ship: jily
word count: 2044
-

Lily Evans was obsessed with Taylor Swift. She had seen her in concert a total of 4 times, owns all of her albums on vinyl, had a whole collection of memorabilia, the whole nine yards.
It goes without saying November 12th was a day she was very excited for.

"I'm upset." Lily said to her best friend, Marlene.

"Why now, Lils?" Marlene responded. Lily would feign upset over stupid things sometimes, because it was funny, so Marlene wasn't taking it very seriously.

"I need a boyfriend. Not someone I actually like though. I just need to date him until Red (Taylor's Version) comes out so then we can break up and I can experience the 10 minute All Too Well to its full potential." This sounded like a joke, but they all knew she was dead serious.

"Yeah, Dorcas and I will probably break up for a day to enjoy it properly." Of course Lily wouldn't be friends with people who didn't take Taylor as seriously as she did. Marlene and her girlfriend Dorcas, another one of Lily's best friends, would never break up seriously, but they definitely would for this.

"This is exactly what I need. I need someone who likes me who will date me for the next four days and then we'll have a horrible breakup so we can cry fully clothed in the shower." Lily pointed out, falling back on Marlenes bed next to her.

"If only there was a boy in school who is head over heels in love with you who will definitely go out with you for four days and not even care that it's because you want to listen to Taylor Swifts new album." Marlene sarcastically spitballed.

The boy she was referring to was weirdly enough, totally real and most likely totally down to date Lily for four days leading up to the album release.

His name was James Potter, and he fell in love with Lily seemingly a week into their first year at boarding school, and had been elaborately asking  her out since. He was nothing if not determined. Recently, however, the two had become friends, mostly due to her other best friend Emmeline dating one of James's best friend, and their mutual friend Remus getting sick of having to hang out with them separately.

"Honestly? I could." Lily genuinely considered this.

"Oh my god." Marlene laughed at the idea of Lily actually dating James Potter. 

-
Lily was probably crazy for doing this, but she walked right up to James the next morning at breakfast. Everyone basically knew her plan, and thought it was hilarious. They all knew this wouldn't actually really hurt James, just help him get closure on her, so they let it happen. Lily wouldn't even consider it if she thought it would hurt him or ruin their friendship. Oddly enough, after years of rejecting him, she quite liked his company and actually valued their friendship.

"Hey James, wanna date?" She said casually, sitting down at the breakfast table across from him.

James sat there for a moment, mouth ajar, eyes wide. He was so confused. She thought for a moment that she had broke him.

"I'm sorry, I should be waking up about now." He said, shaking his head and pretending to reach for an alarm clock.

"Did you finally fall for the charms of James Potter?" He winked at her, leaning back in his seat a little bit. He looked cute for a moment, before he remembered his seat was a bench and had no back, causing him to fall off the bench and fall on the floor.

"Oh yes, cause you are so suave." She rolled her eyes.

He got up, laughed, whispered "I fell for you.", winked, and resumed the conversation.

"So, why do you finally want to date me?" James asked. Clearly it wasn't because of his grace.

"Taylor Swifts new album comes out in 4 days, and she's coming out with the 10 minute version of-"

"All Too Well, of course." James finished her sentence.

Lily was genuinely awestruck. Potter knows Taylor Swift? Potter knows All Too Well?

"Yes, so I need to date someone and then break up with them so I can properly enjoy the new album." She smiled. She had no idea why, but she knew James would understand.

"So I'll be your boyfriend for the next four days, we'll have a horrible messy breakup, and then you can cry fully clothed in the shower for ten minutes?" He asked, grinning right back at her.

His grin is cute... Lily tried to force the thought out of her subconscious.

"Exactly. Are you down?" She asked. She needed an answer.

"Yes, I'm down." He rolled his eyes. "But I have some rules." If Lily was going to date him for only four days, he was going to make them count.

"Good, I do too. No kissing, and definitely not more. No dipping me on tables, too." She listed.

"Can i dip you elsewhere?" He asked.

"Negotiable. You only get one public display of affection per day."

"Okay."

"I think that's it."

"My turn for rules?" James raised his eyebrow. He was a big fan of PDA, but he made sacrifices for Lily.

"Sure, go ahead." Lily rolled her eyes.

"One, I get to actually date you. We get to go on real dates, not some fake dating crap. Second, I take you to Hogsmeade tomorrow. Third, everyone is allowed to know we're dating, even if I don't announce it dramatically. I'm gonna win a whole lot of bets."

"Fine, Potter." Lily got up to walk out of the room.

"I'll pick you up at six tomorrow!" He yelled after her.

"She's my girlfriend." He leaned over to the random second years next to him.
—
"Hello, Potter." Lily walked down the stairs. She got ready for the date, might as well.

"Evans, you look... good." James looked her up and down.

She did. She wore a lace button up under a black dress with a white bow, tights and Doc Martens.
She was stuck in the 90's, much like the boy in ripped jeans and a flannel about to take her on a date. Also wearing Doc's.

"Excellent flattery." Lily said sarcastically.

"You know, you're supposed to reciprocate compliments." James said, winking at her.

"Your hair looks better than usual." She said, pretending to lie.

"Great job, babe. You ready to go?" James emphasized the word babe. She couldn't get mad at him for it anymore.

"Where are we even going? We can't leave the school." Lily asked. They're only allowed to go to Hogsmeade on weekends, and they aren't allowed to leave at night. It was 6 pm on a Tuesday.

"Goody two-shoes." He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room."

"This is your PDA for the day!" She yelled as he kept leading her through the school.

He took her all the way to a... random statue. She was more confused than ever.

It did not clear things up when the statue opened a secret passage.

The two ran through the secret passage all the way to Honeydukes.

James spent the night taking Lily all over Hogsmeade, going to all of her favorite stores. He even bought her tea. That may be her love language.

Finally, he took her to The Three Broomsticks.

"How did you know this was my favorite restaurant here." Lily asked. Nothing compared to their breakfast menus.

"Remus." James shrugged. Remus and Lily had been best friends for 6 years, he was James's secret weapon.

He sat her down, gentlemanly, and ordered the two of them food. And butterbeer.

They had an amazing dinner together, eating and laughing and drinking. Lily found herself wanting to see James's smile more and more. She also wanted to hug him. Or kiss him.

No. Her rules.
-
Finally, after three sadly amazing days of dating, it was 11:30 on November 11th. James had to dump the girl that he was definitely sure he was in love with. He always though he was, but dating her set that in stone.

"Lily, we need to talk." He sat her down in the common room.

They both had to keep from laughing at how cheesy the breakup was. They used all of the cliche lines, "it's not you, it's me", "I just need some space," "right person, wrong time."

And Lily felt fuzzy. She felt, sad? Like something was missing.

Like she went through a breakup with someone she liked.

No, of course not. Dating James was just for All Too Well.

Speaking of, Lily and her roommates stood in the bathroom in pajamas, crying with hairbrush microphones.

A few songs in, Lily was definitely sobbing, and actually felt hurt and betrayed.

"You know Lils, I didn't think you'd actually be upset." Dorcas said absentmindedly.

"Why?" Lily responded.

"Because you didn't go through a real break up. You didn't like James." She shrugged.

"Yeah, I didn't." Her voice cracked.

"Oh my god, you did. You like James Potter!" Emmeline yelled.

Lily was pretty easy to see through. Like, really easy.

And it all finally clicked. She had fun on their dates, liked his presence, wanted to see and make him smile, and actually felt horrible after breaking up with him.

"Fucking hell, I like Jams Potter." Lily got up. "What do I do?"

"Well, tell him you like him, idiot! Go! Now!" Marlene yelled, and Lily ran out of the room.

She was wearing a sweater, ratchet bun, mascara all down her face, but she was going to tell James how she felt.

He was sitting on the couch in the common room, with headphones in.

"James, can we talk?" Lily sat beside him, pausing his music from the button on the earbuds.

"Lily, we already broke up. There's nothing to talk about." James turned to her, confused. His eyes were a little bit glossy.

"Yeah, but I want to do the exact opposite." She smiled nervously. She was telling Jame Potter she liked him. She was going to lose so many bets.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"I don't want to break up." She said.

"But you only wanted to date until today." He pointed out.

"Yes, but I realized that I kind of, maybe, want to date for real." She looked into his hazel eyes.

"Are you serious?" His eyes met her emerald green ones.

"Yes, embarrassingly, yes." She said.

"Does this mean I get to kiss you?" He asked.

"Please."

And so they did, on the common room couch in the fire light. And it was perfect. His hands rested on her lower back, hers tangled in his messy hair. They kissed slowly, for quite some time, before finally breaking apart.

"Your hair looks better now." She blushed. It was sticking up everywhere, which was 99% Lily's fault for playing with it when they kissed (made out).

"You look even prettier now." Lily doubted it was true, she looked like a hot mess. But James was dead serious. She was officially his hot mess.

"Whatcha listening to?" Lily cuddled up to her boyfriends chest, taking one of his earbuds and putting it in her ear, unpausing the music.

All Too Well- Taylor's Version. 10 minutes.

She could've married him right then and there.

But, as much as she loved the song, she couldn't listen to it right then. She was happy, and so happy, she did not need a break up song. Clearly, neither did James, because he skipped the song.

Seconds later, they heard the beginning of a new song.

Taylor Swift, Everything Has Changed.

a/n
Happy late red day everyone!! I saw this idea all over tik tok and needed to write it. This may be one of my favorite one shots I've ever written. Probably partially because I'm a die hard Swiftie. Anyway, I hope you guys like this! I really tried to post it before the album came out, but I'm like 2 hours late. Oops. Sorry. Anyway, love you guys, hope you enjoyed. I'll leave you with a question: what's your favorite taylor album/song? I can't pick a song, but I am a Speak Now girl.
~ brynlee