Enigmatic Florae

It was a peaceful sunny spring day. Just a regular school day. Like any other day. With the same people. The same corridors. The same conversations.

"Hey, Dandelion!" called Sam Kaye.

"Yeah?" answered Lily Evans.

"Got some time tonight to give a guy some pleasure?"

The same laughter. The same insults.

With a sigh, Lily headed off to class.

Transfiguration again. You'd think they'd give some variation. For all of the six years Lily had been at Hogwarts, they had had Transfiguration every other day. Like she did for every transfiguration class for six years (and all her other classes for that matter) Lily positioned herself in her chair, crossed her legs, checked her makeup, and made sure her thighs showed through the slit in her school robes--just like Petunia had told her to do. Sitting in the last row of class she settled down to take her afternoon nap.

However, the sandman (or whoever works the daytime shift) seemed to elude her. Maybe it was the nap she took earlier in Herbology. Either way, she fell back to thinking of Sam Kay's comments. Not that she was offended or anything--she was quite used to them. She had been receiving them since the start of her Hogwarts years until now, her sixth year. She would have thought they were offensive, but Petunia assured her they weren't. It was the way guys flirted with a girl they find attractive she said. Lily accepted the explanation along with the congratulations Petunia gave her for becoming popular. After all, Petunia knew best in such matters.

Lily thought back to the day when she was coached by Petunia in these matters.

Six years ago... Six long years since she had exchanged her reputation as the school nerd for school slut.

She had received her Hogwarts letter a few weeks ago on her eleventh birthday. To be able to go the same school as Petunia, to see the ceiling of the Great Hall, to actually try to turn a match into a needle, maybe even a chance to have friends... She couldn't wait for the school year to end because the faster that one ended, the faster she went to Hogwarts.

Lily had been miserable at her muggle school. Lily had always been a quiet, studious girl. Once she got over her initial shyness after meeting someone, she was actually quite witty and pleasant to be around, but none of her peers got to know her well enough to realize this. She had been branded a dork, nerd, and teacher's pet. She had no friends for the so-called "popular" kids made sure of that. How relieved Lily had been to receive her Hogwarts letter. She had heard so much about it from Petunia who was a first year at Hogwarts at that time.

Her last day at her muggle school made Lily certain that she would go to Hogwarts or bust. In the gym, they were having the end-of-the-year ceremony. The last few days had been quiet. Although she knew it was impossible, Lily had hoped beyond hope that the "popular" kids had decided to let her graduate quietly. Maybe, by some miracle, they had even matured a little.

As she walked up the aisle to receive her Perfect Attendance Award, the quiet before the storm was broken. It started with a few sniggers and gradually evolved to loud guffawing. Praying that the laughter was not directed to her she timidly took the certificate from the principal and school his hand. "Good joy, Lily. You have made us proud. We wish you the best."

Lily gave a tight-lipped smile and turned to walk back down the aisle when she looked up in horror at the huge banner that read "WE'D RATHER BE IN CLASS THAN WATCH TEACHER'S PET LILY EVANS BE PETTED!" Lily stood in shock for a few seconds while quiet giggles evolved into a roar of eye-wiping laughter. Then she ran out of the gym, out of the school, vowing never to return.

And she never did. She went straight to Petunia and stated firmly, "Petunia! I'm tired of being a dork. I want to be like you."

Petunia's eyes widened and her mouth spread into a grin. "All right~ Lily!! I knew you would come around someday. Now let's see here..." Petunia looked Lily up and down with her 'this-means-some-heavy-duty-work' face before declaring, "We're going shopping and we'll find you a whole new identity."

Petunia was, to put it simply, a ditz. She was a cute kind of chubby--just chubby enough to make her face circular. Now if she lost that chubbiness...who knew? She could very well be left with a very long horse face. But as she wasn't, she was still kind of cute and also a Quidditch cheerleader at Hogwarts. She was known for being a ditz and a flirt abut everyone knew she was harmless and loved her. For a while, Petunia had been waiting a while for Lily to "mature." Petunia loved Lily to death, but she had hoped that Lily would not be the dork she actually sort of kind of was when she came to Hogwarts. It could damage her reputation.

Petunia and Lily hit shops and had a ball. Well, Petunia did. Lily... well, Lily tried to. She figured this is what she would have to learn how to do seeing Petunia did it all the time.

They went to Diagon Alley, as both Petunia and Lily needed to get supplies for their next year at Hogwarts. They first went to the beauty salon. Lily got her hair dyed blond--just a shade darker than Petunia's platinum blond hair. ("First step of the 3 B's," instructed Petunia, "Blonde, busty, and um... I forget... it doesn't matter anyway.") They both got manicures, pedicures, and cucumber facial masks ("For your complexion.") Afterwards they got to Madame Maulkin's Robes for All Occasions, and looked for ("...robes that you wear in the summer," "Do you mean revealing robes?" asked Madame. "Um... Some people call them that but people with um... class refer to them as um... refreshing robes," said a suddenly defensive Petunia. "Whatever my dear. Over there in the corner of the store...") Lily found herself looking at some VERY "refreshing" robes.

"Um... Petunia? It may be just me, but these don't seem like robes "people with class" seem to wear..." Lily stated after trying on a robe with a V-neck cut down to mid-chest with a skirt that barely covered her underwear.

"O that is just an adorable Hogsmeade outfit! What were you saying Lily? Class? Don't be such a country house elf--measurements of class always change. Why do you think fashions change so often? But oh dear, you don't have any thongs do you? We'll have to get you some proper underwear at Witchtoria's Secrets,"

"Thongs? Do we have to Petunia?"

"How else do you plan on wearing these red leather bellbottoms?" retorted Petunia as she held up a low-cut, midriff, bright red two-piece robe with a loose sliver chain belt. The top was a sleeveless leather tank top that laced up with brown leather strings in the front. Attached were red bellbottoms that clung to one's figure until the knee where they flared out. "Just trust me on this Lil."

"Whatever," mumbled Lily, "Could you ring this up for me, Madame?"

"Lily," said Petunia as they were having ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor after a stop at Witchtoria's Secrets. Lily figured she would have to cool down somehow after eyeing all the kinds of underwear Petunia had picked out for her. It would have been bad enough to wear them but to have to give boys peeps of leopard-skin patterned thongs as Petunia admonished her to just set Lily's face on fire.

"LILY!"

"Oops. Sorry. I got distracted," excused Lily as she tried in vain to banish thoughts of the bright red skimpy lace bras that Petunia had insisted she buy.

"Any-way. Like I was saying. I think we're almost done. We need to get 5-inch platforms at a muggle mall. They only sell 4-inch ones here. I'll teach you the spell to change your eye color to blue and the spell that um... glorifies your figure. Don't worry--it will be gradual enough for no one to notice. You'll look so much better now instead of the red hair, green eyes look. I PROMISE all the guys will be falling over themselves to get close to you. But before that, one last thing."

"Which is?" Lily asked wearily.

"You have to change your name."

"What? MY NAME? What does my name have to do with this?"

"Oh Lily. You sound s naïve. Your name is a part of your image. What image do you get when you think of lily? It's odd, lonely and a boring, white. How about something like... hm... a dandelion? They are flashy, pretty, and a bright yellow?"

"Dandelion?"

"Yeah. We can call you Delion (a/n: Accent is on the 'e' in 'De.' Pronounced 'Deli-On' for short.) And remember. You can't tell anyone your real name. Never ever."

"If you're sure... As long as I'm not a dork at Hogwats..."

"I promise. Sister's honor. I know about stuff like this."

That had been six years ago. Now Lily was not as sure. Was being eyed by every other guy in the hall a part of being popular? Was being referred to a "slut" a part also? She hoped so. She had done the "Voluptuous" spell once a week like Petunia had instructed and had been rewarded with an attractive figure. Whether it was a real spell or not, Lily never found out. (Who can trust a girl who can't even remember the 3 B's that she supposedly lives by?) Either way, she had a nice figure. But as Petunia had been her role model for six years, Lily didn't see an alternative but to trust her.

"MS. EVANS! It is enough that you allow the entire male population to stare at your um... neck! Must you sleep in class also?"

Lily jumped. "Oh! I'm sorry professor. I was just um..."

"Just what?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Just calculating how much money she made last night," muttered Same Kaye, a Ravenclaw in the same class.

"What was that MR. KAYE?"

"Nothing at all ma'am."

"Humph. Make sure it doesn't happen again, Ms. Evans."

"Yes, ma'am," answered Lily glaring at Sam as soon as Professor McGonagall turned around.

Besides her slut reputation, Lily was known as a slacker. Petunia had stressed the fact that she must always do her homework at the last moment (it was even better to copy someone else's) and never ever take notes in class. Lily wasn't dumb or anything--despite all the procrastinating and slacking off in class, she managed to get higher grades that most of the students in her class. Lily figured it would be better that being a nerd without any friends. "At least I have friends to eat lunch with," thought Lily as she sat downs at the table in the Great Hall.

Lily was friends with three of the four other Gryffindor sixth year girls. They weren't overly close but close enough to be considered friends. She was on good terms with Diane and Elita. They were however, the best of friends, and Lily didn¡¯t' feel right trying to get too close to either of them. After all, three is a crowd. Megan was just a plain girl. She was nice enough but stupid. She wasn't ditzy or anything just real dumb sometimes. Megan liked to make light of Lily for sleeping in class without knowing that Lily's grades were higher than hers. The only girl that seemed to despise Lily was Molly (a/n has no relation to Ron Weasley's mother), who was ironically, the "dork." Molly hated everything that Lily did. She would always sit as far as she could when the Gryffindor girls were together.

As for the other sixth year Gryffindor boys, there was Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, and Frank (a/n also no relation to Frank Longbottom). Yes, they did make those comments to Lily but according to Petunia, it was only because they liked her.

"Hey Delion, want to come up to my room tonight and try out my racing broomstick?" smirked Sirius as he sat down at the table.

Sirius was the lady's man. He had the bad boy look to him but always pretended to be over chivalrous. No one knew what was going on deep down in that mind of his. Maybe James, Remus, or Peter did but everyone else was busy laughing at his pranks and jokes.

"Dang, Sirius, you must be getting pretty desperate asking Miss Gryffindor Slut to assist you in your nightly pleasures," quipped James, the perfect boy--popular, funny, good-looking, good student, nice, rich... someone that had everything going for him--everything except one. He could never settle down on one girl. Of course that might have something to do with James' life philosophy: 'Life is short, girls are plenty. Why settle if you can have many?'

The little group burst out laughing at James' joke. Even Lily cracked a smile. Not because it was extremely funny, but she felt obliged to laugh along. (Petunia rule #187: Always smile when someone makes a joke using you. Jokes are how some guys flirt.) "But you guys, don't you think Delion can be offended by such a title?" Always good Remus thinking of others.

"Not to worry. Delion is laughing along with us. Right, Miss Dandelion?" Sirius asked putting his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"Yeah whatever," muttered Lily. "Hey look! Molly and Frank are holding hands!"

"WHERE? Let me see!" cried everyone as they strained to get the best view of Hogwarts official dork couple.

Lily was glad to divert the attention from her. It was an ever-lasting bet between the sixth year Gryffindors on how far Molly and Frank would go. Everyone agreed they were the perfect couple. They could always be seen together in the library, Great Hall, common room, and just about everywhere else. But exactly how far they had gone, no one knew.

"Petunia!" called Lily as she jumped up as she saw her sister walk into the Great Hall with her boyfriend, a tall, dark, and handsome knight who had come into Petunia's life on a white screech owl... um... I mean horse.

* * * * *

Petunia walked over with her boyfriend. "Yes, Delion?" Never once had Petunia made a mistake of calling Lily Lily. It was always Delion. After all, Lily was Petunia's sister and their reputations were directly proportional.

Lily motioned Petunia over to a corner and asked "Petunia... I'm having doubts about this whole ditz/slut thing. Every guy I talk to makes these comments about me... Today in class..."

"Really Delion? Wow. I guess you are really getting popular now. Now I must go talk to..."

"But Petunia are you sure about this?"

"(Sigh) Lily... I mean Dandelion Evans! What is Petunia's rule #1?"

"Never question anything Petunia says. She knows best."

"There you go. Now if you're down I have to go..."

"Ok. Thanks Petunia."

With that Lily rejoined the group and Petunia linked arms with her boyfriend who had been talking to Peter, his childhood playmate and good friend. "Honey, let's go."

"You don talking with Delion? I don't mind waiting..."

"No, it's okay. Bye you guys," called Petunia.

"Bye, Petunia. Bye, Snape! I'll talk to you later," called Peter as Petunia and Severus walked away.

Later that night after the day slowed down, Lily headed up to her room. Despite her talk with Petunia, Lily was still uncertain. But she banished the thoughts with a thought of getting a boyfriend like Severus. Lily opened the door to her room and was shocked to see a lily in a pot on her bedside table. "Maybe some guy actually does like me..." muttered Lily as she walked toward the flower.

The flower seemed to be magically charged as it had a soft glow around it. 'This is a magical flower that feeds on your words as well as water and sunlight. Replant it outside and take care of it until I return for it. I will reveal my identity if you have managed to take care of this flower,' was written on a card attached to the flower.

"But why me?" Lily asked to no one in particular.

Slowly the letters on the card shifted to show, "Because you are lovely. I hope your mind is lovely enough to take care of the flower as well," and with that it went up in green flames.

Lily stood in awe of the flower for a second. Then she made sure no one was in the room watching and she ran out to the Forbidden Forest. Right at the edge of the forest behind a tree, she knelt down and gently planed the flower. The flower was a white as newly fallen snow on a winter morning.

"So," muttered Lily, "I'm supposed to talk to you? What in the word do you say to a flower? Hope no one sees me...

"Do you know who you remind me of? Me. My name is Lily, too-- my real name. No one knows my name but you will. You can know me as Lily. I want to be able to remain my true self to you. Well... What else can I tell a flower? I guess I'll start by telling you about my day... today was an okay day. Not much happening in my life. Um... Sam Kaye made his usually comments as did about every other boy that talked to me...Just the usual. Except for you. (Here Lily did a half-smile.) I don't sound very happy do I? It's just that I've had some question about my life lately and I haven't been able to talk to anyone. Even my sister seems distracted lately. Oh well, it's getting dark now. I should go. I'll see you tomorrow."

Lily stood up and brushed off her knees, as her robes were too short to cover them. "Hm... I thought the lily was white white... like snow white... It looks like it's ivory white now... hm... maybe it's the light..."

With those thoughts Lily left the lily at the edge of the Forbidden Forrest.

Far off somewhere someone laughed a foul laugh, "All we have to do now is wait for our Lily to blossom..."

"And then?" encouraged a shrill voice.

"What else? Crush her!"

TO BE CONTINUED