Chapter 4 ~Oscar Winning Performance

"For an actress to be a success; she must have the face of Venus, the brains of a Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of a Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros."

                    ~ Ethel Barrymore

          "Okay, you guys ready to get this started?" Mollie asked when she and Remus reached the two enemies.

          "Yea… But I don't know if I can go through with this, look at him! How can I?" Lily responded, trying to cover what she was thinking in her head.

          "Hey, it was your idea!" Mollie retorted, trying to rub it in. She also noticed the slight blush in Lily's cheeks and wondered what was going on.

          "Now," Remus said clearing his throat. He noticed how James' eyes had a faraway look. He only gets that look when he's looking at a girl. Wonder what happened here? "Do you guys wanna get your crushes to notice you?"

          "Yes!" Lily and James replied eagerly at the same time.

          "Well than, we need to make this look real," Mollie began.

          "Real as in… how?" Lily asked suspiciously.

          "As in you guys have to show PDA's," Remus said, wanting to get a rise out of the both of them.

          "PDA… Whoa, hold on. No way in HELL am I showing public affection for her!" James said when he finally understood what it meant. Yea, actually I kinda do but…STOP! This is Lily… I mean Evans, no more of this crap! He scolded himself.

          "Fine, I guess we have nothing to work on because if you DON'T then they'll never get jealous," Mollie said at once.

          "What do we gotta do?" Lily asked meekly, as if checking her sources before jumping to conclusions.

          "Well, you have to sit at the tables together, where you much somehow show you love for each other; be it one feeding the other, occasional kisses, cute little nicknames or all three, these are just suggestions," Remus said.

          "I can do that," Lily said calmly.

          "WHAT! WE CAN'T DO THAT?" James yelled exasperatedly, obviously his little conversation with himself had worked.

          "I guess you don't want Arabella that badly, now do ya Jamesie-boy," Mollie said slyly.

          "James," Lily began calmly, "Do you want her or not? I know I'll do anything to get Amos and if I have to pretend to like you," Lily almost smiled at the thought, but then faked a shiver, "then so be it. Think about it James, a little bit of pain for a lifetime of pleasure?" Lily offered. James thought about this.

          Everyone does say Evans is a hard catch, and if I'm going out with her I know I'll make other people jealous. Maybe she's right for once; maybe this would be worth my time. Besides, I could look at those eyes all day; it won't be that hard to pretend to like her.

          "Fine, but… what else do we have to do?" James asked curiously.

          Mollie and Remus then launched into explanations of what they were supposed to do. They had to be nice to each other, which was near impossible. They also had to be seen publicly, which meant sitting at lunch and during classes. At this, James brought up the question of, "Well they aren't even in our year so why do we have to do that in class?" The answer to that was simple. "You're not just putting this on for Arabella and Amos; you're doing it for the whole school!" Remus explained. They also had to snuggle with each other and kiss occasionally, but just chaste kisses on the cheek or quick ones on the lips. Lily had made sure that there was no all out snogging, even though she wouldn't have minded, but if she suggested it then all of them might think she like James. James was a little disappointed with this. If he was seen snogging THE Lily Evans, all guys would envy him to death. No one EVER got a hold of her. Not that I actually want her, James thought, I just wanna snog her senseless.

          Really? Woke up the other voice, Just a little bit ago you were looking at her like she was some kind of goddess.

          Hey, she's got the looks, James tried to wave away.

          Once when all of the arrangements were made, Lily and James walked out of the library together holding hands, cupped not laced. They weren't seen by anyone, unless you count the school gossip queen, Maggie Smirth. By the end of the day, the whole school knew about the new and miraculous couple.

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          When Sirius had heard the news of James and his mortal enemy becoming a couple he was shocked to say the least.

          "You and EVANS? Have you gone mad Prongs?" He asked crazily.

          James, being the greatest actor in the world (according to him) played it cool, although it didn't take much effort because he thought he might enjoy this.

          "Yeah, she's actually quite somethin" he replied.

          "And how in the world did this miracle happen?" Sirius asked still stunned.

          "Remus hooked us up," James said the first thing that popped into his mind.

          "Now, one more question; why in the world would you go out with Evans when you're head over heels for Figg? Hmmm?" Sirius asked the one question that James was dreading.

          "Because, he found someone better," came Lily's voice from the portrait hole.

          "Hey baby," James said, fighting a battle inside. Cringing and enjoying this at the same time.

          "Hey sweetheart," Lily replied, walking over and planting a sweet kiss on his cheek and then sitting down on the sofa next to him. I have to remember to wash my lips extra tonight, she noted. James' cheek tingled where Lily had kissed him, but he waved it away as an effect of the lip gloss she was wearing.

          Lily and James sat there, hands laced together, starring at each other lovingly. As you can see, both of them are wonderful actors, or were they acting?

          "Sooooooo, Lila," Sirius began.

          "It's Lily bud, Lily," James corrected, not looked away from Lily.

          "Yea, Lily, I thought you had the hots for Diggory?" He questioned. Something smells fishy, he thought.

          "Well, Siri, you must have you're sources wrong to have heard that," Lily said mater-of-factly, still gazing at James.

          "Whatever! You guys are freakin' me out! I'm going to bed James, see ya later," Sirius said as he headed up the boys' staircase.

          Since it was pretty late, they were they only ones left in the common room. Once when Sirius' footsteps were gone and the door closed, Lily and James let go and Lily immediately hopped over into a different chair. This kind of upset James, but once again he reminded himself that this was just an act.

          "You know," she began, "I better be getting an Oscar for this performance," she said jokingly.

          "A what?" James asked curiously.

          "Never mind, muggle thing. I'm going to bed sweetie pie," Lily started sarcastically, "See you when I see you."

          "Yeah, bye Lila," James teased.

          "Bugger off Potter."

          And with that, they were both up in there bathrooms, scrubbing themselves thoroughly.

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Authors Note ~ Finally! This chapter took a while to get done. I've been so busy! But… Luckily for you guys, I'm outta school so I can try and update at least say… once a week. That is, if you all review good! I apologize for not updating sooner. Thank you to my few reviewers, oh, I'm sorry, no one reviewed for chapter 3. I want AT LEAST 6 reviews or you don't get the next chapter, which I promise will have some L/J action, we'll see where it leads. REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!! REVIEW!!