Summary - Meet Eridanus. One day she's a regular girl by a different name in the real world, the next, she's waking up in the world of Harry Potter. With an identity she can't quite believe and two sets of memories battling for dominance, Eri has quite the road ahead of her. AU. Pre-Hogwarts. Slow pace.
Enjoy!
Italics = thoughts
Chapter 1
Distorted Reality
Alyssa – Or was she Eri? – stirred amidst the quiet bustle that was the Children's Ward in St Mungo's hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
The petite blonde woman seated beside her bed snapped out of her fitful doze and tightened her grasp on the young girl's fingers. "…Danus… Eridanus?" came the worried whisper.
When the bedridden child made no move to answer, or even indicate she'd heard, the blonde glanced around warily before raising her voice above her dramatic whisper.
"Eri dear? Can you hear me?" the woman asked anxiously. There was a muffled groan and the little girl rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head.
Releasing a shaky sigh the woman relinquished the dark haired girl's hand to run slender fingers through her disheveled locks. Dropping her head in relief the woman started to murmur frantic thanks to whoever, or whatever, had been listening to her prayers.
Eri – Alyssa? – seemed to sense the intense emotions rolling towards her from the figure beside her bed. With a long-suffering sigh the girl pulled the pillow off and flipped over to blink wearily at whoever was disturbing her sleep.
Who – "Mum?" – Wait! What? The sleepy girl looked confused with her own response. "You are my mum, right?" She asked warily.
The blonde could only stare in wide eyed shock at her daughter. After a tense silence the woman shot to her feet with a choked sob and rushed away. The child could only sit there, utterly bewildered, as the woman disappeared through a door across the room.
Before the girl could even gather her thoughts the woman was rushing back in with a nurse in tow. "Something's wrong, she could barely recognize me! You have to fix her," cried the blonde.
The nurse pried the frantic woman from her arm with a disdainful look. "People, especially children, often wake up disoriented after traumatic experiences," explained the nurse.
The nurse then turn to the confused girl in the hospital bed, "Hello dear, how are you feeling?" There was none of the irritation or exasperation in her voice or manner that had been there just moments ago. She seemed truly curious as to the girl's wellbeing.
Gulping, the girl looked back and forth between the two women. Images started to swirl in her mind, displacing the scene in the hospital.
"Alyssa! Hurry up! Your brother is already in the car, we –"
Eri was standing in a doorway to a large study, hesitating. "Eri? What's wrong?" asked her mother. Eri started tearing up, "I-I I just –"
A girl of about fourteen or fifteen with light brown hair was staring in a mirror. Hazel eyes were assessing her features. "Come on Alyssa! You look fine! Trust me, Matt would be a fool to not fall in love with you on the spot." A second later the girl, Alyssa, was hugging the blonde beside her. "Uh… Aly? There's really no need to crush the life out of me!"
A young looking blonde woman was smiling gently down at Eri from where she sat in her lap. "Just one more story okay?" the little girl pouted at this but nodded all the same. Her mom was just about to begin reading when the little girl stopped her. "Not that story mum! I want the one about the rabbit!"
The girl on the hospital bed had frozen with her eyes glazed over. Her – No! Someone else's – memories were assaulting her mind.
Just when the pain in her head reached a crescendo, something clicked. All at once, the blurry memories of an older girl named Alyssa and her family settled in the farthest recesses of her memory while newer, clearer memories - of a girl named Eridanus - settled at the forefront.
With that, the glazed look left her eyes and Eri slumped on her hospital bed.