BONUS FIC: Shade of the Morning Sun for brighty18
Title: Shade of the Morning Sun
Author: midnitemaraud_r
Recipient: brighty18
Rating: PG
Contents or warnings: None
Word count: ~3,700
Summary: It's Boxing Day, 1977, the morning after the full moon, and Lily accidentally finds out about Remus' 'furry little problem'.
Notes: Many thanks to the awesome whymzycal for the beta. Title is from New Order's "True Faith." I actually set ( Read more... )
Author: midnitemaraud_r
Recipient: brighty18
Rating: PG
Contents or warnings: None
Word count: ~3,700
Summary: It's Boxing Day, 1977, the morning after the full moon, and Lily accidentally finds out about Remus' 'furry little problem'.
Notes: Many thanks to the awesome whymzycal for the beta. Title is from New Order's "True Faith." I actually set ( Read more... )
And the story itself was just wonderful. I've always had an enormous soft-spot for Sirius protecting Remus, but this is exceptionally nice in that what you're really done is explored Sirius' feelings about that protectiveness: It wasn't that he thought Remus unable to protect himself, and certainly he could wield his wand like a pro, but there was a vulnerability to him that made Sirius want to safeguard him from any threat, real or imagined. Of course, that had led to a few incidents through poor judgment, but he refused to feel guilty for such indiscretions. Estrangement from his family had only drawn him closer to his friends, intensifying his personal mantra of "You fuck with me and mine, and I'll show you just how vindictive a bastard I can be." It was the only way he knew how to survive in a world where even the protective walls of Hogwarts couldn't keep out the coming storm. I love how self-aware Sirius is here. Too often that sort of capability for self-reflection is missing from his character in fandom, but, like you, I think that he always "got it" about himself. And that was a very well-crafted passage, too.
In fact, this whole thing was very well-crafted - though I am not in the least surprised. You always write so well.
Lily was fantastic here, too. In your capable hands she became very human and that, too, is often a rare thing in fandom. Here she is more than a ginger-haired harpy, a shrill and didactic shrew, or simply the object of James' lust. Her reaction to discovering the truth about Remus (and his relationship) with Sirius felt very real and very fair. (They sat in a companionable silence, drinking their tea, and for the first time, Sirius saw exactly why James was so taken with Lily Evans. It wasn't just that she was intelligent, or attractive, or even kind. Merlin knew that being a Muggle-born, she'd had to face plenty of prejudice herself, but he hadn't expected her easy acceptance or her compassionate understanding, not just for Remus' condition, but for his relationship with Remus as well. ) Any one of us would hope to be that cool about it all.
Your little nod to Peter with an added bit of foreshadowing (Peter was very good at self-preservation, so he had the locking and unlocking spells they'd designed perfected. He could change, unlock and open the hidden door, and change back in less than fifteen seconds. Good ol' Wormy. He'd come a long way under their tutelage. ) was really striking, too. I liked that Peter was not portrayed as stupid or awful, but there was still that slight hint of what was to come. That was very clever.
And this was all fantastic!
Thank you, again!
Oh, and I rec'd it here: http://brighty18.livejournal.com/667054.html!
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It always amazes me that there are so many ways to write these characters that, despite being vastly different, still seem to feel true to them. How Lily and James got together is very vague in canon, which I prefer, but I've always imagined that it started from this type of scenario, which would compel her to look at him - at them all, really - in a different light. (Granted, I love writing Lily torturing James (hell, everyone torturing James!) because torturing James is so much fun! And I have another fic I hope to post tomorrow with that theme in mind! :-P) I've wanted to write this story for a while (even though I initially planned to write something more on the smutty side! Hee!) so I'm glad I had a reason. I have so many stories in my head - it's a matter of coaxing them out!
I always believed Sirius 'got it about himself' - he was too intelligent not to - just that most of the time he didn't particularly care how he came across to anyone except James. And Remus, of course, but I fully admit that my feelings there are influenced heavily by my OTPism. Hee! Peter, too, but less so than the other two. Peter can be daft or slow about some things, insecure, and clearly he was sycophantic towards James, but definitely not stupid.
Anyway! I'm really glad you liked it! It was a pleasure to write, so thank you so much! ♥
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