Lioness

Marlene McKinnon; The lioness is not submissive. She merely lets you be king for as long as it pleases her. Gryffindor || Seventh Year

[emmelineravenvance]

Quidditch Practice ~ Marlene and Emme

[emmelineravenvance]

Of course Emme trusted Marlene with all of this. Not just because of the other girl’s experience, but because of the friends they’d become. It was easy to get Emme to trust someone in a way, but it was hard to get her to open up to someone to gain that trust. She was afraid of trusting people because she was afraid of losing them, but trusting someone was something she couldn’t help doing. So it was no surprise that she found herself in front of Marlene today because of her offer no matter how nervous she was about her skills.

When the question over her skills was asked of her, she looked at the broom in her hand before she moved it so she could mount it. She gripped it before she kicked off the ground. She titered a little once she was in the air, but she balanced quickly. She let the broom take her a little higher off the ground than a hover so she could take it once arond the arena. It was strange to do it again after so long, but it seemed to be something no one forgot. But she still took it slow even though she wanted to take it fast, even a little. It was a freeing feeling to be up in the air like that. She even wanted to be up in the air higher. She’d have to take that opportunity if it came up.

After she finnished her round she made her way right in front of Marlene once more and brought herself down to a hover right in front of her. “Anything specifically you need to see besides that?” she questioned. Honestly, she wasn’t completely sure what was going to be needed besides hand-eye coordination and the basics of flying for this first lesson. So, that was why she asked.

[firecrackermckinnon]

One of the major points Marlene wanted to prove was that she believed Emmeline was probably more capable in this situation than she thought. Sure the other girl hadn't really claimed that she would fail, however she wasn't appearing as confident as Marlene believed she could. So the blonde girl wanted to prove to her friend that just because she felt slightly uncomfortable in a situation it didn't mean that she wasn't meant to be in it. Perhaps competitive quidditch wasn't for Emmeline but there was still something serene about flying and she wanted her friend to discover that as well.

Watching Emmeline on the broom made the other girl smile happily, an almost proud smile stretched across her features causing the blonde's eyes to light up. However the pride she was feeling in regard to her friend was nothing in comparison to the restlessness that floating in the air without barely doing anything else was doing to Marlene. Her mind and body was itching for her to do something, to get the spark of the thrill to light up inside of her that she had come to love so much. Quidditch was a dangerous sport in itself, possibly, and Marlene didn't mind making it more dangerous with her style of flying and a lot of the time it gave her an advantage as well. There was no saying what the blonde seeker would actually do and her unpredictability made her a more dangerous opponent, sometimes not only to the score of the match.

"That was really good." Marlene cheered happily. "I want to try something, so just, follow my lead but follow your own instincts more. It's about what you're comfortable with because if you're not you'll probably have an accident." She said with a shrug that was far too casual considering she'd just talked about falling freely from the sky more or less. But to be fair Marlene had had plenty of accidents, broken bones and bruises seemed like child play at this point.

Gaining both height and speed as she rose higher into the sky Marlene flew forward, and it was the feeling she was given that reminded her why she loved what she was doing. To Marlene this was everything in a way; the wind in her face almost painful as she flew faster than before, but still pleasant though her hair. She did a couple of sharp turns and no so deep dives before flying back down to a lower level again. "Speed or height?" She asked Emmeline as soon as she was face to face with the brunette again.

[lennoxperdueing]

Lennox watched Marlene as she spoke and he believed what she said. He also believed in what she said. He remembered one-sided fights he’d broken up while he’d been in school. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair, especially if it was a younger students. He could only imagine the reasons behind it, but he tried not to speculate. He didn’t just want to assume the worst of the other student and say it was blood related. Though, any reason to bully another students was awful. There wasn’t a reason to any of it.

He looked at the student, who’s head was down, probably embarrassed and right fully so. “Is there anything you’d like to add?” he asked, getting a shake of a head as a response. He looked between the two for a moment. Honestly, the bully had been in the most wrong, but Marlene hadn’t handled the situation well. That was the problem. He didn’t want it to get out that he was okay with hitting other students no matter the reason.

His eyes landed on her before he sighed. “While I am glad you put a stop to this before it got any worse, Miss McKinnon, you should have come to one of the other professors or myself before using your own methods to punish your peer.” He paused for a second as he thought of the fair action for this. “I feel taking twenty points from Gryiffindor is fair?” Of course he had the final say, but he would prefer her to speak her mind first. The other student of course would be receiving a much steeper punishment.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Personally Marlene believed she had found a rather perfect way to deal with the situation. She highly doubted that regardless of what any of her professors would think of the situation they'd actually go as far as openly agreeing with her. The fact that she was sometimes a tad too quick to act, a little too impulsive, was something her friends kept reminding her about.

Marlene sat relaxed, perched upon the desk with a casual smile on her face, nothing about her body language indicating that she was bothered or worried that she had been caught. She wasn't, so what was the point in acting it? However her fellow student didn't seem as untroubled as she remained silent, staring at the floor, hopefully in shame.

Hearing the punishment being suggested caused Marlene to be slightly surprised but she suppressed the feeling with a shrug. "Sure." She said after a moment. "It doesn't matter whatever punishment you give me I'd still do it again in a heartbeat." The blonde confessed sincerely.

[lennoxperdueing]

"I know what I experienced, Miss McKinnon," he said with a shrug, but he still smiled. Honestly the biggest problem of the night had been most of them were rather inexperinced in dealing with creatures of the deep. "Now that is true. Besides, the giant squid is the least of anyone’s worries in that lake." It honestly was the most gentle out of all the creatures in that lake.

[firecrackermckinnon]

"I'm sure you do." She said with a shrug. The few times Marlene had actually properly ended up bathing in the lake she wouldn't claim had been willingly. Some might say that the time she did it to win a bet was willingly but the blonde disagreed, that was to win the bet not because she wanted to go for a swim. Other than that Marlene stuck to the shore and dipping her feet in the water too cool down on obnoxiously warm days. She knew what was in there and hardly saw a reason as to dealing with it when it could be avoided. "It just wants to play and its not aware of its own size and strength, so if it actually knocks over a few boats of first years each year, it's for fun." Marlene defended the creature.

[emmelineravenvance]

I suppose this is true. And with our minds put together, we should be able to think up something good. Besides, even if I get caught, at least we’ve proven something important.

[firecrackermckinnon]

These are the kinds of things that make me so incredibly proud of you, Emme. Sure getting a way with things is quite neat from time to time, but getting caught isn't necessarily bad. Imagine executing a perfect prank and not getting the credit for it? That would be horrible. I'd much rather be caught than have someone else get credit for it.

[lostblackstar]

Andi crouched in front of the piece of parchment in front of her, quill in hand and brows furrowed. Books were surrounding her like a fortress, stacked up against one another. The library was relatively packed, everybody seemed to be working on the first week’s workloads. "Can’t Slughorn give an easier topic to write about? For Merlin’s sake, it’s only been the first week."She muttered through gritted teeth. She felt the chair beside her move and she knew she had company. But she didn’t even look up to see who it was.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Marlene preferred to take books out of the library rather than spend more time than she had to in the area, it was the whole quiet concept that bugged her. If she couldn't be silent in class why would she all of a sudden be able to do it in the library just because? This time however she spotted Andi sitting by one of the tables and smiled softly. Picking out a random book from the shelves she took a seat in the chair next to the girl before throwing her feet up onto the table, hearing Andromeda complain about the work she was doing while sitting down. "Because he loves to torture you."

[hybrid-tessa]

"Always trying to prove who’s wand is bigger huh?" she said continuing to lighten the mood. She had not such an honest conversation with anyone at Hogwarts in a long time. It was quiet refreshing to say the least. "There is a difference between being competitive and having ambition." Emma said, of course people from other houses had ambitions as well, but their was just something about Slytherins, something about having something to prove, well at least Emma found that she did. Always trying to prove that she deserved to be in her house, that she deserved respect. That’s what set her apart from other Slytherins, she did not assume people would respect her just because of her name or blood status, she had to earn it, because respect was just like marks in classes, you did not get better ones just because magic had been in your family for generations.

[firecrackermckinnon]

A smile tugged on her lips and she nodded. "Something like that." Marlene mused, an entertained smirk on her face. But that quickly disappeared when the other girl continued speaking. Marlene wasn't relaxed around the girl, the tiniest thing seemed to anger her and she partially knew that wasn't fair. However the part of her that knew she was acting wrong was just being pushed aside. "And you are a fool if you think that Slytherins have some kind of right to be the only ones with ambition. It's a pretty human thing, and yes I know its something you lot value more than other things but that's besides the point." At this point Marlene didn't even mean to sound rude when she addressed the other girl. Even if they weren't friends per say Marlene respected her. But the existing animosity between them still made it very easy for Emma to annoy the blonde girl.

[emmelineravenvance]

We better be. I don’t want to have another detention with him. Losing house points wouldn’t be the best idea either. Though, I suppose I shouldn’t even be planning to do this if I don’t want the punishment.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Wrong. You just have to make sure to plan it if you don't want to get caught. Trust me, there are plenty of ways to avoid detention or losing house points and still having fun, you just need to make sure you know what you're doing before you do it.

[lennoxperdueing]

Looking at Marlene as she spoke, then back down at the other student. He knew exactly what had happened. Well, a pretty good idea, knowing Marlene. He sighed a bit before he looked around at the section of student body that’d gathered around the scene. “Alright, move along the lot of you, I’m sure you have class,” he said moving his arms and hands in a manner as if to guide all of them out of the area to get rid of the scene. “You don’t want me to bring Professor Dumbledore down here. Go on.”

Once the crowd had filed out of the hallway, he turned to look at the two girls again. The one that had been on the ground had gotten to her feet already. “Into the classroom.” He held out his arm and hand in the direction of the open door. He was thankful for an open period before his next class in an instance like this. He just wasn’t thankful for an instance like this.

He followed in behind the two before he moved around in front of the two and lead them to the front of the room. “Since Miss McKinnon seems the most eager to share, she will first,” he said, directing his attention to her before he motioned in the direction of his office before he started in that direction.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Marlene scoffed when the gathered crowd scattered, disappearing in different directions at the mention of the headmaster coming down. "Pathetic." She muttered quietly under her breath, taking a step away from the other girl. If anything Dumbledore was probably one of the better staff members that could become involved in the situation, at least for her, because she knew that she hadn't done anything wrong. Her ends clearly justified her means.

Without any protests Marlene walked into the empty class room with her head held high. She didn't even care about the possible consequences that was most definitely coming her way. There were several things she could get away with, having one of her professors more or less see her hit another student wasn't going to be seen as nothing.

Sitting down on top of one of the desks with her hands behind her placed upon the surface the blonde leaned back, swinging her legs back and forth. "I really don't like bullies, sir." Marlene said glaring at the other girl. "And I don't care what that stupif hat says about forgiveness or sticking together," for the first time Marlene voiced her opinions about the sorting hat's song, maybe being united is necessary, but I'm failing to see how attacking children in a school because you can makes anything better? I'm not going to let anyone hurt a little kid."

[lennoxperdueing]

Lennox laughed a little before he shrugged. “I hadn’t minded it either,” he said, honestly. “Until that night.” It wasn’t easy to forget the tentacles and the long fingers. Everyone made it out okay, but they all would’ve taken detention over that sort of punnishment. “But yes, if I had avoided such an incident, I’d have to agree.”

[firecrackermckinnon]

"Now it sounds like some lame horror film not even using proper facts about the starring evil creatures." Marlene spoke happily. There had been a few occasions when Marlene had been in the lake. Mainly it happened for four different reasons though; a bet, a dare, she fell or she was pushed. "You don't have to jump in the lake to enjoy it, considering what lives in that lake personally I'd prefer to stay on the shore and just throw pieces of food to the giant squid."

[emmelineravenvance]

Quidditch Practice ~ Marlene and Emme

[emmelineravenvance]

Emme held back a sigh of relief when Marlene told her that she wouldn’t have to deal with bludgers. So no murderous balls would be headed towards her face, not at least today it seemed like. She’d seen a lot of accidents with those balls. What was this sport anyway? Students as young as second year sometimes, in those rare sometimes, were in this sport. Wasn’t there one a century ago that was a first year? This was a little crazy. Though, what was any sport in all honesty. At least you could carry your wand in this one if you didn’t use it to cheat.

Now that all the excess gear off, she could admit…that she could actually move. She’d been starting to get worried that all of it would cause an accident or something. And since they were using the quaffle first, they were in a bit more control. She glanced over at the brooms. They were what she was most familiar with, if that meant anything at all. Honestly, she had what she knew from the class and she remembered it well. Not many people were instant naturals on a broom, and she hadn’t been one, but she’d picked everything up at a normal speed.

"Alright, a bit of flying, then tossing and catching while flying," she said, going over the training schedule again. She stepped over to the brooms and held her hand over one of them. "Up." It went right up into her hand. Looked like she still had some of it after all. "Maybe I won’t be much of a lost case?" She looked at Marlene and smiled.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Laughing at the obvious relief on her friend's face Marlene rolled her eyes. There was no way she was going to put Emme in any immediate danger. At least not on purpose. There was a possibility that she was putting her in a slight position of possible danger just by putting her on a broom. No matter what flying still came with a risk and accidents could easily happen, Marlene remembered how in their first year, during lessons, one boy had fallen off his broom during every session. Of course the reason Marlene remembered this so well was because she had been personally responsible for it. She hadn't even put him in actual danger where he could be seriously injured, only a little bit.

There was no way she'd do anything like that to Emmeline though, the dark haired girl was one of her closest friends and for good reason. Marlene still remembered when they'd barely known each other, when Emme was just Doe's friend and then in one moment all that had changed and now she was Marlene's friend too.

An impressed smirk appeared on Marlene's face when the broom rose into Emmeline's waiting hand. "Do you remember anything else from flying lessons?" She asked curiously, unsure of whether they could get straight to flying or if she had to remind the other girl what had been said. To be completely honest Marlene hoped she didn't have to, flying was just second nature to blonde, it was like walking or breathing, something that she just did and she wasn't sure how she'd be able to explain it.

"Up." Marlene said with determination, smirking when the broom flew up into her waiting hand and the blonde mounted the broomstick before kicking off lightly from the ground, merely hoovering above the grass.

[emmelineravenvance]

This is true, but this is only if I don’t get caught. It seems like you and Doe are rubbing off on me. Though honestly, this is a risk I’m willing to take to prove how insane Professor Abbey actually is.

[firecrackermckinnon]

We are rubbing off on you, Emme. I'm extremely proud of you. That is also obviously why you won't get caught, we'll have your back and the three of us will be fine.

[lennoxperdueing]

The year had been going well. Honestly, it’d only been three days, but despite some students out too late, some smuggling in items against the rules, and an incident with Peeves, everything was going pretty well. At least as far as he’d been seeing. He hadn’t been talking to too many of the professors about students breaking the rules, there was other things to discuss, like the world outside of Hogwarts and keeping it outside Hogwarts.

But that wasn’t the case today. He was dismissing a room full of third years out of his classroom when he heard shouts out in the hall. Moving quickly, he gently made his way through the students that were from his room and from the hall outside that had begun to crowd in a circle. A younger student dodged around him and disappeared into the crowd. But that really didn’t matter to him. What mattered was Marlene Mckinnon standing over another female student. He took a spot between the two and alternated looking between them. “What is going on here?” he asked the both of them.

[firecrackermckinnon]

There were a lot things that Marlene cared about in life, fortunately for her and unfortunately for Hogwarts' staff, detention was not one of those things. As long as she was being punished for something she had done Marlene didn't care. So the appearance of Professor Perdue didn't bug the older girl as much as it probably would've other students.

To be completely sure Marlene herself wasn't entirely true what the entire story that was currently playing out actually was. If the young woman was anything it was quick, in so many ways, this time possibly quick to act. But Marlene had never been one to think with her head, she thought with her heart and seeing the trembling first or second year student backed in a corner had made her see red.

"Just making sure younger students can feel safe enough at Hogwarts, sir. Without having to watch their backs because an older student might try to hurt them," Marlene said coldly, keeping her eyes on the girl she had slapped moments ago, "there's enough to be worried about without having to be terrorised in a place you're supposed to be safe."

[emmelineravenvance]

Quidditch Practice ~ Marlene and Emme

[emmelineravenvance]

Emme had been right, she came over prepared. “I did a bit of studying before coming,” she admitted, moving herself as needed as Marlene took off the gear she didn’t need on. She kind of had a feeling she’d put on too much from what she’d seen in the games, but she hadn’t had a clue of what was worn for first practices or any practice at all. She couldn’t imagine anyone being an expert day one. Well, she knew a couple people, but not everyone can dodge a bludger or throw a quaffle without falling off their broom right away.

So, that was why she’d prepared so much, even if it was too much. “It turns out it was a little too much, right?” She laughed a bit at herself. She couldn’t really be that embarassed around a friend in all honesty. Marlene knew she wouldn’t purposely do something so stupid, even though she was trying to not look so stupid trying to do something her friends were so into. “I trust you and everything, but I’m not going to need all of this?” She eyed the bludger specifically. She didn’t have to worry about other players at least.

She moved her eyes from the bludgers and over to the brooms. “So, what’s the first lesson going to be?” she questioned eagerly. She already knew what she knew from flying class, from Marlene and Doe talking about quidditch, watching games, and what she read last night. But again, there was still a lot to learn from actually playing the game.

[firecrackermckinnon]

If she was being completely and one hundred percent honest Marlene had not planned this whole thing out exactly. She had made all the arrangements that needed to be done to make it happen in the first place, she just hadn't thought much about the moment when it was happening. Though as she finished removing the excessive protection Emmeline was wearing Marlene started to realise that perhaps it would've been a good idea to have done so.

"As much as being careful is a really good thing and I'm proud of you for researching enough to realise how important, you're really not going to need all of this." Marlene said kindly. "And you are not getting anywhere near a lose bludger any time soon I can tell you that much." The blonde almost scolded sternly, but it was the truth, there was no way she was letting her friend near the violent balls that would most definitely break the brunette's nose. It was just her and Emmeline as well and Marlene didn't feel confident enough to release the bludgers without any of the team's beaters around for help with them, she could handle the quaffle and the snitch was her forte, but the bludgers she only stayed away from.

Picking up the quaffle in her hands Marlene tossed it up and down, catching it easily every time she did so. "We're only going to use this." She said decidedly. "I know you know the basics of flying, so first of all we need to make sure you remember those and after that we're going to do some flying relatively close to the ground and practice passing the quaffle and flying with the quaffle." Marlene continued, more or less making up the plan on the spot but she felt happy with it, to Marlene it sounded like a rather good plan.

[lennoxperdueing]

He nose laughed a little before he shook his head. “I wouldn’t lie about that one, even to make the story more interesting,” he said with a shrug. It was only fitting in a story like that one. “However, once in my fifth year, I swam in the Black lake after curfew.” It wasn’t recommended in all honestly. It was cold and though they didn’t get caught, they were attacked by five grindylows.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Marlene smiled gently at his explanation, there was something serious about his words despite the shrug her finished off his words with, and the fact that he basically added another story to make it up to her. "I like the lake," She stated happily, "it's peaceful in a way, it's a really good place for when you want to go and think about something, just the sound of water running freely only controlled by itself and the wind, it's beautiful."

[emmelineravenvance]

Well, I have one more year to get through it, so I’m not too worried. I’m not taking a class with him either so I can avoid him. I believe you, you don’t have to prove it, but I’m in for trying to find this pensive.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Of course you're not going to worry, the worst he can do is give you detention and that can only happen if you get caught doing something wrong. Something like the thing you're currently volunteering for, seriously? That is a brilliant idea.

[firecrackermckinnon]

Marlene believed strongly in justice and treating people correctly regardless of house or sex or blood status or whatever other shitty reason you wanted to insert in the situation. So seeing the way the older student had the younger one cornered, pulling and pushing the small child made Marlene's blood boil.

Furious, the seventh year stalked towards the pair and tapped the older student on teh shoulder, and when the girl turned around Marlene only just had the time to spot the silver and blue crest on her robes before her hand had flown across her face sharply. The girl fell to the ground and Marlene pulled the younger student behind herself. "You need to shut the hell up and never let me hear you say anything like that again. If I do I swear you're going to miss this." Marlene threatened menacingly before turning towards the younger student, her features softened and she smiled at the little girl, "Go, I'll deal with this, I promise." She said reassuringly, her voice gentle and she nudged the girl away from the scene.

[emmelineravenvance]

Quidditch Practice ~ Marlene and Emme

Emmeline Vance would never be one made for quidditch, but she wasn’t opposed to try something new in her last year. She would never have an opportunity to try it again when one looked at it closely. It’s not like there wasn’t quidditch outside school, but it wasn’t like you could play it properly unless you were professional. And no, she wasn’t trying out for the team, but she was still going to learn something new since Marlene had offered. She wasn’t expecting herself to be good, but she was going to try.

So that was what had her out in the middle of the field in full safety padding. She’d done some studying already on some of the more specific facts and all that one needed to know. She was never one to go into something unprepared. She was sure there was some mocking in store for her when Marlene showed up for their practice, but it was all something to give herself more of a piece of mind she supposed. Not that any reading could truly help her with learning how to play this game.

But it was how she was about it all after all, and she figured Marlene knew exactly what she was getting into. She seemed excited nonetheless. Emme would just have to fond some way to repay her later. Maybe she could give her help with painting, or she’d ultimately do what she usually did whenever anyone needed help and help with classes. She was always happy to do that after all. She looked forward when she heard Marlene come up and smiled. “I’m ready to start,” she said with a nod. “Thank you for doing this again.”

[firecrackermckinnon]

There was no doubt that Marlene had been excited about getting to teach Emmeline a few things about Quidditch. The blonde girl had a tendency of liking things very passionately for a short while and then losing interest in them. However, Quidditch was one of those things that never seemed to lose its appeal. Marlene had a feeling it had something to do with the danger of it, it suited the reckless young woman perfectly that she could easily break a bone or two if one of her calculated moves went wrong. Because regardless of what people thought all those seemingly stupid moves were perfectly calculated by the blonde before she pulled them off. Though now that they had found a time slot that suited both Marlene and Emmeline the blonde had a feeling that maybe those moves wouldn't be what she'd end up teaching the other girl.

Of course, since it had been her idea, Marlene had made sure to make all the arrangements for their session; she had booked the pitch to ensure their privacy, and she was currently collecting the supplies they would need. Dressed in only the most necessary parts of her Quidditch gear Marlene stood in the supply closet looking down in the box at the different balls used, she grinned at the bludgers fighting against their restraints, and the quaffle that laid still. But it was the snitch that caught her attention and releasing it Marlene held the golden ball in her hand, letting it float into the air and capturing it a few times before securing it back in the box again. Taking out the quaffle instead Marlene grabbed an extra broomstick other than her own for Emmeline, even if the other girl brought a broom herself it was more likely that Marlene would bring one that was good enough for her.

Making her way onto the pitch Marlene smiled as she saw Emmeline standing in the middle of the field. It wasn't until she came closer that she saw the excessive amount gear that the other girl wore and the sight caused the blonde to laugh out loud. "Are you sure you don't need a pillow and a belt to tie around your tailbone? I'm sorry," She apologised through giggles as she came closer, "but you don't need all that, Emme." Marlene continued. Dropping the brooms and the quaffle gently to the ground Marlene stepped closer to her friend and began to work on the strings of the protective gear to get what wasn't necessary off of the other girl.