Dangerous Liaisons
Summary: James and Sirius have fun ruining the lives and reputations of many girls at Hogwarts. However, James gets tired of sleeping with girls that'll do it with him the moment he starts to seduce them-he wants a challenge. He hears a rumor that one Lily Evans is saving herself for marriage (or at least true love). That's the kind of challenge he's looking for. There's just one problem: she's heard rumors about him too. Based on the movie Cruel Intentions and the book Dangerous Liaisons.
Rating: R for language, sexual themes, sensuality, and possible violence
Disclaimer: I don't own any of JK Rowling's characters or settings, nor do I own any plot elements taken from Cruel Intentions.
Chapter Six: Garden Rendezvous
Lily went up to her dormitory, changed into her swimsuit, pulled a cloak over herself. Just as she was about to leave, she pulled back and went over to her bedside table and put on some perfume-she didn't know why, it wasn't like she was trying to impress James or anything. Or was she?
She walked down the stairs, through the common room, where many people were still chatting away, and climbed through the portrait hole into the corridor.
She was thinking about Travis, her current boyfriend-or at least trying to think about Travis. However, a certain boy with jet black hair and glasses kept popping into her mind. It was crazy, the more she tried not to think about him, the more she thought about him; she couldn't seem to stop him from wandering into her thoughts. The worst part was, she couldn't decide whether she minded or not.
This is not happening to you, she told herself, You can't fall for James Potter. He doesn't really like you and is against everything you stand for.
Before she knew it, before she'd even realized where she was going, she was at the door that led into the pool-room. When she opened the door, however, it was presumably empty.
"James?" she called, uncertainly. When she finally saw him, she gasped at the sight of him-he was coming out of the steam room butt naked. She didn't mean to, but she looked downward anyways, before glancing away, blushing.
"Would you mind turning around so I can put on my bathing suit?" he asked her, surprisingly calmly.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, embarrassed before walking away to the opposite side of the room, towards the coat hangers.
A few seconds later, she heard a splash that told her that James had changed into his swimsuit and was now in the water. She continued to take off her cloak, and hang it on the rack.
James was slightly let down when he saw that she was wearing a one-piece bathing suit. Oh well, thought James, with any luck, I'll be seeing a lot more than that pretty soon.
As she walked into the water she said, "You know, it amazes me that someone as charming as you can be so manipulative."
Oh, the line about how immature and unruly he was again. He'd thought he'd heard the last of that letter crap in fifth year. However, if it was a subject she was going to dwell on, he should probably research it further. He'd have to ask Remus to ask her about it again. "We're not going to start this letter nonsense again, are we?"
"What was my favorite part? Oh right. 'Even more treacherous than he is attractive, he has never uttered a single word without some dishonorable intention. Every woman he has successfully pursued has regretted it,'" Lily recited.
"You know, you might want to tell me who's bad-mouthing me so that I might confront them," he suggested earnestly.
Lily smiled and shook her head, "Not a chance."
"You're right though." James said bluntly, swimming in circles around her.
"About what?" Lily asked, desiring explanation.
"About me-what you said earlier," he clarified. "I've done some things I'm not proud of," he shrugged.
"Look, I wasn't trying to give you a hard time." Lily explained. "I was just…"
James however cut her off. "No, it's okay. I mean I look at you with all your morals and values and you seem to be happy. I envy you, no bull shit."
"Really?" Lily, asked suppressing a laugh. Did he really think that she wouldn't see through that line?
"Seriously," James went on. "You've got everything going for you-your smart, you're beautiful, you're determined. Everything I'd want in a girlfriend."
"You know I'm seeing someone," Lily warned him.
"Oh yes, the infamous Travis," James said sarcastically. "It's funny you haven't mentioned him until now."
"He's on exchange in America. He's great-I really miss him."
"I care," James said, trying to seduce her.
"I'm sorry, but you're not my type," Lily apologized insincerely.
"Honestly?" James questioned.
"Honestly," Lily replied defiantly. "You're beautiful, you're determined, you're smart." Lily said mocking him. "Listing your qualities isn't going to get you anywhere with me. The best you could hope for, at this point, is my friendship, and you're really walking a fine line at that."
With that, Lily climbed out of the pool and over to the coat rack. She grabbed her cloak and headed up to her dormitory. Finally, she had done something right that night. She wondered what James was thinking right now-she hoped she hadn't hurt him, at least not too much.
"Night sweet pea!" she heard James call after her.
Never mind, she wanted to show that cocky bastard that he couldn't always get what he wanted.
.*.*.*.
The next day, Melanie and Florence were sitting out on the deserted lawns, having a picnic lunch. While the rest of the school was at Hogsmede, Melanie thought that it would be the perfect time to interrogate Florence. She was brushing Florence's hair, and both girls were sitting in silence.
"So, rumor has it that you went on a date with Court Reynolds." Melanie said casually. "I heard he's nice."
"He's okay," Florence shrugged. "He kept talking about this bulimic head-case he dumped a couple Christmas's ago."
"Really? Bulimic head-case?" Melanie repeated through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, what a loser she must be - OW!" Florence screeched. Melanie had just "accidentally" pulled the brush too roughly through a knot of her hair.
"Sorry," Melanie replied cheekily.
"Well, anyways, he's invited me to spend Christmas with him and his family," Florence explained.
"That's great!" Melanie lied.
"You think so?" Florence asked. "I dunno, I guess I'm just scared."
"Of what?"
"DUH! Boys!" Florence replied, as though stating the obvious. "I mean, I've never even gone to first base with a guy."
"Well haven't you ever practiced on one of your pillow friends?"
"Eww…no…that's gross."
"It's not gross, how else do you think girls learn?" Melanie asked, sitting up straight. She looked around and saw that no one else was on the grounds. So she decided that it would be alright. "Okay sit up, and wet your lips."
"Are you for real?" Florence asked skeptically.
"Do you wanna learn or not?"
Florence did as she was told, closed her eyes and leaned in to meet Melanie's lips. As their lips touched, Florence felt a tingling sensation penetrate throughout her body that she decided she liked. She no longer cared the Melanie was a girl, or that they were kissing in a place where anyone could see them-she only knew that kissing people felt really good. It was over all too soon. So she leaned in for another kiss, but realized that Melanie had turned her head.
"Maybe you should practice sometime on your friend Ronald," Melanie suggested.
This brought Florence to her senses-she opened her eyes and snapped her head so that she was face to face with Melanie. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"C'mon Florence, it's obvious that he's crazy about you," Melanie explained matter-of-factly.
"He sends me letters you know…love letters" Florence whispered, smiling.
"How romantic," Melanie replied, coolly. "Have you responded?"
"No."
"Why not? Don't you like him?"
"Oh I do like him!" Florence whined, "But I don't know what to do if my mother found out. With him being…err…muggle-born and all."
"Where are the letters?"
"In an antique doll house in my room."
"Okay, good." Melanie said-this was getting interesting now, "Now I want you to make copies of the letters and bring them to me."
"Okay, why?"
"Because if there's one thing I'm good at, its love letters." Melanie explained, "I'll have this bastard eating out of the palm of your hand. Maybe we can even arrange a little get together for the two of you in my personal Head Girl dorm."
"You'd do that for me?"
"Of course, silly! We're friends, right?"
"Best friends!" Florence declared.
.*.*.*.
Melanie was getting ready for bed, when she heard a knock at her door. Not knowing or caring who it would be, Melanie absent mindedly shouted "Come in!" Only to turn around and find herself face to face with Sirius Black.
"Sirius," she said calmly, "You've already had your three nights, and I told you that there would be no strings attached."
"Come with me," he said, flashing his trademark smile at her, and holding out his hand.
Oh how me made her feel so positively weak-kneed. But she couldn't let him get to her-she, Melanie Potter, had never, nor would she ever, let any guy get to her. Especially not Sirius Black, whom she was sure, would use her as he had used so many other women. She had practically created James and Sirius; she couldn't let Sirius destroy her now could she?
"Sirius," she said sternly, "Don't think any of your usual tactics will work on me." She turned around and headed toward her bed.
"Pssh…don't flatter yourself. I was only trying to help you get back at Court Reynolds. But if you don't want me to take you to the place that Florence's Charm's tutor is meeting her in secret, I won't."
"What?" Melanie said, turning towards Sirius, her eyes flashing. "Where?"
"Nothing, nothing-you obviously don't want to know about it. You just get your pretty little ass into bed and think about all the boys you're going to fuck over the next year," Sirius ordered, "But don't think that taking joy out of the hurt you cause other people is ever going to make you happy-I've been there, done that. I just wanted to let you know, I'm out. I'm not going to help you ruin the life of an innocent girl anymore."
"Judas Priest, Sirius! You stupid, fucking dolt…" Melanie screamed. "You and I had a deal, you can't just break it like that!" Shit, everything was going horribly. Florence wasn't really being proactive in the whole Ronald thing, she still hadn't brought her the love letters; James was being incredibly frustrating with the whole Lily thing; and now Sirius was bailing on her. Fuck, what else could go wrong.
"Oh, believe me I can and I will. The best part of this is, you can't do anything about it." Sirius smirked.
"Oh yes I can." Melanie hissed.
"What are you going to do? Tell McGonagall? Or Dumbledore?" Sirius asked, laughing. Melanie cringed. "No, you wouldn't do that, it would ruin your reputation…"
Filled with rage, Melanie jumped up and made to grasp her wand from her bed-side table, but Sirius was too quick for her. He quickly summoned her wand. She turned around and looked into his eyes, breathing hard. In her rage, she then did something that shocked even herself. She sprung herself up on Sirius and tried to grab her wand back. However, Sirius, being much bigger and stronger than her, threw the wands aside and pinned her on top of her bed.
"Wow, Melanie," Sirius breathed, "What the hell was that? You continue to disgust me." He then got up from on top of her, turned away and headed out the door.
"You're not so innocent yourself, Sirius Black!" she screamed after him, still heated.
"Don't you EVER compare me to the likes of yourself!" Sirius warned, pointing a finger threateningly at her, "I would never go to such great lengths to destroy the life of an innocent girl. Everybody I've fucked with, has deserved it."
"So the 153 girls you've slept it have all deserved it?" Melanie retorted, her eyebrows raised.
"I said 'fucked with', not 'fucked,'" Sirius clarified.
"What about the therapist's daughter? Was the therapist merely not 'overcharging'?" Melanie said, mimicking him.
"She was screwing with Peter's head."
"Don't we all?"
"No I mean, really screwing with him. Besides, I don't have to explain to you. Just stay the hell away from me, and I'll never tell your secret, or the fact that you tried to attack me."
This left Melanie speechless. Never had she heard Sirius express this much loyalty for anyone, let alone Pettigrew, the boy who always tagged behind James and Sirius. It didn't make sense that he would help Peter. Yet, she knew he wasn't lying.
With that, Sirius left.
.*.*.*.
"James!"
James turned around to see Remus motioning him over to the corner of the common room.
"Yeah?" James asked, running over.
"Hey I was just wondering if you could help me on this Transfiguration."
"Haven't done it yet," James replied automatically.
"Figured as much," Remus sighed, "with all that shit you're doing nowadays, you don't have any time any more-you don't even remember monthly traditions…"
Monthly traditions? James thought, and then it clicked. "Ahh shit! I'm sorry about that Remus! What was it you needed help with?"
"Transfiguration."
"Oh, right. Conjuring?" James guessed.
"Yeah, I'm working on the Theory essay McGonagall assigned," Remus explained.
"Pshh…I don't know shit about the theory. I just do it," James replied.
"Could you just explain to me how you do it then?" Remus suggested.
"Well, shit, I don't know. I just kinda concentrate real hard, hold my wand steady and will for whatever I'm trying to conjure to appear."
"So you'd say it requires high concentration, a steady arm and a strong will? That's all?" Remus asked, his eyebrows raised. "Damn, if that's the case, I should've mastered this a long time ago."
James shrugged, "Sorry mate, that's the best I can come up with."
"Nahh…that's alright, I've just lost my book and the library doesn't have a copy."
"Well, you can just borrow mine, it's somewhere in the bottom of my trunk," James offered.
"Thanks!" Remus replied, smiling.
"Hey mate, sorry I haven't been around a lot recently, I've just had a lot on my mind, that's all."
"Hey, no problem. It's our 7th year, we've all been busy," Remus said, patting James on the back.
"Could you do me a favor though?"
"Sure."
"Remember a few years ago when I asked you to find out who wrote Lily a letter and then after the…" James paused, searching for the right word, "incident, told you to wait?"
"Ahhh, God, you're not still on about Lily Evans, are you?" Remus asked, exasperatedly.
"Do you remember?"
"Yeah," Remus sighed.
"Well, it's come up again, and I was wondering if you could possibly find out."
Remus shrugged.
"C'mon mate, please?" James pleaded
"Alright, fine."
"Hey, thanks, you're a real sport, you know that?" James replied.
"Yeah, no problem," Remus smiled. "Hey, if it's not too much of a bother, I'm going to go look for you're book right now. I kinda want to get started on the essay before midnight."
"Go for it."
Remus then raced up the common room stairs and into the Marauder's dormitory.
.*.*.*.
"So, Sirius, I'll see you tonight?" Emmeline Vance, the hottest sixth year in Ravenclaw asked?
"Absolutely," Sirius replied, flashing his trademark smile at her. She could be the one, Sirius thought.
Or she could just be good for a nice fuck, the more honest part of his brain he reasoned.
Right as he had started to reach out to hug Emmeline, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Melanie.
"Yes?" he asked, somewhat annoyed to be seeing her again so soon after their last, very unpleasant, meeting.
"I just came to say I'm sorry," Melanie replied, sighing. "I don't know what came over me that night-it was really out of character for me."
She paused; when Sirius said nothing, she continued.
"I'm not asking you to forgive me, and I don't expect you to ever talk to me again after what I did. It was unacceptable," Melanie paused to take a breath. "However, I would like to ask you one favor."
Sirius looked back at her questioningly.
"Could you please not tell James what I did?" Melanie asked. "If he asks why we're not talking could you just say we had a row or something?"
Sirius sighed heavily.
"It's just he's my best friend in the world, and I don't know what I'd do without him," she explained.
"What? Are you going to try to fuck with him too?" he asked in a slow, menacing whisper.
"No! Never!" Melanie looked appalled. "I would never treat James like I do…"
"Do who? Me?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows raised.
Melanie blushed. "I'm sorry," she replied, in as earnest a voice as she could muster.
"Alright," Sirius agreed, "I won't say anything."
"Thank you!" Melanie replied gratefully, reaching up to hug Sirius. Sirius, however, didn't return the hug-instead, he just stood their stiffly.
"For the time being," he amended. "But if I hear anything, anything at all…"
"Don't worry, I would never hurt James," she assured him. "Why would I hurt the only true friend I have?"
That, Sirius couldn't argue with. Instead, he just turned and left-hoping never to see, hear from, or speak to Melanie Potter again, however unrealistic his dream might have been.
.*.*.*.
"Hey Lily!" Remus called, jogging up behind a girl with fiery red hair. After following her down five sets of stairs, he had finally caught up with her on the 2nd floor near the west wing.
"Oh, hey Remus!" Lily replied, surprised. "What's up?"
"I'm just patrolling same as you, I expect," Remus said.
"Yes," Lily sighed, "I don't know when Dumbledore expects us to get our work done."
"I really don't know." Remus replied. "Personally, I've had to stay up past midnight every night to keep up with the work load."
"Touché," Lily agreed, "I don't understand why they have us patrolling. I doubt that Voldemort will break into the castle-isn't Dumbledore the only one he fears?"
"Exactly," Remus agreed, "And even if he did try to get in, why only have the prefects on guard? I mean seriously, James and Sirius are the best duelers in our year."
Lily scowled.
"Oh that's right, you had a run-in with James the other day, didn't you?" Remus said. "What was that all about?"
"Well, nothing horrible, I suppose," Lily said. "He just asked for help in charms. He said I was the best in the year, and I know he's just trying to flatter me."
"Would it be all that bad?" Remus asked. "If he tells you you're good, you're good. He doesn't lie about that sort of thing just to impress you-and he never usually succumbs to ask anybody for help. If he's trying to land a girl he'll usually offer to tutor them in a subject."
"So, what else do you know about James?" Lily asked, rather keen on the subject, though she didn't know why.
"He's smart as hell, you know. And he's really dedicated to achieving his goals-he always give 110%." Remus recited, "He's always watched my back. He's got a bad rep, you know, but it's mostly bull."
"I dunno Remus," Lily sighed, "I've just been hearing some really awful things about him."
"Really?" Remus asked, pretending to be surprised, "From who?"
"I can't really say, I'm sworn to secrecy."
"Lily, how long have we known each other?"
"Forever," Lily said, smiling.
"Exactly, now it's my job to look out for you, right?" Remus explained, "I mean, you're like a sister to me. Besides, do I look like some kind of gossip to you? It's me, Remus?"
"You promise not to tell anybody?"
"Lily, I swear to you on my mother's life."
.*.*.*.
A/N: Since the last one was rather shorter than usual, I decided to make this one extra long. Hope you enjoyed it, I'd love to hear your input.
FYI: for any of you HP fanatics who don't know yet, the HP7 release date is July 21, 2007. People were flipping out at school today.