Neil is an 11 year old boy who stands at 4 feet, 7 inches or 140 cm. Neil is Caucasian with greyish green eyes and dark wavy hair parted on his left. Neil has the complexion of a kid often in the sun with a slight tan and scatter of faint freckles. He has the appearance of an active and athletic adolescent.

Neil is an ambitious and competitive young man incredibly passionate about his hobbies, friendships, and even rivalries. Neil is a confident and honest person unafraid to speak his mind even when it works to his detriment, Neil's self confidence and competitive nature makes him somewhat stubborn, unwilling to admit his own faults and denying any insecurity, preventing from backing down from any battle once he has put his heart to it. He had a creative way of approaching problems from different angles, preferring to put the work in to figure things out himself. Neil's loud personality makes him conducive to gaining the friendship of any and disapproval of some. Neil easily becomes jealous or disapproving of others off the bat but to his friends he is a loyal and reliable ally.

Neil puts his passion into various hobbies, playing in his muggle school's football team prior to being accepted into Hogwarts. Neil is quite a fan of the outdoors, preferring to spend time with his friends at the park or near the local lake to staying inside all days. During the snowy winters, Neil frequents the indoor swimming pool in his hometown. One odd hobby of Neil's is collecting stamps, something he inherited from his grandfather.

Neil was born on the 4th of November in the outskirts of a city to the south of Scotland, the second child of Archie and Sophia McKenzie. His parents were always of the belief that their children should be given the freedom to explore the world without being coddled and after Neil's acceptance into Hogwarts, they were immediately open the the idea. He and his brother Robbie, older by 2 years, grew up in constant opposition of each other, competing in every category and bickering more often then not. Neil can't say he hates his brother, they are family after all, just that the two have never really liked one another.

From a young age he loved to explore the nature just outside of his city for hours on end during the daytime. Neil always had a large group of friends which he would spend almost everyday with. In school, Neil was always the type of students to do excellent in some classes and miserably in others. When Neil is allowed to be creative and work out solutions in his own way he excels, but in his history and math classes, he could never quite memorize all the dates and formulas, never doing bad enough to fail but getting some less than stellar marks throughout primary school.

During the summer between Neil's 4th and 5th year of primary school, when he was 8, something happened that he was never able to explain, nor did anyone believe except for the few of his friends who witnessed it first hand. Neil had said some unsavory things about a kid in the grade above him by the name of Simon Stewart, which traveled quickly through the grapevine of bored boys out of school for summer holiday. Simon confronted Neil at a park one afternoon looking for a verbal apology. Neil didn't consider it for a second, the situation escalating to the point where Simon was ready to hit Neil when he was distracted by the unusual scent of burning hair. None of the boys were able to figure out how Simon's hair had caught fire, thinking it must have been the sun reflecting through some piece of glass, though Neil had a certain feeling that it was himself responsible for the incident. Simon wasn't hurt if you don't include his ego with the noticeable chunk of his hair burned off and after a few years everyone seemed to forget about the event except for Neil who received the explanation for the strange occurrence upon receiving his letter by the hands of a professor for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.