Difference between revisions of "Ignis Fides Rivers"

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Ignis Fides Rivers
Biographical Information
Full name	Ignis Fides Rivers
Born	20th June 1923
Birthplace	Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Deceased	-
Residence	London, United Kingdom
Nationality	Dutch
Blood Status	Muggleborn
Education	Habsburg School of the Magical Arts (1934-1935), Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (1935-1941)
Class	Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Ravenclaw '41
Title(s)	First Honours ('74-'37), Junior Assistant Nurse ('74-'38), Duelist ('37-'41), Library Assistant ('37-'38), Quidditch player ('38-'41), Ravenclaw Prefect ('38-'40), Head Girl ('40-'41), Spellbound Writer ('40-'41)
Physical Information
Gender	Female
Hair colour	Brown
Eye colour	Hazel
Skin colour	Light
Family Information
Spouse	Marcus Altair (Boyfriend)
Children	-
Parents	Nickolas Rivers (Muggle, deceased), Janne Rivers (Muggle, deceased)
Siblings	-
Magical Characteristics
Wand	English Oak, Phoenix Feather; 12"3/4; Brittle
Patronus	Zebra
Affiliation
Occupation	Freelance Lawyer

Biography

Infancy and Childhood

Ignis Fides Rivers was born on the 20th of June 1923 to her papa Nicklas Rivers and her Mother Janne Rivers (née Geluk). They had met in the United Kingdom, when Janne had went to visit the second niece who had settled herself there with a newly wed husband. Nicklas finally decided to come back to Holland with Janne and start a life for the two of them in Eindhoven.

The only child they would ever have was called after a Dutch saying expressed in Latin words. While Ignis means fire, the word Fides means trust. Together they make Burning Trust, equivalent for ever faithful and loyal, true to justice and one’s self. Janne was a woman who liked to read rather than cleaning the house like the average housewife of that time, and Nicklas would buy her books from time to time when he got back from work.

The books, mostly about philosophy or a novel of an obscure writer no one had ever heard of before, were also attacked by the greedy fingers of the still young Ignis Fides. While in the beginning the books would be ripped out of her hands so that she would not rip the pages out of it to make some sort of craft, Janne and Nicklas eventually gave up on that when they figured the young girl could sit in a corner for ages. Just staring at the words that she did not know, trying to find a meaning for them with her limited vocabulaire.

This was probably how she developed a love for books at a young age.

She still remembers the day she heard her parents died, vivid like it has only happened yesterday. The day did not betray the flaws it had in them yet, the sky was rippled by the pink and orange that overcame the blue. The scent of spring lingered between the branches of the trees and lessened the sorrows of winter. Rippled as the sky was, as rippled was the water below the docks. The deep dark shielded the bottom of the water off from any curious looks like from the eleven year old girl who tried to peek over the edge of the docks into the water. A hand on her shoulder kept her from toppling into the water between the docks and the steel of the boat.

Looking back, a friend of her parents looked at her with glee in her eyes. Faked glee, Fides would later recall, but at that moment, she beamed back. Papa and mama would return soon enough from their boat trip. They had been looking forward to it, squibbling about it fervently as they had packed their backs. And Fides had watched.

When the boat chose the broadly stretched waves of the ocean, Fides would be standing with that friend of her parents on the docks. Her tiny hand stretched high above her head to wave at the figures which grew smaller by the second.

They would come home. Yet, they never did.

Education

First Year (1934-1935)

Fides spent her first year at Habsburg School of the Magical Arts in Germany because it was the rational choice since she lived in the Netherlands. However, when her parents died in the early spring of '34, Fides was forced to move to the second niece of her Mother because that was the closest relative that she had left. Because she had moved, she had to say the few German friends goodbye and start anew at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Second Year (1935-1936)

Beg. Charms (Sal), Beg. Transfiguration, History of Magic (Sal), Muggle Studies (Val)

Fides got sorted into Ravenclaw due her interests in hard studying and philosophy. She came to school as the new kid, immediately finding it hard to fit in. Everyone in the same age as her and therefore too a second year, had already been through the first year together and had most likely formed bonds over that time and close knit friend groups. She was just another intruder that tried to get along and therewith fit in, although she was held back due to her homesickness and grieving over her parents. This resulted into moments that she couldn’t bear it anymore and ended up crying and balling herself up in a corner. This once lead to shock during a study session in the main hall.

Yet, Fides had always been a whole-hogger, and so she did her best to find her ways in the school and get in touch with other students. Meeting with new people was more difficult than she expected it to be, especially since English wasn’t her first language and was better versed in German than English. Even though there were a lot of blockades that could have held her back, Fides managed to get a few good friends. Amongst them was Julian Cross, whom she could not stand at first. Yet, overcoming their differences and especially the age difference, they grew closer and closer with every moment they spent together around the castle. Eventually, Fides even began to refer to him as a surrogate brother and started to nickname him Klootzak in a fond manner.

Third Year (1936-1937)

Beg. Charms (Val), Beg. Divination, History of Magic (Sal), Muggle Studies (Val), Hospital Wing, First Honours

In this year, she started to become slightly aware of the hate towards Muggleborns and Halfbloods. This was realization was mainly ignited due to fact that another younger Hufflepuff student who had previously been nice to her now ignored her for the impure blood that ran in her veins. To Fides, this dislike was illogical and was unfounded, which made her want to stand up for justice to fight for equality.

Fides had also picked up on the extra curricular of the Hospital Wing this year, wanting to involve herself more with the activities Hogwarts offered and therewith getting more in touch with fellow students. This added up to the fact that Fides was an unconquerable perfectionist, causing her to end up with First Honors. Not only did this boost her self-confidence and her belief that she indeed was worth something whilst other students tried to make her believe that she was not because of her blood status, it also made her gain a little respect amongst her peers.

It was during Fides' third year of education in the wizarding arts, that the Time Warp kicked in and left Fides lost and robbed of her valuables and her roots. Given the fact that the second niece of her mother had been a Muggle, Fides now had nowhere to go and was almost forced to end up in an orphanage. Her best friend Julian Cross did not wish this to happen to her and adopted her, given her the chance to live with him.

Fourth Year (1937-38)

Beg. C/S (Val), Beg. Divination (Val), Potions Section 2 (Val), Herbology, Hospital Wing, Dueling, Library Assistant

Her fourth year was mostly spent in the Library, which reflected well in her grades, but reflected badly on her on a personal level. Due to the fact that the Ravenclaw spent more time studying than actually involving herself in any other social activity other than the extra curriculars she had taken up on, she found herself left alone and abandoned. It was most likely because of this that Fides found it even more hard to get back out of her shell again and regain whatever social connections she had had previously.

In this term, the rage towards the pureblood elitists was fanned even further,

Fifth Year (1938-39)

Adv. C/S, Adv. Transfiguration, Seminar Series, History of Magic, Hospital Wing, Dueling, Ravenclaw Prefect, Quidditch player

In this term, the rage towards the pureblood elitists was fanned even further, due to a class that she had signed up for at Hogwarts. It had been just after the badges had been called into life and people were forced to wear them. And everyone had strutted around with their badges in the beginning when their meanings were not yet clear to anyone, but then turning into something that everyone tried to hide it the best they could when the realization started to sink in. And Fides had witnessed how people had started to wear red clothes during spare time, making sure that the badge wouldn’t stand out that much. And she had noticed the shame that came with the badges in the fashion that students with the badges would hang their heads and angle their gazes towards the ground when someone without a blood badge would walk past.

But that very class had been the turning point and it had pushed all of her buttons. The professor back then had thought up a class where the students would meet with dragons and had invented a pecking order in which the purebloods would be first to find a sufficient chain mill, the halfbloods after that and the muggleborns would be pretty much left to their own devises. She had raged against him, standing up in her right as a prefect and claiming that everyone with a good enough transfiguration skill would be able to stelthen their mills so that they would be good enough protection for everyone. The dragons wouldn’t have sniffed a difference between a pureblood snack or a muggleborn one anyway, not to mention that they were all human and therefor had the right to be protected.

But the pureblooded professor had lashed out at her for the comment. He had made her sit at the sideline for the rest of the class and had not been allowed to participate any further. No one had stood up for her or had backed her up, and the rage had turned introverted with a destructive power. She turned bitter towards those who allowed fear to rule their heads and their hearts, too timid to stand up to those who deemed themselves to be their superiors. And Fides was sure that it was exactly that what the pureblood elitists wanted to achieve; no one to question their superiority.

Yet, it only made sure that Fides felt called on.

The professor had threatened to expel her for her behavior and her lack of respect towards those who were supposed to be above her in the social hierarchy simply because some sort of biological factor. She had been dragged towards the office of her Head of House, Isabelle Valentine, to discuss whether or not she should be expelled. Eventually, the only flaw of Fides that was pointed out was that she had been forged the sign-up slip for the class by faking the signature of her guardian. Fides was not expelled, but she kept low for the rest of term, thinking of ways she could stand up for herself anyway. Her hands itched to do something about it, but since she had always been more of a planner than actually working on the field, she didn't really know how to. That is probably why she went searching for allies and started to oppose everything that had the same ideals as the elisists. Fides cared little for the trouble this would cause and would get her in, because she values Justice more than anything else.

Sixth Year (1939-1940)

Conjuring and Summoning, Charms (Sal), Muggle Studies (Val), Care of Magical CreaturesHospital Wing, Dueling, Ravenclaw Prefect, Quidditch Captain

TBA.

Seventh Year (1940-1941)

Transfiguration, Conjuring & Summoning, History of Magic, Herbology, Hospital Wing, Dueling, Head Girl, Quidditch Captain, Spellbound writer

TBA.

Post Graduation

In July 1941, Fides came home to the empty apartment she shared with Julian Cross. It had been more often than not that she came home to an empty apartment when Julian Cross was out pulling some birds, working late or generally being a pain in the ass to the rest of the world, but Fides was almost immediately sure that this time was different. It felt different, and the note that he had left behind was enough indication that he had indefinitely left. He had left her only with descriptions how she could pay the rent of the apartment and what money she should use for that, but there had been no personal touch to it all. It was a devastating blow for Ignis Fides Rivers, mainly because he had been the only family she had left and because she had started to develop feelings for him over time. She had started to grow fond of him, and had lived with the illusion that he had grown fond of her in such a fashion as well. It did not fit in with the coldheartedness he had vanished with.

Devasted, Fides sought for ways to get money and how to get her life back on track. She eventually decided on selling loads and tons of Julian Cross' possessions and making money out of it for the time being. She was also determined to sell the apartment and felt like she should not feel guilty for doing so - he would never return to her anyway. It felt as if his presence was still wandering around every corner of the apartment and it started to drive her insane.

It was also then that she started to figure out what to do with her life when the income would decrease she made out of selling his properties and all that he owned. It was then that she started to read up on some old philosophers with interesting ideas about politics and justice, which then turned into a most serious study. It was this study that she would eventually make a living out of, that would eventually bring her to the path of becoming a freelance lawyer.

Ignis Fides Rivers previously had always fought for the equal rights of wizards and witches, no matter what kind of blood flowed through their veins to keep them alive. She had always placed herself opposite of the authoritative men of power who had claimed that only the ones with pure blood were allowed the human rights. They had been inhumane demons in her eyes, and by that, she had only lowered herself to their level. Had only disgraced herself while she had aimed to fight for grace. She had seen them as imbeciles, incapable of reasoning. But she could now see that they were actually quite well in reasoning, that they were well trained in bending the reality in their profit. They were eloquent speakers that made the best of the situation, provided themselves with a biblical justification of their power. Not to mention they had all the funds and cronyism. Above all stupidity she had once blamed them with, they had had the insight of sticking together by backroom politics and shady backstabbing, making themselves ever so mighty in comparison to the ill-, and only secretive, united majorities.

They were clever. Fides' insights had only come with age. And even though she had not aged much ever since her graduation as a shortsighted raven chick, she could now see what ideals she had been subjected to as they were printed on her retina. How they had infected her brain and had turned her in a monster of the same caliber as all the elitists. They had only sketched the situation out of the perspective of the repressed, out of their pain and heartache. Just like the elitists had only ever sketched their own situation out of their own point of view. What missed was the objective stance in the matter, one Fides still didn't claim to possess.

School Transcript

N.E.W.T.s (1940)

• • E in Conjuring and Summoning
  • O in Charms
  • O in Muggle Studies
  • E in Care of Magical Creatures

O.W.L.'s (1941)

• • O in Transfiguration
  • E in Conjuring & Summoning
  • O in History of Magic
  • O in Herbology