A/N I must warn you to make note of the year. This story will change years only once more after this.

July 1995

Ivy Gardner was nothing like her sister Rosemary, in fact, growing up she was nothing like any of the other children she knew. She spent most of her time outdoors, preferring the company of plants and animals to human beings. While her sister went out shopping, Ivy could be found exploring the neighborhood tending to the plants and talking to the squirrels. Her parents called her a free-spirit, her sister just called her weird.

"Where are you off to this morning?" Hazel Gardner asked her eldest daughter who sat perched on the kitchen counter eating toast and picking at the hole in the knee of her overalls.

"Work," Ivy replied hopping down off the counter.

"Work?" Scoffed her sister from the kitchen table. "Cleaning that greasy gits yard is hardly work. You're not exactly getting paid."

"Rosemary!" Hazel admonished her youngest. "Be nice! Severus is a family friend."

"He has the most terrific herb garden 'round back and someone has to take care of it since he's never there," Ivy explained pulling on her green Wellies.

"He's a dirty old man," Rosemary retorted. "Widow Ashmore says he's off in Southeast Asia cavorting with child prostitutes; that's why he's never around."

"Widow Ashmore has an overactive imagination," Hazel rolled her eyes, knowing quite well why the man was never in Spinner's End, but not ready to explain it to her children. While she was a Squib, her girls knew naught of the magical world. "Ivy dear, have you thought anymore about University? You certainly are smart enough, taking your A levels and not yet 17."

"I have," she told her mother, hopping off the counter, "and I still think it's a waste of time."

"You might consider getting yourself a real job then if you refuse to go to uni," Hazel raised a well manicured eyebrow toward her daughter.

"No," Ivy responded thoughtfully, "I don't think so. I'd rather go exploring. You could do with a little adventure in your life Mum," she kissed her mother's cheek.

"You're all the adventure I can handle," she chuckled, watching Ivy leave.

While the morning had started off damp and grey, the early afternoon sun was beginning to burn off the clouds, allowing rays of sunshine to peak through. The desolate remnant of the once thriving industrial town would inflict an overwhelming case of ennui upon many but, to Ivy it was home and held some of the most remarkable hidden treasures. Her favourite being found in the overgrown backyard of one Severus Snape.

Ivy had only met the man a few times in her life. He showed up every few years for dinner on her birthday or during Easter hols. He cut an imposing figure; dark, sharp tongued and to the point. She liked that about him. He never once spoke down to her because she was a child and took a keen interest in her education.

She'd stumbled upon his gardens at the age of 12 while following a turtle around the neighborhood. It was one of the few times Severus was occupying the home and after reprimanding her harshly for trespassing, he quickly went about educating her on the finer points of each plant, explaining their medicinal importance and growing conditions. She was drawn to the small plot of land behind his ramshackle home; something about the residence called to her and revitalized her. Five years later she was still religiously tending to his plants.

"Good afternoon, Hector," Ivy called to the aforementioned turtle that had taken up residence in the far corner of the yard. "Enjoying the strawberries I planted for you, eh?" She smiled, picking up on the turtles elation as it happily munched on the fruit. Ever since she was young she had been able to pick up on the emotions of animals; some more clearly than others. She was teased terribly in school when she tried explaining it to the other children and since then had kept it to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she stretched her arms high above her head and felt the energy surrounding the garden flow through her body, grounding her to the earth. A few moments later she set to work pulling out weeds and peeling slugs off of leaves. Noticing a disturbance under the surface of the earth she followed the track back toward the fence, stomping down the tunnel as she went. Thinking it was a vole when she saw a bit of slightly furred flesh sticking out of a small hole, she put on her gardening gloves and reached in.

The creature she pulled up however was no vole. It looked rather like a squirming, deformed potato with pointy little teeth and beady eyes. Both Ivy and the creature momentarily stared at each other before Ivy screamed and flung it into the next yard. "Bloody Nora," she remarked, trying to get her heartbeat under control, "what was that?"

Sensing something laughing at her, Ivy scanned the yard before spying a raven perched on the fence. "You think that was funny?!" she asked, the bird bobbing its head in affirmative. "What the bloody hell was that thing?" She asked, not expecting a picture of the creature to show up in her mind.

Startled, she looked at the bird. "Did you do that?" She asked, the raven snapping its beak at her as the picture appeared again. This time the creature was being swung around by a person and hurled over a fence. "I don't understand," she said. The bird let out a frustrated caw before sending her a picture of the garden.

"The garden?" Ivy asked, quickly seeing an image of a decorative lawn gnome. "A gnome?"

Having enough of the girls dimwittedness, the raven swooped off the fence and dive bombed the redhead, hoping to knock some sense into her.

"Hey!" Ivy hollered, shielding her head and glaring at the bird. Again, the raven sent an image of the garden and lawn gnome to her. "A garden gnome?" The bird cawed and bobbed its head. "That beast was a garden gnome?"

Frustrated, the bird cawed loudly at Ivy. The girl really was what his human would call a dunderhead.

"What the hell's a garden gnome?" Ivy asked herself, a bit confused by the events of the last 10 minutes. Suddenly an image of the deformed potato monster appeared in her minds eye again. "Alright, don't be an arse," she looked pointedly at the bird. This level of communication with an animal was entirely new and a bit unnerving to her. Sure she'd felt creatures before but, this was practically talking to them.

"Do you have a name?" she asked as the bird flew down from off the fence and nearer to her. An image of Edgar Allan Poe suddenly appeared and she couldn't help but laugh. "You're kidding me?" she snorted, the bird snapping at her. "Guess not. Edgar is it?" The raven bobbed its head.

Elated by her new found ability, Ivy sat in the garden "talking" to Edgar until long after the sun had set. She was broken out of her reverie by the sound of a loud explosion and an overwhelming feeling of dread. Running to the front of the house and into the street she saw a strange symbol lighting the night sky. Following the symbol downward she saw her home engulfed in flames. "No," she whispered. "No!" she screamed, taking off down the lane.

Edgar seemed to have other plans and kept flying in front of her, making it impossible for her to navigate down the street as he sent her images of red traffic lights. "Stop it you ruddy bird!" Ivy screamed, flailing her arms about wildly before being grabbed by a cloaked figure that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Let me go!" She screamed as she was dragged backwards.

"Ivy, stop struggling!" Came a voice that could only belong to Severus Snape. "It is imperative that you stop struggling and come with me."

"No!" She continued to yell. "I have to help them!"

"They're gone!" He shook her. "They're dead and you will join them if you don't come with me this instant!"

Shocked, Ivy stopped struggling at once and allowed Snape to drag her into his home. "What's going on?" she asked just above a whisper once she was settled into a threadbare armchair.

Severus paced in front of her momentarily, his head swimming. There was no saving Hazel and her family, the Dark Lord had them marked for death but, he was overjoyed that Ivy had not been home. She was the closest thing to a child that he had, a skewed paternal bond having been forged by his inability to kill her 17 years prior.

"Death Eaters," he said quietly. "Your mothers family has angered the Dark Lord and he is making an example of them."

"Death Eaters?" Ivy repeated, not quite sure she had heard him right. "What the hell is a Death Eater? My mother had no family! What is going on?"

Oh! A cliffhanger! How deliciously naughty of me.