Alright, so here is the next chapter. I am not quite sure how I feel about it but let me know what you guys think. I am having some trouble with James emotions so it might seem like too much, but he should be feeling many different things at a moment like this should he not? I just hope it comes off as not too dramatic and somewhat believable. Sorry it took so long getting to you guys and thanks so much for the reviews, they are very very much appreciated. So read on and I hope you guys like!

Chapter 7

Lily coughed nervously. "Alright, um, how should we go about doing this?" She stood in front of James only a few feet away, her arms crossed across the front of her chest.

James smirked at her complete lack of composure; how could a person be so socially inept yet so attractive and endearing? He stepped closer to her and she immediately turned her gaze to her feet.

"Well, I think first we should work on conversation. Conversation is a very important part of any sort of… relationship." He hated uttering that word; to think that he was giving her advice on how to develop a relationship with someone other than himself. It made him sick to his stomach.

"Yes that's very logical. Let's do that," she said, as she nodded vehemently. The studious Lily had once again reared its ugly, yet irresistible, head. Was she going to treat this like any other class at Hogwarts, with cold determination and simple hard work? He didn't know if he liked that or not. Well, he certainly didn't enjoy the cold detachment aspect, but the idea of her working hard… with him… well that was certainly enticing.

It was there first lesson, the first time he was the teacher and she the student. At the realization that he was now the one in control, he had been able to gain a little bit of his cool composure back. Now she was the student, the one inept and fumbling, looking for assistance. And he was almost his old charming self again, almost. He had told her earlier in the day across the breakfast table that they would be meeting in the Astronomy Tower, and he had received an embarrassed giggle and deep blush in response. The flush an obvious result of the recollection of the incredible kiss they had shared in that same room only days before. That was part of the reason he had chosen the location. He had decided soon after agreeing to be part of this plan that he was going to make it as hard as possible for her to ignore him. And that included all means of seduction, from charm to the simple ambience of the room-nothing was below him. If he was going to get his heart broken he wanted to at least say that he made a decent effort before getting thrown to the gutter.

"I also think it is very important that you learn to be a bit more composed and confident around other blokes as well."

She frowned deeply and straightened her rigid pose even more. "I don't know what you mean. I feel like I'm quite normal around regular boys."

James laughed before taking another step closer to her. She swallowed loudly before taking a step backwards herself. He took another step closer and she again backed up. This continued until she was firmly against the cold stone tower wall. She quickly looked to either side, realizing the position she was in, and James couldn't help but see the close resemblance to a helpless animal trapped in a corner. But instead of feeling sorry for her, a wicked smirk danced across his face. Yes, Lily was certainly between a rock and a hard place; the wall being the rock and the hard place… well, let your imagination wander.

He stepped again closer to her, putting his body against hers. He placed each of his hands squarely on the wall around her, caging her inside his arms. He looked down at her and saw her head turned nervously to the side. He could smell her, that wonderful scent that he still couldn't quite place. He felt her body turn rigid against his as he pushed his body into hers, pressing her harder into the wall.

"So? Right now, how do you feel? How should you be handling this situation Lily?"

"James, I, uh, I think any girl would be a little nervous in this situation. Why do you expect me to do right now?" She laughed nervously and shifted against him, trying desperately to escape his gaze, the closeness to his body, the entire situation. Unfortunately, the nervous fidgeting only made James more aroused. His voice took on a husky, deeper quality.

"Well Lily, most girls would think they were about to be kissed about now. And most girls wouldn't be frowning apprehensively. Many girls would welcome the idea of a kiss."

She finally looked up at him, their faces only inches apart. She looked him in the eye for a moment before switching her stare to his lips.

"Are you planning on kissing me though James?" The perfect thing to say at a moment like this, James thought, but said in the completely wrong way. There had been no tone of seduction or flirtation like he would have wanted; it had simply been an earnest question full of curiosity and innocence.

"Do you want me to kiss you Lily?" He couldn't stop himself from asking.

She tore her eyes from his mouth and stared into his eyes. She seemed to be pondering the question as James stared back, eyes undoubtedly full of lust and adoration.

After several seconds she answered, "If you think it will benefit the lessons, I suppose I would."

He couldn't look at her right then. He let out a pathetic, sad laugh at the realization that she really was blind to his charm. Studious Lily, always focused, always on track. He took his hands off the wall and stepped back, releasing her. He edged backwards, sliding his hand through his hair out of habit. He turned his gaze to the tattered rug beneath his feet before responding.

"Uh, you know, I think today we should just stick to basic social interaction. But that will have to be worked on eventually; I'm glad you're so… determined. Let's just take it slow okay?" He laughed at that last sentence; it was something he never thought he would utter, especially not to Lily.

"Okay let's just get back to work." He smiled and got a small one in return, one that made him ache a little inside.

"So we were talking about conversation before… Well, that was a perfect example of the necessity of keeping your cool. A guy isn't attracted to girls who are just huge balls of nerves… not sane guys anyways. A guy wants a girl with confidence. She needs to be able to talk without looking flustered or speechless; she needs to leave him flustered and speechless. A guy doesn't want a girl who gets embarrassed easily or uncomfortable at the idea of kissing him. You need to ooze confidence Lily; you need to never show what you're really feeling in order to keep the upper hand. And believe me, you need to keep the upper hand."

Lily looked puzzled. "That doesn't seem right. I can't show what I really feel so that he'll like me? That doesn't seem right at all."

"No, I agree, but this is only in the beginning. Despite what they might say, guys enjoy the chase, the witty banter, the flirtatious quips; it's all part of a big game. And you are the ultimate prize. If you show your feelings for him too fast, it will seem too easy and he'll lose interest. That's why you have to be confident, have a response for everything he says, and never look like you don't know what to do next. If a guy pushes you against a stone wall, you certainly shouldn't giggle nervously."

She nodded strongly with a knit brow, as if taking notes in her head. "Okay then, no laughing."

"No, not no laughing. Just no laughing when it comes to your… sexual interactions. A guy loves to have his jokes laughed at, in moderation mind you. He doesn't want some nitwit; at least this guy you were telling me doesn't sound like he does. But a guy never, I repeat never, wants to hear a giggle or laugh when it comes to his sexual abilities."

"So I have to be smooth, nonchalant and cavalier. I suppose I can learn to do that with time. But after that? When does he actually get to know me?"

A valid question, James thought. "Well when he sticks around for more than just sex and for you instead, then you'll know that he's not going anywhere and let down your guard a little." He smiled, wishing she would realize that that was just what he was doing, but there was no recognition in her expression. Only a thirst for knowledge.

They spent the rest of the lesson working on small talk and basic communication skills that somehow Lily had missed out on. They went through the art of smiling and eye contact, and discussed body language in general.

"So touching is important. If a guy is into you, he'll show it. He'll touch you often and simply want to be close to you." He paused for a moment, wondering if he could control himself, before saying, "Like this."

He positioned himself behind her and pulled her back against his chest. He looked down at her over her shoulder and gently slid his hand down her arm. The move was intimate and he couldn't think of any guy actually doing this to a girl unless some pretty intense feelings were involved, but he couldn't resist touching her.

"Or maybe he'll do this."

He came to her side and wrapped his arm around her waist, slowly dragging his hand from her hipbone to the spot just below her breast. He had to take a deep breath in order not to feel the curve of it with the back of his hand. Yet another very sexual move, but shouldn't he be taking advantage of this agreement like he planned? He had wanted to touch her for so long… it was hard to be a gentleman when he had months of pent up sexual frustration. She giggled and brushed his hand away.

"Stop that tickles." She turned to him smiling, a laugh still being emitted, and saw him staring back at her intently. She fell silent as they simply held each other's gaze for what seemed like minutes before she let out a little cough and turned away.

"Okay, well that's some good advice you gave me today James. Thank you so much."

James coughed as well, but only to make sure when he talked his voice would be even. "Of course Lily, when shall we be meeting next?"

"Well I was thinking about that and while I do very much like the idea of weekly meetings and think they should certainly continue, I was hoping we could do something else as well."

An image of wanton Lily sprawled across his bed suddenly popped into James' mind.

"What did you have in mind?"

She looked away nervously and he sighed an exasperated sigh. "Lily, you're going to have to learn to look me in the eye when you talk to me. You're going to have to learn to look all men in the eye eventually."

She fidgeted with her fingers slightly before looking him square in the eye. She took a deep breath before speaking.

"Well the idea, I don't know if you'll be up for it; it's somewhat ludicrous."

"Try me."

"Well, I was thinking, this boy, this man that I'm attracted to. I'm fairly certain he has never, ever looked at me in that light before, you know, in a sexual way. I'm always just such a bumbling idiot around him. And considering I am so completely inept at relationships, sex, and the like, I was hoping… that we could make our practice somewhat constant."

James didn't follow and the confusion showed in his face. "I'm not quite sure I understand."

"What I'm trying to ask is… if you would go steady with me?"

James stood there with a blank expression only for a moment before bursting out laughing. Had she really just proposed the idea? And had she really just used the phrase, "going steady?" He glanced at Lily and could see the mixture of embarrassment and agitation in her face from his sudden explosion of laughter but it couldn't be helped. It wasn't she he was laughing at but simply the sheer absurdity of what he had gotten himself into. Was this actually happening?

Here standing before him was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, a woman whom he most certainly lusted after and cared for. Only yesterday she had proposed the idea that he become her hands-on sex ed teacher. And now? Now she was hoping that he would take her up on an offer, which would allow him to kiss her whenever he liked, touch her whenever he liked, and talk to her whenever he liked. And on top of all that, she was basically promising that he would get a response from her in return; he would get affection from the one girl who seemed to be oblivious to the intensity of his feelings for her. The whole concept was just so ridiculous, so ludicrous, so insane, he wondered if it was actually happening to him.

The laughter was not rooted in the question, "She's not serious," because James knew she was very serious, but in the question, "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" He laughed the laugh of a man at the end of his rope, a man mere inches from insanity. You might say that this new addition to the already emotionally complicated proposition had very obvious physical benefits, and James would likely agree with you. But yet James could see that this was only further upping the ante. He would be in heaven right now because of this new proposal if he weren't in hell. God, this was complicated, he thought.

'Why yes, Lily, of course I'll be your boyfriend,' James thought sardonically, 'but don't you worry about me getting any wrong ideas about you and me. Oh no, that won't happen at all. I won't get caught up in the fake kisses or the imitation flirtation you will learn to throw my way. I'm certain that I will be able to remember that this is all business and the moment you are a fine-tuned flirt and temptress, we will part ways the best of friends, loose ends all tied up, and no feelings hurt. You'll walk into the arms, and bed, of some other man, and I'll be able to look back at the experience with a simple happy nostalgia, glad to have had the experience in my life."

It's amazing how quickly the mind can work through something. In only a moment, it can weigh several possibilities with multiple tangents and come to a conclusion. It can measure the advantages against the disadvantages in seconds flat and have a solution prepared. For this was occurring in James' head at this exact moment. He laughed at how hard this was and yet how easy. Would it not be simple to just take Lily up on her offer and stroll through the hallways hands intertwined, kissing each other before class, smiling and talking all the live long day? His mind was pestering him about the cons, nagging at him like something he couldn't forget, and all the while he heard running through his head, 'You're going to get hurt, you're going to get hurt' over and over again.

But the rest of him? The rest of him was screaming for him to say yes. 'Say yes you idiot! Say yes! Let Lily smile up at you in the common room and fuck the thought that it might not be sincere. Who cares about the motives behind the actions; all that matters is that Lily will be kissing you and talking to you and touching you multiple times a day. Not just once but multiple!'

Fuck it. He had already thrown caution to the wind, why not invest a little more of his emotional state into this? Right? He wanted to look at this issue from the perspective of a hormone raging teenage boy but it was getting harder and harder to treat this nonchalantly. But what's another few months to the period of grieving? Okay maybe a year. No big deal, right?

His mind had worked quickly and this had all passed through his head in a matter of several seconds. At some point during his thoughts, the deranged laughter had ceased and he looked at Lily. She gazed at him with a look of sincere concern, with perhaps a smidgen of fear.

"Sorry Lily, I don't know what came over me just then. I suppose that would be alright," he said in a calm, level voice.

"Of course, I won't expect you to really think we're dating. I mean I don't expect you to not engage other girls. Perhaps they'll find you more appealing if you're unavailable. I've heard some girls like that."

Yep, it had just happened, he was off his rocker, out to lunch. He had to be insane considering all the voices running through his head. But then he reconsidered that possibility upon realizing that every single one of those voices was his own, simply expressing the multitude of emotions that was ripping through him right now. He didn't think it was possible to want to shake someone violently, rip their clothes off, and beg them for sympathy all at the same time. But Lily, once again, made him encounter another first.

"No Lily you won't need to worry about any other girls right now. You'll be the only one." He couldn't help his voice from quaking ever so slightly and it took quite an effort to keep from adding the word 'indefinitely' to that last sentence.

"Oh James, you don't need to make those kind of sacrifices. You sure you don't want a little more time to consider this? I mean it's kind of a big undertaking. You'll have to talk to me in public, and they'll also have to be plenty of kissing and touching involved since that's apparently what one does in a relationship. And everyone's going to see; you realize that right? Everyone will know."

Oh he realized all right. He only nodded in agreement, fully understanding the magnitude of this "undertaking."

"Oh James thank you!" You threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. That amazing smell filled his senses as he placed his arms around her.

She pulled away and continued talking.

"I just think this would be a good way to practice what you teach me. And whom better to practice on than the person who taught me, would you not agree? And perhaps it will catch the attention of a certain someone. It's good for you too, don't you see? If we do it like this I can help you with Charms more often, since we'll have to be together and all, and we'll get done with this faster. It won't be so drawn out then you see?" She smiled at him, her face full of gaiety, and he smiled weakly in return.

They walked back to the Gryffindor tower together in silence. James stood a few feet away through the corridors, not yet ready to start acting like they were dating. He was stunned into silence, overwhelmed by how much had occurred in the last twenty minutes and by how many thoughts were crowded into his head. He looked over at Lily and saw her looking out the corridor windows as they passed them by, each time the moonlight coming through and shining on her porcelain skin. Her expression was one of contentment, her lips curled ever so slightly at the ends. She was beautiful and she was smart, and unbeknownst to herself she was even funny sometimes. He couldn't think of one thing he disliked about her; well perhaps one, her complete ignorance of his feelings for her, or just his feelings in general. She had no idea she was hurting him, and that really hurt.

They opened the portrait to the Gryffindor tower and found the common room packed despite the late hour. As they stepped through, Sirius, who was seated before a roaring fire with Peter and Remus, yelled at James.

"Prongs, over here mate. Come join us for a game of wizard's chess. These two infants have no idea what their doing." Remus rolled his eyes and James was momentarily uplifted, thinking perhaps this could distract him from other things for perhaps few moments.

He turned to Lily, still standing beside him, to say his goodnights.

"Well Lily, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow then? Goodnight."

She nodded in affirmation. "Yes, see you at breakfast most likely. Night."

He gave her a smile before turning towards his friends. But he had not walked a step before feeling a hand on his arm.

"James wait. I just wanted to say how much this means to me. I can't express how grateful I am. You're really doing me a big favor, you know. So thank you so much. Really, thank you."

He was about to say that it was nothing when he felt her lips on his. She had leaned forward and kissed him, stopping any chance of him talking. It was a gentle, innocent kiss, and James had to fight hard his urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her fervently. She pulled away and laughed anxiously before turning and heading up to her room.

James stood dazed for a moment in the middle of the common room. When he managed to look around him, he saw Sirius smiling mischievously at him as Remus gave a small smirk and Peter grinned like a fool. A smile crept onto his face, one he could not keep from showing up, and he walked over to his friends.

What was this they were doing? It was a charade, yes. But not only a charade for the entire school, but an act he was putting on before himself. And it wasn't a charade in the way that he was hoping all of Hogwarts would be fooled-he couldn't give a damn about them-it was himself he was hoping to fool. He saw the sheer stupidity of it, of course, but at the moment he couldn't care less. After a kiss like that, one that could be so simple and so quick yet leave him speechless, he didn't mind being deceived one bit. He was living in a land of make believe and it was every bit to his liking. He would forget about the emotional aspect and live in the moment. He had been doing that all of his life, why should it be so hard right now? Well it wouldn't, he would make it easy. For the moment, he didn't mind putting off reality.

"So you and Lily a thing now?" Sirius questioned off-handedly.

James let out a laugh. "Yeah I guess we are." And he said it with a actual smile.

R and R, let me hear what you think. Chapter 8 shall soon be done!