MARY MACDONALD
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name : Mary Macdonald
Born : 16th May, 1960
Nationality : Scottish
Blood Status : Half-blood
Hogwarts House : Gryffindor
Occupation(s) : (former) Auror in training ; (former) muggle law enforcement agent.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Mary is, as her friends would often joke, a textbook Gryffindor -- brave, daring, noble and chivalrous. Her kindness knows no bounds, although she is not an ideal enemy. Before the death of her family and friends and the subsequent stripping of her memories, Mary was an openly warm, loving and emotional individual. She had an open-minded and a positive outlook on life, often taking it upon herself to lift her friends’ spirits in moments of need. However, when banished to the muggle world with modified memories, she adopted an almost contrasting persona. Alone and afraid, believing herself to be an orphan with no family or friends, she did not form any emotional detachments and remained completely career-driven. It could be said that she eventually adopted two entirely different personalities ; the former of which she struggled to regain after having her memories restored.
Despite retrieving her memories, she no longer feels a connection to the happy, go-lucky young woman she once was — she became more aloof, cautious and mistrusting, having considered the robbing of her memories a violation of her trust and consent. She has lived as a muggle for over a decade, and feels more comfortable in 'Kate's skin’ than her own upon her return to the wizarding world.
A skilled witch in her youth, she also struggles to dissociate between magical and muggle defence ; having worked as a law enforcement agent, she possesses a lot of physical skill and is highly trained in combat, however there is room for improvement and retraining in her wand work.
BACKSTORY
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland to non-magical Kate Macdonald (née Crawford) and pure-blood wizard Brian Macdonald, Mary was encouraged to embrace her magical abilities from a young age. Her parents highly anticipated her Hogwarts acceptance letter, therefore decided to home-school her until then to prevent pulling her from mainstream school in case she formed solid friendships.
Her home life was wonderful ; adored by her parents, who shared a bond like no other, Mary grew to deeply value human interaction, love and social connections. Her mother taught the subject of music at a local muggle school, and taught Mary how to play the piano as well as utilise her singing voice, much to her father’s chagrin.
Upon arriving at Hogwarts, Mary was sorted into Gryffindor unlike her father, a Hufflepuff, although the hat did heavily consider sorting her into the latter due to her loyalty and impressive work ethic. It was in Gryffindor house where she met her dormitory mates Lily Potter, Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes, and the girls soon became inseparable. Mary was a hard worker, although easily distracted by her own impatience and thirst for causing mischief. She was particularly gifted in Transfiguration class, but struggled to get the hang of Potions, which led to a blatant dislike for the subject.
In her fourth year, Mary fell victim to a vicious attack. Mulciber, friend of Severus Snape and member of Slytherin house, attempted to practice the Cruciatus Curse on her, deeming her a worthy subject due to her blood heritage and tendency to boast about her muggle mother. The attack instilled an uncertainty and mistrust of Slytherins, which was soon shared by her friend Lily, who had been labelled a 'Mudblood' by her own best friend, Severus.
Gifted and studious, she perfected the Patronus charm in the form of an orca in the sixth year of her studies — a powerful, sensitive, thoughtful and untamed spirit. It soon became clear to Mary that she wished to pursue a career as an Auror, much like her father, so she applied herself and gained more confidence in her Potions-making abilities in order to achieve her goal.
Mary, along with her close friends, joined the original Order during Voldemort’s initial reign. However, her activity within the group steadily reduced when she started a family of her own; throughout the two short years of Auror training she managed to undertake, Mary married Mediwizard Eddie Stroud, a muggle-born Hufflepuff she met at Hogwarts and fell deeply in love with. At the young age of twenty, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Laurel Stroud, in honour of her husband’s late mother. After a short maternity leave, she resumed her Auror training, but did not manage to complete it due to unforeseen events.
Mary’s little family were not granted much time together. Unbeknownst to her, she became a marked woman after Mulciber’s attack, and marrying a muggle-born did her name no favours. Returning home from training, she found the dark mark above her home and instantly knew what it meant —- it did not come as much of a surprise when she confirmed that her husband and child had not survived the attack.
Grief and panic-stricken, she contacted her father, who had suffered his own bout of bad news which would soon rock Mary’s world even harder : her mother had also been killed. From that point on, Mary lost control and fell vulnerable to her father’s desperate attempt to rid her of both her grief and the clear danger she was in.
He wiped and modified his daughter’s memories, going to a great deal of effort to banish her to the muggle world and pretend that she, too, had been killed along with her family that day. The only individual he ever confided in was an old family friend, Minerva McGonagall, who was soon to play a major part in Mary’s return to reality.
In the muggle world, Mary Macdonald, under the alias Kate Livingstone, thrived.
She knew nothing of her magical background, nor her deceased family and friends as a war raged on back at home. Believing herself to be an orphan, she cast aside emotional attachments and pursued a career in law enforcement, her name soon notorious throughout London. It was, of course, similar work to that of an Auror ; clearly, hunting down the 'bad guys' was in her blood, no matter which realm she found herself in. Mary never fell in love again, but rediscovered her bisexuality and had a fair amount of flings despite keeping people at arm’s length due to the dangerous nature of her job.
What Mary did not know, was that her father had passed away of natural causes over a decade later, leaving Minerva McGonagall, the only person alive to know of Mary’s existence, in possession of her memories. Minerva believed it to be a violation of Mary’s rights to withhold such information, therefore confided in Albus Dumbledore, who promptly encouraged her to track Mary down and bring her home.
It was on a seemingly ordinary day in the muggle world when Minerva McGonagall turned up on her doorstep and quite bluntly informed Mary that she was no stranger to the wizarding world. Initially apprehensive, the only thing that compelled her to believe Minerva’s wild tale, was the fact that she had lived her entire life ( or so she thought ) feeling homesick, with gaps in her fabricated childhood memory that no muggle doctor could explain. Mary did not wish to have her memories restored, for she knew she could not handle the pain of knowing her entire family were gone. However, Minerva gently remined her that by neglecting her memories, she would never regain her magical knowledge and abilities, effectively rendering her a useless addition to the remaining Order.
One little catch finally persuaded her to have her memories restored and return to the wizarding world to partake in the battle – she was revealed to be the godmother of her deceased best friend’s only son, Harry Potter, and the closest thing to a living relative he had left following the death of his godfather Sirius. Returning with Minerva, Mary was finally forced to process the death of her family and friends, simultaneously leaving the world she knew behind and trying to find her place in the land she once called home.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Hi there.
Thank you for taking the time to read Mary’s backstory — if you’re planning to write with me, great! Mary Macdonald is a canon character taken from the final book of the Harry Potter series. She is introduced as Lily’s friend and fellow Gryffindor, and is mentioned during a heated conversation between Lily and Severus regarding Mulciber’s attack on Mary. Not much else is known about her, so I have had the opportunity to get a little creative with her backstory and flesh out a deeper, more relatable character.
On this account, I will only explore golden-trio / post war era ; if you are interested in covering the Marauders Era with me, I do have a younger Mary account. Feel free to ask me for the handle. Mary is canonically Lily’s friend, but it is not mentioned whether she was friends with any of the Marauders. I am open to exploring possible friendships / relationships between Mary and any character from that era (canon and original), depending on my writing partner’s portrayal of their own character.
Although it is written in Mary’s backstory that Minerva retrieved her and restored her memories, I am more than happy to alter that detail ( along with others ) depending on SL potential with other characters.
I will write with absolutely anyone. I am keen to get SLs going, however a list of characters I am particularly interested in writing with (some of which I have pre-planned SL ideas for) are:
Harry Potter
Ron Weasley
Hermione Granger
Minerva McGonagall
Albus Dumbledore
Lily Evans (if AU post-war)
James Potter (if AU post-war)
Remus Lupin
Sirius Black
Peter Pettigrew
Severus Snape
Mulciber
Molly Weasley
Arthur Weasley
Any member of the Order
Any Death Eater
Any original character
I am a British writer operating on GMT, with a full-time job and demanding shift patterns. I may not be able to respond on a daily basis but I make an effort to remain active and inform my partners if there will be a significant delay in replies. I understand RL comes first, there’s no pressure to reply quickly or even at all, should you lose your muse. I am extremely laid back and easy-osey, but do let me know if you’re interested in writing so we can plot something fun together!
Many thanks for listening to my drivel. ❀♡
