Applying For: Student, o'course
Name: Salem Phoenix Delphi
Name Meaning: Salem means 'peace' in Arabic but our Salem was clearly named for the witch trials of long ago, 'Phoenix' is obviously the mythical bird of fire, and 'Delphi' is the city where the muses worshipped.
Age: 11, a brand new student for the academy!

Likes
- Animals: Salem has rather a soft touch to animals, especially the magical sort. Not only does she find them cute, but there is a part of her that associates them with herself (she's a natural animagi). She holds all animals (the cute and cuddly ones as well as the dragons and the other...err, meaner creatures) with an almost unnatural care and respect. Some would say that she enjoys the company of animals more than people and maybe that's true. Xx;;
- Cherry Coca-Cola: She loves all soda stuff but especially Cherry-Coke. It rocks her socks. ^^;;
- Words: One of the little things Salem delights in doing is collecting, looking up meanings, and translating words. While this would bore anyone else, Salem simply enjoys it and can spend a rainy afternoon in her dorm room with a dictionary. Sad, yes. xx;;
- Darkness: It excites her as the sight of a dragon would. There is something tempting and exciting about corruption and even though Salem would never say it out loud, she loves the idea of evil. This doesn't mean she's a dark-witch, it just means she's easily tempted.
- Elevators: She thinks elevators are cool, but this is a minor thing right up there with her constant need for bubble-wrap. Xx; Quirks galore!
And
- Chocolate: She lavas her the chocolate. *^^*

Dislikes:
- Buses: For some reason buses scare Salem to death and she doesn't really understand why. Its not like she refuses to ride in them or anything, but she'd really prefer the train.
- Nail Polish: Is annoying. And icky. And she doesn't like it. Another thing is, she gets way to messy with it.
- Coffee & Tea: Why should you drink that stuff when you can have soda? Or water? The only good source of caffeine is soda. xx;;
And
- Ten Step Programs to...um...Achieving Happiness: They annoy her because they're really fake.

Hobbies: None in particular. She's okay with Quidditch but joining the team was never much on her mind. She enjoys playing a few wizarding games, but that's about it for hobbies.
Aspirations: To someday become the Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Augurey and to one day become on Animagus

Appearance
Salem's hair is a deep chocolate brown, which falls to a little past her shoulders. It is kept straight, and she usually wears it down but when wearing it up, always sweeps it up messily in a bun/pony-tail. Her eyes are an odd shade of blue, with a deeper sapphire color about the very edges and a few strikes of emerald green spread around. Salem is short, at 5'1" though her height seems to suit her well. She is very thin, appearing almost underweight. She prefers to wear things that are comfortable, but still make her look good. She also particularly likes blue jeans, but especially those of the darker denim coloring. The school uniform is also flattering to Salem and so she enjoys it a lot and even wears it after school hours sometimes.

Personality
Salem leads a difficult but interesting and rewarding life. Often the Delphi family's fortune rises and falls with that of the current society and time and so Salem has learned to remain stable though periods of social turmoil and upheaval and she has a great sense of willpower. Salem, more then most individuals it seems, is punished and rewarded by fate apparently without rhyme or reason. Therefore, it's important for her to remain dynamic and never allow a victimized mentality.
Most of Salem's problems are self-induced because of the demands of the darker side of her personality; finding peace and balance within herself as well as a suitable creative outlet for her energy are important goals for her to strive for. If Salem can learn to roll with the punches, to not only keep afloat during the worst of storms but also to stay on course, she may achieve great success.
She often has high-ideals and strong-beliefs which are repeatedly tested. On her worst days, it's not unusual to see Salem succumb to temptation and forsake what she has worked so hard for. The trails and tribulations that she goes through are deeply effective in building good character, if Salem can just weather life's buffets with her heart and soul intact. Salem's personality seems to involve a personal kind of survival-of-the-fittest struggle, in which evolutionary theories are revisited on a personal level and effected in a single lifetime. Salem is blessed with a great talent with animals; some may even hold it at a genius caliber. Some would expect her personal relationships to often suffer because of the dedication this must take, but Salem has risen above all personal and social considerations and is making a stab for the universal. Without this possible struggle though, her achievements would be less meaningful.
A central theme here is of course fate versus free will. Should Salem try to hold onto her destiny or give in and accept what is offered to her? The answer is never exactly clear, but generally speaking a balance must be maintained between acceptance or what comes along and efforts to influence circumstances for the better. By carefully observing signs, signals, warnings, as well as hopeful indications, Salem remains alert and is poised to act when the opportunity arises. Patience and discipline are the keys here.

History
Salem was born an all-American witch if ever there was one, taught from birth to be proud of her heritage as a witch. Even her name of Salem Phoenix reflects this - her mother named her in tribute to the American Witches and Wizards. First 'Salem' in reference to the witch trials that so many of the Delphi's own ancestors survived through, without being caught. Phoenix for the mascot of Augurey, the only Wizarding school of America. The Delphi family is in fact an old one, rarely tainted by the tragedy of magic less squibs. Both Salem's parents (John and Charlene Delphi) respectively attended Augurey Academy in their own days.
The Delphi family rarely struggles with money but they aren't exactly filthy-stinking-rich in any case, more like financially comfortable and this was the atmosphere that Salem was born into.
As a young girl, Salem was kept in the Delphi home and taught the simplest forms of magic possible. She did not attend any real school but learned to speak eloquently in English and Latin and she was also taught to write. In other words, she wasn't exactly kept stupid but was instead prepared for the day when she would receive her letter from Augurey. She was constantly surrounded by books and was encouraged to read every day.
From an early age it was apparent that Salem had a special connection with magical animals of all types. She's extremely well read on this particular subject and is practically dying for the day when her Care of Magical Creatures training can begin in her third year. She even plans to one day be the Care of Magical Creatures Professor at Augurey, that is...if she ends up liking the course.
She’s also read up on the practice of Animagi and another of her aspirations is to one day become an Animagus. It’s well known that this takes powerful magic not exactly taught in Augurey’s transfiguration classes, but Salem still believes that one-day she will accomplish this. In fact for as long as she has known about the possibility of shape shifting into animals Salem has been planning exactly what she should take the shape of.

Items: Her wand is ten and a quarter inch long, pliable, made of willow with dragon-heartstring.

Animal Guardian: Grand-duc (Grand-duck!), a white and brown eagle owl received as a 'starting-school' gift for Salem. Salem doesn't really know Grand-duc very well yet, but naturally the owl is comforting and protecting as any pet should be and as any animal is around Salem. She was named Grand-Duc, as that is eagle owl in French. Translations rock socks! ^^;;

Character Secrets: Salem is occasionally tempted to join the dark-side, though the thoughts are rare and only come when she's incredibly depressed. The way to accomplish this in a storyline, would probably be to promise her the powers of shape shifting but yea...that‘s that.