Marlene Mckinnon

 ❝ He thought her beautiful,  believed her impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her, which,  ignoring the subject, she corrected in red ink.❞                 - ‘Mrs Dalloway’, Virginia Woolf     

[frgttnx]

❛Well —— you’re not wrong.❜ She wore an indifferent expression, lips curved in a silent agreement. Her eyes eventually lifted to match those in front of her: both sets playing the game terrifyingly well. ❛Your overall failure in life has made this friendship easier.❜ The words slipping from her mouth were drenched in humor: passersby possibly believing the exchange had they been present.

              ❛I suppose it’s a good thing I’m patient, hmm?❜

                                                                    She had initially been kidding. Lily, after                                                                     all, found herself h u m b l e d  by many                                                                     circumstances. At that point, the idea of                                                                     a compliment seemed trivial if not fully                                                                      unjustifiable. 

❛May his expensive taste bring us good fortune.❜ She bowed in her seated position, a spark visible within her eyes that had only ever been present during moments shared with a best friend. There had been a time, not long ago, when she had such instances with Severus. But that was another story.  ❛Do tell me you’ve brought interesting tales along with that bottle…..❜

[mxkinnon-blog]

        "It's wonderful to know that someone accepts my failure as a good thing."

Of course, Marlene was far from being a failure. Sleepless nights attested for the way she seemed to pull exceptional grades out of nowhere, every effortless outfit she wore was planned to the last thread, every expression and feeling ironed out so that nothing she was seemed out of place. It took it's toll. Every second she thought about perception. Being the effortless p r i n c e s s took more of that effort than she was ever willing to admit.

But the joke was fun. Hiding the truth behind lies and deception always served to make it all look prettier in the end and she liked that she wore her masks well enough that they couldn't be seen through. 

             "It is one of the traits I like most about you."  

                                                                        Really, Marlene could not think of a thing she                                                                                       did not at least appreciate about the girl who                                                                                       sat next to her, but their jokes were aimed to be                                                                                    enjoyed. It was the nature of their friendship                                                                                        that everything, no matter how small, was                                                                                             worthy of praise. 

She smirked, "It seems that my father is good for some things other than freaking out over my life choices." Marlene took the drink back, sipping deeply from it. The taste slipped down her throat happily, warming her from the inside out and sharpening her mind for a few moments.

        "Well, my dear, we're one day into the school year and I have a proposal. Alert the media, all my days will have not been for nothing for there is a gentleman caller knocking."

[mikki-kimyo]

[nepenthenism]

                 ” Agreed to disagree. But good for you, McKinnon, that is noble of you, and I do mean that. Though, it is quite unfortunate not all have the benefit of having a clear and striking choice between right and wrong. Some don’t have a choice at all - and sometimes the truly right choice may seem wrong to the eyes of those ignorant of their reasons.”

There was more to be said about the matter - but Andromeda preferred to leave it as it was. She didn’t have the patience nor the set of mind to dive into such a complex topic with the blonde lioness, especially so early in the school year. If McKinnon wanted to believe there was such thing having qualifications to judge - a right to judge - then so be it. Most Gryffindors, after all, had a tendency to shame others for their faults but find their own excusable only because they are supposedly on the good side. A twist of words and laughing as if it’s all a joke, and problem solved. 

                 "And I was brought up to believe many, many, things that you’d call false, so let us leave out assumptions, shall we?" With a cordial smile now painted on her lips, a slender eyebrow arching in the slightest. "That would not be your business, but surely if you’re close to him, you already know the answer to that. He is, and will always be, my family."

Shaking her head, there was a somewhat amused and indiscernible grimace on her face.

                 "No, they do enough damage by themselves."

With a swift movement, the girl took out her wand and tapped it to the tarnished paper - a soft flame soon consuming the parchment and ashes falling slowly off her palm, turned into nothingness.

                 " Now - I’m sure you’re aware we’re both late to Charms."

[mxkinnon-blog]

           "Thank you for saying so, dear. Nobility is a dull thing but us lions must strive for it, they say. Can't be letting old Godric down, can we? Not when he used to be so cute back in his day."

          "And I'm sure the choice between what is right and what a person must do becomes harder when there are people invested in those decisions." She smiled, trying not to think of the conversation she had been forced into with her childhood friend that very day. Rosier, as she must remember to call him, had made his choice. Marlene had to stick by hers. "Because of that, should you ever need a drink, my house elf personally owls me a selection of my father's more expensive drinks and I would be willing to share as long as there wasn't a ritual muggleborn sacrifice at the beginning of the evening.

                    Or the end.

          Or any point, for that matter. No sacrifice whatsoever. On each of our parts because I have been known to sacrifice my homework often."

Marlene had never been one to write people off as wholly evil unless their actions proved them otherwise. She knew herself to be a hypocrite; choosing to forgive things in some people but not in others and she was f i n e with that. She forgave Evan for many things because he had once been her friend, forgave his family because of the holidays she spent with them. Andromeda, to her own eye, wasn't quite as convicted, had never been seen to actually hurt another without due cause. She thought that maybe there was a chance she could convert, if the right perspectives were put to her. And as much as Marlene knew she'd go about that all wrong, no one else seemed to be doing it.

             "I'd pass that on to them, but they'd probably consider it a compliment."

                             Marlene smiled as the paper went up in flames. Watching as passers by stared at the two of them incredulously.

      "Charms doesn't seem like a thing I want to do today. Would you mind awfully telling them I got sick? You could even pretend you had to take me back if you want to skip out yourself."

[goldenprat]

"I’ll go with proud, because let’s face it, you’ve learnt many of those nasty tricks from me. I’m a wonderful mentor if I say so myself. "

He fixed the collar of his shirt for effect, moving the crimson and golden tie as he sent the girl the most charming of his grins. It came as second nature for James, to act like his prick cocky self around the blonde without fear of retribution; she knew him far too well to know what to take to heart, and what to dismiss. After all, James did not have the best filter between his brain and his mouth, usually the words just came as fast as his instinct, raw and rash - reason number one he got a slap in the face at least once a week.

" Ah, what a prick."

Shaking his head, he let out a heavy sight before moving to take his wand - conjuring with a quick spell one of the pillows on the sofa to his right, only offering a fast smirk to the few third grades who complained in response.

"I bet his face got a shiny red mark from your hand, did he make a big fuss when you rejected him?"

[mxkinnon-blog]

           "James Potter, you do not get to take credit for me being awesome. It's only down to my friendship that you're a passable dork instead of a complete dork and I'll thank you for remembering that."

She laughed at his action, no trace of cruelty crossing her face but an expression of complete and utter teasing. There were those in her life that she could call names without abandon, always knowing where the line that separated jokes from harshness lay. Those people had her full loyalty, had the knowledge that she would happily cause damage to a person foolish enough to use those names in a harmful manner. She cared, more than anything she cared, openly and honestly and forsaking anyone who wanted to hurt her people.

       "Eloquent as always, my dear."

Marlene chuckled at the reaction of the third years, moving so that she could steal half of his pillow herself and raising an eyebrow as if daring him to complain. There was something about little sisters. She'd been young when she'd learnt that with her own biological brother and now at school she used those tricks on her surrogate.

     "He went surprisingly quietly after I reminded him that I wasn't even going to be friends with him if he was going to continue being prejudiced." 

[prewettingarchive]

"Ha ha ha, very funny." He resisted the urge to laugh for once in his life, so as to make his point that the joke wasn’t very funny. Of course, it was stupid and so he’d thought it was funny. He’d missed the presence of his stunning fiery friend, someone he considered among his best mates. 

"Love, you’d be beautiful even if you were bald. You’d still have men dying at your feet." He smiled at her softly, "Well, if no one else comes along, I’ll marry you for your mum’s sake. We can keep a very open relationship." He chuckled.

[mxkinnon-blog]

"Ah, I knew there was a reason that I kept you around. Keep the compliments coming and I might even admit to missing you since we last spoke." Marlene laughed. It was clear to anyone that she had missed him, given how close their relationship had always been.

"The open ones are the best ones."

[knightindarkarmor]

"I wish that weren’t so," he told her.  Even for Marlene, one of the few people he thought he might care about, he couldn’t be what she wanted him to be.  

He wouldn’t give up everything else for her, no matter how it would get him where he wanted with her.  He couldn’t imagine mingling with her friends, the Mudbloods, the blood traitors, all the common folk he knew from an early age were beneath his notice.  

"I’m sorry.  I don’t know how to be anyone other than who I am."

[mxkinnon-blog]

        "I don't want you to be anyone other than yourself."

Marlene did know that. She w i s h e d with everything in her that he could believe in everything that she did and step across the line for her but it didn't seem the they could get anything they wanted.

       "I just wish we were standing on the same side."

[nepenthenism]

"You are totally missing the point, McKinnon, and by now question if it’s even worth it to spell it out for you. But, let’s have a second good deed of the day, shall we?"

She would speak out, of course, because the Gryffindor girl had been the one to bring up a matter that wasn’t relevant - a point to speak of her sisters - and still had the audacity to have this false and somewhat insipid sense of misplaced righteousness. So, with a patience that she had not been gifted with, Andy simply tilted her head as if to look at her closer - indifferent to the unfortunate bystanders, or that class would probably start soon and she’d be late.

" You mentioned doing the right thing - doing things for the right reason. Are you in charge of what this elusive right reason is? I do wonder if it’s talking like that about other classmates behind their back, if the Potters are arrogant and the Lovegoods are ignorant,  as you so readily pointed out, I’ll choose for myself because today I just can’t trust your fair judgement.”

The Slytherin paused, sky blue eyes tracing slow and attentive the blonde’s features as if to see if she was catching on. Andy’s stance was not one for a fight, that was the last thing she needed or wanted - it was more so clarification. After all, ignorance ruined this world.

"Now, let me be clear….I can be nice, and it’ll be my honest choice - but don’t you ever bring up my sisters to me like that again, least of all if it is to judge them with whatever divine right you may think you have. As small as the mention was, it was unnecessary, and quite frankly, foolish.”

A soft shrug of her shoulders followed her words. “As for the notes, you’ve managed to change my heart - I mean, I can’t take away the glory of the Gryffindor boy band from playing pranks on the student body, it’d be scandalous.”

[mxkinnon-blog]

                  "No one is in charge of the elusive right, as you so put it, but there are those who seem more q u a l i f i e d to speak of it. I am not the person who makes the decision, not even by half, but I am a person who believes in that decision to the core of herself. Right is not causing another person pain without being so provoked, it is not discriminating. The Potters and Lovegoods might be those things, they might be many others, in the same way that my family are. I don't say anything that I wouldn't dare speak to their faces."

To the outside world it might look as if the two girls were having a simple conversation, both masters of their own poker face. Marlene herself leant against the wall, inspecting her fingernails for cracks and she spoke. She respected Andromeda, truthfully, but there was something about her so alike to her cousin that Marlene wanted to present other views of the world. Just to see the reaction, of course.

                 "And I meant no offence. I was merely brought up to believe that where one of the Black family goes, the others surely follow. Excluding dear Sirius, of course, though I'm not sure whether you use the term family when it comes to him any more."

She laughed, "Oh but that boy band would love the scandal. Best not to add fuel to the fire though."

[frgttnx]

❛Marlene!❜

                  Her jaw dropped in mock surprise, a mischievous glint in her eyes as the feigned disappointment weighed heavy. ❛Color me s h o c k e d! I had much higher expectations for you.❜ She bowed her head slightly before letting a melodramatic sigh fall from her pouted lips. ❛Failing such classes is an atrocity. You, Marlene, should be ashamed of yourself.❜ 

It had taken only a  second  for her smile to reappear  ——  the joke coming to a halt as her friend fell to a  seated position next to her. ❛H i g h l y unlikely. And besides, I  actually deserve the compliments.❜ Teeth grew visible as her grin widened in response. She frequently, and rather childishly, ignored the fact that the two of them were “friends”. It is, after all, easier than labeling her best  mate as clinically insane. 

                    Her gaze moved towards the alcohol, eyebrows eventually raising at the sight of liquid transferring from glass to mouth. Marlene always had been quite the drinker. ❛Parched?❜ She inquired sarcastically before reaching over and taking the bottle into her grasp. Her senses were elevated as she took a sip, brightened hues scouring her surroundings. The drink was foul and caused her cringe, ❛Tastes like happiness.❜

                                   —— cough ——

[mxkinnon-blog]

The young girl feigned an expression of guilt, looking at her friend as if the moment had truly upset her. "Lily, flower, I had only failed those classes so that I could take p r i d e of place by your side. We could never sustain infamy for being the muggleborn and the blood traitor if I had behaved like a dutiful, pureblood child." Her smile broke through with her words, cracking her expression as it shone though; unable to be contained. "I failed my classes for you, my love, always knowing that I needed to not know all the courses of a p r o p e r meal for you to accept me." 

                "You deserve all the compliments in the world, but scattered so that your head remains the size it should be."

Marlene laughed at her friends derision towards the boy who was like her brother. The two were not destined to be friends it seemed, and the young blonde was used to keeping them as separate as possible to promote the maximum levels of harmony. Of course, it was not always that easy and there were o c c a s i o n s when she was forced to step in as mediator.

           "It tastes like my father spent f a r too much money, again. Though far be it for us to complain. What he doesn't remember was there, will not be missed."

[knightindarkarmor]

Well, he had asked for blunt.

Evan, who seldom found himself at a loss for words, wasn’t sure what to say to that.  He didn’t know if it was that he didn’t know Marlene or Marlene didn’t know him, or perhaps both.  He suspected that they now faced one another across a larger ideological divide than Gryffindor and Slytherin.  

He tried to imagine the muggleborns as being as good as real wizards and witches.  He couldn’t.  

"I don’t know what you want me to say to that."

[mxkinnon-blog]

     "I don't want you to say anything, Evan." She said, sighing softly. "I wish there weren't shitty lines between the two of us, but we can't change the facts."

[mxkinnon-blog]

“Smile. Nod. Say something witty before they find out what an incredible geek you are.”

           ”Don’t call me a fucking geek, or I’ll have to throw you in the goddamn Lake again for personal offences.”

She whispered to the redhead beside her almost violently. Of course, Lily would only laugh about the whole situation and they would be left clinging to each other whilst they tried to catch their breath. But this was important. Lily had taken her to her so that she could call Mary and learn how to use a telephone and she had already met the other girl’s parents but now she was stood in front of them completely out of her depth.

        “H E L L O!” She shouted, quickly regretting it as she saw the expressions on the family around her’s faces. “Um - I mean, hello? Mary? Are you there?”

There was no reply for a few moments, and Marlene kept looking almost nervously between the kindly amused eyes in front of her and the box thing that she was currently meant to be connecting to. She couldn’t imagine what she had got so wrong between the moment when they were laughing and now. Maybe Mary wasn’t there, maybe she’d forgotten to do something important, maybe she wasn’t going to be good at pretending she could survive in the muggle world.

            “Mary? Maaaaryyyy? Mary Mac? Please answer the fucking thing.” 

       ”Um, Marls,” Her friend said, “You’re holding it the wrong way round.”

[goldenprat]

" That right there is a dirty move, McKinnon, I’m not sure if I should be proud or offended."

It would not be the first time nor the last, to be honest. James was suspicious his mother even sent the girl letters asking for his weekly behavior, but then again, it wasn’t as if she was oblivious to her son’s whereabouts and knack for mischief. She’d just sigh, pat his unruly curly hair and tell him to be careful - to think before acting. Someday, James might just learn how.

" There you go again, Marls - you speak truth and then you fall into this delusional black hole. I do hope you see the light soon, but then again, look at my nonexistent competition - and do be honest with yourself,  even if it hurts Sirius’ heart though we’ve come to an agreement on that side. "

They had the hair, after all.

“Rosier?”

The furrow marring his features was inevitable, a mixture of indignation and distaste. “That pompous git? Well, it’s not like you had a line up of decent suitors either way, but you could do better does apply in this.”

It was no secret that James had huge levels of antipathy with the great majority of males among the sacred twenty-eight. But the mere idea of a forced union enraged him - he could not understand it, nor would he ever want to.

[mxkinnon-blog]

                "I don't mind which you pick but if you flit between the two, you might end up looking constipated"

The relationship was a wonder to behold; proof that you didn't have to be blood related to create a family. They were as close it is became and for all Marlene was concerned, it didn't matter that they didn't share blood. They were family, in ever sense of the word. She wrote to the Potter's whenever she needed other opinions, treating them as another place to vent when she didn't know what to do.

              "I have been accused of many, many, things, Jamie. But being delusional is not one of them in any way. I have a very strong sense of sanity in these matters."

She laughed though it was cut short at his derision. Although Marlene and Evan had been unlikely childhood friends, many of the people in her life now didn't understand that. She didn't understand it, honestly. But now there were more pressures on her and she didn't know where she was meant to stand. Of course, she didn't want to get married but she didn't want to lose a friend.

           "I don't want any suitors. But yes, he has offered."

[knightindarkarmor]

"Both what?"  She didn’t want him to leave her alone, but what did she want?  Another blood traitor to swell the ranks?  "I’m not sure I understand.  Be blunt, like all your … Gryffindor friends."

[mxkinnon-blog]

"You can't have me if you're going to hurt people. And by people I mean anyone. I don't care that they're blood traitors or muggleborns; no one deserves it.

                                 And I won't accept that's who you are."

[knightindarkarmor]

"I don’t know."  He really didn’t.  Marlene was different.  She obviously didn’t think so, but she was.  

"So I’m a hypocrite.  I’ve been called worse, Marly."

"If you want me to leave you alone, just say so."

[mxkinnon-blog]

"I don't doubt that you've been called worse but right now that's what you're being."

      She rolled her eyes at him. "I don't want you to leave me alone, I want you to see that you can't have both."

[mxkinnon-blog]

an original piece of artwork

[knightindarkarmor]

Right to the heart of the matter.  Her directness was sometimes embarrassing, often infuriating, but always surprising after time spent with more traditional purebloods, who seldom got to the point in any situation.  He wondered if that was learned behavior from all her Mudblood and blood traitor friends and supposed it was.

He stopped and turned Marlene so they faced one another.  ”I don’t see you as anything but Marlene.  When I look at you, I don’t care about anything else in the world.”

[mxkinnon-blog]

      "Then you're a hypocrite."

She stepped back from him, wanting distance if she was going to say the words that she had to say. She didn't want to reject his friendship, but she needed to make her point to him.

           "If you'll call everyone else like me a blood traitor, then why not me?

                            I am a blood traitor, Evan, and I'm p r o u d of it." 

[nepenthenism]

          “They are, yes, when they are not accompanied by their less acknowledged companions: arrogance, ignorance and hypocrisy. So I propose we add those as well, it seems to be a package deal.”

Andy was unamused by the girl’s blatant entertainment, she didn’t even acknowledge it with a roll of eyes or scoff as she usually would - it wasn’t worth it. McKinnon had the upper hand in the ‘shamed’ circle of golden-hearted families, and Andy was not blind nor deaf to the chattering in the halls about the ancient house of Black. And yet… while people could point their finger at her sisters, her cousins, and be called heroic, when it was the other way around and the ugly facts were shout at the face of the so called hero, they were called villains. No amount of humor could hide that fact.

          "Well, I see here two issues. First, you assume I care if people think I have taste, and second if I don’t keep it, I’d give it to someone who might sell it to a skilled prankster and everyone knows who that would be. Would this prankster be tasteless as well if he sneak in the school notes for a potentially explosive potion on someone less than liked for the laughs?”

[mxkinnon-blog]

       "We'll gift arrogance to the Potters, ignorance to the Lovegoods and hypocrisy can be a free for all. See, ow everyone can have a defining trait that you consider such a problem."

Marlene's own family was not perfect, but it was for the right thing that they had been shamed from the society. Her father still held a prominent position, though, and she'd spent her childhood invited to the parties where many would shun her because of those issues. The elite could not keep themselves from association, it seemed so maybe theirs was the h i p o c r i s y that she seemed so determined to point out. It matter not, though. Marlene was a girl who knew who she was and knew what she stood for.

           "The prankster would pull the prank with or without the notes and I highly doubt there would be a need to purchase them for a price. The taste matter, however, would lie back with those who see fit to sell."

[goldenprat]

“Bring it on, blondie.”

James was not afraid of a challenge, in any way, shape or form. Perhaps his ego might be a bit to up there and he was walking embodiment of cockiness, but there was nothing he trusted more than the thrill in a game - especially one played against the Marauders. Sure, Marlene had the advantage of being trained by the very best, but James was nothing if not risky. Might as well kick off the year with a bam. 

"What are you, my m o t h e r ? So heartless."

He scoffed at it, jokingly because of course, but Marlene and his mother both had the tendency of messing with his precious locks and his unshakable self-esteem. It was how they got along, and the boy would gladly admit to enjoy it. After growing up with only his beloved parents and a bunch of adults ‘till he encountered the tiny slip of a girl on a park, James welcomed the endless teasing.

" An awkward teenage boy? Now, Marlene, I thought you’d be taught not to spread out lies. There’s nothing awkward about me - I skipped the step, unlike some people, just look at Snivellus and rethinking your skewed point of view, yeah?” 

The carefree glint on his face faltered at her comment, his lips twisting into a faint and short grimace. Now, he was no ahead of his time fanatic, but marriages in their world could be a nasty thing. Not everyone was lucky like his parents, or himself - though all would agree it’d be lucky if he married at all.

" Marrying is so old-fashioned, eloping is the new trend - though I guess you sort of need a fellow elopee. But what’s this gossip all about?"

[mxkinnon-blog]

Marlene chuckled at his challenge. Her mind raced, ticking between ideas and plans for his humiliation. She wanted him to concede, declare that she was indeed just as worthy as his boys. She was. Marlene knew that and she was sure that she didn't need validation but there was a part of her that would always love the game. She took challenges, seeing them as obstacles that she should over-come just to prove something. To whom? Herself, no doubt, for she was the only one who seemed to care about the matter.

It was the curse of the perfect that they had always been seen as such. She'd been labelled Princes, heart-breaker, dream-girl, bitch; each name coming with more expectations and she would never let herself crumble between them. She could be beautiful without being cruel, inclusive without sacrificing quality; she could create herself.

        But to do that, she had to w i n.

     "Your mother is a wonderful and formidable woman and I am - most certainly - not afraid to tell her you used her name with that tone of voice."

The Potters had become her second family, built to consolidate for the curse of her parents both being only children and the young girl having no cousins or aunts and uncles on whom to spend her time. Her elder brother, away for most of the year, had proved no company in their manner home. And then she'd met the boy with the curls in a park and had someone else there to share the secrets of childhood with.

       "No, no, dear. Snape is a prime example of puberty gone horrifically wrong and leaving an over-sized man child in it's place. You are awkward because you believe you are not. Your misplaced confidence is a thing to behold and I salute you for carrying on." 

She leant back, back arching gracefully as she moved to find a more comfortable sitting position. The g o s s i p surrounding her was just that, stories made up for the entertainment of the general public but the stories she told herself were those that held a semblance of truth.

      "The Rosier family are still searching a betrothal. Evan almost got down on one knee when I saw him earlier.