The Girl
1858 Label	Alexandra is born on a humid early summer day to two parents who would have vastly preferred a son. She’s handed over to the nurse as soon as it’s deemed appropriate and will only see her parents during the required visits.
1860 — 1865	Her childhood is punctuated by the arrival of more sisters, each more irksome than the last. Alexandra steps into her role of older sister with ease, for she’s happy to lord over the tiny tyrants that have taken over her space.
1866	If her sisters were irksome, her brother is downright awful to be around. He’s the shining star of the Verderame household, the light of their father’s eyes. Alexandra, now eight and experiencing outbursts of magic with every swell of emotions, takes great pleasure out of the jinxes and mishaps that affect his nurse. She certainly knows better than to touch her parents’ only son, after all.
The Student
1869-70 First Year	The excitement and pride she experiences throughout her first year of school guides the rest of Alexandra’s schooling. She isn’t the most intelligent of her classmates, but what she lacks in smarts she makes up for with a dutiful and focused work ethic. Her only downfall comes when it’s time to make friends. Her constant superior attitude towards her siblings comes through with her classmates as well, causing few to tolerate her presence for longer than necessary. The friends Alexandra does make are from families close to the Verderames, and as such are superficial relationships at best. She leaves for the summer with a fiery determination to have a greater group of friends next year.
1870-71 Second Year	Her determination pays off, but only minimally. Alexandra’s connections are tenuous at best and she’s easily frustrated by anything she deems childish antics. Still, by the end of the year she’s less lonely than she was the year before and has two girls she would truly call her friends. They’re from lesser families and one is smarter than she, but two are better than none at any rate.
1871-73 Third & Fourth Years	After much internal debate, she adds Earth Magic to her class list. Divination is nearly chosen instead (for it was never a question to Alexandra that she would only be adding one to her list) but her affinity for Herbology and gardening wins out in the end. It was a poor choice and quickly becomes the class she has to work hardest in. At least her two friends are made to suffer through it alongside her.
1873-75 Fifth & Sixth Years	The prefect badge that arrived with her letter hardly surprises Alexandra. There are few in her class that compare to her elegance and leadership abilities. She spends the remainder of the summer practicing her prefect role with her younger siblings, going as far to even devise a dungeon of sorts in one of the downstairs parlors. The only one spared from her practice is Eleanora, who is far too sickly to participate. At school, her behavior is much the same. She becomes one of the strictest prefects in her class, giving only the preferred few warnings before deducting points or ordering detentions. She’s never cruel in her punishments, for she’s determined only to follow the model set by her headmaster and professors. It isn’t she who set the expectations of behavior, after all.
1875-76 Seventh Year	The Verderame siblings give a collective groan of complaint when the second badge is mailed alongside her letter. Alexandra, now well versed in her understanding of the judicial system at school, doesn’t repeat the summer of 1873. Instead, she chooses to focus her efforts on what’s to come after her graduation: her debut. It’s then that her parents remind her of the finishing school awaiting her in Italy. And, while any defiance has been long since stamped out of Alexandra, she inwardly grumbles at the thought. In her opinion, a lifetime of lessons from both her governess and etiquette professor are adequate enough to allow her to debut amongst her peers next summer, but her parents quite obviously disagree. She studies hard for her NEWT exams, sacrificing sleep for the first time in her entire school career in order to ensure good marks. Her classes will hardly matter to her future husband and socialite life, but it’s become a point of pride for Alexandra. She has succeeded at everything she put her mind to, she refuses to fail at some pointless tests. Thankfully, her hard work pays off and she receives decent enough marks that even her mother gives her a short nod of pleasure.
The Debutante
1876-1878	The finishing school she’s sent to — the same her mother and grandmother and so on all attended — proves to be a challenge to settle into. The girls, each stemming from an equally respectable family, take time to settle the new pecking order amongst themselves. Alexandra is, naturally, at the top, though her means of arriving there are less than ladylike. She plays the fool in the end, acting as though she had no idea the romance she’d encouraged between the pretty French girl and the servant was something she was entirely unaware of. The girl, the only one who might’ve led the girls above her, is sent home disgraced. Alexandra spends the next two years as queen of the castle.
1878	She returns home in the spring and, to her immense surprise, has a new sibling waiting for her. Alexandra, despite her horror over her mother having an embarrassing late years pregnancy in such an important year, feels a surge of affection for the sickly baby that she hasn't felt for any of her other siblings. She visits the nursery often to see Eleanora and often brings a new toy or treat. Her debut season remains a resounding success, for, while she has made no progress on the husband front, she feels prepared for the next year.
1879	Her success comes to a grinding halt the following summer. Alexandra, now focused entirely on finding a husband before her sister graduates, convinces herself that Mr. [Cameron] has his sights set upon her. Weeks of talking up their supposed romance to her two companions is met with the most deceitful of conclusions: he proposes to the smarter of the two. It’s the first taste of rejection Alexandra has encountered, the first time she’s been so cruelly betrayed, and she can do nothing but express outward joy towards the union. She spends the entirety of the wedding cursing them with the most vile of injuries and ill wishes. Unfortunately, none of them come true.
1880	Fortunately for Alexandra, her luck turns at the start of her third season when she catches the attention of Mr. Philip Rowle. He’s a perfect gentleman (if a bit bland) and from an even more respectable family than Mr. [Cameron] that she encourages him at every turn. The courtship is revealed by summer and the proposal comes before the Season ends. She had always expected more passion in a marriage and is slow to inwardly accept that the perfectly level Philip is to be the director of the rest of her life. Eventually, though, she comes to the conclusion that passion is the foolish notion of romance novels and not reality.
The Wife
1881	They marry at the start of the next Season and spend the expected amount of time touring the continent. The marital act is perfunctory at best and painful at its worst, so Alexandra experiences intense relief when she announces her pregnancy only halfway through their honeymoon. It’s too soon to confirm, of course, but all of the symptoms her mother spoke of are present (the never ending nausea, the tender breasts, the lack of her courses). He ceases coming to her bed and they spend their remaining weeks having perfectly boring conversations.
1882	Phillipa arrives with the New Year after months of an exhausting pregnancy and hours of excruciating labor. Alexandra, who once believed she might be a better mother than her own and experience the joy so many others seemed to speak of, has only a passing interest in the screaming babe. She barely even thinks to complain at the choice of the girl’s name (Phillipa — as though the efforts made by the girl’s mother mattered naught). Despite it feeling entirely unnatural, Alexandra had witnessed enough of her friends and family mother their babies that she forced herself to dote upon the girl as expected. She routinely visits the nursery and sometimes arrives with random gifts. She loves Phillipa — of course she does, she’s her mother — there’s simply little passion behind it.
1884	The motherly bond she wants to feel but cannot doesn’t appear in the days, weeks, or months after Frederick’s birth either. She’s thrilled to have had a son, if only for the success it brings her. Philip is as passive and distant as ever, though after three years of marriage Alexandra has come to expect little else. (Even if she had quietly hoped the birth of a son might bring out some alternative emotion to his stoicism.)
1887	A gulf of grief consumes Alexandra upon the death of her son. She rages and screams. She weeps endlessly. She nearly claws the nurse to shreds the morning after the funeral. Everyone tells her she needs to calm herself and think of her unborn baby but she cannot. All she can feel is the void where her son used to be. She may not have ever been the most doting mother, she likely wouldn’t even be classified as a good mother. Alexandra mourns all the same. She flees to her family’s house for the duration of her pregnancy after a particularly nasty argument with Philip. How are you fine?! she screamed at him and, for the slightest second, Alexandra thought she saw something in him. Anger, maybe. The moment ends as soon as it comes and he waves her off as he has always done. Alexandra has never despised him more than she did in that minute. Albert is born later that summer, a healthy and screaming babe. Alexandra cannot stomach the sight of him for weeks. Eventually, when she’s told that he has begun laughing, she forces herself to visit with the same routine she used to visit Phillipa. It helps somewhat, though she knows this grief will never leave her completely.
1888	Philip returns to her bed in the spring. It takes every ounce of her restraint to not impale him on the nearest bedpost. When she finally conceives again later that winter, she silently vows to herself that this will be their last child.
1889	Florence, the first child she’s permitted to name herself, brings some life back into Alexandra. It’s the first time she experiences the joy of holding her newborn without the lingering doubts of her questionable abilities. She names the girl after her favorite city in the world and promises the tiny bundle to do better. And she does, mostly. She visits more often and her bonds with all three of her surviving children grows. There’s a certain peace that comes with knowing her family is complete, even if she does sometimes feels a hint of guilt that Philip remains unaware that this chapter of their lives has concluded.
1893	The steady routine their family has established over the last four years is completely upended mid-summer. Philip's demeanor shifts so drastically that Alexandra is left wondering if a spirit has possessed him. (She even goes as far as to write anonymously to the spirits division to ask if such a thing is possible.) For the first time in their marriage, he is angry, emotional and passionate. And Alexandra has little idea of what to do with this new version of him. It's almost a relief when Phillipa goes off to school, if only so Alexandra can feel confident that one of her children won't observe their father's erratic behavior. (He decides to sponsor a quidditch team of all things!)
1894	Philip remains changed and Alexandra continues to be unsure of how to approach their marriage.