James nodded, musing that perhaps times had changed just a bit since the days he could recall. Most of what James had learned about sex he'd learned in the field, so to say. And while Harry had said that there hadn't been many girls, he'd assumed that at least meant there had been a few. "Well, have you ever, before?" he asked.
"Er... once... " he blushed. It wasn't that he was ashamed, but given the stories from Sirius and Remus through the years, his Dad had more than a few before his Mum. "It was with my girlfriend a while back, Ginny. It was only once, though. I never really had much time for things like that." he shrugged.
Well, James figured that probably helped. More than a few good men had produced perfectly miserable first times because they got themselves so worked up over the stress of it. He gave Harry a reassuring smile. It sounded as if Harry hadn't been as prone to sweeping himself off his own feet as James had. "Well, sometimes girls just wait for a bloke to make the move there," he said, considering. "But if you've got real feelings for this girl, well, sometimes you just have to feel out the moment. That can be tricky though. You know, sometimes it's not such a bad idea to just tell her that you want to - you know, in a nice way. 'Hey I really fancy a shag' probably never goes over well," he smirked. James took a sip of his tea, setting his cup down to use his hands a bit to speak. "But you know, tell her how you feel about her, how you want to be close to her, go further with her. A bit of poetic language makes the situation a little less awkward, a good deal more romantic."
He nodded, listening to his Dad. "Well, I did tell her I'd fallen for her. I really do fancy her... actually, I think she'd likely respond well if I just told her the truth fairly bluntly. Luna isn't one of those girls who likes to play games. You're right, I think she'd likely just want me to be honest with her." he nodded. "You're probably right... but... poetic language?" he chuckled. Maybe Luna would like poetry, he wasn't sure.
James smiled. Games were most certainly an unnecessary hassle, especially with the girl who might be the girl. "Well, there are a lot nicer ways to tell a girl you want to be with her than that 'let's take things to the next level' nonsense," he chuckled with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's about speaking from your heart - I mean, it doesn't sound like you're just out there looking to get laid. And that's the thing about someone you love, it's about two people coming together for something special - and that's beautiful, and it should sound beautiful when you talk about it," James went on, content to wax on about love, and expressing it physically. He wasn't talking about ridiculous metaphors, just that a bit of eloquence made talking about his own feelings always seemed to make them easier to communicate.
He smiled and shook his head. Maybe it should have creeped him out, listening to his Dad talk like this, but it really didn't bother him. Especially thinking about Luna in that way, mulling over what was being said. "Well, I have to admit that even the snogging with her has been beautiful."
He laughed easily. His own father had been the sort he could talk about just about anything with, given the right circumstance. Usually, the right circumstance was a lazy summer evening when his father sat on the back porch smoking his pipe. There had never been base conversations, nor did the reach the graphic level some discussions with Sirius achieved, but they were about the grand ideals of love and romance. Or politics. Or music. Or anything, really, but it always seemed very important and philosophical. James was truly sorry Harry would never meet the man James tried to live up to in his own mind. "See, that's the real thing of it," he confided. "With the right girl, it doesn't really matter what you do, so long as you stick to being yourself. And if you find someone who really sees you, really gets you, just go with your impulse and don't even bother stressing over it."