Thanks! That was very refreshing. And thanks also to the four responses above. I too like to remember that young writers have to crawl before they can walk. And besides, its unbecoming in readers to pitch fits over the quality of something we don't pay for. ;D

I find the pivotal hallmark of a Mary Sue is not so much her looks and abilities (multiple animagi, wandless lightning bolts, and exotic ancestry aside) as what she's doing with them that really gums the story up. And reveals the Author-Sue standing in self dialog: "I'm Princess Poofy/Gothy/Hotbod! I have awesome powers and everyone loves me! I can do anything I want! So I'm going to...um...I'll...I'll...wear leather pants! With a thong showing in the back! I'll stick my gum in Draco's hair and call him a doodoo-head! I'll play my favorite music really loud! I won't have any parents or a curfew and, and, and, I'll have sex! Yeah! And, and, stuff! Yeah! I'll have lots of great stuff!

You get the idea. World enough, and time...and a fourteen year old's taste, sensibility, lifeskills, and agenda. That's a MarySue.