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Lily had a collection of flower crowns. Rather fitting, she supposed, her name being a flower. She wasn't the one that had collected them, or made them. Well, she hadn't been knowingly collecting them. It wasn't like she went out and found flower crowns, and thought to herself oh this would look pretty in my trunk!
It was more a case of the flower crowns finding her. Rather literally too. It was a rather common situation Lily had found herself. They were well crafted flower crowns too, all an array of different flowers. A lot of the time they were flowers Lily hadn't seen around the grounds of Hogwarts. All of them were beautiful.
She couldn't deny that suddenly receiving flower crowns left her feeling special, despite the confusion that also came with it. The latest crown had appeared on her head in the middle of charms, much to everyone's surprise.
Beside her Mary had started laughing, and poking at it to make it lopsided. Professor Flitwick had stopped mid-sentence to just stare at it. Lily supposed that made sense.
The thing was, whoever was making the flower crowns was incredibly intelligent. To be able to do a spell to so perfectly transport an object onto another person without them noticing, and in the halls of Hogwarts, it was amazing.
Sometimes, they'd come with tiny notes. Little love confessions, and poems. It was all rather sweet, Lily had to admit.
She just wished she knew who the flower crowns were from!
Lily knew she wasn't the only person in all of Hogwarts to get flowers crowns. Her ones though, they did seem special. They came with notes, and they were almost always a lot more detailed. The latest crown, the one she'd received in charms class, was made of thornless red roses and red chrysanthemums.
It was beautiful, though she wasn't sure if red was really her colour. Especially not in her ginger hair. Still, she liked it. It had been easy to cast the same few preservation spells she'd been using on all the others.
"You know that crown is a symbolism for love," Marlene told her as she watched Lily add it to her collection.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked. Of course, red roses meant love but she'd never heard of any other meanings.
"You know Dorcas' friend Pandora?" she asked, Lily nodded not sure where it was going. "Well she knows all about Victorian flower language, she's got a few books on it."
"Oh," Lily muttered. Pandora was a nice girl. A little out of the world, and incredibly intelligent in her own sort of way. There was a creativity to her genius. Not to mention she was completely stunning.
"Yeah, she was telling me and Dorcas about red chrysanthemums and red roses. Both mean love. The chrysanthemums mean I love you, and the roses mean love and passion," she told her. Lily hummed.
From the notes Lily had already known that the crowns were coming from a secret admirer. She just hadn't known how much thought was going into it. It made her heart flutter slightly in her chest.
"Who do you think is sending them?" Lily asked, glancing over her shoulder to look at Marlene. It took a brief second, but Marlene shrugged.
"Someone, probably," Marlene answered her. There was something to how Marlene answered that had Lily humming in disbelief, and squinting at her slightly.
"You know, don't you?" she asked. Marlene shrugged again, and looked down to the book she'd been reading.
"Marlene!" Lily complained. "I have to know who it is."
"Lily, you're brilliant. You'll figure it out," Marlene told her, offering her a smile as she glanced up from the book. "Can I have some help with my transfig homework?"
"No," Lily said. Usually she'd be willing to offer some form of support and help for homework. "You're not helping me with figuring our my secret admirer."
"Oh come on!" Marlene whined. "You're so mean."
"So are you," she shot back. Lily sat in front of her growing collection, and gently ran her finger tips over the flower petals. She wondered if the other crowns had meaning, if the other flowers had been carefully picked out to whisper confessions upon unknowing ears.
"Will I like who it is?" Lily asked, holding up the first crown she had gotten. The yellow almost daisy like flowers had settled rather nicely in her hair, along with the nice pale white flowers, with the deep purple centres. It was one of her favourites, though she loved it both for it's beauty and it's beginning of something so wonderful.
"Yeah, I think you will," Marlene confirmed quietly. Lily smiled and nodded slightly.
"I'm going to start wearing them, sometimes," she decided, carefully placing the crown back in it's spot. Her hands hovered over a pink and yellow flower crown. She rather liked that one. Besides, it suited her outfit.
Lily had truly taken to wearing the old flower crowns in her collection. They just suited her so well, and they were so fun to wear. And, well, maybe they'd catch her secret admirers attention! Was it really so bad to hope?
"Oh cool, she gets you too," Barty Crouch Jr said, one day in the library.
"What? Who?" Lily asked. Barty's eyes widened slightly as he remembered someone.
"Who is?" Lily asked, staring right at him.
"You know," Barty said. "I just remembered I've got this really hot date planned. With this real hot boy. And I gotta go, do, that, him, yeah." Lily stared after him as he practically sprinted through the library. Coward, she thought to herself. Absolute bastard, she added.
Lily glared after his retreated form and huffed. If he did have some hot date, he was an utter idiot for going to the library. If it was just an excuse, he was just as much of an idiot.
She'd figure it out. Lily was sure of it. Of course, she could go ask for help. There were plenty of people she had befriended that would be willing to help, or go out and figure it out for her. But, well, there was something to figuring it out herself.
The thing was, Lily was certain she had all the pieces to the puzzle. She just, hadn't gotten around to arranging them, and she didn't know how big of a puzzle it were. She hadn't even started placing the corner pieces yet. The frame wasn't built. How could she solve it if even the simplest part was not yet complete?
It was several days later, that Lily figured it out. Unfortunately not off her own merit. She'd started her day with one of the older flower crowns, red and yellow. It matched her school robes, and some of the professors even let her keep it on in class. It was rather pretty.
Lily hadn't really thought about the problems always wearing the old crowns might cause for getting new ones. She'd just wanted to show her appreciation, and really they'd started to grow on her. But then, really it should have been obvious. If something was already resting around her head, then how could her secret admirer send her another?
Well, the good thing was her secret admirer didn't want to stay a secret forever. The even better news was, Pandora had thought Lily had been doing it on purpose.
Lily had been sat on a bench, reading over homework nearing the end of her free period, when Pandora had come floating up. She was sure that Pandora really could actually float and drift through the halls if she so wished. She'd come up to Lily, while hiding something behind her back with both hands.
"Oh, hello Pandora," Lily had greeted, once she'd noticed Pandora's shadow over the essay.
"Lily," she said. Pandora's voice had the mysterious ability to make Lily feel like she was floating, and falling all at once. In a good way, of course. "You've been wearing your crowns recently."
"Yes, they're gorgeous aren't they?" she asked. Pandora smiled brightly, and nodded.
"I'm glad you like them," Pandora said. "I thought you'd like another for the collection. I'd have sent it the normal way," she continued. That was when it all clicked for Lily.
Marlene had said that it was Pandora that knew a lot about Victorian flower language. It was through Pandora that Marlene had been able to tell Lily what the flower crown meant.
Barty knew Pandora. They were good friends. The two Ravenclaws that spent all their time in the Slytherin common room. And she had seen him in a flower crown once or twice. She'd seen Pandora's other friends in them too, even a very grumpy Regulus one time.
Oh how could she have been so stupid! It was obvious, so painfully strikingly obvious. Marlene had even said she'd like who it was. That should have been a hint in and of itself.
"Does this one mean anything?" Lily asked, carefully lifting the red and yellow crown from her head to rest gently in her lap.
"Sorry?" Pandora asked, slightly confused. She looked adorable with her eyebrows slightly scrunched together, and her head just barely tilted.
"Marlene said that the red one with roses and chrysanthemums meant love," Lily said, glancing down slightly as she blushed.
"Oh, I didn't think she'd let that slip," she muttered. Pandora reached over and settled the new crown on her head.
"So?" Lily asked, smiling up at her. Pandora blushed slightly but nodded.
"It has meaning," she confirmed. Lily sighed, she hadn't gotten a very good look at the flowers, and she wasn't sure she could figure out what they were. Her older sister Petunia had always cared more for gardening than she had.
"Would you want to go to Hogsmead with me next weekend?" Lily asked. Pandora truly did blush then, but she smiled at Lily. "Like, just the two of us."
"I'd love to go on a date with you Lily," Pandora said. "We can arrange it at dinner."
"Yeah," she agreed, smiling up at her. Pandora nodded slightly and stepped back. The bell rung, and Pandora sighed but waved slightly before wandering away. Lily watched after her for a moment, a blush slowly rising on her cheeks.
She'd ask Pandora at dinner what the crown meant, and what flowers they were. For now she was happy to carefully tuck the red and yellow crown she'd started out the day with into her bag, and head for her next class.