Meredith Delilah L. Pines

Meredith 'Merry' Delilah L. Pines (born May 19th) is a 5th year Hufflepuff student currently studying at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Appearance
Standing at 5'0, Merry would most likely be seen at the front of every line where height is involved where she would stand, which is a good thing in some cases (snack and drink tables, entrance to parties, etc) and bad in others (assignment and project submissions, who gets to go first in class presentations, etc). She has red hair, blue eyes and is 1/4th Irish, her mother being half-Irish. She does not seem to have any hint of being Irish other than by blood.

Personality
Merry is almost always seen with a playful look on her face, always looking around for people she could go around and talk to about the most random things ever. She's highly supportive of people and their oddities, finding that their oddities is what makes them unique from the rest. She's also very defensive of the people she would call her friends, and would do everything it takes just to protect them from people who are being mean to them for no reason.

It does not take a lot for Merry to become sad, however. She's very prone to sadness, especially as she began to go into her teen years. Her emotions tend to flair up whenever she sees something that she feels like she could have done something, only to realize that she failed to act on that feeling.

Before she grew to be the happy person that she is today, Merry was a quiet person who was prone to being bullied simply because she looked odd as a young 11 year old girl. One person who came into her life would change all that months later after her arrival to attend her first year at Hogwarts, and felt confident enough to begin breaking out of her shy shell and become who she is today. That person is also the likely reason why she became the 'kid-in-a-candy-shop' girl that she is today, having some of their personality brush onto her.

Background
Born to a Muggleborn father named Christopher Pines (a manager of a zoo at Somerset) and a Pureblood witch named Philomena Lovegood (the current head writer for her family's news tabloid the Quibbler, Merry somehow did not gain the height of her father (who stands at a strong 6'4) and stood closer to her mother's height of 5'4. However, despite being a short girl, that did not deter Merry from being one happy gal that's like a kid who ate a chocolate bar unattended.

Merry received her letter from Hogwarts two months after her birthday, and at first she wondered why she got a letter from a strange place. Her parents explained to her why she got that letter, and immediately she understood that there was more to the world than what she thought existed. Immediately her interests in all things magical increased tenfold, and found herself immensely curious about magical creatures. Merry grew up around animals thanks to her father who works at a zoo near their home, and so when she found out about the creatures that existed within the magical community she was ecstatic to learn more about them, which her parents are very happy to hear.

The Hogwarts Years
Merry was a socially awkward person and often confused her classmates and schoolmates when she spoke about the things that interested her, and so when one of the people showed their confusion about it she began to just keep her thoughts and slight oddities to herself, something that she still does on occasion around people she's not familiar with.

Her silence about what kind of a person she was soon became a problem when some of the older students a year or so above her had begun to bully her, calling her names like 'bug-eyed' and 'weirdo.' That slowly came to a stop throughout the years, however, when one person who she's happy to have as the closest friend she has came to her aid and gave her bullies a mouthful full of expletives the likes of which no one would have heard. After that, Merry continued on to stick with this person who became her first ever friend at Hogwarts, and continues to stick with him until the very present.

After having opened herself up more to the world, Merry continued to go on and be a merry friend to everyone, following the kindness of her close friend and passing the same kindness onwards to whoever deserves it, which was everyone. As she grew older, Merry had discovered something that would confused her thoughts and emotions when it came to girls. On one night she met a troubled Malfoy girl who had received a nasty Howler from who she thought is her father, and came over to give her emotional support. Both girls did not expect what was going to happen between them, however, as the two almost shared a kiss when they had stared into each others eyes.

The weeks followed and Merry was further confused about her identity as a person, unsure if she thought what she felt was just a sort phase, or if it was real. She pushed those thoughts aside and decided to just let things happen should another similar scenario would occur. She had a bit of an argument during the holidays, unfortunately, and soon had turned over to mull over what she had said, wishing that she had thought about what she said before she said them.

On the same night, however, Merry had found that her interest in the same sex was not just a phase, and she made friends with a girl from Ravenclaw who gently helped her discover who she truly was. And after that night, she believed that she not only is interested in boys, but girls as well.

Friends

 * Simon Tully: The first friend she ever made and the one person she trusts enough to take care of her. Thinks of him like the big brother she never had, and thinks that she's the best person ever for going way beyond the call of duty.
 * Talia Thistle: Her housemate in Hufflepuff, Talia is the one of many girl friends that she likes due to their similar shared interests.
 * Amelia Scamander: Another housemate of hers, Amelia and Merry are good friends also because of their shared interests in animals, both non-magical and magical.
 * Mallory Malfoy: Despite their rocky start, Merry considers her a friend of hers, and still cares about her despite having been suspected as Simon's attempted assassin due to her closeness to the boy.
 * Miodrag 'Melvin' Stewart: Another housemate of hers, Merry likes Mel as she's intrigued about his accent and the 'mystery' that seems to surround him and his brooding personality.

Trivia

 * Merry grew up with asthma, and so her bubbly and bright attitude became sort of a bad thing at times because she found herself running out of breath from all the running and laughing she did, which means that she's seen the Hospital Wing and its Healer more than once.
 * Merry was not a fan of Quidditch growing up, but when her closest friend joined it after he had grown older, she began to watch it out of support for him. Her reason for watching it began to change through the games she saw him play, and was there at every single game that he was. She enjoyed it for the excitement that it brought, and also so she could see her friend succeed doing what he likes.
 * Merry has a scrapbook that she had started in the middle of her third year, detailing everything that she had seen happened. Besides that, she also has a personal journal that's locked magically where she writes all of what she had done for the day, as well as what her thoughts and feelings are. There are also some entries in there about some of the friends she has, writing some fictional stories about them, usually humorous but also occasionally serious.
 * Merry has a crush on Simon, and admitted it to him once at a party. While she does like him, Merry is afraid of attempting to try a relationship with her close friend for the reason that should they break up, their friendship might dissolve along with it.