May I Have This Dance? - Harry Potter

ch3: Lovers

{ published: 30th december 2014. }

A/N: final round... fight!

written for the Secret Battle Competition: Take Two (Round 1), The Holidays Challenge (Week 4), Harry Potter Chapter Competition (The Prince's Tale), As Much As You Can Competition, The Year Long Story-Count Competition, The Lolita Challenge (Petticoat), All Those Characters Challenge (Severus Snape), The Competitions Competition, Challenge Ticketing Challenge & The Competitions Competition Expanded.

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May I Have This Dance?
ch3: Lovers

"May I have this dance?"

Sprigs of mistletoe lined the polished oak halls, berries bright red and leaves a shocking green, each shade in-turn matching the fiery hair and soft eyes of the young fiancée. Dipped before her, Sirius's posture reflected maturity, but his santa uniform betrayed the bow with a wonderful sort of jest that had Lily laughing.

"Sirius, we're engaged," the redhead said, "I think you've earned the right."

Armed with a charming grin, the young Black straightened to brush a kiss against the only band that ringed her fourth finger, sniggering lightly at the blush that flushed across his betrothed's cheeks.

"I am undoubtedly the luckiest man in the land to have you to myself, Lily; alas, I am to remain a gentleman and ask a lady for consent before sweeping her away." He winked. "What do you take me for, a Marauder?"

Lily kept a straight face, but the corner of her lips twitched at the in-joke as she swatted away the hand that had 'landed' on her rump. "Maybe not a Marauder, but I do think Santa is a bit of a pervert."

"Ho ho ho!"

- - - - - - - - - -

With the soon-to-be-married pair sweeping across the hall in a dance parody, Severus and James begrudgingly stood together at either side of the wine table, eyes on the couple, their drink glasses almost empty.

"Do you regret letting her go, Potter? Just think, if you'd kept it up for another few years, all of this could have been yours."

James scoffed, but his gaze still turned thoughtful. After a moment, he spoke softly: "I don't think that Lily would have ever changed her mind about me, to be honest, so it's just as well that I stopped asking. Either way, she's happy now, and Sirius too." The ravenet glanced to his right. "What about you?"

Severus slowly shook his head. "What I had with Lily was just a schoolboy crush, nothing more and nothing less. Even if my feelings had been stronger, she still would have been blown in the direction of Black. It's better this way."

Blanketed in a comfortable silence, the pair applauded as the song came to an end, watching Sirius and Lily share a passionate kiss before being tackled by some young relatives who playfully retched and pulled faces.

"I believe that this alcohol has influenced me more than I'm willing to admit," Severus confessed as he swirled the liquid around. "This was my third at least, and whatever Marlene brought is satisfactory but obviously a lot stronger than plain white."

A grunt of agreement. "It seems that we have a lot more in common with each other than first thought." James tossed a smirk at his school-enemy. "Oh and, not to brag, but this is my fourth and I'm still more sober than you."

The aspiring-teacher rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say."

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WORD COUNT: 488.

prompts used: Marauders Era, romance, satisfactory, wonderful, Sirius Black, MuggleBoardingSchool!AU, LilySirius; Santa is a bit of a pervert; write about never changing.

A/N: and thus concludes my first (and currently only) three-shot. thanks for reading!
- crystalcanon. 

{ original chapter: 30th december 2014.
minor edits: 25th august 2020. }