1857 - 1861
Childhood | For all intents and purposes, Derek was supposed to have a simple life amongst a small working class family; work to eat and survive. Despite the harsh conditions, it was a happy family, but none that he cares to try and remember. It's not until one day during a hot summer, when he was supposed to look after his youngest sister that he became distracted. One moment she was next to him, and the next she had stepped out into the road. Derek only remembers bits and pieces of it, but the feeling of helplessness as he cradled his dying sister has stayed with him, fueling everything he does. Consumed by grief, his mother and father descend into a deep depression. First his mother dies, and then his father is killed in a duel that stemmed from a drunken bar fight. |
1862 - 1864
The Orphanage | Surviving in an orphanage was no small feat for Derek. The first year he made friends with two older boys, Adam and Jack. Miraculously, the three become thick as thieves, and before he knows it Derek believes he's found himself a new family. Besides having Adam and The orphanage is a dreary place, and Derek is determined to survive if only to look after Adam and Jack. It's Jack who seems hell-bent on getting into as much trouble as he can. It's Derek who often ends up patching Jack up after a scuffle. |
1864
Adoption | In what the three boys would later only describe as a miracle, a wealthy middle class woman and patroness of the orphanage named Grace McKinnon arrives for a visit. Widowed and having lost two boys a few years ago in a tragic accident, Mrs. McKinnon looks to adopt two boys. Having grown up in a large family of 6 siblings herself, Grace is thoroughly rattled by the prospect of having an empty house that had been intended by her husband and her to be endlessly filled with the sounds of running feet and laughter echoing throughout the halls. Upon meeting Adam, Jack she is charmed, and looks to arrange an adoption of the two. Upon meeting Derek, she is taken aback upon discovering who Derek's mother had been: a kind seamstress that Mrs. McKinnon remembers going to in her youth. Heartbroken at finding Derek here, Mrs. McKinnon seeks to adopt all three boys. After a week's worth of deliberation and paperwork, Adam, Jack and Derek are brought to Mrs. McKinnon's home. |
1865
Autumn | Adam is the first of the three to go to Hogwarts, something that the boys hadn't thought was within the scope of possibility for any of them. He gets sorted into Ravenclaw. |
1867
Summer | The daughter of Grace McKinnon's best childhood friend is left the sole survivor of her entire family after a tragic accident. Adam, Derek and Jack do their best to make the girl — Eliza — welcome to the family. She is timid at first, but by the end of her mourning period, she is soon following the three of them around like a shadow. The four of them often visit the orphanage that the brothers lived in, and they hear of a small girl named Edith who had just been dropped off at the mere age of two. Always the bleeding heart, Grace McKinnon begins to ponder adoption again, however it is too soon to determine. |
1868-69
First Year | The summer before both Jack and Derek go to Hogwarts with Adam leaves all of the children extremely distraught; Eliza will be on her own. Seeking to remedy this and her own longing for another girl, Grace adopts Edith into the family. The three brothers make sure to dote on Edith until the very moment they go to Hogwarts, and promise to send their sisters plenty of sweets and letters. Jack and Derek both get sorted into Gryffindor, and the year passes at a leisurely pace...save for a few scuffles that Derek ended up being dragged into by Jack. |
1869-70
Second Year | By the time the second year rolls around, Derek and his brothers have all had their fair share of cuts and scrapes. Derek is usually the one to patch everyone up, including their mother when she deigns to play. During the summer they all decide to play a match of Quidditch together. |
1870-71
Third Year | Derek's third year sees him take on Muggle Studies, Earth Magic, and Care of Magical Creatures as electives. He also makes the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Chaser. While he enjoys this, he sees more benefit in being able to see the bigger picture of the game. Back at home during games with his family, he decides to try out for Keeper in the next year. |
1871-72
Fourth Year | Derek is made keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and finds himself feeling infinitely better with this position. He has a sharp eye and he finds it's quite a lot like playing defense when Jack is about to go after someone in a fight. This time at least he only has to block a Quaffle instead of his brother. Throughout the year he and his brothers make sure to send as many letters as they can to their two sisters. |
1872-73
Fifth Year | The habit of feeling responsible for his siblings has already blended together with the friends he makes at Hogwarts. The beginning of Derek's fifth year sees him being made Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Even with the entire McKinnon clan rounding out to five children, Grace McKinnon is ever the bleeding heart. Spurred on by the fact that her brother had just left her a hearty sum of inheritance plus the fact that the children have encircled another infant into the family (a small, sickly four year old by the name of Isabeau), Grace decides to adopt the child, happily realizing that their family is complete. There's also the added bonus that the girls will eventually have another team mate to play in family Quidditch games. |
1873-74
Sixth Year | Sixth year passes without much issue; Derek decides on his NEWTS: Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. The end of the year Gryffindor wins the House Cup, however they lose the Quidditch Cup and Derek is left more determined than ever to make his Seventh year memorable. |
1874-75
Seventh Year | Studying for NEWTs and being Captain of the Quidditch Team leaves Derek little time for anything else, except to welcome the first of the McKinnon sisters to Hogwarts. Derek is elated, and he and Jack make sure that the entire school knows not to mess with their little sister. |
1876
| By the beginning of the year, Derek completes his training and becomes a fully fledged mediwizard in Hogsmeade. |
1877
| Derek's first full year as a medi-wizard is not easy. Magical folk are discovered. With tensions high between groups, Derek and his unit are sent on more emergency runs than their Unit Head has ever seen. It's difficult to keep up, but it is a good preparation for what's to come. |
1881
| The entire McKinnon family are furious when a quidditch ban is put into place for female students at Hogwarts. A family activity often played during the summer, quidditch has lived at the center of them all for quite some time. With Adam working at the Ministry, the three McKinnon brothers become committed to making quidditch playable for their sisters again. |
1883
| Derek is elated to be chosen on the team of medi-wizards and witches to attend the Quidditch World Cup and stand on the field at the ready for the two teams. |
1884
| It is a trying year as a plague, drought and fire consume the entirety of Hogsmeade. Adam, Eliza and Isabeau all catch the Laughing Plague but ultimately survive it. The next year, the McKinnons make the move to London. Derek transfers to St. Mungo's. |
1887
| The World's Market incident results in Grace McKinnon's death. Only Isabeau is there to witness their mother's death and ends up with an almost fatal injury. The McKinnon family are devastated, and immediately go into mourning. Adam takes over as the head of the family. The same year, Derek takes on position as Head of the Mediwizard Unit at St. Mungo's. |
Present
| After Isabeau was left helpless and to fend for herself at the World Market, the McKinnon siblings have a system. All of them sport a ring that they keep on their person at all times — some wear it on a chain around their necks, and others on their hands. Each person has a unique pattern they tap out onto the ring's surface with their wand if they need emergency aid. There are only a handful of times in the past years that a family emergency has been triggered. Derek is praying it stays that way... |
