#but really it's all about James and Harry

[madefortherain]

february fic recs ⋆ ༘⁀➷

the end of february means it’s, once again, time to shout about my favourite reads of the month! (same as last month, tagging authors i know the blogs of, but feel free to lmk if you want anything changed/removed) <3

multichapter:

Astronomia Nova by sreka (@smodernlife) - T, 35k. sirius raising harry, meets beautiful librarian remus and subsequently ruins a priceless book (meet-ugly everybody cheer!!). absolutely adored this!!

Be My Baby by pixelated (prettyremus) - M, 21k. dirty dancing au!! enough said just with that, really, but also the way queer themes are woven into the original story is so cool!

The Proctor House by @eyra - M, 5.2k, MCD. i honestly think it’s best to go into this one fairly blind. just let the beautiful writing take you where it wants to, it’s so so worth it. this one has stayed with me since i read it.

you don’t have to be alone (when you’re the place i wanna go) by @quiethauntings - E, 37k. remus reunites with his friends on a trip to the scottish highlands. nostalgia bottled into a fic! a very lovely depiction of loneliness and rekindling friendships. really beautiful!

Of Prefects, Pretence, and Precedent by Whoops_E - M, 121k. shouting this one out again because it’s now complete!!! i’m immediately diving in for a full reread. i go insane for this fic and specifically think about the grape jam chapter approximately 30 times a week.

oneshots:

nightlights by sadgeminimoon - T, 9.2k. single parent remus raising teddy, & sirius who helps out far too well. the pining!! adored this. i, too, would lose it if i came home to find sirius black doing a load of my laundry.

The Best By Far Is You by orphan_account - T, 13k. padfoot and moony are tumblr mutuals, while blind remus hires sirius as a reader for his classes. i believe this one is fairly well-known, but i only just got to it and it’s so so wonderful! there are also 7 more shorter oneshots (ratings vary) following this, all of which i subsequently inhaled. really recommend the entire Tumblr Trash series! (E, 35k total)

Perfect by wanderingdonut - T, 3.7k. ace4ace wolfstar learning to love each other :’) such a wonderful acespec story, i adored this <3

A Cup of Sugar by MsAlexWP (@languagelessonswolfstar) - T, 5.3k. harry pov feat. disabled harry and disabled remus (bonding!!). so sweet, such great disability rep, and adorable little peeks of wolfstar! loooved this!!

WIPs:

Let me Believe (Ever After) by @brigid-faye - M, 6/12, 47k. ever after: a cinderella story (1998) au! sad-eyed prince remus, riches to rags sirius. such great characterisations, relationships, and storytelling. i devoured these chapters so quickly!

Brave Face by @zoemillinwrites - M, 28/?, 252k, MCD. a canon-divergent, sirius-centric fic starting in hogwarts first year. such real and raw characters, being a little in love with your friends, and some of the cleverest, most unique magic explanations i’ve ever read. seriously, can’t emphasise enough how SO insanely cool the magic is!! (also shouting out the accompanying Story Shards WIP (E, 1/?, 4.3k) for some brilliant extra character studies!)

four thousand holes by aeridi0nis (@steelycunt) - E, 2/5, 41k. pride (2014) au. lesbians and gays support the miners; sirius is part of the organisation, remus is the son of a miner. truly so so obsessed with this premise. and the writing!! incredible, incredible prose.

As You Walk On By (Will You Call My Name?) by @imsiriuslyreading - M, 6/15, 23k, jily!!!! royalty au AND university au in one! royal james and eat-the-rich lily, creating such a fun jily dynamic. + a lovely dose of background wolfstar, too :)

[ginnyw-potter]

A bed of flowers

Written for the @ginnystrophyhusband's prompt: flowerbed

“Gin, where is Lily?” Harry asked when he walked back inside and found Ginny by her typewriter.

She looked up. “I thought she was with you.”

“No.” Harry tried to ignore the uneasy feeling settling in his stomach, but he couldn’t.

Their youngest was missing.

She only just got the hang of walking.

“I sent her inside a while ago,” Harry said.

Ginny shook her head. “I would have seen her.”

Harry cursed.

“That’s a bad word!” James said behind him as he stood in the doorway, as scandalised as a preschooler could be.

He turned towards his oldest. “Have you seen your sister?”

“Lily?”

Harry resisted sighing. “Yes. Do you have another sister I don’t know about?”

James chuckled and shook his head. “No. And I haven’t seen her.”

“I’ll look inside and you look outside?” Ginny suggested.

Harry bit his lip. “Should I accio her?”

“Are you quite mad?” Ginny asked.

“Right.” He shook his head. “Come on, James. We’ll go look for Lily.”

He herded James back outside. Albus was still occupied looking at some ants.

While James lingered by the door, Harry walked further into the garden.

“Lily!” he called out. He looked for her red hair between the bushes but he couldn’t spot her at all. He stood by the end of the garden and looked towards the house. “Lily!”

James turned towards one side and then bent over, inspecting some flowers. Suddenly perked up. “I found her!”

Harry took off running and joined James.

He found the one-year-old, fast asleep in the flowerbed under the kitchen window. The wildflowers had covered her from view.

“James, run inside and let your mum know we’ve got her.”

He ran inside yelling for his mother.

Harry looked at Lily, none the wiser she was missing a moment ago. She was sleeping without a care in the world and tightly clutched her kneazle plush. She never went anywhere without it.

A moment later Ginny joined him and James followed close behind.

Ginny stood beside him and they watched her sleep.

“She’s a Lily in a flowerbed, Harry,” Ginny said after a moment.

When he looked up, her eyes were twinkling and she was fighting a smile.

He couldn’t help but smile, though he did pretend to sigh in exasperation.

Her gaze returned to her daughter. “She looks really cosy, but we can’t leave her there.”

“Best not,” he agreed.

Ginny picked Lily up carefully. She stirred but then tucked into her mum. Ginny tilted her head up and Harry placed a kiss on her lips.

She carried Lily inside and Harry looked for his two sons. James had joined Albus and was doing a whole explanation. Harry walked up to them.

“…And they’re as big as cars!” James finished.

Albus looked fearful. “Ants as big as cars?! In the Forbidden Forest?”

“Don’t listen to your brother,” Harry reassured him. “Only the spiders get that big. The ants are a normal size.”

[miriammctroi]

I would love to hear about Food tok and Funeral! They sound very intriguing 🤭

the food tok one I'm almost embarrassed about 😅 There's this one dude who did a "baking different dishes to prove baking is easy" series. He was cocky, arrogant, but in a sexy, hot kinda way that reminded me of James? (This was before he tried to make Baumkuchen and I realised that he was really not as good at it as he was thinking) - so I thought of an AU where Regulus and James are set up on a date. Initially they don't like each other, but then Regulus finds out he makes those videos and he is intrigues by "how he's handling the dough with his bare hands" - so they hook up. And James keeps cooking / baking for him, making Regulus a regular on the tiktok channel for a new series called "trying to impress my flatmate's little brother" . He insists he's just the flatmate's little brother while the comment sections want them to be together super badly. 😅

Funeral - it's inspired by the "Don't flirt with him!" "Why would I" - Reg enters the room - "Fucking hell, okay" trope

Sirius attends Walburga's funeral with his friends and James needs to promise him that he won't try to get it on with his little brother.

Regulus left them to join his cousin. Peter and James looked after him.

Peter looked back to James and snorted, “Well, how are you feeling?”

James looked at Sirius, “Sirius, I am so sorry.” “For what?” “I will have to break my promise,” he looked towards Regulus again, “I will have to break it immediately.”

Sirius followed his eyes and then pulled James to him, turning him around so he wouldn’t look at Regulus anymore.

“No. James, you never break promises. You will not start now.” “But he’s so beautiful. You didn’t say he was beautiful.”

Remus chuckled and Peter handed over a few galleons.

“So, what does he like? Flowers? Jewellery?” “Books,” Remus said, “Preferably Murder-Mystery.” “Moony, shut up. James, stop it. You’re not to seduce my brother.”

“But he likes men, right? Of course, otherwise you wouldn’t be so worried. Do you think I’m his type?” “Definitely.” “Remus,” Sirius hissed, Remus and Peter found this entirely too hilarious. “James, I will kill you if you touch him.”

“You can’t kill me, I have a son,” he said and leaned back to catch sight of Regulus behind Sirius.

Sirius put his hand on James’ back and pushed him back into standing straight, “Fathers die all the time.” “Sure, but let me make him Harry’s stepfather first, okay?” he leaned forwards now to look at Regulus again.

Peter snorted, “Oh Merlin, it’s been five minutes and you already planned a wedding for you and him?” “Wedding? I already picked out the headstone for the grave we will share.”

Sirius grabbed James’ head and turned it towards Remus. “I told you this would happen,” Remus said with a grin.

[maxdibert]

Do you have hcs about the relationship experience of SS and the Marauders?

Yes, I have my ideas.

People usually go for the virgin Severus take or the so devoted to Lily that he never had anything with anyone take, but I think we can interpret Voldemort’s words as implying that, while he might not have had actual relationships, he at least had some flings. Meaning that, within the Death Eater circle, he was probably encouraged to have affairs with pure-blood women. In fact, I have this personal headcanon that Narcissa used to introduce him to girls, but that’s just my own thing.

Strictly based on canon, I think he did have some casual encounters here and there. When he left Hogwarts, I believe he would have experimented like any young person his age, especially in an environment where things were probably happening. I don’t think he ever had anything serious or a stable relationship, and once Voldemort returned, I imagine he was too stressed, anxious, and overworked to even think about blowing off some steam. But before that? Yeah, why not. I also don’t see him as someone who did it often, but I do think that when he had the need or felt like it, he found ways to get it out of his system, like most people do. No big deal.

James was a virgin until he was with Lily. Classic teenage relationship where they lose it together, and that’s it, nothing more to analyze there.

Remus probably didn’t have any relationships until after Hogwarts, and even then, I doubt they were very successful. He gives off that nice guy vibe: seems super sweet, really kind, but then he gets you pregnant and bolts, you know? I think he probably tried to have things with people, but his self-hatred and low self-esteem always got in the way. Plus, with the whole lycanthropy issue and his constant fear of someone finding out, he likely considered long-term relationships too risky.

Sirius is always portrayed as the guy who probably slept with half the school because it’s clear he was very popular with girls and incredibly handsome—something Rowling reminds us of multiple times so we never forget. But I believe Sirius had a massive crush on James, even if he didn’t realize it himself and just saw it as brotherly attachment. I think it wasn’t until James started dating Lily and that codependency was broken—since James now had a relationship and was focusing on that—that Sirius even started looking elsewhere. What I am certain of is that once they left Hogwarts, he probably slept with as many people as he could, indiscriminately. He was totally the type to always hook up with someone at parties. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if, during his months on the run, when Harry sees him looking better (and with short hair—let’s remember that when Sirius is doing well, he has short hair), those were periods when he was also having some casual encounters. Because, come on, 12 years in Azkaban—that’s a long time.

I don’t think Peter had much going on. Maybe some flings after leaving school, but nothing serious.

Overall, except for James (for obvious reasons), I don’t see any of them having stable relationships. They had just left school when a war started, and then life got complicated for all of them, each in their own way. They weren’t exactly in the best position to settle down, even in relationships that wouldn’t have led anywhere. If that makes sense.

[hedwigette]

Why is it, when someone makes a positive post about Harry highlighted with canon evidence, there must be people trying to contradict it.

You can literally prove how Harry is academicaly above average and there will still be people who would be like "Yes but I still think he's not good enough."

You will make a post about how Harry is hyperaware except when it comes to romance and people will still say "Yes but he's oblivious to everything"

Holly shit can you just accept facts as it is without trying to contradict it with your opinion?

Giving nuances to the statement is absolutely valid. Trying to contradict an explicit canon evidence is just delusional.

[lilithofpenandbook]

Something I can't stop thinking about is that Snape began the series being perfectly okay

He was actually at his best. He'd spent ten whole years in Hogwarts without the Marauders and before Harry Potter walked in.

Of course it wouldn't have been easy for him to adjust, but he did. And I just can't help but think of those first months where the other teachers got to know him, and got to realise that this boy needed them, needed their help, and took care of him. I can't help but think of how they promised him that it's okay, it's over, everyone's safe and he's not what he thinks he is. He's okay.

Like, for ten years he would have been happy. He had friends. He had a job. He had a home. Hogwarts was his home.

And then Harry Potter came and everything went wrong.

Can you imagine, him seeing Harry's face for the first time? After so many years of actually being content and happy, suddenly he sees James Potter's face, Lily Evans' eyes. Suddenly he's reminded of Voldemort who will return now, and now he's got a ticking clock, a countdown warning him that that's it, time's up, everything you've built in these ten years are soon going to break. And then come the events of the first and second year. Okay, so they're chaotic and stressful, but it's fine, they're all stressed, they're all in this together.

Then it's Harry's third year.

And that's when everything falls apart.

Remus Lupin, one of his abusers and a serious gaslight, is here in the job he wanted, and acting like everything's fine between them while simultaneously disrespecting him and forgetting to take the potion and being a huge risk to them all. Sirius Black, one of the two main abusers, is on the loose. And no one is ever gonna believe him about Lupin, are they? Suddenly it's Lupin's home. Lupin's safe space. But what about Snape? Do the past 13 years mean nothing? It seems so. And in the end, he has a complete breakdown because it's all coming down.

Then comes the goblet of fire. Okay, normal, right? But then there's moody. And there's the visiting schools. And then there's Kararoff who will not leave him alone! And then...

And then Harry Potter comes with the dead body of a teenage boy, crying and screaming that Voldemort's back.

And now Snape knows that time is up and things only get worse. Everything happens after that, from spying to dealing with that wretched Umbridge who's trying to destroy the school.

And then...

And then he has to kill Dumbledore.

And that when it all ends.

All he built in the past 16 years....

All the promises that they'd never leave him...

That they'd always look after him...

That they know he's not that person he used to be...

That everything will be okay because he has them to look after him...

They mean nothing now.

He's not okay anymore.

[cuteasamuntin]

Peter sobbing and apologizing over Harry’s dying body while he can do nothing more to help, just like May

Screaming in agony as someone else he loves is ripped away from him by something he has shouldered the responsibility of stopping

Wondering if he spent more time trying to help them and less time helping everyone else, he might have been able to do more

Knowing this might be the last chance he ever gets to talk to Harry, that this might be good-bye

“I love you”

[shrimpalbuspotter]

I'm bored, so here's a list of my favouritest harry potter ships that may or may not be in any particular order that I won't disclose

- Jeverus

- Snirius

- Snupin

- Scorbus

- Hinny

- Drastoria

- Marylily

- Dorcalene

- Rosekiller

- Princewater

- Snulciber

- Charity Burbage x Aurora Sinistra (Charora?)

- Albus x Karl Jenkins

- Prongstail

- Perciver

- Snackchaser/starbucksprince

- Rose Granger-Weasley x Polly Chapman

- Delphi Diggory x Persephone (oc I made just for her)

- Bill Weasley x Fleur Delacour

- Teddy Lupin x Victoire Weasley

-James Sirius Potter x Alice Longbottom

OK that's it and OBVS I like more than just these but... these are the ones I REALLY like. As in ilk think about them alot.

[atlasdoe]

dare i say not every death eater needs a secret gay romance with a non death eater

[dell-l4r5]

I Need to practice my English talking to strangers somewhere so let me present you:

An EveryoneLives/NobodyDies Harry Potter (and Marauders) Bluey! AU

[padfootastic]

hohoho i am writing a remus & sirius confrontation that is ending up a little too mean and it’s verging on the edge of not fitting into FoD but by god, is it satisfying 😈😈😈

“Oh, stop pretending, Remus.” There’s a part of Sirius, not insignificant, that tells him to shut the fuck up. To bite back the words as he’d always done. They don’t expect it of him but he is perfectly capable of maintaining a civil tongue when needed. He just doesn’t want to, today. “You’ve always resented us, haven’t you?”

“Padfoot, do you even hear yourself—?” Remus’ amber eyes are bright, almost feverish, and Sirius knew that all he had to do was push.

So he did.

- brought to u by ‘i’ve been thinking about remus and i also recently read a fic that blindsided me w commentary on james’ and sirius’ social positions intimidating remus into compliance as an excuse for his cowardice and general temperament and got incredibly annoyed at how he is, yet again, victimised so i shall now endeavour to turn that idea around on its head using the ‘ol ‘u cannot help someone who does not want to be helped’ adage so help me god’

[messrsrarchives]

i want to write a twdg au so fucking bad. so fucking bad just for clem and lee as remus and teddy. but then like,,, yk there's so many ROUTES you can take these things! i'd have to decide what route to take. and then it would just be s1 because what after that? who's aj? yk??? like it would just be s1 but it would just be my playthrough and then it would be like "here is this fic specifically crafted for me and only me"

but it would be fun to do like. alt endings? because we know how s1 ends and i could AHAHAH give that false sense of security with two endings and people (me, again this is made for me and me only) are like "wow i am sad i'll read this othe- AGAIN!?" and that'd be funny.

[whoopsiesnodaisies]

Hate to say it, but I am a Severus Snape hater

I've had a crush on my friends, and they dated someone I didn't approve of... but I never called my friend a slur cause of it

[starsignchaser]

February 2024 starsignchaser Fic Recs!

Welcome back to everyones favorite time of the month; Where I tell you all the favorite things I read on AO3 in the last few weeks! I will admit, I took a step back into reading in other fandoms and also I spent half the month traveling so I didn't have a ton of time to read, unfortunately. Sorry! March will be better (maybe...) Anyway, let's get into it!

Jegulus

Baby, now my head is on backwards by messymoony (6k, rated E)

James has had a bad day at work. Regulus makes him feel better. t4t jegulus you have my heart!!

Meet on Telegraph Avenue by ani_wahstan (34.6k, rater E, features wolfstar!)

James Potter was doing his best not to defile his roommate's younger brother because Sirius told him to “keep his slutty hands off of Regulus or else," but finds himself unable to keep the promise.

my favorite jegulus fic of the month, you can just tell this is a labor of love from the author. I also really really loved the inclusion of so many different songs from the time period of the fic!

second chances by introvertedhufflepuff (34k, 10/10, rated M)

when Regulus is hit with a rogue spell that sends him back to a 6-year-old, Sirius is forced to face their adversities and grow past their animosity.

not only Jegulus but some v good Black Brothers Angst. this fic fits v well in my headcannon of who reg was as a child and I love getting to see Sirius of the "present" interact with little reg of the "past"

Perfect Little Life by CRAmber (6.5k, 5/5, rated E)

Just a collection of snapshots from the life of Jegulus raising Harry and being hot and in love.

I suffer from a terminal case of jeggy dads brainrot </3

Drarry

The Vault by erlasart (comic, 2/2, rated M)

Harry is out for an evening walk when he sees Draco Malfoy disappearing into a seemingly abandoned building. Harry, of course, has to investigate.

I have been absolutely loving comic fics recently, I love seeing the art and the story work together and this one is really good!!!

No Place Like Home by dracogotgame (4k, rated G)

James Sirius has been at Hogwarts for exactly one day, and he knows he doesn't belong. All he wants is to go home. A late night Floo call fixes everything.

drarry dads <333

papa says harry potter helps people by jilliancares (10k, rated E)

Draco Malfoy is reintroduced into Harry's life when a little boy enters his shop, lost. The same little boy upends all his bookshelves, which Draco holds himself responsible for. It all kind of escalates from there.

Scorpius bringing these two dummys together <3

together we wait for silence by ashes_and_ashes (23.6k, rated T)

the combined swimming/road trip au that no one ever asked for and yet is now here

My fave drarry of the month!!! I LOVE fics like this with a somewhat nonlinear timeline and so much unspoken angst and UGH I just really really really loved this fic.

[the-phoenix-heart]

Every day I think about how Lily Evans should have been a slytherin

[swiftiesforpeeta]

just got diagnosed with cries real tears over fictional characters several times a day disease. it’s incurable.