"Jayne?"

I still couldn't quite get over the image of James Potter in my shambly apartment. Jules, Kit, Imogen, and I all sat in a row on our couch, watching him pace back and forth while frowning to himself.

"Huh? Yeah, sorry?"

Annika's pinched mouth did not bode well for me. Given that I had directly ignored her instructions to stay in my apartment and caused a media firestorm, I couldn't really blame her. Although James was the one who had initiated that kiss, so really her ire should be focused on him. Then again, he was her client so I guess it was my head she'd go after.

"I said you should sit tight and not leave the apartment until I get confirmation from the news sources that this story will be retracted-"

James's head snapped around. "No."

"I've already sent owls to the Prophet and Witch Weekly-"

"Take them back. She needs to be my girlfriend."

I'm pretty sure I let out a wheeze but luckily it was covered by Jules choking in excitement.

"She has a cough," Imogen informed them, elbowing Jules.

James and Annika ignored us. "What do you mean? You've almost never wanted anyone in the papers with you."

"My parents already think we're dating from the first photo of us and Albus saw her in my apartment. We still have like five months left until I take the NEWTs so it's not like they're not going to see her again. It's the perfect cover."

"You want us to fake date for five months?"

Again, it was like I hadn't spoken. Annika was skeptical. "I don't think you've ever dated anyone for that long. And you want to do it publicly?"

"I have to," he argued. "The team already thinks I'm not focused enough and I want this to be a surprise for my parents."

Suddenly remembering the rest of us existed, James glared at my roommates. Annika waved him off.

"I already had them all sign NDAs before you got here, don't worry. How do you want to spin this to the media? Since you've been so public with her today and in front of your parents too, it might be better to paint it as something serious between the two of you. They have photos of you with other women but rarely more than once so we can't have this be a casual thing." She got a gleam in her eye that I didn't like. "If we do this right, it might actually be good for your image. James Potter, ready to settle down after years of womanizing. Oh, those fangirls are going to go crazy for you once they find out you're capable of genuine human emotion."

"Um, excuse me?"

Startled from their scheming, they looked over in surprise.

"Jayne!" James said as though he hadn't realized I'd been there the whole time.

"I'm not sure I'm following," I said. I was in fact fairly certain I understood everything they were saying, but I needed him to say it all to me directly to confirm it was as crazy as I thought it was.

In what I'm sure he thought was a comforting gesture, James knelt down in front of me and put a hand on my knee.

"My parents saw our photo in the paper this morning and were asking me about you. Which wouldn't have been a problem but Albus got to them first and told them about meeting you at my place and what you were like at Hogwarts which…"

"Isn't your usual type," I finished, rolling my eyes. He smiled guiltily.

"So I told them we were kind of dating officially since they were wondering why you were at my place. My mom saw you in Diagon Alley this morning and was going to go up to you so I had to tell them I had something important to tell you and just sell it that we were dating. Sorry," he added at the end, as though he just realized that going up to women and kissing them with no warning may not be desirable. Not that it necessarily applied in this instance.

"James," I sighed. "I don't really think I can-"
"I know this is a lot," he said quickly. "I'm really sorry for dragging you into this, but it's only for a few months and then it'll be over. We'll have people looking after you so you won't be harassed by the media too much. Think of it as part of your job. What comes with having a celebrity client, right?" He smiled charmingly.

"This feels like a pretty big expansion of my job description," I pointed out.

"You're right," he started, placing his hand on the table to stand up until it wobbled dangerously. He looked down at our table, which had one leg held up by duct tape, a book underneath to balance it out, and some shaky Reparo charms.

"Maybe I do need to pay you more."
"Yes, please," Imogen muttered.

"You're not even going to ask if she maybe has a boyfriend first?" Kit demanded. "You're asking a lot of her, you know."

James snorted.

"Hey!"
"Please," he said, turning to me. "I've seen your calendar. You practically have bathroom breaks scheduled; there's no way you're fitting a relationship in with all that."

"You don't have to point it out." I grimaced.

"So it's settled then?" He prompted. "Annika'll send you over the details of your new payment and then you'll be my girlfriend?"

It took a lot for me to not flinch every time I heard that word. James grinned.

"I think you're the first person to have that reaction to dating me. Try not to make that face in front of my parents, yeah?" he advised. "Remember, it's all fake anyway."

After a sleepless weekend of replaying James's kiss in my mind, I got up Monday morning actually excited to go do my research. Normally my dissertation took over my every waking moment, but lately I had other issues (read: James Potter) to deal with first. Unfortunately I walked into the building to see the other doctoral students whispering to each other frantically.

"What's going on?" I questioned, setting my tote bag down hesitantly. I'd thought I was safe from them seeing me in the papers (most of us were usually focused on our work and not much more; if it weren't for Kit and Jules, Imogen and I would be totally out of touch with the outside world), but all it took was one person recognizing me…

"Jayne." Daniel, a third year student in my department who usually was available to lift my mood with his cheerful attitude, looked grim. "We all just got a department-wide from Anderson. Our funding is cut."

Before I could process his statement too much and freak out, an owl flew in and landed on my desk, chirping to get my attention. I picked up the note tied to its leg.

Dinner with my parents tomorrow night at 8. Meet at my place before to go over together. - J

Dinner with the Potters. The perfect thing to settle my nerves.