Seducing Lily Evans

written by: the young lady of legends

ChapterTwo:Snape and Evans Sitting in a Tree...

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"THIS IS HOPELESS!" an aggravated James Potter screamed at the top of his lungs as he reached his dormitory.

"What? Your grades?" Remus asked. "Though I wouldn't be surprised if it were. If you put as much energy into school work as you do Lily Evans -"

"I AM Head Boy, you know? I must be useful at something!" James interrupted.

"Yes, but Prongs...er Dumbledore likes Quidditch." Remus informed him.

James glared at him. "What is THAT supposed to mean?"

Sirius walked up to James and knocked on his forehead. "HELLO? Anyone home in there?! It makes him a bit partial to you."

"WHAT?!"

Sirius pointed out, "Well we know he didn't choose on grades, otherwise Moony would have been chosen hands down."

James crossed his arms, "Well thank you for your vote of confidence Padfoot."

Sirius smiled and gleaming white teeth spread from one side of his face to the other, "No problem buddy!"

James rolled his eyes. "Anyway... Can we get back to the Lily Evans situation now? How am I going to get her to fall in love with me by Christmas?! It's never going to happen! I've been trying to get her to love me since FOURTH YEAR!!!!!!"

A round of suggestions went around the room. Each had a hint of sarcasm.

"Sell your organs on the black market and buy her something REALLY nice?"

"Blackmail her?"

"Make a love potion and force her to drink it?"

Bells went off in James' head. Possibly wedding bells. "LOVE POTION! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE?! IT'S SO OBVIOUS!"

Remus looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Um, because it is a highly complex potion that you have no hope of brewing because you are bloody pathetic at potions?"

"You could do it, Moony!" James exclaimed. "Come on and be a pal! I'll buy you enough chocolate frogs to last you eighty lifetimes!"

He sighed. "Prongs...when I say highly complex I mean there's no one in our year who has any hopes of brewing it-"

"Except your pal Snivellus." Sirius said quietly. Which was odd in itself, because Sirius hardly ever does anything quietly.

Realization hit James Potter like a ton of bricks falling from their dormitory ceiling. "Well that figures. Now I'm indebted to the one person I've shown a true loathing to my entire life. Peachy freaking keen!"

The next morning James had his plan extraordinarily thought out. The night before he decided he'd have to do it after History of Magic since that was the only class they had with the Slytherins for a few days. No one was going to thwart him, especially not that greasy haired disgusting little Dark Arts loving git.

At the sound of the bell James whispered "Diffindo" as he pointed it at Snape's bag, causing all the contents to spill out. He looked around for someone to accuse but as James was on the other side of the room and the other Marauders had already left, he decided his bag had just ripped of its own accord. Though a feeble joke, a few people snickered as Snape knelt down to gather his things.

There was no longer anyone in the room but James and Snape. James walked toward him and perched on a desk that was directly in front of Snape, "Hi Snivellus."

Snape jerked his head up. He'd apparently not noticed James' presence and thought he was alone because his expression was one of surprise, even if it was quickly replaced with contempt. "Your jokes are getting a little pathetic Potter. I though even this would be beneath you."

"Oh that?" James asked as he pointed to Snape's bag. "I didn't do that, though I must admit it is rather convenient."

"Why's that? Here to prove you have an enormous ego with nothing to be proud of? Potter, I am aware of that." Snape retorted snidely.

"Mmm...no. Actually, I wanted to ask you about this." James said as he shoved a piece of parchment under Snape's nose.

Snape's eyes grew incredibly wide, "Wh-where did y-you get that?" he asked, his voice shaky.

James brought it back to his face and examined it as though he'd never seen it before. "What this? Hmm, what's it say?" he began to read aloud. "Dearest Lily, I know we've had our differences but I'd like to show my grievances. You see, the odd thing is I can't get you off my mind-"

Snape cut him off. "GIVE ME THAT POTTER! I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU GOT THAT FROM MY DORMITORY BUT GIVE IT BACK THIS INSTANT!!"

James looked thoughtful, as though he were really going to consider the idea. "No. I have other ideas about this letter. I assume you never intended for Evans to see this?"

Snape looked ready to kill. He raised his wand, prepared to injure James, but James was faster. He aimed his wand at Snape and cried, "Accio Wand!" He didn't want to give Snape any more opportunities to do bodily harm to him. "Now, as I was saying..." James continued, "if you don't want Evans, as a matter of fact scratch that. If you don't want the entire school to receive a copy of this letter then you'll do me a little favor."

"And just what kind of favor am I going to do for you?" Snape asked menacingly.

"Oh, you're going to make a love potion for me." James informed him. "You see, charming though I am, I need one to win this teeny little bet I have with a friend. And as you well know, I don't lose." he grinned cheekily. "So here's what we're going to do. We are going down to the dungeons every night until this potion is brewed."

Snape looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "What do you mean 'we'?"

James shrugged. "Talented at potion-making though you are I'm afraid I just don't trust you where this friend - the one who'll be drinking it of course- is concerned. So I am going to monitor you to make sure you don't wreck it on purpose. Though if you do, it will be you who'll suffer the consequences, not me."

At this moment, none other than Lily Evans walked in. "What's going on Potter?" she asked upon seeing James and Snape together and... no they couldn't be. But they were. Right there in front of her, they were talking civilly!

James quickly hid the parchment. "Nothing Lily. We're just trying to sort out our differences, that's all."

Lily looked stunned. "Wha-huh?!"

"Come on Lily. It's Seventh Year. Don't you think we're mature enough to agree to disagree? Mature enough to put our petty differences aside?" at this remark, he couldn't help but notice the way it affected Lily. She seemed to be giving it some thought. She realized, as James had intended, that his words applied not only to Snape but to her as well.

"Er...right. Well, see you later Po...James." she said as she walked out the door.

James was positively beaming.

After he'd told Snape what was expected of him ("or else!" he'd added for emphasis) James strode back to the Gryffindor common room, glad the day was finally over.

Sirius greeted him eagerly. "How'd it go? How'd it go? Is he going to do it?"

James grinned and shrugged, "Hasn't got much of a choice has he?"

Sirius jumped up in the air, as if in a victory dance. "I knew it would work!" The night before they were getting desperate for ways to sucker Snape into doing this. They had nothing to blackmail him with, they realized in horror. Sirius, in a desperate attempt, pointed his wand in the direction of the Slytherin tower and yelled, "Accio anything that would embarrass the knickers off Snivellus!"

No one expected to work, least of all Sirius. So they experienced a bit of a shock when a piece of parchment with Snape's name on it blew in from the crack under the door. Nothing could have been more perfect, they'd realized as they were reading bits of it aloud and roaring in laughter.

Yeah, James would have Lily at his mercy in no time.