Harry Potter Fanfiction by PaulaMcG

Our amazing magnetic_pole - known for arranging fun fannish activities – has started a new community.

The challenge, which can’t scare even the most commitment-phobic fans, is approximately this: do anything related to HBP – share and enjoy. Just have a look at hbpchallenge and join now, if you haven’t already!

Title: In Lines of Charcoal
Author: paulamcg
Written for: leafyaki
Beta: The amazing ishonn. Thank you once again for the priceless inspiration, help and encouragement.
Rating: PG for touching
Prompt: All the three prompts: 1. "One imparts an intimate smile, /One chews a grass, one lowers his eyes, bashful, /One is ridiculous with cocky pride – /Six months after this picture they were all dead." - Ted Hughes, 'Six Young Men'
2. Anything to do with winter clothing and the cold
3. Anything to do with artistic boys
Summary: In December 1995 Remus rests in Sirius’s arms at the setting of the full moon. He draws new sketches, and trusts that there is still life waiting for the two of them.
Other notes: This piece can stand on its own, but it also belongs to the story I tell in all my fanfiction.
The link takes you to rs_small_gifts. This gift fic was posted in my journal first as a private entry but can now be read by anyone here, too.


(with him as a measure)

Title: In Lines of Charcoal
Author: paulamcg
Written for: leafyaki
Beta: The amazing ishonn. Thank you once again for the priceless inspiration, help and encouragement.
Rating: PG for touching
Prompt: All the three prompts: 1. "One imparts an intimate smile, /One chews a grass, one lowers his eyes, bashful, /One is ridiculous with cocky pride – /Six months after this picture they were all dead." - Ted Hughes, 'Six Young Men'
2. Anything to do with winter clothing and the cold
3. Anything to do with artistic boys
Summary: In December 1995 Remus rests in Sirius’s arms at the setting of the full moon. He draws new sketches, and trusts that there is still life waiting for the two of them.
Other notes: This piece can stand on its own, but it also belongs to the story I tell in all my fanfiction.


( with him as a measure )

Title: Catching His Moving Image
Author: PaulaMcG
Beta: My incredible ishonn.
Rating: PG
Pairing: Remus/Sirius
Summary: Towards the end of October 1981 Remus dedicated his solitary daylight time to making countless sketches of Sirius from memory, and to preparing a major painting. Finally Sirius is standing right there, in the middle of the glowing landscape.
Word count: 960
Disclaimer: Remus and Sirius won't help me make any money.

Notes: This is actually an excerpt of an excerpt: a single scene from Images of the Past. I’ve been tempted to post this scene again separately ever since spacefragments illustrated it by making this glorious piece of gift art. (The scene is also an extrapolation from the fourth 100-word drabble in the series Sketches for a Portrait.)



( He’s with me and he’s not. )

Title: Images of the Past
Author: PaulaMcG
Beta: ishonn. What can I say? Baa!
Rating: PG
Characters: Remus as the viewpoint character, Sirius, Peter, James. Lily, Harry
Pairings: Remus/Sirius
Summary: This is how Remus remembers living for his loves and ambitions during the first war.
Word count: 5388
Disclaimer: Remus and his friends won't help me make any money.

Notes: I can't resist sharing here what my Remus has finally (in November 1996) revealed about the events between his school years and Halloween 1981. This is another autobiographical letter he writes to Harry in my (basically) post-OotP Remus-pov novel, Remus Lupin and the Revolt of the Creatures. It's not sure Harry actually gets to read all this, and it's also possible to interpret that Remus doesn't even write down the parts in which images of the past are shown in present-tense writing. (I follow only the canon of the first five novels by JKR, and my Marauders and Lily left Hogwarts in 1977.)




( I know no longer for whose eyes I’m writing this )

A return actually took place a month ago when I finally published a new instalment of my huge WiP – here (only on The Pensieve Forum of TheDailySnitcher, which has resurrected the contents of the closed Snitch Forums). However, I left for Poland on the same day, having been distracted from following my flist regularly for a couple of weeks before that, too.

I’d be happy to hear what’s new in your lives, as well as what has happened to Remus and Sirius in the fandom.

( Last autumn I expressed some good intentions to make regular rec posts. )

Sweet Sixteen by minnow_53
Remus relives a day in the past. (PG-13)
( After all this time, sharing Remus’s experience here has stayed in my memory as a fraction more luminous )

I want to see you game, boys by l_stone
James Potter and his speeches.
( The flow of this evocative piece takes the reader to new situations unexpectedly )

O Tannenbaum by elsane
Christmas holidays at the Potters', seventh year, and walking into the woods to find a Christmas tree is not going so well this time around. Features Marauders variously cold, cranky, and closeted, enchanted mittens, and a great quantity of snow (PG; Remus/Sirius, James/Lily, Peter)
( In this lovely story all the characterizations as well as all the action with its magical and mundane details work excellently )

As a stubborn writer of a huge chaptered story, I’d also like to spread some WiP love.

Of Silver Light and Shadows by mindabbles ( is now complete although only nine of the twelve parts have been published so far. )

Fingerholds by centaurea_m (PG-13 to R) ( is a 7-part fic that jumps between 1981-85 and 1978-81. )

And now two beautiful (low-rated) R/S pictures
OotP-era Remus and Sirius in bed by spacefragments
I love the older, damaged men here at least as much as I love the beautiful young couple in the amazing Warm Me Up. ( The artist makes them perfectly real )

A drawing with autumn colouring by jadis31
( My love for this picture grows every time I come back to look. )

Finally, a piece of news. I have finally picked my second icon, having used a single icon ever since I came to lj in early 2005. spacefragments gave this one only for me to use among the icons she made on the basis of this amazing Remus portrait of hers. One again, thank you so much!

Title: A Later Sketch for a Portrait
Author: PaulaMcG
Possible pairings hinted at: Remus/Sirius; imaginary schoolboy Remus / Luna
Rating: PG
Length: 100
Summary Remus’s deserted landscapes are illuminated by an illusion that he did not grow old.
Era: PoA (autumn 1993)
Beta: ishonn. Thank you once again for everything, including all the good kicks as well as the inspiration. (My beta has not checked this header, which I can still change on the basis of any concrit.)
Notes: This 100-word drabble can stand on its own. However, it also continues the series Ten Sketches for a Portrait, in which Remus keeps trying to catch the moving images of the life in and around him. The series has otherwise reached only the year 1987. Besides, this piece reveals something that has never been hinted at in my post-Azkaban short stories or in the post-OotP novel. I was inspired to write this piece last summer, and only now am I finally sure enough that this is my Remus, so that I can make a responsible decision to publish this.





Professor at Hogwarts! I spend my salary on canvas to depict deserted lands at dusk, fearing a figure will emerge: his.

Mine. In this luxury I can’t believe my life is threatened now – can’t forget we inevitably approach death. Although I hope there’s something beyond for me, I hate to see the signs of how long a way I’ve come.

Smiling to young faces, I become an awkward teenager, embarrassed about my old robes only. This extraordinary girl challenges me with her wit and visions. Luna… May I fall in love, as if I’d never loved? Never wasted my years.

You must all know that I love feedback and replying to it. I am going to find the time to continue all our shared discussions on my writing and yours. But for someone who can seldom share new short stories it’s impossible to resist this opportunity: the feedback meme. Here’s my thread.

Title: Almost Dark Again
Author: paulamcg
Written for: daphnaea in rs_small_gifts
Beta: My incredible ishonn. Thank you so much again for all your… spring buds!
Rating: PG
Prompt: The prompt I claimed was an Order mission (first war), but perhaps this fulfils a bit better the ambiguous request for ambiguity (bonus: some degree of resolution). Someone also receives an owl and received one off-stage.
Summary: December 1979 has defeated Remus to the point of taking up quarters at Sirius’s, whom he can’t expect back from an Order mission yet.

This link will take you to the original fic entry in the community:
(Perhaps he’s charmed the moon)

Title: Almost Dark Again
Author: paulamcg
Written for: daphnaea
Beta: My incredible ishonn. Thank you so much again for all your… spring buds!
Rating: PG
Prompt: The prompt I claimed was an Order mission (first war), but perhaps this fulfils a bit better the ambiguous request for ambiguity (bonus: some degree of resolution). Someone also receives an owl and received one off-stage.
Summary: December 1979 has defeated Remus to the point of taking up quarters at Sirius’s, whom he can’t expect back from an Order mission yet.


(This entry was first private, while the story was posted for comments in the community, here)

( Perhaps he’s charmed the moon )

I’ve updated my chaptered story, and my small R/S gift fic is with my beta, so I’m finally going to take the time for making another rec post. This time I’d like to rec Remus during the years between Halloween 1981 and PoA. However, the first story I’m reccing reaches only until the beginning of the so-called Lost Years.


Platform i by googlebrat
Pairings: None

( This is an exceptional story about Remus’s life from his childhood until the beginning of his years of “nowhere left to go”. )


Hair of the Dog by LacyLu42
Pairings: RL/SB, RL/OMC
Rating: PG-13

( I’m still fond of this story – one of my very first favourites on FictionAlley. )


Nails and Knuckles by l_stone
Pairings: RL/SB, RL/OMC
Rating: PG-13
Length: 560 words

( Despite its shortness this piece is not mere abstract telling of Remus’s feelings, on the contrary. )


Now to fanart.

Anew by wanderingbusker

( Perhaps one reason why this is my favourite among any Remus portraits is too obvious )


Finally, two links to fanart by knackard whose work is irresistible even in HBP-era and DH-era Remus/Tonks pieces.

In these pieces there’s no Tonks but Sirius and Harry, instead.

( All the facial expressions and poses are incredibly evocative. )

This watercolour of Lupin and Tonks is one of my favourite pictures of Remus ever.

( The picture works wonderfully without any insight into the fic it illustrates, and it rather inspires me to imagining a story beyond this moment. )

( I’ve recently felt sad, thinking that my flist can hardly guess I’m still an active fanfic writer, Remus fan and R/S shipper. ) Now it’s high time I start reccing here other people’s work, too.

I’m a terribly slow reader (too) and I don’t read widely enough in the fandom at all. But I’ll enjoy reccing both my older favourites and more recent Remus stories I’ve admired, and perhaps one piece of fanart each time, too.


In Your Pocket You Carry Devotion by dorrie6
Pairings: Remus/Neville (implied Remus/Tonks, Remus/Sirius)
Rating: PG
Length: over 6500 words

( This story enthralled me immediately due to the excellent quality of writing. )


In No Man’s Land by minnow_53
Pairing and rating: Remus/Sirius, PG-13
Genre and era: AU set in 1942

( Minnow’s non-magic AUs are irresistible. )


A Few Mornings in January by last_radio
Pairing and rating: Remus/Sirius, PG-13

( I’m so glad I happened to finally find this adorable piece )


An untitled Remus portrait by elspethelf

( The boy is obviously gorgeous )


Oh, due to the recent news – even though I usually ignore JKR’s statements outside the books – I can’t resist including a picture of Remus with another intriguing character.

These two pieces of fanart by caladan_dd would both be rated G. This artist is a master of depicting settings and action scenes in particular. And I can’t help loving each detail of the rags she makes Remus wear.

Title: Better Stick Together
Author: PaulaMcG
Characters: Peter and Remus (a subtle hint at Remus/Sirius)
Rating: G
Length: 888 words
Summary Peter has been convinced it is important to join.
Era: The first war
Notes: This piece can stand on its own, too, while it belongs to the story I’m telling in all my fanfiction. For people who also read A Rosy Sunset, this scene is set in April – or perhaps late March – 1981, but those who follow the information JKR gives to us outside the books, this probably takes place earlier than that. This is my first attempt at Peter’s voice.ishonn, thank you so much for encouraging me to post this – and for encouraging me every day. We can still consider the title…
Peter and Remus will never help me make any money.
I love comments of any length, and I will reply to all feedback in detail.

( This can’t be a big deal. )

Title: Another Sketch for a Portrait
Author: PaulaMcG
Characters: Remus, an OC
Rating: G
Length: 100
Summary Remus keeps trying to catch the moving images of the life in and around him.
Era: December 1987
Notes: This 100-word drabble can stand on its own, too, while it belongs to this series: Ten Sketches for a Portrait. I'm now finally adding the tenth sketch, which I wrote in March and enjoyed working on together with my wonderful beta. Thank you once again, ishonn. This piece is set in December 1987, soon after Here I Am Anew.





The carpet’s gliding at the north wind’s speed. I’m sprawled in perfect stillness until Brünnhilde nudges me. ”You said you’d enjoy the landscapes.”

The sight of her motherly face could substitute for sleep, but... ”Seen the sea before.”

”And the Sahara? You’ll paint this.” She rolls me onto my stomach, to peer down over the edge.

The sand glows in breathtaking shades, but... ”There’s real work at your school.”

I’m staring in rapture only at the surprise between the late afternoon sun and the side of a dune: our shadow travelling along – this weary tramp in a witch’s healing hands.

Five Favourite Fics Meme and a Request for Concrit


To my surprise, it’s not impossible to list those five stories of mine I love best, even though all my fanfiction is actually only one exensive story, and I can’t help loving every part of it. Here they are in reverse order. And I don’t think this is the same as the list of my best fics would be, as I’ve been convinced that His Face Shines in the Gloom of My Parents’ House and These Acts of Love should make it to the top five.

5. A Rosy Sunset (Sirius’s pov, 1981)
4. Warmth Along the Fear (Remus’s pov, 1995)
As a terribly slow reader I’m thrilled I can read my Remus and Sirius’s story in concise form in these two little pieces (of 207 and 500 words). Only now do I stop to look at these two images – two concrete scenes, shown in vivid detail – next to each other, and I love them even better than before.

3. Come Up With Me
I fall in love with the setting of this story every time I experience it again through my lost-years Remus’s senses, and I love him and his voice here. I can hardly believe this is the first short story in which I wrote the narrative in Remus’s first-person voice, as it still feels just right.

2. Anywhere And Back Again
I love him, and these OCs mean a lot to me, as they mean a lot to my Remus. I was surprised how well this piece expanded my extrapolation of the magical world, and how well this tied to both canon and my other stories about Remus’s drifting years. And again the locations were built up anew in my words, so I love them (both Crete and Lebanon, and my words).

1. Remus Lupin and the Revolt of the Creatures
I’ve loved writing this story since autumn 2003, and I’m still intrigued by what will happen next, how Remus will deal with all the conflicts, and what exactly the resolutions will be. At the same time I know that every detail serves the story, so perhaps it’s only an illusion that I hardly know more than my Remus does at each moment. He continues to live his life here, painting nuanced pictures of his whole world, shedding new light on people we’ve met in canon, and introducing me to people I never expected to meet. I’ve had my doubts, but now I trust that there will always be some readers as well for whom this will all be completely real.

Yes, I hope my stories will be received and loved. But I’m also asking for concrit, here, and you can give it anonymously, too.

Title: Ten Sketches for a Portrait
Author: PaulaMcG
Characters: Remus, Sirius, OCs (implied RL/SB, at least)
Rating: PG
Length: 10 x 100
Summary Remus keeps trying to catch the moving images of the life in and around him. Ten attempts at a self-portrait in a series.
Era: 1970’s – 1987
Notes: Each 100-word piece can stand on its own, too, while this series is supposed to continue and cover my Remus’s life as an artist until 1996. Nine of these drabbles, originally inspired by a lupin100 challenge, were published in two entries, in November and December 2006, and polished further with wonderful help from my f-list, particularly from ishonn. Thank you so much! Remus Lupin doesn’t help me make any money.
EDIT on the 6th of May, 2007: I'm now finally adding the tenth sketch, which I wrote in March and enjoyed working on together with my wonderful beta. Thank you once again, ishonn.


( His left hand, in turn, grabs the quill )

Remus Lupin and the Revolt of the Creatures is a chaptered story I started writing and publishing on the Snitch Forums in September 2003. It deals with the inner and outer challenges Remus faces after Sirius’s death, in summer and autumn 1996, and it follows the canon of JKR’s first five novels, adding a lot of original characters, settings and magical phenomena. It is quite a pure genfic, even though in the later chapters the occasional hints at RL/SB become a bit less subtle. The rating is PG-13 due to some scenes of serious violence.

I’ve kept updating the story regularly, albeit not more frequently than once a month or once in two months. Having reached 230 000 words, I’m finally close to the conclusions. I’ll consider posting the story on lj and/or FA after its completion and revision.

(After the changes in publicity of the Snitch fanfic forum) my WIP can be read by anyone EDITED on the 15th of May 2008. The Snitch Forums have been closed. However, now the contents of The Snitch Forums have been merged to The Pensieve Forums of The Daily Snitcher, so this story can be found online again here. I continue to work on the story, and I hope to complete and edit it by the end of the year. I always welcome reviews of the early chapters, too, at the end of the fic thread as well as privately. In order to review on the forum, readers have to register as members of forums.

This entry is meant for such readers of my WIP who prefer sharing the thoughts and emotions evoked by it on lj. Here it is easier to take part in and follow continuous discussions.

I’m grateful to anyone for meeting my Remus – whose story I’m telling also in my shorter pieces of fiction, all of which are published on this journal – in his post-OotP life, too, and telling me and others about it. I’ll reply to every comment in detail.

Title: Sketches for a Portrait
Characters: Remus Lupin, OCs
Word Count: 5 x 100
Rating: G
Era: The former half of the so-called lost-years period
Author’s Notes Inspired by lupin100’s challenge “Portraits”, I’ve worked on a series of 100-word drabbles, as attempts at my artist!Remus’s self-portrait throughout his life. Each piece is (once again) supposed to both stand on its own and complement the rest of my Remus’s story. Drabble # 5 is set in England in 1983 - at the time of my story I Don’t Dream. Drabbles # 6 and 7 are set in Paris in 1985 and 1986, and the OC with whom Remus interacts in them is Jean from A Gift. Drabbles # 8 and 9 are set in Greece, in Crete and Thessalonica, respectively, in 1986 and 1987, and # 9 summarizes and complements Come Up With Me. The first four drabbles in the series are set before Halloween 1981 and they are posted here.

Thank you, ishonn, for your amazing feedback and particularly for your help in polishing drabble # 7 (EDIT) - and in fixing a detail in # 5, too.


( look at himself )