One of the things Sirius had been looking forward to with Ian was being able to do songs with harmonies or with call/response patterns. Lily, unfortunately, wasn't a Queen fan, but they did have other tastes in common. Most didn't fit with his on-stage image, but that was pretty much a given for anything he could do without backup.
"Carry On?" he mouthed at her, as she sat down, and she nodded. They'd spent most of a week, when Harry was about nine months old, working out what the harmonies were and the best approximation for two people, so they didn't have to negotiate that he would do the parts where a solo voice completed lines started in harmony. That was how they had always done it. It was a love song, really, but a lot of it had resonated in other ways when people were dying.
One morning I woke up and I knew
you were really gone
They were smiling at each other instantly, because it was that sort of singing. You couldn't hold that harmony without feeling it.
A new day, a new way, and new eyes
to see the dawn
Go your way, I'll go mine
and carry on
The sky is clearing and the night
has cried enough
The sun, he comes, the world
to soften up
Rejoice, REJOICE, we have no choice
but to carry on
... and that, as far as Sirius was concerned, was the crux of the whole song, and why this, like To a Dancer, had comforted him in those dark days.
The fortunes of fables are able
to sing a song
Now witness the quickness with which we
get along
To sing the blues
you've got to live the dues and carry on
A shift in the music -- and a fleeting longing for the electric guitar that was sitting at the back of the stage -- and then he dropped the accompaniment altogether. Again, they locked eyes for the start of the harmony, but his soon closed with the force of it:
Carry on Love is coming Love is coming to us all
They reached another place he really wished Lily could drum. He compromised with a few slaps on the guitar before picking up the remade tune with the strings. This section was almost all together, except for the very end of each verse, which he thought gave it a fleeting vulnerability.
Where are you going now my love? Where will you be tomorrow?
He looked at Gaius for this one -- he didn't think about it; it just happened.
Will you bring me happiness? Will you bring me sorrow? (Oh, the) questions of a thousand dreams What you do and what you see Lover can you talk
to me?
Girl when I was on my own Chasing you down
He had to grin at James, there, because this part always reminded him of his friend's long pursuit of Lily. His attention tracked back to her next.
What was it made you run trying your best just to get around? Questions of a thousand dreams What you do and what you see Lover can you talk
to me?
Afterwards, he thought it had gone pretty well. They launched into Joy to the World, which was virtually impossible for anyone not to like, and made Lily blush besides. He had been planning to call it a night -- or at least a show -- at that, but in the last repetition of the chorus, the backup charms suddenly decided to work, again, and they had more music, and lights, and ended up laughing through the end of it. Sirius jumped to his feet and bowed, prompted for applause for Lily, and then set his guitar aside.
"That's it for my performance tonight. If anyone wants to take the stage for a song -- oh, Tom says one apiece, unless he agrees otherwise -- you're welcome to risk the backup charms. The guitars I must reserve for myself, or a few special friends. Good night, all!"
With a wave, he jumped down, and crossed the short space to Gaius.
"Well, don't you look stunning?" And he did, really. Sirius knew he would have picked him out again if they had been strangers. "Is this seat free?"