Recollection

Ten

Eliza's POV

After Sebastian left the hospital wing, Eliza remained curled up on her side, drowning in self doubt. The more she thought about their conversation the more pain she felt in her head. The splitting had intensified as if her skull was too small for her brain and was cracking under the pressure. Nurse Blainey had given her another round of potions but they fell short of alleviating any pain. She had left Eliza in the fetal position with so many unanswered questions as she went off to brew her something stronger. 

What did Sebastian mean when he admitted she was one of the ones he loved? They were strangers to one another. He didn't know her, how could he possibly love her? Maybe he meant it in the same sense that she is loved by all of her classmates. She knows she is popular amongst her year and adored by all. Every room she walks into she is met with longing gazes and even some glares of jealousy. Everyone either wants her or wants to be her.

Eliza questioned if her interaction with Sebastian had even been real or if it was just a strange hallucination from all the potions Nurse Blainey had given her. She swore she had drunk enough brews to sedate a dragon yet they seemed to do everything except ease her headache. She had felt out of it for a couple hours and recalled everything moving slowly through the mess of her clouded mind during their conversation. Maybe she had been hallucinating when he had said he loved her. Maybe he had been out of it too on something else he had taken in addition to the veritaserum.

The most inconceivable part of his story was when he said she was working with Professor Fig to stop Ranrok. Eliza Stretton, the girl who refused to participate in classroom duels, was willingly attempting to stop a goblin rebellion? Yeah right. She viewed dueling as unladylike and thought it beneath her. Not to mention with the path she had laid out for her future she couldn't see herself ever being in a situation where she would need to use defensive magic. Ambrose would always be there to protect her if anything ever happened. Her safety was ensured. Besides, something as large as a goblin rebellion should have been left to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, not put in the hands of a fifteen year old version of herself. Sebastian had completely lost her there.

She wondered if he had even actually been under the influence of veritaserum in the first place. According to Sebastian, what he had told her contradicted everything she thought she knew, including the rumor Amara had told her about him. There was no way in any universe that she had been lied to. That would have meant Ambrose, Amara, her parents, the Ministry, even the Daily Prophet were all lying in one big conspiracy. There was nothing for any party to gain out of the scandal. If anything it shone a negative light on her family and made them look weak, allowing their daughter to become the victim and target of a goblin uprising. It was a preposterous notion. She couldn't believe she was even entertaining these thoughts. Maybe all of these headaches were a sign that she was losing her mind. She definitely had to be unwell, letting a guy she had just met cause her to debate such an absurd matter. Even on the minuscule chance that she had been lied to, she was certain it would have been for a good reason.

The most logical explanation was that Sebastian was lying to her. Everything he said could have just been a ruse to attempt to gain her trust. He could still be after her magic, trying to finish what Ranrok and Professor Fig failed to do. She couldn't be certain. She didn't know him. He also seemed to be the only constant at the root of her recent headaches. Maybe that was her body's gut reaction, telling herself that he had bad intentions and she needed to avoid him.

All of the headaches Eliza experienced in her sixth year came on after experiencing a sensation of deja vu. Her healers had warned that headaches were a possible symptom of her amnesia as her mind adjusted to settings that it had once been familiar with but could no longer remember. They said once she became reimmersed in her surroundings they would go away, and they had after some time. What she was experiencing now was much more intense and seemed to stem from a physical reaction instead of the illusion of deja vu. In both instances of her headaches she had been overwhelmed with Sebastian's scent followed by the gentle touch of his hand on her back in the Great Hall yesterday and the firm press of his hand atop hers in potions this morning. She didn't know what to make of it other than it brought on immense pain and an odd feeling of longing.