Return to the Nest

She felt like she had done this thing before - the walking around aimlessly and getting lost part. Elise was a bit apprehensive about returning to school, after all, she had just spent the entirety of last year in a hospital because of a bad memory charm gone wrong at the end of her first year. Now she was just a second year, who was supposed to have been a third year.

Elise knew that she would be lying to herself if she said that her memory loss didn't bother her. Even after staying at St. Mungo's for a year didn't help her retrieve any of her memories of her first year at Hogwarts or any of the people she had met or befriended.

Wait... Did she even have any friends?What if she had been a loner? Elise shook her head from such negative thoughts as she leaned over the stone railing. She looked over the tower and at the scenery before her. It looked and felt so familiar. She supposed, from her feelings, that she'd been there before.

The Hufflepuff boy was leaned up against the wall on one side of the clock tower, when he heard the footsteps. His eyes had been closed, but now they were wide awake, waiting for the intruder to come into view. And when they did, he noticed that it was a girl, and smiled. He could have sat back and watched her, but it seemed like that was far from what she wanted, or hoped it was anyway.

"Hello," he whispered towards her.

Andy, having finally been released from the Hospital Wing found himself up in the towers, drawn to the solitude of the place. He turned a corner and saw a couple of people there. He didn't want to intrude, but he grinned when he noticed a very familar face; a face he hadn't seen in ages.

"Elise?" he asked, stepping forward. He didn't want to interrupt her conversation with the Hufflepuff boy, by the looks, but he couldn't resist saying hello to her again. He didn't even know what happened to her. She was there one minute, and suddenly gone the next.

Elise nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a whispered greeting. She turned to the source and hesitantly smiled back at the boy. Judging from his robes he was in the same house as she was although she couldn't remember ever seeing him. And Elise was a bit miffed at being caught off-guard; that rarely happened and she was willing to blame it on her memory loss.

"Hey," she whispered back, confused as to why they were whispering.

For a moment she wondered if she should introduce herself. He was being friendly with her and she absolutely had no idea if he knew her. Well, there was no way to find out except to just throw it out there, "I'm Elise Hawkins."

Feeling her right leg starting to fall asleep, Elise twisted her body so that most of her weight was on her left. She stamped lightly on her right foot to get rid of the tingly feeling, and was about to ask something of the fellow Hufflepuff when her name was called.

Her green eyes spotted another boy, a Ravenclaw by the looks of it, and felt herself panic. Obviously, this guy knew her. What should she do? Play it out as if she remembered him or just straight out tell him.

"You know me," Elise blurted out before mentally slapping herself.

At least now she didn't have to make a difficult choice. And the telling the truth was always easier to deal with than the repercussions of lying.

Andy blinked. That certainly wasn't the response he expected. He hadn't seen the Hufflepuff in over a year but he didn't think she'd forget him entirely.

"Umm.. Yeah," he replied. He looked down at the ground, feeling rather awkward about this now. He didn't know if she was pretending not to remember him, or if something happened to her. After all, most people don't go missing for a year without something happening to them. Andy looked back up at her again.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, genuinely concerned. They had been quite close friends in first year and he had truly missed her when she disappeared.

Oh! The boy seemed a bit confused by her response. That means she can still try and pretend she remembered him! Then she frowned to herself. From the look he had on his face Elise guessed that they had been some sort of friends, although she didn't know how close and she didn't think it was fair to him to not know of her condition.

Her eyes glanced a bit to the Hufflepuff. He was her house-mate and that warranted him to know too. Besides... Elise knew she was a bad liar with things as serious as her condition. If she had gone with her charade it would have eventually caught up to her.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine," she started and began to shuffle her feet before saying outright in a straightforward, monotone voice, "Sorry but I don't remember you."

Elise flinched as she repeated it in her head. It hadn't sounded too friendly, and she was quick to explain, "N-not that I would purposefully do that! I've just returned from St. Mungo's, see."

She let out a nervous laugh, "Bad memory charms and all that, you know?"

Quietly she hoped that each boy wouldn't judge her too harshly and decided to bail out on being her friend. She did have a tendency to snap, and act all high-and-mighty around guys; that usually annoyed her friends back home.

Andy could only stare at her. He certainly never expected to run into his old first year friend in the Towers, but he certainly didn't expect her not to remember him. He felt sad by the news, but he knew he was being selfish. She had lost her memory, not him.

"Gee," he said. "That's awful." He couldn't imagine that happening, but it obviously did. He wondered why he hadn't heard what happened to her until now. Maybe her family didn't want it publicly known or something.

Andy then realised he hadn't even told her his name, as he was still shocked to learn that she forgot it. "I'm Anthony McGuire, Andy for short. It's weird introducing myself to you again. Last time I did that was in the park, before school started." He smiled at her and at the memory of them meeting, something she wouldn't be able to recall ever again.

Ethanael smiled when she returned his greeting, taking the message that she was up for a chat. He nodded when she introduced herself, and replied back, "Ethanael Fitz". But just as he had finished speaking, he heard a voice, and his head quirked up to see who it was.

A Ravenclaw boy, he had seen him around but didn't think he knew him. He listened quietly to the conversation that went on between Elise and this boy who called himself Anthony. Whether or not she had been in St. Mungo's didn't bother him. Ethanael had a feeling that she was okay to hang around with, and that was all that mattered.

"I'm sorry," he said honestly, sanding himself up.

Elise felt her chest bubble with happiness. They weren't going to ditch her! She had always thought that the moment people knew of her condition, they would begin to distance themselves from her like the time she had gone to visit her family at the orphanage.

The other kids, once they learned that she lost her memories, began to look at her differently. It wasn't bad or anything, but it made Elise uncomfortable and not feel welcomed. She realized, a few days after being there, that she didn't fit in their world anymore.

"Elise Hawkins," she replied to Anthony out of reflex before turning her gaze to Ethanael, "And thanks though having memory isn't that bad, I suppose."

Elise grinned, "So... what made you guys come here?"

Ethanael grinned back, "Ofcourse it isn't," as he watched her a little closely. There was nothing different about her, she looked the same as every other human he had seen. And the fact that she had been to St. Mungos and all, didn't really make him afraid of her. She seemed like a decent person, and that was all that mattered.

"I've just been sitting here, admiring the view of the castle and the grounds," he said, his eyes returning to where they had been before either Elise or Anthony had shown up.

Andy was still rather shocked that his best friend didn't remember him, but that didn't stop him from answering her question. If this was going to be Elise's first impression of him again, he didn't want it to be a bad one.

"To be honest, I came up here to be alone, but that didn't exactly come to plan." He smiled to reassure that he wasn't bothered by the company.

Andy extended his hand to the boy, who looked like he could be a first year, but Andy wasn't sure.

"Andy. Nice to meet you, Ethanael."

Ethanael took the outstrecthed hand with a grin, "It's nice to meet you also. Suppose we could spend some of the time getting to know each other better, I know that talking to new people is much better then sitting alone with just your thoughts".

He seemed to do that alot, talk too much for his own good, and he hoped that it wouldn't bother either of the two friends he'd just made.

"Just watching the scenery, yeah?" Elise turned to look at the landscape and had to agree that it was beyond anything the telly could produce. Seeing nature up-front and in real life was just... indescribable or something similar. She really couldn't say.

Elise felt a tinge of guilt when Anthony said that he had come up to the tower for some time alone, but quelled her apology when she saw him smile. Apparently he didn't mind the tower being occupied.

She giggled at Ethanael's little babble. It was quite refreshing since she doesn't do quite well in new environments or awkward situations, and if anything, Elise was always fond of the talkative people. They seemed to have an endless topics that everyone can just jump in and start talking.

Hearing the Hufflepuff giggle, Ethanael grinned widely. And now he was starting to get a bighead about this whole thing. Darnit, why couldn't he just act normal.

Act normal.

"So what do you guys say about Quidditch? I've been admiring the game since I've been born, and playing it too," and there was his bragging again, "I'm so going to try out for Chaser next year".