Sorry this took a while! Thanksgiving crept up on me rather quickly, and as I had a mission with some of my friends that occupied much time and brainwork, I didn't get to editing this chapter as quickly as I would have liked. Also, I had some major editing to do in chapters 9-11 in this story which I've finished writing, but not editing....anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And remember, review!



Chapter Seven

The Tutor



"Mr. Potter." Professor Pall called through the silence of the class. "Tell me, what is a cellular telephone?"

"Erm..." James answered, thinking. He grinned. "Well, Professor Pall. You happen to be the teacher, so you tell me. What is a cellular telephone?"

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Mr. Potter." Professor Pall snapped. He walked over to James' desk, picked up his homework and read it over. "You said that a CD was a credibility detector?" He asked in disbelief. James merely shrugged.

"Isn't that it?" He asked cooly. Several girls sitting in the row behind him giggled.

"Tell me Potter." Professor Pall said, looking James in the eyes. "How is it that you managed to get into NEWT Muggle Studies?"

"Our old professor had an odd fondness for me." James admitted "modestly".

"Ah well, you see. I don't teach that way." Professor Pall hissed greasily. "I teach based on what students know. And from where I am standing, you know nothing."

"That's a bit harsh!" James gasped, pretending to be hurt.

Professor Pall pretended to have not heard James. "You are to get a tutor. I will assign you one." Professor Pall went to his desk, picked up a scroll of parchment, read down the list muttering to himself until he finally came upon a name. "Ah. I think I've found the perfect tutor for you." James groaned. A tutor? Sirius would never let him get over it. "Let's see, Muggle born, fourteen OWLs, yes. Ah, Head Girl as well." James' eyes widened in shock. "Yes. Lily Evans. She's perfect." He handed a sheaf of parchment to James. "You are to take this to Miss Evans, plan tutoring sessions three times a week and get her to sign off. She has already volunteered to serve as a tutor for this subject so there should be no problems getting her to agree."

"Yes sir." James muttered, shoving the parchment into his bag.

"Class dismissed." Professor Pall sniffed as the bell rang. James slowly got to his feet and trudged to the door.

A large slap on his back brought James back to his senses. "Nice Prongs." Sirius roared with laugher. "Got a tutor now!"

"Shut up, Padfoot." James snapped.

"Whoa, someone's gotten their ego ripped!" Sirius continued to laugh. James quickened his pace back to the Common Room, leaving Sirius is stitches behind him.

He climbed the steps, hopping over the trick step up towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. He was momentarily distracted, however, when he heard a large crash from behind him. He raced back, and looked down the stairs to find Sirius locked in between the steps. In his gales of laughter, he must have forgotten to jump the trick step.

"Sirius Black." An amused voice came from behind him.

"Hi, Candace." Sirius grinned from in between the steps.

"What in the world are you up to this time?" She giggled.

"Well, I guess I forgot to jump." Sirius answered truthfully.

"After seven years." Candace shook her head in amusement.

"Well, I was a tad bit distracted after James got assigned a tutor in Muggle Studies. I mean, what kind of prat needs a tutor in that class?"

"Thanks Padfoot." James snapped acidly.

"Oi Prongs! I didn't know you were there!" Sirius began to laugh again, sinking lower in the steps. He was starting to cause a holdup on the stairs, groups of people gathering behind him, waiting to go up.

"So, uh. Anyone wanna help me out?" Sirius grinned.

"I have a better idea." James grinned evilly. He took his wand out of his robes pocket, and aimed at the stair above the trick step. "Reducto!" He yelled. The stair broke, and Sirius fell through, disappearing from sight.

"Real funny, Prongs!" His muffled voice came from in between the steps.

"Potter!" An angry voice came. Coming up the stairs, was Lily. She jumped gracefully over the broken steps and made her way up to James. "Could you tell me what in the world that was all about?" She snapped.

"Friendly interaction." James laughed.

"Friendly my butt!" Sirius's voice came again. Candace crawled down into the hole to try to help him out.

"Anyways, I need to talk to you." James said to Lily, regretting he had to ask her to be his tutor.

"About what?" Lily huffed.

"Can we uh, walk away from here?" James asked.

"Fine." Lily sighed in exasperation. What was he up to now?

"Well, see, you know how you asked me how I got into NEWT Muggle Studies?"

"Yes." Lily answered, getting more impatient.

"Well, our new professor suggested, more like is requiring me to get a tutor. And since you're Head Girl, muggle born, and your name was on the list, he assigned you to be my tutor."

'Oh no.' Lily sighed. 'Just what I need. To spend more time with him!' "Really?" Lily sighed.

"Yeah, um, he said three times a week."

"You're that hopeless?" Lily asked, raising her eyes.

"I guess." James smiled guiltily.

'I knew I never should have signed up for the Muggle Studies tutoring. Damn, it's too late now! How can I get out of this one?' Lily thought to herself. "Fine." She finally agreed. "When do you have Quidditch practice?"

"Monday, Thursday and Friday nights." James sighed.

"Alright. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday." Lily grinned. If she had to do it, at least she could make him slightly miserable by making one of the sessions on a weekend.

"Saturday?" James groaned.

"Look, I have to sign you off. Saturday or nothing." Lily said firmly. She grinned at her own brilliance.

"Fine." James sighed. He couldn't afford for her to not tutor him. "What times?"

"Tuesday and Wednesday nights we have rounds along with other homework to do, so an hour. Say, six to seven, right before dinner. And on Saturdays, we can get done before breakfast if you want." Lily grinned. She was up early anyways. It would make no difference to her.

"Breakfast is at eight. How early do you want to go?" James whined.

"Six o'clock?" Lily asked.

"No way." James insisted. "I am not getting up that early."

"Fine. Saturday nights. We could do some lessons during rounds." Lily finally gave in. She realized if she was already spending time with him during rounds, she might as well make it a dual purpose.

"Great." James grinned. "Could you sign this?" He asked pulling out the parchment Professor Pall gave him.

"In the Common Room." Lily said. They came to a halt as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" She asked.

"Snapdragon." Lily said.

"Snapdragon it is." The Fat Lady smiled as she swung open. Lily set her bag on one of the Common Room tables and began to rummage through it to find her quill. She finally found it, and pulled out her luxury peacock quill. She dipped it in ink, then wrote their three lesson nights, and signed her loopy signature at the bottom.

"Thank you." James grinned, shoving it back in his bag. "So. It's Wednesday night. Shall we begin the tutoring?"

"Fine." Lily sighed. "Like I don't have any other homework."

"So. I have an essay to write, and about six other different things of homework to do. Should we start there?"

"Alright." Lily sighed, feeling the end of an hour would never come.

"OK, essay topic. What would the average muggle teenager do in their spare time with electricity?" James unrolled a piece of parchment, wrote his name on the top and looked at Lily expectantly. "Well?" He asked.

"What do you think?" Lily grinned. This was going to be more fun then she thought.

"What? You're my tutor. You're supposed to help me!" He said looking disbelieving.

"Yes, help you. Not give you the answers. What would you do in your spare time if you had no magic?"

"I'd probably smother myself." James admitted.

"No you wouldn't. Pretend you never got your Hogwarts letter. You haven't learned any magic ever. What would you do?"

"Fly on a broomstick." James muttered. "I learned that before Hogwarts." Lily sighed. This was going to be harder then she thought.

"No, that's magic. Muggle's can watch TV, they can hang out at arcades, they can go roller skating. They can get on the internet, play computer, they can go swimming at a rec center."

"And in English that would mean?" James snapped, annoyed.

Lily sighed in exasperation "James, try to be open minded." She snapped.

"I am. You're just not speaking in a language I understand."

"Fine. Muggle's can lay on a couch and stare at a big box that plays pictures. The pictures all run together so it's kind of like looking through a window at another persons life."

James looked confounded. "And how does that work?" He asked.

"Electricity." Lily sighed. "OK, so a bunch of people get together with a video camera."

"What's that?" James asked.

"It's kind of like omnoculars." Lily attempted.

"Oh! So you can watch one thing, then play it over and over again?" James asked, finally understanding.

"Yes!" Lily smiled. Finally, made something click. "So a bunch of people stage a kind of show. They use the video camera to record it, then you can play it on a television."

"Weird." James muttered, looking amazed.

"Yes, absolutely fascinating." She muttered sarcastically. "How long does this essay have to be anyways?" Lily asked, hoping not too long. If it was longer then one scroll they'd have to pull an all nighter at the rate that things were going.

"Hey Lily." Remus came up behind her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, hey James. What're you up to?" He asked, looking surprised that Lily was sitting with James.

"I was appointed to tutor this idiot." Lily whispered.

"Tutoring." Remus grinned reluctantly. "Have fun! I'll see you at dinner in fifteen minutes?" He asked, playing with Lily's long red hair.

"Save me a seat." She smiled flirtatiously.

"Wouldn't miss a chance to." Remus answered, turning to leave. "Bye Lily."

"Bye." She smiled serenely.

'Why can't that be me?' James thought to himself. 'Why can't she think of me like that? Why can't she look at me like that ever?'

Remus approached James and whispered in his ear, "Remember, mine, not yours."

"Yeah, right." James sighed. Remus crossed the Common Room and exited out of the portrait hole.

"Well, we can leave that for later. You obviously aren't understanding the concept yet." She snapped, yet silently wondering what Remus had said to James. "What other homework do you have?"

"Let's see..." He shuffled through all his mess, which greatly annoyed Lily, until he found a sheet of parchment. "Terminology." He said quickly. "What is a remote control?"

"What do you think it is?" Lily grinned. She could play that game if he was reluctant to learn.

"I really don't know." James admitted.

"Fine." Lily sighed. "You better study this. If you ever get asked this on homework again, you're out of luck. It changes the channels on televisions."

"So it would match up with a TV?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes."

"OK, a walkmen?"

"A portable device to listen to music on." Lily sighed. She felt like she was the one doing the homework instead of him.

"Right. Ah, dinner time. Let's end this little study session." He grinned, packing his things up.

"I'd love to." She sighed, getting up and leaving.

"Not going to wait for me?" He grinned.

"No." Lily replied shortly, leaving the Common Room.

"Lily! Wait up!" Candace yelled from behind her. Lily turned to see Candace hurrying down the stairs from the girls dormitory. She caught up with Lily, and they left out through the portrait hole.

"You know, you really should be nicer to him." Candace said seriously, stopping her a ways down the corridor. "I mean, what if you end up liking him some day and he's so mad at you that he'll never return the same feelings again?"

"I don't think I'll ever like him." Lily answered.

"But you never know." Candace reasoned. "Just please, for my sake, try to be a little nicer to him?" Candace shot Lily her puppy eyes.

"Fine." Lily laughed, putting her hand in Candace's face.

"Thank you." Candace grinned. "I am now happy for life."

"I don't see why it makes a difference to you."

"What a shame that I feel bad for poor little Jamesie." Candace joked.

"It is a shame." Lily sighed as they entered the Great Hall.



Thanks again to all my dedicated reviewers, and those who read but don't review and hopefully enjoy the story! Please drop a review by! Part of the reason I needed to edit later chapters is that someone mentioned Dumbledore being at the dance, which I totally forgot to put him in! So, I do accommodate requests if people throw them out. So, if there's anything you would like to see in this story that wouldn't be too out of the way, tell me in a review and I'll put it in! Thanks again!



*Pixie*