Legal Disclaimer: My work is my own creative intelligence and property, but I do not own the original source material it stems from (I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if it was). The opinions and interpretations of characters reflected in my stories may not follow what is portrayed from the source material. Please don't sue me, I'm a stay at home mom.

Competition/Challenge Block:

Written for/Stacked with: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft Wizardry (Term 14); Monthly Challenges for All (Year 4)

Hogwarts: Ravenclaw - A12: Photography #4 (Write about a protest.); Pinata; Fortnightly; Yearly; Seasonal; Dragons; Writing Month

MC4A: AU Bingo (Bad Guy Won); Su Bingo (5E-Laughter); Ship War (Competitive X); Ship War (Su Big [Fish]); Hunt (Fish); Garden (Ship Ahoy! [Frost Iron]); Fireworks (Evergreen; Family Matters; Colors of the Wind); Chimera (Sharing; Pining/To Pine; Life/Death); FR (Satisfaction; Liberation); ER (Unicorn; Larger Than Life; A Long Dog); StL (Car in a Tutu; Three's Company); ToS (Unwanted Advice; Middle Name; Spinning Plates); BAON (Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread); FPC (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; White Dress; Persistence Still); Fence (Machismo; Peddling Pots); Star (Wabi Sabi; Odd Feathers; Pocky Pockets; Pear-Shaped); Shower (Tomorrow's Shade; Mouth of Babes; Delicious Lie); SN (Rail; Intercept); T3 (Terse; Thimble); LiCK (Poppy; Narcissus; Yarrow; Tansy); ICs (In a Flash (Y); The Real MC; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Neurodivergent x3 (Yx3); Rowl In Her Grave (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion x4 (Yx4); Ethnic Present x2 (Yx2); Disabled x2 (Yx2); The 3rd Rule (Y); Lovely Triangle (Y); Ship Sails (Y); Zed Era (Y); Ravenclaw MC x2; Slytherin MC x2; No School MC; Magical MC x7 (Yx2); Old Shoes x2 (Yx1); Marvelous HP; Gwen's HP Bribery (Heroic Shadow); Gwens MCU Bribery (Frost Iron); Marvelous Cinema; Go Fluff Yourself (Y); Colors Galore (Y)

Author's Note: I flaunt Loki's bisexuality (yay canon!) and genderfluidy in this a little bit. Loki also uses the xe/xyr/xem pronoun set in this piece, and may or may not have a thing for Mrs. Zabini.

Word Count: 1,370

Warning Tag: F-Slur; Religious Group Picketing; Religious Group Throwing Objects At Children; Religious Group Yelling Things At Children; Verbal Assault Abuse; Justified Fish Slapping

If A Fish Could Talk

The group were all together now and hanging out at the fountain. They all took turns splitting into smaller groups to venture out to grab a bite to eat before coming back to claim their string of benches on the other side of the fountain that would be their spectating spot for the parade. It was wonderful being able to have the time to catch up and share each other's variety of food choices.

Blaise and his mother grabbed jerked goat from a Jamaican stand, Harry found a delicious Thai place, Luna and her father chose Greek, Tony was surprised to find shawarma so he and James picked up some of that, and Loki went with an entire smoked herring on a stick with a mixed berry fruit salad. The blackberry jammy dodgers Tony picked up for dessert were also quite delicious and something a lot of them never had before.

"Gift time!" Harry announced, having used the extra down time to browse the booths.

He gave Luna and Blaise matching masks to them that sported blue, yellow, and pink striped colors, matching Harry's. They quickly replaced their simple ones with them. It was smart to remain safe even if the state of California had recently lifted pandemic guidelines.

"I also found you another very fitting gift, Father," Harry said, handing Loki a tshirt. "Figured you needed one since I already gave Dad and Uncle Rhodey one, too."

Loki unfolded it to reveal the writing written in pink, blue, and purple letters: Silence=Death. Action=Life. Tony finished chatting with Xenophilius and came to Loki's side to see what it said, smiling.

"And here I thought it would be impossible to match a shirt with your energy, Lokes. Harry really has a knack for it," Tony said, laughing while leaning into Loki.

Harry preened at the praise. "I got it in bi colors because we all know you have a thing for Aunt Claudia."

Loki gave Harry a raised brow while Tony snorted in amusement at the comment. "What?"

"Oh, please, Love. You don't even try to hide it," Tony said, patting xem on the back in reassurance. "Going to get your new shirt on?"

"Well, it certainly does suit me," Loki said with a smirk. "Yet there is nowhere to change…"

Xe looked around them, not seeing anyone really taking notice of their group, so with a slight jerk of xyr head, magic made quick work of exchanging the emerald button up with the black text shirt and pronoun pin still intact. Tony pouted slightly as he watched the magic show.

"Aww, I was going to volunteer to help."

Loki placed a hand on Tony's cheek. "Maybe later."

Harry wrinkled his nose slightly at the exchange when James piped up from nearby, clearly hearing the lewd comment. "Children are present, you two."

The group started to settle on the benches (after a couple cushioning charms to make them more comfortable) and they all sat in their respective little mini groups. Andromeda sat by Claudia with Xenophilius at the end. Loki sat next to Claudia with Tony on xyr other side where James occupied. The children sat together, with Harry next to his uncle, chattering away about anything and everything they needed to catch up on that the letters couldn't cover adequately.

It wasn't going to be much longer for the parade to start. The floats, bands, dancers, and everything else in between could be seen just a block over getting ready, but it wouldn't be a Pride event without the religious bigot group that gathered on the other side of the street right in front of them. They all wore black shirts with angry red writing on them and picket signs that had horrible things written on them. The megaphone one had screamed scripture and other nasty things their way, and with only minutes before the event, they marched into the middle of the road and acted like a blockade.

"Cowards," Andromeda hissed under her breath, "Nothing but hate in their hearts."

Feeling a bit scared, Harry got up to move toward Tony. "Maybe we should go…?"

Loki leaned forward to reach for Harry's shoulder, seeing that he was quite uncomfortable with the shouting and borderline rioting that was now taking place right in front of them and the police force that were peppered about weren't doing anything to stop it.

"They'll leave soon…" before Loki could finish, however, something was thrown at them.

Looking at xyr feet, a couple silver t-shaped objects lay there, and xe picked them up curiously. "What is this?"

"Their religious symbol," Claudia explained, glaring their way. "It is a cross."

"Ah."

Loki got to xyr feet then to move Harry from harm's way, but was a tad slow when another cross was thrown right at Harry, scraping his arm and leaving a red line on his dark skin. "Ow."

Tony must have seen the look on Loki's face shift, same with Claudia, because they both jumped to their feet. Tony moved Harry so Andromeda could examine him, and Xenophilius had taken the liberty to swiftly move around them to shield Blaise and Luna during the scuffle.

"Loki," Tony said gently, holding out a hand to place on xyr shoulder. "Don't engage. It's what they want."

"So we are to just allow them to assault our children?" Loki snapped, setting xyr jaw. "I only wish to talk to their little group here."

"They are not to be reasoned with," Claudia said, "Speak with caution."

Loki smoothed xyr hair back, putting on xyr best, wicked smirk. "Naturally."

Xe approached the mob, tapping the one who led the throwing of the crosses with the group. The bald white man turned and glared at Loki when he saw who it was.

"I beg your pardon, but you have injured my child with your makeshift weapons, and I expect at least an apology for these actions," Loki said smoothly.

The man and those within earshot laughed, spitting on the ground at Loki's feet. "Or what are you going to do about it, fag?"

Loki visibly bit his tongue as xe stared the man down. "I would choose your next words wisely or consequences will be enforced."

The group chuckled and jeered at xem. "He's threatening us now, how cute the little cocksucker thinks he can actually do something about it."

"Well, first of all, I am not a he," Loki hissed, waiting for the man to look back at xem before changing the crosses into a fresh, albeit dead and gutted, herring. "Secondly, I do not take too kindly to you spewing such foul things in front of children. We could at least agree on that, yes?"

The man looked frightened at the magic performed, but the woman behind him did not see it and decided to shout, "You've already damned those children to Hell bringing them here and practicing your sickness in front of them! What we say or do about or to them will not change that!"

"Suit yourself, then," Loki responded, taking the fish by the tail, xe swung it skillfully in front of xem, and the satisfying, wet slap across the man's face had xem smirk when the man stumbled back, utterly shocked.

"Witch! He is a witch!" the man being helped back to his feet yelped, pointing a shaken finger.

"Assault!" the woman gaped, pointing at Loki and the man. "How dare you!"

"You assaulted my child first, cretin!" xe growled back, flinging the fish into the group. "Hope you're hungry."

Xe sauntered back to xyr group, feeling quite proud as the bigots scattered from the street. Tony was pinching the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, while Claudia was stifling a laugh beside him. Xenophilius, Andromeda, and James must have taken the children away to avoid seeing the debacle.

"A fish? Really?" Tony asked, raising a brow when he looked up at Loki.

"It's considered an insult in Asgard to be slapped with a fish," Loki replied, smiling. "Is Harry alright?"

"It was just a scratch, very little blood," Claudia supplied. "We got it taken care of easily."

"Good." Loki looked between the two. "Shall we get back to the festivities?"