A/N: This, is probably my favourite chapter to write so far. Hope it's your favourite to read! This would be DAY TWELVE of the deal, folks (just putting it out there).

Disclaimer: Don't own it…dayum.

Chapter Seven: Dangerous Flirtations

Showers are fantastic. (And that sounded a great deal more unsavoury than I would have liked it too, but I swear, it's not as seedy as it sounds.)

They give you a chance to be alone, sing or contemplate your life. (And that sounded a lot pansy…er than I would have liked it too.)

Which is what I have been doing this shower. (Does that make me a pansy? Absolutely not.) Minus the singing.

It's been a rather quiet couple of days in the life of James Potter. That is to say: I have been bored brainless.

I turned off the tap and grabbed my towel.

Yuck.

Looks like Sirius used it again. I grabbed a fresh one instead. The boy was gross, you could never know what had been near him.

Back to the real world and, more specifically, my Evans drama (because there is always Evans drama).

I didn't think that laying off from pranking would be so bloody difficult. It's like I'm having withdrawals only with less…twitching. Although… now that I thought about it, I had been doing that a little more often than usual lately.

I dried off my hair, and stared at my reflection in the mirror. It looked like I was having withdrawals or something.

Since my confession to Moony about my secret need to keep this deal going… well, I hadn't slept very well. In fact, some nights I hadn't exactly slept. Naturally, this didn't do so nicely on the features.

Yep, this Potter did not grade so nicely in the appearance department at the moment.

My eyes had dark circles surrounding them, and were slightly puffy. My voice cracked every now and then, and I felt all in all disgusting. No amount of showering could rid me of that feeling.

So today was going to be one of those hazy, can't-wait-to-be-over-so-I-can-sleep kind of days. Concentration would probably not occur. At all.

I wrapped the clean (not diseased by some disgusting friend – SIRIUS – of mine) towel around me, and stepped out of the bathroom –

Only to be tackled to the ground by a shaggy, dirty, and apparently enormous dog, who promptly began licking my face – and most likely giving me some kind of herpes in the process.

Sirius.

One day he'll die, and I'm willing to bet it won't be of natural causes (he's wanted dead by too many people and he's only sixteen).

I shoved the dog off me and it assumed the shape of my best friend who was, as it were, dressed only in his underpants.

"MORNIIING PRONGS!" he smiled cheerfully. Clearly he was oblivious to his attire. As any good friend would, I decided not to enlighten him on the situation.

This wasn't really the Sirius I knew – the constantly hung over spastic – nope, this wasn't him. This one was only spastic and on a day like today it was not good.

"Isn't it wonderful to be alive and kicking?! Let's sing a song about that!"

I repeat: not. Good.

"Are you high?"

"High on life, my boy!" Sirius's voice sounded amazingly like Professor Slughorn's, I had to take a moment to blink in surprise.

Blink, blink.

Okay that's enough of that. Now for the feeling of amazing discomfort at the idioticracyness of the best friend.

I don't know what was more disturbing – the fact that my friend wanted to sing so early in the morning, or the fact that he hadn't yet noticed his current state of almost-nudity.

He took a deep breath in, and I clamped my eyes shut, bracing myself from the vocal horror that was about to unfold…

"NOOOOOO!"

I opened my eyes, just in time to see Peter running faster than I though was possible for him.

To my horror (the visuals were not really what one would prefer to see so early in the day), he jumped on Sirius, and not to be mean, prevented any sound from escaping his mouth.

I saluted Peter, and received a humble nod in return.

I left the bathroom: firstly, it was only a matter of time before Sirius escaped from under Peter and chaos ensued; secondly, it was only a matter of time before Sirius realised he was only in his underwear and thirdly, I had higher priorities. Such as dressing myself, and regaining both a sense of innocence and sanity.

Or perhaps just my innocence.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So we were just up near the Astronomy Tower – not actually there, of course, because it was around eleven thirty at night, and that's peak hour – yeah anyways. We were snogging, you know, as you do, and it was pretty good. Some tongue action - "

"Padfoot, do we really -"

"- and some slight groping -"

"Now, really – there are first years!"

"- and then this massive bit of saliva gets passed from her mouth to mine -"

"Oh Merlin…"

"Honestly! It was as if she spat into my mouth -"

"He's such a charming fellow," I said to Remus.

"- and I think I might've tasted a bit of phlegm there too -"

"Yuck." "Ew." "You bloody wanker."

"And then she pulled away, and I opened my eyes and thought," he paused for a moment, staring into the distance, "'I will never snog a Slytherin ever again'."

Remus smacked his forehead with his hand in frustration at the blatant shallowness of Padfoot. I felt the same way.

Peter was looking extremely red, as if his mind had been violated.

"My mind has been violated." What can I say? My aunt has a history of telepathy.

I was a little grossed out still.

Sirius leaned against the wall of the corridor, casually crossing his legs. What a poser. "So…. What'd you lot get up to last night?"

"Not quite as much as you," I informed him.

"Yes, well, if you weren't so in love with a certain red-headed gal, that wouldn't be the case. Prongs you've got …" he trailed off as a 'certain red-headed gal' approached them.

Dayum. She even walked amazingly.

I watched her as she walked down the corridor, getting closer and closer.

When she was about three metres away, she looked up straight at me and smiled.

Actually. Smiled.

I felt dizzy. And high. And…woah.

"Hi James!" an unknown cheery voice declared.

Well, the voice wasn't exactly unknown. In fact, I knew exactly who it was – it was just this voice wasn't known to be cheery and hence an "unknown cheery voice" (yes, I confuse even myself sometimes). Which is what made it so darned surprising – I looked up to clarify.

This could not be. I mean … weren't we fighting? I hate women. No, wait, I love women. They're just so … confusing.

Sirius pulled my glasses off my shocked face, cleaned them for me, and placed them back on my face.

Yep, that was Lily Evans who had spoken.

I looked at Sirius, wearing my classic "what the blasted frog legs?!" look.

He replied with the classic "I don't know, but jeesh – I hope you never say 'blasted frog legs' again" look.

Lily was tapping her foot impatiently when I realised I'd better say something, otherwise my silence could be perceived as blatant rudeness.

"You're – uh – I'm – Hi!" About that Potter charm I'm supposed to have… it's gone.

In place of the degrading, witty remark I was so used to, I got another smile (two in one day!? – what was she playing at?), before Lily kept walking down the corridor.

"How could that possibly be Lily Evans?" I asked disbelievingly. It felt weird, after everything that had gone down between us.

"Well let's see: green eyes…check," Sirius began counting on his fingers (presumably because he'd lose count if he didn't), "Red hair… check, take-no-prisoners-Nazi-attitude… not check – must be good day. Female gender… questionable –"

I ignored all of this, mainly because Sirius was crazy and in any case, the past five minutes had left me feeling strangely awkward.

- - - - - - - - --

"Come in, dear children. I'd foreseen that you would be late in any case, so let's not waste any more precious time now, shall we?"

It was amazing – just when you though that voice couldn't sound any dreamier (or stoned, rather) … it did.

As we entered the room I couldn't help but notice the waft of smells. But then again, Divination was not Divination if there were no suspicious smells recognised directly after entry to the room.

Sirius and I placed our bags down and sat next to Peter (Remus had a nerdy class on at the same time) at the Marauding Divination Table. Which we'd originally set out to name, but had gotten lazy halfway through.

I glanced around the room.

Yep, as usual, the class was noticeably missing a couple of students. Divination was probably the only class that students didn't feel guilty skipping. I know I certainly didn't.

"Right. Now, about your assessment for this term -"

Oh crap… we have assessment for this class.

"- you will need partners. So I'd like you all to pair up please."

If I could do basic maths, we had three people at our bench.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Mr Potter?"

"We – er – have three people."

"Ahmm. Yes. Yes indeed. Well the stars and the moon have spoken," (perhaps those suspicious smells were suspicious…) "How about you go with Lily Evans?"

What the f-

"Sorry?"

Up until this point in my life, I hadn't been aware that my voice could pitch that high.

"You can partner with Miss Evans, if it's not too much trouble. I'm sure she doesn't bite."

I was slightly sceptical about that last statement.

"Oh, yes. Of course."

Either way, it was my lucky day. I promptly moved to the vacant seat next to Lily.

And thus my blood pressure increased tenfold.

I smiled a handsome smile to Lily, and couldn't help but think that I'd had a dream that went something like this…

"She's wrong, you know," Lily leaned in closer to me and whispered, "Sometimes… I do bite." Funnily enough the scepticism didn't return.

Had I been eighty-something years old, I would have had a heart attack right there.

Lily. Had. Just. Flirted. With. Me. That is not her style.

She grinned at my shocked expression and leaned back calmly.

"Today we will be crystal gazing. Make note that you have an assignment due in exactly one month. In terms of class preparation, you shall work with your assigned partner for the entire task -" I glanced at Lily, who had apparently been staring at me like some crazed stalker. When our eyes met, she smiled a little too enthusiastically and batted her eyelids. "- remember, you cannot learn the innermost, innerfelt, interesting powers of the inner eye in small time confinements." That's a lotta "in's".

"On that note: Get to it, class!"

"How great is it that we're partners? We're definitely a good pair," Lily smiled slyly.

Having no idea of how I should react to this, I went with a classic – the nervous laugh.

"You know what… I'm just gonna get a crystal ball."

I sped over to the shelves and took a deep breath. This was strange.

The rest of the lesson followed a pattern: Lily flirts, I'm weirded out; Lily flirts, I get a little used to it; Lily flirts, I flirt back.

"So… your turn to gaze," I told her.

"Gaze? Into your dreamy eyes, do you mean?"

I laughed.

"If you like, but it might be more productive if you gazed into the crystal ball?"

Lily pouted.

"Fine," she pretended to be annoyed.

As she gazed into the glowing crystal ball, I couldn't help but notice her eyes reflecting the light perfectly, bringing out the extreme green colour they had.

"See anything of interest?" I asked her.

"Mmm… I see you… and me, walking along. The sun is setting behind us and we're holding hands. Then we stop, look at each other and - "

The bell rang loudly, cutting her off.

I released my (apparently held) breath and the tension in my shoulders vanished.

"Saved by the bell!" I laughed awkwardly and began packing my books with admirable speed.

"Aren't you lucky… this time," said the incredibly horny Lily in her dominatrix "almost seductive but more like completely petrifying" voice.

I smiled weakly once more, to hide my grimace. It had seemed natural at one point through the lesson… but somehow she had flipped back to the extremely strange Lily. The one who I would not at all be shocked if told she was a sex addict.

I nodded a goodbye and promptly began to run (or power walk) out of the room.

I saluted myself on another quick escape. GO, Potter, go! Women were so –

"James?! James, wait up!"

And so the complete un-success of my escape kicked in.

Nothing I could possibly have done in the five seconds I had could possibly have prepared me for the events to follow.

In a fashion I would normally have called "fantasy" or "dream like", Lily caught up to me, all smiley in a cute but not entirely innocent way.

"Hey," she said ever-so-softly. I could basically hear the violins in the background.

And of course, I could hear the violins over the hum of tension between us in the deserted hallway. It was a loud hum of tension too – had Sirius been present he would have stomped his feet and stuck a Spanish pose, and said (most likely in a French accent, such was the power of his brain), "Sex-u-ale ten-si-on!"

"Hi," I breathed. How amazingly feminine of me.

She stepped exceptionally close to me, stood on her tippy toes and looked up at me (after all, she was shorter than normal and I was too tall). Leaning forwards, I thought she was going to kiss me, but instead she turned my head and whispered in my ear.

"I'm free this Friday night… anything you wanted to ask me?"

She withdrew to close-proximity-but-without-close-faces stance.

"Erm…" I cleared my throat, "Well – er – if you aren't busy, wich you aren't because you told me, so I already know that uh… if you're not busy perhaps you'll, um -"

I stopped. This was strange. It was like something was holding me back from asking her out…

"Would you…" I attempted again.

But I stopped. Something wasn't right. I was forgetting something important…

"Yes…?" Lily prompted, placing her arms on my shoulders.

And then it clicked.

The Deal!

That evil… ball of evil… bitch. She was trying to get me to ask her out.

Well, I'd show her. I am not that gullible.

"James?" Lily asked, concerned, most likely, with the slowness of my brain function.

I leant in really, really close to her.

"You… are so evil," I said with a smirk eviler than my tone of voice.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I know what you're trying to do… and it won't work."

Immediately Lily put a metre between us and crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

"Well, I know what you're doing and it won't work," she said triumphantly.

"We'll just see about that," I said, completely calm.

"Keep dreamin' sweetie," I tried to ignore how much I loved her calling me 'sweetie', particularly in that voice.

"You too, sugar!" And another witty remark from Potter Incorporated.

"That was cutting it very fine, you know. I almost had you, Potter."

"Oh, and you'd just love to have me," I said cheekily.

"Dream on."

"Believe me, I will," smiling mischievously.

I knocked shoulders as we passed each other, making menacing faces all the way; storming off in different directions.

I was going to win this deal if it killed me.

Fifty metres later, I realised I was storming off in the wrong direction.

Bollocks.

A/N: So I hope this goes down well. Plus sorry about the … er… long wait. I sure wish that this makes up for all the time, though I have the sneaky feeling it doesn't.

100 love,

Michelle

(Oh and psst: it was my birthday yesterday … [yes, that was a very subtle hint ;))