Disclaimer 1: I DO NOT own the song "I Won't Say (I'm In Love)". I don't know who originally wrote it, but I know that it is in Disney's movie, Hercules. I also know the Cheetah Girls have sung it.
Disclaimer 2: I DO NOT own the setting for this story, nor do I own James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Alice (Neville's mom), Mary (she is mentioned in DH), Severus Snape or any other characters you recognize. There are a few OCs and the plot of this story that I own, but that is it.
I Won't Say (I'm In Love)
17-year old Lily Evans was spending a beautiful October afternoon studying Potions with a group of friends. Well, she had been studying potions...until a certain messy black-haired Head Boy came out of the palace with his three friends with him. One-another black-hair boy-was deep in conversation with him, and they were grinning in a grin that tempted Lily to go over and demand as Head Girl that they tell her what they were planning. Another boy, with sandy-brown hair, had his nose buried in his book. The third friend was a small little boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was just sort of tagging along with the group, and looking at the two black-haired boys like they were gods. The first boy with black hair was (in his own words) the one, the only, James Potter. He had been crushing on her since their first year, and she had been rejecting him just as long. Her friends, however, were all convinced she loved him. It was so ridiculous! Sure, he had matured since he was 11, and he wasn't quite so self-centered, and he had actually done some nice things to people...
If there's a prize for rotten judgment,
I guess I've already won that
No man is worth the aggravation
That's ancient history,
Been there
Done that
There were plenty of negative point to James as well, like how he had never outgrown torturing Severus.
"Lily!" one of Lily's roommates brought her back to focus when they hit her over the head with their potions book.
"Ow! Sorry Cassandra" Lily said "What do you want?"
"I was going to ask you for help with a question from our homework...but now I am asking what are you staring at?"
"Staring at? I am not staring at anything"
"Sure your not" Cassandra said
"What is it Lily?" a second friend, Alice, asked
"No one" Lily said
"No one?" Cassandra asked "You're staring at a person?"
"No" Lily said "Nothing, I had meant to say nothing"
"No, you meant to say no one" Cassandra said
"Come on Lily, who is it?" a third friend, Jessica, asked
"No one!" Lily said
"Let's see" one of Lily's closest friends, Mary, said looking around the grounds "Who could have caught Lily Evan's attention...is it Severus?"
"Ew!" Cassandra said "Lily, tell me you aren't still friends with Severus Snape"
"No I am not" Lily said "We went our separate ways in our fifth year when he called me-"
"That word that is not to be repeated" Mary said quickly
Lily smiled "Right"
"Come on Lily, who is it?" Mary asked, and started point to random guys on the grounds "Is it that guy? or that guy? or that guy? or James, or-"
"James!" Cassandra said "Lily, you were staring at James, weren't you?"
"No" Lily said quickly
"Yes" Cassandra, Mary, Alice, and Jessica said
"I knew it!" Cassandra squealed "I knew you liked him!"
"I do not like James" Lily said hotly "You like James, remember?"
"Yes, but he won't give me the time of day. You, however, have him at your beck and call"
"Just admit it, you like him" Jessica said
"I do not" Lily said hotly
"Touchy" Cassandra said with a knowing smile "That means you love him"
"Shut up, Cassandra!" Lily snapped
"Come on, just between us girls" Cassandra said, coming in close. The other girls did too "We won't say anything, and we are close enough you could just whisper it to us"
"James Potter is an obnoxious prat" Lily said
Who'd ya think you're kidding?
He's the earth and heaven to ya
Try to keep it hidden, honey we can see right through ya
Girl ya can't conceal it
We know how you're feelin', who you're thinking of
Lily shook her head fiercely "I do not like James Potter"
"You're right" Cassandra said whispered, "You love him"
"I do not!" Lily hissed
No chance, no way, I won't say it, no no
You swoon, you sigh
Why deny it, uh oh
It's too...cliché
I won't say I'm in love
I thought my heart had learned its lesson
It feels so good when ya start out
My head is screaming "get a grip, girl!"
"Unless you're dying to cry your heart out!"
"I do not like James Potter. Even if I did, boys just weren't worth the hassle. I was a close friend to Severus and what happened? He called me Mudblood." Lily said, "It would be worse if someone who I crushed on did that to me"
"But James would never do that to you, and you know it!" Alice said.
"Yeah" Cassandra said "He totally wanted to kill Severus after he called you that"
"I still don't see why you didn't let him" Jessica said
"James may not ever call me Mudblood, but he still-"
"Stop right there" Cassandra said "You are just about to make up the biggest lie in the history of lies, just because you won't admit you like James"
You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feelin'
Baby, we're not lying, hon we saw ya Hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown up
When ya gonna own up that ya got, got, got it bad?
"You are all so off" Lily said, slinging her shoulder bag into place "And if you are all going to insist on perusing your mad theory, you can do it without me. I am going inside. I've hear insanity is contagious, and you'd have to be insane to think I'd like James.
Lily turned on her heel and left the group.
She was a little more than halfway to the tower when she heard her friends behind her.
"Why is it so hard to admit" Jessica said
"There is nothing to admit to" Lily said
No chance, no way, I won't say it, no no
Give up, give in
Check the grin, you're in love!
Your doing flips read our lips your in love
You're way off base
I won't say it
Get off my case
I won't say it
"If you don't like him, why are you grinning when we mention him?" Cassandra said
"Because you are all insane, and you are suppose to constantly smile at insane people to keep them from realizing that they are insane!" Lily said
"You know you are doing flips at the very thought of being with James" Mary said
"I am not doing flips. My feet are firmly rooted to the ground"
"I meant in a figurative sense"
"The only motion in my body at the mention of being in a relationship with James is that of a stomach in knots. Because the idea of being with James makes me nauseous."
No chance, no way, I won't say it, no no
Give up, give in
Check the grin, you're in love!
The scene wont play
I won't say I'm in love
Your doing flips read our lips your in love
"Why can't you just accept the fact that you love him?"
"He has been trying to get me to go out with him since First Year"
"At least he's constant" Alice said
"And I have been rejecting him since First Year" Lily said
"Which makes you constant" Cassandra said as they reached Gryffindor Tower "You see? You two have so much in common! You are both magical, constant, in Gryffindor, smart, and you both love each other"
"We do not love each other! He loves me! I do not return the affection!" Lily yelled, she turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady "Mandrake" she said calmly, the portrait swung open and Lily rushed inside. The common room was completely empty. The students were all out enjoying the few days left before it became to cold.
You're way off base
I won't say it
"Lily come on, admit it" Cassandra said
"There is nothing to admit, Cassie!" Lily said
"You know, if you don't admit it soon, he'll give up"
"Good" Lily said "Tell him I hope he gives up sooner rather than later"
Girl, don't be proud, it's ok, you're in love
No chance, no way, I won't say it, no no
Give up, give in
Check the grin, you're in love!
The scene wont play
I wont say I'm in love
"Lily, the place is empty, just admit it. You know we won't tell anyone"
"Won't tell anyone what?"
Lily turned around and saw James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter standing just inside the portrait hole
"Nothing" Lily said. She turned back to her friends "And the next one to mention it gets two weeks of detention for harassing the Head Girl" with that, Lily ran up the stair to the girls' dormitories.
Finally alone, Lily sighed with relief Peace at last!
She couldn't believe her friends! After seven years, you'd think they knew her. She had complained about James enough around them to know she though he was as immature as a first year, and that he had the world's biggest ego. But at the same time, Lily thought about what this year had been like so far for her. She and James always had patrol together, being Head Boy and Head Girl...He had cooled down and bit, and his ego has shrunken. He asks me to date him once a week rather than once a day, and he rarely calls me 'Evans' anymore. He has matured, and when he gets that mischievous glint in his eyes, and I suppose in his own twisted, annoying way, he is kind of cute.
Lily sighed. Her friends were right. She did love James. But that didn't mean he-or anyone else for that matter- needed to know! It could remain her little secret with herself.
At least out loud
I won't say I'm in...love
A few months later, shortly after returning from Christmas Holiday, Lily did something that surprised everyone.
When James approached her during lunch, and asked her to go out with him, she said yes.