Michael was the first born in Drogheda, Ireland to his parents of five total siblings, three brothers and the youngest the sister. He, as they all were, parents, brothers and sister, was the classic Irish pale skin, red hair, and freckles. As the oldest, his parents often relied on him to help take care of his younger siblings. The children outnumbering the adults, the adults needed some help. At the same time, Michael has always been a fun-loving and mischievous little prankster. While he would help around the house, keep his siblings organized, and keep the peace, he was also always out to get a good laugh.

The story of how Michael first manifested his magic is quite the funny one to tell. He was five years old and two of his brothers, four and three were fighting. Only their father was home and he had walked out of the room, chasing after the youngest brother and sister who had the tendency to run around together like maniacs even since Helen learned to walk. The two fighting brothers was becoming so intense that Michael was genuinely afraid they would hurt each other. Subconsciously, he just wanted them to not be able to do that, so he accidentally managed to inflate both of them to the point where they couldn't move their arms anymore beyond hilarious flailing and even if they managed to hit each other, it really didn't hurt. By the time their father wrangled the youngest and came back in, the three of them were laughing hysterically at the whole situation.

Although Michael was always used to being depended on, he was always more ambitious than one might expect. He loved his family, but he wanted to do something more than be a third parent for his younger siblings. He wanted to work for the Ministry of Magic. Furthermore, despite being happy to help his family, he has always, in the back of his mind, resented his role as the responsible one. He figured, if he was going to be responsible, he might as well do it for his own sake as well as everyone else's. When he got his letter to go of to Hogwarts, there was as much crying as their was celebrating, since he was going to miss his family, but there was a part of him that was relieved to be getting out of the house and off to a boarding school. He would finally have some space to breath and be himself, possibly even learn better who that might be, if he found he did not already know.