol and considers himself straightedge, but he knows other students do and does not judge them or miss out on parties because of it
*He claims he was mauled by a huge bear and that's where his scars came from, though sometimes it's a jaguar
*He's in a band called The Hobgoblins and they're actually quite good
*He has gone by his middle name ever since he was five
*Sam has a really good relationship with his twin sister, she's his best friend
*He speaks fluent Spanish, he has also been known to curse in Spanish when he's frustrated, just letting go of a slew of cuss words, he has a pretty good grasp on French as well and can speak quite fluently
*When he's studying by himself he turns his notes into songs or drums along so he can better remember them
*He doesn't let anyone touch his acoustic guitar as it was Felix's, anyone can use his electric though
*He has a wonderfully Cajun accent
*He drums on things around campus

Secrets:
*The origin of his scars and the death of his brother were caused by a werewolf attack on his family in the summer of 2009 while they were camping. There is undoubtedly some speculation running around the school about where these scars came from. (There is only one person outside the family who knows the truth).
*The stress of Felix's death and the attack caused Sam's parents to fall apart. Their separation in his junior year had taken it's toll on him emotionally and his grades fell. His parents reconciled at the end of his senior year and got back together, they are still on rocky ground but recovering.
*He has a pretty healthy fear of heights.
*Sam himself is a werewolf, having been turned during the attack. His father suffers the same ailment. They both spend the full moon chained and under ground. There's a room in the basement of King's Hall that's specifically been used for Sam the past few years. They both take Wolfsbane Potion, Sam brews it for himself.

Amortentia smells like: Campfires, candy corn, and oatmeal

Strengths: He has tons of energy, a positive attitude, he's very clever and charming, he's incredibly loyal, and he'll defend his love one's until the end. He's relentless, Sam does not give up easily which is why he still wakes up every morning and puts his best foot forward. He is determined to keep moving and make things better for everyone. He's very acrobatic.

Weaknesses: He is not very open about his problems and internalizes a lot of his feelings, especially about his brother's death. He has not always been the best student, he's easily distracted and while he was at the school he often skipped classes because he would rather be outside. He has tried flying but he's terrible at it because he doesn't want to go too high up in the air. He bottles up a lot of his negative emotions and keeps them to himself.

Detailed personality:
Sam is a pretty goofy kid with a positive attitude and an endless supply of energy. He is full of life and a great friend to have around. He's very confident and always spinning tales. He's not a liar, just an entertainer, most of the stories he tells are from his life while others he borrows from cousins, friends, and occasionally urban legend. He is the life of the party and incredibly friendly to everyone around him. Sam does not know how to hold a grudge and forgives as easily as breathing.

He is a little bit of a trouble maker and is very familiar with detention. He is behind a lot of mischief making and rule breaking at the school. He has been known to get into fights before when he gets pushed too far or if a friend has been hurt. He skips quite a few classes because he would rather just be outside swimming, fishing, setting rabbit traps, and frolicking rather than going to Latin or history.

He knows when to tone down the energy though and is capable of being incredibly gentle and thoughtful. He's protective and selfless when it comes to his friends and family and more specifically his twin. He's a very trustworthy friend and a good listener. Though he keeps most of his secrets to himself, many of his friends come to him with their problems.

Sam has a darker side to him that he doesn't talk about. He's incredibly sensitive about the events in his family's recent past but he's too stubborn to talk about it with anyone, even his closest friends. In that sense he is closed off and only shares certain bits of information with his twin, but even then it's not everything. His cheerful attitude is by no means a ruse or a way of coping. He honestly believe that in time things will get better and it does no good to let sadness and pain drag him down. He doesn't realize that not expressing sadness and pain is almost worse.

Personal History
The Corey family has a long and proud tradition in the wizarding world that survived many witch hunts and even the infamous Salem Witch Trials. In generations of wizards and witches that spread out across the country, there wasn't a single Corey who married a muggle or a muggle born until Anna Corey came along. She lost favor among many of her more traditional relatives after marrying a muggle-born wizard but many of them changed their minds after their first son was born. Felix had captivated his relatives like no other child had and pulled together a family which was falling apart.

Anna Corey and Tito Ruiz met the summer after they graduated from Blue Ridge while doing an internship for the League of American Wizards. They were fast friends and kept in touch with each other for the next few years, arranging visits and writing each other letters. After they graduated from college, Tito started playing professional Quodpot and Anna started working for a herbology shop, her dream was to open up her own herbology shop. That same summer Tito asked Anna to marry him and although she was worried about what her family would think she married Tito in 1990. Two years later their son Felix was born. It wasn't long before the twins; Melchor Samuel David and Marina were born and shortly after them came their sister Ema, completing the happy family. They moved from their apartment to a more spacious home in NOLA and Tito and Anna opened up the Botique de les fleurs.

The kids had a pretty happy childhood and were all very close to each other. The family took vacations every summer and each kid got to chose from a plethora of activities as to what they wanted to do for their summer and after school programs. Marina started taking gymnastics classes when she was seven and not wanting to be separated from his twin Sam asked to start taking them too. Sam was really good at gymnastics and started winning events when he was ten years old. The twins could have been nationally ranked but they both chose to pursue an education in wizardry than do gymnastics. Sam also started taking drum lessons when he was seven.

When it came time to go away to school, all of the children were sent to Blue Ridge just like their parents. Blue Ridge had always been a good place for Sam, especially Appalachia House. He tried out for the cheerleading team and made it, which is not common for freshmen but his acrobatic skills stood out among the other cheerful Appalachian students. Every summer the kids would return home and go on camping trips. Felix gave Sam guitar lessons on his acoustic guitar while they were at camp and the kids would go swimming in whatever lake they were camping on.

During a family camping trip in 2009 the entire family was attacked in the middle of the night by a werewolf. Tito, Felix, and Sam took the most damage as they were the three who were out in front, trying to defend the family. After a merciless fight with magic the werewolf retreated into the woods and the entire family went to the closest wizard healing hospital. Felix died the next morning. Tito and Sam both needed emergency surgeries and blood transfusions, they were released after a week. Both Tito and Sam retain the scars from that night, and a new curse that they have to deal with in secret. Sam and Tito were turned into werewolves. Tito has since retired from Quodpot and works at the family herbology shop full time.

Sam returned to school feeling lost and hopeless but it was only a matter of hours before his old spirit kicked in and he started to feel better. Despite having to spend every full moon gargling Wolfsbane Potion, chained in a room in the basement of King's Hall, he began to feel better being at school. He made many friends and was doing pretty well for a boy who just lost his brother and whose family was falling apart. He really missed his brother's presence in the school, sometimes walking past his brother's room assignment during the day. Things were getting better though, until his parents separated. The family was devastated by the loss. Stress mounted alongside guilt and anger causing painful fights and ultimately leading to Anna and Tito's trial separation. Sam's grades started to slip. He received heavy tutoring and his marks were just enough to squeak by. Tito had been living in an apartment just outside of New Orleans with his sister Lola while Anna was staying at the family's home. It had been hard on the kids during their vacations, having to be sent between the two homes. The summer of 2010 was the first time that the family did not gone on vacation together, it was a lot harder on Sam than he will admit.

That summer he put together a wizard pop/punk band called The Hobgoblins. They're actually a decent band and have already turned out two EPs. His music is a constant source of venting for him, as he hasn't quite found the right way to have constructive conversations about his problems. He's still growing up and learning.

When Sam turned 17, he got his motorcycle license, he now can pick between driving his dad's old ford truck which is unfortunately two months younger than he is or the bike he saved up for and he and his dad worked on together.

At the end of his senior year Sam's parents reconciled and both Sam and his twin Marina graduated from Blue Ridge. They both decided to pursue a higher education at Blue Ridge University. Sam is going to be studying potions once the school opens in the fall though he wouldn't be too bothered to drop out of his band got booked for a touring gig.