Submitted for The Houses Competition Forum - Round 3
House: Ravenclaw
Subject: Transfiguration
Category: Standard
Prompt: 4. (Dialogue) "Hey! Wait up!"; 8. (Object) Blue bracelet
Word count: 1,974
Warnings: Muggle AU
Can't beat karaoke night
"Marley, you aren't going to sing 'Candy Shop' no matter how many times you try to convince us," Lily said to her best friend who was pouting by her side. "Why do you want to sing that song anyway?"
"Why wouldn't I want to sing it?" Marlene replied. "Imagine all the men that will hear me sing and want to shop in my candy store and—"
"All right, I'll stop you right here before I end up traumatised." Alice put a hand over Marlene's mouth, who only glared at Alice. "Marley, I've been your friend for years now, I'm traumatised enough."
Lily couldn't stop laughing at her friends' arguments with each other. They were heading to the 'Lucky Voice', their favourite karaoke bar. A monthly tradition they had started in college, and they were still going strong.
"Can you two stop and behave yourselves? We are almost there and I would like to be able to get into the bar without having to argue with the bouncer for once." Lily glared at her friends, who only smiled in response. "If you think your angelic faces will fool me, you're sorely mistaken."
"Don't be mean, Lily, you love us. Besides, it isn't our fault that the bouncers mistake loud, friendly disagreements for unruliness," Marlene said, grabbing Lily's arm and dragging her towards the karaoke bar. "And tonight, we are going to give all of these people the performance of their lives."
"And they'll try to hire us to sing here everyday, but we'll have to refuse because of our fabulous jobs," Alice finished Marlene's fantasy for her, grabbing Lily's other arm. "But if nothing happens, let's just go have some fun."
The hostess let them enter as they often visited the bar and had a table reserved for them. As it was a Friday night, the bar was already packed and someone was singing 'Smack That' by Akon at the top of his lungs, which made Marlene turn to her friends.
"Why is it acceptable that he can sing that song, but I can't sing 'Candy Shop'?" Marlene asked, pointing at the young man on stage giving a performance complete with suggestive hip thrusts accompanying the lyrics.
"Because you have friends who care if you're embarrassing yourself, unlike him," Lily deadpanned, tilting her head at the three men who were cheering the one on the stage.
"At least he has good moves," Alice said, dropping her head and biting her lip. "I wonder what else he can do."
"I think you're spending too much time with Marley." Lily arrived at their table and put her purse on top of it. "While Ali drools over the boy, I'm going to put our names on the list. Anything you want to sing?"
"I'll go with you," Marlene said, letting Alice sit and practically devouring the boy with her eyes. "I should be worried about Ali, but I'm so proud of my protegé."
"You two are so weird. I don't know why I'm friends with you." Lily laughed and walked towards the table with the list of names of the singers and the songs; she already knew what she was going to sing, but she was interested in what Marlene was going to choose.
"Stop looking. You're only going to find out once I start singing." Marlene blocked Lily's view of the list after she had put down her chosen song. "You're going to sing the same song that you always do?"
"Why change my song choice if I'm awesome at singing it?" Lily replied cheekily, smiling at Marlene. "I won the contest here with that one, so of course I'm going to sing the same song."
They came back to their table while the man finished his song and his friends applauded his performance; Lily noticed that Alice was applauding very enthusiastically.
"Lily chose the same song she always does—fake surprise here, Ali—and I put our names to go sing after her," Marlene said, sitting down beside Alice and motioning for the waitress. "Are you ready for when it's our time to shine?"
"I was born ready, Marley." Alice was smiling wide, making the other duo smile at her. "This is going to be totally awesome."
Lily enjoyed the other performances, and she was having a good time with her friends as they listened to the people singing. Soon enough, her name was called; Marlene and Alice wolf-whistled as she made her way towards the stage, and she flipped them the finger while smiling at them. She positioned herself in front of the microphone and started to sing.
Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?
Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?
Lily knew that it was cliché for her to be singing 'Part of your world', but if she couldn't sing this song, what was the point of karaoke night? Lily always gave it her all while singing, almost feeling like she could be Ariel if she wanted; Disney songs were her jam, and if she was honest, they were also her weak spot.
She ended the song to the clapping of her friends; even the young men that were singing before her were applauding her, and Lily felt better about herself. She walked towards her table, narrowly avoiding crashing into one of the boys who was walking towards the table with the songs.
"You're always amazing when you sing that song," Marlene said, raising her glass in Lily's direction. "Cheers for a song well sung."
"Thanks, Marley." Lily smiled at the compliment and took a swig of her beer. She heard Marlene's and Alice's names being called and cheered them on. "Go dazzle them, babes!"
Alice and Marlene went on the little stage and smiled at the crowd; Marlene even waved at everyone.
"Good evening, everyone! I hope you're enjoying tonight. Marley and I are going to sing a song that we would like to dedicate to our friend, Lily"—Alice pointed towards Lily—"because this song is all about friendship, and we would be nothing without each other."
The first chords of 'If I Didn't Have You' from Monsters Inc. started to play, and Lily couldn't stop the laughter that she let out; Marlene and Alice did a dance routine and it was everything that Lily had asked for.
You and me together, that's how it always should be
One without the other, don´t mean nothing to me
nothing to me
The duo on stage pointed at Lily when they sang the chorus and Lily felt some tears in her eyes and she blew kisses at them. They finished their song to roaring applause, making Marlene wave at everyone.
"You were awesome! Thank you for the song," Lily said, hugging her friends. "I'm feeling so loved with you two dedicating a song to me."
"We love you, Lils, and we know that you love us too. If we didn't love each other, this was all for nothing, huh?" Alice said, pointing to the blue bracelet that all three of them wore. "Remember, it's our friendship bracelet."
Lily smiled again and hugged Alice once more. They had found the blue bracelet in a little store after leaving karaoke night once, and the blue colour had captured their attention. They had immediately decided that they would each get one and call it their 'friendship bracelet.'
"Yes, yes, we all love our bracelets and love each other, now shut up because someone else is going to sing and I would like to hear it," Marlene said in her authoritative tone.
Lily and Alice shared a glance and smiled at their friend. They focused their attention on the stage where a young man with long black hair was smiling at his friends. Lily realised that it was a friend of the Hip-Thrust man.
When the song started, Lily realised that she recognised it and her eyes widened when the man looked directly at her as he began singing.
The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else's lake
"Is it just me, or is that boy singing to Lily?" Marlene asked in her not-so-subtle way. "Because I'm feeling that someone is trying to win the attention of our redhead."
"It isn't just you, Marley. I'm having the same feeling." Alice looked at Lily with bright eyes and a smile that screamed trouble. "What are you going to do, Lils?"
"What do you mean with 'what I'm going to do'? I'm just going to stand here and watch him sing," Lily replied, hoping that her friends didn't see how hard she was blushing.
Lily realised that the man never took his eyes off her while he was singing, and she started to feel self-conscious. The boy had a smooth voice that was doing things to Lily's inside; she imagined how his voice would sound if he crooned in her ear.
She applauded with everyone when he finished his song, and Lily could feel his eyes on her, but she tried not to think much about it. She and her friends sang some more songs before calling it a Marlene went to the bar one last time and Alice went to the restroom, Lily went to pay their tab.
"Hey! Wait up!" a voice came from behind her, and Lily turned to see the man who had sung 'Under the sea' walking towards her. "You're leaving already?"
"Yeah, my friends and I decided to call it a night," Lily replied, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You have a nice voice; your version of 'Under the sea' was amazing."
The man smiled and bit his lip looking at her. "I decided to sing that one because of your version of 'Part of your world'. I think we should sing something together."
Lily stared at the stranger's head without blinking while he grabbed her hand and brought her to the stage.
"What are you doing?" Lily whispered, looking around them, noticing everyone looking at them.
"We are going to sing a song," the man said matter-of-factly. "I'm Sirius, by the way."
"Lily, nice to meet you." Lily reluctantly accepted the microphone that he pushed into her hand, and she turned to see Alice and Marlene looking at her with a smile on their faces.
Before Lily could say anything, the lyrics of 'A whole new world' appeared in front of her and she could just watch as Sirius started singing.
I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Lily looked at Sirius with a smile on her face, losing herself in the song and letting her thoughts drift. He did have a nice voice, and she needed to be certain that they would sing in harmony.
A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew
Lily was singing with everything that she had, and she was having fun while doing it. She could see that Sirius was enjoying this too, and she even managed to not blush with him so close to her. They finished the song to the applause of their friends, and Lily couldn't stop smiling.
"We made an amazing duo," Sirius said as they were getting off the stage. "We should do this another time."
"I agree with you," Lily said, touching her bracelet. Lily hoped that her friends didn't think that she was betraying them by singing with Sirius; karaoke nights were considered to be their thing. "What do you think about next week?"
"I think that's great." Sirius smiled at Lily, and her legs almost turned to jelly. "How about you give me your number and we can decide when to meet up again?"
Lily smiled and they exchanged their numbers; she had never expected that singing Disney songs would bring a cute guy to her life, but finding one in a karaoke bar was better than strolling in a forest to find one.