1868: In the wee hours of a cold March morning, Melody Eleanor Finch is the second daughter born to Arthur and Marianne Finch. While the couple were hopeful for a son, they're just as happy to have another healthy daughter. Their eldest child is elated to have a playmate.
1871: Arthur's dreams for a son are crushed once more as Marianne delivers another girl, Dorothy. Melody becomes resentful towards her new sister as she's no longer the baby of the family.
1872:The excitement in the Finch family household is palpable with the birth of the long awaited son. Having gone through the introduction to a new family member once before, Melody takes far better to her younger brother than her sister. Still, she's far more attached to her elder sister than she is the babies of the family.
1874: The last of the Finch's, Penelope, is brought into the world. This time, Melody pays hardly any attention to the new addition. Deciding instead to spend her days in the garden.
1876: Melody's first display of magic is rather beautiful: she revives her mother's vase of wilting flowers. Her parents are visibly relieved as they were dreading potentially having a squib in the house.
1877: The family of seven make the decision to move from their country home to a modest house in Wellingtonshire. Melody likes her new house well enough; it'll never have the same spaciousness of the country house though. Margaret departs for Hogwarts in September. Melody quickly comes to enjoy being the eldest sibling in the house.
School Year 1878-1886: Hogwarts is everything Melody had dreamed it would be and more. The Sorting Hat takes less than 30 seconds to place her in Ravenclaw, and she beams with pride. Her learning excites her more than anything in life ever has. She excels in most of her subjects, but doesn't quite grasp, herbology. Nevertheless, she at the minimum passes every subject for the year.
She continues to succeed and is proudly one of the most intelligent in her year. Melody studies diligently for her OWLs and does far better than Margaret ever could've. Dorothy joins her at Hogwarts in 1882, with Arthur following in 1883. Penelope joins her in 1885. Melody decides Transfiguration is one of her favorite courses and hopes to become an animagus someday. Before long, she's taking her NEWTs and graduating. Melody is then sent to become a Pendergast Rose in the vain hopes of securing a better match.
1887: The summer following her year of finishing school becomes a time of excitement and romance. A chance encounter with a cursed puzzlebox leads to her meeting Mr. Reuben Crouch. After several more run ins with him, Melody finds herself besotted. Rather than follow the traditional route of courting and marriage, she willingly partakes in arranging secret rendezvous and nearly always attempts to sneak away from her chaperone (something she's rather bad at).
The last time she attempts to meet with him is to take a walk under the stars. They're caught within moments of her leaving, and a monstrously sized mess follows. Her father makes a deal with his brother that Reuben is to be sent to Canada and is to have no further contact with Melody. In return, her father agrees to not ruin Roman's chances at becoming the Minister of Magic with such a scandal.
Despite her father's decree, Melody cannot help but write more letters to Reuben. She misses him dearly and is utterly heartbroken that he's been suddenly ripped from her life. The letters remain unanswered.
1888: With the dreary weather comes a season of missing what could've been with Ben. Most (save for three) of the letters she continues writes him are given to the flames in her fireplace. The few that are given to her owl to begin the transatlantic journey are met with further silence. Spurned both by his inital anger towards her and his continuing silence, Melody comes to the conclusion that it's quite foolish to mourn a relationship that must've exsisted only in her head. She rids herself of all evidence that could tie her to Ben and forces herself to move on. He clearly doesn't miss her, so why should she carry on like this?
Melody successfully manages to bury him in the back of her mind as the season commences. Then, seemingly out of the blue, his name is flashed across the tabloids and is being whispered like scandalous gossip at parties. It doesn't take her long to realize Ben has taken up with her distant cousin! Furious, Melody pours her heart out into one last scathing letter and watches once more as the flames consume it. He has forgotten her. He will never get to witness how his very existence continues to torment her.
By being so consumed in their scandal, Melody fails in regards to finding a husband. No man is able to distract her enough to warrant further interaction. Hell, they're barely able to make her laugh!
1889: The new season brings Melody's last chance at finding a match on her own, for if she fails her father will be intervening. He claims there are too many daughters debuting after her to have the marred reputation of a spinster sister.
Oddly, Melody isn't vehemently opposed to it. If anything, it'd take the pressure off of her shoulders. She is very opposed. Her father has promised to marry her off to some disgusting old guy.
September 1889: While hiding from flaming fireflies, Ben and Melody kiss in a shack. He promises to find some sort of solution to the marriage problem.
January 1890: Ben sneaks Melody out of her bedroom in the middle of the night to gift her a potion that makes people susceptible to suggestion.
February 1890: A disaster of a month. Melody loses her virginity to Ben in a closet. Then, she panics and doses him with the potion meant to be used on her (now ex) fiance. Her freak out causes them to elope, which her family disowns her for. Melody and Ben run off for an "extended honeymoon" to Paris. (AKA they have nowhere respectable in England to live and need time to come up with a plan)