Chance Meeting (Mariya) (PG-13)

Gus sat in one of his favorite trees in the woods near his family home. Looking up at the clear blue sky, he breathed in the crisp air and smiled. Only one more year, Gus.... Then it will be your turn... He really didn't know what to think about how his time for going to Hogwarts was going to start, but, more than anything, he was looking forward to it. Hearing about it was enough to get anyone excited, and his father and mother had been talking about it for some time.

Leaning back against the trunk of the tree, he put his hands behind his head and thought about Hogwarts.

With a small basket on her arm Mariya stooped by the base of a tree and scooped up the injured squirrel she had returned to save. Her patient safe in the basket she began to search for the herbs and such she would need to help the little one heal. Moving around a tree she went to grab a vine when she stopped, a boy had his back on the vine's root, he was blonde and handsome she'd never seen him before... "h..hello"

Hearing a voice below him, Gus was drawn back to himself and out of his daydream. Putting his arms down, he peered down to the forest floor and saw a girl he had never seen before below him. She was quite striking with her pale skin and brown hair, he might even venture to say that she was pretty. Letting one leg swing off the branch and bending the other up, Gus propped an elbow on his bent knee. "Hi," he answered her with a small smile. Noticing her basket, he nodding his head towards it, "What's in your basket?"

"A..a squirrel" she said timidly she didnt talk to people other then her brothers and cousins. "Do you mind if I come up?" she asked "theres something i need..."

"A squirrel?" Gus asked, confusion touching his face. She was different, that was for sure. He was just about to ask why she had a squirrel in her basket, but she asked if she could come up. "Uh... Sure. Come on up. You can....uh.....use this," he said moving the vine so it would hang right for the girl to climb up.

Placing the basket gently on the ground she covered the squirrel with her shawl and smiled at the vine and pushed it aside, with a jump her fingers wrapped around a lower branch gracefully she pulled her small body up swinging upside down her legs wrapped around the branch gus was on, sitting up now on the branch she pulled out a long knife from her waist band. "Thank you" she said softly as she dug into the tree with the knife gathering the bark gently without hurting the tree. Putting it into a vile she grabbed one of the vines and pulled it out by the root. "You just happened to be sitting at one of the oldest trees in the forest with ingriedents i need"

Gus' eyes grew wide as he watched the girl effortlessly climb, without the aid of the vine he thought to offer her, and end up sitting next to him on his branch. Watching her take some bark and store it before ripping out one of the vines, he was confused. "I like his tree. I come here often. It's one of the best places to just....think...." he said in response to her comment about this tree. "What ya need all that for?" Gus asked. Remembering that he didn't know this girl, he added, "I'm Augustus, by the way. Augustus Wood. But, if you want, you can call me Gus."

"I need it for a spell to heal the squirrel" she explained "the poor love has been stepped on or something and I am going to make sure he will be okay" she made sure the roots were safley in the glass before tucking it next to the holster on the back of her waist with her knife.

Switching her postion she smiled and held out her hand "Marvolo Mariya Gaunt the Second" she said with a smile "But you may call me Mariya"

Taking Mariya's hand, Gus shook it and smiled the crooked smile that was just like his father's. "Mariya. That's really pretty. So, you're gonna help a squirrel? Why?" he asked, trying to understand. Sure squirrels were animals and living things, but they were just a little animal. Food for larger animals... But, she intrigued him. If learning about her helped him to understand her more, well, then, he wouldn't be ashamed to ask.

"Because once in awhile, we have to help others. Besides I prefer animals to humans though you are quite nice" turning she leaned backwards so she hung upside down from the branch and swung down to the ground the way she had came "Would you like to watch? I can tell your not a muggle you dont feel like one"

Gus shrugged at her answer. He guessed she was right. One can't simply go about in life without helping others or other things. As she got down just as easily as she got up, he shook his head impressed. "Ummm.... Sure, ok," he said to her offer of him watching. Slipping from the branch, he landed gently on his feet without so much as a wobble. Standing up, he smiled. "Nah. Not a Muggle. Far from it really," he said with a small chuckle. "You're not one, either, are you?" Gus asked timidly. She must be magical, or at least part if she knew the term and what it meant. But, you could never be too sure.

"I'm a pure blood" she said with a smile "My father teaches at Hogwarts" she picked up the basket and slipped her shawl over her shoulders "theres a stream this way" she said as she led him through the forest, the autumn leaves cracking under foot "Do you live near by?" she asked.

"Me, too," Gus said with a smile. Blood really didn't matter to him. Magic was magic and it worked in mysterious ways. As he followed her through the trees to the stream that ran through the outer half of the forest, he nodded in response to her question. "If you go up the path and hill near the tree where you found me, there is a little clearing with a white farmhouse. I like there," he told her, pointing in the direction of his house. Looking back at her, he was struck with how pretty her hair was as a small shaft of light kissed it. "What about you?" he asked, holding a lower branch up for her to walk under without needing to duck under it.

Smiling gratefully she passed under the raised branch "closer to the moutains but still not from here my father's family home Carrow Manor stands" she said "I live there with my parents my brothers my grandmother and occasionally my cousins, though our home is like a small castle so it doesnt bother me" As she got closer to the stream she stooped and picked up a few pieces of clover. Stopping near the water she laid her shawl out and knelt on it, looking in the basket she frowned "poor little one" she hummed

"Sounds like a full house," Gus said lightly, stepping under the branch and letting it go. "Must be nice to live in a castle. I live with my mom, dad, and older sister. What does your dad teach at Hogwarts?" he asked curious. He loved his home and his family, but there were times he wished that their home had stairs to more than just his and his sister's rooms in the basement. But, it just wasn't a logical choice to have. As she scooped up some clover, Gus watched as she spread out her shawl and knelt on it. Her voice was calm and soothing as she spoke to the animal in her basket. Gus didn't want to get too close in case she needed space for whatever she was doing. So, he opted to crouch down near the edge of her shawl, just close enough to be able to watch was she was doing with little effort.

"Care of magical creatures" she said as she gently lifted the poor animal from her basket and lied him down on the shawl, surrounding him with what she needed "See he is struggling to breath because part of his spine is injured" she explained pointing out the jab of the bone near the base of its torso. The animal seemed to begin to panic and she whispered "shh..shh...hush little one" her soft touches and voice seemed to sooth it as it relaxed.

"Most wizards in our world don't know that not all magic requires a wand" she said as she took took a flat rock from her basket she laied out the vein's roots and began to crush them with the flat of her blade.

Gus was about to comment about her dad teaching Care of Magical Creatures, but Mariya started working with the squirrel. He didn't dare to speak or move as the animal looked afraid enough without one more person adding to its fear. Gus was her voice not just soothing to the animal, but to him as well. He was feeling more at ease at being near her and the squirrel as she set to work. As she worked on the vine's roots, Gus's brow furrowed as he thought about what she had said about magic. "What kind of magic are you going to work then?" he asked softly, wondering about these magics she was talking about.

"Humans discovered the earth was still young, the goddess created the world and gifted her children with magic. This magic was of the earth it runs through the veins of the living and courses through the energy that thrives in all of us." she scraped the root bits into a small stone bowl she carried in her basket and added some of the bark and other things she had picked up. Taking the pestle she used it to crush the ingredients together to make paste. "Squirrels, animals, are easy humans take some persuading" she dipped her blade in the river that ran beside them and carefully added a few drops of water to the mixture "féadfaidh an bandia cneasaigh tú" she said as she took the squirrel gently in her hands and flipped him on his back, the injury had a open wound, gently she aligned the small pieces of his spine and then taking the paste in her fingertips she rubbed it into the wound and over his back. "féadfaidh an bandia cneasaigh tú" she whispered once more her touch was gentle but the squirrel squirmed with little protests of pain until her hypnotic touch soothed him.

Her voice was perfect.... Every word she said seemed to put Gus into a trance. He listened intently as she spoke and worked with the squirrel. The way she worked with the pieces she collected and making the paste she desired, Gus was impressed. As her words shifted into a language he didn't know, Gus' head tilted as he couldn't help but watch her gentle hands fix the animal. "What did you tell him?" he asked.

"I said may the goddess heal you" she said looking up at him she smiled taking Gus' hand she put the little creature in his hand for a moment "Do you feel his body warming?"

"Goddess..." he echoed, but before he could ask further, he froze as her hand took his and she placed the animal in it. His light blue eyes looked up at her before returning to the squirrel in his hand. Swallowing slightly, he took a small breath and let it go, focusing on what she asked. A small smile touched his lips as he nodded, and just watched the little creature breath stronger and stronger in his hand. "I do.... That's amazing," he said, handing the squirrel back to Mariya. "Where did you learn that magic?" he asked.

"Books, and this old woman who looked after me when mother was busy and father had work." she gently dipped her patient into the water and washed off the paste "she saw i was able to learn even if i am young. But then again there is no better time to start" the squirrel lay dazed in her hands as she touched gus' hand once more "his wound was open when i found him" taking his finger gently she ran it down the creatures spine, his body was hot to the touch and gus would be able to feel the now closed wound and the straightened spine. "But the goddess will let this one live" she let go of his hand and flipped the squirrel over on his back, and gently opened his mouth to put a piece of clover in his waiting jaws.

"Father says the same thing, that you're never too young to learn new things," Gus commented as Mariya dipped the animal into the water. When she took his hand again, he didn't give it a second thought. Letting her guide his finger down the spine of the squirrel, he was shocked to find how warm, nearly hot, the little animal was. When his touch reached where the open wound had been, his eyes grew wide at feeling that it was now closed like nothing had happened. "Amazing.... Truly amazing...." his whispered in awe of what he watched happen before his eyes. "What's the clover for?" he asked as she put a piece of it in the animal's tiny mouth.

"Watch" she said smiling, a moment passed and suddenly the squirrel sneezed and scampered to his feet excitedly he looked around and suddenly was nibbling the clover "A snack" she giggled as the little creature chittered and ran around.

Gus watched and as the squirrel sneezed, his smile grew and brightened. Her giggle was echoed with his own as the clover was simply a snack and nothing other than that. Gus liked her giggle. It was such a happy sound. Taking a solid seat on the forest floor after standing to stretch out his legs that had been in a crouch the entire time, Gus said, "I've never seen anything like that. It was just....wonderful. Different.... And I know different."