1874 | The Higgs are a well-to-do family, well known for sending their sons off to rise through the military or navy – that is, until one of their children, Gulliver, shows a rather different talent. He goes to Hogwarts and onto the Ministry, and eventually marries Theodora – as accomplished a young lady as she is loving – who grants him four sons and one daughter. Nelson is born in 1874, the fourth and final son in the family.
1879 | The boys are a well-taught but boisterous bunch, prone to rough-housing when unsupervised and to bouts of competition that manifest in a manner of ways. Hector is the leader, charismatic but bossy, Morris funny but insensitive, and Quentin anxious but driven. And Eloquence, mercifully, is a nice balance to them all! Nelson, a cheerful boy, keeps up with them all as best he can, and as much as he is allowed to. Morris has the least patience for him, of the three, but Morris has little patience for anyone, so Nelson doesn’t let that bother him.
1883 | Most of the time. Nelson has just turned nine. To stop them trying to muck about on broomsticks in plain view in their garden, their parents see to it that the Higgs boys spend much of their summer forcibly cooped up in the house. The elder boys would have been bored enough even without Nelson pestering them all the time - and he has spent most of his life learning to avoid their pranks - but tragedy befalls when he is promised he’ll finally be allowed to join in their grown-up games if he can just keep quiet. Morris (in an ill-conceived endeavour, though not in malice) makes him vow it, just to be sure. Only he makes a big hoo-hah about it, with Quentin looking on, and in the heat of the moment, Nelson finds himself promising to never speak. Hector walks in at about that point, and freaks the hell out. He calls for the parents, and it is only then, when Morris is being yelled at by their father and his mother has her hand over Nelson’s mouth to stop him from even trying to talk, that Nelson begins to panic.
The rest of the summer is quiet. It’s made up of several trips to the hospital to consult with healers, and then to various Ministry departments – but seeing as none of them can undo an Unbreakable Vow, it is nevertheless on Nelson’s part... quiet.
1884 | As the rest of his life looks set to be, in fact. It’s a pretty sobering wake up call about existence, that, the knowledge that if he so much as utters a word he might drop dead. He has plenty of questions about the nature of this vow he made, but the thing is, he’s not sure any theories are much worth testing.
1885 | By the time it’s his turn to go to Hogwarts, Nelson is very good at erring on the safe side, and keeping his mouth shut at all times. His parents write ahead, because of course they do, they’ve been horrendously overprotective of him ever since, but however prepared the school staff are, Nelson is still unprepared for the prospect of making friends as a mute. Mostly, he has to let his grin do the talking, or else rely on people’s morbid sense of curiosity, and that doesn’t usually get him all that far.
Having no friends is almost less embarrassing than the way he falls behind in classes at once, which gains him a reputation of being an idiot as well as a mute, in those circles less familiar to him. The truth is, he’s naturally bright, and not being able to properly cast a spell frustrates him to no end, because he is already spending half his time feverishly trying to learn the theory behind non-verbal spellcasting. He tries to make up for it in the classes he can (although, again, he is not much good at answering questions when he’s called on, unless he’s allowed to write his answers on a blackboard).
1887 | By the time third year comes around, Nelson knows well enough where his strengths are, and picks the most theory-based courses he can: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Ghoul Studies. Potions is also excellent, as are Astronomy and History of Magic, and Herbology too. Everything else is... well, suffice it to say he’s still not making progress in tune with the rest of his class. It’s lucky his parents have the money to pay for his way through school, because the practical subjects really put a damper on his chance of a scholarship.
1888 | He’s gained a few friends by his fourth year – settled into the way of things – and his confidence is growing every year. He’s always been keen to play quidditch for his house team, but his parents are less keen on the thought and their unbidden counsel mostly gives him anxiety about it. Still, next year, he’ll be there, he sw... well, Nelson doesn’t swear.
1889 | This year he makes the quidditch team as Beater! Shame OWLs are the worst.
1890 | After his results come in, Nelson gives up his practical classes and keeps Arithmancy, Astronomy, Ghoul Studies, Herbology, History of Magic and Potions. He has no idea what he's going to do with those, but that's a problem for next year Nelson.
1891 | After beaters were banned and Nelson spends a year on the team as Chaser, he finds his position restored again (the tryout is a formality). Still, there are NEWTs to worry about next.
