The Rosier Chronicles

1853 - Alastair is born
Alastair is born healthy and lively. He is a great success for Araminta, who scored on her first attempt: male, looking like his father, seemingly neurotypical.
House Rosier has its heir. A grand ball is held in London to celebrate Alastairs arrival.

1856 - Lysander is born
The pair welcomes their second son Lysander. He’s underweight and scrawny, but all else seems well and it does not matter anyway; Alastair is a healthy and plump toddler now, terrorizing the house with his tantrums and already using magic to get his way.
Lysander is not as robust and much quieter than his brother. For the rest of his life, his superior intellect, great magical abilities and kind disposition will be overlooked by his family.

1859 - Zephyrus is born
A third son joins the family. It is a fine and handsome boy but his father dislikes him for having the audacity of looking not much like himself.  His mother would much rather like to have a girl instead of a third son. Who needs a third son, anyways?
He turns out to be passionate and flamboyant kind of character and is assigned the role of family scape goat.

1864 - Alastair joins Hogwarts - Cordelia is born
Shortly after turning 11, Alastair takes off for Hogwarts. The talking hat sorts him into Slytherin, as is tradition.
The first girl joins the family, headstrong, morose Cordelia.

1868 - the Valor society
In his fourth year, Alastair gets together with his friends in Slytherin and comes up with a student club all about boxing, fighting and duelling. They call it the Valor society.
It starts out as harmless roughhousing among boys and quickly takes a turn. More pupils join and they start holding secret “fight nights” in the dungeon. Within the group, cruel hazing and weird rituals emerge. Alastair, who learned these types of group control tactics in his home environment, is often the instigator.

1870 - the Travers incident - Lucretia is born
In his sixth year, infighting breaks out between the members of the Valor society. In a duell between Alastair and Nicodemus Travers, the Travers boy gets gravely injured and has to leave Hogwarts. He never regains full physcial capacity.
The Travers are a pureblooded family and their patriarchs know each other well.
They deal with the matter behind closed doors. A large sum changes hands and Alastair is betrothed to Dorcas Travers  (*1854).
Alastair avoids expulsion but the Valor society is disbanded by the principal.

In the same year, Lucretia is born. She grows up to be the golden girl of the family.

1871 - Alastair graduates Hogwarts - engagment to Dorcas Travers
Alastair get’s middling NEWT-results and graduates Hogwarts.
His parents promptly call him back to London to make good on their promise to the Travers. He meets Dorcas, who did not attend Hogwarts and was homeschooled, and immediately dislikes her.
She is pretty but mentally very unwell.
Nontheless, they get engaged.

1872 - Alastair and Dorcas marry 
The two teenagers marry in a rushed ceremony. Alastair is unhappy but puts up with it. They do not consumate and at the first opportunity he goes away to his uncle to learn about running a business. Dorcas stays at Rosier Manor in Scotland. 

1872 - 1876 - building a double life 
Busy avoiding his wife, Alastair spends his time in London aimlessly. He visits boxing rings in disguise and participates in illegal fighting, animal baiting, poaching, and dueling. He sows his wild oats indiscriminately but is smart enough to keep a low profile. His dominating father allows him no say in family affairs, but his uncle Aldred buys him a derelict gentleman's club to turn profitable.
He revives the Valor society, and their former members invest generously. “The Blackadder,” located in the hidden magical enclave on Doubt Street, becomes THE secret address for young upperclassmen who are up to no good.
The Blackadder, of course, offers facilities and instruction for boxing, fencing, and dueling. The members take regular hunting trips both in Great Britain and overseas.

1877 - Calliope is born - Araminta dies 
The third Rosier girl is born, and Araminta dies shortly after, exhausted from a stressful life of catering to her narcissistic husband and six children.
Little Calliope is handed over to Dorcas and Rosier senior makes up his mind to remarry.
Bartholomew Rosier is shaken by this death and worries about the future. His heir is refusing to bed his wife, his spare is too mellow and shy for leadership and his third seems too queer to be good for anything. Something has to be done!

He calls on Alastair, accuses him of impotence and threatens to disown him.
Alastair, deeply insulted, takes his wife away from the family manor. To everyones surprise, something like mutual regard blossoms. They are not teenagers anymore, after all. 

1778 - Araminta the 2nd is born
At last, after six years of estrangement, Alastair and Dorcas welcome their first child, a frail girl named Araminta after her late grandmother.

1879 - Rosier senior remarries
The old Mr. Rosier remarries a pretty pureblooded debutante 40 years his junior, Beatrice Veradame. She is a veritable juwel on his arm, meant to represent his enduring power and virility.
His actual virility, however, is questionable.

1880 - Altair and Cressida are born. 
To everyones surprise, Beatrice soon gives birth to a healthy blonde boy named Altair.
A month later, Dorcas gives birth to little Cressida, second daugther of Alastair. This is regarded as a failure for Dorcas due to the child not being male.
Rosier senior rejoices in his own superiority over his son and continued ability to produce male offspring. But at the same time, Altair is (supposedly) not the heir the family needs, just another wayward son who will have very scarce resources to support himself.

1883 - Iphigenia is born to Beatrice Rosier née Veradame.  This is almost as surprising as Altairs birth. Rosier Senior turns 70 this year.

1885 - Dorcas Rosier née Travers declines rapidly due to mental health concerns. 

1887 - Dorcas dies under unclear circumstances at the Rosiers manor in Scotland.
Alastair is ordered by his father to remarry immediately but drags his feet about it. Pushing 40, he is very sick of being ordered around. He makes good money from the criminal empire he bas built in secrecy and is not as dependent on his father anymore. 
He is involved in illegal fighting rings, betting and trading of illegal wildlife and artifacts. He’s sort of white collar wizard crime lord.

1892 - Zephyrs banishment 
Alastair banishes his younger brother from the family, almost killing him in the ensuing fight. Refer to section family secrets.

1894 - arriving in the now
By now Alastair resignes to the fact that he does need an heir soon to be eligible to inherit the estate. Worringly, if Rosier senior dies, the only son with an actual male heir is Zephyrus - he has Altair. There is a slim chance he could ursurp his eldest brother and take everything.
Alastair resolves to find a wife. He has his sights set on Ginevra Blackwood.