Recollection

Four

Eliza's POV

"That's the boy that killed his uncle in fifth year? That's Sebastian Sallow?" Eliza asked lying on her stomach with her feet kicked up behind her as she flipped through a wedding magazine. She knew she wasn't properly engaged yet but had no intentions of messing anything up with Ambrose. They would be married in less than a year and she wasn't going to waste any time planning. Everything needed to be perfect. She stretched out on the fabric of the green comforter that lay atop her bed in the dormitory she shared with Amara, Lilith, and another girl, Imelda Reyes that she didn't get along with.

"Mmhm." Amara looked at her with a calculated look as if she were being cautious with her next words. "Is that so shocking?"

"I guess not. I just- after the accident I don't really remember much from that year. I guess I just pictured him differently. That boy didn't look like a murderer."

"It's usually the ones you never expect." Amara began unpacking the large wooden trunk that sat at the foot of her bed. Eliza could tell she was holding something back. She wanted to ask about the disagreement she overheard between her and Ambrose in the bathroom but wasn't sure if it was the right time as Imelda was sitting on her bed reading a book. She looked over at the brunette, hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Imelda usually minded her business and didn't speak to them so she decided it was okay to ask.

"There's something you're not telling me. What is it?" Eliza asked Amara.

Amara set the dress she was holding down on her bed and crossed her arms. "I don't know if I should tell you. Ambrose doesn't think it's a good idea."

"Since when have you ever let your brother tell you what to do?" Eliza pleaded.

"Always when it comes to you...but fine I think it's better that you know." Amara took a deep breath and sat down next to Eliza on her bed. "It has to do with the accident in fifth year. There was no hard evidence but allegedly there were rumors that Sebastian was working with Professor Fig to help hand your ancient magic over to that goblin, Ranrok."

Imelda slammed her book shut, and stormed out of their room, "I can't fucking listen to this."

"What's her problem?" Eliza asked, still processing what Amara was telling her.

"Who knows. I'd probably be irritable too if I had a broomstick shoved between my legs all day." Amara spat.

"Oh you're awful." Eliza teased as she got back onto the topic of Sebastian. "So he was working with Fig?"

"So the rumors say. Nothing was ever proven though. Just promise me though you'll stay away from him? Even if the rumors aren't true, he still killed his uncle. In my opinion they let him off too easy and he should be rotting in Azkaban if you ask me."

"I promise." Eliza rolled onto her back, staring up at the green canopy over her bed trying to recall the events from her fifth year. She could see images of things, being in a cavern beneath Hogwarts, flashes of red and green soaring around her. The white wisps of her ancient magic being pulled from her body and then everything went black.

She remembered briefly waking up in the Hospital Wing with her parents standing over her speaking with Nurse Blainey and Headmaster Black.

"Professor Fig is dead. Ranrok is gone." Is all she heard out of Black's mouth before the world went dark again.

She woke up next at St. Mungos with Ambrose and Amara sitting next to her. Excited to see her awake, they called a nurse in to come check her vitals. After confirming that Eliza had complete amnesia of the events that occurred, her healers and parents thought it'd be best if she heard it from Ambrose and Amara, the two people closest to her in her life.

Professor Fig had been involved in her life since the beginning of her ancient magic journey. Prior to starting at Hogwarts, he had helped her catch up so she would be at the level of other students in her year. He opened up to her about his late wife Miriam, who she now questioned if she even existed or if that was something he had made up to get Eliza to trust him more. He supported her through The Keepers Trials and had not given her any reason to distrust him until she learned what actually happened.

He was using her.

Fig used her to get to the final repository of a well of ancient magic that was hidden away beneath Hogwarts. He gave the location to Ranrok and once they were in the heart of the cavern, they ambushed her, trying to take both her magic and the magic from the repository.

Fig had aided Ranrok in a goblin uprising and they would have succeeded if Eliza's magic hadn't protected itself. In the end, her ancient magic didn't take kindly to being pulled from her body. In a self preserving way, a sort of explosion expelled from her body, killing both Fig and Ranrok on contact. Her magic and the additional magic from the repository retreated back into her veins, where it belonged.

She was left for the most part unharmed, but the magical expulsion was very hard on her body. She was in and out of consciousness for almost a month before she fully came to. Even then it also put a great strain on her brain as she had suffered a great amount of memory loss.

Eliza was lucky to have a great support system to help aid her back to health. Her parents, Ambrose, Amara, and their parents as well were very patient with her that summer and got her back to almost one hundred percent by the beginning of her sixth year. The only reminder that remained were the headaches that she'd begun to experience once she was back at Hogwarts. Nurse Blainey was stumped on the cause of them as they presented at random times. Luckily she was able to get them under control with a combination of potions.

Where she couldn't remember, she had Ambrose and Amara there to help her fill in the gaps. There were no two people she trusted greater in the world, aside from her parents of course. She was very lucky to have the Black twins as friends and within the next year they'd become her family as well.

Part of it bothered her that she didn't remember any of the events that happened but another part of her was relieved she didn't. It all sounded so terrifying and traumatic. She wasn't sure how she even had gotten involved with Fig in the first place. She wasn't built for combat or adventure. She was meant to focus on things more proper for a young lady, like preparing to be a wife and mother.