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Reynolds McNeil
Status:
Half-blood
Nationality:
English
Residence:
Brighton, England
Function:
Second year, Hufflepuff
Wand:
21,4 cm mayhaw wood and phoenix feather
Reynolds McNeil is the second-born son of William and Rachel McNeil. His father was a wizard who was hiding his magical identity from his wife, who knew nothing of magic and would surely outcast him if she ever found out. His mother was a controlling woman who had very specific ideas of how her life would turn out. Unfortunately for Reynolds, he was not part of what his mother had planned for her life. She had been so sure that she would have a boy and then a girl, she was disappointed in Reynolds from birth.

Two years later, Rachel had the girl she had so desperately wanted and named her Louie. All of Rachel’s attention then went to her daughter. For Reynolds, who was too young and had never received the attention from his mother, hardly noticed. His older brother, Will, however, who had enjoyed 7 years of his mother’s affection became more and more desperate for her attention. Will took out his desperate need for attention from his mother on Reynolds, as he had picked up on his mother’s dislike for his brother and replicated it.

When Will was 9 and Reynolds was 4 the two of them were in one of their standard fights when something truly strange happened. It was a “girls day out” in which Rachel had taken Louie out to play dates with her nursery school friends, meaning that William was staying home with the two sons. As he lounged on the couch, falling asleep and exhausted from working two jobs. The bickering of his sons grew loudly. Just as Will pulled himself up to look over the back of the couch to tell his sons to keep it down, he saw Reynolds, face red from yelling at Will to stop calling him stupid.

On the floor was an assortment of paints that Reynolds had apparently been using to paint a picture of a smiling monster. He wasn’t sure what it was that Will had said to make the little boy so angry, but his whole face was screwed up in frustration. With a satisfied, smug grin on his face, Will turned to walk away, apparently sure his work had been done. As he walked away, a look of concentration came over Reynolds’s face and a burst of air erupted around Will. The 9-year old’s shirt came up almost over his head and his blond hair tangled into itself.

Before William could process what had just happened, his older son spun on his heel. “What did you do?” the boy demanded. Reynolds, clearly just as surprised but also satisfied that he had gotten the best of his brother, said nothing. Will took an angry step towards his brother and at the same time, the paint on the floor around Reynolds exploded. Instead of flying in every direction, however, the paint splattered specifically all over Reynolds and his picture, ruining his clothes, hair, and the picture he had been working on.

Before the situation spiraled more out of control than it already was, William was able to put a stop to both of the boys. It was then that he explained about magic and the wizarding world. He made it very clear to both that they could never reveal their magic to anyone, especially their mother. Reynolds was ecstatic, magic meant there was something good in him, there was something special, and there was a reason he felt so different. Will saw his magic as a curse, however, and had no problems ignoring it. At least for a while.

Unfortunately for the McNeil family, the magic in their blood couldn’t be ignored forever. Will received his Hogwarts letter the summer after his 11th birthday and there was no way to keep it from their mother. There was a long shouting match between William and Rachel. William knew from the very beginning that his wife would be leaving over this new information. After several hours though, William was able to convince her that magic only ran in the men of the family, though he had no idea if Louie would ever display any magic, she hadn’t yet and he hoped to leave at least one of his children with a semi-normal life.

As predicted, Rachel divorced William, took Louie, and moved far away. Since then, none of the McNeil boys have heard from her or Louie. Will blamed himself and grew even angrier and hateful of his own magic. Reynolds took the loss of his sister harder than the exit of his mother. With Will gone to Hogwarts that next school year and his father still working two jobs, Reynolds found himself more and more often on his own. Which he didn’t mind at all. He read every book and poem he could find and taught himself how to play the piano and the violin.

Reynolds asked his father and his brother relentlessly about Hogwarts and the wizarding world which he hadn’t been able to experience properly for himself yet. And while his father seemed to grow more nostalgic with each query his brother became only angry at his questions. When Reynolds was 9 his father finally took him to Diagon Alley to experience first hand the wizarding world. And he has been in love with it ever since.

Reynolds has grown up to be a relatively quiet boy, he doesn’t interact with others very well, at least in his own mind. After being criticized harshly on everything he did by his mother and older brother from a young age, he has never built up much self-confidence. He also tends to overthink and overreact to things, if you say something negative to him then he’s likely to think about it for months and let it consume him, making him more and more insecure.

Despite the way he has been treated, he looks for the best in people. He believes it is those who have been most torn down who owe it to others to be kind, because they have known the pain of manipulation and prejudice the best they are the most responsible for making sure they don’t treat others in the same fashion. This of course can lead him to give too much benefit to those who are truly manipulating and he can be taken advantage of easily.

Reynolds gets his brown hair from his mother and his bright blue eyes from his father. He is fairly slight of frame and with his quiet nature, he can often slip past the attention of others, which is exactly how he likes it.