LADY STARDUST
LADY STARDUST
1st September 1971
Femme fatales emerged from shadows
to watch this creature fair
Boys stood upon their chairs to make their point of view
I smiled sadly for a love I could not obey
Lady Stardust sang his songs of darkness and dismay
Marlene McKinnon was beyond excited to start at Hogwarts. She was the youngest of five- a large family and every other McKinnon had already gone through their time at Hogwarts. The twins, Claire and Elidih, had graduated earlier that summer. Aiofe the summer before that, and Daniel even earlier. Now, the twins had moved back to Donegal, working alongside the mining facilities for Gringotts. They had always had a particular talent for alchemy, some of the best that Professor McGonagall had seen in years. Aiofe was in the middle of her mediwitch training, working in a wizarding nursing home on the outskirts of town, and Daniel had just signed his first pro quidditch contract.
The name McKinnon meant something amongst the wizarding world. McKinnon meant bravery. It meant steady. It meant strong. More importantly, it meant wealthy. The McKinnons were the richest pureblood family in the entirety of Britain, perhaps even in the wizarding world. They were one of the oldest too. Everyone spoke of the thirteen families in the British wizarding world, but the McKinnon name was far older than that- they were descendants from Morganna herself, the witch who rivaled Merlin. It filled Marlene with an odd sense of pride, to come from a lineage so true, so noble, so ancient that no other student at Hogwarts could compare.
They were late to the train, of course, Marlene having just missed her younger cousin boarding. It was her father’s fault, but all of Marlene’s siblings had been eager to wish her farewell before she and her parents apparated to the train station. Still, Marlene had glimpsed her cousin- Peter Pettigrew- climbing aboard with a taller boy. A boy with curly brown hair and a sheepish expression which only suggested that he could get away with murder. It intrigued Marlene intensely.
The Pettigrews- while blood relations- were not as highly ranked amongst the wizarding families such as the McKinnons. Marlene hardly understood what her aunt saw in her uncle, nor why she settled for such a mediocre and modest lifestyle. The McKinnon name bore hefty weight within the Ministry, whereas Pettigrew… well, simply put, it drew a blank. Their heritage was far more bland and equally as unassuming. Marlene supposed that must make Peter Hufflepuff material.
Within seconds of jumping aboard the Hogwarts Express, the carriage door had been shut firmly behind her by the conductor, and it was full steam ahead. Marlene watched from the window, as her parents grew smaller and smaller on the platform, and stayed watching until they had disappeared from sight for some time.
The door slid open to reveal a ginger-haired girl. She was short for a girl Marlene guessed, but it was hard to tell, seeing as she was slightly tall for a girl. Marlene regarded the girl, studying her up and down. The ginger girl didn’t say anything but observed Marlene as though she were making similar first judgments.
“I was going to ask if you wanted to join our carriage,” the ginger girl said at last, stepping to one side to reveal several others crowded into the same space. Marlene grimaced when she spotted the Rosier twins. She had encountered them before at her father’s work parties, always a stuffy affair, and always a bore. Pandora was one joker short of a deck of cards, and Evan? Evan made up for his twin sister's complete disillusion with his own methods of redemption and retribution. They were as different as day and night but thick as thieves.
The other boy that was sitting in the carriage had long greasy black hair that was slicked over his face, so only his long, hooked nose protruded from the glistening curtain. He looked Marlene up and down with such an atmosphere of disgust, that it made Marlene squirm awkwardly in her spot.
That left one other girl. She sat pointedly opposite the other three in the carriage, arms crossed across her chest, head held high in what Marlene could only assume was an act of defiance. She had dark skin, and even darker hair in wild curls that framed her face in a halo of spirals. She sat up straight, smaller than Marlene but carried an elegance and grace that made her seem far taller than any other girl Marlene had met. This girl turned to the red-haired one, and arched a perfect eyebrow, examining her nails, painted in a cobalt blue that Marlene’s mother would describe as ‘garish.’
“Is she coming in or what?” She asked, with a huff of irritation and annoyance. Marlene sauntered into the carriage and plopped herself unladylike into the seat next to her. Marlene had never seen a girl like this in Donegal. There was something intriguing about her. Something exciting.
“Most people start with hello,” Marlene retorted with a grin, undoing the top button of her shirt and already loosening her tie. It was too stuffy in her, and the anxiety of all these new people were getting to her.
The other girl took Marlene’s jab in her stride.
“Well, I’m not most people,” she answered back, holding Marlene in a steady gaze, and offering a perfectly manicured hand. “The name’s Mary. Mary Macdonald- queen of Essex.” Marlene could feel her grin widening as she took the hand in a firm grasp and shook.
“Alright, Mary, Mary Macdonald, queen of Essex, the name’s McKinnon. Marlene McKinnon.”