Disclaimer: I own nothing. See previous chapters.
CHAPTER 3: Underwear Model?
James proceeded to take a seat in a comfy leather chair when he heard the five words he had been avoiding all night: "Let's get down to business," said Lily. He downed the rest of his glass of wine and said, "What is there to get down to? I stand in as Remus for anything requiring a picture and Remus continues to do all the written stuff. Everyone's happy, and the contract is fulfilled. The end."
"Easier said than done, James. There are… legalities involved in this stunt. If we're caught, we're sued. Easy as that. We need to make sure we all have the same story. And we all need to clear up any… discrepancies from the past," stated Lily.
"Yes, I agree. As I had told you before, Lily, I will play the role as his manager so that if any tight spots do arise, I can get him out of that," said Remus.
"And how would you do that? What if he describes a piece of advice that you had given previously, but screws it up and is caught? How would that be a problem to the manager?" questioned Lily.
"Well, I do know really good Memory charms," said Remus with a wink.
"I promise to stay away from the old writings and such," soothed James.
Lily quickly turned her calculating glare onto James. "What are we going to do if they start researching your past? Do you have any sort of strikes against you that would interest the public?"
"Not that I know of, no."
"What about if someone recognizes you?"
"Lily, I'm an Auror. I've recently, within the past two months, returned to my apartment from a place unknown. All of my friends are Aurors, as well. I don't even know if they're alive, so you won't have a problem with anyone recognizing me," said James with a touch of remorse. Being sent home was one of the worst things that happened to him. He was hit with a Cruciatus Curse several times, and was sent home, leaving his friends, that were basically his family, to fend for themselves. His return home had cut off all means of communication with his friends, so he had no knowledge of their well-being, or lack thereof.
Lily had obviously caught onto his tone, and saw the glassiness of his eyes. She too understood the demands of an Auror. Going through the training had been enough for her. But James, he looked so… lost and vulnerable. She had the sudden urge to run up to him, hug him, comfort him, yet she realized that he might take that as pity, which she was sure James Potter would not put up with.
Before Lily could even respond with some comforting words, James bounced back and out of his funk. "Although, the ladies always seem to recognize me," James boasted, with a wink that found its way to Lily. Gone was all the remorse in Lily's eyes, replaced with a disapproving glare that sported most of the night.
Remus watched the couple with amusement and some awe, as well. Never had he seen James open up and speak of his past this quickly. This woman was practically a stranger to him. Of course, he couldn't seem to keep his 'womanizer' status out of a conversation, which is normal, Remus chuckled. Maybe this was the beginning of something great, and he wasn't thinking of the magazine.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Sunday morning, James found himself rummaging through his closet, looking for something to wear to the photo shoot later that day. Sweatpants? Nah. Quidditch tee shirt? Nope. Blue shirt? Too tacky. Lime green tuxedo? James pondered whether or not the look on Lily Evans' face would be worth the embarrassment. A definite consideration, he chuckled. He put the tuxedo neatly on his bed, along with all of his other considerations.
He began thinking about the dinner that occurred last night at the lovely, enticing Lily Evans' apartment. He didn't understand what made him gawk at her like he did at the door. Nor what made his attention stay focused on her the entire night. Not the words she was saying, of course, James thought with a soft laugh. He knew he was obviously spellbound by her beauty: her expressive jade green eyes, her fiery auburn hair that cascaded down to her shoulder blades, her gorgeous face that, unfortunately, was sending him a cold look the entire night. All that plus a spicy attitude and a quick wit.
But what made him wonder was why he opened up to, basically, a complete stranger? James was easily the life of the party; the guy that was outgoing, charismatic and fun to be around. But when it came to his private life, with his Auror friends and "family", he tended to avoid the topic, especially after he was discharged. Not that he was ashamed of them, but that it was a sore spot for him, leaving them stranded to fight the war by themselves. If it was one thing James hated, it was not being able to help, one of the many reasons he became an Auror.
So why was this sensitive part of his past easily brought up, by his own doing, to someone he had known for a maximum of two hours? He brooded on this question until he heard a loud pop, followed by his front door opening. Knowing that it was most likely Remus, he began to start conversation.
"So, what happened to my old Remus? The one who would wear a red sock and a gold sock and not even care? The one most likely to be found wearing his pajamas to dinner at Hogwarts? Yeah, where'd he go? Because now all I hear is, 'Don't wear that, it's too tacky' and 'Red is the new black'. I mean, what happened to my old Rem-y?"
"I'm thinking 'Rem-y' probably graduated from Hogwarts and grew up. But, hey, that's just an opinion," stated a feminine voice. Oh, so that's how it goes…pulling the 'gay voice' card on ol' Prongsy, thought James.
"Okay, I know you're an official gay man, Remus, but that doesn't give you the right to pull a gay voice on me. You know I can't retaliate against that anymore," chuckled James.
"You think I sound like a gay man, Potter?" stated a very angry, very feminine and very non-Remus voice.
James then popped his head outside of his bedroom door to see who had actually barged into his home. "LILY?" exclaimed James.
"Well, seeing as I'm actually a 'gay man', I should tell you: my real name's Larry," Lily said sarcastically.
"Sorry, Larry, but the only one who usually barges into my home without knocking is Remus. I apologize profusely for not realizing that it was my best friend's publicist," stated James somewhat angrily while continuing to rip through his closet.
"So, when did you find out that he was gay? Remus, I mean. You must've known for a while, I suppose, so this whole scenario isn't much of a shock to you, hmm?" said Lily conversationally, as she pushed him out and began rummaging through his closet herself.
The sincerity in Lily's voice stung him even more than if she would have been mocking him. Of course, it's quite obvious a person would assume that Remus' best friend would know he was gay, James thought bitterly. He quickly chucked out all of those thoughts. He had a reason…
"Nope, I found out the same day that you did," James said, trying desperately to rid of the bitterness in his voice.
"Oh," said Lily, quite shocked, which stung him a little more. "I just assumed… he must have had a reason to… I'm sorry," she said quite genuinely.
"No problem," James said, trying to dismiss the entire conversation.
"So, why are you in this? This is a major thing, not many people would go through this for their friends. What's in this for you?" asked Lily quietly.
"Well, Remus was a great friend to me in Hogwarts. Me, him and our two other friends were well known around the school. We played pranks and jokes that were remarkable, if I do say so myself," chuckled James. "Sirius Black and I were the two main troublemakers. We would come up with outrageous stunts and pranks that, now looking back, probably could have killed us. Remus was our rational, level friend who basically saved us many a time. We've also done things before to repay him. We're just a big, supportive family," he said with obvious pride in his voice.
"What other 'things' have you done to repay him? Surely they're not as large as this," said a very awed Lily.
"It's not for me to tell, but it definitely is close to what I'm doing right now," James said, remembering the times in Hogwarts when they all snuck off to help with Remus' transformation. He knew he couldn't tell her this, and he didn't want her to push, so he continued. "This favor is something that really is nothing to me. I don't mind helping Remus out at all, so you don't need to worry about me slacking off or not doing my part."
"I never said that—"
"No, but it's obvious that you think about that whenever I'm around," James stated. It shouldn't hurt him so much that she doesn't trust him, but for some reason, it did. He wanted them to come out of this as friends, if not anything more.
She said nothing, but pulled out a tattered and beaten Quidditch shirt that looked like it had been hexed into oblivion. She held the shirt out in front of her and raised an eyebrow. "I think Remus has some right to tell you what to wear and what not to wear," she said, completely deadpan.
He laughed and said, "Oh, that's wasn't even mine. An old girlfriend from Hogwarts gave it to me for Christmas. Candy Thomas, I believe her name was."
"Memorable gift, was it?" she joked.
"Honestly? I kept it because she used to sleep in it."
"Ah… the gift that keeps on giving, I suppose," she said dryly.
"Yes, Candy was a very sweet girl," James said, trying to get a little jealously out of her.
"I'm sure that's exactly what her parents had in mind when they named her," she said lightly.
Nothing. Damn, this girl is good, James thought. But then, that was to be expected. He could tell that this was a girl that didn't lose it very quickly. Sure, she had a temper, but when it came to come-on's, she could easily throw something right back at him. Instead of putting a damper on his spirit, this encouraged him. I always love a good challenge, thought James, desperately trying to believe that he was only attracted to her because of the "challenge", and nothing else.
"When was the last time you purchased a piece of clothing? Not after 1974, I suppose," she said dryly as she pulled out another of the dozens of flannel shirts she had found already.
"Collectibles, I tell you," he said, taking a seat on his bed as he continued random conversations with her. He couldn't remember the last time he had a good conversation with a woman.
"I'm thinking that we'll have to have the stylist at A Touch Of Magic work her wonders. I can't see you wearing anything to a photo shoot that's lying on this bed currently," she chided.
He knew that the statement wasn't meant to be suggestive, but he couldn't help it. Much. "Well, I could just wear my underwear. There are models for that, right?" he joked, silently pleased when he watched her eyes bulge a little, obviously thinking of him in his underwear.
"I'm sure that my three 50-year old bosses would be delighted. Excited, even," she said, trying to give him a mental image right back.
"Ugh," came the reply from the man on the bed.
"Yes, well, we're going to be late if we don't find you something to wear soon," said Lily. She soon shoved past him and started examining every part of his wardrobe. This gave him the time to examine her. She was wearing a very tailored, plum-colored suit, with a knee length skirt and a somewhat tight-fitting jacket. She looked like the sexy-but-off-limits boss that all the male interns had fantasies about. And him. Her hair was pulled into a severe bun, yet she managed to make it look beautiful. Her make-up was minimal, but he could detect a glossy, rosy-red hue to her lips. He smirked at thinking about how fast he could remove that lipstick from her lips. A matter of seconds, easily.
He was quickly thrown out of his daydream by a pair of khaki pants, a brown button-up shirt and a white undershirt being thrown into his face by a very annoyed redhead. "Stop staring, Potter, or do you…'need a rear view, as well'?" she said, shooting his words back at him.
He just smirked as he sauntered up to her, almost pinning her between himself and the closet door. "I've already seen it, but if you're offering…" he trailed as he slid his fingers up her arm. He wanted to get an emotion out of her, any emotion. If it were anger, then so be it. He was greatly surprised when he heard a soft gasp, when he saw the faint look of shock on her face. But, of course, she pulled herself together quickly (not quickly enough, he chuckled) and shoved him away.
"Go get changed, Potter," she snarled.
"Yes, ma'am," he said with a wink.
Author's Note: Umm... so I'm done with this chapter. It's kind of one of those stories that start off slow, so if you're not into it yet, hopefully you will be within the next few chapters or so. Thank you to all who reviewed. I've been playing with how to switch POV's, but I think I've found one that I like, so hopefully it will work.
There's another book by this same author (Donna Kauffman) that I think would work very well with a story. It's about an advice columnist (again) that starts getting emails from an obsessive fan. Her great-aunt hires a detective/bodyguard for her, and they fall in love. That's the basic summary of it. Like it? I'm thinking it might be a Katie Bell/Oliver Wood pairing, because the detective gets hurt playing football in the story, which is why he becomes a detective. I thought that would correlate very well with Oliver. Tell me what you think, and if I should change the pairing! Thanks, and REVIEW! )