Entwined |r.a.b|

One

Loki rubbed against Ivy's leg, purring as he nuzzled between the two Walker siblings.

The youngest of the two picked up the cat, nuzzling his own cheek against the black Maine coon. Loki struggled in the five-year-olds arms until, reluctantly, he melted into Jacobs hands as he stroked the cat.

Ivy reached out, bringing Loki into her hands as the train whistled three times.

"I suppose it's time to go," Ivy said, looking up to her parents with a hopeful glow in her eyes.

"We will see you for winter break," Merida Walker said with a smile.

"Are you feeling okay, Ivy?" Bradley Walker asked his daughter as he knelt to be level with her. "Do you need anything? Maybe we shouldn't —"

"Bradley, she'll be fine." Merida put a hand on her husbands shoulder. "We can't deny her this right."

"You're right." He sighed, wringing his hands as he stood to his feet. "Have a fun time Vee. And don't listen to what anyone else says okay?"

Ivy nodded and smiled brightly. "I hope I get into Hufflepuff just like you dad! Then I'll be able to have life long friends like you and uncle Berry!"

"Hey I have some life long friends in Slytherin," Merida said with a smile. "You will thrive at hogwarts no matter your house, my little sprout."

Ivy giggled before waving her family a quick goodbye. She walked through the train, and upon being unable to find an empty compartment, sat with a couple first and second year girls.

"What house are you hoping to get into?" one first year girl asked.

"I put my money on hufflepuff," said a second year girl. "The flowers in your hair are a give a way."

The girl went to reach for a flower but Ivy moved away as she heard one of the daisies squeal.

"Oh please don't touch them," Ivy said sweetly. "They don't very much like being picked."

"You had to of picked them to put it in your hair..." another girl said.

"They grow in my hair," she responded.

The three girls looked at each other oddly before looking back at Ivy with raised eyebrows.

"They... grow?? In your hair?" Asked the second-year. "How?"

"I don't know," Ivy said, growing slightly bashful. "It just does..."

"They seem like snobs," one of the lilacs said bitterly.

"They haven't even done anything, I'm sure they're wonderful," whispered one of the daisies.

"Just look at their outfits," mumbled a poppy. "And their faces! Contorted like that — quite unattractive."

Ivy let out a giggle at the flowers chattering causing the girls to skeptically look between each other.

"We uhm... we have somewhere else to be," said one of the girls.

They looked Ivy up and down, judging her unruly red hair cascaded with flowers and vines.

"Oh... o... kay." The three girls were out of the compartment leaving Ivy alone.

"She's crazy," mumbled one of the girls before leaving.

"You should wrap them in a thick covering of poison ivy," said a lilac.

Some other plants giggled in her ear as Ivy glared the girls' way. She flicked her wrist, the girls suddenly screeching as they pulled off vines of poison ivy from their arms. The eldest of them looked back to Ivy, who smiled.

"Don't itch it," she said, sliding into the compartment and shutting the door.

"Nice one!"

"Ivy, you don't want to get in trouble before school even starts," whispered a peony.

"Don't be a stick in the mud," said a tulip as Ivy rolled her eyes. "They deserved it!"

"It's okay Ivy," said a daffodil. "If they can't except you for who you are then they clearly don't deserve someone as warm and gentle as you!"

"Yeah!" called out a daisy. "You'll always have us."

Ivy smiled. "Thanks guys."

"Er — were you just talking to yourself?" Asked a boy from the entry of the compartment door.

He had curly dark black hair and his face spotted some cuts and bruises.

"Er — no," Ivy said.

"Mind if I sit in here?" He asked.

She shook her head, feeling herself grow exceptionally shy.

"He'll be quite the cutie," said a poppy. "Look at those curls!"

"Shuddup," Ivy muttered to the plants as the boy went to sit across from her.

"I — I didn't say anything..."

"Not you! The... I — I can talk to plants. I'm... talking to the plants...." she bite her lip, avoiding the boy's eyes.

"Don't be ashamed Ivy!" A daisy said. "You're gift makes you special."

"You can talk to plants?" He asked. "Do they talk back?"

"Most times they're the ones doing all the talking..."

"We're right here!" A poppy shouted. Ivy swatted her hand in the Poppy's direction, blowing wind on it.

"That's... that's cool!" The boy said. "What do they say?"

"Tell him we think that you two will make a lovely couple in the future!" A lilac said.

Ivy's cheeks went red with embarrassment. "Er — mostly nonsense. Y'know, I can heal your wounds. I have some naturally healing herbs that I can use."

Ivy reached into her backpack grabbing two of the many vials in her pack. She grabbed the one with sap from a birch tree and the one filled with fallen needles of a pine tree. She poured a few pine needles into the sap, holding the vial and focusing all her energy on the healing properties.

Once she felt it was ready, she poured a handful of the solution into her hand and leaned over to rub it on his bruises but he flinched at her near touch.

She pulled her hand back. "I'm sorry.."

"I — I just don't like to be touched..." the boy murmured.

"I'm so sorry," Ivy said. "I should have asked. Here."

She reached out, extending the vial out to the boy. He hesitated a moment before finally accepting the vial, their hands just grazing past each other.

"I'm Ivy," she said as she watched him rub the mixture on her face.

"Regulus," he muttered, lightly touching his face as all the cuts and bruises vanished. "How'd you know how to do this?"

Ivy shrugged. "The plants tell me how."

"That's amazing..." Regulus mused.

"Regulus... do you think.... well could we be friends?" Ivy asked, avoiding eye contact with the boy. Her cheeks grew exceptionally pink.

"I'd be lucky to have someone like you to call my friend," Regulus said with a soft smile.

Ivy looked up at him with a matching smile.

"Oh how cute!" A rose cheered. "These two will be such a cute couple!"