3. Tutoring and Wagers

Lily pulled the dormitory door closed behind her and gently leant back onto it, momentarily closing her eyes. What was she doing? Why had she let herself be talked in to this? Okay, so Clara had claimed that Potter was a fantastic teacher and had helped her go from an A to an O in Transfiguration, but that did not mean he'd be able to help her. Potter had not had a three year long crush on Clara, had not hounded her at every given opportunity. Would he be able to forget about his crush on her during these sessions? What if she had just unwillingly given Potter permission to start harassing her again? She had never been on her own with Potter before and now she was worried he would see this as the perfect opportunity to flirt with her, and Merlin only knows what else.

Lily shook her head to rid it of those thoughts and took a deep, calming breath. Potter had stated that his intentions were honourable (Lily grinned to herself as she recalled his choice of words) and she had to give him the chance to prove that. Lily told herself that if the session started taking a turn for the worse she could always leave, it's not like she'd be locked in the room with him, she would be free to leave whenever she liked.

With that thought firmly in her mind, Lily made her way slowly down the staircase to the common room.

James was lounging on the sofa by the fire, seemingly deep in conversation with Sirius. He had obviously had one eye on the staircase to the girls' dormitory because as soon as Lily appeared he jumped up from his seat, clapped Sirius on the shoulder and made his way over to Lily, a grin on his face and his hand automatically going up to his hair.

'Evening, Lily,' James said in a slightly less formal manner than in his last conversation with Lily. 'I was beginning to think you'd had second thoughts about this evening,'

'Sorry I'm late, I lost my wand and then Lucinda kept me chatting,' Lily replied, rearranging the books in her arms, avoiding looking at James.

James grinned at her awkward, blatantly obvious, nervousness. 'Let me carry some of those... before you drop them all. You won't be needing them though, not for what I have planned.'

'Excuse me?' Lily stated indignantly, her cheeks rouging as the thoughts about James she had shook from her mind only moments ago came back to her. 'What is that supposed to mean?'

Laughing at Lily's panicked face, James took the books out of her hands before answering. 'Just that my way of teaching involves more practical learning; you don't learn anything from poring over those boring old text books. Come on, let's go, we're wasting valuable learning time.'

James made his way to the portrait hole, looking back at the other Marauders and nodding his goodbye to them as he opened the entrance to the common room. Lily hesitated for a moment before following him. James held the portrait open for Lily then followed her out onto the seventh floor corridor.

'Do you really believe that you can't learn anything from books, Potter?' Lily asked as she waited for James to lead the way to wherever they were going, the annoyance of his dismissive attitude to her text books evident in her voice. 'They are highly valuable learning tools, without them we wouldn't know what incantations and wand movements to use for what spell.'

With an affectionate grin on his face, James strolled purposefully down the empty, silent seventh floor corridor, heading to the disused classroom right at the end, deliberately not looking back at Lily. 'Okay, I'll give you that - they are good for finding out the incantation and wand movement, but once you know that they are very little use.'

'What about the theory behind the spells? We wouldn't know that without text books,' Lily stated vehemently, determined to prove her point to Potter.

James snorted at this. 'The theory behind the spells?! Why do we need to know the theory behind the spells?'

'Of course we need to know the theory, it is very important. why else would we be tested on it in our exams!' Lily replied heatedly, feeling her anger rise at James's attitude to their school work.

'We only need to know that to pass the exams, to show we have an understanding of the importance of the spell, which I think is common sense really. Knowing the theory and history behind the spell won't make you any more adept at performing it.'

Despite her disagreement to his comments, Lily held her tongue and made no reply as they continued down the corridor, not wanting to lose her temper and start an argument with James before he had even started the first tutoring session. As they reached the end of the corridor, James opened the door to the abandoned classroom and held it open for Lily to enter. The classroom was small in comparison to the ones they usually used for lessons and it was obvious it hadn't been used as a classroom for many years. Dust covered desks stood stacked along one wall of the room and rickety looking chairs along the opposite wall. Long forgotten instructions were written on the blackboard at the front of the classroom, barely legible beneath the layers of dust. It looked as though someone had already been there to prepare for the evening's session though; the lanterns had been lit prior to their arrival, filling the room with a warm glow. A desk and two chairs had been wiped clean and positioned in the middle of the room and a jug of fresh pumpkin juice and two glasses stood in the centre of the desk next to a lidded box.

'It all comes from the mind, Lily,' James said suddenly, following on from what he had said previously, shutting the door behind him and smiling at Lily as she took in her surroundings. 'If it was just about saying words and waving a wand any old Muggle would be able to perform magic if they had the right book.'

Lily raised her eyebrows, surprised by this insightful statement. 'I'd never thought of it like that,' she stated, grudgingly admitting that James made a good point. She still didn't agree that learning the theory of spells wasn't important but she ignored her instinct to argue her point, deciding that she could learn the theoretical stuff in her own time. Not knowing what else to do, Lily sat down.

'Well, I'm just going to be teaching you how to actually perform the spells, if you feel it's important you can read up on the theory later,' James said as if he had just read her mind, putting Lily's books on the table as he sat down next to her and poured them both a glass of pumpkin juice. 'I think the best way to do this would be for you to show me what you've already learnt and the spells you are already confident performing. Let's start with the basics.'

Lily looked on in puzzled silence as James pulled the lid off the box and produced a small rock, a large book and a tortoise from inside.

'What on earth have you brought those for?' Lily asked suspiciously.

'For you to Transfigure, Lily,' he answered simply before taking a swig of pumpkin juice.

'Why? How is that going to help me? I'm struggling with human transfiguration... those items are not human!' Lily looked at James as if he was crazy, starting to think she was crazy too for thinking this tutoring was a good idea.

James grinned briefly, running his hand through his already messy hair, but quickly turned his expression serious. 'Like I said, Lily, we'll start with the basics. I know you can Transfigure all these items, and going back to the basics can help you go forward to confidently performing the more complex spells.' Lily raised her eyebrows disbelievingly at James, to which he replied, 'Trust me, Lily.'

Lily wasn't sure she would ever trust James Potter – trust had to be earned and he had never before given her reason to trust him. But, she thought, she was here now and she might as well get on with it; after all, it couldn't make her any worse at Transfiguration.

'Okay, what exactly do you want me to Transfigure the rock into?' Lily asked sceptically, pulling her wand out of the waistband of her skirt.

Without standing up, James picked up the rock and put it at his feet. 'Well, I think a nice footstool would be good, much more comfortable than this. Do you think you can do that?' James leant back in his chair and crossed his feet onto the rock and his arms over his chest.

'Of course I can.' Lily replied curtly. Who did James Potter think he was, arrogantly lounging back in that chair patronizing her? She took a deep breath, exhaled slowly then with great determination pointed her wand at the rock. With a quick swish of the wand the rock vanished and James's feet were now comfortably rested on a plush, cushioned foot stool.

James ran his hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. 'Well done, Lily, a grand footstool, and a marvellous bit of non-verbal Transfiguration. I'm still not comfortable though. How about you Transfigure that book into a nice plump cushion for me to lean on. A nice red one.'

Lily could feel her anger rising and didn't trust herself to reply to James's condescending comments. So, concentrating on the spell in her head, she waved her wand at the book. Immediately the book was replaced with a luxurious, red cushion with gold tassles at the corners.

'Perfect!' James stated with a wide grin, grabbing the cushion and putting it behind his back, fidgeting exaggeratedly.

'What do you want me to turn the tortoise into? A crown?' Lily asked with more than a hint of sarcasm.

'I was going to ask for a bowl, but I like the idea of a crown, I think it would suit me.'

Lily grinned in a falsely sweet way before turning her wand on the tortoise and easily transfiguring it. 'Actually, Potter, I think this head wear is much more appropriate for you.'

'Thank you, Lily,' James said through his laughter as Lily placed the red and gold, velvet jester's hat on his head.

'Perfect!' Lily mimicked James's earlier words with a smirk. 'I was right; it suits you much better than a crown would.'

'I think you're right, Lily.' James said still laughing. 'Ok, I think we're ready to start on some human transfiguration now.'

'Are you sure, Potter? You have all the luxuries you need now, do you?'

'I think I do, Lily, I'm quite comfortable now thank you. You did very well.'

'Oh, I'm so glad,' Lily said sarcastically before taking a sip of pumpkin juice. 'So, let's see how good your teaching skills really are! You've proved you're very good at condescending me while watching me perform magic I could already do... now for you to get me to perform human transfiguration!'

'Ah, Lily, condescending you is all part of my tutoring style... It's the reason I will succeed where old McGonagall hasn't! For some reason I get you riled up, so I think you'll find it much easier to Transfigure me than you do Transfiguring any of your friends, purely because you'll put some passion into it.' James jumped up from his seat, taking off the jester's hat and throwing it onto the table. 'Now for me to be proved right – why don't we start simple and turn my gorgeous hair red.'

Lily snorted as James ran his hand through his hair. To Lily's eyes his mop of hair was far from gorgeous. She did think he may have point though; she'd enjoy making him look silly and so she would probably find it easier to perform the spells to do so. His explanation for his persistent arrogance annoyed her however, what a load of rubbish! It would be far more believable if he wasn't so pompous twenty four seven.

'The incantation for any hair switching/changing spells is "Capillatio" followed by what you want to Transfigure it to.'

'I know the incantations, Potter... I learnt them from my text books!' Lily stated irritably before pointing her wand at James. 'Capillatio rutilus.'

James's hair briefly turned a dark auburn shade before immediately returning to his normal jet black colour. Lily sighed in frustration. 'Try again, this time with more of a flick on the second part of the incantation.'

Lily tried again several times, really exaggerating the flick of her wand but to no avail, each time James's hair vaguely changed colour before instantly returning to normal. After each attempt James offered advice on her wand work and incantation pronunciation. When none of this appeared to help James suggested trying a different colour, suggested green with the idea that he would hate having his hair the colour of Slytherin. There was slight improvement with this suggestion; James's hair turned green for a few seconds before gradually returning to normal. After the fifth time of this happening Lily slammed her wand down onto the table.

'I give up! I'm never going to be able to do this.'

'Of course you will, Lily. You're a very talented witch.' James assured her. 'That magic you performed earlier was perfect! And you'll perfect human transfiguration too.'

'I doubt that, Potter. I may as well give up Transfiguration now,' Lily stated sadly.

'Don't be daft. I won't let you do that! Just see today as a kind of warm up session, tomorrow will be much better,' James asserted with a reassuring smile. 'Lily, I reckon that by the end of this week I can make you so good at Transfiguration that you'll be able to perform a complete human Transfiguration spell.'

'Really? You've seen how bad I am! You think you're that good of a teacher do you?'

'I don't think, I know. I bet by the end of the week you'll be able to transfigure me into a...' James paused here, a thoughtful look on his face, apparently considering what Lily would change him into, '... a stag!'

Lily laughed. 'A stag? You think I'll be able to turn you into a stag by the end of the week when I can't even turn your hair a different colour?' James nodded, a huge grin on his face. 'You either have a lot of faith in my ability to learn and your ability to teach, or you are totally insane! If you manage to teach me to turn you successfully into a stag then I will come to your party on Saturday.'

'I thought you were coming anyway. Alison said that Lucinda made you agree to come to give her moral support for her date.' James's face fell slightly as he continued. 'She also said you did so reluctantly.'

Lily scowled at the thought of Lucinda's interference to her exam revision. 'Yes, she did. And I was reluctant, I am reluctant, but...' Lily blushed. 'If you can manage to teach me that... I'll come to your party as your date!'

Unexpectedly, James did not cheer up at this but smiled sadly. 'Lily... I don't want you to be my date, certainly not as a result of a bet. Believe it or not, that's not why I agreed to tutor you. I just want you to have the confidence to perform the magic that I know you're more than capable of.'

The room fell silent, both James and Lily avoiding the other's eye. After a moment, James gathered Lily's books and headed towards the door. 'I think we are done for this evening, we can pick up where we left off tomorrow.'