Howe, Marshall

Daily Prophet Layout Editor

SS DP Character - HNC

Full Name: Marshall James Howe

Aliases/Nicknames: Marshall or Howe will do
Age: Twenty five years old
Date of Birth: May 7, 2047
Place of Birth: Armagh, Northern Ireland 
Gender: Male
Heritage: Muggleborn
Wand: Oddly formed cheerywood wand with a core of kelpie hair. 9 inches long, and whippy. 
Former house: Gryffindor (2058 - 2064)
Position in the Daily Prophet: Layout Editor


Appearance: After nearly a decade of having reached six feet, four inches tall, and being just way too gangly for anyone's good, Marshall Howe has grown far too used to his long limbs to actually give two sickles about it anymore. Yeah, he has to bend down a lot, in order to talk to people, and sure he's almost always slouching and is bound to suffer from back problems early on in his life, but really who cares? Not him, certainly, not anymore. 

During the summer his hair ranges between light brown and dirty blond, though it is normally brown and untamed and curly and is very close to resembling a bird's nest. His eyes, olive and almond-shaped, are constantly hidden behind his messy fringe, for his hair falls on his eyes a lot, successfully blocking his already poor eyesight. Thanks to this, and to the fact that he's never able to remember where he last put his black rimmed, rectangle-shaped glasses, Marshall has quite literally stumbled his way through life, and fallen down in public more times than he cares to remember. Oh, and you better believe than whenever he does, he's made sure to take not-at-all-pleased folk down with him, too.

Marshall's style is nonexistent because he simply just doesn't have one. His clothing is determined by his mood, or whether or not he's done any laundry - it all depends. However, if he really had to pick one style in particular, it'd be the love child of preppy boy and geek chic.

Personality: Marshall is a kind and light hearted young man, who happens to be everybody's friend once he comes out of his shell; he'd even talk your ear off, too, if allowed. But there's a problem: He rarely comes out of his shell. Though mostly unwillingly, Marshall Howe doesn't exactly make a secret of his severely awkward social ways. Being one to take mostly everything literally, Marshall's pale face is usually either covered by a fierce blush, or just drained from any color, and is always running short of witty responses. Not that he really needs those, for with a face as open as his, it's hard to hide his feelings (anger, mostly) when it comes to certain matters. This comes as a laughable matter sometimes, which only makes Marshall to lose his temper and forget that tact is something people should always have. Needless to say, he's always finding himself having eternal riffs with complete strangers, and sometimes an acquaintance or two. 

Sense of humor eludes him for the most part, unless it comes in the form of someone's face meeting the concrete, which is really rich coming from someone as clumsy as him. But then, this is exactly why Marshall feels that he is perfectly allowed to laugh - after all, people don't think twice about doing it when it is his face meeting the ground. Marshall feels very little, if any empathy, towards weak and selfish individuals, which once again, is very rich -the weak part, at least- coming from someone who's middle name could only be STRONG if their life was a comedy from the muggle telly. Really, though, Marshall  means well, and would never wish any kind of ill on anyone. But really, wouldn't YOU laugh if weak, selfish person falls on their backside in front of a crowd? At least him, as opposed to many people out there, helps the poor soul to get back on their feet after allowed himself five seconds of some food old laughing.

Marshall lacks the skill (one of the many skills he lacks, mind you) of expressing himself in socially acceptable ways. Though not at all unintelligent, Marshall is a slow thinker that actually thinks an awful lot, and lacks confidence. He just doesn't  know what to say half of the time, and when he actually does have a clue of what to say, he worries that it isn't the right to thing to say. And that's not even mentioning that after convincing himself that it is the right thing to point out, then comes the excruciatingly difficult task of figuring it out how to say it.

Not surprisingly (or at least not to him and the few friends he's got), Marshall's relationship with the opposite sex isn't really one. Talking to them is even more difficult than trying to steal a cookie from a nine month-old brat (he's tried, has gotten punched by a saliva-covered little fist right in the nose), and often ends up being an embarrassing and painful situation. Yes, women are beautiful, alluring and one hundred percent mesmerizing, but Marshall Howe is convinced that they want nothing to do with him, his majestically clumsy ways, and socially inept self, so he prefers to watch them from afar, and save himself the pain and embarrassment that is dealing with them. 

History: Regardless of how many Disney movies he watched that had magic on them, Marshall didn't really believed on it. If there was such a thing as magic, his mom wouldn't have died after having him, and his dad wouldn't spend so much time at work and not enough time with him, right? Right. Maybe Howe's social inadequacies stem from the fact that he never knew much of that thing they called parental love or whatever, but he truth is that he pretty only had himself while growing up. 

His dad taught him how to talk, how to wash himself, how to dress himself, and when he realized that Marshall was old enough to take care of himself, Marshall Howe Senior became distant and threw himself into his work. Apparently his son was the spitting image of the woman he'd lost, or something. So Marshall, just a little kid, raised himself as best as he could. His nanny was the telly, and his books were his best friends. It didn't take long, however, for his father to receive letter from school saying that Marshall somehow always caused trouble, so Mr. Howe just decided to get him a tutor and have his son study at home. Marshall wasn't exactly fond of this idea, but he'd never been much of a complainer, and was in fact, rather accommodating so he merely accepted his faith. Things were alright for a couple of years, until someone showed saying that he was a wizard and therefore, had to attend to a special school.

Eleven year old Marshall both cried and laughed and for the first time in his live, threw a tantrum. Surprisingly, Marshall's father took it better than Marshall himself, for it turned out that his sister was a witch, too. And so it was then then that Marshall realized his life had changed quite a bit. Soon he was buying supplies, and then shuffling inside a train, saying good-bye to his father (who to Marshall's surprise looked even a little sad) and hello to his new life. At Hogwarts, Marshall wasn't exactly the best of his class, but he wasn't actually all that bad; he excelled in Charms, Herbology, Arithmancy and Astronomy, but made a mess of himself when it came to Potions, Transfiguration and Flying. Marshall made plenty of friends and lost more than half of them, but that was okay because some of them at least remained and put up with his awkward ways.

Graduation soon came, and Marshall, trying to follow his father's foot-steps, decided to go the muggle way and study Law. That, of course, didn't exactly go as planned and he ended up dropping out, and wound up working as a waiter in a muggle restaurant for a couple of months. Photography was something he'd always liked, however, so a few months later he signed up in University once again, and this time actually managed to finish the whole thing. He fell in love a few times, and got his heart-broken the exact amount of times, too. Marshall worked in a bunch of odd jobs in the Wizarding World (none of them worth mentioning) before finally landing one in the Daily Prophet. Marshall is actually quite excited, but isn't all that sure he'll last. 

Likes: books, photography, bow-ties, food, sneakers, sleeping in, walking in the rain, pillows, hoodies, chocolate frogs, music, energy drinks, The Females, laughter, languages, travelling, old people, Quidditch, Astronomy, pencils, muggle gadgets, his friends, his family, old muggle movies, butterbeer, Broomsticks (as long as he isn't riding one) and his beat up yellow couch.

Dislikes: photography (yeah, love/hate relationship), bad lightening, smelly folk, annoying folk, muggle pens, money, his poor eyesight, his glasses because they are nowhere to be found, doctors, healers, lawyers, his family (yeah yeah), early spring, waking up early, not getting enough sleep, his hair, the mole on the crook of his neck, ink-stained hands, awkward situations (ha... HAH), heights, and sometimes himself.

History - Background: Regardless of how many Disney movies he watched that had magic on them, Marshall didn't really believed on it. If there was such a thing as magic, his mom wouldn't have died after having him, and his dad wouldn't spend so much time at work and not enough time with him, right? Right. Maybe Howe's social inadequacies stem from the fact that he never knew much of that thing they called parental love or whatever, but he truth is that he pretty only had himself while growing up. 

His dad taught him how to talk, how to wash himself, how to dress himself, and when he realized that Marshall was old enough to take care of himself, Marshall Howe Senior became distant and threw himself into his work. Apparently his son was the spitting image of the woman he'd lost, or something. So Marshall, just a little kid, raised himself as best as he could. His nanny was the telly, and his books were his best friends. It didn't take long, however, for his father to receive letter from school saying that Marshall somehow always caused trouble, so Mr. Howe just decided to get him a tutor and have his son study at home. Marshall wasn't exactly fond of this idea, but he'd never been much of a complainer, and was in fact, rather accommodating so he merely accepted his faith. Things were alright for a couple of years, until someone showed saying that he was a wizard and therefore, had to attend to a special school.

Eleven year old Marshall both cried and laughed and for the first time in his live, threw a tantrum. Surprisingly, Marshall's father took it better than Marshall himself, for it turned out that his sister was a witch, too. And so it was then then that Marshall realized his life had changed quite a bit. Soon he was buying supplies, and then shuffling inside a train, saying good-bye to his father (who to Marshall's surprise looked even a little sad) and hello to his new life. At Hogwarts, Marshall wasn't exactly the best of his class, but he wasn't actually all that bad; he excelled in Charms, Herbology, Arithmancy and Astronomy, but made a mess of himself when it came to Potions, Transfiguration and Flying. Marshall made plenty of friends and lost more than half of them, but that was okay because some of them at least remained and put up with his awkward ways.

Graduation soon came, and Marshall, trying to follow his father's foot-steps, decided to go the muggle way and study Law. That, of course, didn't exactly go as planned and he ended up dropping out, and wound up working as a waiter in a muggle restaurant for a couple of months. Photography was something he'd always liked, however, so a few months later he signed up in University once again, and this time actually managed to finish the whole thing. He fell in love a few times, and got his heart-broken the exact amount of times, too. Marshall worked in a bunch of odd jobs in the Wizarding World (none of them worth mentioning) before finally landing one in the Daily Prophet. Marshall is actually quite excited, but isn't all that sure he'll last.
Extras: Marshall is allergic to a lot of things, which is why he's a vegetarian more out of need than choice. Sometimes he suspects to be allergic to himself and his own stupidity.