0893: Home's the Farthest Way - Remus Lupin
Link O The Day: Moon Base Clavius. Which has, as is usual for LotD lately, nothing to do with anything Potterish. But is nevertheless really cool.
TITLE: Home's the Farthest Way
PERPETRATOR: ReeraTheRed
SUE-O-METER:
(good)
FULL NAME: Remus Lupin
SPECIES: human/witch
HAIR: 'silver hair mixed in with the tawny'
EYES: 'sad', but the colour is never mentioned. The eyes this fic is in love with are Snape's, which are referred to constantly as 'black', 'inscrutable', and a variety of other things.
MARKINGS: an assortment of scars
POSESSIONS: breasts and a taco show.
ORIGIN: The ministry offered Remus a werewolf cure, but Umbridge sabotaged it and it turned him into a woman.
CONNECTIONS TO CANON: All the ones you'd expect of Remus-Sue, and marries Snape at the end.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: a wolf animagus.
NOTES: Okay, snark aside for a moment: I read this story right through last night, and I can honestly say that I really and truly enjoyed it. It is well-written, mostly well-paced (the ending is rather quick and a bit anticlimactic, but works much better than you'd imagine if I just described it to you), and engaging. There is a real feeling of danger and of sexual tension. The author does interesting, if not entirely canon-compatible, things with werewolves, uses Umbridge as a character instead of as the Evil Of The Week, and if the characters aren't always IC, they're close enough, and the author drops tantalizing hints about what might have changed them. It makes me want to read her other fics... hopefully, I will see her version of Voldemort's defeat and of Snape's past expanded upon.
My only real problem with the piece is that it is a gratuitous taco show.
And when I say 'gratuitous', I mean... holy moly. Nothing in the plot requires this, and the way the other characters simply take it in stride after a few minutes' startlement is rather ridiculous. The story would work just as well (and be shorter and tighter, perhaps leaving more room for a satisfying ending to the romantic subplot) as slash. But no, it's a taco show.
*sigh*
SAMPLE:
The Healer handed the beaker to Lupin. There was a hush in the room, it was so quiet that Lupin could make out the soft swishing sound of robes in the hall outside, and looked up to see Severus appear in the doorway, followed by Professor Begay, who was smiling, and gave Lupin a thumbs up. Severus nodded his head, and stood by the door.
This is it, thought Lupin. This is the most important potion of them all, this is the one that makes it all happen. He closed his eyes, held his breath, and swallowed it all, tilting his head back to let every horrible bit of the stuff slide into his mouth and down his throat. It was the worst tasting of the lot, so bitter it was painful. He could feel it roiling in his belly. But that's good, he thought. It's there, it's doing its work.
He felt the Healer take the beaker from his hand, and heard it clink as she set it on the bedside table. Suddenly, he realized everyone was cheering - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Arthur, the Healer. Even Dumbledore was saying something. He looked and saw all of them grinning at him. Even Severus looked pleased (for Severus, at least).
The Healer held her wand over Lupin one more time. "We'll give it a few minutes before we take a few blood samples for testing . . ." her voice petered off and she peered at her wand, and then at Lupin.
Lupin felt hot - it felt as if the stuff in his stomach was flowing out, spreading out into his body and out into his limbs.
"I think I feel a little ill," Lupin said, and he stretched out along the bed so that he lay flat.
And then he passed out.
"That's not supposed to happen," Professor Begay said, looking alarmed.
"Something's wrong," Hermione said.
They all watched in horror as Lupin grew very pale, and his limbs began to jerk violently. His form seemed to grow soft and liquid, swelling up until it lost all definition, and only looked vaguely human.
Delworth and the St. Mungo's healer both looked stunned. Professor Begay's mouth was open, and his eyes looked perplexed. "The potion was fine," he said, "Everything was perfect."
Hermione shot a look at Umbridge, but she, too, looked surprised from where she sat, though she said nothing.
"Do something," Harry said to the Healer.
The Healer ran her wand up and down Lupin's form. "I'm trying to stabilize him," she said, "but something's fighting me. There's additional magic in this potion, I don't recognize it."
Dumbledore rose to his feet and thrust out his arms. A golden glow surrounded Lupin's form, and the agitation slowed and then ceased. The soft, only vaguely human shape began to solidify, and features began to appear again. Lupin's chest rose and fell.
"He's coming back," the Healer said, making wild motions with her wand. "he's definitely alive, his heart's beating, he's breathing, it looks like he could be all right."
Dumbledore's arms were at his sides now. He looked very tired, and his eyes were sad. The Healer had stopped motioning with her wand.
"He's - that is, Professor Lupin is, well, alive," she said, but her voice did not sound cheerful. "Everything's working, everything's, well, it's all there . . . under the circumstances . . ."
They all drew round the bed, Harry, Ron and Hermione keeping close together, Snape moving to stand beside Dumbledore, Arthur stepping to the other side.
Lupin's face and body looked wasted and thin, as if his already spare flesh had melted away, leaving him nothing more than skin and bone. Even the bones looked slighter, as if he were a boy, the lines of his face were more delicate, and his chin had receded beneath sunken cheeks. And then, as their eyes followed the line of his body under his robes, and saw the rising and falling contours under the cloth, the curves that were there that should not have been, there was a collective gasp as they all sucked in their breath.
"He's a girl," Ron said.
TITLE: Home's the Farthest Way
PERPETRATOR: ReeraTheRed
SUE-O-METER:
(good)
FULL NAME: Remus Lupin
SPECIES: human/witch
HAIR: 'silver hair mixed in with the tawny'
EYES: 'sad', but the colour is never mentioned. The eyes this fic is in love with are Snape's, which are referred to constantly as 'black', 'inscrutable', and a variety of other things.
MARKINGS: an assortment of scars
POSESSIONS: breasts and a taco show.
ORIGIN: The ministry offered Remus a werewolf cure, but Umbridge sabotaged it and it turned him into a woman.
CONNECTIONS TO CANON: All the ones you'd expect of Remus-Sue, and marries Snape at the end.
SPECIAL ABILITIES: a wolf animagus.
NOTES: Okay, snark aside for a moment: I read this story right through last night, and I can honestly say that I really and truly enjoyed it. It is well-written, mostly well-paced (the ending is rather quick and a bit anticlimactic, but works much better than you'd imagine if I just described it to you), and engaging. There is a real feeling of danger and of sexual tension. The author does interesting, if not entirely canon-compatible, things with werewolves, uses Umbridge as a character instead of as the Evil Of The Week, and if the characters aren't always IC, they're close enough, and the author drops tantalizing hints about what might have changed them. It makes me want to read her other fics... hopefully, I will see her version of Voldemort's defeat and of Snape's past expanded upon.
My only real problem with the piece is that it is a gratuitous taco show.
And when I say 'gratuitous', I mean... holy moly. Nothing in the plot requires this, and the way the other characters simply take it in stride after a few minutes' startlement is rather ridiculous. The story would work just as well (and be shorter and tighter, perhaps leaving more room for a satisfying ending to the romantic subplot) as slash. But no, it's a taco show.
*sigh*
SAMPLE:
The Healer handed the beaker to Lupin. There was a hush in the room, it was so quiet that Lupin could make out the soft swishing sound of robes in the hall outside, and looked up to see Severus appear in the doorway, followed by Professor Begay, who was smiling, and gave Lupin a thumbs up. Severus nodded his head, and stood by the door.
This is it, thought Lupin. This is the most important potion of them all, this is the one that makes it all happen. He closed his eyes, held his breath, and swallowed it all, tilting his head back to let every horrible bit of the stuff slide into his mouth and down his throat. It was the worst tasting of the lot, so bitter it was painful. He could feel it roiling in his belly. But that's good, he thought. It's there, it's doing its work.
He felt the Healer take the beaker from his hand, and heard it clink as she set it on the bedside table. Suddenly, he realized everyone was cheering - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Arthur, the Healer. Even Dumbledore was saying something. He looked and saw all of them grinning at him. Even Severus looked pleased (for Severus, at least).
The Healer held her wand over Lupin one more time. "We'll give it a few minutes before we take a few blood samples for testing . . ." her voice petered off and she peered at her wand, and then at Lupin.
Lupin felt hot - it felt as if the stuff in his stomach was flowing out, spreading out into his body and out into his limbs.
"I think I feel a little ill," Lupin said, and he stretched out along the bed so that he lay flat.
And then he passed out.
"That's not supposed to happen," Professor Begay said, looking alarmed.
"Something's wrong," Hermione said.
They all watched in horror as Lupin grew very pale, and his limbs began to jerk violently. His form seemed to grow soft and liquid, swelling up until it lost all definition, and only looked vaguely human.
Delworth and the St. Mungo's healer both looked stunned. Professor Begay's mouth was open, and his eyes looked perplexed. "The potion was fine," he said, "Everything was perfect."
Hermione shot a look at Umbridge, but she, too, looked surprised from where she sat, though she said nothing.
"Do something," Harry said to the Healer.
The Healer ran her wand up and down Lupin's form. "I'm trying to stabilize him," she said, "but something's fighting me. There's additional magic in this potion, I don't recognize it."
Dumbledore rose to his feet and thrust out his arms. A golden glow surrounded Lupin's form, and the agitation slowed and then ceased. The soft, only vaguely human shape began to solidify, and features began to appear again. Lupin's chest rose and fell.
"He's coming back," the Healer said, making wild motions with her wand. "he's definitely alive, his heart's beating, he's breathing, it looks like he could be all right."
Dumbledore's arms were at his sides now. He looked very tired, and his eyes were sad. The Healer had stopped motioning with her wand.
"He's - that is, Professor Lupin is, well, alive," she said, but her voice did not sound cheerful. "Everything's working, everything's, well, it's all there . . . under the circumstances . . ."
They all drew round the bed, Harry, Ron and Hermione keeping close together, Snape moving to stand beside Dumbledore, Arthur stepping to the other side.
Lupin's face and body looked wasted and thin, as if his already spare flesh had melted away, leaving him nothing more than skin and bone. Even the bones looked slighter, as if he were a boy, the lines of his face were more delicate, and his chin had receded beneath sunken cheeks. And then, as their eyes followed the line of his body under his robes, and saw the rising and falling contours under the cloth, the curves that were there that should not have been, there was a collective gasp as they all sucked in their breath.
"He's a girl," Ron said.