Kenji Kobayashi

Kenji Kobayashi
Biographical information
Born	13 October 1997
Nationality	Japanese
Also known as	Kobayashi-kun (by Yumi Ito)
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair colour	Brown
Eye colour	Brown
Skin colour	Light
Relationship information
Family members	Father Kobayashi family
Magical characteristics
Wand	11¼, Acacia, dragon heartstring
Affiliation
Loyalty	Kobayashi family Mahoutokoro Mahoutokoro team

Kenji Kobayashi (小林健二, Kobayashi Kenji) (b. 13 October 1997) was an unpopular Japanese wizard who attended Mahoutokoro during the early 21st century. He enjoyed studying Transfiguration and History of Magic, and his weakness was his blood curse which he inherited from his father.

Biography

Kenji was born to his unidentified Japanese parents on 13 October, 1997. He had inherited his paternal family's blood malediction that transformed him into a fox when placed under great stress.

At some point, he enrolled at Mahoutokoro School of Magic, and befriended Yumi Ito and some other students that studied there.

2011-2012 school year

At some point in the 2011–2012 school year, Kenji visited Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to represent his school in the Intercontinental Wizard's Cup along with Yumi Ito, Hanae Katō, Tarōbō Amachi, and two other members. During this event, he competed against at least three students from Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Viggo Victor, Zack Johnson, and Violet Williams.

Upon his and his fellow students' arrival at the Great Hall, Kenji asked a Hogwarts student about the forest which he rode a giant storm petrel across earlier. Kevin Farrell overheard and joined the conversation, telling him that it was the Forbidden Forest. Robyn Thistlethwaite joined and added that students were prohibited from entering the forest and that there were beasts. Kenji then repeated the word "beasts" and mumbled to himself that these creatures were unpredictable, causing the others to wonder why he was acting weird. Later, Violet stated that his teammates didn't like him.

Days afterwards, Kenji called the student, whom he had met with earlier, and claimed to have seen one of Rubeus Hagrid's missing Diricawls mingling among the giant storm petrels of Mahoutokoro, which were staying by the Great Lake, and it had agitated them. After a bit of investigation, the student discovered the sixth Diricawl behind a dense bush.

Just before the first ordeal began, he was bullied in the corridor by two fellow male students. One of the Hogwarts Champions found him and tried to ask him what happened, but he sent them away as he didn't want to hurt anyone.

Kenji came up with the solution just a few seconds ahead of Kevin in the first challenge, leading his school to first place. He and Kevin became good friends afterwards and visited the Hogwarts Library together on a Saturday. Kenji praised the library and said he wanted to see the books about old curses in the Restricted Section, so Kevin went with him to ask the school librarian Irma Pince for permission to view them. That evening, Kenji and the other team members attended a picnic on the Hogwarts grounds. Sometime after the picnic began, he began to suffer terribly and collapsed to the ground, then showed the features of a fox and howled in pain. He attacked Yumi, who ran over to comfort him, and kicked and scratched her. This transformation was due to his drink being laced by Viggo Victor with something that aggravated his symptoms. Kevin and the same unidentified student noticed and denounced Viggo.

Headmistress McGonagall subsequently appeared with Headmaster Senju of Mahoutokoro and gave Kenji a potion and took him to the Hospital Wing. To those who were surprised and frightened and saw him as a danger, Kevin told them he was only under a blood curse and not a werewolf.

Kevin and his friends did not judge him for it, as they believed Kenji was more than just his curse. Cassandra Vole, a Slytherin, however, mocked him for it. During a confrontation between Kevin, his friends, and Cassandra in the Great Hall over Kenji and his blood curse, Rita Skeeter showed up with her Quick-Quotes Quill to interview for the Daily Prophet and overheard the discussion about Kenji and his blood curse. During the interview, Rita intentionally referenced the curse indirectly, but Yumi intervened and salvaged the situation before Rita's outrageous questions could proceed further. Since the event, news about Kenji's blood curse had spread further, and Kenji started considering resigning from the team.

During the second challenge, duelling, Viggo targeted one of his spells at Kevin (who wasn't included in this particular challenge) causing him to be attacked and rendered unconscious. Robyn, noticing Kevin's condition, attempted to "flatten" Viggo but was stopped by Kenji, as her act of revenge could lead to the Hogwarts team being disqualified. Upon leaving the Hospital Wing after receiving his treatment, Kenji met Kevin and the unidentified student who, at Yumi's request, was able to persuade him not to resign from the team. He then encountered his fellow Mahoutokoro student Hanae Katō before leaving the corridor, who admitted she was afraid of him and his blood curse. The conversation was joined by Yumi and Kevin, and by the end of the discussion, Hanae felt guilty for having judged Kenji earlier because of his curse. Kenji forgave her.

During the third and final challenge, held in the depths of the Forbidden Forest where competitors were tasked with finding a chest of treasure guarded by magical beasts, Kenji managed to reach the chest. However, he was overpowered by the half-giant, Gawrloc, and knocked unconscious, just like Zach from the Ilvermorny team.

Physical description

As a human, Kenji had a narrow white face, a sharp chin, a pointed nose, and brown hair tied back with a white piece of cloth. His eyes were brown and slightly narrow. In his partial fox form, his hair turned reddish and his hands became clawed. Viggo described him in this form as a "furry beast".

Personality and traits

Kenji was described as quiet, bright, cautious, kind and generous.

Magical abilities and skills

• Magical aptitude: Having been selected to participate in the Intercontinental Wizard's Cup, Kenji was a very talented wizard.
• Transfiguration: Kenji was noted to be particularly interested in Transfiguration. This is likely due to his blood malediction, which caused him to transform into a fox when placed under great stress.
• History of Magic: Kenji was noted to be particularly interested in the study of magical history, particularly in ancient magic.

Possessions

• Wand: Kenji owned a wand that was eleven and one quarter in length, made of acacia with a dragon heartstring core.

Relationships

Yumi Ito

Yumi was one of Kenji's friends at Mahoutokoro.

Behind the scenes

Incomplete transformation

• Kenji's fact file, provided by Harry Potter: Magic Awakened official SNS, shows a more advanced version of his transformation than he appears in the game.
• Kenji was likely to be an eighth year student in the Japanese school year system (spring entry system), as he had to be an eighth or ninth (fourth or fifth) year student in order to join the tournament team.
• Being a Japanese character, Kenji's blood curse transforming him into a fox is possibly inspired by elements of Japanese folklore such as kitsune, trickster foxes in Japanese folklore that have the ability to shapeshift into humans, kitsune-tsuki, people spiritually possessed by foxes, or Tsukimono-suji, families of witches who are possessed by kitsune.

Appearances

• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened (First appearance)