Rectober #1
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A lot of exciting fests are posting now! For my first Rectober post I have recs from rs_games and hp_silencio. I'm a bit behind in my reading, and I expect I'll probably post more recs from these fests as well as others!
Do you want to join the Rectober team? The lovely birdsofshore has all the info you need here.
On we go!
RS-Games:
A World Gone Mad by museinabsentia (fic)
Team: Magic
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: wanking, frotting, brief oral, some foul language because well, they’re teenage boys.
Word Count: 18,404
Summary: The realization that he may have not so platonic feelings for Remus lead Sirius to some realizations about himself and his family, and maybe, to start healing.
Why you should read this: This is a wonderful getting-together story, a funny and sweet Marauder story, but even more than that, it's a fantastic journey where we meet Sirius around the time he leaves home. The imagery is so evocative, and I love the way Magic is woven into the story.
Excerpt: “I can’t feel anything,” he finally blurted. He felt his face warm. That wasn’t what he had been trying to say at all.
“Oh, Padfoot,” Remus murmured. “That’s just shock. Give it a couple of days and you and James will be creating havoc everywhere you go, and everything will be back to normal.”
Sirius wanted to scream, to tell him that this was normal, that he had been numb for years, but the use of his nickname, and the fact that Remus was still sitting there, not quite looking at him, but not moving away either, made him hold his tongue.
“How do you do that?” he whispered instead. When Remus didn’t say anything he finally picked his heavy head up from his knees and looked into the soft brown eyes he had been missing so desperately. He took an unsteady breath, which still smelled of Remus. “You make me better.” Even Sirius wasn’t sure if he meant that Remus made him feel better or that Remus made him a better person. He decided it didn’t really matter.
We Might Fall by queenkerosene (fic)
Team: Magic
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Angst
Word Count: 7137
Summary: Behind the veil, Sirius unwrites his life, one electric light at a time.
Why you should read this: This is an afterlife fic, and a very inventive one. If you're anything like me, what Sirius discovers behind the veil will tug at your heartstrings and make you sad in the best of ways, yet it's not too angsty. Also, this fic is very well written and full of wonderful observations. Loved it!
Excerpt: “I’m James,” he had offered, and Sirius had just nodded, although he’d been impressed later on, because James, as a Potter, certainly had known what he was doing when he sat down next to Sirius. He had to have known, even then, that Sirius was going to be in trouble for being sorted into Gryffindor, but, even more importantly, that it wasn’t a mistake: Sirius belonged in Gryffindor.
In the present, Sirius wrenched himself away from the memory before he could see his response. It seemed to burn too bright in his hands now, as if it would scald itself onto his skin, a permanent loop of his and James’ first meeting.
A disaster, Sirius thought sourly. Because if he hadn’t- James might have-
He held the bulb too tightly, and then reared back. He smashed it hard against the nearby wall. Glass rained down on the floor. And then the whole room began to shake. Sirius tried to plant his feet more firmly, but all around him the bulbs started to explode, flaring white before popping sharply. The entire room was covered in glass.
“Sirius!” he heard someone shout, a voice he knew-
Within White Space by mustntgetmy (fic)
Team: Muggle
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Some cursing, some kissing, some Remus fantasizing about Sirius licking him in the dark.
Word Count: 8907
Summary: Non-magic AU. Remus spends all his lunch breaks the same way: he sits at the university cafe, orders the cheapest thing on the menu, and stares at Sirius. Getting a good long, look at Sirius (and fantasizing about said look) is all Remus expects from Sirius. But Sirius has never been one for fulfilling expectations.
Why you should read this: It's no big secret that I love non-magical AUs in this pairing, and this one is fabulous. Remus and Sirius are both wonderful, but I especially loved the way Sirius is portrayed. They're both very recognizable from canon, yet the author has done a great job creating their own world. Wonderful fic!
Excerpt: He was about to get up and leave - further contact with Sirius would surely ruin the integrity of the fantasy, and some days the fantasy was all that kept him going - when Sirius reached across the table and took his hand and every muscle in his body went still as stone.
When Remus pictured himself, he always pictured himself occupying a halo of negative space. No one ever jostled him on the street or tried to shake his hand or held him or touched him softly. He was set apart, he was other, he was alone. He lived in a void of paper and ink and the wood on his cane. Nothing else had touched him for a long, long time.
So it was a shock, Sirius’s hand on his. Even though the gesture wasn’t tender or flirtatious, even though it was a demand to stay more than anything else, it warmed him through and through.
“Just stay with me while I eat,” Sirius said, as though Remus still had any control over what he was doing. “I promise I won’t bore you.” He deliberated a moment and then added, “You can have one of the pastries. Just stay.”
HP-Silencio:
The Deeds and Sufferings of Light by teddyradiator (fic)
Character(s): Garrick Ollivander, Griphook, Luna Lovegood
Rating: PG-13
Word Count 3,142
Summary: On the day the Golden Trio are captured and brought to Malfoy Manor, three individuals await their fate in the darkness of the Malfoy dungeon.
Why you should read this: This fic has wonderfully written, very insightful character studies, and it's a beautiful and interesting read. All three characters are in the same place - the Malfoy Dungeons - but they all have such distinct voices that it almost seems like three different settings. We get fascinating insights into their history and their passions. Just wonderful!
Excerpt: Garrick knows that he is a great wandmaker, perhaps the greatest ever to walk the earth, but even he cannot fathom the magic needed to create a wand of that power; not with human hands, in any case. It must have truly been created by Death himself. A wand like that, in the thrall of a wizard such as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named… that much power surging through that potent a conductor could crack the world in half like a rotten egg. The terror of that thought thrills Garrick. To witness a wand discharging such power must be a glorious, glorious thing.
He has tried to explain this, but his tormentors don’t want to hear his ramblings. They want him to talk about mundanities: what does the wand look like, where might it be, does he have it. Don’t they know that if he did indeed possess the Elder Wand, he himself would gladly put it in the hands of the most powerful wizard on earth, just to see it fulfill its holy destiny?