Ivy sat straight up in bed silently crying. She'd had that dream again. You know the one where that poor green eyed baby lost his parents to a demon. She was covered in sweat. She shifted in bed and groaned when she realized that her bed was soaked in urine. 'I hate that I wet the bed after having a nightmare. Well I better get this taken care of.' Ivy thought to herself as she stripped her sheets and blanket off her bed and rolled them into a ball. She quietly trudged through the house and out into the garage. She quickly loaded the washer with her soiled bedding and once seeing that there was room she shoved her soiled night clothes in also. She started the washer and quickly ran to the bathroom. She ran a bath and climbed in. Once she was all washed off she went to her room and dressed in some clean clothes. She then went back to the garage and put the now clean load into the dryer and started it. She quietly padded to her room and flipped her mattress. She stared in hatred at the rust colored stains.
"What are you doing up at this hour?" A man's voice demanded from behind her.
"I'm sorry if I woke you up. I had a nightmare and had an accident." Ivy answered in a small voice as terror flooded her senses.
"You know the punishment for breaking the rules. I'll be back in a minute." The man said as he walked back down the short hall to the master bedroom.
Ivy could hear the conversation that followed.
"John, what's wrong? Is it Vi...?" Her mother's voice asked in a concerned tone.
"No. The other one had another one of those fits and wet the bed."
"I am not … you deal with it John. I refuse. I gave it to you to raise. That devil spawn is yours to do with as you see fit. Will you be in there the rest of the night again?"
"Yes. You know perfectly well that it needs to be punished. How else is it to learn how to be good?"
"Tomorrow I shall have the pastor come back out again and try blessing the house. If he sees any of those incidences he'll see an exorcism is needed. It's bad enough that thing ruined our chances of having a son. I swear John if we have to move one more time because of that that thing I shall get rid of it."
"Go back to sleep Jane dear."
Ivy cringed as she heard his footsteps coming back down the hall to her room. She hated him. Her father. He loved to meter out her punishments. He walked into the room and closed the door locking it tight. She stared at stained spot of the ceiling as shame overcame her as his body moved and heaved above her. A tear escaped the corner of her eye as he shuddered in completion. Not a sound escaped her as he turned her now soiled body over and proceeded to use her again. She bit back screams of agony as he pulled out and shoved back into her, savagely sodomizing her. Several hours later after he passed out she somehow managed to creep out from under him.
She pulled on clothes and grabbed the rest of them. She crept to the garage and found an old backpack. She shoved all her clothes into it and a blanket too. She grabbed an old canteen and as many of the dehydrated emergency rations as she could, she even grabbed the tattered book that she had found that showed how to identify edible plants and herbs in the wilds of Britain. She pulled her stash of money out from under the web covered stairs along with the four person tent. She shoved it all into the pack. She pulled the bicycle out of the garage and bungee corded the backpack to the rack that sat over the rear tire. She climbed on and rode out into the night. She slipped it swiftly into the fastest gear and rode as swiftly as she could away from the nightmare that had been her life. She barely noticed the blurring scenery whizzing by as she pushed her body to its limits as she wished with her very soul to be as far away from the monsters that birthed her into this world as possible.
After a few hours she pulled into a small convenience store. She bought several different colors of hair dye and a pair of scissors. She nibbled on some food and drank water to quench the sudden parched feeling. She climbed back onto the bike and pushed on. Soon she came to a truck stop/rest area. She locked up the bike and went into the ladies room. She quickly made an out of order sign and stuck it on the outside of the door. She bolted the door. She then stripped and washed her body as good as she could with the powdered soap and icy water. She took out the scissors and hacked at her hair. When she was done it was short in back and longish in front. She pulled out a box of black dye and covered what was left of her hair with it along with her eyebrows. She left it on for twice the maximum suggested time. Once she rinsed the dye out she looked up into the mirror and sighed. She then pulled on some new clothes and left.
Ivy managed to keep out of sight as she rode the bike further and further south. She would ride during the evenings and mornings. She slept during the day in whatever out of the way place that provided cover for both her and the bike. After about a week she went into a hardware store and bought a couple cans of spray paint. That afternoon she painted the bike in swirls of sapphire and emerald with black flames. She went for a walk while it dried. She went into a store and was purchasing some rice, beans and dehydrated fruits when she overheard two women talking.
"Can you believe it, in England, a toddler defeated that tyrant? Everyone else in the house died. Reports are that the child survived the killing curse."
"I know… Apparently they are shipping him off to some muggles he's related to. I truly hope that the relatives know about magic. I've known a few families out here that were 'religious' and had magical children. It wasn't pretty. They thought the kids were possessed. Tried everything from prayers to exorcisms including trying to punish the 'demons' out of them. Look at what happened in Northern California. Magic was used in a muggle's house. Aurors showed up and investigated. They found a man naked in his daughter's bed covered in a mixture of her blood and his own emissions. Veritaserum was used on him, his wife and the remaining daughter. Turns out that the missing daughter is most likely a witch and the father had been raping the girl for about four years."
"When they find her what are they going to do? Entrust her to her school head?"
"Wish they could. She's not in school."
"Why not?"
"Her parents have moved several times due to accidental magic and had told school officials that they'd been home schooling her."
"How could muggles home school a witch?"
"Because, she isn't old enough for magical school yet. She's only eight years old."
"How come the aurors haven't found her yet?"
"They don't know. Seems she hasn't had any magical outbursts. It's like she's invisible. She has some sort of natural shielding that's protecting her. The really scary thing is the pictures. She had near a hundred hand drawn pictures of You Know Who and that Potter kid. She drew what happened. It even shows the Potter's performing the Fidelius Charm. Only in her drawings their friend Peter was used as the secret keeper instead of that jerk Sirius Black."
"So when are you going back to England?"
"Later this afternoon. I've got a port key scheduled. Back of the bus station at quarter to four today. The port key is supposed to be a cue stick. I should really go."
Ivy followed the women stealthily and looked on in wonder as one by one the women vanished. She looked around and then ran to the bus station. She saw several people gathered around a cue stick luckily they were right next to her bike. She walked up to the nearest woman.
"Excuse me ma'am, can you do me a favor? I have to get my bike home and I'm to be picked up soon by a muggle relative that doesn't know I'm a witch. She's a devout Catholic and would hand me over if she sees magic and beat me if I don't bring the bike home. Could you shrink it? And make it so when I set it on the ground and say Reverse it'll go back to its current size? Please, I don't want to face violently angry religious muggles."
The woman pulled out a stick and waved it at the bike. "There you go sweetheart."
"Thank you ma'am." Ivy said as she tucked the bike into a pocket. She soon saw everyone touching the cue stick she ran forward and grabbed the tip. She felt a yanking around the middle of her and rush of air.
"Right then, Let go!" A man's voice bellowed somewhere near her left ear.
Ivy let go and about half a second later felt as though she had just did a belly flop from the high dive as she landed on her stomach. She breathed deeply for a few seconds and then quickly got to her feet. She pulled out the bike and reversed the shrinking spell the witch had placed on it earlier. She then climbed on and rode away. Several hours later she stopped and ate the last of the emergency rations she had.
She slid down the hill and waded into a small creek that ran under the road. She stripped down and pulled out a bar of soap and began scrubbing. Once she was covered in suds she rinsed off. She heard another car approach and stop just as she pulled on her shorts and tank top. She crept to the edge of the underpass and peered upwards while listening.
"V...Vernon, I...I want to keep him."
"Petunia if you don't throw that freaky bastard of your sisters over the edge right now I'll take my son and leave. I refuse to have that freaky bastard in my house one minute longer. It's your choice. That brat or your husband, your own son and our home. Choose NOW!"
Ivy stepped out enough so that the crying woman could see her. She held up her arms and motioned for the woman to drop the crying child.
"C...coming Vernon." The woman said as she carefully dropped the boy into Ivy's arms.
Ivy pulled the child to her and hummed softly as a car door slammed and tires squealed as the car took off with a burst of speed.
"Well, isn't this peachy? I only got American money, I'm running out of food and now I got another mouth to try and feed." She became aware of the stench coming from the boy. "Damn! Well let's get you clean." Ivy pulled off the boy's clothes and diaper. She washed him from head to toe. He wailed as the cold water was poured over his head. "Oh, I know it's cold. But it's what we got. Be a brave big boy for me okay sweetie. Here dry clothes for you, granted they are big on you but, they'll have to do."
She repacked the bag and re tied it down onto the bike. She carefully picked up the boy and guided the bike out of the tunnel and walked along the creek side towards the wooded area. She followed the small path deeper into the wood. She stopped as the sky darkened. She pulled out her large sweatshirt and pulled it on. The smaller sweater she put on the boy. She used a shawl to fashion a baby hammock and secured the boy to her. She pressed on for several hours. Just as the moon rose she came across a clearing. She set the bike against a tree and pulled out the tent. She set up the tent and took everything inside. She curled around the toddler and wrapped the blanket around them. After a while they both fell into the blackness of sleep. Several hours later she woke up as she heard voices.
"Hide the monster is coming! It'll eat us!"
"You can hide in here!" Ivy said as she opened the tent flaps. She started when she saw what appeared to be two small children from the hips up and yearling horses from there down. They hesitated and looked at her in fear. The sounds of howls filled the air as a beast crashed through the underbrush. The two creatures quickly darted into the tent and held each other softly crying. Ivy pulled her dagger shaped silver letter opener out of the bag and crouched in the doorway to the tent.
A few minutes later a large shape rose over her. It was a wolf yet not a wolf. She slashed at it and managed to scratch it along its muzzle just missing being bitten. It leapt back with a howl of pain and whining pawed at its face. It glared in her direction and growled before settling down to wait out the time before it could attack again. About an hour later she watched in wonder as the wolf like creature became a man. He groaned and clutched at his face. She darted forward and snatched the stick that was tied to his arm. She scurried back to the tent and sat watching the now unconscious man as the sun rose.
