You Wanna Bet?

Karen

Rating: PG
Genres: Romance, Humor
Relationships: Lily & James
Book: Lily & James, Books 1 - 4
Published: 11/01/2003
Last Updated: 23/03/2003
Status: paused

James is given a bet to prove he can get any girl. But when Sirius chooses the girl, his Best friend Lily, can they work together without falling in love?

Chapters

1. A proposition

2. Stage one

1. A proposition

You Wanna Bet?- Chapter One

A/N: Hello! And welcome to my new fanfic- 'You wanna bet?' I decided that my writers' block from all my other fics has started because this idea would not get out of my head. So, after writing the first few chapters of this, I will finally be able to go back to writing the others. Not quite sure whether to continue this or not. I decide soon though! Hope you enjoy!! : )

MAY I JUST SAY- Lily is not a wallflower in this Fanfic. It may seem like it in the first few paragraphs but trust me, she's not. ;)

~*~Karen~*~

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James trudged along the train, trying to find the compartment all his friends were in. So far he'd met the moody Ravenclaw prefects, ditzy blonde Hufflepuffs and Snapes' Slytherin gang. Suffice to say, he was not in the best of moods until he heard the loud voice of Sirius Black coming from one of the compartments further up.

"Always the last one." He muttered to himself before pushing the compartment door open and meeting the stares of 3 of his 6 friend, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

"Jamesie!" Sirius shouted. "We were beginning to think you weren't coming. Anyway, we've been thinking of some ideas for tonight's prank on the Slytherins. I say we go for the traditional approach, introduce the first years to the Pranksters of Hogwarts! What do you think?" Sirius paused to take a deep breath, long enough for James to open his mouth but not say anything. "So, have a good summer? I hope you've been planning loads of pranks like me. How many girls did you get over the summer? And how many are you planning on this year? I expect you've got the Quidditch team sorted, we need to get practicing as soon as possible to make sure we keep the cup."

Sirius stopped and looked at James expectantly. However, James just stared at Sirius in amazement, his mouth slightly agape. Whilst in this stupor he said, mainly to himself

"How can anyone talk so much and not bore themselves to death?"

At this point Remus smiled and said

"Don't worry James, he's been doing the same thing to anyone who walks through that door. It stops them from wanting to sit in here apparently!" Sirius smirked at what he took as a compliment.

The gang spent a while exchanging stories of their summer holidays before the topic gradually got back to girls again.

"So James, how IS the girlfriend count going? How many are you aiming for this year?" Remus smirked at James. Sirius however, seemed to be thinking, which was very uncommon for him and was strangely silent.

"Well, I'm gonna try for the 250 mark this year. Shouldn't be too hard." James replied, grinning.

Almost as if a light bulb had gone off in Sirius' head, he suddenly jumped out of his daydream to challenge James."Why don't we make it a little more interesting then. Put some spice into it."

"A bet?" James asked

"A bet." Remus nodded, moving over to sit next to Sirius who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"To prove to us you can get any girl you want to, we choose the girl and you have get her to be your girlfriend within the next 5 weeks. I'll bet you 10 galleons you cant."

"This is gonna be the easiest 10 galleons in my life. You're on."

"Good. Now, we just need to choose the girl. I reckon-" Remus began until Sirius cut him off.

"Hang on a minute. If you're so confident about winning this, why don't we up the stakes a little bit. How about 50?"

"50?!?" James looks towards the celing for a moment, thinking before returning his gaze and extending his hand to the two boys. "You're on!" He said with a grin.

"Good." Remus said whilst shaking James' hand. "Excuse us a moment while we choose your fate."

With that, Sirius and Remus got up and left the compartment. James turned to Peter and tried to start a conversation with him for once.

"I can't wait for this to start. I'll show those two. It's gonna be so easy. I mean, who wouldn't fall at my feet?!?"

Peter merely squeaked and nodded in reply. A few minutes later Sirius re-entered the room followed by Remus, both carrying armfuls of food. James quickly opened a can of fizzy pumpkin juice and began listening to them.

"We have decided on the girl. it's . . ." Sirius paused. "Lily"

James nearly spat out his pumpkin juice. "No way! I can't do that to Lily, she's my best friend!"

"Exactly." said Remus "She'd never think twice about wanting to go out with you!"

"You do it or hand me those 50 galleons now!" Sirius smiled in glee. It was clear he didn't think James would risk his friendship with Lily for just 50 galleons and neither did Remus so both looked shocked when James agreed. Both began to get slightly worried; Sirius worst of all.

"Listen mate, you don't have to do this, we won't take the money off you. We don't want you and Lily to hate each other or anything."

"No." James sighed. "I'll do it. A bets' a bet."

What neither of the boys noticed was the glint in James eye that would clearly tell them he was up to something and formulating a plan inside his head. However, they didn't have much time to talk about it any furthers as at that moment the guys' other friends, Lily, Jennifer (Jenny) and Arabella walked into the compartment.

"Finally!" Lily exclaimed as she flopped down next to James. "We thought we'd never find you!"

"Yeah. Us three can only withstand so much gossip from the other Gryffindor gals so we came in search of you!" Arabella added in the same energetic way Sirius was earlier.

"However, we do also have some great gossip, they always start with the best bits first." Jenny joined in. "It seems that Brioney Westwood has been getting herself into trouble yet again although this time . . . ."

The rest of the journey was spent exchanging stories, planning pranks and generally having a great time. James however, spent most of his time trying to decide how to tell Lily about his situation. By the time the group reached the horseless carriages, they were just putting the final touches to their plan and were then ready to pull their first prank of the year.

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The main course of the start of term feast went very smoothly and the teachers were hoping they could go a whole feast without a prank. Their hopes were short-lived as just as the final course came, instead of the usual jelly, cake, ice cream and pumpkin pie appearing on the Slytherin table, it was filled with custard pies. As if that was confusing enough, the whole group of newly sorted first years were changed into large clown costumes and seemed to be being forced to pick up the pies and chuck them at random Slytherins although Snape and Malfoy seemed to be favorites. By the time the pies had run out and the first years were back to their normal selves, there was not one Slytherin not coated with custard. Girls were screaming and most of the group rushed out of the hall to the dormitories although some greedy ones decided to stay put and finish their meal first. The first years had looks of horror on their little faces and some were looking at the other house tables longingly, wishing they had been placed there instead.

The rest of the school were in fits of laughter, and laughed even harder when Professor McGonnagal called out

"Potter! Black! Lupin! Pettigrew! My office NOW!" Sirius and Remus merely smirked and followed the professor with Peter trotting behind. James stayed back though and, before going whispered into Lily's ear

"I've got a proposition for you which you may be interested in. Meet me n the common room at midnight?" Lily turned her head, nodded in consent and smiled before James ran out of the hall trying to catch up with the others before he got into even more trouble.

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A/N: Well there you have it. I thank you for reading this far. I know it's a bit confusing at the moment but all will be explained in the next chapter, which is already half written. James'll explain to Lily the bet and ask her about his idea. So until next time, Happy Reading! : )

~*~Karen~*~

2. Stage one

You Wanna Bet?: Chapter Two

Thankyou everyone for all your lovely reviews. Sorry for the wait, had TONS of work to do. Then my Hard drive failed. :( Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner. :D I apologise in advance but I'm one of those people who has to say thanx to all her reviewers!!!

To my lovely reviewers:

Blue Rain:Thankyou very much, I hope the 2nd chapeter is as interesting as the first. :D

Sayrabeth:Thankyou, hope you enjoy this one.

DELILA:next chapter for you! :D

Sourplummers:Wow! Have I actually converted someone!?!? kind of? Hope you like this chap and I dont put you off them!!!:D

Joan the Vampire Slayer:Thankyou :D Hopefully this chap will be worth a 9 too! :lol:

lorelai:Thankyou :D Hope you like this chap too. :) one.

hermione_best_student:Thankyou, hope this ones just as good. :)

tash: Well, I took your advice and this is what I came up with. :)

person-mad-at-nappa: Just for you! :D Hope this is worth a 10 too! ^_~

PCiAwtGotP:Thankyou, hope you like this chap! :D

Erin: Thankyou, I promise I'll email you back but as I said, I havn't had my computer recently. :(

Bingblot:Thankyou, hopefully, next chapter will grab hold a bit more of your attention. :D

Clair:I'd go for option 2! ^_~ Hope you enjoy this chapter. :D

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As the fire embers were gradually fading a lone figure made their way down the dormitory stairs. As they reached the bottom, she sighed and muttered.

"Typical James, always late."

She made her way over to the couch by the fire and decided to give James 10 minutes to show up. However, as soon as she sat down she heard a yelp come from beneath her and jumped up from the sofa. Gradually, James face and body appeared from under his invisibility cloak. His features clearly showed he had been sleeping and Lily had to wait a few minutes before James fully woke up. Once awake, James started telling Lily what he had got himself into.

"Well, You know how much Sirius and I like bets?"

"Oh no . . . What have you got yourself into this time James? "

"Well, you see Sirius, Remus and I kind of had a bet to show I could get any girl I wanted and to prove it, I have to get with the girl they choose in the next 5 weeks. And well." James paused. "Well the girl they chose was . . . you."

The smile that Lily had on her face was wiped off and replaced with a look of shock.

"Then why are you telling me this?"

"Well, I don't want to lose the money, but I don't want to hurt you either. So, I decided to tell you and ask if we can work together. You'll get � the winnings, 25 galleons."

"25 galleons! Sure I'm in! We're gonna have to make it believable though. I say we start 'officially' going out in about a week and a half from now. Until then I think we . . . ."

The two spent most of the night planning what to do until the fire had long gone out and James looked at his watch.

"Shit! Its 3 'o' clock in the morning and we've got lessons later. Perhaps we'd better try and get some sleep."

"I agree," Lily said whilst stifling a yawn. "This is gonna be hilarious."

"And profitable too." James added. "Well, goodnight Lily."

"Goodnight James." With that she hugged James and went up to her own dorm. James stood in the same position and watched Lily until she disappeared. He then shock his head and made his way up to his own dorms.

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The next morning Lily woke up to find James hovering by the side of her bed cleaning up a pool of water and the remnants of a glass bowl. He was muttering to himself

"Jeez, why do I always have to be so clumsy. All I try to do is play one prank and I can't even get that right."

Lily couldn't help herself from making a comment.

"Awww, don't worry, we can still make a use of you yet."

James nearly jumped out of his skin upon hearing Lily.

"Lily! Er Hi. I was um, just, well." James paused and Lily looked at him expectantly. "I didn't know you had woken up." He finished lamely."Well, I was asleep until someone's whinings woke me up. Come on, I might as well get up now. Wait for me in the common room, I'll be down in about 15 minutes."

James nodded and walked out of the room guiltily.

When Lily met James in the common room they decided to make their way down to breakfast even though, most people wouldn't be there for another � hour.

"Anyway, the reason why I woke you up early was to ask you about the plan. Are you sure you want to start step one today, we can wait a while if you want to."

"Well. I think we might as well start today, I means we'll get all that money, that much quicker." A wide grin spread across Lily's face as she said this."I can't wait till I get those guys back for choosing me!"

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Later on, on the way to their History of Magic class, Lily and James were walking ahead of the other five, their heads close together. The two girls were standing in between Sirius and Remus with Peter tagging along behind.

"Blimey, Lily and James seem to be getting on really well this year" Jenny said.

"Yeah." Remus agreed awkwardly. Sirius just laughed nervously. Both Sirius and Remus were still feeling guilty from the bet they had made yesterday.

"Heh heh. But Lily would never go out with him right? She knows what a player he is."Arabella scoffed at Sirius' comment.

"You can't talk. You're worse than James is. Want James for yourself?!?" Jenny laughed

"But seriously, Jenny and I both know Lily has a crush on James. She keeps denying it but we know its true. It won't be long before they're going out." Both girls sighed contentedly.

Both guys exchanged nervous glances as they made their way through the door into the History of Magic classroom and sat at the only free table, the opposite side of the class to James and Lily.

As professor Binns started reading out his notes monotonously reading out his notes, the group of Gryffindors were discussing Lily and James behavior towards each other

"See that?" Bella said excitedly. "James is so obviously flirting with her. See all the hand movements, he's obviously engrossed in talking to Lily"

The group stopped talking and watched laugh at whatever James just said. They carried on their conversation before she put on a mock serious face and hit James on the arm.

"Oh my gosh! Jenny exclaimed. "She is SO flirting back. See, we were right!" What happened next, sent the group into silence and then all burst into laughter at once.

At Lily and James table, James was talking excitedly about his most recent ideas of pranks to do on Snape. He had just finished telling Lily about his favorite idea, which had Lily shaking with silent laughter. After Lily had composed herself, their conversation continued.

"Why do you pull so many pranks on Snape and Malfoy anyway? I know they're evil and all that but don't you think you should give them a break sometime? They'll become suspecting and then your pranks won't be as effective!" Lily finished dramatically.

"True, but who else can we prank?" A gleam came into James' eyes. "Unless we start with You, Bella and Jenny?" He questioned, a slight smile on his face.

"You do and you die." Lily said whilst hitting his arm. Unfortunately for James, he was swinging back on his chair at the time and his eyes gained a look of shock before he grabbed for the table, missed and landed on the floor with a loud 'thud'. Professor Binns didn't seem to notice what was going on at the back of the class but the rest of the students did. Lily burst out laughing as did most of the class at the look of pure shock on James face, which was going pink with embarrassment.

Lily stopped laughing, long enough to help James up.

"Sorry James." As an afterthought, she said. "Think of it as a warning if you ever decide to pull pranks on us three!"

"If total humiliation is a warning, what's the real thing like?!?"

Lily just smiled sweetly and the two drifted into a comfortable silence.

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About half an hour later, James was fast asleep, his head held up by his hands, a slight smile on his face. Lily too was asleep, her head resting on the table. At the other group's table was a much different sight.

"Awww, look at that, they're just so cute together." Jenny sighed

"Yeah, just look at them staring at each other!" Bella added. Sirius rolled his eyes before saying

"Don't you think you two are taking this matchmaking thing a bit too far. Anyway, it's obvious they're asleep."

"They can't be, Lily never falls asleep in class."

"Well, I think that today is a first!" Remus said.

"I bet they're not" Jenny said sluggishly, whilst still looking at James and Lily.

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Sirius' eyes lit up.

"Oooh! A bet"

"Oh boy, not again" Remus sighed

"We bet you 2 galleons that they're not asleep"

"Um excuse me? We? You can count me out of this one." Remus said

"Me too. Bella it's up to you if you want to"

Arabella was never one to refuse a bet, just like Sirius and James. She grinned at Sirius and held her hand out.

"Be prepared to lose your money. We can find out after the bell."

The group then sat in silence, watching the couple on the other side of the class.

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15 minutes later, the group was making their way out of the classroom, Sirius with a huge grin on his face, glad he had won his bet. Arabella, walking slightly behind him, had her arms crossed but still had a smile on her face and James was at the back of the line, holding his head.

Just before the bell had gone, James head had slipped and, just as the bell signaled the end of class, James was jerked awake by his head hitting the table.

Meanwhile, Sirius turned round to face all his friends before saying

"Some History lesson eh?!?"

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(A/N: Phew, that took AGES to type up.Yes, yes, I know your thinking that chapter was VERY boring but it was just a chapter to tie it all together. *Ah, now I understand* you all go!!! :D Hopefully the nxt chapter will be longer and have more of L/J's "relationship" in it! :D

Anyway, its finished now and my inspiration is slowly going . . . . going . . . . .

Noooooo! Come back!!!!! *Chases after inspiration*Ahem. Anyway, hope to get the next chapter up relatively quickly, got an inset day next monday so I'll spend my time typing then! :D

~*~Karen~*~