A/N- This is the magic world, but really no set time. I used modern music references instead of 70s music because it's what I'm more comfortable with and also because I was highly inspired by Angel Baby by Troye Sivan for this fic.

I would highly recommend to listen to Angel Baby at least once during the fic and especially when the boys begin singing to set the mood. Lyrics changed from him to her since James is singing to Lily, and Troy's lyrics are singing to a he not a her. I've never described music before, and I definitely looked to the critics for their opinions and descriptions for assistance. Credit noted at the end.

Angel Baby - song my Troye Sivan and characters by JKR, reviews by music critics, named below Let me know your thoughts on tumblr, savannah-5555 :)

Jilytober 2021 Prompt 8, Karaoke Night

"So that's where you have all been sneaking off too," Lily said slyly, after Sirius announced to their friend group that the boys had spent an exhaustive number of hours prepping their musical routine.

The comfortably muggy atmosphere wrapped itself around each student, an invisible dance partner, reflecting the standing room only crowd of Hogwarts upperclassmen happy to have an outlet following the end of their spring midterm exams. Lily had long since secured her hair into a high pony tail in an attempt to prevent it from clinging to her face and shoulders as she and the other 6th year Gryffindor's squeezed around a tiny shared cocktail table. With an up front and off-center view of the karaoke stage and performers in front of them, excitement was palpable amongst the group as they sang (or more accurately, shouted) along with their classmates to everyone's favorite songs.

"Whole measures only, Evans," Sirius winked at her, slamming his butterbeer bottle on top of Peter's causing it to fizz. "Hey!" Peter shouted. "Bottoms up, mate!" Sirius linked his arm through Peter's to down her own drink. Peter rolled his eyes before joining Sirius, not caring that the carbonated beverage would sputter down his chin.

"So you're like an amateur boyband?" Mary asked Remus, who was shaking his head laughing.

"Not like we are an amateur boyband," Remus smiled, bronze features shooting her a cover-boy smile.

Lily nudged her hip into James', an innocent excuse to initiate physical contact. "How do you even know what a boy band is?"

James returned her nudge, a little stronger than he anticipated, practically hip checking her into Dorcas, "Oi!" Lily stumbled, off balance, drink slipping out of her hand to the floor.

"Gotcha!" James lunged to catch her, arms around her hips, pulling her to upright. How couldn't she notice how strong his arms were? His thick forearms pulled her into his broad chest, defined pectorals subtly outlined in his black crewnecks. She glanced up to find a cheeky glint bounding in his hazel eyes, his trademark specs only illuminating his eyes further.

"It was an accident!" he laughed as she narrowed her eyes at him, "I swear!" She noted that he pulled her fractionally closer to him than she was standing before, one arm lingering around her waist. "Sure sure," Lily rolled her eyes, leaning into him, "You're lucky you're such a charmer."

"I'm lucky you think I am," James ducked his head so it rested on her shoulder. Lily allowed herself to tilt her head slightly to rest against his, resisting the urge to turn her face towards him as her neck burned in anticipation. The past several weeks she had been working up her nerve to flirt with him. Initially placing only a toe over the friendship line-group Hogsmeade hangouts, group meal times phased into one on one study sessions and walks around the grounds. She had wanted to tread lightly, trying to put herself out there, and tonight? Tonight she was ready to jump into the deep end of this crush of hers.

"Alright Prongs, enough flirting," Sirius rolled his eyes, "We have to get ready!"

Reluctantly, James separated himself from Lily keeping a hand on Remus' shoulder as Sirius led their pack, bobbing and weaving through the crowd.

"What?" Lily demanded hotly as she peeled her eyes off of James when his form was swallowed into the crowd, her friends staring her down with shit-eating grins.

"So he definitely likes you back," Mary raised her bows, knowingly.

"I think the real question is did he ever stop liking her," Dorcas chimed in.

"It's hard to tell sometimes, ok? I just want to be sure he likes me as more than a friend before, before I try and go there, you know?" Lily shrugged.

"Right, Because we all grind up on our friends in public," Mary snorted, a hand on her hip.

Lily swotted Mary's shoulder indignantly, "We were not grinding on each other….were were?"

"Nah, but I think given another thirty seconds it would have been inevitable," Mary told her.

"Oh my God" Marlene's eyes widened as she saw the Marauder's ascend the steps to the karaoke platform.

"What is it?" Lily shouted over the dull roar-like chatter of the pub, reaching for four butterbeers from the charmed floating tray as it passed them.

"When did they even have time to change!" Marlene laughed, accepting her bottle from Lily.

Lily's jaw dropped as she watched the four boys, dressed in all-white, from their skinny jeans to distinctive tops, make their way to the top of the stage. Each bumping knuckles with Alice Prewett who had just finished her rendition of, "Baby One More Time", as they passed. Alice lightly bounded off the last step and threw herself into Frank Longbottom's waiting arms, before planting a kiss on his lips.

"Where did Peter get a fedora?" Mary pointed, as the blonde hair boy tipped his hat towards their direction, before adjusting his white vest over his apparently bare chest. "And when did he fill out?"

"Sirius and James have been dragging him out of bed to join their morning workouts," Marlene yelled so her voice would carry the three feet across their table, "Remus must be dying up there in that jacket!" She nodded towards the stage, where Remus donned a white leather jacket over a crisp white t-shirt.

"So that's why he's been asking for so much help with cooling charms lately," Lily laughed, waiving to Remus, pinching her own tank top strap, then pointing to his jacket, followed by a thumbs up.

Remus flashed a toothy smile, making a small cutting motion across his neck, then pantomimed wiping sweat off of his brow.

"I guess not then," Lily chuckled into her butterbeer, taking a swig. The sweetened carbonated beverage worked wonders to quell her voice, parched from having been screaming every song lyric with the performers for the past forty-five minutes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to slow things down a bit," Sirius stood in front of the center right microphone stand, one of four across the stage. His white tank top displays his impressive array of ink on his arms, dog tag necklaces reflecting soft spot lights.

"Lils, there's your man!" Dorcas chided, nudging Lily's left shoulder with her own. "Now that's a man, respectfully," Marlene clinked her bottle to Dorcas in agreement. James stood at center left next to Sirius with Peter on the far left. Lily shook her head exasperatedly, "Not yet he isn't," her eyes followed James' movement on stage as he was carefully and assuredly adjusting the mic stand to raise it up several inches. James wore a tight fitted v-neck white t-shirt. The definition of his chest and contour of his abdominal muscles would have been obvious to the on-lookers even in the back of the bar. Lily's eyes remained fixated on his forearms as he twisted his mic stand into place.

"Not yet anyway!" Mary squealed, "It's only a matter of time. She leaned in conspiratorially, to Lily, "Come off it," she laughed when Lily gave her a side eye glance, "You two have been flirting regularly ever since the start of the term. Tuesday Talks, hmmm?"

After her evening patrols were finished on Tuesday evenings, Lily would return to Gryffindor tower to find James up doing homework, and saving her a steaming cup of tea waiting for her. "I do my best thinking in the evenings," he had told her. But as the weeks passed, she would come back to find James with a library book, and later reading for pleasure, and most recently just waiting for her with a cup of tea of his own. It had been a lovely way to wind down from her evening- sinking back into the plush couches, hands warmed from her cup, and enjoying easy conversation. And maybe also maybe a pre-bedtime cuddle. Cozying up with James on the couch as he rested an arm around her shoulders, catching up on their day, exchanging inside jokes, was quickly becoming one of her favorite pastimes.

Lily was not going to argue with Mary on this point. Ok so, maybe she flirted a little.

"And he one-hundred percent is flirting right back," Dorcas said in support, "He couldn't keep you out of his arms at the last match."

Two weeks earlier, March was going out like a lion. A heavy frost combined with the wind tunnel design of the Quidditch pitch dashed with a sickly drizzle did not leave favorable conditions for any student to be overly eager to watch the match. The Gryffindor team had been feverishly practicing, often twice a day for their match up against Slytherin. Dorcas, a beater alongside Sirius, had marched into their dorm room covered in mud and sweat without greeting her dorm-mates before showering quickly and passing out behind her four poster bed. The other three girls agreed that team morale was reaching new lows and having a good house showing would be of the utmost importance.

Lily spent the morning organizing the 6th and 7th years to assist everyone else in their house with a lasting warming charm to ensure the Gryffindor stands would be full in support of their team. Her efforts proved worth it in the end when James had scored at the last minute, soaring the quaffle past the Slytherin keeper who was too caught up in watching his seeker reach for the snitch. Gryffindor secured a last second win, quaffle passing the barrier of the hoop, mere moments between Evan Rosier wrapped his hand around the snitch.

Lily rushed the pitch with her housemates, throwing her arms around James' neck in celebration. He responded in turn with arms encircling her waist as he lifted into the air and spun her around. Lily had thrown her head back laughing, bending her knees up behind her. James left one arm around her shoulders and she maintained one arm around his waist as they continued to celebrate with their house.

OK, so maybe she had been flirting a lot.

James Potter leaned into the microphone, eyes scanning the pub, unsuccessfully searching for a certain someone, "This one goes out to a special lady, I hope she knows who she is." A faithful cheer erupted from the Gryffindor corner of the bar, directing his gaze to a more targeted approach at its mission.

Placing a hand on James' chest to take his spot at center stage, Sirius ducked his head in front of his mate's microphone, winking from the stage, "And if she doesn't, everyone else does, don't we folks?"

"Yeah we do!" Marlene hollered towards the stage, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice towards the stage. "Woo woo! Over here James!" Dorcas hopped on her, left hand on Lily's shoulder, the right arm bowing up over her head, pointer finger extended in a makeshift arrow to direct the lead singer's attention to their table. "Ow ow!" Mary exclaimed, waving her arms in the air trying to get the Marauder's attention.

Lily's face flushed as she felt her stomach flutter nervously, excitedly as she found James' wandering eyes. "Hi," she mouthed at him through the crowd, waiving to him on stage shyly.

"Hi," he lip-synced subtlety towards her, lips upturned to a soft smile.

"Hogwarts, you know the drill!" Sirius gripped his microphone in one hand, dramatically pulling the stand towards him, "Lights off, wands up!" Another excited, chattering chorus surfed through the student body as the lights in the bar faded to black. "Lumos!" Lily's wand tip illuminated along with the hundred other students packed into the Three Broomsticks.

A single spotlight came down an illuminated James Potter, eyes closed he opened his lips, a breathy inhalation escaping his mouth and began to sing, "I need a lover to keep me sane/Pull me from hell bring me back again/ Play me the classics, something romantic/Give her* my all when I don't even have it."

"Holy shit," Lily's jaw dropped at James's rich voice, as the sounds of an arena-ready, boy band power ballad filled the air.

"I always dreamed of a solemn face/ Someone who feels like a holiday/But now I'm in pieces, barely believing/ Starting to think that I've lost all feeling."

"I didn't know he could sing," Lily looked at Mary who only smiled and threw an arm around Lily's shoulder, wand waving in the air to the time of the music. The synthetic beats set a distinctly romantic mood which transported Lily to a dreamy headspace**.

"You came out the blue on a rainy night/ no lie/I tell you how I almost died/ while you're bringing me back to life..."

"He's singing to you!" Dorcas yelled, clasping Lily's shoulders and shaking her. "Yes Potter!" Marlene yelled, giddily stomping her feet like she couldn't contain her own excitement, "Come get your girl!"

Three spotlights illuminated Sirius, Remus, and Peter at the top of a synth cord, spotlights syncing up with the bass drum beats, as they joined James in the chorus.

"I just wanna live in this moment forever/'Cause I'm afraid that living couldn't gеt any better/ Started giving up on thе word "forever"/Until you gave up heaven so we could be together."

"That choreo, though!" Marlene shrieked. The boys began moving in sync to the chorus, turning to face one direction then the other, sweeping the mic stands across their bodies, "You're my angel, angel baby/ "Angel, you're my angel baby/ Baby, you're my angel, angel baby." Their notes joined by those of the audience, a faceless sea of bauble fairy lights.

James took the lead on the second verse, Lily swooned and felt a mild pang of jealousy for an inanimate object as his arms caressed the mic stand, "I'll fall in love with the little things/Counting the tattoos on your skin/Tell me a secret/And baby I'll keep it/ And maybe we can play house for the weekend." The Marauders choreography picked up for the pre-chorus as their bodies swayed side to side.

"You came out the blue on a rainy night, no lie/I'll tell you how I almost died/ While you're bringing me back to life".

"Is Peter… signing?" Lily asked in awe and disbelief, as she noticed Peter had made his way to the left most corner of the stage, using her hands to sign the lyrics as he sang. Lily followed his gaze towards Emma Vanity, a Slytherin in their year who couldn't take her eyes off their eyes. Emma had taken up a particular interest in non-verbal magic, as a way to assist her younger sister who was deaf, manage her magical outbursts before she came of age.

"That is the most romantic thing I've ever seen," Mary swooned. "That is how you get the girl."

"Just wait," Dorcas grinned ominously, "Air drums!" she called out, sashaying her arms as if she were seated behind a drumset. "Sing to me Paulo!" Mary whooped, quoting Lizzie McGuire, as she joined Dorcas' air drums.

"I just wanna live in this moment forever/'Cause I'm afraid that living couldn't get any better/Started giving up on the word "forever"/Until you gave up heaven so we could be together"

"I didn't think I could be more attracted to James," Lily's eyes sparkled as she sang along, consumed by her smitten adoration for the lead singer.**

"Rosie, can I get that spot light please?" Sirius interjected to the song. A beam of dimmed light hit Lily who squinted to recover before her eyes adjusted. "Ooo!" "It's happening!" "He's actually doing it!" She heard her friends giggle around her. Lily's eyes quickly adjusted to the welcomed addition and watched as James' attention zeroed in on her. Mic stand in one hand, he (and the boys to his side) made an exaggerated windmill motion before power pointing into the crowd. In James' case, directly at Lily, as they began the chorus again.

"You're my angel, angel baby Angel/ you're my angel baby/baby, you're my angel, angel baby,"

All miniscule doubts of who his special lady swiftly excited her head as she raised both arms above her head, curving her fingers to shape a heart over head.

"All the sick and twisted nights that I've been waiting for ya/ They were worth it all along, yeah" James' eyes remained fixated on the red head in the spotlight. The boys' choreography included a well-timed opening of their arms, and a gasp went through the students, as an invisible force gently parted the crowd. James kept his eyes locked on, deftly hopping off the stage to advance down the magically cleared runway towards his girl.

"I just wanna live in this moment forever/'Cause I'm afraid that living couldn't get any better," James shared his intimate confession to her through song, "Started giving up on the word "forever"/ Until you gave up heaven so we could be together."

Lily found herself involuntarily making her way around the table, reaching for his outstretched arm with her own. Time slowed for her when their hands met, and she inhaled swiftly, not realizing she had been holding her. Her heart beat pounded so loudly in her ears, she easily forgot about all their onlookers. Lily knew if she allowed herself, she would be consumed by her adoration for James. For his friendship, his kindness, the way she felt confident and self-assured around him, never second guessing that he would do anything but catch her if she fell. The revelation startled her, and before she could second-guess herself looked up and caught his eyes. James' features were carved into an angelic form of genuine sincerity, answering all of her unasked questions.

"You're my angel, angel baby" James interlaced his free hand with hers, pulling her flush with him. Lily let her free arm rest on his hip as he brought his forehead down to meet hers as they began to slow dance.

"Angel, you're my angel baby Baby, you're my angel, angel baby/ Angel, angel baby,"

Everyone else faded away and Lily was enveloped in the soaring slow burning ballad, pressing her smile into James' chest at the realization that he had been crafting this perfect moment just for them.

"Angel, you're my angel, baby/ Baby, you're my angel, angel baby"

The music faded to a close as Lily and James maintained their closeness, neither one eager to end their lush embrace.

"Hi," Lily breathed.

"Hi," he smiled as the bridge of his knows brushed against hers. A slight jostle, lean forward and her lips would be flush with his. James' right hand made its way around her back, continuing to hold his microphone, as he held her close.

"For the love of Merlin, kiss her already!" Sirius shouted into the microphone, a roar of unanimous agreement surfaced from their classmates all around them.

James moved his hand to caress her face, cupping her cheek before learning to press his lips to her. Lily grinned madly as she pushed up on her toes to meet him, hand trailing up her shoulder until it made contact with James' neck holding him to her. His lips were soft and tender as they moved against hers, pressing another chaste kiss to them as he pulled away to look at her.

"Go out with me, Evans?" He looked at her, hopeful, vulnerable.

Lily glowed as she threw her arms around his neck to bring his face to hers again, kissing him once again.

"Er..so is that a yes?" James wagered nervously pulling back from Lily's eager kisses to confirm her answer.

"It's a hell yes."

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**Music review written by Thomas Bleach, Single Review: Troye Sivan- Angel Baby