Huffestus "Huffy" Irwin grew up the youngest (and smallest) of 9 children, in a wealthy family with parents who were successful merchants and council members. Huffy's parents were very protective of their youngest child, and for the first few years of Huffy's life his closest friends were his older siblings, especially his eldest brother, Cassidy. Huffy idolized and looked up to Cassidy, and wanted to be just like him. Cassidy, for his part, was always a little rough around the edges, always a little lacking in etiquette. Huffy was too young to fully understand, and wasn't privy to the conversations and arguments between Cassidy and their parents, but suffice it to say Cassidy had gotten involved with "low class" people that their parents didn't approve of. And then one day, without a word, Cassidy was gone - along with a significant amount of their parents fine silverware and jewels. 

Huffy moped about his brother's departure, not knowing why he'd left and not able to get a straightforward answer out of his parents. His siblings grew older and had less time for him, and he took to "befriending" the hired help who weren't really able to deny him attention. As he grew older, he demonstrated an aptitude for learning magic when his parents caught him in the act of casting find familiar. So, against his many protests, Huffy was sent to wizarding academy. 

At the academy, Huffy was miserable. Younger and smaller than the others in his classes, Huffy didn't get on well with his peers - he found their social cues confusing and contradictory, and often people would act friendly to him - which Huffy would uncritically accepted as the absolute honest truth - only for him to discover that they were, in fact, teasing or even bullying him. He made it through these first months, in part, by befriending his teachers and tutors. 

Over time, Huffy found that he much preferred wandering the beach and into the cliffs and forests surrounding the academy to attending wizarding classes. He'd often cut class to spend the day "talking" with squirrels and birds and other wild creatures. With the misery and isolation he had been facing in the academic world of the academy, he grew to prefer the company of animals to people - at least the snobs at school, anyway. Since he'd developed a friendly rapport with his professors and "earned" a sizeable allowance from his parents, Huffy started bribing his teachers to say he had been attending class, then would skip out and spend the day in the woods turning over rocks, talking to bugs, climbing trees, and generally just soaking up the majesty of nature. 

One day in Huffy's meandering exploration, he happened across a little hut. Now, normally, Huffy would steer clear of any sign of civilization, but this hut was different. It seemed to be formed not in opposition to but in harmony with the natural growth of the trees and reeds in the area. Intrigued by how someone could be living in so secluded a spot, in a way that seemed to be so in tune with the natural world, Huffy took a chance and approached the door. Among the many creatures living in the boughs of this naturally grown hut was a human Druid named Caliope. She sat Huffy down to a cup of lavender and chamomile tea and just... Listened. Caliope listened to him talk about finding his way out to this location, listened to him gush about his beloved familiar Maya, a tiny weasel. And then, finally, listened to his woes about school and not wanting to be a wizard and paying off his teachers and how he knew, eventually, it would all catch up to him. Caliope took Huffy under her wing and shared Druidic teachings with him. Because of how much he preferred the wilderness and wild animals, Huffy took to these Druidic teachings quickly, as they only deepened his love of nature and animals. 

Eventually Huffy returned home from the academy. His parents were understandably upset that Huffy had bribed the teachers with his allowance, but ever the softies on their precious tiny youngest child, the opted to instead put him into a strict regimen of private tutoring lessons of all sorts, and ground him to the (sprawling, expansive, luxurious, walled) Irwin Estate. Huffy hated this too, because he wasn't able to wander the forests or keep pets at his parents' house, nor was he "allowed" to leave, despite already being practically an adult.

One of Huffy's tutors was an air genasi music teacher named Ella, who mentioned her plans to head west to follow her dreams and start a school in Steel Hollow. This seemed like his chance to get out from under his parents' watchful eyes, while also seeing the world, having an adventure, and maybe even finding his eldest brother. After some careful planning and scrimping and saving of his considerable allowance - he wasn't about to steal from his parents and leave like his brother had - Huffy was ready. He timed everything perfectly, and his familiar helped him sneak out of the estate - and into one of Ella's luggage crates. He should be able to stow away on the journey here, at least for until they were far enough from The Six no one could send him back home.