﴾ ~ Stella Drake ~ First Year ~ Ilvermorny ~ ﴿‏

Full Name: Stella Estrela Drake House: Wampus Age: 11 School Year: First Species: Werewolf Status: Wizard born Wand: 29.7 cm chestnut wood and phoenix feather Patronus: N/A

History

Stella has lived a rather chaotic life, not that she minds. Being born in Scotland as the youngest child (for two years) with two older sisters, her life started out relatively normal. She spent her days cared for by her parents, Dorthy and Charlie, and played with by her sisters, Rennette and Lilah. Two years later, her baby brother Logan was born. Stella, though very small herself, was smitten with the new baby, wanting to play with him and carry him everywhere.

In the summer of 2018, the Drake family moved to Ellesmere Port. A reason was never given to the children, but one could assume it was a mix of their house being too small for the growing children, and a distaste of certain neighbors. Dorthy claimed to have some friends in England as well, but it was always a bit of a suspect statement.

After the move, the three eldest children started attending a local school ran by some of the wizarding families in the area. Logan too eventually joined once he was 4.

A year after settling in Ellesmere Port, Stella noticed a shy young boy, Helios. He had been in the same school as her, trying to go unnoticed in the back of the room. Stella soon made it her mission to befriend the quiet child. And befriend him she did. Helios did not stay quiet for long. He had already been urged out of his shell quite a bit by his brother, Hecate, and simply needed one last little push to really start to blossom. The last push being dragon facts. Dragons had always been Stella's favorite animal, and now she constantly chattered away with Helios about them, getting both children in trouble on more than one occasion.

Helios later transitioned and changed their name, now going by Pyce. The two remain incredibly close and owl each other frequently. Of course, she doesn't always share everything, with Pyce being one of very few people where she truly cares about how she is perceived.

When Stella was 9, her life went from slightly more chaotic than average, to a complete mess. She had never been afraid of the woods, nor anything in it. There was an allure, a sweet siren's call to the unknown. So, it was hardly a surprise that, when the moon was full, leaving the most light to shine through the trees, Stella snuck out. She heavily considered walking all the way to Pyce's house so they could join her. She decided against it. That was probably for the best. Considering that if they had been there, they very likely would have been subjected to the same thing as Stella.

She was on a "solo dragon hunt" as she called such endeavors, for it should be unsurprising that this was far from her first time doing such a thing. Though these excursions were often disguised as staying over with a friend, or camping in the backyard. But in those woods, Stella came across a wolf. Fluffy and feral. The worst possible mix for someone like Stella. Because she walked closer.

Quite frankly, she's lucky that the worst of it was the deep bite on her shoulder, she's even luckier that Lilah had followed her that night, curious and suspicious. While Lilah had not been close enough to stop the first bite, she had managed to use her meager repertoire of spells to distract the werewolf long enough to grab Stella, send out several rounds of red sparks, and find the help of a very concerned wizard.

Stella spent the next week or so at St. Mungos, seemingly more upset at being confined to a bed than anything regarding the werewolf attack.

The Drake family did their best to keep Stella's lycanthrope a complete secret. It worked for about a year, with a mix of Wolfsbane potion, a sudden homeschooling for Logan, and a few security spells around the house. But it was for naught, as eventually, inevitably, one of their neighbors found out. The immediate neighborhood was in an uproar.

In a desperate attempt to spare Stella any of what could very possibly follow, the family moved to Canada, opting to send the girl to Ilvermorny to avoid any possible run-ins with any old neighbors. Stella is more than upset at this decision, but hasn't argued about it, knowing she is partially at fault for all the events that led up to this.

First Instance of Magic

Back when the Drake family lived in Scotland, a 3-year-old Stella had been playing in the backyard. She came across a rather large adder. In a move that perfectly encapsulates Stella's current and future behavior around animals, no matter how dangerous, she picked it up to play with it.

The adder, agitated, attempted to bite the toddler, though its fangs failed to do any damage whatsoever.

The situation was soon discovered by a very frazzled Dorthy Drake, and the snake was flung as far away as a spell could send it. Stella was checked over and found wholly uninjured, simply missing her new and unwilling playmate.

Perhaps Stella's first go at magic was a warning for what was to come later in her life.