The McKinnons, more an entity than a family in the HP fandom.
In order: Mr. Percival McKinnon and Mrs. Louise McKinnon, and their three kids - Myron, Marlene and Myles McKinnon.
Since I’m in a good mood, I drop one of my thoughts about DH's inconsistencies (and why ff writers can feel comfortable changing timelines).
Throughout the books, the McKinnons were described as one of the families Voldemort and his followers completely wiped out:
- in PS, Chapter 4 (The Keeper of the Keys): "No one ever lived after he decided ter kill ’em, no one except you, an’ he’d killed some o’ the best witches an’ wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts —" (Rubeus Hagrid);
- in OoTP: "Marlene McKinnon, she was killed two weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family" said Alastor Moody talking about a picture of the first Order, Chapter 9 (The Woes of Mrs. Weasley).
- in DH, Chapter 10 (Kreacher's Tale): Lily Potter wrote a letter not long after Harry Potter's birthday (31 july). She stated that Peter Pettigrew visited "last weekend" and appeared to be "down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons", implying that they had died not that long ago in July 1981.
In fact, the fandom always assumed that Marlene McKinnon – along with her family – died in July 1981. Therefore, the picture was taken between June and July 1981 (“…two weeks after…”) and all the Order members mentioned in said chapter (Dorcas Meadowes, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, etc.) died shortly after (between August 1981 and December 1981? And I’m being generous considering that Voldemort’s fall is dated 31 October 1981).
But I’m here to destroy your beliefs. Now hear me out and let’s go back to GoF.
After the fall of Lord Voldemort, Igor Karkaroff decides to testify against his ex-colleagues to gain freedom (Chapter 30, The Pensieve: "Crouch is going to let [Igor] out," Moody breathed quietly to Dumbledore. "He's done a deal with him. Took me six months to track him down, and Crouch is going to let him go if he's got enough new names").
First, he mentions Evan Rosier. Unfortunately, Barty Crouch Sr. informs him that Evan Rosier has been killed.
When did this happen? Sirius Black tells us in the chapter where he eats rats and sleeps in a cave. He says that Rosier, part of the Snape crew, died the year before the fall of Lord Voldemort (Chapter 27, Padfoot Returns, "Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters." Sirius held up his fingers and began ticking off names. "Rosier and Wilkes - they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell”).
He says THE year not A year – 1980 must be count in its entirety.
Assuming the shortest time, Evan Rosier died in December 1980.
It’s deductive to say that Igor Karkaroff has been in prison for at least 10/11 months, as he isn’t up to date on events – he didn’t know about Evan’s death (I quote Crouch: ”Rosier is dead. He was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in the struggle"). It’s equally deductive to assume that every other piece of information Karkaroff gives from that minute onwards refers to the "state" of Voldemort's followers almost a year before his fall.
What gives us Karkaroff? He gives Snape’s name – but Dumbledore testifies in his favor. He gives Augustus Rockwood, Voldemort’s spy in the Ministry. Most importantly, he said Travers murdered the family of Marlene McKinnon along with someone else ("Yes!" said Karkaroff. "There was Travers - he helped murder the McKinnons!). Again, unfortunately, Crouch informed him that Travers was sentenced to Azkaban – it is not specified when, but it certainly could not have happened before Igor's imprisonment.
So when did these damn McKinnons die? Well, we know for sure that Igor was a Death Eater for at least six months before its capture ("Crouch is going to let [Igor] out," Moody breathed quietly to Dumbledore. "He's done a deal with him. Took me six months to track him down, and Crouch is going to let him go if he's got enough new names"). Of course, he was probably a Death Eater even before June 1980 (if we assume his capture in December 1980). If we want to play it safe, we can claim that the McKinnons were killed during these six months (in which we are certain that Igor was an active member of the Death Eaters, and therefore informed).
Now, we’ve got two alternatives:
1. Lily Potter was informed a little late about the McKinnons' death. This letter is truly problematic (but that’s another story).
2. The timeline doesn't make sense and DH ruined a lot of things.
Fanfiction writers! Don’t worry if DH ruined your plans! You’re free to replace events in the timeline as you wish, and I’ll still classify it as Canon-Compliant.
Relief comes. Just not the one we expect. Or Want.
“Without the constant transformation of the heart, all improvements are mere reprives along a long road to damnation, a damnation which this life is the foretaste of. Without greater perfection of the will, we can never trust our peace of mind as being anything but the passing illusion of a spirit greedy for its own comfort at any cost”
“Caught between philo-political (merely intellectual) agons and pursuing a religious interiority. A modern wrinkle to Augustinian narrative. The former a less substantial temptation than marriage or professional advancement, to be sure. An absurd problem to talk about on the interwebs, but yet, here we are. Idleness, Pride, fear of ridicule all mixed up with a half hearted desire for humility lead to…nothing. The holy itself becomes a snare for corruption. Intensity that is merely demonic. The self is a hell by itself. On the rock let me be broken, let me learn to be broken again”
