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Fandom: Hamster Princess series by Ursula Vernon

Summary: Harriet and Mumfrey solve the riddle of a squirrel, a gerblin (that’s a goblin that looks like a gerbil) and some magical Purim noisemakers.

Characters: Harriet Hamsterbone, Mumfrey, original squirrel character, other original rodent characters

Words: 2,550

Notes: For kitsune_scribe for Purimgifts 2022.

Chag sameach, Kitsune_Scribe! I was delighted to get your request for Hamster Princess, which is such a great fit for Purim. (Spunky princess hero! Silliness and fun!) Thanks for giving me the opportunity to play with Harriet and folklore. (Notes on sources at the end.)


Read on AO3, or here below:




( The Silly Squirrel and the Gerblin )

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Fandom: Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik

Summary:

It had always been clear to me that people from throughout our quarter came to my grandfather for advice, knowing his reputation for wisdom and clear-eyed business sense. What took me longer to notice—because my eye wasn’t trained for it—was that people sought out my grandmother as well.

Characters: Miryem Mandelstam, Miryem's grandmother, other characters

Notes: The first of my Purimgifts fics for chestnut_pod, belatedly cross-posting here... Here are the original notes:

Happy Purim – chag Purim sameach – chestnut_filly! It’s been such fun to write for you. We actually matched on a different fandom, but I felt drawn to write something Jewish and fun for this fun Jewish holiday, so I veered over into the world of Spinning Silver instead. :-)

A few notes: I hope you don’t mind that I set this within the headcanon of the original, short-story version of Spinning Silver, rather than the novel. It shouldn’t matter if you haven’t read the short story, though; just consider this a canon-divergent AU in which Miryem outwits the Staryk instead of marrying him, and stays in Vysnia near her grandparents.

You’ll almost certainly recognize many other elements as well, because I set out here to fuse Miryem’s world with some classic Yiddish folktales. I’ll give the sources of those tales in the endnotes. (There’s also a brief Yiddish glossary at the end, for anyone not already familiar with the terms used here.)

Thank you to my friend A. for betareading!

Read on AO3, or here below:

 

( It Could Always Be... )

THE SNOW WOLF

Summary:

While on his undercover mission to the werewolves, Remus disappears. Tonks sets out north, across countries and islands and frozen terrain, on a quest to find the man she loves and reclaim him from the clutches of a powerful magical beast. Along the way, Tonks meets many who help – or hinder – her quest, until at last she reaches the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to face the dreaded Snow Wolf himself.

Note: The final chapter!


( Chapter 7: In the Snow Wolf’s Fortress )
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THE SNOW WOLF

Summary:

While on his undercover mission to the werewolves, Remus disappears. Tonks sets out north, across countries and islands and frozen terrain, on a quest to find the man she loves and reclaim him from the clutches of a powerful magical beast. Along the way, Tonks meets many who help – or hinder – her quest, until at last she reaches the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to face the dreaded Snow Wolf himself.

Note: Thank you to nerakrose for multilingual translation help. :-)



( Chapter 5: Interlude: The Mirror )

THE SNOW WOLF

Summary:

While on his undercover mission to the werewolves, Remus disappears. Tonks sets out north, across countries and islands and frozen terrain, on a quest to find the man she loves and reclaim him from the clutches of a powerful magical beast. Along the way, Tonks meets many who help – or hinder – her quest, until at last she reaches the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to face the dreaded Snow Wolf himself.


( Chapter 3: The Two Witches of the Shetland Islands )

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THE SNOW WOLF


Summary:

While on his undercover mission to the werewolves, Remus disappears. Tonks sets out north, across countries and islands and frozen terrain, on a quest to find the man she loves and reclaim him from the clutches of a powerful magical beast. Along the way, Tonks meets many who help – or hinder – her quest, until at last she reaches the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard to face the dreaded Snow Wolf himself.

(A fairy tale fusion, bringing together the world of Harry Potter with the plot of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. Or: in which I took a 19th century fairy tale that's surprisingly full of strong female characters, and added even more of them.)


Characters: Tonks, Remus, original characters/characters drawn to varying degrees from The Snow Queen, brief cameos from Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody

Words: 31,100 / Chapters: 7


Notes:

A fusion with The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. (Snippets of inspiration also drawn from Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, a modern-day retelling.) You don’t need to know The Snow Queen to read this – though if you do know the original, I hope you’ll enjoy the nods and parallels throughout!

This is an AU, but takes place during HBP and slots pretty much into the chronology of canon, as long as you subtract the bits when Harry crossed paths with Tonks or Remus during HBP – they’re on a different adventure here. (Also, ignore Pottermore; in my mind, Remus and Tonks had begun at least the tentative unfurling of a romance by the end of OotP.)

My greatest of thanks to gilpin25 for betareading in such detail and being so thoughtful in response to my many questions; also to huldrejenta and nerakrose for fielding questions about Norwegian geography and language, and Scandinavian names, respectively; and to brickspace friend E for betareading early sections. An early, partial version of this story posted at rt_morelove (over a year ago!) but a lot has changed and grown since then, so I invite anyone who’s interested to read along again!


Read here, or on AO3.


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( Chapter 1: To the North )

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IF YOU'VE GOT A LANTERN HOLD IT HIGH

Summary: Three years after the war, a stranger arrives at Hogwarts with a letter addressed to Minerva McGonagall by the familiar hand of an old friend. Before the summer is through, the contents of the letter will bring together several lives that might otherwise never have touched.

( Chapter Four: The Most Amazing Place )
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IF YOU'VE GOT A LANTERN HOLD IT HIGH

Summary: Three years after the war, a stranger arrives at Hogwarts with a letter addressed to Minerva McGonagall by the familiar hand of an old friend. Before the summer is through, the contents of the letter will bring together several lives that might otherwise never have touched.


( Chapter Two: A Stranger in the House )

 

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LITTLE AMUSEMENTS, OR HOW ANTHEA GOT HER NAME


Fandom: BBC Sherlock

Summary:

She made up secret personas each day to keep from going mad with boredom at her job. It amused her, and it didn’t matter since no one noticed anyway.

Until Mycroft Holmes noticed.

Characters: Anthea, Mycroft, original character

Words: 3,500

Notes: This is for indybaggins, who once said "I'd be curious to see how you portray Anthea," so ( . . . a little bit later . . . ) here she is.

I suppose I should further note – though it’s not hugely relevant for this particular story – that as a whole I’m pretty much ignoring the existence of S4 . . . so I’m writing the characters as they were around S1/S2-era or so. :-)

Thank you to pipmer1 for betareading!


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( Little Amusements )


or read it on AO3.

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RAISE YOUR LANTERN HIGH

Summary: In which Remus and Tonks fight battles, arrest criminals, befriend werewolves, overcome inner demons and, despite it all, find themselves a happy ending. A love story, and a story of the Order years. (My Remus/Tonks epic, which has been years in the making! This is the second half of the story, set in the Half-Blood Prince year.)

Note: This was timing too good to be missed: This chapter takes place around and during Beltane, the Celtic celebration of spring. And out here in the real world, too, TODAY is Beltane. (Well, not in the UK anymore – but here in the US it's still May 1 for another hour or two.) Happy northern hemisphere/pagan/Celtic spring, everyone! I was out celebrating today, as part of a long-standing family tradition, despite the pouring rain.

( Chapter 19: Beltane Eve )