[Fic teaser] "Order," chapter 3

[shimotsuki]

I've been bound and determined to finish chapter 3 of "All Will Be In Order" before the new Jumble gets going at Meta. But work has been really, really hectic the last couple of weeks, so I've been spending my (short) evenings lying around going "Nnnnngggghh" instead of making progress on fic projects.

So now I'm going to try a new tactic: public declaration of intent followed by shame and bitter self-recrimination (hello there, inner Remus!) if I fail. I hereby post a chapter 3 teaser and announce that the whole chapter will be posted by the first weekend in October. It will! Indeed!

All Will Be In Order (chapter index)
Summary so far:
1. The Perfect Flat -- In which Remus and Sirius negotiate the awkwardness of resuming a friendship disrupted by suspicion and Azkaban.
2. The First Mission -- In which Molly finds the task of cleaning out a filthy house full of cursed objects much easier to face than working with a werewolf, and Percy comes home with news of a splendid promotion at the Ministry.

3. A Long Summer [teaser]

"Kreacher could be keeping things just a bit cleaner." Sirius scowled. "Little blighter."

Remus raised his wand, illuminating the heavy iron chandeliers above the long kitchen table. Wonder of wonders, they still held candles.

It took multiple applications of Evanesco—the cobwebs were thick and sticky enough to resist even magic—but he got one chandelier cleaned up and lit it. The sudden increase in light, dim as it was, made him blink. He could see Sirius across the room, emerging from a deep cupboard with a dusty bottle of firewhisky in one hand.

"How's this, Moony?" The scion of the house grinned rather wickedly. "It'll be just what we need tonight, after a full day of ruddy housecleaning."

Remus grinned back, glad that Sirius was recovering his sense of humour. "I see you knew right where to look for that."

The old grandfather clock upstairs began to groan out the chimes for nine o'clock. With a sigh of resignation, Sirius stashed his bottle back in the cupboard and went to light a fire in the fireplace. Remus moved further into the shadows, attacking another chandelier with a series of rapid and persistent Evanescos. He was determined to make the kitchen a little less gloomy, if it was to be the first part of the house that Molly and the children would see.

Almost as soon as Sirius had the fire lit, though, a spinning figure appeared in the grate, and then a small plump woman clutching an enormous wicker basket stepped out into the kitchen. She looked a little breathless from the Floo trip, and her eyes widened as she took in the dust and the cobwebs, but her face wore an expression of relentless friendliness.

The new arrival squared her shoulders and offered her hand with a bright smile. "Hello, Sirius. I'm Molly Weasley." Even in the feeble light, Remus could see her turn rather pink. "We, erm, met in the hospital wing at Hogwarts."

Sirius had told Remus, with great glee, about Molly's bloodcurdling shriek when he reverted to human form at Dumbledore's request. Remus paused in the midst of his scramble to illuminate the kitchen, wondering if he should ride to her rescue, but Sirius merely bowed over her hand and took the basket with effortless grace.

"It's a pleasure, Molly." He smiled, only slightly bitterly. "Welcome to the Gloomy and Most Filthy House of Black."
.

Comments

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

LOL I don't think you should be too hard on yourself, given the load you've got at work! But I do hope you can make your deadline, because this promises to be yet another fun chapter. :)

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

LOL! Thanks for the moral support and the encouragement. But last night I blew a couple of hours reading random stuff (including starting a Peter Wimsey mystery, which I guess I can't really regret) when I could've been working on this chapter. (Or catching up on e-mail.)

As for guilt, though, I posted Ch 2 back in February, and I've actually had people popping in to inquire about this story, so I need to keep it on track! Still, as long as it goes up before November, the Ch 3 update will be faster than Ch 2 was. ;)

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

Never feel guilty for how you spend your free time! It's precious and you've got to do what you feel like.

And please don't feel guilty about updates and inquiries, or else I'll have to be really ashamed that I haven't updated Masks since April 15 and Caring For Magical Creatures since November 29. Eep!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Never feel guilty for how you spend your free time! It's precious and you've got to do what you feel like.

That's very true! But what's going on here is, part of my brain really does want to be working on this fic project; I just get tired and end up doing time-wasting things that feel less satisfying in the end than writing would have. (Well, except for reading some Wimsey, that is.)

please don't feel guilty about updates and inquiries

Hee! Glad I'm not the only one. ;) But my readership is kind of small, so I'd kind of like to keep folks around if I can...

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

But what's going on here is, part of my brain really does want to be working on this fic project; I just get tired and end up doing time-wasting things that feel less satisfying in the end than writing would have.

I totally relate to that. Writing is so satisfying, but it's not really an easy hobby, when when work has eaten up the brain cells... Why can't fanfic be a paid profession??

[sspring92.livejournal.com]

I really love where this is going! I can't believe I missed this one! I totally understand the swamped at work and RL thing! But I must say I will anxiously watch my friends page for new updates. Your readership has definitely increased by 1 :)

I love Sirius being worried about who is looking after Remus after full moons. I thought that was very touching and a testament to friendship enduring. I look forward to them hashing out there misgivings about each other. I must admit I keep thinking "I hope Tonks is asked to join the Order very soon!"

Thanks for spending some of your free time on your readers!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

*snort* You probably missed this one because it's been EIGHT MONTHS since I updated it. Yeesh! But I'm glad you're intrigued, and I really am trying to get the new chapter done soon (that said, I spent the whole day today working on stuff for work, and now I'm too tired to do anything but go to bed...)

I must admit I keep thinking "I hope Tonks is asked to join the Order very soon!"

Aww! Actually, she isn't going to turn up in this story, but that's only because her first Order meeting is going to be covered in the first installment of Kaleidoscope, and this story ends right before that one begins. (I think we'll see Kingsley mentioning he's got a new recruit, though...)

Thanks for spending some of your free time on your readers!

Thank you for spending some of your free time reading!

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

Look on the bright side, you're doing better than me! I'm moved past shame and self-recrimination and am now considering an Unbreakable Vow. But I also don't think you should be too hard on yourself - sometimes sporadic writing is better than none at all...?! ;)

Having said that (and because I've left all shame behind), I'll nag you keep enquiring politely as to this chapter's welfare as I want to read more of it now.:D

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Oh, sporadic writing definitely has its merits!

I'll nag you keep enquiring politely as to this chapter's welfare

Nag away -- I'm glad it sounds interesting. :)

As for your Unbreakable Vow situation, might you be thinking of a fic that features a nasty officious Ministry bureaucrat? I'll enquire politely about that one in return. ;)

(I like the wolf icon, by the way! Hope all that fur is as warm as it looks, but I guess wolves have been doing snow just fine for a very long time.)

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

As for your Unbreakable Vow situation, might you be thinking of a fic that features a nasty officious Ministry bureaucrat? I'll enquire politely about that one in return. ;)

*Sighs* I might well be - not only is that permanently, "the fic I'll do after I've done this one", but I keep pinching planned ideas for it and they end up in something else. The proposal scene for it ended up being written for The Little Bear Cub, and I'm not sure how I'd replace that.

But I'm not worrying because "The fic I must do now" is Between the Lines. So feel free to nag me about both.

Wolfie's cute, isn't he? I thought that was a mischevious Remus-like glint in his eye... (Mad Eye Moody and Cute Eye Moony?;))

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

(Sorry for the late reply; I was essentially on LJ-radio silence for the second half of this past week, trying to get my lecture written, and then on my actual trip, I didn't have much in the way of e-mail access.)

The proposal scene for it ended up being written for The Little Bear Cub, and I'm not sure how I'd replace that.

Well, that works superbly in The Little Bear Cub. I love the way he keeps hoping she will/won't hear him; that's extremely Remus.

I'm certainly looking forward to more Between the Lines -- does that count as a nag? ;) And yes, your wolf is without doubt a Marauder.

I saw you've got holiday pics and decorating rants posted! I'll be by to have a look as soon as I finish my post-trip laundry ... and maybe even make some progress on this "Order" chapter. (?!)

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I was thinking you were either busy, or very busy, lol, when I checked through the flist and didn't see you around. Did the lecture go well?

I'll keep this short so I don't interrupt any chapter writing, but I hope the progress there is good.:D And I've noted your nag - I have plans to see if I can remember how to write tomorrow now we've had a productive weekend with the bedroom. (In case of confusion, 'productive' refers to making many bags for the charity shops, and actually creating some welcome space again;)) I may also get to something sporadic during the week... ;)

Edited because I obviously can't remember how to spell and type at the same time. Which is a bit of a worry!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

The lecture didn't go as well as I wanted it to (as in, I wanted to have more deep and insightful things to say about my data than I was able to puzzle out in time for the trip), but it seemed to be mostly well received, so I guess it was good enough... At least people said it was clear. Which may be like telling an author that their handwriting is nice? ;)

Hooray for getting lots of things ready to go to charity shops; I need to be doing some of that too. And I will keep my eye out for something sporadic. :)

[(Anonymous)]

This makes me really excited to read the finished product. When do you think you'll be done with this one? And also the new Kaleidoscope one, due in October? I can see that you're a busy woman,so no rush, but I'm really looking forward to those.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to hear you're excited to read this! If all goes well, I'm hoping to post it next Sunday or Monday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed -- work ate up this whole weekend, so I didn't get much fic writing done at all. But next weekend I should have more time.

As for the Kaleidoscope update, it's going to be written for the new event at metamorfic_moon, and posting for that will be open between Oct 10 and Oct 31. Given my usual slow writing speed, I'm expecting to post that one more toward the end of October, heh.

[zia-montrose.livejournal.com]

Now that is a teaser! I want more, MORE! : )

I've been really out of it or I'd have devoured that little snippet sooner... So naturally, having been out of it myself, I was humored at your description of how you've spent your evenings.

Oh, I was so on Sirius's side (as opposed to Molly's) as a POA reader. I'd love to read your longer story in which you flesh out Molly's stay at Grimmauld Place. And whether it's the focus or not, I do love seeing the little interactions between Remus and Sirius most of all.

Great fun, thanks.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! I'm glad this has sparked your interest. :)

Now that my work trip -- which the past couple of weeks of insanity were preparing for -- is over, I'm hoping to get a lot done on this today. Fingers are crossed.

The thing about Sirius and Molly is, I can kind of appreciate both of their viewpoints regarding Harry, and I do like Molly too (although I suspect she would drive me nuts in person) -- but in that row scene in OotP, I totally felt for Sirius.

[(Anonymous)]

O woman, you definitely can make people happy! I'm looking forward to reading the new chapter, esp. now I read the Teaser. I love all Molly-Sirius/Remus interaction, and after knowing your Molly is quite ancious about dealing with a werewolf I'm expecting some hilarious scenes. So stop reading Wimsey, stop working, stop sleeping (it's overrated, believe me!), just give us our dope!
Well, I know I'm overdoing it here just a tad. A tiny, teeny weeny, infinitely small tad-y. Er, you understand: I would really appreciate an update. Very much. ;)
Love Nicole

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

:) Thanks -- I'm so glad you're interested to read the chapter!

So stop reading Wimsey, stop working, stop sleeping (it's overrated, believe me!), just give us our dope!

Okay! Okay! ;) Actually, I'm now back from the work trip that was the reason for the 60-hour work week last week, and it's Sunday, and my plan today is to do nothing but write fic ... so I should be able to post the chapter very soon.

[(Anonymous)]

(Falls on her knees) Thank you, thank you, thank....
Make love not war, have fun not overwork.
I stay tuned anyway.
Nicole