The Lily in the Snow

The Lily in the Snow: A First Year Story

Eleven-year-old Lily Evans trudged up to the greenhouses. The first snowfall of the winter season fell heavy and hard in a massive blizzard and she was walking right through the result: about what seemed like a million feet of piled up snow. The fact that she was heading toward her first detention ever did not help her mood at all.

How did she even get detention over the winter holidays? She winced at the memory.

-

Just last week she was walking down one of the hallways towards the library to research facts for holiday homework. 'Better get it finished as soon as possible,' she thought, 'to get it out of the way.' Her intentions were as innocent as they could possibly be. She had no idea what she was about to walk right into.

BOOM! Something exploded. Somebody let out a long, out-of-tune screech. 'McGonagall,' she thought. 'I pity the person who did that.' A bunch of boys popped out of nowhere and shoved a whole bunch of stuff into her hands. "Wh-what?" she said, completely bewildered. The boys, one with sandy hair, one with roan-brown hair, and the last two with black hair, started running as far away from her as they could possibly get in the few seconds they had before McGonagall would come out of her office. Three of the boys, the sandy-haired, the roan- brown, and one of the boys with black hair, darted into an empty classroom. The fourth one, unruly black hair with glasses, got the door slammed in his face.

"Sirius!" he yelled, pounding on the door.

Lily looked down in her hands. 'A pack of Filibuster Fireworks,' she thought. 'No, no, no,' she groaned inwardly to herself. She was about to throw the pack at the boy with glasses, who was still yelling at his friends to open the door, and make a run for it, but she never got a chance to.

McGonagall stormed out of her office. Her face was as red as a beet and was screwed up in anger. "You two!" she screeched, pointing at both the boy and Lily. "In my office! NOW!"

Lily turned to look at the boy with glasses. She heard him groan.

Quietly, Lily turned and followed McGonagall into her office. She heard the boy follow.

And that is how she received her very first detention ever.

-

Lily finally made it to the greenhouses for her detention sentenced with Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher. Coming from not too far behind her was the boy, glasses and unruly black hair as she remembered, James Potter as she had learned.

When he caught up to her, his deep brown eyes looked down on her, being about a head taller. "Hey," he greeted her. Then he looked down. He didn't want to be there any more than her.

"Hey," she said back to him. After all, it wasn't just him who got her in trouble. There were those other guys too.

The pair of them both waited, just standing there with their gloved hands stuffed into the pockets of their thick black winter cloaks. White air escaped their lips as they breathed.

--

James sighed. He couldn't believe that he had gotten them in trouble. He never got in trouble!

He glance sideways at the girl. Her red hair was a splash of color against the white snow. Her cheeks were rosy from the biting cold. She didn't look angry. 'Thank God,' he thought. He hated when people were angry at him (with the exception of teachers and Slytherins).

Lily Evans, as he had learned her name was, wasn't that bad. She hadn't filched on the rest of the Marauders.

"Mr. Potter? Miss Evans?" a voice called, interrupting his thoughts. They both looked up.

"This is detention so don't expect this to be easy," she informed them. "All of my prickleweed in the greenhouses have died out. You can only gather seeds from the wild plants the day after the first snowfall." She looked at each of them in turn. "That is what you two will be doing. Wild pricklweed can be found near the small trees at the edge of the forest." She paused. "Prickleweed have feelings." At that statement, both Lily and James looked at each other skeptically. "Yes, I said that prickleweed have feelings. You have to ask politely to take seeds. Some may snap or bite. Walk away from those and try not to irritate them or we'll not get any seeds at all."

Briskly, Professor Sprout walked across the grounds to the edge of the forest, followed by Lily and James, quickly scurrying to catch up to her.

Once they started, they quickly found out that prickleweed had very short tempers, and if you didn't ask for the seeds in the exact tone or way that they wanted, the would bite at you.

Despite the obvious threat to their fingers, Lily and James enjoyed themselves, laughing at each other when they got bitten at. And Lily even seemed to have forgotten that she was there because of detention.

After an hour or so of the same thing, they got tired of the whole routine: ask plant for seed, get bitten at, ask again. Both took seats against trees whenever Professor Sprout was too far away to see. They wanted to go back to the castle, thinking of warm dinners and deep beds that awaited them when they returned.

Professor Sprout disappeared from their sight yet again. The pair chose a tree just large enough for both of them to lean against. Lily shut her eyes and sighed. "Is it over yet?" she asked out loud.

"Exactly my thoughts," James commented. He sighed, and his breath turned white as they left his lips in the cold atmosphere. Looking straight ahead, he saw something unusual during the middle of winter. A solitary flower sat firmly planted at the foot of a tree directly across from them. "Look," he said to Lily, pointing at the flower. Lily opened her eyes and followed his direction. She gasped.

"A lily," he said, looking at her.

And it was. The white lily blended in with the whiteness of the snowy surroundings, but once spotted, the beauty was amazing against the barren snow.

She smiled. Detentions aren't that bad. At least this one wasn't. And they sat there, gloved hand in gloved hand, marveling at the single flower in the middle of winter... And it wasn't that cold anymore. It wasn't so bad.