ALIUS EGO ALIUS RUDIMENTUM
CHAPTER VI
Chapter six, what to say, what to say? Not much, except that I'm sleepy. Man, when am I not tired? Never. I really should be sleeping. But I don't wanna. So I'm doing this instead. Yay for rambling.
I don't own it, I never will, and I'm okay with that.
/S/
McGonagall had run to fetch Pomfrey as soon as the girl had woken. The school nurse would want to run some tests on the child and ask her some questions to see if she was alright. Actually the first thing Poppy would do would be to ask Potter, Weasley, and Granger to leave and let the girl recuperate in peace. Perhaps she should have asked them to leave before she herself had gone. Oh well, too late now. Ah, there was Poppy now!
"Poppy, come quick, the girl woke up. Potter somehow communicated with the child and she regained consciousness."
"Just now? Potter did something? I'm not really that surprised. He does seem to be involved with almost all strange happenings in the castle in some way or another. I'll be right there. Just let me grab some things." Poppy scurried around her office, throwing several different vials into a bag to take with her to the bedside. There was no telling which type of potions the girl may require, depending on her mental state. "Alright Minerva, I'm all set."
The two older women retreated from Poppy's office and moved at a quick pace back to the bed holding the girl. They arrived just in time to see Ron stepping through the curtains surrounding the bed.
"Oh, good, you're here! I was just coming to get you. The girl fainted." Ron pulled aside the curtains to reveal the (once again) unconscious girl.
"What in the world did you three do?" McGonagall asked, she knew she should have asked them all to leave as soon as the girl had begun to stir. "Can I not leave you for five seconds? What did you do to make the poor child faint?"
"We didn't do a thing professor." Harry said, not looking up from the girl on the bed.
"We were just talking to her." Hermione explained "I think she may be delusional. She claimed to know me and Ron. She said her name was Briara Potter, Professor. Do you know anyone by that name?"
Madame Pomfrey moved in to examine the girl, Briara, while the others in the room continued their discussion.
"The only Potter's I know were Harry's family. There is no-one by the name of Briara in his line, I would have heard of it. You say she claimed to know you and Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall said, addressing Hermione. "This is indeed most unusual. Her waking-up seems to have brought more questions than answers. Will she be all right Poppy?"
The nurse stood up from leaning over the bed and straightened her skirts. "It appears that her mind was simply overtaxed, too much excitement upon waking. My guess is that she was overwhelmed upon waking up in a strange place, filled with people she didn't know. Her mind may have tricked her into believing she recognized both Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger, to provide something familiar."
"But Madame Pomfrey," Harry spoke out "She called them by nicknames, and seemed relieved that they were alive. Ron and Hermione told her their real names and she still claimed to know them."
"Well, you three have been written about and had your pictures in the newspapers; perhaps she recognized Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger from there."
"But then wouldn't she then have thought she knew all us? She flat out denied that she knew Harry, and he's the one with all the media coverage. If she was recognizing us from that, wouldn't Harry have been the obvious choice for her conscious to latch onto? " Hermione asked.
Madame Pomfrey sighed and shook her head "We have no way of knowing for sure what is going on until the poor dear can answer questions, I have some smelling salts here that may rouse her. However, if they do not work, I will have to ask that you depart. I don't want for you to miss your train."
"Yes Madame Pomfrey." The three chorused.
The nurse reached into one f her apron pockets and removed a small vial shaped somewhat like a three sided, rounded pyramid. After twisting off the lid the lid, she held the vial beneath Briara's nose. Everyone looked on as a single puff of maroon smoke rose from the vial and entered the girl's nose. Briara inhaled deeply, sneezed, and her eyes fluttered open. She sat up, glanced around the room again, noticed Harry still standing in her field of vision and declared:
"Damn, you're still here. I guess it wasn't a dream."
And then threw her head back down on the pillow and sighed heavily.
"Hello dear, I'm Madame Pomfrey; you have been under my care since you arrived. If Mr. Potter's presence bothers you, I will send him straight away. He was one of the students that found you, along with his friends. They are all simply worried about you."
Briara looked sadly at the nurse "You don't know who I am, do you?"
"I'm afraid not, child, should I know you?"
"You don't recognize me either Professor McGonagall?"
McGonagall shook her head. "All I know of you is that Misters Potter and Weasley and Ms. Granger found you badly hurt at the school's quiditch pitch. When you first woke you named yourself Briara Potter. That is the extent of my knowledge. I wish I knew more so I could help."
Great, Briara thought they really don't know me. I can just tell from the look on Ron's face that he's entirely confused about what's going on. I probably look twice as confused. I mean, he and Hermione only have to deal with one strange girl claiming to know them while I have a room almost entirely full of people who should know me who don't. Man, my life really, truly, and utterly sucks.
"You should all know me, well, except for four eyes over there." I really shouldn't have called him "four eyes" I hate it when people call me that when I wear my glasses. But it took up less time to say than 'the skinny dark haired kid approximately my age blessed with having poor eye sight' "Professor, you've been teaching me the fine art of transfiguration since I was eleven and first came to Hogwarts. Madame Pomfrey, you have had the pleasure of curing any and all illnesses, battle wounds, and so on, that I have come across over the past six years. Hermione, we met on the train coming to school first year. I've known Ron forever, because our families were close, but we became good friends with him after we saved him from a troll."
"You got that wrong," Ron interjected, "It was Harry and I that saved Hermione from the troll. Why would I be stupid enough to run off and hide in the girl's restroom when a troll was on the loose?"
Briara laughed "The girl's restroom, Bushytail? No, it had trapped you in Professor Snape's classroom where you were serving detention for something or rather that the twins did and blamed on you."
"This conversation is getting us nowhere. Now Briara," Hermione looked at Briara to get conformation that she had used the correct name. Briara nodded slightly. "It is clear that you believe you know us all, however as none of us have any recollection of you at all, it just seems impossible."
"I know it seems weird, but I am not crazy. There is nothing wrong with me mentally, I know who all, well, most of you are, and I know who I am. And no matter what you tell me, I won't believe differently. I am Briara Potter, the so called 'Girl-Who-Lived,' the chosen equal of Lord Voldemort, and his destroyer. For that is what I did before I found myself here in this strange mockery of the Hogwarts I know. I killed Voldemort."
All those gathered around the bed stood silently in shock at what the girl had just declared. Well, all those except Ron.
"She really is mental. No wonder her conscious didn't latch onto Harry as someone she thinks she knows. She thinks she IS Harry!"
Harry, however, wasn't too sure about Ron's statement. Somehow, he knew Briara Potter was telling the truth.
/E/
Well, that took longer than planned. I have excuses though. They are really good ones, but I'm sure you're not interested, so I'll spare you. I'm not all that pleased with how this chapter turned out, I re-wrote it a few times but it still seems kinda blah to me.