K, this is the first chapter and I hope you like it. I should warn you though that I'm really slow at updating, so probably one every two weeks. Please tell me what you think and give me some helpful reviews... or, come to think of it, just review for reviewing's sake :)

Chapter 1 Veela Discovery

It was currently lunch at St. Grogory's Primary School near Little Whinging, Surrey. Everyone was either eating at the cafeteria or chatting with friends at their respective tables. Lily Potter was doing neither. As of now, she was sitting in the gardens behind the school, reading and completely relaxed. Lily liked it in the gardens. There was something about the colorful petals of the ample flowers there that made it seem alive, magical even. Besides, she thought, being able to talk to them and know what they need instinctively most definitely helped.

Unlike anybody in the school, or perhaps anywhere else in the world for that matter, Lily had a strange affinity with plants.

Somehow or other, she was able to communicate to them and they, back. It delighted Lily to no ends but only served to drive a wedge between her and her classmates.

This particular ability had been discovered during her first year. After having been mercilessly teased by Dudley and Piers in front of the class, Lily had run away, straight into the garden. There she met the gardener, Mr. Paisley. He was having trouble with a particular plant and Lily, being the curious girl as she was before, approached him to help. She had touched one of the leaves of the plant then and a peculiar thing happened. The aura of the plant touched her and it told her what she needed to do, without conveying any words, she just knew. Moving on automatic, she dug the plant out carefully without cutting any roots then moved it to an empty spot on another of the beds, an area that was fully exposed to sunlight in the day. Mr. Paisley had commented at the time that it wouldn't work but, in order to humor her, left it it there before continuing his business. Imagine his surprise when he saw it blooming the next day.

From then on, Lily had always helped at the gardens, becoming good friends with Mr. Paisley and cultivating her talent together with him who, unlike her classmates, didn't seem to mind the power. In fact, a quarter of the garden as of now had been planted by her.

Humming happily, Lily returned her thoughts back to the book currently in her lap. Pride and Prejudice had been recommended to her by Mr. Paisley having noticed her love for books. She had to say it had so far been a nice book (she had just reached the part where Elizabeth hiked to Netherland to tend to her sister) and she was enjoying it thoroughly. So much in fact that she didn't notice the heavy footsteps coming in the direction of the cafeteria until it was too late.

"Hello, Lily," a loud, obnoxious voice said from above her.

Lily froze, recognizing the voice anywhere. Dudley Dursley. The bane of her existence, the reason for all things evil, the devil incarnate. In other words, her cousin.

"Dursley," she greeted in a nonchalant tone, hoping that she was able to mask the fear in her voice.

Apparently not as there was a smirk in his voice the next time he spoke.

"Have you been hiding from us again?" he asked, impatience mixed with malice coloring his words.

Lily wracked her brain for a good excuse. She couldn't use the teacher one, she had already used it one too many times. Friends? She had none. Mr. Paisley wasn't even at the garden yet, probably taking a break at the kitchens.

"Um, enjoying the good weather?" she asked weakly. Her eyes were already itching to close in a vain attempt to shut the pain out.

Above her, Dudley tsked while his friends snickered.

"Wrong answer, Lily."

Almost immediately, she felt two hands grasp her from behind, keeping her securely in one place. By this time, her face was already streaked with silent tears and her book was lying forgotten at her side.

"Already crying, Lily? We haven't even touched you yet," Dudley taunted. She cracked one eye open enough for her to see his victorious face, complete with a malicious smirk and cruel, bright eyes. Her stomach turned flip flops, desperation filling her being.

"Please Dudley, just let me go. I promise not to hide again," she whimpered.

Mentally, she berated herself, remembering rule number one: Never beg. Now all Dudley would do was torture her all the more. The sick thing.

True to his word, he just laughed.

"Now where would the fun be in that?"

Then the pain started.

Truthfully, Lily didn't know how long she spent getting kicked about by the five boys who were all considerably bigger than her. All she did know was that nearing the end of the beating, the type of pain changed. How or why, she had no clue but suddenly, the sensation changed from the feeling of shoes coming into contact with her skin to knives cutting into her body in numerous amounts.

Usually, Lily prided herself in not making a sound during these types of beatings but this time, the pain was too much for her and she couldn't suppress a piercing scream from cutting into the air.

"Stop! What are you doing with Lily?"

A burst of hope erupted inside of her, overpowering the pain for a second.

"Mr. Paisley!" she managed to whisper hoarsely, the 'knives' cutting in deeper into her skin.

Somewhere in her subconscious, she could vaguely hear Dudley screaming at the boys to run and the sounds of pounding footsteps following it before the heavy breathing of an adult came from near her ear.

"Oh my god," the pale Mr. Paisley gasped," Are you alright, Lily?"

She wanted to roll her eyes. Did he seriously think she was alright? There were knives digging into her skin for goodness's sake! Suppressing the, admittedly rude action (Mr. Paisley was clearly in a panic), Lily settled for a moan.

The feeling of Mr. Paisley's arms wrapping around her came in a second.

"I'll bring you to the nurse," he muttered wildly under his breath, his eyes darting about," She'll know what to do."

But before he could take another step forward, Lily struggled weakly in his arms.

"No nurse," she managed to croak out, her arms flailing lightly. She didn't know why she said that but, like how she could 'speak' to plants, it came with the instincts. Somewhere in Lily's fevered mind she knew that telling her would be bad. The nurse just wouldn't understand.

Mr. Paisley paused mid-step, staring at the pale and shaking girl in his arms.

"You don't want to go to the nurse?" he asked dubiously

At her affirmative nod, he gaped.

"Then where do you want to go?" he almost yelled.

"Stay… here."

She shut her eyes again as she felt another 'knife' slice through her skin.

"Here?" he asked wearily, staring at her as if she had gone mad.

Not having enough energy to say anything else, she just nodded.

"You're sure?" he pressed.

Again she nodded faintly, her eyes drooping a fraction.

Mr. Paisley sighed, seeing she was in no condition to argue, before giving up.

"If you say so," he muttered defeatedly. Maneuvering her head carefully, he took care not to jostle her too much and in no time at all, he and Lily were sitting back down on the soft grass.

Angrily, he glared at the direction the fat pig and his friends ran off to.

"Stupid Dursley," he snarled under his breath, his fingers subconsciously running through Lily's ginger red air when he felt another shuddering breath from her.

During all of Lily's five years at St. Grogory's, he had always seen Lily harassed by one of his gang or other. Honestly, he had no idea why they teased her so. Lily was a quiet, innocent girl who deserved none of the torture she was subjected to everyday. She was funny and quirky in her own way and had a dry sense of humor. It was a wonder why all that innocence hadn't gone away even after everything she had to go through.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Mr. Paisley suddenly realized that the body that was in his lap was now trembling like a leaf, twisting this way and that and flailing her hands wildly. He hugged her tightly, firmly securing her arms down so as not to let her hurt herself.

"Come on, Lily," he murmured, eying her shaking form worriedly," Wake up."

Truth be told, Lily had spent enough time in the gardens with him for him to already consider her as his own daughter. Of course he had never told anybody of that but anyone could see it in his eyes when he watched Lily tending to the plants carefully or laughing about a joke she had told. And now, with her sickly form in her lap, he believed that nothing else could scare him more.

Lily gasped in pain suddenly and Mr. Paisley found his grip loosening when a blue light cocooned her, bringing him along.

He stared at the girl in awe. It seemed that there was more to Lily Potter than what meets the eye.

Before his eyes, the girl slowly stopped shaking as badly as before, though tiny tremors still rocked her body from time to time. Her hair slowly lengthened to mid back, losing the childish and slightly messy locks he had seen on her when they had fist met. Her face turned heart shaped, and her nose shrunk a little, making her slightly more elegant as the transformation went along. Her body developed curves and she became a more hour-glassed shape. Her eyelashes became longer and her lips fuller.

The air around him buzzed lazily and vibrated one more time before the blue light evaporated and Lily finally relaxed.

Mr. Paisley blinked as he stared at the matured teenager in her arms who had been Lily moments before.

As of now, the only question running through his mind was: What the heck just happened?

End Chapter

For those of you who are not sure, that was Lily's (Harry's) veela blood becoming active.

p.s. Mr. Paisley is just my OC, the only one in the story

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