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Happy (belated) birthday to Remus
Mar. 14th, 2020 07:55 pmHappy belated birthday, Remus Lupin!
March 10th is Remus' birthday, and because it's a round birthday this year (born in 1960!) I had the idea of writing a little birthday-related fic about Remus, maybe a series of moments about some good birthdays he's had over the years, despite all the hard times. But my own life has been so intense – I'm in the last flat-out sprint to the end of my dissertation – that I didn't find a free moment even to write this post by March 10th, let alone write a whole fic by then.
But today is my birthday (yes, just 4 days after Remus...well, 4 days and 20-odd years), and I was remembering one time (6 years ago??) when I spent my birthday writing a fic, just because that was what I most wanted to do on that day, as a present to myself. And also because that was back in the days when I tossed off one-shots right and left, instead of pondering and revising things for years before posting them... Anyway, so last night and today I determinedly made time for a tiny bit of writing, so I could at least get started on the first few sentences of a fic. So maybe I'll finish it by, you know, next year or something.
It's hard to feel very birthday-ish right now, as the world hunkers down in coronavirus quarantine. Things are changing fast, over here in the U.S. where we're finally taking the pandemic seriously: over the course of less than two days, my entire town went from "we're concerned, we're taking precautions, but everything's still open" to "SCRATCH THAT, TIME TO PANIC, EVERYTHING IS CLOSED!!!!" I'm really glad we're taking this seriously, but it's hard not to feel like this is the start of the apocalypse. Or, you know, the more visible version of the climate apocalypse that's already been unfolding around us for years.
But anyway.
I hope you all are staying safe, and keeping your loved ones safe.
One last Remus thought:
Yesterday, as I was replying to a reader's comment on AO3, I was struck by this thought: What if Remus had been the one to raise Harry? I mean, in a serious, nearly canon-compliant way. There are lots of fics where Sirius raises Harry, or they both do, or where they're able to step into his life at a later stage and rescue him from the Dursleys (à la Stealing Harry).
But this, I'm thinking, could be a quite plausible canon-divergent-but-nearly-canon AU: Remus raising Harry is something that nearly could have happened, without really having to change the facts of canon. James and Lily still die (not that I'm okay with that), Sirius still goes to Azkaban (not that I'm okay with that), but in this scenario, as in canon, Remus is out there in the world and theoretically could be there for Harry. In my own headcanon, at least, the only thing keeping Remus out of Harry's life is Remus' own self-doubt, his belief that he's a danger to others and the best thing he can do for the people he cares about is to stay away. So what if Remus got over himself (and I say that with love!) and stepped up and demanded of Dumbledore that he, Remus, be the one to raise Harry, not the Dursleys?
Yes, yes, I know there's the whole thing of Harry having to live with a blood relative of his mother's, so that her sacrifice continues to protect him. I think possibly I'd be willing to disregard that, since it's so clearly a plot device created to justify the set-up of canon, of Harry living with the Dursleys and thus never having found out that he's a wizard. (Unlike the more immutable facts of canon, like James and Lily's deaths and Sirius' imprisonment.)
OR, though, this Remus-raising-Harry scenario could be done even keeping that plot element: What if Remus did some digging and was able to find out that he's actually distantly related to Lily? Making him a blood relative and thus an acceptable candidate to take Harry in? It's not totally impossible; certainly it's a little more likely that Remus could be related to James on his wizarding side, since the wizarding world is so small, but it's not impossible that he could be related to Lily on his Muggle side.
So every other thing about canon stays the same, except that Remus raises Harry from the time he's one year old. And then Sirius comes into the picture too, but only later, after he escapes Azkaban in book 3, same as canon. And they all have to figure out what they are to each other then, what that new constellation looks like. Whereas Remus has been raising Harry all along, as a single parent, and holds the role of Harry's go-to father/uncle/mentor figure the way that Sirius does in canon. Has anyone written this? I kind of want to write it. But also I'm deeply aware that this would need to be a big, long story to do the premise justice, and the last thing I have time for right now is a big, long story! (When I already have a big, long Remus/Tonks WIP that I haven't had a chance even to touch in months...)
March 10th is Remus' birthday, and because it's a round birthday this year (born in 1960!) I had the idea of writing a little birthday-related fic about Remus, maybe a series of moments about some good birthdays he's had over the years, despite all the hard times. But my own life has been so intense – I'm in the last flat-out sprint to the end of my dissertation – that I didn't find a free moment even to write this post by March 10th, let alone write a whole fic by then.
But today is my birthday (yes, just 4 days after Remus...well, 4 days and 20-odd years), and I was remembering one time (6 years ago??) when I spent my birthday writing a fic, just because that was what I most wanted to do on that day, as a present to myself. And also because that was back in the days when I tossed off one-shots right and left, instead of pondering and revising things for years before posting them... Anyway, so last night and today I determinedly made time for a tiny bit of writing, so I could at least get started on the first few sentences of a fic. So maybe I'll finish it by, you know, next year or something.
It's hard to feel very birthday-ish right now, as the world hunkers down in coronavirus quarantine. Things are changing fast, over here in the U.S. where we're finally taking the pandemic seriously: over the course of less than two days, my entire town went from "we're concerned, we're taking precautions, but everything's still open" to "SCRATCH THAT, TIME TO PANIC, EVERYTHING IS CLOSED!!!!" I'm really glad we're taking this seriously, but it's hard not to feel like this is the start of the apocalypse. Or, you know, the more visible version of the climate apocalypse that's already been unfolding around us for years.
But anyway.
I hope you all are staying safe, and keeping your loved ones safe.
One last Remus thought:
Yesterday, as I was replying to a reader's comment on AO3, I was struck by this thought: What if Remus had been the one to raise Harry? I mean, in a serious, nearly canon-compliant way. There are lots of fics where Sirius raises Harry, or they both do, or where they're able to step into his life at a later stage and rescue him from the Dursleys (à la Stealing Harry).
But this, I'm thinking, could be a quite plausible canon-divergent-but-nearly-canon AU: Remus raising Harry is something that nearly could have happened, without really having to change the facts of canon. James and Lily still die (not that I'm okay with that), Sirius still goes to Azkaban (not that I'm okay with that), but in this scenario, as in canon, Remus is out there in the world and theoretically could be there for Harry. In my own headcanon, at least, the only thing keeping Remus out of Harry's life is Remus' own self-doubt, his belief that he's a danger to others and the best thing he can do for the people he cares about is to stay away. So what if Remus got over himself (and I say that with love!) and stepped up and demanded of Dumbledore that he, Remus, be the one to raise Harry, not the Dursleys?
Yes, yes, I know there's the whole thing of Harry having to live with a blood relative of his mother's, so that her sacrifice continues to protect him. I think possibly I'd be willing to disregard that, since it's so clearly a plot device created to justify the set-up of canon, of Harry living with the Dursleys and thus never having found out that he's a wizard. (Unlike the more immutable facts of canon, like James and Lily's deaths and Sirius' imprisonment.)
OR, though, this Remus-raising-Harry scenario could be done even keeping that plot element: What if Remus did some digging and was able to find out that he's actually distantly related to Lily? Making him a blood relative and thus an acceptable candidate to take Harry in? It's not totally impossible; certainly it's a little more likely that Remus could be related to James on his wizarding side, since the wizarding world is so small, but it's not impossible that he could be related to Lily on his Muggle side.
So every other thing about canon stays the same, except that Remus raises Harry from the time he's one year old. And then Sirius comes into the picture too, but only later, after he escapes Azkaban in book 3, same as canon. And they all have to figure out what they are to each other then, what that new constellation looks like. Whereas Remus has been raising Harry all along, as a single parent, and holds the role of Harry's go-to father/uncle/mentor figure the way that Sirius does in canon. Has anyone written this? I kind of want to write it. But also I'm deeply aware that this would need to be a big, long story to do the premise justice, and the last thing I have time for right now is a big, long story! (When I already have a big, long Remus/Tonks WIP that I haven't had a chance even to touch in months...)
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