Over the next week, the days were much the same. Each morning you would arrive at the grand property and be greeted by the same little house elf instead of the actual owner of the place. And as usual, the elf would rush you through the mansion and out to the back garden so that you could begin your work. Throughout the day the little elf would come out and check on you, bringing you cool drinks and delicious food to keep you satiated as you worked. Luckily being a witch allowed you to use magic to do a lot of your gardening and so in only a few days time you had completed de-weeded the gardens, cleared away all of the dried leaves and brush and had uncovered the old stones that created fantastical pathways that lead to the various hidden grottos and smaller groves. Every time you looked at the expanse of garden you had available to you to makeover, you still couldn't believe that this amount of land fit in the busy city that was London. You had been well off, but you often dreamed about what it would be like to own a property such as this. To have all of this space to call your own while still being in the middle of the busy city which you loved so much seemed like a dream.

The rate that you were getting paid for this job made you believe that owning a place such as this would be easy in fact. You couldn't believe the amount of money you had already made on this project and it had only been a week. The money was nice, but it was still a personal joy to get to work at a place as amazing as this, and you knew that even if the pay wasn't even half of what you were currently getting, you would have still agreed to the project. The only part that was a small let down was that you still hadn't seen nor heard from the owner. You would have loved to share the updates of the progress you made each day with the owner. You often took pride in being able to show your clients the work you achieved, for seeing their faces beam with happiness at the beauty that you created for them was often one of your most favorite parts of the job.

Over the next weekend, you had thought about what area of the large garden you would start on first. You knew the owner's only request had been white roses, and while you had individual ideas for each grove and section, you would start off with the roses. Each section of the garden would have their own breed of white rose. There were many gorgeous species of magical roses, and those were quite expensive, but you knew with this project there was no budget, which was incredible to think about.

You did swallow a bit hard as you thought about magical white roses. The only other time you had seen species as rare and stunning had been…at the Malfoy Manor. Your skin prickled with sadness whenever you thought of those few times you had seen those incredible gardens, and your heart always felt like stone thinking about anything relating to the word Malfoy, and so you knew that while you would get some of those rare, stunning breeds for this project, perhaps you would start with the more common muggle rose to begin with.


The beginning of the week came around and you happily arrived at the mansion to see that the hundreds of white rose plants that you ordered had arrived and were waiting to be planted all around the garden. You already had a vision for these more common species; they would line all of the stone pathways that led around the garden, so that no matter where you walked in the maze of the gardens you would always be lead by the white roses as your guides.

You had worked swiftly the first few days of the week, magically planting the hundreds and hundreds of white roses along the pathways through the garden. You had truly never seen so many roses in one place and you knew there would be even more to come. You had also finally decided what you would do in each grove. Each would be inspired by a certain style of garden. A classic British garden, a French style one, and an Austrian styled one. Not to mention the various fountains that were scattered throughout the place that all needed serious refurbishment. Once you were done, this place would be spectacular.

On Wednesday, you had finally managed to plant the last of the rose bushes that would go along the pathway. It was rather hot out, and despite you wearing a simple pair of jeans and a black shirt, your shirt clung to you a bit, your body damp from working all day. Luckily the house elf had brought you a nice, cold glass of lemonade and as you cooled off you strolled along the pathway admiring the first stages of your work. It was already looking amazing and you weren't even a third of the way done yet with the place.

You were done for the day and as you made your way to go inside to leave, escorted by the little elf, you couldn't help but still sigh in disappointment at not being able to show the owner your progress. You were in the entry way of the mansion, about to leave, when all of a sudden you heard deep voices coming from upstairs.

'Someone is finally here!' You thought to yourself.

You suddenly stopped in your tracks causing the little house elf to look behind at you. "This way Miss," it said, clearly wanting you to leave as usual without any fuss.

"Umm…" you began to say, trying to think of a way to distract the little elf. You knew you were going against the wishes of the owner, and of the house elf, but your curiosity was too much. "Can I use the bathroom?"

The elf cocked its head to the side. You usually used the one that was near the kitchens which was attached to one of the back doors that led out into the garden. Back in the day, that bathroom would have been used for the servants of the house, like the butler, chef and maids.

"Please it's an emergency," you lied, as you crossed your legs, adding more drama to the request.

"Oh, okay," said the elf nodding her head clearly convinced. "There's one just off to the left, down that hall there," she pointed.

"Brilliant. Thanks!" You said as you walked over to where she was pointing. "Oh..and you don't need to wait for me, I can see myself out," you added, hoping she would trust you enough to leave you be.

The elf seemed to think about that for a bit, you could see the wheels in her brain going, wondering if she should allow this, however she seemed to trust you and she nodded her head once again. "Ok Miss. I see you tomorrow," she said before she walked quickly off to the kitchens once more.

Relieved you would have a chance to try and find the owner, you made your way to the bathroom the elf had pointed to and closed the door, keeping up with your act that you did actually have to use the restroom. You waited about five minutes in the gorgeous bathroom which you noticed was nothing but stunning white marble, crystal mirrors and golden faucets, before you crept out of the bathroom and made your way to one of the spiraling staircases of the entrance way.

You knew what you were doing was wrong. You had explicit instructions on what to do, and one of those was that the owner was not to be disturbed. They had requested anonymity. They had no desire to meet you; they had entrusted the elf to see to the work on the gardens, but you just had to meet them; to show them your progress and get their thoughts. As you made your way to the second floor, your heart beat a bit louder. You heard two deep male voices coming from a room down on the left.

You then heard footsteps, as if someone was about to leave the room and heard one of the male voices say "Very well. See you for our meeting next week to discuss further. Good evening."

You knew you weren't supposed to be up there and so you quickly hid behind a dark mahogany bookcase that was luckily in the hallway so that you wouldn't be spotted. A portly, balding man came out of the door and made his way downstairs and out the door. You knew that wasn't the owner as you still heard footsteps from where you were hiding coming from the same room the other man had just left. The footsteps seemed to be pacing, and you then heard the sound of a chair being moved out and then scooted back in as if someone just sat down at a table or a desk.

Heart still beating fast, you ever so slowly made your way to the dark wooden door, and with a deep breath knocked very gently three times.

You heard nothing at first, the air around you so silent you felt as if you could hear every creak of old wood and stone that made up the grand house.

Then, finally, you heard a deep voice, it was low and quiet, and the sound of it for some reason made the hair on the back of your neck prickle. "Yes…?" Said the deep voice, clearly not expecting anyone to knock on the door.

With clammy palms, now realizing you couldn't back out of your curiosity, your heart was beating incredibly fast, beyond nervous. Maybe this was a bad idea. However, there was no backing out now.

You slowly put your hand on the golden doorknob and even more slowly opened the door inch by inch until you stepped into a cozy looking study. Bookshelves lined the walls on each side to the right and left and a few comfortable looking plush, velvet chairs sat in front of a large mahogany desk. After the split second it took for your eyes to take in their surroundings you noticed immediately two things.

The first thing was that the scent in the room engulfed your senses. A scent so delicious like musk and pine, the scent that made your body sing with delight. A scent that instinctually brought you so much comfort.

And the second thing you noticed…it made your quickly beating heart stop so suddenly it felt as if you might have died.

There he was sitting behind the mahogany desk, looking like he was a King of some fantastical world. His hair was longer than you had remembered, reaching at around his biceps, and the way it shined in the late summer setting-sun that was shining through the window behind him made him seem ethereal; almost as if you were seeing a vision, or a ghost. His face had chiseled out even more, and those lips, which had once explored every inch of your body, were etched into a straight, line on his face. And those eyes. Those eyes which used to once burn with molten-silver, now a deep grey, as grey as a stormy ocean in winter, looked at you with equal shock and awe. Lucius. He was beautiful.

Those eyes looked at you for for what seemed like an endless age. The silence that had permeated the rest of the house had followed you in here as the two of you looked at each other for the longest moments of your life.

Your mouth was dry, your heart still felt as if it had ceased beating, and for some reason your eyes prickled with tears from the cavalcade of emotions that were hijacking your entire soul.

Lucius' own eyes were still wide, never blinking as he realized who had just walked into his study. He mouthed your name silently as he slowly stood up from his desk and made his way around to stand in front of it. Approaching you as if you were a small, scared cat.

Had he always been that tall? He seemed to be a looming presence, intimidating and commanding. He was still as stunning as you had always remembered and suddenly your heart kickstarted suddenly once again, as if jolting you back to life.

The emotions that wreaked havoc through your body in the moment were intense and you felt as if you were going to pass out. When you had first seen him you had immediately wanted to run to him, fall into his arms, breath in his scent even more strongly, and cry and hold him forever never letting go. Your mind flashed with memories of you two, kissing, laughing, touching, combining as one being, and your heart panged with longing for those magical times.

But then you remembered…you remembered what had passed between you both. The way he had crushed your heart and soul, had left you a changed young woman…someone who could never trust or love, and suddenly that feeling of pure love for the man in front of you turned into despair and pain and you took a few steps back.

"It's you…your the master of this house?" You said finally, your voice a bit hoarse from your mouth being so dry.

Lucius simply stared at you, his stormy grey eyes clearly filled with so much emotion. Seeing you again clearly had not been on his list of moments he had been anticipating for the rest of his life.

"I am," he said in a flat, deep voice. It was deeper than you had remembered as well, but still just as smooth and honeyed.
He was still walking slowly closer to you as you walked back a few steps, almost like he was a predator stalking his prey. However, he stopped when he was in the middle of the room finally.

"What are you doing in here…?" He said again in that flat voice.

Despite his eyes having many unsaid things swirling around in them, the tone of his voice was flat and emotionless, and for some reason you felt betrayed again at hearing it like that. You knew you would forever miss the young man he had once been, and it both saddened and angered you that you could never get over him, which caused another wave of despair to flow through you at what he had done to you.

"I…I wanted to meet the master of the house…" you swallowed hard before continuing. "To show the progress on the garden."

Lucius cocked his head ever so slightly. "You're the gardener my elf hired?"

You nodded once to confirm.

And then it suddenly clicked in your mind. White roses. The owner had requested white roses. You should have known it was Lucius. Of course when the elf had told you that was the one requirement it did remind you of him, but you should have realized that it was in fact actually him. Of course only a Malfoy could afford a place such as this. You suddenly felt extremely foolish.

You and Lucius stared at each other silently then for what seemed like another age. Each daring the other to say something, to make sense of what was happening. His grey eyes seemed to look you over and suddenly you felt almost embarrassed and ashamed. Here you were, jeans and plain t-shirt, your body still flushed and heated from working in the sun all day, your hair in a slight mess. And there was Lucius, elegant, gorgeous, finely dressed and looking at you as if questioning why you would dare disturb him in his grand palace.

You hated it, but you felt your eyes prickle strongly with tears and felt one slide down your flushed cheek. You hated your emotions were betraying you and you quickly wiped the tear away on your cheek, noticing Lucius' jaw was clenched as he took in your tears and his eyes had narrowed a bit as if he was disgusted.

You backed out of the room, feeling humiliated. "I…I should go…" Lucius said nothing, but just continued to stare at you as you ran out the door, the last thing you saw before everything became a blur was his full lips pressed into a frown of sorts as you ran out.


As you ran home, all the way through St. James park and back towards South Kensington hot tears streamed down your cheek. The overwhelming amount of emotions were too much. As much as you knew Lucius had never expected to see you ever again, you supposed the same had been true for you as well. You had truly never thought you would see him again, and seeing him standing there before you, his scent engulfing you, was too much to handle. You hadn't been able to prepare yourself and the onslaught of emotions it caused was beyond painful.

You finally made it back home and ran immediately up to your room and fell onto your bed, not even bothering to take off your dirty clothes from the day. You pulled yourself into the fetal position and cried silent tears. Even your cat Emily seemed to know something was very wrong and she nestled up close to you, purring, as she tried to help relieve some of your sadness.

As you pet her, your mind raced as more tears fell down your cheeks. You felt that same sense of stupidity. How had you not realized that it had been Lucius? If the house wasn't enough of a giveaway, the white roses were also quite obvious. But why would he want white roses? White roses were what had symbolized the love you had shared for each other. That flower was such a big part of your relationship with him…why would he want to be surrounded by them? He had made it clear all those years ago that he wanted nothing to do with you anymore. He wanted you out of his life, for reasons you never truly understood. So why would he pick something that represented you of all people?

Those thoughts made your tears stop falling briefly, however you knew he held no more feelings for you. He had planned on never seeing you again. He didn't love you. So why the roses?

It didn't matter. You could never go back there again. What you felt today was something you never wanted to feel ever again, as it had brought back such painful memories and emotions. Although you secretly had loved seeing that beautiful man once again, you knew you could never go back there. He would have to find someone else to finish the gardens.