Who's that girl?, <Richard>

Susan breathed a sigh of relief when the young woman's memories started surfacing. There had been that very, very, small chance that it might have been an impossible case. She saw that a Quick Quill was in the room, quietly recording her verbalize recollections on a piece of parchment. (Professor Landon was very thorough, and had thought of it on his own.)

The potions master beamed. "You will remember going to school, and you'll remember a lot, but you won't remember everything. No one ever does," she said.

"We can eat out here in the Community's dining room. I'm a member, so there's not a problem," she informed Agatha.

"I feel a bit like a fifth wheel," she replied. "Perhaps now that Angela - Andrea has her memories and is speaking English..."

"Nonsense! Eat with us!" Jean invited her.

They left the classroom and went over to an empty table. She glanced over at a sign hanging by the table, and called out the name on it, "Chaucer, Chaucer!"

A house-elf appeared, dressed in a maître d' outfit. "You wish to dine?"

Agatha's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs and her jaw dropped. "Who gave him, you...?"

Jean waved her off. "He most likely 'borrowed' them from Dinty's or someplace. Chaucer, what would you recommend?"

Chaucer bowed and waved his arms out. "Leftovers," he said. Instantly a small stack of plates appeared, with cutlery, drinking cups and napkins. Dishes appeared a few seconds later, partly filled with mashed potatoes, cheese pizza, fried tofu, peas, green salad, pot roast, salmon, pudding, pies, cheese and crackers, and carrot sticks. A few seconds more, and there was a half-full tub of spumoni ice cream and a pitcher of sweet water.

"Looks very good, Chaucer. Thank you!"

The house-elf gave another low bow and disappeared.

"Here in the Community, we have a moment of silence before digging in. If you don't mind," Jean said.

"Sounds fine," Agatha responded. "We'll wait for your cue."

They were all silent for a moment. (Susan gave a silent prayer of gratitude that Andrea was remembering, and that they were about to eat. Agatha kept nervously glancing over to where the house-elf had been.) They could hear a baby crying somewhere, and children were playing at a noisy game a few tables over. A large Looking Glass showed the London sky-line at night. The room was large, but comfortable, and it was still filled with the residual energy of all the beings that had been in it that day. The food looked good and smelled good. And even though all the other senses being filled, it was a time to be personally quiet, to be centered in the moment.

"Please pass around the plates," Jean said to Susan, breaking the table's silence. "And help yourselves!"
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She looked around a bit dazed at one point, but shook off the feeling after a few minutes. It was still quite an overwhelming experience.

Andrea grinned. “I do remember all the mischief Alex and I got into, usually with Byron as well. His older sister had the worst time keeping us out of trouble.”

She joined Jean in protesting Agatha’s leaving. “I can’t remember everything yet, I could have a relapse.” She playfully put her hand to her forehead, pretending to faint.

When the house-elf appeared she grinned at his outfit. His appearance sparked memories of all the other house-elves she’s known. The school’s elves, some of her friends who had house-elves when she visited them.

Her eyes widened a little when the elf says they should have left-overs, but she had learned that nothing in the hospital was as it seemed.

She closed her eyes when Jean told them of the hospital tradition of a moment of silence before eating, all kinds of memories swirling about in her head.

The food was delicious and each bite brought back one memory after the other. At the end of the meal she told them some of what she remembers. Her mom’s cooking, family dinners and so forth.

She didn’t verbalize it, but the reason for her memory loss was bothering her a lot and she wondered if she would ever discover the reason.

Susan hid her concerns about if or when Andrea would remember what had happened to her between arriving in London and arriving at the hospital. She wondered what the Ministry was going to do, now that it knew who she was, and when Andrea's family members were going to show up. She was sure that the cousin in England could arrive at any moment - after all, he had asked about her.

Agatha quietly wondered when a Ministry representative was going to show up to question Andrea. She was limited in what she could do, and her assignment here had been simply that of translator. She had no experience in interviewing or other Auror-related training. Her job was simply that of event coordinator. She felt a bit embarrassed, though, that the Ministry - her employer - seemed to have failed the young woman.

Jean kept an eye on Andrea, watching to see if she would develope the blue-feathers side effect, and listened for puns and poetry. She quietly wondered how much and at what rate the memories would come around. She'd considered having one of Granny's assistants come, but decided that the early morning visit would be best for digging into the more painful memories that Andrea might have left in her sub-conscious.

Each of the women listened to Andrea, responding to her accounts and asking simple questions about her family and her memories, keeping her busy with the conversation.

Chaucer returned from time to time, taking away emptied plates, and replacing a spoon that Jean knocked to the floor.

The children finished their game and disappeared, leaving behind an annoyed Puffskein, that was quickly retrieved by one of the children. A couple of mothers with babies were over by the fireplace, visiting as their babies nursed and slept. A couple of adults were going over a stack of papers at another table. The door to the Recreation Room opened long enough for the sounds of a ping-pong match to be heard, and then it was shut. The Library door opened, and male voices could be heard, and then Professor Landon, and Healers Matthews (Sr.) and Jerome Pye came out.

Professor Landon spotted Andrea, and came over to reintroduce himself and asked, "Hoe gaan dit met u?" (His pronunciation wasn't very good, as he had read it from a book.)

.

As she chatted to the women about what she remembers, more and more things came to mind, random pieces of information that kept on filling up her depleted memory. Little things about her family, although their faces were still a little hazy.

A few times she said something in a rhyme or what sounds more like a poem, but at least not all the time. She would have gone insane if she had. “I remember many things about my family now, you all have been quite helpful with that. I just need to see them to more of the gaps,” she said with a grateful smile on her face.

At first she didn’t notice it, but sometime during their conversation she felt something funny on her hand. She looked down to find a blue feather had grown there without her noticing. She plucked it and winced at the sensation. “Seems I’m getting the feathers too.” Even as she spoke, more of them started erupting along her skin until she was covered in feathers. She looked panicked for a moment, then started laughing. “At least we really know the potion is working, otherwise this does nothing for my lurking.” A grimace indicated that she was not happy with that sentence. “Sorry,” she managed. At least one word answers couldn’t make one want to rhyme.

As she looked over at the nursing mothers and the one child that came back, she remembered her work. “I was a teacher. I worked with younger children before they went to school.” She wondered why the classroom didn’t recall those memories too. “Jean, if I were to go back home for a while, do you think I can take some of the potion with me so I can remember more things of my life there?”

She looks up as the older man speaks to her. “Hello, Professor,” she replies in English. “I got better. Thanks for all your help this morning.”

Susan hid her smile as the side-effects started, but once the young woman recognized what was happening, she let herself grin. Wonder if the Weasleys would like to add another colour to the Canary Creams? she wondered as she remembered some staff members using the candy for Halloween costumes.

Agatha tried not to stare.

Jean beamed. Everything was coming along just fine and normal. "You can only take Sensora three times in a month, and then it doesn't work for another month. Your memories may fade over the course of the time, but if you build up your memory associations, such as you're doing by using your senses, for example, eating familiar food, seeing familiar photos, talking about your memories, then the memories will stay strong. So I think once more dose tomorrow, or when your family arrives, and then you may take a dose with you when your family comes to collect you," she said.

Wonder what's taking the family so long, wondered Susan. She hoped nothing had happened to them, and briefly immagined the lot without their own memories, wandering around London.

Professor Landon ignored the blue feathers, though he did wonder if the kids had bought some stuff from Weasleys'. Well, the others act like nothing's going on, he thought, and wondered if the others were going to be popping feathers too.

He was pleasantly surprised at her English. Her memory must be coming back, he realized.

"You're quite welcome," he replied. "I'll be moving the items into the library tomorrow, so you can continue to use them for your recovery. I didn't want them to be endangered in the classroom. We'll be doing art projects soon, and I wanted everything kept safe," he explained. "Ladies, good evening, he said, and left to rejoin the others.

.

Andrea nodded as Jean explained about the potion and how many times it could be taken a month. “Well, tomorrow when they are here and once when I get home to get reminders of the life I had there.”

She grinned as the professor gives her a startled look with the feathers all over her, but she thought it was quite interesting as a matter of fact.

“Thanks for that, I will probably go there later in the day tomorrow. I just hope my family gets here.” She bid the professor goodbye when he left, and turned back to the other women. “I wonder why my cousin hasn’t come by yet. Does anybody know where he works?” she asked, looking a little worried.

With all the excitement of remembering things, Angela was feeling quite tired and after thanking everybody again, retired to her room.

Her dreams were confusing with dark shapes chasing her, a red steam engine and a blonde woman with a scarred face standing over her. She sat up screaming at one point, terrified at the dream and conjured a light to burn the rest of the night. The light helped dispel her fears and her dreams were much more pleasant with only a few shadowy figures lurking about in the corners.

-----

The next morning she woke up, not feeling very refreshed. The feathers disappeared under the shower and she was looking like herself again.

She went through to breakfast like usual, but this time she could chat to some of the personnel around there, since her command of the English language had returned. Although it was only to the faces she recognized and there weren’t that many to begin with.

She spent the remainder of the morning in the library looking at the stuff from the school room, but she wasn’t ready to take the potion again. For a Sunday morning, the hospital was peaceful and she was enjoying the peace and quiet.

Some voices outside in the common room drew her attention and she walked out to see what was going on. She stood in the door looking at the people sitting there for a moment before walking closer.

“Mom? Dad?” The faces were familiar, yet still strangers. She knew who they were, but didn’t know anything about them. Nearby is a dark haired man, a few years older than her holding hands with a blonde man closer to her age than the dark haired man. “Byron?” There was someone missing.

“Where’s Alex?”

Healers Godfrey and Smyth were sitting at the next table over, trying to stay in the background. A teacup, a small box of feather, and a half-full bottle waited on the table, in case if a dose was required.

Both women could see that the young woman was doing well in what she could remember so far, and it remained with her family to see how much farther she could go on her own.

Professor Snape had slipped into a nearby landscape of a Brazilian forest, and quickly conjured a defensive spell against the insects that attacted him.

.

It had been an interesting wait for the portkey to be readied and for them to get to London. Byron basically barged his way through ‘customs’ on the British side, telling them what they needed to know and keeping to himself what they didn’t. He also asked for the documentation with Andrea’s signature and her intended destination.

Corbin and Glynnis just watched quietly, they both knew Byron knew what was going on. Once on their way to St. Mungo’s did he stop for breath. “I worked there long enough to know how to run roughshod over them if needs be,” he explained to his uncle and aunt. He didn’t let go of Miles’s hand but smiled over at him. “Welcome to the family, babe,” he murmured softly as they reached the hospital entrance.

Once inside, he asked for the Healer Smyth and was told she was on the third floor. Quick directions saw them trooping up the stairs and knocking on the Healer’s door.

Byron nodded in greeting and waited for the Healer explain what was going on.

----

“Hey cuz, you seem to find trouble no matter where you go,” Byron greeted her. He hadn’t seen her in more than ten years, but she was familiar from the photo he had. "Alex couldn't come, he was away on business and couldn't leave the client. He sends love and says you should be more careful. Expect an earboxing when you get home." He just smiled at her, knowing she can handle her twin.

As she watched the family reunite, Healer Godfrey gave a long sigh of relief. Smyth smiled back, feeling the same. They'd told the famly what they knew, and told them what the Ministry's report was, and handed them a copy of the paperwork, and Granny's drawings.

"She's in the Community's Common room area; we'll take you there, and she'll join you soon."

~

The two Healers both glanced over to the far side of the Common Room, over at a loss-of-memory case that never had - or had yet - to be solved. They wondered again about where her parents were, or if she had siblings. Her son Richard came into the room, gave his mother a kiss, and sat opposite of her for breakfast.

Whatever happened to Angela - Andrea - both Healers felt that it would be only a small matter of time before she remembered. Godfrey wished that Granny or her assistants had had a visit with her that morning, but the young woman was gone from her room before they had arrived.

~

Professor Snape silently glared down at Hogwart's current potions master.

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Byron watched Andrea talking to her parents and glanced over at Miles with a real soppy look on his face.

Byron couldn’t help but chuckle as his cousin plant a kiss on the healer. “See you later, professor,” he said to the portrait as they pass by leading his family to the public entrance of the hospital. “I think a ride on the Hogwarts Express will be a nice experience. Too many for a side-along trip this time.”

"I'm sorry she came here under such distress," Susan told Andrea's father. "She's been absolutely a darling, and it's been fun working with her. I suppose we'll always remember her as Angela. Evans was right; she was an angel."

Healer Smyth explained the side-effects of the potion. "It's best not to do it in public, of course. Some people would be shocked at the feathers, but some other people, well, it's the puns that get them riled up, especially when they're in the poetry."

~

Richard was surprised at her suddenly appearing at his table, and more so at the kiss.

After she left, he saw his mother looking at him with a quizzical expression.

"Looks like a happy ending there," he said by way of explanation, glancing at the former patient and her family as they left the Common room.

"Please pass the marmalade," he added, as he and his mother ignored a small group of Amazons chasing Professor Snape out of the Brazilian landscape.
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