Lyra Diana Maywell was always a rather curious child. Her mother, Kathleen Maywell, was a Herbologist, which gave her lots of opportunity to explore different plants, while her father, Patrick Maywell, worked in the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and he always had books lying about the house that she could read.
Her parents were both muggle-born, her father being a second-generation wizard and her mother being a first-generation witch. Despite these "drawbacks," they were both very bright (this explained their Sorting into Ravenclaw), which they had passed on to their daughter. They were also able to become registered Animagi, being only two out of the six that were registered that year (Patrick was a cat while Kathleen was a beetle.)
Lyra showed her first signs of magic at age seven, like most magical children, although her scenario was different from others. She had always tried to avoid the local Muggle children since they were prone to making fun of people who were different. This was possibly due to the lack of entertainment, as there weren't many children who lived in the neighborhood; the small village was mainly a Muggle retirement community due to the laid-back atmosphere of the country town. However, interaction with the Muggle children couldn't always be avoided, and one time she was caught on the unaware.
They had formed a circle around her, taunting her because her family was 'weird.' She always hated it when people or things had an unfair advantage, so she tried to stand up for herself and escape their circle. The fact that she couldn't escape wasn't because there were many children, but because their size was nearly twice hers. The panic that had begun building up in her chest suddenly released. At first, the young girl thought she was no longer scared, but she soon learned that conclusion was very wrong. A tingling (like when a limb falls asleep) started to spread throughout her body, coursing through her blood. The feeling turned into a burning sensation, like walking into a fire, until she couldn't control it anymore. A sudden force of magic seemed to explode out of her, knocking everyone to the ground.
Lyra didn't waste any time running home, where she found her father in his study.
After explaining to him what had happened, the young girl and her father returned to the spot where the incident occurred. There, where she had been standing, stood a medium-sized indent in the otherwise normal looking earth. The older man moved closer to the spot and bent down, looking at it closely, as it appeared to be a regular hole in the dirt. He cautiously glanced around to make sure they were alone before he pulled out his wand and murmured "revelio." A golden mist appeared over the spot, almost solid in the center where it fanned out into a thin gold cloud in a sun-like pattern.
While she had seen magic before, of course, from her parents casting it at home, Lyra was still surprised at what the spell produced. "What did you do, papa?" she asked.
Without turning his attention from the ground he answered, "it's a revealing spell. You can use it to find traces of magic in otherwise normal things."
Satisfied with the answer, the daughter stayed quiet until her father stood up. He pocketed his wand and without another word the two returned to their house hand in hand, Lyra only looking back once to see the golden mist disappear into the early-evening light.
In the following days, Lyra caught snatches of conversation between her parents. While they didn't seem to be outwardly worried, their lowered voices were clearly an indication that something was wrong. A few of the phrases she heard were "what if the Muggles find out?" "this could be dangerous" "will it happen again?" and, almost most worryingly, "maybe we should see a Healer."
One morning, the young girl woke to the smell of pancakes cooking on the stove. At first, she was enthralled, thinking it was some sort of holiday (as it was their tradition), but realized that it was the middle of summer, and the most exciting thing that happened was her mother's birthday, which was in a few weeks. Now concerned, the girl quickly got dressed and made her appearance in the kitchen.
"What's going on, mum?" she asked.
Her mother gave her a small smile, but it was one that didn't quite reach her eyes, "we're thinking of doing a special treat and going to London to see Diagon Alley. Would you like that?"
"That's not all we're doing, is it, Kathy?" her father prompted, coming into the kitchen as well.
The older woman sighed, transferring the last few pancakes from the stove to the plate, "we have to go to St. Mungo's. Your father and I are worried about what happened the other day; losing control like that is an unusual way for a magical child to display their powers like that."
While Lyra wasn't too thrilled about the hospital visit, at least they would be going to Diagon Alley after, and her parents promised that she could get a new book from Flourish and Blotts. An hour later, they were gathered by the fireplace with her mother holding the bag of Floo Powder. Because she was young and had never travelled this way before, she would be sharing her father's trip in the flames. It was a little daunting to have them swirl around her despite the brevity of the journey, but they all reached the hospital without any mishaps.
After using the elevator's directory to find the right floor, they were seen in the wing for people with questions about health. The Healer was a female with short brown hair and wore the traditional white uniform of the workers at the hospital. After introducing herself as Sarah, she told Lyra to sit on the table while her parents explained what happened.
The Healer gave the young girl a curious look, frowning slightly as she listened. When they were done explaining, she said, "It seems that your daughter has a case of Magie tak terkendali, or Uncontrollable Magic. Are either of you Purebloods?" she asked.
Lyra's parents shook their heads.
"This usually- and 'usually' is used as a relative term, of course- happens when two Purebloods have a child. There is, of course, a possibility for a Squib, but the other extreme is someone who is given too much magic, although the result is nearly the same: while a Magie child can still produce spells, the difficulty increases by double the usual. When a person with this case gets too excited, nervous, scared etc., their extreme emotions will cause a burst of magic, usually in a radiating pattern like you described, Mr. Maywell.
"While not much is known about this condition, there are a few tips I can give you on how to help your daughter, although she might want to step out for a bit so you can explain it better to her later," Sarah finished.
"Go on, Ly," her father said, "you can come back in a bit."
The seven-year-old nodded and left to sit outside, leaving her mother and father in the room. She lost track time, and in what seemed like no time at all, her parents were leaving the room, thanking the Healer, and using the Floo network to head over to Diagon Alley.
Later on, her parents explained to her the precautions they would be taking to make sure she didn't have explosions, as they could vary in size and be potentially harmful to other people. She would stay within the confines of their property and they would be careful not to spook her. Her father told her that when it was time for her to go to Hogwarts, he would speak to Professor Dippet, the Headmaster, about what they could do to help her, because they, especially, didn't want to deny her the excitement of attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
For the next few years, Lyra did what her parents told her to, spending her time reading the books that they got her and secluded herself from the Muggles in the village (not that she had any particular protests about that). Although she wanted to explore like always, she was able to be content with her books and the premises of her house. After all, the plants her mother had provided enough adventure for a child of her age. This caused her to become rather shy and quiet, since the only people she talked to were her parents.
When she was a few months away from going to school, her parents took her to Diagon Alley, making sure she didn't get lost, and that she didn't get too excited. The trip didn't last long, since her mum and dad had gotten everything except her wand beforehand (and she'd already read all of the books that were required for a first year.)
She had a hard time finding a wand that would choose her, and the shopkeeper, Ollivander, said that her excess magic was the reason (Lyra found him a bit scary, as she hadn't even told him about her condition.) Eventually, she was chosen by a wand that had Chestnut wood and Unicorn hair core (10 1/2 inches, hard flexibility)
A/N: Hello everyone *laughs awkwardly.* How long has it been? Three years or something? Oops. Well, the Crimes of Grindelwald (as plot-holey as it is) inspired me to come back to this story… I don't know why it has as many follows/favorites as it does, because the first draft is super cringy and needs a lot of work. Thank you, anyway, to those of you who have. While I can't promise updates will be a regular occurrence, I do plan on adding to the story more frequently then every four years… lol. I'm going to start by rewriting the chapters I already have written and then go more in-depth with their school years now that we know slightly more about them. I will, however, be sticking to cannon and not whatever mess CoG is. Anyway, I'm glad to be back!
Wand description taken from my own Pottermore account. Chestnut wood is said to favor those inclined to Herbology and magical creatures, while hard flexibility is based on the person's willingness to change.
Also, I decided to add a face claim for Lyra: Sophie Nélisse as Leisel Meminger.