A/N: It's been awhile… since I could… hold my head up high. It's been awhile since I could say I wasn't addicted to Harry Potter. And I still can't. Oh, well. Maybe this time, I'll update more than once a year? It's so crazy… I think it might just work!

Disclaimer: Yeah… like I actually own anything.

The Game of Seduction

Chapter 10: The Astronomy Tower

When James arrived through the trap door, there was no light in the room, save for the moonlight filtering in through the large windows. He warily eyed the dark corners of the space, half expecting Narcissa to jump out at him from the shadows. Get a grip, James, he thought to himself. It's only Narcissa…. He rolled his eyes, smacking himself in the forehead. Yeah, right. She's going to eat me alive.

For the thirty-second time that night, he wondered what he was playing at, meeting Narcissa. I should be trying to get Lily back…. Not that I ever really had her in the first place. He still didn't understand how Narcissa could be related to Sirius. James had shown him the note, but his best friend had just snorted, and waved it away.

"Do whatever you want, man. It's your funeral!" James had chewed his lip in thought.

"Maybe I should just ask Remus if I can let Lily in on his… problem?"

"Are you kidding me? The fewer people know, the better off Remus is. Besides, you never know what she could do with the information. She could blow our cover!" Despite James' believing that Lily would never do such a thing, Sirius' disapproval was just the excuse he needed to chicken out; if Sirius thought that telling Lily wasn't a good idea, chances were good that Remus would think the same thing… right?

So here he was, still hitting himself in the head for his cowardice. I should have just asked…. I should have just told her! Abruptly, he turned to retreat back down the ladder, but was stopped by the silky sound of a woman's voice.

"Leaving so soon?"

A small sound of alarm escaped from the back of his throat as he whipped around to face the darkness. And suddenly it wasn't so dark anymore. Candles sputtered to life all around him on the hard-wood floor, encircling and illuminating the sultry smirk of the siren that was spread out on a few well-placed silver and green pillows. She tossed her golden locks over one shoulder, and the movement caused her green silk robe to slip lower down, exposing the tops of her…. James gulped audibly. The candles were giving off a strange, heady aroma, that was making his knees slightly weak, and as Narcissa beckoned to him with one finger, his feet began to move before his mind could catch up with them. He stopped when he reached her island of pillows, and she patted a cushion next to her.

"Come. I won't bite… hard." If I start running now…. But it was too late. Narcissa was already flicking her wand in the direction of the trap door, and the lid slammed shut with a snap. Trapped.

"Listen, Narcissa," he started quickly, "I just came to tell you that I'm not interested. It isn't you, trust me. I'm just interested in someone else." Surprisingly her smile didn't waver.

"You'd be surprised how easily that can change." She replied silkily. "Besides, from what I've heard, Lily Evans isn't interested. She's in love with my cousin. It's a known fact." James was stung by both her perceptiveness as well as the lie.

It has to be a lie…. She can't still be in love with Sirius….

"You should just forget about her," she continued. "You'd be better to find someone else who'd be willing to be… seduced by your charms." She flicked her hair back again, and James willed her robe not to fall open another centimeter. The battle of wills was not going particularly well. In any case, she had a point.

He knew in his heart that Lily didn't really hate him, but she was obviously not willing to receive his attentions. Was he willing to wait around for her, risk losing a friendship with Remus, pass up an opportunity like this…? James was no angel. He had given up women when he had fallen for Lily the previous year. Suddenly, he was transported back in time… he was staring at another sex goddess, clad in a barely-there-robe of red… and waiting for Sirius. That's it. He realized. It's just always been about Sirius. She's not scared of Voldemort. She was just trying to let me down easy. The smoke from the candles was doing strange things to his head. And here Narcissa is waiting for me like Lily was waiting for Sirius, and I'm passing that up… why?

Because you love Lily, whispered a voice. No, he thought, I was just stupid enough to think that I could have her. That's not true! it whispered again, but he ignored it, and stepped forward to join Narcissa on the bed of pillows.

"That's a good boy," she hummed as he settled himself. "Did you bring your bathing suit?" She didn't seem surprised when he shook his head, but sighed theatrically nonetheless. "Oh, well. There are other things we can do….Fruit?" she inquired, reaching for a bowl of chocolate covered strawberries. Delicately, she dipped one, and held it near his mouth. James hesitated a moment before slowly taking a bite and licking the chocolate from his lips. She took a bite herself, and sucked the rest of it dry, before reaching for another to feed him with, but before she could take one, James stilled her hand.

"Let me…" he murmured, dipping a strawberry and holding it up to her mouth. Like a snake, her tongue darted out of her mouth to lick the chocolate off bit by bit, and James couldn't help but find the movement mesmerizing. Suddenly, Narcissa smiled wickedly, looking at a spot above his mouth.

"You missed a spot," she said softly, leaning forward to lick the top of his mouth. "Mmm…." As soon as her lips touched his, he thought, This is extremely wrong, but he did nothing to change his position, only submitted to her sudden assault of his mouth. You wanted this, remember? You don't need Lily.

That may be, but do you need Narcissa? The answer was of course, no, but he didn't seem to be in control of anything at the moment. The incense was making his head cloudy. Abruptly James realized that he couldn't move. He tried moving his arms, and they twitched uselessly at his sides; he tried moving his legs and they flopped once before lying motionless. He was being pushed back onto the bed of pillows, with Narcissa's weight bearing down on him. She was holding his head, ravishing his mouth, and he was completely helpless to do anything about it. The initial headiness that he felt, that anyone feels while being kissed so thoroughly was fading pretty fast, and he was suddenly panicked. "What have you done!" he tried to say, but only a queer kind of gurgling from his throat indicated that he was trying to speak, and even so, with her mouth covering his, it was pointless. The strawberries!

"Just relax," she murmured to him. But that was the farthest thing from his mind. She was beginning to divest him of his clothing. His school robe went up, over his head in a flash, and she was expertly attacking the buttons of his shirt. Oh my God, she's going to rape me! He tried to thrust his chest out, to send her off balance with no success. He tried biting her tongue, but that only seemed to make her more determined. Narcissa was unzipping the fly in his pants now, but she paused before reaching her final destination. She looked down at him fondly, in a way that made his insides curl.

"I did like you, you know. For a whole year, I wanted you, and you didn't even know I existed…. Not with that Mudblood around." She shook her head mock-sadly. "It made me feel unattractive… like I wasn't a woman." She laughed mockingly. "I suppose it's a fitting revenge to take away your manhood." His eyes widened in alarm. "Not that it's strictly revenge, mind you." She leaned forward until she was whispering in his ear. "I'm under strict orders to make sure you don't leave here in one piece." With that said, she leaned back, and from within her robes, (James didn't bother to imagine from where), she fished out a small glass vial, with a bubbling vomit-green liquid inside it. "Just to put an end to your curiosity…" she uncorked the vial, and poored a drop of the liquid next to his head, at eye level. A putrid burning smell filled the air, and smoke coiled up around James's nostrils as the stuff burned a hole through the pillow, and ate its way down through the wood floor.

Chuckling, Narcissa reestablished her former position over his lower half. "Mmm!" James moaned in horror, closing his eyes tightly, as Narcissa roughly ripped at his pants and boxers to expose him.

I should have just asked Remus! he thought wildly for a moment as the vial hovered over his crotch

As if he had been summoned by thought alone, Remus barreled through the trap door, wand upraised. He stared for a moment in horror, before acting. "Stupefy!" Narcissa hastily rolled off of James to dodge the curse, and in a second she had raced to one of the enormous windows, where her broom was waiting for her, and vaulted herself through it, broom in hand, and into the darkness. Remus ran to the window, brandishing his wand at the night, and crying, "Stupefy, stupefy!" But Narcissa was already gone. Grim-faced, Remus turned back to his friend.

James was too relieved to see Remus to be embarrassed about his almost-naked state. Tears leaked from his eyes as Remus came over to help him up. "God, James. What the hell was she trying to do to you? I had this weird feeling that something was wrong when Sirius told me where you were. Man, you'd think he'd know his own flesh and blood! When I smelled ashweed being burned from outside, and I knew something was up. You only burn that stuff when you're trying to sedate a particularly dangerous magical creature! I'm glad I got here in time," he added, tucking James' robe around him. Remus was able haul James up and wrap one of his arms over his shoulder. "I would go get Pomfrey, but I don't want to risk her coming back," he said tilting his head towards the window.

As they made their way back to Gryffindor, James resolved to buy Remus an extra special birthday gift. He made a mental note to never accept invitations from crazy people, and to have children long before another witch got it into her head to burn off his testicles. When he finally flopped down onto his bed, he thought about going to see Lily, but as sleep overcame him, he thought it might be better to save the trip for the morning.

A/N: Thank God APs are over! Spanish Literature? English Literature… in Spanish? What's the difference? I sure hope whoever's grading my test won't see one….

Sorry if the writing style's a little different. As I said, it's been awhile, and as I've changed, so has my writing. Hopefully it's better than it was before. Maybe I'll go back and edit a few things. But I won't take anything off, because I know how annoying that can be. At least, it annoys me.

Please read The Sidekick. Only the first chapter's up, but I really want to make it into something special. It's based on a book called Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David, (read it!), and it's all about Ron taking charge of his life, after knocking Harry off his high horse, (almost literally). It's to be a Ron/ Hermione fic, but I haven't received any reviews as of yet, and I'd really appreciate you telling me what you think!

Until the next time, (which shouldn't be too long from now), I shall remain

Majestic (in a watery kind of way)