Elysia

Chapter Three ~ Awake

"It's only been two days, her spells are working perfectly." Niamh said distantly, the clanging of various objects loud enough to wake me.

"The teachers are asking about her, and the Carrow's are ready to put out a reward for her." Neville replied, his tone tight and stressed.

"Give her a couple of days! Her skull was fractured front and back." Niamh sighed, obviously she had endured this conversation before.

"Is there any damage?"

"I don't know." Niamh said curtly, avoiding the topic.

"Could there be damage?" he whispered, weakened by the thought.

"Yes."

The conversation ended, heavy footsteps sounded until a door swung open and closed. Neville had left the room, apparently. Opening my eyes slowly, I saw that the room was alight perfectly, not too strong for my eyes. I felt bandages hugging the flesh around my skull, as if they were tyring to keep Humpty Dumpty together.

"Good evening, Elle. How do you feel?" Niamh asked pleasantly, as if she wasn't surprised at all to see me awake.

"Good... How long have I been asleep..." I said groggily, my tongue numbed.

"Only four days, by your standards not a long coma at all." she added warmly, prompting a half-hearted chuckle from me.

"Is there any damage, like Neville said?"

"Yes, there's memory damage." she replied coolly, unfazed by the bad news.

"How do you know?" I croaked, gazing at her instruments and seeing nothing that could have alerted her of damage.

Maybe she was more advanced than I knew... She was obviously a capable healer, having used spells that I had specialised to brain or skull injuries and had almost completely healed my in four days. She would be my apprentice, I decided slowly.

"I know because we've had this conversation eleven times and counting." Niamh countered, her green eyes looking softly in to mine.

"Memoire incatatem.... It'll help..." I whispered faintly, feeling a lethargic pulse overcome my body.

"I know, you already told me, and I'm using it, too." she said kindly, sitting on the edge of my bed until I fell asleep entirely.

~

"You didn't tell me her memory had been affected!" Neville roared, joined by many other voices also in uproar.

"Does it matter? She's better now." Niamh said in defiance.

"Why wouldn't you tell me?" Neville inquired, his voice losing it's edge of anger.

"I didn't want you to fret." she said simply, smiling at me as I opened my eyes.

The pain in my head was almost completely absent, and I could distantly remember my last conversation with Niamh, meaning that I was indeed better. Pushing myself in to an upright position, I saw that I was surrounded by all of the seniors, Niamh, Neville, Luna, Paige, Kaitlyn, Seamus, Justin, Jane, as well as Ginny and countless juniors.

"Stop fighting!" I said defiantly, gaining the attention of all those gathered.

Neville didn't speak, he only shot me a relieved smile and merged with the crowd. Niamh, too, backed away and melted with the other students who all wore worried expressions on their faces. Feeling an element of power waft in the air around me, I continued.