Submitted for The Houses Competition Forum - Round 1

House: Ravenclaw

Subject: Herbology (Stand-in)

Category: Standard

Prompt: 6. [Location] Greenhouse Number 5; 8 [Weather] Gentle rainstorm

Word count: 1,438

Warnings: Canon Divergence

Once and floral

Lily sighed and hugged her coat closer to her body. The weather was changing quickly which wasn't unusual for Scotland in March. She looked up at the sky, noting the darkening clouds, and groaned. She should head back to the common room soon or else Filch would nag her about curfew even though she was a prefect.

Without warning, a droplet of rain plopped onto her forehead, and Lily glared at the sky before hurrying towards Greenhouse Number Five. Puddles grew quickly under her feet, and she splashed through them, cursing her luck.

"Of course it would start raining right when I was taking a walk," she grumbled. "It's almost like it was a sign from the Universe I should be heading inside."

Lily opened the door to the greenhouse, and she was assaulted by the overwhelming scent of the plants Professor Sprout kept in there. Lily was one of the handful of students who were allowed inside unsupervised; she could say she knew the greenhouse very well.

"I should have brought my bookbag; at least I could have done some homework while I wait for the rain to stop." Lily took a look around, taking in the asphodel, baneberry and fluxweed. "Well, can't cry over that."

Walking around, the shadow of the plants caught Lily off guard, but she tried not to dwell much on it. The greenhouse looked different in the evening, with how eerily the plants seemed. She had bumped into one or two pots and was glad no one was there to watch her making a fool of herself.

She thought she had heard something, but it was probably just the sound of the raindrops on the roof. It was a soothing sound, and the restlessness that had made her take a stroll around the Black Lake was soon forgotten.

Lily sat at one of the windows, gazing at the rain falling and wishing it would wash away her troubles. Her mind drifted off until a scream reverberated from inside the greenhouse.

"Hello? Who's there?" Lily asked, whipping out her wand and walking towards the sound. "Show yourself!"

Lily's wand raised and ready to defend herself, she turned around, surprised by what she found. Struggling against the tentacles of a plant was none other than Remus Lupin, her fellow prefect—and the boy she had been crushing on for so long.

"Remus? What happened? Are you alright?" Lily cried, running towards him to see if she could help him.

"Lily! Don't come closer!" Remus yelled, but it was too late.

Tentacles grabbed her and dragged her right into Remus, who was standing in front of the table housing the damn plant, making Lily cry at the impact.

Remus rambled, "Lily? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Oh, Merlin, you're hurt, aren't you? I'm such an idiot; I can never do anything right."

Lily tried not to stare at Remus' face so close to her own—she didn't want him to call her a stalker. His cheeks were pink, and he didn't meet her gaze; he was looking more adorable by the second. The plant seemed to sense the change in her thoughts because somehow, Lily got closer to Remus's chest and felt each breath he took, not that she was complaining.

"It wasn't your fault, Remus, so don't worry. I thought I was alone in here. Not many students come to the greenhouse." Lily tried to calm Remus down, but his panic was increasing the longer they were stuck together.

Remus's blush deepened. "I needed some time to myself. I thought coming here would be peaceful, you know?"

Lily could see his logic, and she cursed in her head for not thinking about coming to the greenhouse because it was peaceful, instead of coming to the greenhouse only because of the rain. She thought about saying something, but Remus beat her to it.

"But when I came here, this damned plant grabbed me, and I didn't know how to get out. I've been trying to escape for the last half hour, but nothing helps, and I dropped my wand and can't reach it—and now you're stuck with me because I wasn't able to warn you. You're probably going to hate me now because we're stuck for who knows how long and we don't know—"

Lily put her hand over Remus's mouth which made him blush even harder. He looked like an overripe tomato, one Lily would love to take a bite out of. Okay, Lily, stop that. Don't creep him out. "Don't worry, we'll get out of here soon."

Lily was trying to see the good side of getting attacked by a plant and being held together with Remus. 'Wish we could be held together in different circumstances. Wonder if Remus would be up for it? Bad Lily! Focus on the task at hand, not what you want to do with Remus and his body.'

"Do you know which plant this is? Maybe if we know what we're dealing with, we can think of ways to escape." Lily tried to look over Remus's shoulder to see what had grabbed them, but the tentacle tightened its grip on her. She grunted and wriggled around a bit. "I can't move. It's up to you to see what it is."

Remus turned his head and cursed under his breath, making Lily start to freak out a little. 'Remus never curses, so this should be bad…'

"So…good news and bad news. Good news is that I know how to get us out of here because Professor Sprout let me help her with this plant."

Lily waited to see if Remus would continue, but he kept on opening and closing his mouth without saying anything. Huffing, Lily asked, "What's the bad news, Remus?"

Remus gulped and turned slightly to look at Lily, but looking up over her head. "Professor Sprout was working on this plant with some of Professor Slughorn's potions. Apparently, she added a few Veritaserum drops and—"

"Remus, just tell me."

Remus sighed and muttered, "The only way we're going to get out is if we tell each other a secret."

Lily paled. The only secret she had was that she was crushing on the boy glued to her currently. Remus was uncomfortable with something, biting his lip and not looking at her eyes, but it wasn't her place to say anything. Deciding that she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, she decided to jump ahead and deal with the consequences later. If Remus's reaction was too much for her to handle, hopefully she'd be able to Obliviate him.

"A secret, you say?" Lily moistened her lips, her heart pounding in the sudden silence of the greenhouse. She took a deep breath and blurted out, "I like you, Remus…more than as a friend. I have for some time, and that's it. There, my secret to tell."

The tentacle let go of her, but she couldn't move; she was too focused on Remus's expression. He was looking at her like she was a Dementor, his eyes wider than saucers, his face paling rapidly. Lily's heart dropped, but she wouldn't let his reaction get to her.

"Well…I see. Sorry for getting in your way and for what I said. I'll leave you to it," Lily murmured. She whirled around and sprinted for the doorway. She exited the greenhouse, ignoring the rain. She wrung her hands as she muttered to herself, "You're so stupid, Lily. Why would you say something like that? Everything's ruined!"

Lily hadn't walked five steps in the rain before Remus' voice stopped her.

"I like you too!" Remus said, appearing in the door of the greenhouse. "It looks like giving a secret to a plant isn't so hard, and I needed to gather my Gryffindor courage to admit the same to you."

Remus came near Lily and turned her to look at him. "I panicked for a second inside, but I can't keep it inside me anymore. I like you more than a friend too."

Lily stared at him, not knowing what to say. Throwing caution to the wind, she grabbed Remus by his shirt and kissed him with all her might. It had always been her dream to kiss her crush in the rain.

"I'm glad the plant caught us," Lily said against Remus's lips. "I doubt I would have ever gathered the courage to tell you how I feel. I can finally kiss you."

"I'm glad for it too."

And as the rain poured down on them, Remus cupped her cheeks and brought her in for another kiss.