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. Feel free to back out if that's you.

Author's Note: I love the entire concept of Lily Lives AU that develops into a Celestial Petals ship raising an autistic Harry.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 10); MC4A (FPC; BAON; Shipping War; Star; Fence; T3)
Individual Challenges: Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Lovely Triangle; Gryffindor MC (x3); In a Flash; Neurodivergent; Quiet Time; Tiny Terror
House: Hufflepuff
Assignment No.: Term 10 – Assignment 8
Subject (Task No.): Mundane Literature (Task #4: Write about growth.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Auction [13.1] ("Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captin & Tennille); Insane Prompt Challenge [658] (Unknown); Scavenger Hunt [58] (Write a pairing/ship that has less than 100 fics on FFN.); Gym (Sharing a Bed); Pinata [Easy] (Sharing a Bed)
Representation(s): placeholder
Bonus Challenges: Nontraditional; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; White Dress); Chorus (Wabi Sabi)
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Tether)
Word Count: 615

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Love Will Keep Us Together
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After James had died and Voldemort had gotten trapped in Lily's trap, it had been natural for Lily and Harry to move in with Remus and Sirius. It hadn't been planned, but even if those first few weeks had seen Lily's Unspeakable friends traipsing all over the Potter cottage in Godric's Hollow, no one was going to blame Lily from not being able to walk past where the body of her husband had lain. Regardless of whatever else the Marauders were, they were a family, and family meant taking care of each other.

Having two more people in their space took some adjustments, especially for Sirius who was used to ambushing Remus whenever he felt like he was getting enough attention. Fortunately, Lily was used to walking into a room to find Sirius in various states of undress. Merlin and God both knew that she had done it enough while she and James had been dating, and even before, as they had struggled occasionally on successfully getting their clothes to transfigure with their bodies. Remus ought to be upset that Lily was one of the few women who knew what his mate's junk looked like, but that felt as natural as anything else in their lives.

Some days were harder than others, even if having a small child didn't give them the option of just giving up on life. Between the three of them, they managed to make it all work. For all the other issues that came in the Harry-shaped package, the boy was a good kid, eager to please and easy to be pleased. He kept them on their collective toes, to be sure, as he was precocious, and sometimes his unique needs created difficulties that they hadn't anticipated.

Remus' lycanthropy gave him an edge in predicting potential sensory issues; Sirius was good at memorizing whatever new ritual Harry created. Lily had been worried about being left behind but once Harry started school, it had been Lily who knew how to explain social cues and how to communicate ideas when necessary. Remus' instincts and Sirius' everything had given them both skewed views of the world. For all that Lily had also been a child genius, she had the most normal childhood of all of them. Her training at lecturing on her research helped as well, especially as Harry's autistic diagnosis had caused said research to become focused on things that would make life easier for other autistic wix around the world.

Love was as natural as breathing for all of them, and moments like this, when they had all piled together into one bed, made everything that had happened just a little bit worth it. Remus buried his nose in the short hair on the back of Sirius' neck, breathing in the sleepy scent of his mate. In turn, Sirius snuffled into the curls atop of Harry's head. The eight-year-old was laying half over Sirius with his thin legs draped over Lily's stomach. The sprawl took up more of the bed than should have been possible but that all children and cats were capable of achieving without any extraordinary effort being made.

They still had a couple of holes in their family. Nothing may ever be able to fill the Peter and James shaped holes in their lives, and such a thing shouldn't be possible. But they had grown so much since that point that the holes no longer ached like they once had.

They were a family, a pack, and that what was important at the end of the day.

Love kept them going when they might have otherwise given up.

Love would continue keeping together, because that was what it did.