Mary Macdonald

OOC

Game	Journal	Portrayed By
Dark Mark Rising	mistress_mary	Anna Kendrick

Basic Stats

Full Name: Mary Christina Macdonald
Nickname(s): None
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Date of Birth: March 5, 1961
Zodiac: Pisces
Sexuality: Straight
Relationship Status: Single
Bloodline: Muggleborn
Hometown: Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
House & Year: Gryffindor 5th
Extracurriculars: None
Wand: 7.5 in, willow, unicorn tail hair
Pet: None

Family

Father: William Macdonald (muggle; bank manager; b. October 31, 1932)
Mother: Elizabeth Macdonald (née Calhoun; muggle; b. May 18, 1935)
Brother: Duncan Macdonald (muggle; b. November 18, 1959)

History

William Macdonald met Elizabeth Calhoun through one of his colleagues at the bank: her brother. They fell in love, married, moved into a modest house in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, and had two children: a son named Duncan and a daughter named Mary. Duncan, their eldest, was the light of their eyes. He could do no wrong. He was perfect. A genius. He walked early, talked early, learned to read early. He did well in school, and he was an excellent forward on his youth football league. He kept his room tidy, he did as he was told, and he was just a very nice, outgoing little boy. Mary, the youngest, was (in her parents' eyes) the polar opposite of her older brother. She was clumsy, quiet, shy. She frequently walked into things, dropped things, broke things. Sometimes, it even seemed as though she managed to break things without actually touching them. Somehow, her room always managed to be just a bit messy. She couldn't play sports without tripping over her own feet. She did poorly in school, no matter how much she studied. She was a slow reader for school assignments, though she swallowed fiction much quicker and more easily. She tried to do as she was told, she just sometimes messed up a bit. Her entire childhood was spent in the shadow of her Perfect Older Brother.

Mary spent much of her free time outdoors, playing in the dirt. Her mother wouldn't let her grow a garden in the yard, but a kind neighbour let Mary poke around in her garden and even let the young girl help her plant her flowers in the spring. Mary's favourite book was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a book that she had saved up her meager allowance for weeks in order to buy. She often dreamed of going off to a wonderful place far away where she could find her own secret garden. She didn't have many friends, everyone thought she was odd for playing in the dirt, or slow because she was a poor student and quiet, or they misread her quietness for haughtiness, or they simply measured her up against her brother and found her to be lacking, just as her parents did. Whatever the reason, Mary was always an outcast at home, and she just couldn't figure out why she never really fit in.

Not until her eleventh birthday, that is. When Mary turned eleven, everything changed (and she's still trying to decide if that change is for the better or worse). A man claiming to be a representative from a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry showed up at the Macdonald household and informed the family that Mary was a witch, and invited her to attend the school. William and Elizabeth, of course, thought it was all completely bollocks, until the representative showed them a display of magic and pointed out that Mary being a witch would explain anything weird that might have happened around her growing up. The family finally accepted the news that Mary was a witch and that Hogwarts was the best place for her, so on the first of September, 1972, Mary joined her fellow young witches and wizards at Hogwarts. Unknown to Mary, however, the news fostered in her family a sense of fear, fear that she would return from school the following June and turn them all into newts, or something.

Knowing very little about the school, Mary accepted her sorting into Gryffindor, though she didn't particularly feel brave, as the hat sang about (just the fact that a hat was singing was enough to cause Mary to wonder what she was doing there!), but she wasn't going to argue with a hat. Besides, maybe everyone else was just as afraid and nervous as she was, right? Maybe none of them had known about the school until someone came and told them that they were wizards and witches, too. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before Mary realised that she was among a minority, a witch born of two muggles. And that difference immediately saw her being treated differently; inferiorly. And Mary couldn't help but feel as though everyone was right: maybe she didn't belong here. All the classes that required her to use her new wand, she was horrible at. She felt like all she was doing was waving around a little twig. Her best class was Herbology, the only class that she did remotely well in during her first two years. She found herself seeking refuge in the school's greenhouses more and more often, helping out Professor Sprout with little tasks around the greenhouses, or even just trying to study while surrounded by plants.

She was content, the entirety of her first four years at Hogwarts, to just blend into the background. She was good at it. Though, for the first time in her life, she was making friends. These people didn't care that she wasn't perfect like Duncan, they actually seemed to like her for who she was. They almost made her forget that there were other students in the school who hated her for who she was. Unfortunately, she got one heckuva reminder about the students who hated her at the end of her fourth year. It was after exams were over. It was the last night, actually. Mary had found a library book among her things as she was packing, so even though it was nearly curfew, she excused herself and ran out to the library to return the book. It should only have taken her a few minutes to run to the library, drop off the book, and get back to the dorm. She had finally stopped getting lost around the school in her second year, after all. Later, she wished that she had just waited to return the book in the morning.

She was on her way back up to the tower after stopping at the library. As she passed an open classroom door, she heard someone say something, and as she was turning, she was suddenly hit by a spell. She didn't know what happened, but whatever it was, it was actually a little wonderful. A bit … floaty. Every thought and worry was wiped out of Mary's head, leaving behind nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. It was relaxing. That relaxing happiness didn't last very long. Come into the room flitted through her mind, and she walked into the nearly empty classroom. There was only one person in the room, and the door closed behind her as she fought through the haze in her mind to try to recognise him. He was a year older than her. A Slytherin. His name was flitting about somewhere, she'd heard it before, but she couldn't quite catch it. She didn't know what was going on, what was happening. But suddenly, she was undressing. She was doing things to herself, then to him, that she would never have dreamed of doing. But she had no idea how to stop. It was like she was trapped inside her own body, watching herself do these things and being unable to do anything about it.

And then, just as suddenly as it had happened, it was over. She was in control of her body again. She collapsed to the floor, struggled to pull her clothes back on, but she was shaking like a leaf. As he left the room, he cast something else on her, and a pain shot through her body, more intense than anything she had ever felt before. Every nerve felt like it was on fire. Her clothes slipped out of her fingers, and she lay on the floor, waiting for the fire to go away. The spell was lifted, and she heard him leave the room, as his name finally came to mind. Mulciber. She didn't know how long she lay on the floor in the empty classroom before she could finally move again, could finally pull her clothes back on. By the time she got back to her dorm, she had barely uttered a word. She left her packing for the morning, climbed into bed (still fully clothed), closed the curtains on her bed, and spent the entire night curled up into a ball, shaking and unable to sleep.

Summers at home had always been horrible: her parents and brother virtually ignored her completely and pretended that she didn't exist. It usually bothered her. This summer, she welcomed the distance. She spent all her time locked away in her room, staring at the ceiling, falling into fitful spurts of sleep. She got owls from her friends, but the letters stacked up on her desk, unopened. Nobody at home noticed anything was wrong. And for the first time, Mary almost didn't want to return to school. She was terrified of what would happen if she crossed paths with Mulciber again. How could she face her friends, knowing what she had done? But she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. She might not always feel accepted in the wizarding world, but she was a witch. She did belong at Hogwarts. She would go back, she would just avoid Mulciber like the plague.

Personality

Likes: Fiction books, particularly The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett; gardening; being outdoors; Honeydukes fudge; marigolds; dandelions; hot tea with honey; animals of all kinds; the colour blue
Dislikes: Having to wear her reading glasses; heights (sorta, she's just not a big fan of really high places); small, enclosed places (she's claustrophobic); purists (and anyone who makes her feel like she doesn't belong in the wizarding world based entirely on her bloodline); sex, and anything to do with it
Amortentia Smells: Fresh-cut grass, damp earth, fresh clean air
Boggart: Herself, in a small enclosed location
Mirror of Erised: Herself, being accepted by her peers and the wizarding world, and proven to be a great witch.

To call Mary quiet would be an understatement. Unlike most of the rest of her house, Mary isn't a LOUD PROUD GRYFFINDOR, HEAR ME ROAR. She tries very hard to just blend into the background and go by unnoticed. That's not to say she's not a Gryffindor at all: her strength and courage are more internal, the ability to keep going, even when she doesn't want to. She is a great listener, even though she isn't too good at giving advice: she's at least listen to your problems, be your sounding board.

Deep down inside, Mary is a romantic. She has always dreamed of being swept off her feet by Prince Charming. Though, right now, after the events of last June, she shies away from all boys. But still, she is a dreamer. She dreams of one day being accepted, even though her blood is not "pure"; of being loved, even though she feels dirty and broken; of having a place that is just her own, her own secret garden.

Mary feels most at home with dirt under her nails, digging around in the ground, surrounded by growing plants. Plants are just so much easier than people. If they hurt you, it's generally just small and superficial.