Lydia's background Lydia had a fairly normal childhood, as much as a witchs life in a muggle world can be. Her mother Jacqueline married to Raymond Fife, a Scottish man who moved to a small town living in Sherbrook, Dorset, a small village located near the coast. He wasnt a rich man, working simply in a shoe factory a few miles north of the town. Together they had young Lydia, without any knowledge of what she might become. Due to a factory accident involving the leather press Raymond was killed when Lydia was two, leaving Jacqueline and Lydia alone. During those years she became very close to her cousin, David, and took to her uncle, Max, as if he were her own father. She was not heavily affected by the accident, and the support of her family was enough to keep Lydias mind far from death at such a young age. David and Lydia became very fond of their grandmother, her stories about dragons, pixies, goblins (and Lydias favorite, the sphinx) were captivating to the children. But to get the full story of their odd family, one would have to back track a bit. Daphne was an important figure in Lydias life. She was the only connection to the magical world that the small girl had. Because, of course, Daphne was a witch. Or was, rather. Long ago Lydias uncle was born to Daphne Karell, a young witch of a pureblood and rather strict wizarding family (even by standards at that time) and a young wizard, who abandoned her short thereafter. She was also immediately rejected by her family, who had the opinion that a proper witch should be married before having a child. Having no desire to continue her life in a world where her name would be a synonym for shame, Daphne decided to retire from the wizarding community. Although she had a though time adjusting to the Muggle life, she found a job as a maid in a rich family living in Sherbrook, Dorset, a small village located near the coast. She found that her life, while very demanding, was in a sense very satisfying as it did not give her the time to dwell on the past. Indeed, she barely had a minute of her own between her work and her baby Max. Eventually, Peter Mildred, the owner of the Golden Galleon, Sherbrook's best --and only-- inn, fell in love with Daphne, married her, and adopted her son. This had a most interesting incidence on Peter's business, as Daphne's cooking soon became famous throughout the county, and many patrons would, jokingly of course, claim that she "a ruddy touch of magic for cooking". Whether she really used some secret ingredients in her preparations, we do not know, as she knew that nobody would believe her if she told them that wizardry was a tangible reality, so she simply kept quiet about it. At first, Daphne was worried that Max, and his soonly following half-sister Jacqueline, would show signs of magic and that she would have to explain things to Peter. But the two children grew as Muggle kids, and chose perfectly Muggle careers as adults. Max became the local primary school teacher and married Catherine, a young and pretty girl of the neighborhood. Together they had David, Lydias favorite cousin, and not long after Jacqueline and Raymond had Lydia. Daphnes stories only grew to become more of a reality than a fantasy when David spotted a phoenix one day while Lydia was sadly inside doing chores with her mother. Still, the young witch didnt give up hope that she would too experience their grandmothers stories first hand. Eventually David went off to school, and Lydia had yet to experience any magic. Without David around to distract her, the girl soon took to traipsing around the countryside, looking for magic and adventure. Of course, this was only a mile around the Inn, which to a five year old seems a hefty amount of land. When David would come home in the afternoons, Lydia would sit and listen to what he learned, and in return she would tell him of her own adventures. It was not until she was eight that anything of importance happened. The girl had long given up hope of seeing of experiencing magic, and had even begun to dismiss Davids tales of the phoenix and the broccoli as his imagination. Lydia turned to what she considered real life, and made several friends in the village. Lydia quickly established herself as head of the pack, and was regarded as so by most everyone when she started as school. It wasnt until the day before her ninth birthday before something happened. Lydia was livid, sitting and washing clothes on a day that she felt should be entirely hers. After all, it was the day before her birthday, and Lydia desperately wanted to be out, sending invitations to her school friends for the party. She wished so hard, in fact, that the clothes spewed from the bucket of water, and began to tumble and dance around the courtyard. Thankfully, only Daphne saw it, and the women pattered out quickly as she could to stop it before any muggles could see. Lydia was hooked. Though at an older age her mother scoffed at such stories being told to a nine year old, Lydia would pester her grandmother for them anyways. When David got his letter, Lydia knew what she wanted to be. Daphne was woken up from the serious hushed whispers outside of her door. She brought them into her room and finally explained to them about her old life, as well as what this meant for David. After talking until the wee hours of the morning, Davids parents finally decided that this would be best for the socially inapt boy. It is best to mention that the letter was a surprise to even Daphne, because for some dark reason on which she refused to speak of, she had solidly figured that her line would never again carry magical blood. The Her Aunt and Uncle had tried their best to keep this quiet to the little girl, for fear that it would scare her. Of course, David wasted no time in telling Lydia. Daphne suddenly had twice the number of questions about the magical world. When the news finally reached Jacqueline, she was fairly shocked. In fact, for a few days she was firm in her belief that this had all been a prank on her expense. When finally convinced otherwise, she simply stopped talking at all about how her nephew and mother suddenly were a with and a wizard. After the family had calmed down about the newfound wizarding in the family, it was all Lydia could talk about. Her mother, Jacqueline, at first seemed hesitant about it, but with Lydias pleads and Daphnes reassurance, the girl was allowed to learn from her grandmother about the wizarding world. Though for a few years later, Jacqueline still did not care to talk or think about it. Unlike David, Lydia had a full year to soak up the culture and information that would send her into the best times of her life. Around the same time David received his letter, but just a year later, a tawny owl came swooping over the English country side. At first Lydia thought it was a letter from David, but the scarlet envelope sent the girl into a squeal. She knew that letter all too well. Soon she was on her way to Hogwarts, looking forward to spending her years with her older cousin David, and submerged into the fascinating world of magic. Her mother seemed disappointed that Lydia was also a part of this whole thing, and even tried to convince her to stay at home. After all, she had friends, family, and she was much better adjusted than her cousin. But Lydia would hear none of it. Soon enough her and Daphne were in Diagon Alley, shopping for her first year of Hogwarts. testtest