InsaneJournal

NAME: Marlene Nicolette McKinnon.
AGE/BIRTHDAY: 21/ June 23, 1959
BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood
FORMER HOUSE: Hufflepuff, class of 1977
OCCUPATION: Waitress at Madam Puddifoot's by day, aspiring chef by night, and a full time Order member.

FAMILY:

FATHER: Declan McKinnon (b. Sept. 1925 - d. Jan. 1980) - Declan was a very successful healer. He worked hard to take care of his patients and his family. He brought home handsome paychecks, though his family never really needed the money due to the size of the McKinnon vaults. He tried his hardest to show his daughters the importance of working hard, a lesson that stuck with Marlene. He was a devoted family man, always reading the stories of Beadle the Bard to his daughters before they went off to sleep.

MOTHER: Gardenia McKinnon nee Brown (b. Dec. 1930 - d. Jan. 1980) - Growing up, Marlene aspired to be as beautiful, gentle, and graceful as her mother. Gardenia to try to teach her daughters to act like young ladies rather than unsophisticated ragamuffins. She was the one that suggested that her girls take lessons in music, art, foreign language, and dance so that they could one day become cultured young women in pureblood society.

SISTER: Natalie McKinnon (b. Oct. 1955 - d. Jan. 1980) - Natalie was Marlene’s best friend and confidant. She was brilliant and passionate about everything she believed in. Natalie had wanted to become a member of the Wizengamot so that she could promote Pro-Muggle legislation in the Ministry. Marlene respected her sister more than anyone else that she has ever met, and she misses her terribly.

PATERNAL GRANDFATHER: Fergus McKinnon
PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER: Ermintrude McKinnon nee Jugson
UNCLE: Callum Murdoch
AUNT: Catriona Murdoch nee McKinnon
COUSIN(s): Isla Murdoch, Iona Murdoch

MATERNAL GRANDFATHER: Chadwick Brown
MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER: Olive Brown nee Bulstrode
UNCLE(s): Trenton Brown, Gareth Flint
AUNT(s): Julianna Brown nee Malkin, Rosalind Flint nee Brown
COUSIN(s): Ordell Brown, Stacia Brown, Aldan Flint, Pippa Flint, Winifred Flint

SEXUALITY: Heterosexual.
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Single
CHILDREN:: Oh god no! She's too young to be ruining her figure!

LOYALTY/ALLIANCE: Order of the Phoenix

ROLE IN THE WAR: Marlene isn’t the first person type of person that comes to mind when someone thinks of a member of a vigilante group because she’s rather ditzy, she doesn’t have common sense, and she’s quite mild mannered for the most part, though she is a member of the Order of the Phoenix. With that being said, her main role in the war is to prevent Voldemort from coming into power again. She is able to travel frequently with the Order because she is only employed part time at Madam Puddifoot’s and because she is currently on a leave of absence.

While the Order is traveling, Marlene is especially helpful. What she lacks in common sense, she makes up in practical skill and book-knowledge. She is quite skilled at charms, potions, and transfiguration. She also is an excellent cook and a fairly decent seamstress. Marlene is also able to speak a little bit of Italian and Spanish, so she can somewhat understand other Romance Languages.

Finally, Marlene brings her persistence and unrelenting work ethic to the Order. She tries her hardest in everything she does and she refuses to give up. Marlene also has the desire to avenge the death of her family.

POLITICAL VIEWS: Before the birth of Marlene’s aunt Catriona, the McKinnon family thought that Purebloods were superior in every way to Muggleborns. They looked down on the fact that Muggleborns were allowed into Hogwarts, however the birth of a Squib into a reputable Pureblood family destroyed their outlook. How could Fergus and Ermintrude hate their daughter for lack of magical ability? She was essentially a muggle, yet she was of Pureblood descent. They taught their son, Declan, to accept people for who they are, not based on their heritage. Declan took this childhood lesson to heart, and he was very close to his sister. His daughters, Natalie and Marlene, grew up around their Squib aunt and her Muggle husband. Besides her Natalie, Isla and Iona were Marlene’s best friends.

As a result of her blood traitor upbringing, Marlene is very Pro-Muggle and Pro-Muggleborn. She believes that discrimination against people based on blood purity is completely unwarranted. Marlene is very happy that she has the chance to be a member and supporter of the Order of the Phoenix. She is happy to fight for the wellbeing of Muggleborns around the world.

APPEARANCE:After countless years of etiquette classes, Marlene McKinnon knows very well that a first impression can make or break someone. As a result of this, she takes great pride in her appearance. Marlene refuses to leave her house without “putting on her face,” and making sure that her wavy hair is tamed. Because her hair has a natural wave to it, she is always worried about it frizzing. Due to this, she uses no less than three haircare potions to maintain it. She also finds that the potions also give her hair a nice sheen.

When it comes to clothing, Marlene prefers wearing smart, knee length dresses, usually in pastel shades of pink, purple, or Hufflepuff yellow, to anything else. She thinks that they suit her slim hourglass figure nicely. More often than not, she will wear heels to give her a little bit of extra height, something that her 5’5” frame doesn’t necessarily need especially since she rarely, if ever slouches. She matches her heels to her dresses so that they are an exact color match, and she charms them if they aren’t.

Marlene has a honeyed voice and her accent is a cross between her father’s Scottish accent and her mother’s English. For the most part Marlene is very articulate, however if she is excited, and she often is, she babbles incoherently.

WAND: 7 inches, Elm and unicorn hair. Swishy.
BOGGART: A gaggle of Merpeople. They absolutely terrify her with their grey scaly skin and yellow eyes.
PATRONUS: A turtle. The happy thought that Marlene would think of would be when her sister asked her to be her maid of honor at her wedding.


LIKES: Fresh parchment, cheering charms, her family, manners, gossip, cooking, baking, reading, the Order, making friends, meeting new people
DISLIKES: The fact that her family is dead, Death Eaters, Voldemort, rudeness, intolerance, stereotyping, being alone, small enclosed areas, mermaids

STRENGTHS: Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, cooking, sewing, socializing, etiquette, swimming, loyalty, work ethic, finding things
WEAKNESSES: Astronomy, History of Magic, healing spells, claustrophobic, overdramatic, anxious, overly trusting, naive

KNOWN INFORMATION: It is a well-known fact that the McKinnon family is full of blood traitors, though those outside the Order are not aware of Marlene’s activity in the vigilante group. Most people would think that she was sympathetic to the Order, but not a member, especially after the very publicized murder of her family. It is also known that Marlene is taking an extended vacation from her job in Hogsmeade so that she may cope with her losses, though it is not known that she is on a hunt for Horcruxes.

DETAILED PERSONALITY: When most people approach Marlene for the first time, they expect her to be some brainless blonde who is only concerned with looking good. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, she is very smart. She can gladly list the ingredients and directions for brewing a Befuddlement Draught, and she is quite good at making one too. Marlene is also a whiz at charms. Though she is very book-smart, she is also very gullible. She spent most of her childhood believing the tales that her sister and cousins would spin about terrible beasts that lived in her house. Marlene still has a very naive air about her, mostly because she tries to see the good in everyone.

Marlene is a Hufflepuff through and through. Though she comes from a very wealthy family, she takes her father’s example and she tries her hardest in everything she is involved in. Whether it is working in Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop, or working with the Order, she gives it her all. Another Hufflepuff-esque trait that she possesses is extreme friendliness. She is not afraid to walk up to a stranger and make conversation, and she loves being around people! When Marlene decides that you are her friend, that means that you are her friend for life. She is also incredibly loyal. If she considers a person a friend or a loved one, she would not hesitate to put her life on the line for them. Finally, she is an incredibly good finder.

Marlene is the sort of person who always seems very collected and confident because she has a plan for everything. Her restaurant, a future marriage, her future children. She has them all planned out. Marlene does not have a spontaneous bone in her body. Though she tries to put on a very confident, self-assured, and collected face, she is anything but that. Marlene is very overdramatic and she panics about everything, especially when one of her plans fall through. She is the sort of person that constantly thinks that the world is ending if life doesn't work the way she wants it to. If she gets a hangnail she is frantic until she is able to fix it. If she has a bad day at work, or if a customer complains at her, she thinks that she is losing her job. Also, Marlene has an inability to be independent. She is very clingy, and she constantly has to be surrounded by people to be happy. If she is by herself, she almost instantaneously becomes anxious and she tries to find someone to talk to.

PRE-BIRTH: Declan McKinnon and Gardenia Brown were engaged to be married before she had even made it out of her mother’s womb. Both came from old pureblood families and were expected to make suitable pureblood matches that would produce the perfect pureblood babies.

The children grew up knowing that they would be wed the summer before Gardenia's twenty-fourth birthday. Until Declan left for Hogwarts, the families met for weekly Saturday luncheons for their children to grow fond of each other, however it seemed as though the children detested each other. Declan thought that his future bride was snobbish, and Gardenia thought that her future groom was immature. Both were determined not to marry.

As years passed, their determination to avoid their impending union weakened. Declan actually found himself to be rather attracted to Gardenia. She had lovely blonde hair and a curvaceous frame. He found her smile to be infectious. After she left Hogwarts, he began showering her with gifts and taking her on expensive dates. Gardenia enjoyed the attention. By the time that the couple married in 1954, they were quite fond of each other. The couple welcomed their first child, Natalie, in late 1955.

CHILDHOOD: Marlene Nicolette McKinnon came into the world kicking and screaming on June 23, 1959, nearly four years after her older sister. Declan and Gardenia were very devoted parents, always trying their hardest to instill good values in their children. Though they still managed to terribly spoil their daughters by providing the best things that money had to offer for their children. Natalie and Marlene always had wardrobes full of adorable dresses and toy chests full of the funnest dolls.

Most of Marlene’s early childhood was spent tottering happily behind her older sister. She absolutely adored Natalie, and she always thought that she was so lucky to have someone as smart as her sister around. It was just too kind of her sister to watch out for her best interests and keep her safe. If not for Natalie, Marlene would have been killed by the kelpie that was living in the lake under her bed when she was five. If not for Natalie, Marlene would not have realized that their nanny was a Chimera in disguise. If not for Natalie, Marlene would not have been aware of the Quintaped that their grandmother kept in her pantry. Though, all Natalie did was feed her lies.

Around Marlene’s fourth birthday, her parents hired the finest team of tutors that they could find. The tutors taught their daughters things that all respectable young women should learn such as literature, history, geography, etiquette, art, dance, and music. Though Gardenia and Duncan stressed the importance of her education, Marlene had a lot of trouble focusing on her lessons. She could care less about what fork was used for what meals; all she wanted to do was play in the gardens.

When Marlene was seven, Natalie was admitted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Needless to say, she was very jealous of her older sister. She was left at home to play with her dolls, her nanny, and her cousins while her sister got to make friends and learn magic. She began counting down the days until she would join her sister at school.

While Natalie was gone, Marlene took to writing her all the time, detailing all the events that happened to her each day. She wrote about what she would eat for breakfast, the lessons the tutor prepared for her, silly things that her father would tell her, and how lovely her mother’s dresses were. She missed her sister terribly, and all of her silly letters made her feel as though her sister was at home with her.

HOGWARTS: On the morning of June 23, 1970, Marlene received an owl with her invitation to Hogwarts. She immediately ran to her room and began packing her trunk. She persuaded her parents to take her to Diagon Alley to buy her school supplies after begging them for two hours straight. Before the day was over, she was ready to leave for school.

Marlene waited just over two months to board the Hogwarts Express and make her first journey to the famed wizarding school. Throughout her first ride on the Hogwarts Express, she fretted endlessly over what house she would be sorted into. She hoped that the hat would find her brave enough to put her into Gryffindor with her sister. Despite her wish to be a Gryffindor, Marlene was placed in Hufflepuff because she was fiercely loyal, a hard worker, and because she had a knack for finding things. Though she was disappointed at first, she grew to love and embrace her house and the people in it.

By the end of her second year, she found that she absolutely adored charms, potions, and transfiguration classes. In her third year at school she began taking Muggle Studies, and she was quite fascinated with muggle living, especially their methods of cooking. Because of her talent with potions, Marlene thought that she might be successful if she tried cooking the muggle way. At least flour and anything else that she would come across in the kitchen was not potentially explosive.

During Marlene’s fourth year, she began looking through cookbooks in the library at school, taking notes on different ingredients. The following summer she began to try her hand at preparing the different recipes that she found. At first, her culinary creations were nothing to write home about. Often times they were bland or overcooked, but she persevered and learned from her mistakes. By the end of her vacation, she was moderately successful in the kitchen. It was then that she realized what she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to own her own restaurant. She wanted to be a culinary artist.

POST-HOGWARTS:Following her completion of Hogwarts, Marlene and her sister toured the continent for five months. They visited France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Italy. While they spent a month in Italy, Natalie met Fabrizio Esposito, a twenty-eight year old muggle artist. Natalie fell head over heels in love with the Italian. The two parted ways after the vacation was over, but they managed to keep a long distance relationship going through the muggle post.

After returning from her extended holiday, Marlene joined the Order of the Phoenix, and she decided to take the first steps towards opening her own restaurant. She found a job as a pastry chef and waitress at Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop in Hogsmeade. The pay was terrible, the customers were awful, and the shop looked like Saint Valentine exploded all over it, but i was a learning experience and she was allowed to experiment with the menu.

In June 1979, Fabrizio moved to England and proposed to Natalie, and she naturally accepted. The McKinnon family was absolutely elated. Marlene was made the maid of honor, and she was asked to cater the event. After several months, countless dress fittings, and innumerable taste tests, it was time for the January 1st wedding. It started off a blissful day, but by the time noon struck panic and utter terror set in. Death Eaters attacked the wedding. Blood was shed. The McKinnon family was killed, save for Marlene, who barely managed to escape the slaughter after trying to protect her loved ones.

Since the murder of her family, Marlene has taken an extended leave of absence from her job to help her cope with her losses, though she is really traversing the globe with the Order on a search to find Voldemort’s horcruxes. She is also determined to avenge her family’s death.

FIVE THINGS:

• BAD-ASS FAMILY: According to Hagrid, the McKinnon family one of the most powerful in Britain. I’d like to see how Marlene fits in with them because she certainly isn’t the best and brightest of the family.

• NOT A GIRL, NOT YET A WOMAN: Marlene is very much stuck in an adolescent state of mind. Sure there’s a war going on, but she did not experience any sort of real loss until her family was murdered. I want to explore her transition from a clueless girl into a smart young woman.

•FAMILY TIES: Because Marlene is related to the Jugsons, Bulstrodes, and Flints it’s safe to assume that the majority of her family will be associated with the Death Eaters. I’d like to explore any sort of tension between her and the rest of her extended family, especially since they are responsible for the deaths of her parents and sister.

• WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: Because she is killed along with the rest of her family in the books, we never learn what she could have accomplished. It’d be nice to see where life brings her now that she gets to live.

• INSERT BLONDE JOKE HERE: She’s a smart girl, but she has a lot of the characteristics of a stereotypical blonde. The sort of blonde that is blonder than an albino blonde. She has no common sense and she’s far too gullible, and as a result she will most likely land herself in a bunch of hysterical misadventures.

STRANDED: Your character is stranded on a deserted island. Which three items would your character would take with him/herself of personal value/ couldn't they couldn't live without and why?

A wand, a cookbook, and a romance novel.

What one person would they pick to be stranded with?

Her sister, Natalie

And alternatively, what would make this island their personal hell?

If there were mermaids in the water surrounding the island. Marlene would be crippled with fear.