Familial legend says that the O'Rourkes traded in their love for glory. It began with their 18th-century ancestor, Éamonn Ó Ruairc, who is said to have left his fiancée, Aoife, on the eve of their handfasting in order to try out for the Kenmare Kestrels.

Aoife was so unbearably heartbroken and distraught that Éamonn abandoned her at the alter, she placed a vicious curse on the Ó Ruairc bloodline. While they would find glory and success on the pitch, it would be for naught because their quidditch feats would always be accompanied by consistent tragedy and heartbreak. Éamonn chose his love of quidditch over his love of Aoife, therefore his descendants would never experience the love she could've provided him.

Such is the curse of the O'Rourke family; generation after generation of immeasurable talent mixed with immense tragedy. There has not been a time since the 1700s wherein the Kenmare Kestrals or the Irish National Team have not been graced by at least one O'Rourke on their pitch. Although, some argue that the surname has become synonymous with two conflicting legacies - one of penultimate quidditch fame, the other of loved ones who are destined to die before their time.

The O'Rourke boys have experienced these tragedies first-hand due to their father, Tomás, losing all three of his wives. His first wife, Leah, managed to give him a beautiful son right before she succumbed to a particularly gruesome case of dragonpox in 1988. His second wife, Bridget, gave him three more sons, only to be killed by the banshee she was attempting to defeat in 1999. His third wife, Fíona, gave him one last son and had been looking into breaking the O'Rourke family curse when she disappeared in the Department of Mysteries during the winter of 2006, never to be seen again.

Suffice it to say, no one was surprised the night it was announced that Tomás O'Rourke had forfeited his head coaching position with the Kestrels. The true shock arrived six months later, in May of 2007, when he was found lying prone in his study beside a vial of poison and a suicide note that read more as an apology - to his five sons and to the families of the wives who'd slipped through his fingers like quicksand.

Nowadays, the O'Rourkes are known more for their tragedy than their glory. Whispers have circulated ever since Tomás's suicide left his boys on their own, especially considering most of his sons had been children at the time. His oldest, Cian, was granted guardianship of the four younger boys when he was only 20 years old, helped along by an expansive but virtually lifeless familial vault that would be divided evenly among all five O'Rourke brothers once they came of age.

• The five-bedroom O'Rourke family home lies in the countryside of County Offaly, Ireland, where the boys grew up playing rough and tumble pick-up games in the Slieve Bloom Mountains and raced brooms through acres of silver-branched apple orchards.
• They speak Irish Gaelic at home because that's the language their father primarily spoke to them, but they're all proficient in English as a second language. And Latin, of course.
• Their paternal grandfather, Fintan, was particularly heartbroken by their father's death, as his sons and grandchildren were some of the only family he had left after he lost his own wife at a young age and raised Tomás and his other son, Tadhg, as a single father. Tomás's death resulted in Fintan retreating from what was once a very public life, considering he'd been the primary quidditch commentator for the Kenmare Kestrels since the early 70s.
• I'm leaving Tadhg's family open in case anyone wants to make cousins - be them adult or Hogwarts aged.
• As for their mothers' families, I purposely left Leah and Bridget's backgrounds vague so that the brothers' players have more room to plot things out as they see fit. Ciaran's maternal side wanted nothing to do with him or Tomás because they so vehemently blamed the O'Rourke family curse on the loss of Ciaran's mother, Fíona, who'd been a very talented and intelligent cursebreaker before her disappearance.

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Cian

• 30 (circa 1988)
• Oldest son of Tomás and Leah.
• Half-Jewish through his mother's side.
• Served as his father's unofficial right-hand man, having helped Tomás and his step-mothers raise the younger boys when they were kids. Even before he became their official guardian in 2008.
• Attended Hogwarts from September 1999 to June 2006. Served as prefect and captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team.
• His occupation and what he decided to do after graduation is entirely open to interpretation, though I imagine he's more opposed to the quidditch industry considering the O'Rourke family history. He doesn't want to lose anymore loved ones, and he's particularly more inclined to be against the idea of his brothers' playing professionally in order to shield them from the family curse, which has been a point of contention many times throughout the last decade or so.
• Suggested Playby: Ben Barnes

Cormac

• 25 (circa 1993)
• Oldest son of Tomás and Bridget.
• Attended Hogwarts from September 2004 to June 2011. Played as chaser for the Hufflepuff quidditch team from his second year through his seventh year.
• Arguably not the most booksmart of the O'Rourke boys, but still extremely clever when he wants to be. He's definitely someone who has been referred to as being "lucky that he's cute" by several people who see him as possibly more dim-witted than he is in reality.
• Had the chance to play for Ballymore, but it caused such a ruckus among his brothers due to their family's staunch affiliation with Kenmare and Cian's opposition to the O'Rourke boys taking on professional quidditch careers, that Cormac didn't accept the offer. However, he does help run Quality Quidditch Supplies so he gets to spend his days gushing over the sport he loves most.
• Suggested Playby: Nick Robinson

Cillian

• 22 (circa 1996)
• Second-born son of Tomás and Bridget
• Attended Hogwarts from September 2007 to June 2014. He took over Cormac's chaser position on the Hufflepuff quidditch team in his second year and went on to serve as team captain in his fifth year. He was also a Hufflepuff prefect during his last three years and became the house's Head Boy in his seventh year.
• Decidedly the most booksmart of the O'Rourke boys and was something of the familial "golden child" as a kid, so it makes sense that he heeded Cian's warnings while also aiming for an ambitious career by taking a direct position with the British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters in the Department of Magical Games and Sports.
• Suggested Playby: Corey Mylchreest

Connor

• 20 (circa 1998)
• Youngest son of Tomás and Bridget
• Attended Hogwarts from September 2009 to June 2016. Managed to get himself permanently banned from Gryffindor's quidditch team in his fourth year after one too many practical jokes with the bludgers. It did, however, provide him with the opportunity to dish out hilarious, whip-smart commentary for every Gryffindor quidditch game that broke out on the pitch from November 2012 to June 2016.
• After a gap year, he recently took over his grandfather's mantle as commentator for Kenmare. Although, whether his intentions are to honor Fintan O'Rourke's grand legacy or to simply have an excuse to consistantly bad-mouth the Ballycastle Bats isn't entirely clear.
• Suggested Playby: Felix Mallard