Magic of Memories

Summary: A misguided sorceress in training takes out her frustration with her mentor on Amber and casts a spell that begins erasing the princess's memories. Can Sofia help her sister before all of her memories vanish for good?

Disclaimer: I don't own the show, but I do own the characters "Gabriella" and "Sir Finlay."

A/N: So huge thanks to Luiz4200 for reminding me that "Sir Finnegan" is actually…already a character in the show. Lol. It completely slipped my mind. Therefore his name is now "Finlay," which is still a cool name to me. And like LongLiveNiNoKuni pointed out, best to be on the safe side so Disney won't come knocking on my door. Haha! Anyway, this chapter will be the next to last actually… Yep. Only three chapters (though I'd originally planned for two), but I plan on making them good. So settle in and enjoy!

Chapter 2: Memoria Dispareo

"So what are your favorite spells to do?" Sofia asked kindly as Gabriella sat next to her on the steps while Cedric flipped through his spell book, attempting to find the section on memories.

"Huh?" Gabriella tore her eyes away from the twins—namely Amber, who was leading James around and pointing out various areas where things would go when their next party came around. "Oh, uh… Memory spells, like I said…" She couldn't help the little smirk that formed on her face as her dark brown eyes focused on the blonde girl once more. "It fascinates me how many memories we really have… Trillions possibly, maybe more." She twirled her wand absentmindedly as Sofia observed her. "And if a few should vanish, well, what would we care? We just make new ones anyway, right?"

"Um…sure, Miss Gabriella." The auburn-haired girl attempted to get her mentor's attention with her eyes, but he was far too absorbed in his search. "I… Well, I personally think memories are probably one of the best parts of us." She smiled when the older girl glanced back at her with a dull stare. "I mean, if we can't actually do something at the time, but we've done it before, we can always remember it for the good time it was."

"Mm-hmm, and all those bad memories a lot of us have?" She stood and leaned against the railing as she glared down at the girl contemplatively. "Sometimes memories aren't all they're cracked up to be, kiddo."

"Hmm." That was a sad way of looking at things. She then lit up as a thought came to her. "But you must have good memories with Sir Finlay, right?"

Gabriella paused in her actions and fixated Sofia with a dangerous stare. "Sir Finlay is a fool sometimes." She huffed as Sofia gasped quietly, not used to such negative comments about a mentor/teacher in that manner. Usually she offered them a high level of respect, so for this sorceress in training not to… "Although he can be quite charming when he wants to be…"

Sofia blinked at the sudden change in demeanor. The other girl's face looked rather pleasant for once, a somewhat dreamy smile ghosting her lips. But before she could mention it, it was gone.

"Then again, most people are like that, aren't they? They tell you what they want you to hear, make you believe it, and then just…lead to disappointment down the road." She folded her arms, her head turned to glance at Amber again. "I imagine you're aware of that, Princess Sofia. Family, friends, classmates…they're all like that at some point."

Sofia, not liking this turn of talk, looked back toward Cedric again, who finally blinked and looked down at her. She nodded her head discretely toward Gabriella, who seemed to be staring at Amber again with a keen eye.

"Oh, right!" Cedric finally announced a bit more loudly than he'd meant to. He chuckled nervously as both girls came to attention. "Sorry, that was loud. Anyway, I found the section on memories."

Gabriella finally lit up as she pushed off from the railing. "Great! Now, Finny was teaching me about sustaining and deleting memories. Actually, he was too afraid to teach me the deletion part. Something about 'irreversible damage' or some nonsense."

Cedric fixated her with a meaningful stare. "It's actually quite the opposite, Miss Gabriella. It's in fact not 'nonsense.' If you were to use a spell inappropriately and erase memories, it's extremely hard to get them back. Counter spells are fine and all that, but I'm afraid it would take more than that to return them."

"Hmm, whatever you say, Cedric."

"Um, Amber," James interrupted his twin quickly, stepping in front of her to get her attention.

She blinked, wondering about his sudden movements. "What's wrong, James?"

"Have you noticed the looks you're getting from Gabriella?"

Amber just laughed, waving him off as she walked past him. "It's fine, James. I'm sure it's nothing." She turned, spreading her arms wide as she told him, "And right here, we'll put a water slide! Oh, this is going to be thrilling!"

James rolled his eyes. "You sure it's a good idea to have a water slide at a formal party?"

"Oh, James, don't be so simplistic. We won't be the ones water sliding."

He blinked. 'We won't?"

"Of course not! The acrobatic swans will!" She giggled and continued on, her brother shaking his head and following her.

"So, are we going to do this?" Gabriella asked somewhat excitedly as she held her wand up, creating a stance of awareness.

Sofia blinked, holding onto her own wand uncertainly, and glanced at Cedric.

He nodded. "Very well. Let's try a memory recall spell. Here's how it works: I want you both to close your eyes."

Sofia did so happily, but Gabriella rolled her eyes before complying.

"Now, delve deeply into your minds to your…mm…second birthdays."

Gabriella scoffed. "Like we'd remember what our second birthdays were like…"

Sofia giggled with her eyes still closed. "I think that's the point, Miss Gabriella."

Cedric pointed his wand at the girls, chanting a spell and watching it swirl around them.

*Sofia's Memories*

Sofia's Second Birthday

"Daddy!" Sofia giggled as she held her hands up to Birk, smiling when he leaned down and picked her up from her pallet on the floor.

"Happy birthday, little Sofia," he cooed, making her smile and squeal excitedly. "I have a present for you."

Miranda smiled as she watched her husband pull a doll from behind his back, soft and plush so she wouldn't hurt herself. "Aw, Birk…"

Sofia's eyes lit up as she grasped the doll and hugged it. "Doll! Doll!" She giggled and cast those big blue eyes up at her father, her gaze full of appreciation. "Daddy…"

He smiled. "You're welcome, little one."

*Currently*

"Oh, wow," Sofia breathed with a smile as she opened her eyes. "That was sweet… I never knew that happened."

"You know what's interesting?" her mentor asked, garnering a blink from Sofia. "I could see it too."

She grinned. "So you saw me as a little girl?"

"Mm-hmm." He turned his attention to Gabriella, who was still under the spell. "Let's see Miss Gabriella's memories, hmm?"

*Gabriella's Memories*

Gabriella's Second Birthday

"Gabby," a woman said gently as she picked her daughter up from her bed. "Happy birthday, mi hija."

"Alana," a man greeted as he walked into the room and kissed his wife on the cheek. He then smiled down at his dark-haired daughter, who simply stared at him pensively. "Gabriella, my little two year old now. You're getting to be a big girl now."

"Anthony, she always looks so serious," Alana sighed as she looked up at her husband. "I'm afraid she'll never find some form of happiness."

Anthony smiled at the dark-haired woman before him. "Don't worry, my love. She'll find something that will make her happy—or someone, no?"

Alana giggled as he nudged her and kissed her forehead. "I guess so…but let's not go setting our daughter up right now. Let's first focus on getting her some cake, mm?"

"Oh, yes!" He glanced down at Gabriella. "You want some cake, ma fille?"

She giggled finally, eyes lighting up at the mention of a word she recognized and appreciated very much. "Cake!"

"That's my girl." He beamed at her, his own dark eyes lighting on hers.

*Currently*

Gabriella growled and shook her head as her memories faded. She glared at the other sorcerer. "Don't… Don't dig into my memories like that again."

Cedric shrugged. "I thought it was a rather pleasant memory. Your parents seemed kind at least."

Her eyes widened. "You could see that?"

Sofia moved behind Cedric a little bit. "It was a really nice memory, Miss Gabriella… I don't see what's so bad about it."

Calming down, the sorceress in training looked at them evenly. "Hmm. Cedric, may I see your book for a moment?"

He frowned curiously. "Why, may I ask?"

"I want to use that spell on Finny later." She smirked. "There's something about his sixth birthday that he's too embarrassed to tell me." She finally smiled pleasantly, garnering a laugh from Cedric.

"I see… Well, for a moment." He handed over the book, much to Gabriella's delight.

Amber and James walked over, oblivious to what had been going on. They were now chatting excitedly about their upcoming party.

James paused when he saw Gabriella holding Cedric's spell book and her eyes shifting to him momentarily. He felt like running. That look was just…scary.

Amber grinned happily. "I've got the entire party planned out! And Sofia, maybe we should invite Sir Finlay to the party, huh? He seems like he'd add a bit of class to the occasion. He's just so kind and courteous."

Gabriella growled under her breath as she glared at the girl.

Sofia giggled. "If you want, Amber. It's your party. I'm sure he'd enjoy it. Right, Miss Gabriella?" She glanced over only to see the girl's hand raised with her wand clasped tightly. "Miss Gabriella?"

"Memoria…"

Cedric looked toward her, his eyes widening. "Miss Gabriella!"

The dark-haired woman cast her wand toward Amber, the magic surrounding her. "Dispareo!"

"No!" Sofia watched helplessly as the book fell from Gabriella's hand to the ground.

James gasped as Amber closed her eyes, oblivious to what was going on, before opening them and blinking at her surroundings. "A-Amber?"

She turned to her brother. "Oh, hello." She smiled pleasantly. "Who are you?"

To be continued…