InsaneJournal

appearance;
First impression: A smirky, sly-looking redhead. Morag's usual facial expression might be somewhat intimidating for the shier types, but she's friendly enough if actually approached.

Height: 5'7" (1,70 m).

Build: Curvy - actually, maybe a little curvier than she would like. She's reasonably fit from her relatively active job and occasional incursions into the dance floor, but she's far from being a fitness role model; Morag has never worked out in her life, and possibly never will.

Hair: red, long and full. Usually kept loose or half-tied; wand-dried straight when she has the patience, or otherwise left in its natural wavy state. There are a couple of beanies and (odd) hats living in Morag's wardrobe, but these are worn only occasionally.

Eyes: Warm brown, fairly expressive.

Complexion: pale, freckled.

Dress Style: Clean-cut with a twist. Morag likes to think out of the box when it comes to clothes, too, but she doesn't really like drawing too much attention to herself, so most of her "experimentation" is restricted to the sporadic quirky accessory.

Manner of speech: confident, good diction, loud enough to be well-heard (but not to be heard by people in the adjoining room). Morag has a rather, eh, flexible accent - she sounds somewhat like a Londoner with a slight Scottish accent when talking to English people, but, if you place her among other Scots, she might become almost unintelligible for the unlearned.

Wand-hand: Left - and pretty much inept with her right hand.

personality;
Being exposed to a lot of different people and places growing up made Morag a highly open-minded person. It's a hard task to shock her or surprise her in any way, as her notion of "normal" is uncannily broad. That makes her, of course, rather tolerant of people and easygoing, but, on the other hand, it may also make her appear a little (or a lot) offbeat, as she tends to stretch "normal" for herself as well. Morag enjoys experimenting with different points of view (at least on a theoretical, intellectual basis) and, even though she may not agree with someone, she will most likely respect them if their arguments are logical enough.

Well, not that she doesn't have her own opinions; actually, quite the contrary - Morag has an opinion on pretty much everything. Even if she might not always volunteer her ideas, she'll rarely hide them if asked directly - not exactly because of some righteous urge to be honest, but mostly because she's usually very proud of her own reasoning. Morag is the sort of person that loves intellectual debates, and will often engage in arguments just for the thrill of the challenge, regardless of the actual importance of the matter to her.

Morag is highly intelligent, but not necessarily book smart. She keeps a practical, utilitarian outlook on life and, unlike many Ravenclaws, she tends to restrict her studies to her fields of interest, as opposed to studying a variety of subjects just for the sake of gathering knowledge. Her sharp intellect mostly manifests itself in her problem-solving skills and keen perception; frequently, she might not have the necessary theoretical knowledge to deal with a puzzle in the fastest and easiest way possible, but she will, most likely, eventually find some way to solve it.

Despite being quite broad-minded, when it comes to her close personal relations Morag is somewhat of an elitist, often discriminating based on intellect. She values intelligence greatly, and will rarely maintain deep, long-term relations with people that she considers to be shallow-minded, uncultured or slow-witted. She won't deliberately shut off those people completely, but, as it happens, it's pretty much a given that she'll eventually lose interest in them and drift away.

Morag likes to think of herself as independent and self-sufficient - and she actually is, to some extent. During her childhood, she learned not to get too attached to anything - be it material possessions, places or people, as she knew they might not be there the following day. However, at the same time that she grew up to become rather self-reliant, there's nothing she craves more than to feel she actually belongs somewhere, or with someone - even if she won't quite admit that to herself.

Hobbies: reading, Wizard chess, playing cards, logic puzzles, strategy games, writing random essays, studying languages, singing.

family;
Father: Artair MacDougal (b.1952), Ministry worker, Diplomat for the Dep. of International Magical Cooperation. Hogwarts/Slytherin alumnus. Morag has never been too close to her father and, after the Ministry was taken over by the Death Eaters, they grew even further apart. She has never quite forgiven him for sending her away after her mother's death and, even though they're courteous enough towards each other when they do meet, their relation is cold and distant.

Mother: Nephele MacDougal, née MacDonald (1958-1987). Hogwarts/Slytherin alumna. Morag keeps fond memories of her mother. She remembers Nephele as a fun, loving sort and, even though her memories are quite blurry (she lost her mother at the age of seven), those memories kept her company in many hard moments throughout her life.

knowledge & skills;

Strong points: analytical thinking, good cognitive skills, fairly good memory. Morag is very good at solving puzzles and riddles, especially ones that require lateral thinking.

Weak points: Anything that requires physical prowess has a fair chance of being a challenge to Morag. Physical confrontations, for instance, are completely out of the question; not only because Morag is a completely inept dueler, but also because, in Morag's mind, the only acceptable way of solving any sort of disagreement is by talking (or arguing) it over.

Academics: her fields are History and Archaeology, specializing in historical magical artefacts. She's also quite knowledgeable about modern magical objects, especially rare and/or Dark items. Apart from that, Morag can also recognize a fair number of languages by ear, even though she might not actually understand what is being said.

O.W.L.s: Ancient Runes (O), Arithmancy (E), Astronomy (E), Care of Magical Creatures (E), Charms (O), Defense Against the Dark Arts (O), Herbology (E), History of Magic (O), Potions (O), Transfiguration (E).

N.E.W.T.s: Ancient Runes (O), Charms (E), Defense Against the Dark Arts (O), History of Magic (O), Potions (E).

biography;
The MacDonalds are a traditional Scottish pureblood family and, not unlike the MacDougals, they can trace their origins all the way back to King Somerled, the first Lord of the Isles. To this day, they keep a good part of the old status and wealth, and most of them are quite attached to traditions. That being said, Nephele MacDonald couldn't care less about the family status, or anything else that was remotely related the politics of high society. All she cared about was her music, and her dream to become a professional singer. The family, of course, was completely scandalized. They had even considered disowning her; actually, the only thing that kept them from doing so was the fact that she was an only child.

Nephele married Artair MacDougal in 1978, at the age of twenty. But only because she had no choice. Artair was a diplomat at the Department of International Magical Cooperation within the Ministry and, soon after Morag was born, in 1980, he was transferred to Africa, taking his reluctant wife and newborn daughter along. Barely one year later came Australia, then Russia, and a fast succession of other countries until it came to a point where Nephele no longer worried about trying to unpack all the family belongings, knowing she would have to pack everything back again sometime soon. However, hard as it was, the itinerant life still managed to have at least one good influence over the small family - it kept them together. If not love, Artair and Nephele eventually managed to acquire a measure of respect for each other.

Morag was seven years old when Nephele got pregnant again. She had grown to become a healthy, but remarkably quiet child, and spent most of her time playing alone or with her nose buried in books (she learned to read at the age of five, taught by her mother). Morag soon realized that what small number of friends she managed to make in one place would soon be gone, so she learned from a very early age not to take people's presence for granted, and not to get too attached to them. The only two people she knew would always be there were her parents - but even that notion would change.

Both Nephele and the baby died at birth, and Artair suddenly found himself alone with a seven year old child. Unable to deal with such responsibility, he decided to send his daughter back to Scotland, to live with his mother. And that would prove to be the one of the hardest experiences of Morag's life.

The four years Morag spent in the MacDougal manor had nothing of the idyllic experience one would expect when living with one's grandmother. An extremely uptight, traditional sort, Eglantine MacDougal was shocked at her granddaughter's complete lack of "proper education", and immediately set to the task of amending that. In Morag's eyes, it was hell. She had never felt so restricted in her life and, when her Hogwarts letter came at last, when she was eleven, she could barely wait to move to the school.

Morag has good memories from Hogwarts. She had never before spent so much time with people her age - the same people, and she was amazed by the experience. It was in Hogwarts that she made her first true friends, and learned to trust people - even if partially. She still wouldn't allow herself to get truly attached to anyone, but she nonetheless broke out of her shell - at the end of her second year, there was very little left of painfully introspective, withdrawn child she was when she first arrived there.

A diligent student, Morag maintained good marks throughout all her school years. She was never popular, and possibly few people out of the Ravenclaw house would remember her from school; yet, except for the odd teenage crush, she never really craved such attention. There were times, of course, that she wished she were prettier or slimmer, but, in the end, it was the academic recognition that truly fulfilled her the most.

Even if coming from a traditional pureblood family herself, Morag could never see reason in the blood purification ideas. She considered them (and still does) impractical and unrealistic, and wouldn't have agreed with them even if she didn't strongly despise the methods that are actually being used. Still, in school, she never joined Dumbledore's Army, nor took an active stance against the obviously corrupted Ministry, but opted to remain outwardly neutral. She simply thought the threat would eventually go away, just as it had appeared. She could never have been more wrong - but it would still take her some time to realize that.

Morag felt at home in Hogwarts and, every year that passed, returning to the MacDougal manor became more difficult for her. At the end of her fifth year, she decided to try the next best thing to leaving her grandmother's for good - occupy herself fully during the summer. Her initial idea was to get a job at Flourish & Blotts, but Eglantine MacDougal was, evidently, outraged at the idea of her granddaughter working and categorically forbade such nonsense. After much discussion - and, ultimately, with the interference of Morag's father, Mrs. MacDougal at last agreed on allowing Morag to spend time at a family friend's shop in London - not as shopgirl, of course, but as an apprentice.

Mr. Borgin, the aforementioned family friend, was initially very skeptical of having a teenager in his shop, but he eventually got used to the idea. Morag was working for free, after all, and proved to be a surprisingly serious and dedicated employee. And to Morag's complete surprise, the experience did indeed look more like an apprenticeship than anything else. Once one got past the initial unpleasant sensation of being in a dusty, dimly lit environment, Borgin and Burkes was a fascinating place. Not before long, Morag had taken a deep interest in the magical objects, and started spending time in the shop afterhours. Morag had found that not only Mr. Borgin owned a ridiculously large amount of books and manuscripts on historical artefacts, but the man was a walking encyclopaedia as well. It was Ravenclaw heaven.

Also during that summer, Morag came to meet who would become her most important professional contact. Professor Agatha Chubb, a scholar specializing in Medieval wizarding artefacts, was a close acquaintance of Mr. Borgin, and came to the shop often. Professor Chubb, spotting Morag's potential, eventually took a liking to the girl. When Morag returned to Hogwarts for her sixth year, they kept in touch and, at last, the Professor agreed on having Morag under her tutelage in the following summer. What neither of them knew was how much wizarding Britain was about to change.

Dumbledore's death, at the end of Morag's sixth year in Hogwarts, came as a complete shock to her. The notion that such powerful wizard could - and had been defeated pretty much turned her world upside down. Only then she realized - actually realized, the dimension of the problem they were facing. Two months later, the Ministry was taken over by the Death Eaters and, soon afterwards, the captures and imprisonments began. Professor Chubb herself was one of the people who had disappeared without a trace. Even if she was not in imminent danger herself, Morag saw many of her friends suffer under the new rule and, during her seventh year in Hogwarts, Morag's desire to try and remain neutral started being overcome by her aversion to the new government.

A couple of months after leaving Hogwarts, Morag - who was by then back at Borgin and Burkes, was surprised with the news that Professor Agatha Chubb was still alive after all. In hiding, but still free. And not only that - she also wanted to resume Morag's education. The young witch was, of course, thrilled, and agreed at once. Yet, there was one small problem - according to the Ministry, Professor Chubb was a 'highly dangerous felon', ranking high on the Aurors' most wanted list. All contact between the tutor and her new pupil would have to be kept completely secret and, even so, it would still be extremely risky. Apparently, many artefacts specialists were being hunted down by the Ministry for some reason, and Professor Chubb was one of them.

Morag studied under Professor Chubb for three years, during which she became somewhat of an intermediary between the Scholar and the outside world. They kept contact mostly through owls, which the occasional book or artefact being sent back and forth through Mr. Borgin's contacts. At the request of Professor Chubb herself, Morag eventually took charge of a few ongoing research projects, as well as starting new projects of her own.

In November 2000, two years after Morag started her apprenticeship, Professor Chubb was nearly caught. Luckily, the Professor had been careful enough not to leave traces of her contact with her pupil, so the link between the two of them was never found. Even so, to completely evade suspicion, Morag left Borgin and Burkes and got a nondescript, 'harmless' job as a barmaid (now, if her grandmother was still alive, she would certainly have demanded that Artair disown his daughter).

Less than one year later, Morag lost contact with her tutor. Later, she learned that Professor Chubb had been, at last, captured and executed by the Ministry. Conducting any sort of artefact research evidently had become a highly dangerous business and Morag saw herself forced to suspend her work and keep her head low. Yet, only few months later, Morag was so restless she was nearly losing her mind. She missed the intellectual challenge greatly and, even beyond that - the murder of her tutor had left her with such revulsion against the Ministry that she felt that she needed to do something.

It started as a favour to a friend. A friend of Morag's had just escaped captivity, and needed a couple of things to get settled. Nothing much - just a new wand, a foe-glass and some floo powder. The items were simple enough to come by and Morag was, of course, glad to help. Soon afterwards, she was contacted by a second friend with similar demands, then by a friend of a friend's and, before she knew it, Morag was using the professional contacts she had made while working for Borgin and Burkes to acquire new wands, invisibility cloaks, sneakoscopes and all sorts of restricted objects for the fugitives without leaving traces. It became easier every new transaction and, as a matter of fact, Morag soon realized she had taken a devious liking for the business.

Morag is still working as a barmaid. And, as it turns out, she manages to pull it off just fine. Fizzes, flips, slings, punches - just name it, and she will promptly produce the thing. And in case you incidentally had your wand snapped and burned and need a new one... well, she may be able to produce that, too...