A/N: Regulus wants to make the perfect gift for the perfect girl. Regulus/Lily. Marauders' Era. I do not own Harry Potter.

Submission for:

Shipper's Dictionary Challenge/Competition: Dark Lily - Regulus/Lily

Fanfiction Marathon Competition/Challenge: Regulus/Lily

Regulus read the incantation over again by the light of the lone candle in the middle of the table. It was late now, most of the students had already left the library, but he had remained. He wanted to get this right, he had to. There were only a few more hours left before the next day.

He picked up his wand and practiced the movements, the swish, the flick and the counter-clockwise turn. It shouldn't be this hard. He had performed and mastered harder spells in shorter time.

However, when he tried the two together, the wand movement with the incantation, as that came was a puff of black smoke and a slight burn on his fingers. He groaned in frustration as he threw his head down onto the table, holding his singed fingertips to his chest.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked to him.

His head shot up as he looked to the source of the voice. That red hair, those green eyes. "Evans," he said. He sat up straighter in his chair and ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I'm fine."

She looked between his face and his discarded wand almost rolling off the table, quickly reaching for it to halt its motion. "You don't look fine, Black. What are you doing?"

Without waiting for an answer, she stepped forward and began to read over his shoulder. He quickly shut the book, keeping it from her eyes. "It's nothing. Go away," he said.

"I was just trying to help," she said, tossing her hair over her shoulders. "I am very good with Charms, you know."

He did know. The whole school knew how brilliant perfect Lily Evans was. He peeked back into the book and then looked to her. Could he really ask her for help? "I'm trying to create a flower," he mumbled.

Her eyes lit up at the prospect. "A flower. I've never done that before. Have you tried 'orchideous'?"

Regulus shook his head. "I don't want a bouquet. I want one very special flower."

Lily took the seat across from his as he slid the book to her. She read the incantation, practiced the wand movement and then cast the spell, producing a large red rose on her first try.

"How did you do that?" he asked in wonder as he picked up the flower, running his hands across the beautiful petal and then the pointed thorns on its stem.

"I think you weren't following this step here. You're supposed to think of something deep and meaningful," she said as she showed him in the textbook.

Regulus read the words and stared at the girl across from him with her wide smile and piercing eyes as he said the incantation. A dark-coloured lily then appeared in his hands and he almost gasped in surprise.

"You did it," she said, "though I think the colour is wrong."

Regulus shook his head. "No, this is what I wanted."

Lily gave him an odd look but nodded all the same. "Glad I could help you, Regulus. I'll see you around," she said as she rose to her feet and walked away from his table.

Once he was alone again, Regulus turned the dark lily over and over in his hand. It had come out just the way he wanted. He looked over to the rose, which represented love and desire. It would probably be a better choice than a black lily but he shook his head. This lily had meaning and he just hoped she would get it.

The next morning, Lily woke up among the snores of the other girls in her dorm to the soft knock of an owl at the window. She quickly got up to let the owl inside, taking notice of the familiar black lily in its beak.

She took the delicate flower from the bird and read the small card attached, "Happy Valentines' Day, Lily."