MCKINNON, marlene

[starbright9]

Nickname: Lena
How You Found Us: *smiles sweetly*
Contact Via: pm or [e-mail]

What can be found in a name:
Marlene Tabitha McKinnon
When the day I was born:
16/01/1959
The Angels screamed:
Joshua and Rachel McKinnon
And Hell shut its doors:
___________ McKinnon, 3rd year Hufflepuff sister
While creatures retreated:
Owl named Plop
To depths unknown:
Half

I hide from them:
The Library in a corner around the left near a window
A bench on a south facing wall of the castle
Her room at home, despite it being rather small, it’s her own space which she has complete control of
Be who they want to see:
Marlene is fairly tall for her age, as she has been since she was small. She currently stands at around five foot seven, and is in fact still growing. She thinks that she’ll stop fairly soon though, as none of her family are exceptionally tall, and she’s getting fairly tall herself now. Due to this, her legs are fairly long and her arms are slightly too long considering the size of her torso. She doesn’t exactly appear gangly, but her limbs do seem slightly out of proportion given her size. Marlene is fairly thin, possibly even underweight as she does tend to forget to eat for long periods of time.

Her hair is fairly long, brushing her shoulder blades when it hangs loose. Her hair is light blonde which creates quite a contrast with her considerably darker eyebrows. Like her hair, her skin is fairly light and she has a fair complexion. Regularly when she is stressed though, her skin is marred by a variety of spots. Her face is a fairly regular oval shape, although she does have rather sticky out ears. This is more noticeable when she tucks her hair behind them, something she does on a regular basis to keep it out of her way. Her hair can stick out at rather odd angles, being slightly wavy but never willing to form any decent curls.
But that leaves no one:

To discover that inside:
One word which could never be used to describe is relaxed. She is an incredibly uptight person in practically everything she does. Marlene is seemingly always tense and worried about something. Stressed out is simply her natural default setting. She makes an effort not to let it show too much, and the most anybody will notice is that she laughs and smiles less than the majority of people do. It is in fact only really noticeable at times of extreme stress when she clams up completely and doesn’t say a word.

When Marlene does express any happiness, she tends to do so in a rather subdued manner. Her voice is soft, her smiles small and her laughter fairly brief and short lived. She is not a particularly flamboyant or outgoing individual. Marlene prefers to keep her opinions and views to herself, unless it is absolutely necessary or she feels wholly comfortable with the people surrounding her. As it takes her a long time to trust people completely, this is a very rare occurrence.

Marlene is also a very hard working individual, which whilst benefiting her grades, does tend to leave her exhausted from over stretching herself. However, she has never really had any particular need to work herself to the bone in the way she does every time she hears that a test might be coming her way, as she is naturally a very bright individual. She nearly always achieves well in her classes, but for her she never achieves high enough. Marlene always wants to do better and push herself further.

She is not the most secure of individuals. Marlene is often riddled by self doubt, which regularly blinds her to what she has actually achieved. Self awareness has never been her forte. In the same way she feels insecure about her academic work, she has similar doubts about her friendships. These are mainly forged because of her inability to open up to her friends, and as a result she always feels as if there are certain elements missing to any friendships she does make.
This soulless being:
Books – reading is a great passion of hers, although she won’t read everything she can lay her hands on, it’s a pretty close thing
Sense of order – Marlene is a bit of a neat freak. Everything in her life has a place, whether it be her notes from class or getting up at a similar time every day. She’s the sort of person who craves order and routine
Charms – this has always been a bit of a specialty of hers. It was the subject she took to with most ease and the one which has always been her favourite
Potions – despite not being the best at the practical sides of things, potions is something which she was fascinated by when she started at Hogwarts. Marlene was never a natural at the subject, but she has put a great deal of work into it so she might as well have been.
Quidditch (watching only) – she’s fascinated by how the game works and all the ins and outs of the rules. Plus she just can’t help but get caught up in the excitement of the match when she watches it.
Winter – hot weather is not something she has ever been fond of and she loves the way the season can change and can appear magical in so many different ways. Despite her desire for order, she has always been fond of tumultuous weather conditions so long as it is not dangerous.
Is just as lost:
Transfiguration – like Potions this was a subject she has never been a natural at, and unlike Potions all her hard work hasn’t paid off. She’s tried to get better and has put in a great deal of extra effort but every year, regardless of how hard she tries, she always comes close to failing. And although she never does, that simply isn’t good enough for her.
Chaos and mess – this is linked closely to her desire for order. She doesn’t like not knowing how things will work out
Crowds – large numbers of people all together as an uncontrollable mass have always intimidated her. She finds them suffocating and feels claustrophobic when squashed between numerous other people
Heat waves – her hatred of hot weather, and love of the cold, all stem from the fact that she suffers from severe heat stroke. Too much time out in the sun and heat and she will end up with a dreadful headache and having to throw up. It’s all rather unpleasant for her so she tries to avoid it.
Flying – this was something she never took to. Flying lessons were the first time she discovered that she got vertigo. It’s fairly mild, but not something she enjoys nonetheless. She’s hardly flown on a broom since, partly because of that, but mainly because she was dreadful at it and always falls off.
As everyone else:
Academics – this is something she excels in, particularly Charms
Keeping secrets – well, it’s not like she’s got many people she could tell them, even if she was willing to break the trust which takes so long for her to build up
Paying attention – Lena can listen and absorb information without becoming bored for a fair bit longer than most
Hard working – she did very nearly end up in Hufflepuff after all
Loyal – she may not trust easily, but once you’ve got that trust, it’s not going anywhere.
In a world that knows only hate:
Displays of wealth – if there’s one sure fire way to freak Lena out and intimidate her, it’s to show her just how well off you are
Friends – the flip side of loyalty is that she has been known to act rather rashly to do something to please her friends
Hysteria – when things go badly out of control, she tends to get rather hysterical
Conversation – simply put, she’s not great at it
Crying – she hates crying in front of people, but once she starts she can’t stop for the life of her
And causes pain for the soulless like me:
Sometimes she wishes she had ended up in Hufflepuff like her sister. She thinks she might have been able to calm down and relax a bit more if she wasn’t in the house where academics and learning are always at the fore.
Marlene just wants to be accepted. She has times when she’s not especially picky about who.

They left me to die:
Agatha and Martin Braxton, grandparents
On a bed of roses:
Janet and Thomas McKinnon, grandparents
Liam McKinnon, uncle, his wife Denise and their children Jason (9) and Callum (12)
Blood seeping through:
Of her cousins, only Callum has any magic. Without meaning to, this has caused a slight rift in their family and as such Marlene generally only sees them at Christmas and Callum rarely speaks to her or her sister at school.
The satin sheets of fame:
Middle Class
What a bitter story of love:
Marlene was born on a very cold January day in a small magical hospital in Scotland to Rachel and Joshua McKinnon. Rachel was particularly overjoyed at the birth of her daughter as she had been trying for a child for some time without success. Marlene's mother is a muggleborn English witch whilst her father is a pureblood Scot. Marlene was named after her maternal great-aunt, who despite not being her mother’s favourite person in the world, Rachel had always admired. Since she was born Marlene and her family have lived in a large village near Edinburgh. A couple of months after her second birthday, Rachel gave birth to another baby girl. Marlene never resented her presence, although when she had first been told she didn’t exactly grasp the idea. It wasn’t something either of her parents expected the twenty month old girl to understand.

The village Marlene has lived in her entire life is partially magical with some magical families, apart from the McKinnon’s, living there. It’s hardly bursting with wizards though, even the muggle inhabitants are not that numerous. Marlene went to the local primary school. During that time she was very care free, the problem of the future was not one which usually troubled a ten year old girl. All those thoughts came later when she was confronted by Hogwarts. She has a few friends at her old school, all of whom are muggles, although she is definitely more distant from them than she was five years ago. Attending boarding school for the majority of the year tends to do that.

When she was eleven Marlene was all set to go to the local grammar school. She was so proud when she passed her eleven plus with flying colours. This changed when she received her Hogwarts letter which, like many students, made her extremely happy. She had always known that going to Hogwarts was a possibility, but she had wanted to be prepared just in case it didn’t work out. At Hogwarts Marlene was sorted into Ravenclaw which at first puzzled her as she was not the brightest of the bunch. Marlene now realises that it is her love of work, enthusiasm to learn and desire to achieve academically which caused her to be sorted into Ravenclaw. Since she has been at Hogwarts Lena has made a number of good friends as well as a few enemies, although like the majority of people, she tries to avoid doing the later.

Marlene walked into the Library yet again. She had been spending a great deal of time in the library lately and when she wasn’t she usually had a book in her hands. Lena had been doing even more reading than normal lately though as revision for her NEWTs. She wasn’t sure if she was getting anywhere though. Every time she felt that she had achieved something she discovered something else she needed to go over, something she had forgotten before, something she had never heard of. It was beginning to irritate her a great deal. It just felt like her hard work was getting her nowhere. Then as if it could be worse, some teachers were still setting essays. She had Herbology and Potions to complete to be precise but she didn’t think either of those would pose a great problem. Her Herbology was already lying on her bed two thirds done.

She sighed slightly as she walked past the Librarian and further into the room. This would be one place she would truly miss once she left, an event which was approaching far faster than she would have liked. It had just crept up on her so quickly. She didn’t plan on coming back to her roots in the Library unless as a last resort. Marlene had set her sights on becoming a Healer and if there was one thing the Ravenclaw girl was, it was determined. If she didn’t achieve it at first she would keep on trying until she did. Then even if she failed after numerous attempts she failed, she had a back up plan. Lena liked to be prepared for all eventualities.

Her fingers traced across the spines of the books as she read their titles, trying to find a relevant text. Marlene knew the library fairly well after spending a good part of seventeen years there but she didn’t know where everything was by memory. It still took time. Every few paces she stopped at the shelves and a smile lit up her face. She pulled a book off the shelves with her long fingers before tucking it under her arm. Once she had gathered five, a small pile growing in her hands, she rounded the corner between two sets of shelves on the way to look for a seat.

Lena took a sharp intake of breath as she saw one of the few people she really didn’t want to see. She desperately tried to turn a positive light on the situation but failed. The best she could come up with that it wasn’t Narcissa. It came close though, her wonderful fiancé, Lucius Malfoy. The two had barely tolerated it when the she had been friends with Cissa and that was only for her sake. Now things were worse between the two of them, although that was to be expected. And of course there was that little fact that she was a light supporter and he was a Death Eater. The two avoided each other as much as possible but she couldn’t just walk away now. He had obviously realized someone was coming. “Malfoy,” she stated at last.

[.going down in flames.]