7 years later
The late summer evening was like any other evening the past few months. As you walked down the bustling streets of London after a busy day at work at the Ministry, the sky was a dusky grey, the sun still not going to set completely for a few more hours. Despite it being early August, there were little spots of rain here and there, nothing harsh, just a drizzle. It didn't bother you though. Nothing really bothered you in fact. You were your usual numb self, the brightness of your spirit that had painted your youth with happy memories, now dim and motionless for the past seven years. You were still kind, polite, and thoughtful towards others, however you were numb…always numb inside.
From that tragic moment when love broke your soul seven years ago you hadn't truly ever managed to recover. Something as shocking, unexpected and devastating as what you had been through never truly left you. And now at 24 years old, you were existing in life but never truly living.
The end of your sixth year, after he broke your heart and the year that followed you had began just only existing. After the incident, you never again went down to the Slytherin common room, losing all of your Slytherin friends, including Amalie. It was as if the moment he severed your relationship, that included the rest of the Slytherins, which broke your heart since they had all been family to you. The pain of Amalie distancing herself was just another dagger into your heart of betrayal.
Weirdly you never saw him after that fateful day. Not in the Great Hall for any meals, not in your shared Potions class…it was as if he never existed.
And similarly to that, it was as if the old you never existed as well. Going into your seventh year, you had excelled as a student, the top Herbology and potions student of the entire school. Not only did you often assist Madam Pomfrey with healing potions and herbs in the Hospital Wing, but you were a professor's assistant to Professor Sprout as well, almost single handedly running all of the various greenhouses on the grounds of Hogwarts. All of your professors noticed how quiet you had become, and yet they were all still impressed with your intelligence and studiousness and so they never questioned what had happened. Even the times you would return home, your parents noticed the change in you, and you could tell it broke their hearts at your change in spirit.
After your own graduation, it felt nice to leave Hogwarts. The place which you had so long considered your home and your favorite place on Earth had become painful. So many memories and reminders of what had been; it was nice to leave all of those behind, so that you could start anew. Right out of Hogwarts, the Ministry had instantly wanted to hire you for your reputation of being one of the youngest masters of plants and potions, and so you had joined their Department of Healing with Magic and Herbs. You had also started a side business as well in which you were a specialized gardener for the rich and famous of the Wizarding World, creating spectacular gardens that often graced the covers of the top Wizarding magazines and gardening books. You had made quite a name for yourself in the Herbology world at such a young age, and yet you still often felt as if you had a giant hole in your heart- in your soul. You felt pathetic for still being affected so much by that one tragic day, but it truly did wreck you. You had never loved again since then, never been able to trust anyone, and the change in you had become permanent.
You finally made it back to your flat in South Kensington and put away your umbrella. Having been rather successful, you were able to afford a beautiful two story flat in one of the nicest neighborhoods of London and yet despite all of your success, you still came home every night feeling the same empty feeling.
That night felt no different at first. You made your dinner and ate it alone in your small, yet, of course beautiful, garden as you watched the sun set more and more in the sky. And as usual, later after dinner, you would take your shower and cuddle up into bed with your cat named Emily. You adored Emily, and she was one of the rare creatures in your life who was able to bring you any joy at all. Simply petting her soft black and white fur brought you so much comfort. You were about to doze off to sleep, but suddenly heard a tapping on your large window to the left side of your room that looked out over the garden down below. Looking over towards the window you realized a small white owl was trying to deliver you a letter. Slowly getting out of bed, Emily the cat was not all too happy to be bothered after being so comfortable and she meowed a bit in displeasure as you made your way over to the window to let the owl in.
After opening the window, the little owl flew over to your antique dresser so that you could get the letter off of its little foot. Emily meowed in displeasure again at the owl, the owl making sure it kept its eyes on the cat for any sudden attack. The tension between the two animals made you laugh slightly under your breath but you knew you wanted to reward the owl for its delivery and so you offered your forearm out to the bird for it to perch on so you could bring it with you to get the treat. Seeming to know what you meant the owl hopped up onto your arm and you brought it downstairs with you into the kitchen for the treat, Emily following right behind you, her eyes not leaving the little creature.
The owl hooted with contentment at its reward and you opened the door to your side garden and walked out into the middle of it and held your arm out so that the owl could fly away now that its job was done. Upon coming inside Emily meowed at you once more and so before you made your way upstairs back to your room to read the note you received, you gave Emily a treat of her own, much to her contentment.
Once back inside your room you saw the note waiting for you on your dresser where the owl had dropped it and you picked it up and opened the piece of parchment.
You immediately recognized your assistant's handwriting. You had a part-time assistant that often helped you out with your personal gardening business, someone who would deal with the clients calling in to inquire about your services, what you didn't understand is why she couldn't wait until tomorrow morning to disturb you. It was rather late at night.
You read her message and it told you how she received a call late in the day about a client wanting someone to make their new London mansion's gardens into a Wonderland essentially. Apparently the wealthy client had just acquired one of the most impressive properties in London, a seven story townhouse that overlooked St. James Park and was looking for someone to completely overhaul and redo the gardens which had been unmanaged for quite some years as the property had been ownerless for a while. The client wanted work to start immediately, with you coming in to inspect the gardens tomorrow. You frowned at this. Usually you didn't take on projects so quickly, and you were quite busy at the Ministry lately with your work there, however when you read more of the message and came to the part of the offered price for your services, your eyes widened and you knew you couldn't refuse. Just for coming to inspect tomorrow the offer was 100,000 galleons which was essentially 500,000 British Pounds in Muggle money; and that was just the initial payment.
Deciding you couldn't miss out on that type of opportunity, you decided you would visit the property tomorrow. You knew this could be a huge boost for your career and you could only imagine what working on a type of property this extravagant would be like. As you finished the letter you realized there was no name of the client; just an address and a promise of amazingly good pay. The property itself was only about one and a half miles away from your place and you were now antsy to go to sleep so that tomorrow could come quickly as you were beginning to be rather interested in this job and so you went to bed dreaming about what type of magic gardens you could make for this new client.
That morning you dressed in one of your nicer, more expensive outfits. You always wanted to look just as nice as the places you often attended when you first went to see the locations you would be transforming and so you put on a pair of sleek black slacks and an olive green fitted blazer. Your hair was in beautiful waves as always and you put on a bit of makeup to accentuate your naturally gorgeous features.
With the place only being a bit over a mile away you decided to walk. The streets of London weren't yet bustling and you enjoyed a nice crisp walk along the quiet streets and parks until you cut through St. James Park and walked straight up to the incredible front of the mansion. There were probably only about five residences this big in London and you were so excited to see the place and its gardens, as you knew they would be unlike anything you had seen in London before. In a place as crowded as London, private residences like these were rare.
You made your way up the steep stone steps until you were face to face with the giant gilded double doors. You knocked, probably a bit too quietly, but you were surprised when almost immediately a house elf opened the door and looked up at you with wide green eyes.
"Oh hello," you said a bit surprised to see the elf and not the owner of the grand property.
"Hello Miss," the elf said meekly. "I am to take you to the gardens now," it said as it motioned for you to come inside.
"Oh ummm…yes please," you said as you stepped in, your eyes immediately taking in all that they could at the wondrous grand entry way. The black and white stone tiles looking regal, accentuated by crisp white walls with crown molding and a large chandelier that hung in the middle of the entry way, where two curved staircases led up to the first upper level on either side.
The elf was leading you rather quickly through the bottom level of the house, all the way through the kitchens and out a back door which led out to the gardens. Before you stepped outside you had to ask, "Won't I be seeing the owner of this place? To discuss details, what they want for the garden…plans?"
"No Miss. You are to do it as you see fit. Master wanted the best gardener, and I found you. You do what you please," the elf said, as it continued to hurry you outside to the gardens.
"Oh!" You said with surprise. So the elf had found you, not the owner. This was odd, but soon you were distracted by what you saw.
In front of you and all around was the most magical looking secret garden. If you didn't know already that you were in London you never would have guessed that you were in such a crowded city. The garden was horribly overgrown, but you could tell it was a magical place. Stone pathways led all around in different directions to various groves and little nooks. You could see the outline of many fountains, dried up now, but what you guessed had once been extravagant focal points. Despite the overgrown grass and weeds, you still saw some flowers blooming here and there as well as a variety of wonderful trees, some of which hung romantically like natural canopies.
"Oh it's quite beautiful," you said in awe. Your mind was running with ideas of what you could add to the sprawling gardens.
"Yes," the little elf agreed. "Master just requests one thing, but the rest is up to you."
"Oh? And what is that?" You asked curious about the one thing the allusive owner wanted.
"Master specially requests many white roses," the elf said.
Your heart felt like it cracked a bit at hearing white roses. The one flower you could barely stand ever since your time at Hogwarts. It used to be your favorite, but you hadn't worked with it since those happier times.
"Oh.." You said, your eyes closing with sadness briefly before opening them back up and looking around. You hated to admit it, but white roses would look beautiful in the garden.
"I suppose if that is my one requirement," you agreed.
The little elf nodded its head up and down. "So I can tell Master later that you agree to take the position?" The elf asked wanting your confirmation.
There was no way you would pass up an opportunity to work in this garden and grace it with your professional touch. "Yes, definitely."
"Good!" The elf said. "I will tell Master. Come now, your first payment will be sent to your home tonight," it said as it led you back inside, back towards the front of the house to see you out. "You will come back tomorrow morning to begin?" The elf asked, more of a statement than a question.
"Oh yes. Will I be able to meet your Master tomorrow?" You asked still feeling weird to not have met the owner.
"Master likes privacy," was all the little elf said as it led you outside the front door.
"Oh, well I-" you began to say but the elf cut in.
"I see you tomorrow Miss! I thanks you!" Before closing the door leaving you back on the stone steps outside.
You stood there for a minute, still a bit in awe of what just happened and a bit confused from being rushed, but one thing was for sure, this would be a great project for you, and hopefully your mystery employer would love when you transformed their garden into a beautiful Wonderland. White roses and all.