The Art of Seduction

Amicable was not something Lily Evans enjoyed associating with James Potter. No, why be
friendly when you could be so much more?

That is why Lily Evans was in the current situation she was, in which was involved being spilled
ungracefully across James Potter's lap, much batting of the eyelashes, and a rather lacy red push-
up bra peeking from beneath a low-cut shirt. Yes, it was an interesting affair.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

It all began when Lily first noticed James (which just happened to be during the Sorting
ceremony, but nonetheless). It was difficult not to be enamored with the boy at first sight. To
Lily, there was something especially unique and tempting about him.

Soon after this (in a period of three years, to be exact, but a time lapse is required in a situation
such as this), Lily discovered something: James could be the quite the prat. And indeed he could.
So Lily made a promise to herselfshe would never give into a date with James Potter until he
had become less bigheaded.

She hoped this would be soon.

Unfortunately, it took him the better of three more years before he could walk through a
doorway properly again (i.e. his head deflated from the size of a Muggle blimp to a relatively
normal head size), but luckily, Lily was still as enamored with him as she was when she was
eleven. There was only one problem: he had stopped asking her out at the end of their sixth year
and had instead gained her friendship.

This did not help Lily one bit as she was extremely fond of James (to the point of it being rather
unhealthy) and he seemed to want nothing more of her than friendship. But Lily was determined
to change his opinion.
Operation Seduce James was planned, perfected, and put into action.

This is where we find ourselves now, in which Lily is sprawled rather ungracefully in James's lap,
blinking her eyes ridiculously, with her bra sticking out of her shirt in an obviously previous
mussing.

But, you may be wondering, what exactly is Operation Seduce James (called JOS for short, simply
because it sounded better than OSJ)? How did Lily pull it off? And why would Lily ever wear a bra
that clashed with her hair?

To fully answer these questions, we must first delve into the mind of one Lily Evans.

JOS first entered Lily's mind as a dream, involving her favorite pair of shoes, the marmalade she
had on her toast that morning, and a flying Giant Squid, none of which have anything to do with
seduction. In fact, James wasn't even in her dream. But nonetheless, these seemingly random
things fixed in her head the fantastic plan that is JOS.

Now, to answer a question: What is JOS?

To put it simply, JOS is Lily's detailed and foolproof plan of seduction.

Simple enough, yeah?

Ha. Nothing is simple with Lily, as you're soon to see.

Now, how did Lily pull off JOS? The same question has been asked by countless people, and the
answer is always the sameshe has no idea.

Lily first put JOS into action on September the twenty-fourth, of 1977. James was just finishing
up Quidditch practice, and Lily had been going over her mental checklist the entire time.

She had a scattering of glowing candles adorning the Heads' common room, with the shades
blocking any sunlight and deep red cloths covering any lights. All in all, the lighting met her
approval.

She had spent the majority of an hour dressing, which included mussed hair, smoky make-upped
eyes, a dark skirt that skimmed her knees, and the lacy red bra her mum had given her as a poor
joke, covered by a low-cut shirt. Lily was going for sexy, and had hopefully achieved that.

Just as Lily was attempting to curl her eyelashes and instead ended up poking herself rather hard
in her eye, she heard the telltale sound of the portrait hole opening.

"Uh Lily?" she heard James call from within the Heads' common room. "Did you let that barmy
house-elf in here again? There are candles everywhere. How'm I to do my homework?"

Lily rolled her eyes before straightening out her skirt and checking in the mirror to make sure her
seductive smile was satisfactory. Throwing her hair over her shoulder, she made her way down
the stairs from her room in her precariously high heeled shoes.

Peering around the corner, she found James blowing out the candles and opening the drapery to
let the light in. As Lily watched all her hard work being destroyed before her eyes with her
mouth agape, she skipped a step and was sent toppling down the stairs rather ungracefully.

She gave an exasperated sigh as she found James standing above her, his hands shoved into his
pockets and looking amused. Being the gentleman he ultimately was, he stuck out a hand for her
to take. She swatted the hand away as she stood up on her own and adjusted her skirt yet again.

After fluffing her hair, she turned to find James blowing out yet another candle that was
hovering above the mantle. "You didn't let that barmy house-elf in here, did you, Lily?" he asked,
now pointing his wand at the fire to bring it back to a roar.
She wrinkled her nose. "No, I didn't."

"She must've snuck in, then," said James, tossing his wand on the side table next to the couch.
"I'll have to have a word with Dumbledore about that. I don't feel right having her going through
my draws again. I think I'm missing a pair of"

"It was me, James," Lily said, trying to cut him off.

"boxers," he finished his sentence, trailing off slowly. He quirked an eyebrow. "You say you
took my boxers?"

Lily rolled her eyes playfully. "No, silly. I lit the candles."

"Oh. Why, you want me blinder than I already am?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her good-
humoredly.

She waved her wand and the candles lit and the curtains snapped shut. "Maybe" she
whispered in what she hoped was her most seductive voice.

In the dim light, she could see him swallow. This only served to make her more confident and her
smile grew.

"Why don't we have a seat?" she asked coyly, crossing her right leg over her left.

He plopped down next to her on the couch and grinned at her, drumming his fingers on his leg.
Lily smiled back and produced two drinks in wine glasses, handing one to James.
He took a sip and looked mildly surprised. "Butterbeer?"

Lily giggled and said teasingly, "What did you expect, firewhisky?"

He shrugged, swirling the contents of his glass around before turning to her. "So, my dear, what
is it that you'd like?"

"What, am I not allowed to enjoy a butterbeer with my fellow Head?"

"In wine glasses?" he asked, eyebrows lifted.

"It's a nice change," she countered.

"So there's nothing you need?" he asked again.

"I wanted to spend some time with you," she elaborated quietly.

He softened. "I'd love to, Lily, but practice really took it out of me. Maybe tomorrow?"

Lily was at the same time insulted and infuriated, but was also quite good at pushing back those
emotions. "But James," she murmured, running her hands across his shoulders and down his
chest, "I'd much prefer it if you'd stay herewith me"

She was too busy trying to act sexy to notice his obvious amusement at her behavior.

"Well I suppose I could stay," he said with a deliberate hint of indecision.

"Oh, yes, James, stay," she said, her right leg somehow managing to reach over her left and rub
against his. He was quite surprised her leg could bend that way. His surely couldn't.

"If you insist" he said, trailing off deliberately as her hands came to rest on his shoulders.

"Oh, I insist," she murmured, batting her eyelashes at him in the most ridiculous way. It took
much of his willpower not to straight-out laugh.

He took a sip of his butterbeer as he studied her. She seemed to be trying to nonchalantly throw
her right leg across his in an attempt to straddle him. He almost chuckled at the irony of the
situation.

Just as Lily was about not-so-subtly sit on him, the heel of her shoe caught in the pocket of his
robe. It took quite the struggle before she had dislodged her shoe from his clothing and
managed to throw herself ungracefully across him, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had
just occurred. She began batting her eyelashes again.

James couldn't help it as laughter began to spill from his mouth, with Lily looked slightly
affronted at this and sitting up. "Why're you laughing?" she demanded.

"Oh, Lily," he chuckled, his hands coming to rest at her waist, "what're you trying to do?"

"What does it look like I'm trying to do?" she countered, folding her arms across her chest in
indignation.

"Well," he said, an apologetic grin creeping onto his face, "it seems as if you're trying to seduce
me."

She blushed a bit as she muttered, "Is it working?"

He smiled gently as he slowly placed a kiss at the corner of her mouth, a kiss that lingered with
her for the rest of her life.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked softly.

She put her forehead against his as she grinned. "Precisely."

So, as you can clearly see, JOS didn't unfold exactly as Lily had planned it to. But, as she would
later say, she wouldn't've had it any other way.

However, you may still be wondering, why would Lily ever wear a horrid red bra that clashed
with her hair?

The answer? Because James had once casually mentioned how good she would look in a lacy red
bra.

Lily, though she wasn't sure as to how James had known about that horrible gift, took that
comment to heart. Perhaps it was what helped Lily to "seduce" James that night (as she still
believes she had)?

Or perhaps Lily was just more skilled at the art of seduction than she'd thought.