Forgotten Girl

The Flowers

"Mama?"

"Yes, ma chérie?"

"Why are you in the garden? Where is the garden? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Give it time, honey bee, it will."

~

Lilli wasn't sure how long she spent in the garden, walking among the plants and visiting memories. Every once in awhile, she heard voices, but she couldn't tell if she imagined them or not. There were ones that she knew (Uncle Remus, Winna, Draco, and surprisingly, Neville), but there were also ones she didn't. These voices seemed farther away, fainter.

Two memories seemed to stand out the most. One after she plucked a morning glory, and one after she plucked a gladiolus petal.

~

If she kept track correctly, this was the thirtieth memory she had visited. She didn't know if this was any indication of how long she'd been in this garden, because the sun never seemed to move and she never seemed to be tired. 

A pale pink morning glory, bathed in the warm glow of the sun, was in front of Lilli. With a deep breath, she picked the flower.

~

Lilli ended up in St Mungo's, in a room she knew as the Janus Thickey Ward. This is where Aunt Thia spent a lot of her time, and where Lilli volunteered in the summer.  And this memory was of the last time she'd volunteered, two weeks before she started Hogwarts.

"Ellie? It's time to go." Lilli turned to see her aunt in the doorway of her office. Her younger self nodded, waving goodbye to the residents.

"Good luck at Hogwarts, Ellie!" Healer Strout called, "You come back and visit, you hear?"

"I'll visit at Christmas!" Little Elliana laughed, joining her aunt. As she turned away, she was stopped by a tug on her sleeve. Looking up, she smiled into the face of one of the residents. "I've got to go now, Alice."

The woman took her hand and placed something in it, before wandering back to the window. Aunt Thia guided her into her office and to the fireplace. Lilli wasn't close enough to see what her younger self held in her hand, but she didn't need to be. 

It was a sweets wrapper, one that Lilli knew belonged to her favourite saltwater taffy.

"Why did she give me a wrapper?" Little Elliana asked her aunt.

"It means she likes you," Thia said, tossing a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace. They stepped into it and the scene changed. They were at Thia's home in Surrey.

"What?" Elliana asked, her gaze switching between the wrapper and her aunt. Thia took a photo album from the shelf, sitting down on the couch. Elliana joined her, and Lilli stood behind them.

"Before the war, Alice's family owned a sweets shop in Diagon Alley. Her uncle and cousin turned it into an ice cream parlour. She got lots of sweets; for birthdays, holidays, if she just asked for it. It seemed like if her parents didn't know what to get her, they'd give her confections."

The pages flipped to the back, where a collage of wrappers covered the back page.

"So, she started giving it to the people she cared about. If she gave you candy you knew she was your friend," Thia flipped back a few pages, to a picture of Alice and her husband, Frank, holding a round-faced baby, "She learned everybody's favourite sweets. I like to think that the wrappers show that she's not completely gone."

The older witch kissed Elliana's forehead, "She must really like you. She always loved those taffies."

~

The scene around her faded away, and Lilli wiped tears from her eyes. She missed Alice and the other patients at St Mungo's. They were a part of her family. Healer Strout used to hold her when Thia couldn't find a sitter. Frank liked to run his hands through her hair. Alice would coo to her to make her fall asleep.

Too sad to try another memory, Lilli curled up on the ground and tried to shut out the world.

~

Lilli didn't know what memory number this was. She'd lost count around two hundred. It was the gladiolus, that she did know. She didn't know how long she'd been in the garden. The flowers didn't even look like they'd been plucked.

The gladiolus took her to another room in St Mungo's. Her aunt had been called in on an emergency, and Elliana had come with her.

Thia came out of the room, pushing hair out of her face and stripping off her gloves.

"What happened?" Elliana asked, and Lilli felt her heart sink in her chest.

"A boy got angry at his foster mother and his magic went crazy. Everyone's fine, but something feels off." Thia looked at her with an idea flashing in her eyes, "Actually, I think you could help, babydoll."

Elliana followed her aunt through the halls, and Lilli walked behind with reluctant steps. She had a sense of dread about this. 

"I want you to talk to him, alright? Be his friend." Elliana nodded, a bright smile on her six-year-old face. Thia pushed her into the room in front of her, saying, "Hello. I thought you might want a friend to talk to."

The boy on the bed was curled in a ball, his eyes barely peeking over his knees. Elliana climbed onto the bed across from him.

"I'm Ellie," she said, the smile not dimming for an instant. This wasn't the first time Lilli had helped her aunt like this. She had a knack for soothing other kids.

"Where am I?" He asked. Thia nodded when Elliana looked at her.

"You're at St. Mungo's. It's a hospital for wizards and witches." The boy frowned.

"Witches aren't real."

"Yes, they are. 'Cept they aren't evil." Lilli watched as her younger self took a bloom from a bouquet on the side table. Holding her hand out to him, he watched as the flower closed and opened. 

"How'd you do that?" Elliana laughed.

"I'm a witch. You're a wizard. That's why you're here. Your magic went crazy," Elliana paused, "Do you know why?"

His frown deepened, "I dropped a plate. It broke. Priya got mad. She kept screaming. Then she hit me. Then the room exploded," he looked between Elliana and Thia, "I did that?"

Elliana moved and sat beside him, opening her arms. He leaned into her, his eyes not leaving Thia.

"It's not your fault," Thia said, hiding the anger in her eyes, "What just happened will never be your fault, Leo. Take this." She gave him a vial of Dreamless Sleep. 

It didn't work. Instead, he said in a voice much too old for his seven-year-old body, "Why isn't it working?"

The world dissolved, and for a split second, Lilli was back in the garden. A flower said, "Some will take longer to wake than others. Have patience."

The garden faded, and she was thrust into darkness. Sounds began to press on her. Crying. The rustle of cloth. People talking. Liquids swishing.

Then she was sore. She was so sore. Every muscle was tight.

And slowly, her eyes flickered. Why were they so dry? Before they had fully adjusted to the light, someone was hugging her. A groan escaped her lips and they released her. She blinked a few more times, and her sight returned.

Winna and Leo grinned down at her. Madam Pomfrey patted her shoulder and said, "Welcome back to the land of the living, Miss Simmons."