Pomona's Secret

It was the height of summer, and the students had all gone home for the holidays, leaving only the staff behind. The weather had been glorious for weeks on end. Each day the skies were blue and cloudless, whilst the sun shone brightly, and the birds sang happily. It was impossible to be anything other than happy in a summer such as this, even Severus could only manage a pale imitation of his normal sneer.

Albus hummed merrily as he strolled along the cloisters near the herbology greenhouses, both sides were open to the skies, only bounded by a low stone wall, and the cool breeze beneath the shaded roof was quite delightful. In the distance he could see the stocky figure of Pomona Sprout hurrying down a narrow path between two greenhouses. Albus smiled to himself, he had a fair idea of where she was going.

The smile was replaced by a worried frown a moment later, as he saw Filius Flitwick leaning mournfully against the stone wall, his chin resting in his hand, as his eyes followed Pomona longingly. Albus was very fond of the sprightly little wizard, considering himself honoured to be counted among Filius' closest friends. Albus' bright blue eyes clouded momentarily as he gazed at the little man. His friend had not been his normal cheerful self for some weeks now, even Albus' best jokes had failed to evoke more than a contrived smile. As Albus watched Filius heaved a huge sigh, his shoulders sagging sadly as Pomona vanished between the greenhouses.

Stepping lightly towards his friend, Albus rested a gentle hand briefly on his shoulder. "Is something wrong my dear fellow ?" He asked quietly.

Filius sighed again, his hands twisting at his white beard in distress, his normally cheery face sad and unsmiling.

"It's Pomona isn't it ?" Albus asked gently.

Instantly Filius jumped guiltily, and flushed a deep vibrant scarlet, as his mouth opened and closed uncertainly.

"There there my dear fellow ..." Albus murmured gently, as he rested his hand soothingly on his friend's shoulder, "No need to be embarrassed you know ! We all love my dear Filius, we all love, and we would be infinitely poorer if we did not. "

"I'm just not sure it would work. We're so different ..." Filius answered hesitantly.

"Are you ?" Albus queried softly.

"Yes ... no ... I don't know !" Filius sank his head in his hands despairingly, as Albus patted him on the back soothingly.

"I understand my friend, I understand, your head tells you one thing, your heart another, and you do not know which to listen to," Albus said gently, "It was the same with my dear Minerva, I feared that I would endanger her if I let myself love her, and for a long while I kept silent, hid my longing from her, believing that I did the right thing. I was mistaken though. For despite everything we have to live, have to love. If we do not then the side of dark has won." Albus sighed deeply as though regretting past errors, then said brightly, "I apologise my dear fellow, please excuse my ramblings ! We were discussing your doubts about whether things could work with you and Pomona, were we not ?"

"It's just ... it's just ... I ... I'm not sure if I really know her, and if we would be right for each other or not, and if I'm not sure then I shouldn't try to win her heart, should I ?" Filius finished in a mad rush, his words tumbling over each so fast, that Albus had to listen very carefully in order to understand him.

For a moment there was silence, as Albus gazed towards the greenhouses deep in thought, and Filius remained sunk in despair. Then Albus spoke softly, "We all have secret places which we escape to, places where we can be truly ourselves. If we wish to know someone truly, then we have only to see them when they are their truest self. I believe Pomona goes to her secret place now ... of course normally I would hesitate to suggest that you follow someone ... but if you truly wish to know her, then perhaps ..."

Before Albus could finish speaking, the little wizard had raised his head, thanked Albus breathlessly, and sped off towards the greenhouses so fast that his pointed hat tumbled from his head, and his white hair flew behind him in the summer breeze.

Albus chuckled lightly, as he watched Filius speed across the grass, then with a twinkle in his eyes, strolled towards the lake, where he hoped to find Minerva reading under the willow trees.

Filius stared at the vine covered stone wall in front of him, completely mystified. He had seen Pomona enter the narrow half hidden alley between the tall glass greenhouses, only moments before. There was no door on either side, and only the high wall before him. Pomona was nowhere in sight. The little man's white eybrows crinkled in thought for a a few minutes. "Of course, of course !" he squeaked suddenly. Whisking his wand from his pocket he flicked it casually, "Revelio !"

At once the vines moved aside to reveal a large stone arch. Curiously, his heart pounding in his chest with excitement, Filius stepped through the arch. Ahead of him lay a narrow curving moss covered path, flanked by high green bushes. For a time he followed the twisting path, at last he turned a corner and discovered an ornate wrought iron gate in shades of gold and bronze.

The gate creaked softly as he opened it, stepping through into a vibrant dizzying world full of glorious, magical scent, and colour, that sang of the joy and beauty of life. The air was heady with perfume, as the sweet scent of roses mingled with the fresh clear fragrance of lavender, and the vibrant aroma of herbs. Everywhere there were flowers in full bloom - bright orange marigolds nestled at the feet of vivid scarlet and pink roses, towering hollyhocks soared to the sky in a multitude of bright colours, intermingling with pale blue delphiniums, and soft purple clematis. Pansies with their delicate facelike blooms, seemed almost like a crowd of fairy folk, as they swayed and bobbed in the breeze. Bees hummed contentedly as they flitted from bloom to bloom, gathering pollen. Hoverflies hung lazily in the air, and jewel like butteflies fluttered among the flowers, as bird song filled the air.

in the midst of this secret garden Pomona moved among the plants, pausing occasionally to remove a faded bloom, or sink her nose deep into a scented flower. Filius could hear her murmuring tenderly to the plants, "There now my dears, you are doing well today !" Her brown robes were stained green by the grass, the customary fleck of mud on her nose, mousy flyaway hair even messier than normal, but to Filius she was perfect, and it seemed to him that her hair shone golden in the light of the sun. As he watched her caring for her garden, heard her talking to the flowers, as though they were her children, Filius was entranced by her. Here among her flowers she seemed a softer less matter of fact person. How could he ever have doubted his feelings ?

Feeling that he was intruding on something intensely private and personal, Filius turned regretfully to slip softly away. As he was about to step out of the gate, pure clear notes filled the air with song. Intrigued Filius turned back to see where the sound came from. To his astonishment it came from Pomona, who was standing in front of a wrought iron arch, half singing, half humming in a lilting voice. Filius watched and listened, enraptured. He had never thought of Pomona as at all musical.

Filius watched as fresh new young vines clambered up the iron arch, intwining with the dark metal, bursting into respendant flower as they continued their ascent. All the while Pomona continued her strange lilting song, the words vanishing on the breeze before Filius could distinguish them. As the gentle dance like movements of Pomona's wand guided the vines on their journey, the golden sun beams carressed her face, making her skin glow softly.

Filius was entranced, captured by sight and sound more wonderful than anything he had experienced before. Forgetting where he was, he burst into song, a deep rich baritone filling the air, harmonising perfectly with Pomona's song for a brief time. As Pomona saw him standing there, realised that the song was coming from the small wizard who watched her, she blushed bright scarlet, and her song faltered, dwindling down to a stunned uncertain silence.

"Oh please don't stop !" Filius gasped, his eyes shining brightly. He was almost bouncing up and down in excitement, his voice even more high pitched than normal as he sqeaked, "Really it's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard, all quite beautiful, beautiful, just beautiful ! You, the flowers, everything ! Just beautiful !"

A soft warm smile spread across Pomona's face, as she held out her hand invitingly, "Have you ever sung a plant up an arch before ?"

As the little wizard stepped towards her, their fingers intwined, and their voices joined together in a song that was perfectly harmonious, guiding the vines on their glorious journey up the arch.

Later that day, as the golden sun drifted lazily beneath the horizon, Albus and Minerva lounged contentedly by the lake, enjoying the rare respite from the demands of running a school. Glancing up from her book on the history of Quidditch, Minerva saw Filius and Pomona walking hand in hand on the shores of the lake. "I didn't know Filius and Pomona were a couple." She murmured curiously.

"They weren't untill today !" Albus answered, as he beamed in delight, as Filius raised Pomona's muddy hand to his lips, and kissed it tenderly.

Minerva's eyes flickered across Albus knowingly, "So will I have to start calling you Cupid ?" She enquired, as she stretched in a feline manner under the warm evening sun, her head drifting lazily to rest against her husband's chest.

Author's Notes

This story was started way back last summer, as I sat in the garden looking at the flowers, Pomona came to mind. Then it resided as a messy pile of hand written notes on my desk, untill I finally decided to complete it, for it seemed such a waste otherwise. I do hope I got Pomona's character right, I find her quite hard to write. I'm filled with an irrisistable urge to giggle at the thought of Albus in a cupid costume. I sincerely hope I caught all typos and other errors, my brain is addled by sinus meds at the moment, so if any errors escaped then blame the brain mush not me. ;)

Please do review and let me know how I did. Just click that little box down there, you know you want to. ;)