August 1859 | Keats, his namesake poet, once said of his own work: “It is not without a feeling of regret that I make Endymion public”, and it would not be unjust to suppose this Endymion’s parents might have similar regrets about him. (But Endymion is at least a cheerful, healthy, rosy-cheeked baby, so at first the future looks bright.)

1862 | Porphyria is born. By now Endymion is spending all of his waking hours – which are few enough; he sleeps a lot as a child – trailing after his elder brother Ozymandias.

1863 | Don Juan is born.

1864 | Endymion spends much of his time telling anyone who’ll listen that when he grows up he’s going to be a fairy prince.

1865 | Christabel is born.

1867 | Shalott is born.

1868 | Endymion looks on with jealousy as Ozymandias heads off to Hogwarts without him.

1869 | Lycoris is born, and Endymion finally shows a sign of magic, making flowers bloom and close for his sisters’ amusement. Most of his free time as a boy is spent lazing around reading adventure stories in the garden.

1870 | He gets to go to Hogwarts this year, and the Sorting Hat spends an interminable length of time on his head, deciding between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. When it calls out the latter, Endymion – a little surprised himself, to be honest – goes off to join his brother in Ravenclaw.

1872 | Endymion is enjoying school well enough and making plenty of friends, but feels an odd fit in Ravenclaw Tower: he is curious, and interested, and open-minded, but not so willingly studious as a lot of his housemates. Nonetheless, he picks up Ancient Runes and Arithmancy and takes to them reasonably well when he applies himself.

1873 | Porphyria also joins them in Ravenclaw.

1874 | Don Juan comes to Hogwarts with them this year. Endymion, well and truly into his teenage years, makes his first forays into poetry, sure that he is destined to be a prodigy. He writes poems for every girl he fancies (fleetingly, usually), and even submits some to poetry reviews and sends them along for his parents’ expert opinions. But the dream is over before it ever began: the poetry reviews send back scathing rejections – his verse is a florid, turgid mess? – and his father, even worse, never writes him back. Oof. Fine, Endymion gets the message: maybe he hasn’t inherited the poetic gift. He starts finding other ways to impress girls – and who cares, anyway? He can still read poetry. And you don’t have to have a way with words to look handsome and thoughtful or say things with flowers.

1875 | Endymion begins his NEWTs, after doubling down and passing all his OWLs. Now casually floating the idea of becoming a cursebreaker – as the second son, he’ll have to do something – Endymion continues with Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Charms, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Potions. For all that he can seem lost in the clouds, he has an uncanny ability to stay calm in any situation, which helps in passing his practical exams.

1876 | Christabel starts school.

1877 | Endymion graduates with passing NEWTs while the younger of his sisters are just beginning school, and – as Oz is off gallivanting the continent – Endymion takes a little time off just to chill. (He’s still no better at writing poetry.)

1878 | Now he takes up a cursebreaking apprenticeship through Gringotts, pleased that at least this way he’ll get to see the world while he works.

1881 | Having become a fully-fledged cursebreaker last year, fieldwork is finally in the cards – but never mind that for the moment. One sunny afternoon Endymion is home, lounging in a hammock in the gardens. Maybe he dozes off while reading, who’s to say? What happens next feels like a dream, at any rate: there is a heavenly vision of loveliness wandering towards him. Later, it makes slightly more sense – she’s a wild Veela – but at the time Endymion isn’t questioning anything. Also, he doesn’t make it off the hammock before he’s having the best sex of his life... well, you know, before his mother and sister show up to witness it. That puts a damper on things, and before he knows it the Veela has disappeared. (Before he can run away with her and devote his life to her.) He pretends to brush off the incident – when he isn’t waxing poetic about it to his brothers – but in fact that day somehow feels like the central axis of his life.

1885 | So he can’t shake the feeling that he’s missing something, that there should be more, when he finds himself on the cusp of courting a nice young lady he’s gotten to know in the last year or so. He makes his excuses to her and anyone else he’s told when he breaks it off, but privately their romance isn’t quite living up to his expectations.

1886 | To avoid any hard feelings from that, Endymion flees and throws himself into a few successive cursebreaking expeditions in the Americas and the West Indies.

1887 | He comes home on one of his breaks to watch as Oz finally marries... a woman who seems to despise him, and vice versa?! Naturally perplexed, he does his brotherly duty to try and talk Ozymandias down, but it does no good. (If nothing else, this assures Endymion that when he marries, it has to be to the love of his life.)

1890 | Endymion misses the next couple of years of Galway life – including his sister being cursed into a bird, whoops – because he’s off cursebreaking in the Middle East.

1891 | He always comes home from a cursebreaking venture slightly worse for wear, tired and scarred and a little dazed, but this time it’s more noticeable than usual. He’s fine – he’s all in one piece, just about – and everyone got out alive, but he seems slightly more shaken up this time, more scattered and distractible, prone to odd bouts of confusion. The Gringotts managers reassign him to desk duty for the foreseeable, breaking curses on objects that come in. It’s fine.

1892 | At least being home gives Endymion newfound opportunity to look for his soulmate. He’s been searching all along, of course, and he had planned to be in love and happily married by now – but he won’t settle for less than the ideal, and his ideal is proving hard to find.