February 14 – Lily

Someone gave you flowers.

Marlene woke me up, very effectively, on Valentine's Day, by jumping on my stomach.

"Ooof."

"Good Morning Lily dearest! You have flowers!" All of the others must have been awake already – May and Susan were gone and Alice was pulling her robes over her head and laughing at Marlene.

"Flowers?" I asked a little groggily.

"One dozen red roses. From your completely un-original boyfriend Amos Diggory. They clash with your hair." I glared at my friend as I scrambled out from under the covers to examine the vase on my bedside table. He must have convinced a house-elf to deliver them. They were nice, but Marlene was right. Completely un-original. Also, a little bit distant. Like, why couldn't he have delivered them to me at breakfast himself? (Probably because you avoid him at all costs, my treacherous mind quipped.)

"Well, I think they're pretty," I told her as I rummaged for my clothes.

"Yeah, really pretty," she replied. "And really, really boring."

She has a point, I thought as we trooped down to breakfast. It's a good thing I'm not looking for anything interesting on Valentine's Day. Because it obviously doesn't have anything interesting in store for me. Worst holiday ever.

I really couldn't have been more wrong. (Although I still maintained that it was a horrible holiday in a very decided fashion which made Alice roll her eyes.) But by the end of the day I had collected one dozen lilies – left anonymously at my usual place in the Great Hall, on each of my seats in class, my favorite table in the Library, and even my pillow. They were of various colors, but all huge and more alive, I thought, than flowers really had the right to be. Amos' roses seemed to wilt a little, set next to them.

"But you have to admit that they're beautiful," said Marlene, smelling one.

"I don't think that's the issue," pointed out Dorcas, who was playing Exploding Snap with Alice on the other girl's bed.

"Exactly. Thank you Dorcas."

"The issue is that someone is so much better at Valentine's Day than Amos and Lily here is intrigued," she continued, wincing as she put down a card.

"Wait a minute! I am not intrigued," I began.

"Oh shut up," she replied, making Alice giggle. "You are so intrigued. And you were right, Amos is kind of boring. Not as yummy as I thought. Now Sirius Black…"

"You shut up," said Marlene, smiling. "We're talking about Lily, not you. Lily, who actually had standards?" Dorcas stuck her tongue out at the older girl.

"Well isn't it kind of obvious who they're from?" asked Alice, who was sporting a beautiful pendant, courtesy of Frank.

"Obviously not," I replied. "Or I wouldn't be so frustrated."

"Or you're just stupid," said Dorcas, looking at me appraisingly. "James has never been known for his subtlety."

Alice laughed unexpectedly. "Remember the year he Charmed all of your school books to read you love poems every time you opened one?" she asked, by way of explanation. It was a lot funnier in retrospect…

"I think you should date James!" burst out Marlene. I just looked at her. "They're really pretty flowers," she followed up, rather lamely.

"I think you've all lost it. So maybe Amos isn't right for me, but that doesn't mean mysterious-flower-sender is right either."

"One day someone is going to murder you for being so damn stubborn Lily Evans," Dorcas sighed.


A/N: Much thanks to both JazzHalesBabyGurl and Jewels5, who submitted anonymous reviews. And, of course, to everyone else again who submitted signed reviews!