Chapter One
A house elf named Winky

"Dromeda? Do you need anything from the market?"

Ruta Lupin stood in the kitchen of the little house Andromeda Tonks kept in St Mary Green, putting her purse into the big wicker basket she always used when she did some grocery shopping.

"No, dear!" The voice from the elder woman came from upstairs where she was doubtlessly tidying the most recent mess Teddy had made of his room. "We're going over to Berwick, to see Ginny Potter. She's invited us for lunch."

Andromeda Tonks was justifiably proud of her skill with cleaning spells – a skill which had only been honed further when she took on the care of her orphaned grandson. Ruta could manage well enough, but her own expertise was in the magical support of growing things. During her time at Hogwarts she had thoroughly enjoyed Professor Sprout's classes. The durable spell against mildew on expensive floribundae she had developed during her last year had been one of the main reasons for the Outstanding she gained in her Herbology N.E.W.T

Ruta smiled, reaching for her cardigan on the peg beside the door.

"Tell her I'll come over the day after tomorrow," she called. "I think Harry should be back then, along with Professor Longbottom… if his grandmother feels better, that is."

Ruta really looked forward to seeing Neville Longbottom again. He was young enough to be her son – well, nearly – she'd graduated from Hogwarts just before his first birthday. But very few people shared her passion for gardening as much as the tall, unassuming young man who taken on the Herbology classes at Hogwarts after Pomona Sprout retired two years ago. There'd been a good bit of fuss about that – Neville was one of the youngest professors Hogwarts had ever known – but Ruta hadn't been surprised when he was offered the post. She'd been corresponding with Neville off and on ever since her cousin Remus had described a plump, shy Gryffindor living in the shadow of Harry Potter and his more outgoing friends.

Ruta left the house, walked through the garden and made her way down the road. Every Saturday morning the farmers from the area came to the village, selling fruits and greens, but also sheepskins and pottery. Most of the vegetables served on her table Ruta cultivated in her own kitchen garden, but today she hoped to find a special sheep cheese to spice up her dinner this evening.

She ambled along the hedges and wooden fences, suddenly catching a glimpse of the cottage she had involuntarily visited three days ago. Teddy had been sulking over the lecture he'd been read over his pranking ever since and it hadn't helped that Andromeda had repeated the lecture chapter and verse the moment she'd heard about the escapade. The visit to Berwick would be a highly welcome distraction for both the boy and his grandmother.

Her well-trained gardener's eye noted with hearty approval the beds, freed from their stifling cover of nettles and dandelions. The thorny copse close to the fence had been removed, replaced by long rows of Dahlia plants, blooming in happy colors.

She had already passed the garden when she suddenly stopped, frowning. Of course a skilled hand could turn the chaos of a long neglected garden to clearly arranged beauty… but she had made her way past that cottage yesterday in the late afternoon. And she could have sworn that at that time the garden had looked much the same as it had the day Teddy decided to find out about the sound of the doorbell.

She turned around, her frown deepening.

No one, not even the best gardener could do all this work overnight… unless he was a wizard.

But then why had he chosen to live here in St Mary Green, instead of moving to Berwick with its much larger wizard population? In Berwick no one would have wondered about a change happening all of a sudden… it was completely normal to use a wand over there.

Ruta herself had moved to St Mary Green after cousin Remus and his wife died in the last battle against Voldemort to support Andromeda, who had been more than devastated by the loss of husband, daughter and son-in-law in this grim, desperate war, and was now confronted with caring for the last remaining member of her immediate family. Ted Tonks had inherited the cottage from his parents, and Andromeda swore that his small namesake should grow up in the family home. But Ruta suspected that the truth was that Andromeda felt rather comfortable in this small Muggle community. She could always visit friends in Berwick whenever she wished to, and those visits happened even more often since Harry Potter, Teddy's legendary godfather, had settled down in the sleepy little wizard village down the valley.

Ruta allowed her thoughts to wander back to her first visit to St Mary Green. It had been the day that Remus married Nymphadora, and suddenly she saw the bride clearly in front of her inner eye… such happiness despite all danger, such hope despite Remus' fear and more than palpable misgivings. Ruta had brought the bride's bouquet as Remus' emissary that morning, and ended up helping with the preparations before the bridal party had headed for Berwick. Ted Tonks had been calm enough, but poor Andromeda had been nearly as apprehensive as the groom. Dora's mother had felt an honest affection for her future son-in-law, but his special… problem had been a hard pill to swallow. To find a relative from the Lupin side who seemed "normal" to her and loved gardening even more than she did was a balm for her nerves, and they had established a deep, rapidly growing friendship, hardened in the fires of the ordeal that followed.

Now all that was left was the boy.

She'd been rooted to the same spot for several minutes now, staring into emptiness; when her eyes focused on the garden of the cottage again, she noticed that the new inhabitant stood on the path beside one of the beds, looking at her.

It was the first time that she had the chance to catch more of him than the short glimpse from three days ago, cut off when he slammed the door right in her face. He was tall, taller than her, and she was no small woman. His face was long and narrow, bearing the fading memory of a dark sun tan. Perhaps he had spent some time in warmer countries.His hair was short and neatly trimmed, jet black, but with fine, grey strands. His features were not those of a young man, but they seemed strangely ageless to her – as if time had decided to give him a break before it mercilessly pushed him towards his later years.

She pulled herself together, raising her hand in a casual wave.

"Good morning!" she called. "You must think I'm stupid… I didn't notice you at all. I was daydreaming."

She had expected him to turn around without a word and to vanish into his house; but to her surprise, he stepped closer, dark eyes fixed on her without a smile.

"Daydreaming about what, Miss… Lupin, isn't it?"

Ruta turned her gaze away to the dahlias between them, following a sudden impulse and saying the first thing that came into her mind.

"About your gardening skills, actually." She smiled at him. "Yesterday I came along this fence and thought about offering you a helping hand with your overgrown beds and all those stinging nettles. And now I return after only one night has passed, and all of a sudden your garden would be the pride of any country lady in the area."

His eyes narrowed, and she saw a sudden flash of interest, paired with cold watchfulness.

"You will undoubtedly tell me about your conclusions now." His voice was nearly as dark as his eyes, a little raspy as if he recently hadn't been using it very often.

"First of all: I think you are a wizard, sir. And even though I'm pretty certain of this – I don't believe you worked all these wonders all on your own." She raised one hand, showing him the calloused palm with the faint traces of soil, deeply engraved in the skin. "A true gardener doesn't always use a wand… and many even forget their gloves from time to time. Like me." She gazed down at his hand.Long, slender fingers, the palm also marked by calluses."You clearly use your hands, but there's no soil anywhere," she airily remarked. "Whatever you have worked with, it has nothing to do with outdoor gardening."

She met his eyes again; the former wariness had been replaced by something that looked like faint amusement.

"Now you will ask me if I have a wife."

"Quite unlikely," she said, again without thinking. "You don't look like a married man."

"Oh?" He still didn't smile, but one eyebrow rose steeply towards his hair line.

"I think it more likely that you have a house elf," she said, remembering a small figure floating a number of pots through the aisles of the greenhouse at Fionnula Flannagan's Fascinating Flowers the day before.

"I have indeed. Bravo, Miss Lupin," he said with what almost looked like a bow. "Her name is Winky. Was it her obsession with dahlias that gave me away?"

Ruta laughed.

"Only her astonishing swiftness… but I guess working more slowly would have been entirely against her nature."

"Very true. But I shall advise her to be more cautious from now on."

"And I should like to meet her sometime, if you don't mind. I barely get to see any house elves these days."

"She is very shy."

He stepped back, and she understood at once that her last remark had overturned the balance between a casual talk among neighbors and something he clearly saw as an intrusion, however unintended.

"I have to leave, Miss Lupin." He gave a short, stiff nod. "Like last time, it was a pleasure to meet you. My best regards to your boy... Teddy?"

"Teddy, yes. But he's not mine, except as a loan. He's being raised by his grandmother." Something flickered in his gaze, and she added: "His parents are dead, both of them."

"How very tragic." There was no dismay in his voice; it was a quiet statement, and he seemed to draw back even further into his invisible shell. "I guess he should be thankful that there are people who care for his well-being."

"He is, most of the time." Ruta answered his bow with a weak, polite smile; somehow she felt as if she had firmly been put into her place."Goodbye, Mr. Seeker."

"Farewell, Miss Lupin."

Slightly confused and more than a little irritated she watched him walk back into the house. Talking with that man had felt like one of the more complicated tests during her seventh year at Hogwarts, and she wasn't entirely sure what to make of Stephen Seeker… she was not even sure if she liked him or not.

What was he doing here?

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Author's notes:

For those who know the gorgeous area of the Lake District, this tale is set in the Eskdale, and the two villages important for the plot are roughly modeled after two really existent places. St. Mary Green is originally Boot (only much bigger, but I kept Eskdale Mill and Packhorse Bridge, and there will doubtlessly be more "original" places while the story goes on), and Berwick (where I made Harry Potter buy a house) is originally Eskdale Green. I don't claim that the landscape descriptions are scrupulously correct (in fact I have taken great liberties with those lovely places), but I hope my readers (and the inhabitants of the entire Eskdale) may forgive me.