Rescuing Dragons

Choices

 Raven was abandoned by her mother when she was a baby. And now — 21 years later — she was losing the only person who truly loved her. Let's start from the beginning.

When Raven's mother realized she was pregnant, she only told her favorite sister. Her parents would disown her if they found out. After a long discussion, her sister suggested she stay with their aunt, Lyra Rosier, until the baby was born. Lyra lived in France and had little contact with the family in England. They sent her a letter and to their relief, she wrote back inviting her to stay.

Lyra had moved to France in her early twenties after a falling out with her family. Only a few days later, she was offered a job at Beauxbatons Academy as their music professor. The name Lyra means "of the lyre or song," and her name foretold her future as she was considered one of the best operatic singers in all of Europe.

Raven's mother left England to stay with her aunt. The baby was born on the twenty-third of October, 1977 and her mother named her Corvus. Since Corvus is Latin for raven, that's what they called her. While she had blue eyes and blonde hair at birth, by the time Raven was a week old, she had green eyes and her hair had turned black with one small strand of blonde on the left side. Lyra was sure she was a Metamorphmagus, a rare gift in the magical world that allows a witch or wizard to change their looks without a spell or potion. The trait seemed to run in the family. Since Lyra had never married and had always wanted a child, they drew up the papers to make her the baby's legal guardian. Lyra had just turned fifty but witches usually live much longer than Muggles and this way the child could stay in the family.

After the baby became her ward, Lyra retired from her teaching position but still performed at concerts. One of Raven's favorite memories were when Lyra would sing the beautiful strains of "Dodo l'enfant do" at bedtime. It was usually the last thing she heard before falling to sleep. Their house-elf, Dilly, looked after her as well. It was a wonder the patient elf was able to get anything done with a curious child following her around "helping" her.

Thanks to Lyra, Raven was fluent in both English and French by the time she was four. At the age of six, she was already doing basic potions that were taught to children twice her age. She was obviously clever and, to Lyra's dismay, quite fearless and impulsive.

Except for the color of her hair and eyes, she had the features of her mother. Petite in stature, strangers frequently underestimated her, but Lyra taught her to never let the expectations of others determine her achievements. Thanks to Lyra and Dilly, she had a happy childhood—except for the occasional hollow feeling when she wondered who her parents were.

During her years at Beauxbatons, Raven consistently achieved the top grade in Potions. In her sixth year, she received a special award. A rare strain of dragon pox had hit several students, including her closest friend. The usual potion invented by Gunhilda of Gorsemoor was barely helping. Raven worked on improving it by adding additional ingredients such as bee's wings to strengthen its effectiveness. She rushed to the hospital wing with the altered potion but they felt it was too risky. In desperation, Raven used her gift as a Metamorphmagus to look like one of the infirmiéres, a French nurse. Except for a buzzing sound in their ears for a few days, her potion worked and the students were cured. The school board considered expelling her for doing something so risky but Madame Maxime and the parents insisted the school honor her instead.

Her greatest challenge was Apparition. Raven had to take the test twice, and no matter how many times she did it, always felt queasy afterwards. The Floo Network wasn't much better so riding a broom was her usual choice. Raven once dreamed of owning one of the incredibly fast Abraxan winged horses bred by Madame Maxime. But even if she could have obtained one, it wasn't practical.