Marlon Delaney

Marlon Cooper Delaney (b. February 22, 2007) is a fifth year Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Family Lineage
As far as Marlon is aware, the Delaneys are nothing more than simply Muggles, and really bad ones at that. His family lives on the very edge of poverty only managing to get by with the help of a family friend (James Francis). A few months prior to Marlon's birth, his father decided to rob a bank in hopes of acquiring money for his first child. However, it went horribly wrong and Sean Delaney was imprisoned for robbery. This incident left the Delaneys with even less resources. The Delaneys are always scrounging around for a little big of extra cash. As young as age ten, Marlon has had to find work to help care for his incapable mother.

In truth, Marlon is at the end of a long line of Squibs. The family from whom he originated had outcasted the first Squib from the main family. Since then, only Squibs have been produced from this line, aside from Marlon.

Birth and Childhood
Marlon Cooper Delaney was born on February 22 on a cold winter night in Wales and into a bad situation. His parents lived in poverty and still do to this day. Well, actually at the time of his birth, his father wasn’t even around. It wasn’t that the old man had ditched his mother or anything like that. He had a previous engagement two months before and seven years after his birth… in prison. His father was imprisoned for robbing a bank with some amateurs in hopes of getting some money for his wife and his unborn son. However, instead of acquiring the much needed money, his thieving caused him and his mother to nearly starve to death. The whole thing might not have been such a huge mess if his mother wasn’t so completely useless and inept and thus entirely unhelpful. Having a newborn with her for so much of the time was largely unhelpful for her need of money.

If it weren’t for the help of a good school friend of his mother’s, Marlon would have died before he reached his first birthday. Unfortunately, his mother’s friend wasn’t particularly wealthy either and did what he could to sustain himself, a friend and a child that wasn’t his; hence the reason why his mother soon left the shelter of her friend’s house when Marlon was about six years old. It was around then that his Seeing ‘gift’ started to act up. He would never see much exactly. More often than not, Marlon would see bits of the past and on the very rare occasion, he would see the future. However, in the latter cases, Marlon doesn’t see anything that isn’t going to happen in the next few seconds. When it started happening, he confided to his mother what was going on. The first time it happened, Marlon saw his mother slipping on a wayward puddle and fell with a dull thud and her head meeting the ground with a striking force. Terrified and still muddled from the vision he had just seen, he called out for his mother just before she was about to slip on the puddle. Naturally, the woman was terrified. After all, nobody in the Muggle world honestly saw anything, future or past; that was just crazy talk. But living in poverty as they were without money for crazy medication, his mother only hushed him and told him to never speak of it to anybody ever.

His father was finally released from prison when Marlon was seven years old. It was not quite the wondrous reunion that he had been waiting for all his life; and as such, he was quite disappointed. His father was nothing like he had expected. To sustain an extra body, and a grown-up one at that, Marlon was forced to help out with his family by working, which was only achievable by lying about his age. More often than not, this ploy didn’t work as Marlon was always a bit on the scrawny side of things. But determined not to starve to death, Marlon did what he could to help sustain his family even if he didn’t particularly love them. While his father did try to help, he was never able to maintain a steady job. Whenever something went missing or was broken, it was naturally blamed on his father due to his convict status. Whenever that happened, it was never long before his father was fired for it.

At school, Marlon did everything he possibly could to cover up the poverty of his family. But it was often difficult. He only had so many articles of clothing that could be worn. It wasn’t before long that just about everybody in the school knew that fact. It was something of a nightmare for Marlon after it got out and around school. He became one of those people who hid in the shadows for as long as possible for fear of being seen by bully. But, even as he did so, anger and determination smouldered within him. He despised his dignity being chipped away like this and aspired to break away from the life that his mother and his convict father had built.

A chance was given to him soon with the arrival of the letter from Hogwarts. Both parents had thought it to be an elaborate joke and had ignored it. In truth, Marlon had had visions of Hogwarts castle during this period of time. It surprised him since it was the most persistent vision that he had thus far, and was uncertain how to treat it. He knew his mother would only tell him to keep it bottled up and flip out at his dad that night when they thought he was asleep; so he said nothing about it. They managed to keep it up until it became obvious that they could not any longer with a visit from a professor from Hogwarts who managed to persuade his parents that Marlon is a wizard who needs to be trained. More than happy to have one less mouth to feed, his parents were all ready to send Marlon off to Hogwarts. The only real problem was his financial situation which was quickly remedied by an anonymous benefactor. Not to deny charity, especially when it means little effort of thanks is needed; Marlon’s parents practically carried him all the way over to Hogwarts. Marlon, on the other hand, was vaguely relieved that he would be able to go somewhere that he’d be able to figure out how to stop this vision thing of his.

Education at Hogwarts
Upon arrival at Hogwarts, Marlon soon discovered that this ‘gift’ of his was nowhere near common, even in the Wizarding World. Scared, Marlon hid in his shell and with it his secret abilities. After all, he didn’t want to be nominated for freak of the year. To say that he was flipping terrified out of his mind when he got to Hogwarts is an understatement. The Wizarding World was so strange in comparison to the Muggle one that he was so used to.

But one thing he was sure of was that nobody was ever going to unveil his less than humble background. After seeing and living the life where everybody around him knew about his impoverished way of living back at his Muggle school, Marlon had absolutely no desire to relive the rather painful and traumatising experience. It has become his number one concern and best kept secret. As a result of this, Marlon managed to latch onto the first rich, powerful person he saw. When he was first sorted into Slytherin, he sat down relatively close to Olivia Montague who seemed to be the Queen Bee who could help him with his financial situation. As such, she was the person who he latched onto. He became her ever-faithful follower.

During his first year, he spent a great deal of time waiting to learn about his abilities until he discovered that Hogwarts first year curriculum did not cover Divination. Frustrated, Marlon began his own personal studies on the subject in the library when he was not busy fawning over Olivia. One could say that Marlon was obsessed with the subject (and he still is). His eventual goal to this studying was to stop his visions from coming. Ever. Many of the books he had looked into had very little to say on the subject. However, there were plenty of books on the subject of ill-begotten Seers who were doomed to be forever ridiculed and to be recognized as nothing more than a quack. Annoyed by the lack of information available, Marlon continued on.

It was about the end of his first year that he realized that for all his research, Marlon really didn't know all that much more about his Sight. He knew more of the history behind it, but there was no real helpful instruction as how to control his visions. Frustrated by his lack of progress and believing that it would help, Marlon began to pick up various aspects of Divination starting with Tarot cards. From there he progressed to dream interpretation and eventually scrying to crystal balls; although he didn't seriously delve into scrying until the subject was touched on in Divination in his third year. While Marlon became extremely skilled in Divination, his other studies faltered due to the continued distraction and buzzing of his visions at the back of his mind. The exception to this was Arithmancy, which he began to take in his third year and only due to its close ties to Divination.

All of his breaks during the school year was spent at Hogwarts due to his obvious dislike for his home environment. For the most part, his summers were spent in more intense study and practice of Divination. The other part of his summer was spent making money to care for his invalid parents. Between his mother's incapability to take care of herself and his father's convict status, the Delaneys were very hard on cash.

Physical Description
Mostly due to his impoverished background, Marlon has often had to forsake a meal or two in a day, once a week if it was a good one. But his malnutrition during his childhood years affects him even now. Marlon has a very slight build, being a thin and lanky fellow, standing at 5’10”. His stature is only emphasized by his thinness and as such, it does little to aid him with his desire to be hidden in the background. But Marlon’s made it work for him somehow.

While Marlon is not particularly unattractive, he’s certainly not the guy that all the girls are drooling over. He’s got a sort of boyish charm that is horribly neglected with his tendency to hide in the shadows. Bearing dark brown locks that wouldn’t hurt to see a pair of scissors more often, Marlon’s hair tends to flop all over the place in general. They’re long enough to curl against the nape of his neck. However, Marlon’s either too cheap or too lazy to go on and get that haircut; so, he’s often forced to shove it all off to one side or another. Sometimes, if he’s distracted or nervous or anything similar to that, Marlon tends to tug on the long locks for comfort. How it’s comforting, Marlon isn’t entirely certain but it does the trick every time.

In terms of apparel, Marlon sides towards casual. Frankly, his financials can barely handle the amount of money he’s spending already. So to stay somewhere near the edge and preferably away from his destitute status, Marlon wears clothes that are in fairly good shape. They aren’t the fine silks and cashmere and other expensive materials that his housemates favoured, but they’re good enough for his purposes: to blend in with the rest of the crowd.

Personality and Traits
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You know those people who are constantly under the spotlight, glorifying in their popularity and all that? Yeah, Marlon’s not one of them. If anything, he avoids them like mad. But being around them? That’s a whole different story. He is more than content with just being a background person. Marlon is one of those blokes that very few people notice as he prefers and intends actually. In fact, Marlon has made not being noticed an art form. In comparison to the rest of his rambunctious housemates, and classmates for that matter, he’s very near silent. For the most part, he stays in the back or in the shadows; pretty much anywhere that isn’t the spotlight.

It is fairly obvious that Marlon tends to more of a lone wolf type of guy, but at the same time, he is a follower of sorts. By being alone, Marlon is better able to keep his secrets as he trusts none other than himself with it. However, more than anything else, Marlon wants to fit in with the rest of the crowd. This desire derives from his days in poverty back in Wales with his mother and then eventually, his father. As the poor kid in school back in Wales, he was often picked on. As such, Marlon gravitates towards the rich pureblood Slytherins since they have just about everything he wants and desperately lacks: money, power, prestige. In his weird, twisted and warped mind, he believes that they protect him. If he’s around rich pureblood folks, what are the chances that people are going to guess that he’s poor? As strange as it sounds, other Muggleborns make him nervous because in his mind, he believes that they have a higher potential of figuring out his impoverished background.

Although it is not something particularly to be proud of, Marlon more or less lacks a working backbone, which makes him that much better as a follower. His own beliefs are not voiced if someone more powerful are opposing to that of this own; one would only see that obedient little nod. From his perspective, it isn’t being a spineless wimp, rather they’re self-preservation tactics, which is something that Marlon happens to have in bundles. His strong survival instincts both socially and in the physical world have led him thus far, so he can’t really complain about it.

While Marlon is an easy pushover, he isn’t a complete doormat. He’s willing to accommodate people to a certain limit, and when that limit is breached (and frankly, it takes a very long time for that to happen), which rarely happens unless it is intentional, nothing happens, or outwardly anyways. Marlon bottles up all his grievances and anger until they eventually grow to be grudges. He is also easily influenced into a variety of not-so-savoury activities, being a rather embarrassingly gullible person. Necessarily, Marlon is a fairly nervous fellow. He’s constantly worried about something. There’s rarely ever a time when he isn’t. However, Marlon is one of those guys who avoid their problems, which has the adverse effect of making him more tense and worried. Put simply and plainly, Marlon can be such a coward. Problems he wants to solve but is scared to do so, he will avoid with a ten-foot pole. It’s amazing how long he can skirt around an issue.

For the most part, Marlon is quiet and secretive; keeps to himself kind of person. Do not be fooled as many are. This is a purposeful act so that people don’t realize he’s there. It allows him access to information and insight on others that he or she may not be aware of simply because they just don’t see him there. He’s that guy creeping around in the shadows. He’s always watching, always listening for anything and everything. He may not be doing it on scene, but Marlon keeps a journal of everything of some significance and importance that he carries around. After being so practiced in hiding in the shadows, Marlon has become quite skilled at it. He has cunning; it just so happens that it’s not as overt as it is the case for many of his housemates.

Those who have actually seen or heard Marlon speak however rare the occasion may be, they would know that Marlon’s demeanour is slightly different from that which he is trying to project out to others. He is harshly sarcastic with a caustic tongue and the occasional dry humour and wit when it’s called for. As strange as it may seem, Marlon is sympathetic to the problems of others. However, he does have an alternative motive as it enables him to easily gain the trust of others. Although Marlon seems entirely mercenary, he acts a lot tougher than he actually is. Inside are Marlon’s squishy and all-too-sensitive innards. Very few people ever see this part of him though; mostly because he won’t let them. Helping others, it really does fill his heart with overflowing goodness. Marlon likes to say that it’s just a way to kill two birds with one stone. He does have a natural and uncanny sense of what a person is in need of and delivering it. But if someone were to ever offer same refuge and solace to him, it makes him suspicious since he’s always wondering what they want in return. But to ask for clarification would give away his position, which only worsens the position he is in.

In truth, Marlon’s insides are squishier than anybody could have ever imagined. He’s not a very emotionally secure child, likely due to his scarring childhood. He’s super-sensitive to everything; every insult and every slight is like a thorn burning into his soul. Marlon is very easily discouraged and often becomes despondent afterwards. In fact, he’ll have a bit of a sulking period where he feels unappreciated and only after a certain amount of time has gone by is he willing to move onto something else.

Ever since the age of six, Marlon Delaney has been granted with a vague ‘gift’ of Seeing. Most of the time, he Sees bits and pieces of the past and on the very rare ocassions, he Sees the future. In the latter case, it’s usually only a few seconds fast-forward. There have only been one or two occasions where he has seen months or years into the future: one of these was his memorable vision of Hogwarts. This ‘gift’ is actually part of the reason why Marlon is so desperate to fit in with the crowd. Frankly, it makes him feel uncomfortable when he can see bits and pieces of what’s happened before and after with no good way to explain how he knows. It is part of the reason why he speaks so rarely too. Often, Marlon is frustrated with his Seeing gift because it rarely, if ever, gives him anything of use. All he gets are useless little bits and pieces here and there.

Although it is not overtly apparent, Marlon is a very driven and ambitious fellow. After having lived in filth and having to work honestly and dishonestly for the large majority of his life, Marlon is sick of it; he wants out. He would do just about anything to get out of it all. Hence the reason why he clings to the people that he does, who allow him to build connections that provide him a way out of his life. More than that, Marlon wants to know and understand about himself, about his ‘gift’. But not wanting to ask help, being too proud and scared, Marlon goes about it the roundabout way since his ‘gift’ doesn’t seem to be too common even in the Wizarding World. He pays particular attention in Divination and Arithmancy class simply because they both have to do with predicting the future. One day, he hopes to be able to control these things he sees. In control, he means stop them from coming altogether; Marlon wants to stop being a freak of nature.

Magical Abilities and Skills
Ever since he was six years old, Marlon has been able to see visions of times that were not the present. More often, he Sees bits of the past; and on very rare occasions, he Sees the future (usually not too far in advance). For the most part, he cannot control when he Sees something. Sometimes there's a trigger, sometimes there isn't.

Through years of studying, Marlon has become quite adept at various art forms of Divination. He can tell you what the cards say like nobody's business, read your tea leaves with reasonable accuracy, scry crystal balls quite well, give you suggestions about what that dream could have possibly meant, and many other Divination-related activities. Granted, this is assuming that he's willing to part such wisdom to anybody. He can do so much in this area; yet, he does not know how to prevent his various visions from surfacing, which just plainly disappoints him.

Family
Marlon was born into a broken family. His father was imprisoned for attempted robbery, and his mother was incapable of caring for herself, let alone a child.

Sean Delaney
Marlon and his father have a strained relationship. Despite his father's best intentions, Marlon feels that his father did nothing but put even more of a strain on their so-called family's resources. In many ways, he blames his father for their current family situation. In his eyes, the family would not be living at the very edge of poverty had his father not attempted to rob a bank. Prior to having met his father, Marlon had idolized his father to some extent, expecting him to be some sort of Superman. Alas, he was disappointed when the family reunion took place.

Chelsea Delaney
In his opinion, his mother is incapable and stupid without another to hold her hand. If possible, Marlon tries not to interact with her too much. The very thought of her disgusts him.

James Francis
During his father's tenure in prison, James acted as a substitute father to him, but Marlon would have none of that. He had known from a very young age that James was not his real father. He had always felt that he had ulterior motives to helping out his mother when they were helpless and stranded. Once he became old enough, Marlon suspected that he helped his mother out, hoping to sleep with her. Marlon has always resisted against any and all of James' attempts to bond with him.

Louis Alexander
A friendship born out of their mutual interests in creatures, magical and non-magical alike. Due to the controversial nature of their friendship (a Hufflepuff-Slytherin friendship and blood traitor) and mostly due to Marlon's insistence, they are secret friends, only friends when no other was around. Otherwise, Marlon tends to ignore Louis. For all of his dramatics, he does sincerely care for the Hufflepuff and would sacrifice a great deal for him.

Olivia Montague


Jacob Warrington
Unknown to Marlon, the Warringtons have been his secret benefactor, paying for his tuition for the past few years.

Etymology
Marlon (MAHR-lun) is believed to be of Old French origin meaning "little hawk".

Cooper (KOO-pur) is of Old English origin meaning "barrel maker". It may also be the English form of a German surname meaning "coppersmith".

Delaney (deh-LAY-nee) is a surnamed derived from an Old English word for "alder grove" or the Irish surname meaning a combination of Gaelic words meaning "dark" and "defiance".

Behind the Character
The playby for Marlon is John Patrick Amedori. The player is Kiiraena.