Sunflower

Chapter 1: The little badger and the big bad snake

Sunflowers and You

by Mary Frances

"Like Sunflowers, your presence is bright and warm.

Like Sunflowers, your love is soothing and sweet.

Like Sunflowers, your embrace is home."

In the language of love a sunflower means to have unwavering faith and unconditional love

{To the hopeless romantic Hufflepuffs and their emotional support Slytherins}

Sixth year.

Olivia Sallow had no idea how she had already made it to her sixth year at Hogwarts, especially after such a disastrous year prior. Aside from the cruel and twisted punishments Umbridge had dished out to the students, shortly after her fifteenth birthday Olivia had begun to experience strange nightmares. Traumatic, and disturbing dreams that centered around a young witch who looked far too much like Olivia. Almost instantly Olivia understood what she was seeing during the strange dreams. They were glimpses of her great grandmother's memories. Some were during her time at Hogwarts, while others were from her time being an Auror. Around the same time the nightmares began her magic also changed. Much like what the memories showed her, Olivia had started to see wisps of ancient magic. In truth the punishments that Umbridge gave to her were the lesser of two evils. The physical pain of the enchanted quill was nothing in comparison to the mental torment she endured every night.

' Olivia .' She heard a distorted voice whisper in her ear. Olivia whipped her head around but found no one near her. 'Its not real. There's nothing.' She thought to herself. Olivia had started to hear the voice over the summer. She had heard it during her dreams, she had gotten used to that, but to hear it while awake left her questioning her sanity.

To distract herself from her rising anxiety, Olivia checked her bags that sat on her trunk for a third time, making sure she had each one secure; but it was too late though. A panic attack had already settled in, spreading ice through her spine. She closed her eyes as her ears filled with white noise. In her mind, she counted out seven seconds for each breath she took, trying her best to relax as the grip she had on her cart tightened until her knuckles were white.

She did all she could think of to ground herself in the moment. Though both her hearing and sight were useless to her, as she focused on her breathing she began to pinpoint the scent of vanilla perfume. It was her own, she loved the way it reminded her of cupcakes. Touch was next to come back to her, the smooth metal of her cart had been warmed under her grip. After several minutes the conversations of the station came back to her ears, bringing her back to her senses. She slowly opened her eyes only to be met with everything tilted out of place. Olivia closed her eyes again and just kept breathing, in through her nose and out through her mouth.

Finally when everything had returned to normal, she glanced up at the clock that hung above the station, hours had passed since her arrival. She was exhausted and hungry. She had been early. Too early by many accounts, as she was one of the few students gathering first for the train. None of whom had been part of her social circle, but rather looked like first years saying their goodbyes to their parents.

She felt a twinge of sadness as she watched the families hug each other, it was immediately replaced by guilt. Olivia's mother worked tirelessly for the ministry, while her father was a Curse Breaker. Rarely, did she see either due to their hectic schedules. During holidays she usually stayed with her grandfather in the Fieldcroft highlands, summer was the only time she saw her parents at their London home and it was never both of them together. For the first few weeks she had managed to spend some time with her father. When he was whisked back to work there was a week's time to get through before her mother returned home. Unfortunately, her mother was always called to an assignment before even two weeks had passed. It was nothing new to Olivia. She would spend her time reading, writing letters to her friends, baking with the house elf who kept things in order, and practicing the instruments her parents owned.