1870 | Estelle is born, a middle child with a brother and sister who already own the nursery.

1872 | Another sister is born, as if her parents don’t already have a perfect daughter. (Estelle is so fussy a baby it is more surprising that anyone could endure another child after her.)

1873 | Her brother gone from the nursery, Angeline takes charge of the girls and Estelle is very much her sister’s puppet for a while. The only way she ever finds her niche – or any attention of her own – is by tattling on either of her sisters when they misbehave. She keeps a careful watch.

1877 | Raphael goes to Hogwarts and is sorted into Slytherin. Estelle doesn’t miss him in the house.

1878 | And so does Angeline. This should be Estelle’s time to shine at home, but Victoire doesn’t ever quite respect her authority, the little upstart.

1881 | In September, Estelle goes to Hogwarts. The upside? She is finally free of Victoire. The downside? She is living in the shadow of her elder siblings again. Slytherin is the expected house, to make their father proud, but a very small part of her wishes the hat had put her anywhere else so she could be her own person for once.

1883 | In third year, she adds Ancient Studies and Divination. Thus far she has been a model student, and towards the top of the class without much trying. Estelle always knew she was intelligent, so this comes as no surprise to her. It may have something to do with the fact that some of the working-class muggleborn sorts have a little more catching up to do, but she doesn’t have any pity for them. Annoyingly, Victoire joins them all in Slytherin.

1884 | Raphael graduates, and Angeline is unexpectedly pulled from school before she can complete her NEWTs. Estelle is disappointed in her sister, but not surprised. (Better PSYR than the asylum.) Still, worried the same mortifying fate will be extended to her, Estelle spends an inordinate amount of time studying to try and prove she is worth the education and begging her father to allow her to stay, as well as assuring him that she is perfectly proper and definitely doesn’t have any questionable friends. (The truth is she doesn’t really have friends. But still.)

1885 | In fifth year, she becomes Prefect, a job she has already been undertaking diligently in all but name. The number of people who actually listen to her efforts is bolstered slightly by the official badge, but she suspects the number of classmates who can stand her is dropping steadily.

1886 | And fortunately, she gets to stay for sixth year without incident. Having gotten solid OWL results, Estelle chooses to continue with Ancient Studies, Astronomy, Charms, DADA, Potions and because she got an O in Potions, adds Alchemy just to boast about it. Also it feels good to take six subjects when Raphael only took five.

1888 | She gets to stay, but after all her talk and smugness about it, she’s grossly overestimated herself. Or NEWTs are that much harder than OWLs, or everyone around her – even the muggleborns – is getting smarter, because Estelle’s sixth year exam results were shoddy, and her standards continue to slip in her final year, to the point where she thinks the school will probably confiscate her precious Prefect badge from her if she makes one more mistake. Towards the end of the year, the stress of it (and her lack of friends) gets to her in a bad way, and she has a total meltdown. When she opens her NEWT results in the summer, it’s to an assortment of failing grades (mostly Ds, and a P in Potions.) That’s it, no passing grades. Even Raphael the stupid quidditch player got better than that. Why did no one in her family warn her this was going to happen?! So it is almost a relief to avoid most people from school out in the real world for a while longer and retreat to PSYR to be finished, as if a rigid awareness of etiquette isn’t the only skill she has left to fall back on.

1890 | In an attempt to start from scratch, she has spent her time as a Rose trying to make friends and valuable connections before she is launched onto society, she swears she has. Only she’s – not very good at it, really. Or she’s simply unused to the process; but the fact remains people still don’t seem to like her very much. In the summer, Estelle comes out, determined to at least do better in debutante life than Angeline.

1891 | As it turns out, it’s going terribly. And now, just to rub it in, Victoire’s out too.