marlene mckinnon

MARLENE MCKINNON, GRYFFINDOR, CHASER & CO-CAPTAIN, XVII. she did not like waiting — if she wanted something, she got it herself. she drew silver linings of her own.

[mckinnn-blog1]

Lily: [restraining Marlene] You can't punch everyone we have a problem with!

Marlene: [struggling] I can try!

[bcstardking]

It wasn’t quite instant, but the shift was noticeable as he eased into the warmth of her presence. His nerves from his earlier run-ins not forgotten but pushed aside, ❝nothing sweetheart,❞ he beamed, he had no intention of troubling Marlene, of all people. Remus canted his head towards her, linking his arm through hers as a tease lilted his usually mild-mannered speech, ❝and, why’re you out of bed?❞ Remus steered them both towards the common room, it would not bode well for either of them to be caught out of bed on the first night back, prefect or not. He leaned over with his free hand to muss her hair lightly, affectionate as he mused, ❝so far from the lion’s den.❞ He nudged her lightly with his shoulder, laughter light on his lips, ❝I’m liking the new nickname. Been sitting on that one all summer?❞

[mckinnn-blog1]

She watched him relaxing, teasing back at her with sweetheart of all things. He must’ve known she’d hate that, considering the huge smile on his face. She walked in step with him, sighing as he began to lead them back to where she’d come from. “Just getting some fresh hair and getting... out.” She knew she didn’t need to say any more. Remus understood why it was hard for Marlene to stay in her room all night, she was sure. Having Lily around all the time was wonderful, but it was also difficult. The summer had been a nice break and Marlene preferred to ease back into Lil’s constant presence. She chuckled, “There’s more where that came from, honeybuns. I had plenty of time to be creative these past few months,” she grinned in his direction. It felt so good to be in Remus’s presence again.

[captainemmavanity-allure]

“You only beat us because it came down to the last came and Amycus was injured,” Emma complained who had thought about that last game all summer in annoyance. “And you and Potter both know it.” 

She locked her jaw in, unprepared to physically fight anyone she stood her ground, ignoring her cheeks which were burning red at the thought that Marlene called her pretty. She tried to rationally it, that Emma knows she is absolutely flawless and others can just appreciate it because they have eyes as well but hearing it in Marlene own words, even if they were angry, made Emma heat up- which annoyed her even more. “How about be a real witch and use a spell? How undignified to actually use fists, I mean really,” she turned her back to Marlene to walk away, forgetting the point of the conversation at all. 

[mckinnn-blog1]

“Sure,” Marlene smiled, knowing she’d struck a nerve, “That’s what you keep telling us.”

She watched Emma’s reaction which was... different than what she’d expected. For a moment, there was a softness to her features. Marlene hadn’t seen her like that much in the time she’d known her. Her face quickly returned back to it’s normal subtle anger though, if slightly more annoyed than what she’d come to expect. As she walked away, Marlene cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled after her, “Who needs a spell when I can hurt you without being expelled?” She was surprised to find a smile resting on her face while she watched Emma leave.

[missxameliabones-blog]

It was a little strange being back at the castle - strange because of everything that had already happened, and everything that was yet to happen.  It was bound to be an eventful year, though it was through a relatively uneventful summer that Amelia had made a promise to herself to actually try to branch out this year.  To spend less time in solitary, and more time trying to get to know those around her.  She was just hoping her promise wouldn’t backfire.  As soon as she entered the castle, excitement slowly ebbed away any feeling of foreboding, and she smiled in spite of herself.  This was home.

“Well, if there was one thing I missed about this castle over holiday, it would certainly have to be the library.”

[mckinnn-blog1]

“You would miss the library... you’re a real brown noser, aren’t you Bones?” Marlene smiled half-heartedly so it was clear the gesture wasn’t genuine, “Y’know, it’s enough that you’re a teacher’s pet. You don’t have to go ‘round bragging about it. It’s actually... quite pathetic, isn’t it?” She looked the girl up and down before continuing, “How were your hols, Mel?” She blinked a few times to show that she wasn’t exactly in the mood to listen to Amelia go on and on about anything.

Marlene didn’t usually go out of her way to be mean to people. In general, she loved meeting new people. That is, until they gave her a reason not to love them anymore. And boy, oh boy, did Amelia ever give Marlene reason enough to despise her. It was funny, Marlene thought, considering it was such a feat to do something that might ever make her dislike you. Marlene was all about second chances, forgiveness, and doing anything to make a relationship work. She couldn’t understand, though, how Amelia could accuse her of doing something so unethical — and something that she didn’t even do, to top it off. Marlene was bright. She didn’t need to cheat off of anyone. And besides, she’d never do something so stupid — like, I dunno, jeopardizing her career.

[jasmineloren]

[fijitears]

fiji

[quietvoiced]

[bcstardking]

It was at least three degrees too cold to be lingering in the hallway after dinner but Remus, after eating a grand total of three helpings of pudding, was biding his time dawdling before ascending to the dormitory. Somewhere along the way of ambling through the castle without purpose he’d managed to lose his hat, strike up an awfully long one-sided conversation with Nearly Headless Nick and accidentally discovered what appeared to be a once long gone secret passageway. His thoughts were a riot of worry, excitement and premature anxiety for the year to come. ❝Merlin,❞ he stammered, heart racing and fingers curled tight up against his palms, he hadn’t seen them when he’d rounded the corner. Ghost of the castle turned tangible. ❝Sorry—I didn’t,❞ didn’t see you—wasn’t paying attention. All entirely honest and valid excuses, yet, Remus succeeded in saying neither of them. He was a blank oasis of haphazard calm and nervous energy, ready to fracture at any given moment.

[mckinnn-blog1]

Marlene loved a late night stroll through the castle. It calmed her nerves, helped her clear her head, and not to mention did wonders for her stress acne. Every so often, she just liked to spend some time by herself. It was quite a rare occurrence, and even rarer were the chances that she’d run into someone during the stroll. The odds were against her that evening, or so she’d thought when she first rounded the corner. When she recognized the figure her nerves eased immediately. She couldn’t say the same for her “boyfriend.” Remus’s body was rigid, his eyes wide. “What’s got you all wound up... love buckets?” she added, just in case there happened to be someone else around. She had a soft smile on her face, genuinely curious and perhaps even a bit worried about his apparent jumpiness.

[ofcurrents]

“Hey, babe, watch where you’re going yeah?”

[mckinnn-blog1]

“Never in your wildest dreams, Rita.”

[ofchvrming]

“Oh, shoot. Oh, no, oh no.” Leave it up to them to drop all their textbooks on the first day of the new year - and they’d only been trying to get it up to the Hufflepuff dorms. “Oh, I’m so sorry, you don’t have to help me.” They scrambled, “I’m fine.” 

[mckinnn-blog1]

Marlene smiled at them, gathering whatever books she could. “Really, Fab, it’s no trouble. Just a couple of textbooks. Nothing to get fussy over.” She sprang back to her feet gracefully and waited for them to join her. “So where to, soft and sweet owner of my heart?”

[saltwaterkezia]

home again

[saltwaterkezia]

Marlene was.. Well. It wasn’t as it used to be. That much Dorcas could tell – They weren’t immediately holding hands, leaning into one another, bumping foreheads, fingers in hair. They weren’t linking pinkies and heading off for the lions table to hold court with Lily and Mary. But Marlene was smiling at them. That was nice, they supposed.

“That’s good. I’m glad – that they were good, I mean.” Not much time with her mates, and Dorcas’s stomach squelched. No invitations had come their way. They rocked a little – from the balls of their feet to their heels. They wondered who Marlene had seen over the summer – Remus, of course. Likely Lily and Mary, too. Just Dorcas had been off to herself. It made the little pilot light that was usually always lit inside of her flicker. Dim. 

“Oh, mine was good, too,” they answered, looking off to the side. “We went to Florence and that was nice but otherwise it was just, you know. Relaxing. But it was fine. And it’s good to be back now, nice to see everyone.” Good, fine, nice. “But, yeah, it was…” They winced, “good.” They cleared their throat a little and tried not to fidget too much. “I’m glad to be back.” You said that already, some phantom voice whispered and Dorcas could feel themself start to tremble a bit. 

They didn’t think it would be this hard, being in front of Marlene.

[mckinnn-blog1]

Marlene struggled with all of it. It hurt her so deeply that she had hurt Dorcas. She wished she could just hold them as usual. But there was something different now — Marlene could feel it, and she wished for nothing more than for everything to be normal. She just wanted to chat with Doe about the usual things. How were their grandparents, she wondered? What was the most beautiful part of Florence? She would kill to hear Doe describe everything down to the tiniest detail. Usually there would be no prying involved and Doe would go right into their spiel, their eyes filling with light and excitement and their arms being thrown about while they spoke. Marlene longed for that.

“Right... good,” she smiled, unsure what to say next, “I am as well.”

She figured it would only be polite to invite Doe to come sit at the Gryffindor table, considering it was where both of their friends sat. None of the lions aside from Remus really knew what had happened between the two of them, so they’d probably suspect something if Doe wasn’t around like usual.

“Y’know, you’re more than welcome to come sit at the table with us. Don’t let me stop y—I mean,” she paused, “I mean there’s no reason you shouldn’t. Obviously.” Marlene looked down sheepishly, the blush obvious on her ears. She cursed herself for wearing her hair back in a ponytail.

[heavenhillgirl]

The brown bunny (2003), Vincent Gallo

[jakegyllenhaal]

[gryffindce-blog]

marlene reminded lily of shakespeare. though she be but little, she is fierce. she could certainly handle the weight of the head girl for a minute or two. lily was even more petite than marlene, although she had curves where mckinnon sported lean muscle. lily had always admired marlene’s body, the strength of it, the power. it was a body that could handle what it needed to, that could fill someone with the confidence of knowing they were strong enough to take what might be thrown their way.  no matter how uncomfortable lily had once been in her own skin, marlene made it impossible for her to think black wasn’t beautiful. but marlene was more than black, she was more than any one thing.  “mmm, the kitchen? i bet we can get the house elves to give us something yummy.”

[mckinnn-blog1]

Marlene sighed, “The kitchen? Lils, we’ve just eaten an actual feast. What more could your tiny stomach possibly handle?” She smiled to herself. In the entirety of their friendship, there was never any one moment where Marlene could figure out what Lily was thinking. Most people were easy for Marlene to read, easy to figure out but what really drew Marlene to Lily was the mystery of her. The living on the edge of her seat, waiting for whatever happened next. Lily was one surprise after another.

Marlene carried them reluctantly on the quickest route she knew. Halfway down, she stopped and nudged Lily. “Y’know I love conditioning for the season as much as any top-of-the-line, soon-to-be-pro quidditch player, but is there any chance your feet have started working again?” She chuckled softly. It wasn’t that Marlene was out of breath or even tired. She’d just missed seeing Lily’s face. It had been a long summer and she missed the spark in Lily’s eyes, the joy in her smile, the beautiful rich colour of the blush on her cheeks.

[fuchsialesbian-deactivated20160]

[prongspatrol-blog]

“Even when I tell you I got an offer from the Sweetwater All-Stars?” He ruffled his hair and tried to look bashful about it but he couldn’t help it- he was jazzed about it and knew that Marlene would be one of the few who understood. 

“They were hols- pretty sure I spent more time on my broom than the ground but what’s to be expected. My mum packed some butter cookies for you that’re in my trunk by the way- she says hello and sends her love as usual. How’d you fare this summer?”

[mckinnn-blog1]

“I-what?!” So many emotions whirled through her head. She was being scouted by a couple of teams as well — the Holyhead Harpies being her obvious choice, despite the fact that she’d likely be a bench warmer for the first zillion years of her career — but none had given her any offers. She was proud. Excited. Overjoyed. And in the back of her mind, the little green monster lay in wait. All she could do was jump into another hug, mostly to hide her face from her friend. 

“That’s incredible!” she said, putting a convincing amount of excitement into her voice despite her eyes not quite matching, “Seriously unbelievable James.” She pulled back from the hug, a wide smile on her face. How could she not be happy for her brother? Of course she was happy for Potter. She was sure she’d get an offer. And if not, it was fine. She’d just go to Salem Institute where she’d already been accepted. It would be fine.

“Same. Mum’s in Estonia currently so Dad and I stayed there for a few weeks, but I spent a lot of the time practicing aside from that. Dad took me to a Gorodok Gargoyles game as well, in Lithuania. It was incredible.”

[screamsource]

[captainemmavanity-allure]

“I don’t think they have reason to begin with McKinnon. Is there a reason that your house couldn’t make up your mind about who should be captain? Or was it just a collectiveness of being too afraid to go up against me another year that makes you stick to this wild co-captain agenda? Hm?” 

“I think you’re right about something, we might as well get rid of the Gryffindor robes all together- I think it’s clear how to tell you lot apart. I’m sorry us Snakes are consideration enough to remind you if you’re not going to appreciate our foresight.” 

[mckinnn-blog1]

That struck a nerve with Marlene. She might’ve punched her right then and there if it weren’t for the fact that Emma was so... well, beautiful. She might’ve admired that beauty if it weren’t for the fact that the inside didn’t match the out.

“We’ve reason enough to stay the hell away from you lot. Reason enough that our strategy beat out yours last year for the Quidditch House Cup,” Marlene paused. She couldn’t just let the comment stand about “Y’know what, why don’t you just shut your mouth before I shut it for you? Wouldn’t want to harm that pretty face of yours.”