Vivienne Renee McAlister's entry into the world came about on July 18, 2009, and was marked by no small amount of activity. From older brother Jace's jealous attempts to keep himself in the spotlight on the way to St. Mungo's when Melanie McAlister went into labor (and even at the hospital, where he tried to keep all conversation off the topic of the impending birth of his new sibling), to the birth itself (where as it turned out, a serious emergency arose at the hospital, leaving Melanie and Daryl McAlister alone with one young, inexperienced Healer to assist them in delivering their baby girl. As it turned out, Vivienne herself was more than ready to begin life, and her mother had given birth in a mere twenty minutes, a time she considered to be a record, especially seeing as she had been in labor with Jace for thirty-four hours six years earlier.

Five years passed, and Jace McAlister began his first year at Hogwarts. Vivienne, not understanding why her brother was leaving, cried incessantly from the time they saw him onto the Hogwarts Express until they returned home later that afternoon. It was only after her parents sat her down and explained to her what Hogwarts was and why Jace was going there that Vivienne calmed down; however, after that, she began asking non-stop questions about the magical world (her favorite question to ask was "When will I get to go to Hogwarts?" despite being told repeatedly that she had to wait a few more years before she could attend). As she was quite an impatient child, she began looking out the window every day to see if there was an owl carrying a Hogwarts letter with her name on it.

It was when Vivienne was eight years old that she showed her first sign of magic. While her mother was braiding her hair one Saturday afternoon, Vivienne sneezed quite loudly, and her brown hair immediately turned bright pink. Melanie McAlister was so startled that she immediately sent a letter by owl to her husband, telling him what had happened. When Daryl came home later that day, he brought with him a dragon's tooth necklace as a present for his daughter, whom he knew was fascinated with dragons, particularly the Chinese Fireball. Vivienne was delighted, and to this day, still wears the necklace.

On Vivienne's eleventh birthday, a large barn owl appeared outside her house with a cream-colored envelope in its beak. After dropping the envelope onto the porch and flying away, Vivienne ran outside to see what had been left. Letting out a loud shriek when she realized it was her Hogwarts letter, she ran inside to tell her parents. Quickly forgetting about her birthday presents, she occupied herself with reading the letter and looking over the list of required school supplies. By the time she and her parents went shopping in Diagon Alley for them, she didn't need to look at the list because she had it memorized.

As young as she is, Vivienne has a slight tendency to vanity. There has yet to be a mirror she doesn't like, and will spend long periods of time admiring her long brown hair and wide brown eyes. She does, however, believe that her nose is slightly off-center despite the fact that it is perfectly straight. Vivienne's teeth are white and even, and her skin is slightly tanned, the result of spending her summer vacation in Australia. She can normally be found wearing blue jeans with her shirts tucked in, as she feels that wearing shirts out looks rather sloppy. During the summer, she normally wears nice sandals, or if at home, goes barefoot.

Despite her vanity, Vivienne is quite likable. She has a wry sense of humor and tries not to take life very seriously. Loyalty to friends and family is one of her strong points. She does not, however, like being put under pressure, and even with her devil-may-care attitude toward daily life, she does have a breaking point where she will always withdraw into herself and avoid people in general, even those she cares about. This reaction to stress normally doesn't last very long--three weeks has been the longest time she's gone without speaking to other people--and afterwards Vivienne is back to her old self.