The youngest of six, Marlene made herself sick trying to prove herself in school. Through the stern guidance of Professor McGonagall, she learned to loosen up the last few years of school. What she lacked in grades, Marlene made up for with friends, inside jokes, and wild nights. Her grades slipped over her last few years of school, and though she tried to scrape up motivation for her NEWTS, she was truly burnt out. She felt the old pull of panic when she got her less than satisfactory results back. Graduation only held mystery, and the harder Marlene partied, she knew the reality of her future was becoming harder and harder to cope with. She moved to London after, to be closer to her friends. She took the first open job she could, at Eeylop’s, forgetting her general aversion to birds. Marlene now spends her days selling owls and owl accessories and trying not to jump at every loud noise the birds make. She is making rent, but she is not making progress. She was feeling stuck, depressed, away from her family and only getting to see her friends between shifts, but then, she heard about the Order. Now, back at work, she’s studying like mad when the shop is empty, determined to re-take her NEWTS. The weeks in the hospital showed her that healing, a profession she had previously viewed as bookish and boring, required a lot of the energy and determination that had recently returned to her possession. Her motivation to help people with the Order has transitioned into motivation to help people heal through the war and after, assuming any of them survive.
