November 12th, 1847 | On a cold, bitter [s]prophetic[/s] day, Phineas Nigellus Black joins brother Sirius in the prestigious Black family. He is very much a second son and spare heir for the family, though doted upon like his brother.
1850 | Elladora joins the family and Phineas is hit or miss on his sister during her first few months of life. Frankly babies are loud and smell and not worth his time, but once she outgrows that, he supposes she is not all that bad. The house in general is not one of warmth or overt affection anyway.
1853 | Sirius falls ill and passes away. Obviously the loss rattles the whole family. Astonished that this could happen to his parents’ cherished first-born, Phineas suddenly finds himself with a lot more spotlight and unwilling to deal with it. He had, very quietly, always looked up to his brother and never imagined having to replace him as heir to the Black family. It was not a position he was prepared to take, especially at such a young age. Elladora, though little, seems to understand and in her own way support him, which endears his sister to him, though he is never overtly open about his increased affection for her after that.
1855 | By now Phineas has mostly settled into his newfound family role and excelling as best he can. He has always been a naturally curious and quiet child, but now remains stoic and conservative in his demeanor. Secretly he worries about being a squib- considering he has yet to show magic, but thankfully this is taken care of before his eighth birthday as during fencing lessons he manages to disarm his opponent after having his own foil knocked from his hands.
1857 | Tragedy strikes again when Cygnus dies unexpectedly early in the year. Iola, joins the family. Phineas shows the addition little attention, far too busy to pay her any attention, reserving his fondness for Elladora alone and focusing on her in their time of loss.
School Year 1859-60 | Phineas heads off to Hogwarts and is sorted, unsurprisingly, into Slytherin. He quickly settles himself into a proper social circle and his studies.
School Year 1960-61 | Things progress as expected for Phinny, he excels in Potions and Transfiguration and shows a high level of aptitude in Herbology, though it is not strictly his favorite, he knows he needs it to continue to do well in Potions.
School Year 1861-1862 | Elladora joins him at Hogwarts and in Slytherin, which is a relief as here he can keep an eye on her and neither one of them is left along with the plague that is Iola. Phinny adds Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for his electives.
School Year 1862-63 | Fourth year passes rather ordinarily, nothing of import to mention, though Phineas is subtly making sure her is in the minds of his teachers as a potential prefect for the following year. Why wouldn’t he be prefect, honestly.
School Year 1863-64 | Phineas, to no surprise of his own, is named house prefect. He studies dutifully for his OWL exams and does as expected, with nothing-less-than extraordinary, at least in the classes he decides to continue on with.
School Year 1864-1865 | Deciding to continue on with only classes he deems worthy, Phineas chooses Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Defense and Arithmancy for his NEWT classes. He continues with his prefect duties, even being… fair to those he wouldn’t usually associate with- all in hopes to make Head Boy the following year.
School Year 1865-66 | Though he has performed admirably with his prefect duties, (at least in his opinion) Phineas os not chosen for Head Boy. Mildly outraged, Phineas manages to keep his distaste to himself (for the most part), however is obviously more biased in his treatment of purebloods versus anyone less now. The only blessing is that he will have managed to miss being at Hogwarts at the same time as Iola. He graduates with exemplary marks of course.
1866-1869 | During the years following his graduation, Phineas pursues little aside from a few academic endeavors, researching and keeping up with his potions skills. There is little else to hold his attention, as a gentleman of leisure too young to properly court, he is left in the limbo of socializing when he would really prefer not to, but must. Keeping up appearances is paramount if he expects to progress anywhere socially or professionally- though on the latter he is not quite sure what to do. Obviously he doesn’t need an occupation, but finds himself bored without something. Meanwhile Elladora has graduated and debuted (May 1868). Phineas is mildly disappointed that her first season does not produce a match, but Elladora seems unperturbed, so he does not push the issue. Thankfully in the fall of 1868 Iola goes to school and is out of his hair.
August 1869 | Phineas learns that the Potions position is open at Hogwarts. He has never really considered teaching as a profession, but after some thought (clearly he’s skilled at the subject), decides to apply. He is of course, hired on and he anticipates the job to be easy.
It is anything but.
Despite his knowledge of the subject, Phineas finds children tedious. The fact that Iola is present in his classes also does not please him. The first year is hell and Phineas is a distant and unapproachable teacher. He considers calling it after the year is up, but decides that would look terrible and therefore sticks it out. The subsequent years become easier, though no more pleasant, but Phineas is determined to stick it out.
1871 | He must be doing well or at least good at faking it because he is named Head of Slytherin this year.
1874 | Phineas is named Deputy Headmaster this fall. At this point he’s found a comfortable groove with the profession, though still is not any closer to finding working with children any kind of rewarding or fun.
1875 | Iola graduates, thank Merlin. Her debut is a disappointment, as was expected. He is however, reintroduced to Miss Ursula Flint at her own debut. She had been a prefect for the past few years during his time as Head of House and while he knew she existed, acknowledged little beyond that. Phineas’ approachability and socializing skills only improve marginally when he is not at the school.
Somehow, though he is not quite sure how or why, he manages to catch Miss Flint’s eye. By now, settled into his “profession” Phineas has pondered over finding a wife, but hadn’t exactly thought it through completely. Still, Miss Flint is generally easy on the eyes and not terribly annoying. Things progress into a courtship and near the New Year and engagement is announced at the urging of his mother.
Really, it could be worse he supposed.
1876 | Phineas and Ursula marry on June 7th. Marriage was always something Phineas knew he had to do, but had never particularly looked forward to. He is not the most… affectionate of husbands and is quite alright with heading off to the school again, surprisingly, in a new capacity.
Despite his youth and with only two years as Deputy under his belt, Phineas is promoted to Headmaster of the school; finally a position worth of his time. Though he does not enjoy children, he does think their education is important.
Ursula throws Phineas an exemplary birthday that November. Despite his avoidance of such things, he is mildly impressed with her organization and the turnout. He chalks everything up to being still in the “honeymoon” phase of their marriage… and by the new year, Phineas finds out Ursula is pregnant. #woo
1877 | The family, aside from his dear mother, relocate to Hogsmeade after the uproar. That birthday party paid off as this August, Ursula produces an heir to be named Sirius Nobel Black II. An heir, excellent. His trend of not being affectionate continues, though he does praise Ursula occasionally and figures at least that part of their marriage is secure for now. There would have to be more, obviously, but at least there’s that.
1878-1881 | Things are generally… steady in the Black household. Phineas feels little guilt over spending the majority of his time at the school, trying to improve it in the areas he finds … lacking.
After the school year lets out in for the summer in 1881, Phineas returns home to find his Ursula acting rather sheepish, to say the least. She is also looking rounder than when he’d seen her last. While he was always one to jump to conclusions, this one was something he had a hard time fathoming. Why would she be unfaithful? His lack of warmth aside, their marriage seemed to be going fine. Realistically, he was personally affronted- insulted she would stoop so low and while he is obviously no expert in the matters of childbearing, he is too suspicious to let it go. One night at dinner, he slips Veritaserum into Ursula’s wine and gets the truth from her.
The child is not his.
Outraged that he could be so easily duped, Phineas demands that the thing be taken care of upon its arrival. He would not deal with it, nor would he tolerate it in his home. By his return for Christmas, his darling Elladora has taken care of it for him. Despite his low starting point, Phineas is even less affectionate toward his wife.
(February) School is not the escape he expect it to be as there is a slew of issues with murdered and missing muggleborns. While Phineas is a purist at heart, he does not care to see his students murdered and stolen. Turns out is was Spavin and Phineas is well and truly shocked.
Even the following September it seems hussies have followed him to school and now Phineas must deal with a female population lacking any semblance of morals. Etiquette classes are now mandatory as of October. AND NO MORE QUIDDITCH FOR YOU LADIES.
1882 | Is a clusterfuck. Phineas in a moment of poor judgement beds his wife, guys their sex life is super important. This tryst results in a pregnancy and the only saving grace is that he does not have to pretend to be husbandly around the house for the duration of the pregnancy.
This May however, both Ursula and Iola are drafted for the Hogsmeade trail expedition. Phineas fully expected his wife to weasel out of it somehow, especially considering her condition, but Phinny does nothing to help her. Unfortunately along the way the child is lost and he is both annoyed and a little saddened by it.
In June, like Phineas has always indirectly feared, Iola runs off with a muggleborn of all things; she is promptly disowned. Perhaps it is the loss of the child and the frustration of his sister being completely useless, but Phineas willingly welcomes Ursula back into his bed… probably to let off steam.
Conversely, that August, Sirius shows his first sign of magic and that is at least something to be celebrated. There’s something about the town of Irvingly being founded, but Phineas has neither the time nor the inclination to care.
Phineas, though mostly purposefully oblivious to his family issues, something is up with Ursula, she has clearly lost her mind and he will not be making any more mistakes in this regard. He tries to take care of the matter, but cannot seem to and he feels like he was slipped something by his wife… Torn between being outraged and impressed (subtly), he lands on quietly disgruntled and in an even more sour mood than usual. He learns that at least the event in June has led to another pregnancy; he sincerely hopes for a boy so they can just be done with it.
1883 | Glad to be shot of 1882, Phineas is informed of his son’s birth in February and he is amused to learn that Ursula has named the child after him. She is either mad or assuming it will please him; neither are working in her favor. There is a scandal involving Amortentia-laced tea. Phineas is sick and fucking tired of love potions. Shit goes down. He tries not to care.
He makes it home in March to see the child briefly, though wonders where in the hell the Flint family has ever looked like that. Maybe it is his children that are making him soft, or perhaps biology is getting the better of him, but he seeks out his wife’s bed and is refused. Shocked and mildly outraged, Phineas stews over it, growing bitter- he wonders if she is having another affair. He thought he’d made himself perfectly clear the first time, but really it just makes him super extra cranky.
The QWC happens this summer, woo.
By the time his birthday rolls around, Phineas’ rage has simmered and for his birthday this year he gets uncharacteristically drunk seeking out his wife’s bed. Basically he’s drunk and she’s high and sex happens. It was probably terrible and sloppy and Phineas is glad he doesn’t remember it.
[1884] | Minister Potter is murdered, pity. The new election season begins shortly after. Phineas votes accordingly, but only goes so far as to hope for a pureblood with a proper head on his shoulders.
Things have settled at home for the time being- or at least Phineas thinks so since Ursula is pregnant again. When Arcturus arrives at least it’s a boy and damn it they better be done with this shit.
Fucking hussies, they get chastity cuffs. (Can you tell Bee is running out of fucks to give?)
There is fire, doom and gloom. Phineas catches the Laughing Plague, along with Sirius, but they both make it out in the end. The family relocates to London from Hogsmeade after the house is lost.
Upon return to school it is announced that Hogwarts will host the Pan Magical Games, woo foreign children in his immediate vicinity. He is thrilled..
[1885] | Phineas II in a display of accidental magic, turns his wife’s hair blonde. It’s very unattractive, but he finds it rather hilarious. Ursula gets the desire to own a country house and Phineas puts up little fight, maybe it’ll keep her busy and out of his hair.
[1886] | A daughter is born. Huh. Phineas isn’t exactly sure where she came from, but all things considered, a little girl after a horde of boys isn’t so bad... Unfortunately Belvina looks uncommonly like her mother.
[1887 - Present] | Same shit, different day.
