Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There's also references to the canon war happening during the time period. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Smash, smash, smash. Auction has BEGUN!

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 15); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: Green Ribbon; Eating Cake (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Bucket Listing; In a Flash; Old Shoes; Lunar Era; Go Fluff Yourself; Colors Galore; Hold the Mayo (x2); Ship Sails; Booger Breath; Ethnic & Present (x2); Rian-Russo Inversion (x2); Rowl in Her Grave; Neurodivergent; Magical MC (x4); Gryffindor MC (x4); Fix-It Felix (Y); La Vie Boheme; Culturally Inclined
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 02
Subject (Task No.): Mythology (Task#9: Write about a shapeshifter or seeking revenge.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [88](Having a Beer); 365 Prompts [286](Dancing); Scavenger Hunt [65](Black/Wingardium Leviosa/Chocolate); Auction [1.2] (Not Letting Someone Down)
Other MC4A Challenges: SuB [2D](Love); AU [3A](Dancer); Ship (Star Petal)[SuBig](Dancing)/[SpBig](Chocolate)/[SpBig](Glass/Cup)/[SuMic2](Black)/[SuMic2](Purple)/[Bingo](2D - Late Night Dinner); Chim [Dextrin](Sweater/Jumper; Theme Park; "Wait for It" from Hamilton); Hunt [Su Set](Festival); Garden [Bed Types](Bar/Pub); Fire [x1](Flasher); TWT (NB Sirius Black; Marauders Era)[Task#1](Purple)
Representation(s): Genderqueer Sirius Black/Lily Evans; Marauders as Family
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Muck & Slime; Grease Monkey; Abandoned Ship; In the Trench; Surprise!; Second Verse (Lovely Coconuts; For the Vine; Car in a Tutu; Unwanted Advice; Mother Hen; Zucchini Bread; Nontraditional; Found Family; Persistence Still; Not a Lamp; Ladylike); Chorus (Vid Tangent; No Touchy; Unicorn; Larger than Life; Bandstand; A Long Dog; Tomorrow's Shade; Peddling Pots; Machismo; Wabi Sabi; Odd Feathers)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Amerliorate); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Olivine); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Slainte)
Word Count: 980 words

(^^)
Keep Living
(^^)

Sirius spun Lily away from him in time with the music. She laughed at the motion even as she spun back to him. The crowd parted around them, giving them room for their vigorous dancing. Her red curls were vibrating with her excitement, and he would be lying if he said it wasn't contagious.

It was nice to be away from the magical world and growing tensions there. Here, in this dance floor in the middle of Piccadilly, it was like the war could not touch them. Nothing existed outside this space with its dim lights and smokey air. There wasn't anything scenting the air that would remind them of the battles they kept finding themselves embroiled with. There was only the smell of cheap beer, even cheaper cigarettes, and overcooked meat.

After the last six months where they seemed to be going from ambush to ambush, it was a sliver of paradise.

Maybe he should seriously consider Lily's idea that they just leave the wizarding world. It was certainly starting to look like a lost cause. No one seemed willing to actually fight the Death Eaters, not even Dumbledore's Order which was allegedly gathered to do just that. Other countries had already started cracking down on Death Eater activity within their boundaries. The memory of Grindelwald was still too fresh in a lot of their minds.

The music ended with a crescendo. The crowd applauded Sirius and Lily. Still buzzing from their dance, he swung her up into his arms and gave her a dramatic kiss on her lips. She grinned into the kiss. He could feel it as easily as he could feel the amount of purple lipstick she left behind. Not that he cared much about that—not like James or Remus might have anyway. It wouldn't be the first time that he ended up wearing Lily's lipstick, even if it was not exactly his shade. He certainly wasn't going to let her down by freaking out about it while they were just having a good time.

They drifted back to the bar where they had left their aforementioned friends. James was sipping on what passed for beer in the place. The glass was still mostly full, though the head had died down a bit while Sirius and Lily had been dancing. Remus was nibbling on the massive bar of chocolate that Lily had gotten him earlier from the candy shop tucked away behind the ferris wheel.

Peter would have been with them, but he had allegedly had a date. Apparently, she was a very nice girl that still let him feel her up (Peter's words, not his). They were going to a show in Edinburgh.

"I don't know about you lot," Sirius said as soon as they were close enough to not need to shout in order to be heard, "but I'm starving. Who's up for a late dinner? We could get takeaway on the way back to the flat."

"I vote for curry," James said, sliding his disappointing beer away from him. He wasn't a very big drinker to begin, Sirius knew. It wasn't because he was personally a believer in strict prohibition, but his parents (particularly his mother) was and James hated the idea of letting her down on something that wasn't exactly hard to avoid. None of them were going to give James grief if he chose not to drink anymore than they would when he chose do order something alcoholic like he had tonight.

"No," Remus vetoed immediately. "You always say you want curry but then you always complain about how it's not as good as your mum's. I'm not drunk enough to deal with it tonight on top of the lovebirds being all—" He gestured at towards Sirius, who had his arm slung around Lily's waist. He had slipped his fingers under the hem of her black jumper and was just stroking the patch of smooth skin he had found there. "—in love and lovey dovey. So I vote Chinese."

They all bickered good-naturedly as they headed towards the door. Despite the late hour, the avenue of the park was still relatively full. They drifted to the streets outside of it without much care. After picking up takeaway (banger sandwiches ended up winning because no one was willing to let Lily down when she batted her eyes at them like she had), they cut through a little park that was down the street from the flat they all shared.

In a fit of impulsivity, Sirius transformed into his Animagus form and ran off to chase at the moths fluttering under the street lamps. He brought back a mid-sized stick for Lily to throw. She rolled her eyes but was as unwilling to let down him down as he was to let her down. After a brief bout of tug-o-war, she managed to get the stick away from the shaggy dog that Sirius currently was. She threw it a few times as they leisurely walked between the patches of light and shadow.

Then she cast an underpowered wingardium leviosa and managed to throw it even farther. Sirius charged off, barking in delight. They paused at the exit of the park for Sirius to return, finally as his human self once more. He moved to kiss Lily in greeting. Laughing even as she twisted away, she covered his mouth with her hand.

"You'll have dog breath," she complained, but in the same way that she complained about needing to resize her skirts after Sirius had stretched them out by wearing them but never taking any steps to prevent him from borrowing them in the first place. Sure enough, she gave into his kisses after only a moment more of token protest. "You are so lucky that I love you."

"I am," Sirius agreed, as easily as breathing because it was true.