Hey, all! Just something short that I knocked together in the wee hours of the morning when I should have been sleeping.

All my best stuff seems to happen when I should be sleeping… makes me wonder what my dreams are like.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. All rights to Harry Potter and affiliated products belong to Ms J.K. Rowling and the other proper entities.

Summary: "Alright." He put an arm around her waist and drew her against his chest, dropping his face to kiss her languidly. "You may continue seducing me, Miss Evans."

Rating: T

Genre: Romance

Warnings: Sexual references, but nothing too graphic.

Timeline: Mid 1978. Late Seventh year.

Allure

He'd had girls try to seduce him before.

Since the start of sixth year, they'd corner him anywhere there could be even a pretence of privacy—broom cupboards, empty classrooms, the Astronomy Tower, secluded stairwells. One of the Gryffindors in the year below him had even tried in his dormitory at the beginning of seventh year.

It was always the same. The girl in question would corner him in said private setting, grab his tie (or his collar, depending on how aggressive she was feeling), pull his face down and attempt to stick her tongue into his mouth and her hand down his pants (that was how he differentiated between girls who just wanted a snog and girls who wanted sex). He would always lean back, pry her hands off his clothing, push her back an inch or two and tell her that they were in a school, for God's sake, not a brothel. They would get flustered, or upset, and cry, or hit him, or both, and run from the room in humiliation.

It made Sirius think he was gay. His best friend had had many similar experiences—but unlike his best friend, he embraced it wholeheartedly, shagging girls anywhere he would be certain not to get caught.

At least, by a teacher. Getting caught by James (and Lily) was an entirely different matter—Sirius thought it was funny to deliberately select a broom cupboard in their patrol path, start snogging (or actually start shagging) his girlfriend of the week, and wait for James to find him.

It made James a little sick. His father had always told him that, yes, sex was fun, but it was something that should only be shared within committed relationships. He didn't have to wait for marriage—that was archaic—but his father had explained that it was un-gentlemanly and un-chivalrous to take advantage of a silly girl and then dump her straight after. Shortly after that little speech (James had been fourteen, red-faced, and absolutely mortified) his father had died, and the lesson had stayed with him.

So, yes, he'd had girls try to seduce him before.

But not like this.

His friends had gone down to Hogsmeade for the day. Remus was on duty as chaperone for the third years and Sirius and Peter had gone with him to keep him company. James had been sitting on his bed, re-reading his Transfiguration essay when there had been a knock at the door.

"Lily." He beamed at his girlfriend as he stood aside to let her in. She didn't often come up to his dorm, and when she did she rarely passed the threshold; usually they met in the Common Room and went outside when they wanted time alone. "Something I can do for you, love?"

"I think there might be." Her cheeks had a little tinge of pink to them—this was odd. She rarely blushed around him anymore, unless he said something particularly dirty while they were snogging.

He studied her a little more closely. Her fiery hair was, for once, left out to tumble down her back and curl gloriously into its natural glossy ringlets (something he'd only seen once or twice before), her forest green eyes sparkling with a strange sort of light to them (was it him, or were they a little more made-up than usual?). She was fidgeting a little, her hands repeatedly jumping up to brush a particularly wayward curl behind her ear every few seconds as she shifted her weight.

"What's wrong?" He asked, concerned, and shut the door.

She shook her head. "Nothing." Her voice sounded a little funny. She brushed the curl back behind her ear.

He frowned, trying to decipher her odd behaviour. "Did you need help with the essay?" He guessed. She was a little funny about asking for help on her schoolwork. "I've just finished mine, so I've got time—"

"This isn't about that." She waved it off, taking a deep breath. "James?"

"Yes, love?" He blinked. What was she…?

"You… said something the other day." She chewed on her bottom lip. "While we were in that empty classroom in the Arithmancy corridor."

"I said a lot of things in there the other day." He grinned at the memory, winking at her. It had been one of the better (and longer) snogging sessions they'd had. They'd skived off last-period Potions—telling Slughorn that there was an emergency with the new patrol schedules that had to be fixed before dinner, and promising to make the work up later—and had locked themselves in the empty classroom that no one had used for quite some time. "Which one in particular?"

She stepped closer to him, not yet in his personal bubble, but right at the edge of it. "The one about you…" another step, bringing them chest to chest, "…and me…" he stepped back—she followed him— "…and your Gryffindor scarf…"

"Ah, that one." He cleared his throat, stepping back again, his back making contact with the door. She followed him, crowding him into the wall. "What about it?" If he recalled correctly, she had giggled and slapped him on the arm, telling him he was a dirty prat, and that had been the end of it.

"Well," her voice was coy now, "I was thinking…" she reached around him, "that we might give it a go." She flicked the lock on the door.

"G-give it a go?" His voice cracked. "Are you serious?"

She braced her hands on his chest and stood on tiptoe, planting a light kiss on his jawline—he was suddenly very glad he'd taken the time to shave that morning. "I am perfectly serious." She murmured, pressing another kiss near his ear.

Clearing his throat (and with much effort), he put his hands on her shoulders and held her away from him. "Lily Evans," he said gravely, "are you trying to seduce me?" He never thought he'd see the day. He was of two minds; let her have her wicked way with him and enjoy the ride… or let himself be dragged back down to earth with the fact that they weren't supposed to be doing this and could be caught at any time.

"That depends." She started fidgeting. "Is it working?"

"I very much want to say 'yes'." James took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "But Lily, my mates—"

"—are in Hogsmeade." She finished for him. "I asked them, they said they're going to be there all day. They're not coming back until dinnertime. Actually, I think Sirius knew why I was asking." She added as an afterthought.

"Someone could come up here at any minute." He pointed out.

"That's what the lock on the door is for." She winked at him. "I did a little research. You can't alohomora these. The only way they'd get through would be to break down the door."

"I don't know…" here was a scene that he'd have laughed at if it were anyone but him and his beautiful girlfriend. A bird practically offering herself up on a silver platter and the bloke acting like a pansy about the whole deal.

She sighed, slumping a little—she mumbled something to herself that James didn't quite catch, but sounded like she was berating herself or giving herself a pep talk, or something. "Look, James," she said in a slightly insecure tone (that threw him for a loop. Since when was Lily insecure?), "if you just don't want to, that's all you have to say. I just thought…" he could practically read the rejection in her eyes and she stepped back and started rambling, "…I just thought, you know, we've been together five months now, and it's not like we've really had a chance to be alone together yet. There's always been something in the way—duties, or homework, or our mates—but, just for today, we don't have any of that. And I've been thinking… I've wanted to… I've tried to talk to you about it, but…"

"Shh…" he put a finger to her lips. "You want this?" He didn't know how he'd managed to keep his voice to a whisper when he was mentally doing cartwheels and shouting from the castle battlements.

She nodded. "I've wanted this for weeks, actually." She admitted.

"Alright." He put an arm around her waist and drew her against his chest, dropping his face to kiss her languidly. "You may continue seducing me, Miss Evans."

She giggled as she hooked her fingers into his belt and tugged him back toward his bed.

That evening when his friends came back from the village, James was relaxing on the fireside lounge in the Common Room, idly casting small charms on a quill that he had levitating above his head.

"Hey Prongs!" Sirius called from the portrait hole. "Have fun today?"

James's eyes flickered over to where Lily was curled up in the armchair next to his lounge, quietly reading a book. The firelight bounced off her wild, shiny hair, making her skin glow almost ethereally against her dark jumper and jeans. She met his eyes for a brief second before her lips curled into a sweet smile and her cheeks flushed a little before she turned her eyes back to the page.

"Yeah, mate." He tore his eyes away from his gorgeous girlfriend to turn them on his best mate, who was approaching him from the other side of the room. "I reckon I did."

- E N D -

And therein lies the end of another Oneshot.

Please review and let me know what you thought!

Sparkly Faerie