1867 | Dominic is born the first son of Alastair and Ophelia Orpington. It's a complicated birth for Ophelia, and the matriarch almost perishes. Through no fault of the newborn's own, it is the first fracture in a chasm that will separate him from his father. |
1870 | A second son joins the Orpingtons in London. Jeremiah's birth is uncomplicated and ends in such satisfaction that Alastair is left ecstatic. |
1872 | Dominic's first sign of magic ends in disaster; during a fight between his mother and father, Dominic, out of anxiety makes a candle flare making the library spontaneously combust, and the entire house is almost burnt to the ground. His mother is burnt badly, though recovers in time. It does nothing to mend what Alastair thinks of his firstborn. |
1874 | Josephine is born, while Jeremiah's first sign of magic brings joy in the form of a bouquet of flowers to their mother's bedside. The flowers stay fresh for months on end. |
1876 | The time comes for the fourth and final child of the Orpingtons to be born. Delphinia’s birth, while it began with complications, mercifully ended without any serious consequences. |
1878-79 First Year | Dominic’s first year at Hogwarts starts with him being sorted into Gryffindor. He immediately likes flying and takes to it fairly easily. His mother urges him to look into trying out for the Quidditch team. Though Dominic likes quidditch, it’s not a sport he greatly enjoys playing, and he is not a competitive person by nature. Though Alastair is not pleased with this suggestion, he's even more displeased that Dominic rejected his mother's suggestion. He has no trouble voicing his displeasure. |
1879-80 Second Year | Dominic's second year mercifully passes without trouble, and actually ends in quite excellent grades, though he sees no praise coming from his father on the matter, as excellence is expected. |
1880-81 Third Year | Dominic picks Care of Magical Creatures, Earth Magic and Ancient Studies as electives. Care of Magical Creatures turns out to be his favorite subject - again to the displeasure of his father. |
1881-82 Fourth Year | Tragedy strikes at Christmas break. In a trip to Hogsmeade, Josephine and Dominic go Christmas present shopping under the watchful eye of their nanny. Just outside the Three Broomsticks, the nanny realizes she forgot her scarf inside. Dominic assures her he can look after Josephine for a minute while she goes back to fetch it. In that short amount of time, Josephine goes missing. Three days later, her body is found having been exanguinated by a vampire. Dominic is punished severely by his father. He endures the punishment, fully blaming himself for his little sister's death. Upon his return to Hogwarts, it's a full month before Dominic speaks to anyone. |
1882-83 Fifth Year | As a result of his fourth year, Dominic mostly keeps to himself during his fifth year. During a trip to Hogsmeade, Dominic is met by his mother who reveals to him the reason why his father has such scorn for him; he sees him as flawed and useless as an heir that he must legally submit his legacy to: Her family - Dominic's maternal line - has a blood curse placed upon each of the females wherein it affects their first born male. The details, however, do not make themselves known until two events occur: they turn 17, and until they cause the death of someone. For his part, Dominic is appropriately horrified and immediately wonders if his sister’s death had triggered the first part of the curse. Seeing his thought process, his mother quickly tries to banish that, however it will only be proven once he turns 17.
Once both requirements are fulfilled, the curse makes itself known quite obviously soon after: the cost of taking a life requires life to be taken from the cursed. Magical beings are known for living longer; the curse will render his immune system weaker, and non-reactive to any number of magical remedies. If that wasn't enough, when his immune system is weak enough, a sort of defense mechanism will kick in...in the form of forcing him to transform into an animal. It's not clear whether he would be able to keep his mind during this transformation (like animagi) or if his consciousness will be forced below the waves as animal instincts take over (like werewolves). Either way, it is quite safe to say that Dominic is terrified. |
1883-84 Sixth Year | Upon his sixth year, many of his classmates are already discussing and choosing what path they’ll take after Hogwarts. Dominic, with his knowledge of what’s to come, is limited in what he can do; any job within law enforcement is quite out of the question, and frankly not something that had ever drawn his appeal in the first place. His father takes this opportunity to lecture him about what could have been had he applied himself.
Partially out of genuine interest and partially out of spite, Dominic decides his path: working with creatures. Dragons, specifically. This piece of news is received about as well as you, dear reader, can imagine.
The only saving grace of this year is the fact that Dominic’s birthday comes and goes without any sign of the blood curse having taken effect. His relief is short lived, however, as his father voices that the blame is still on Dominic. |
1884-85 Seventh Year | Alastair Orpington had not counted on having his firstborn son choosing a profession that required him to be elbow deep in dragon dung. And yet Dominic spends the summer going into seventh year doing just that. He realizes he quite enjoys working with dragons, and decides to continue to pursue this profession for as long as he can.
The end of the school year ends in nothing short of disaster for everyone involved. Alastair takes the time to announce quite publically at The Coming Out Ball that his son is betrothed. This is complete news for not only Dominic but his mother and siblings too. Having had quite enough of this treatment from his father, Dominic publicly yells at his father and voices the betrothal completely null.
Debts and money have to be returned and exchanged and before the entire family returns home, Dominic packs all of his things and moves to the Glen. |
1887
| Working with dragons, it turns out, suits Dominic extremely well. He enjoys the quieter side of the country and over time, tries to mend relationships with his family. |
1890
| By this time, Dominic has gained quite a few burns and scars about his person, but along with it his life’s calling. He adores working with dragons and honestly can’t see himself doing anything else. Of course, in a few years that will change. |
Present
| At the start of the year, Dom is mostly looking to stay out of enough trouble and not trigger the family blood curse pls and thank you. As per usual, life has other plans. His mother calls him for tea one day and reveals her desire for two things: to see him and his father mend bridges, and to see her eldest get married. The days in which Dominic alternates between hating the former option and the latter option alternate on an almost daily basis. |