shimotsuki's story stash

It's time for the annual tradition: A fluffy post-war AU denial-fic, in honor of Remus's birthday. Warning: Lots of fluff ahead. (We can blame this in part on the fact that I'm writing very angsty Kaleidoscope chapters these days...HBP year was just awful for all concerned.)

This is a stand-alone story, but it's part of the Warp and Weft AU ficverse, and this is in fact backstory for a detail seen in Expecto Patronum. There's also a cameo from my OC Thaddeus Johnson, who we first met at the Ministry in the Kaleidoscope story Promises.

Family (1450 words | G | autumn 2008)

Harry and Ginny make a request. Even now, ten years after the war, it's the last thing Remus would ever have imagined.

( Tonks reached up and rapped the brass knocker—a lion’s head, now—on the front door of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. )
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What better way to celebrate Remus Lupin's birthday than with a little post-war AU denialfic? ;)

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First Fruits (1570 words | PG/beware of fluff | March 1999)
Remus gets a bit of good news from Kingsley just in time for his birthday. Teddy squirms, Nymphadora drops things, and Andromeda looks on, fondly.
(AU, in the Warp and Weft ficverse. This story stands alone, but it has some W.I.M.P J.M.L.C. plot threads in common with House and Home, Support, and, years later, Natural History Lessons.)

( Andromeda closed the door behind her, letting the rattle of the lock announce her return. )
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For the Remus/Tonks holiday drabble meme! Happy holidays to everyone.

And to All a Good Night (700 words | PG | AU)
Teddy starts asking questions about Father Christmas. The answer he gets is completely unexpected. (Brief reference to incidents in my OotP Christmas fic, The Things We Remember.) AU, in the Warp and Weft ficverse.

( And to All a Good Night )
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Now that I'm finished with my Meta project and certain evil work projects that shall not be named, I can start taking part in some of the other writing events that are going on around LJ these days. So I jumped on the wagon at day_by_drabble with this:

• Unexpected (380 words | G | post-DH AU, but not my usual one ;) )
  Al Potter has a very odd encounter with a stranger in a Muggle bookshop.

And for any woolly_mittens wondering why the heck I'm doing Potter drabbles and not Hot Chocolates, I have to admit the wonderful Hot Chocolates posted on the very first week terrified me with their amazing creativity. Ever since then, on the few weeks when I've even had time to think about writing one, I've been too intimidated. But I'd better start stepping up for my team, so I hereby pledge to break the ice and post a Hot Chocolate this week. Even if it's really stupid.
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gilpin25, you have been an inspiration from the time I first joined the Remus/Tonks community on LiveJournal. There’s your writing, with its powerful blend of humor and poignancy, always set off by believable human feelings that make your characters come alive. Then there are your kind words of encouragement about both writing and life that you dispense so cheerfully and generously. All of this is garnished with some of the most amusing travelogues it has been my pleasure to read!

So here are best wishes for a happy birthday and a wonderful year to come. I look forward to hearing more about your original writing projects, seeing more photos of Rosie sleeping in the sunshine, and finding out how long before Craig gets himself voted off the show on Strictly... And, more generally, continuing our various conversations, even if sporadically. :)

In honor of the day, I come bearing fic. This one is...a little different, heh. But the idea grabbed me a couple of months ago -- I think you’ll be able to guess when ;) -- and I had to give it a try.

Encounter (535 words | G | post-DH AU)
Tonks is enjoying a seaside stroll with Remus when something interesting happens.
( A sudden gust of wind sent Tonks stumbling straight into Remus. )
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The "Spring is Sprung!" drabble event at metamorfic_moon (which you might like to check out, if you haven't already -- it's been accumulating a good number of drabbles, and even a drawble) inspired me to write a drabble in the Warp and Weft ficverse. But then the drabble wouldn't leave me alone until I figured out how to expand it a little. I think it wanted to have slightly more of a point... It's still a fairly fluffy AU denial-fic in honor of Remus's birthday, though. ;)

Natural History Lessons
1345 words | PG

( 'Okay, Dad,' said Teddy. 'I've finished.' )

The Matthias who gets a brief mention here is an OC werewolf from Greyback's pack, first introduced in Out of Sight.

Two of my fanfic writing resolutions for 2008 have been to work harder on plots and to try out writing OCs. One of the ways I thought about doing this was to write some of the HBP werewolf-mission scenes for the Kaleidoscope series. So I decided the "Beatles and the Bard Timeless Moon Ball" challenge at metamorfic_moon would be a good excuse to do this. But then I dithered and stalled, outlined and deleted, for most of the month.

Finally, last weekend, I pulled together what I had, and (it's hard to tell when it's your own project, but) I think it did more or less what I wanted. It's not that plotty, but it's setting the scene for some plottier follow-ups, and I did get to attempt some OCs. The idea was to introduce some of the members of the pack, and suggest some of the fault lines inside Greyback's organization that Remus may be able to exploit, while showing Remus being delusional about being able to revert to simple friendship with Tonks while he's away, now that he knows she loves him and he's admitted he loves her too.

• Out of Sight (3658 words | PG/mild profanity)
  As Remus sets out to join Greyback's pack, memories of his friendship with Tonks are his anchor to sanity. But there are certain things that both of them simply must forget, and time spent apart will let them do that. ...Won't it?

I also wrote a second (actually, a first...) submission for Meta while the werewolf fic was being stubborn -- a short AU story in the Warp and Weft ficverse. It was just something to have some fun with, and I did. :)

• A Matter of Opportunity (2390 words | PG)
  Remus is worried about Teddy, but Tonks is worried about Remus, and circumstances lead her to try something she's never done before. She can only hope they are ready for it.

As I was walking home from work tonight, it hit me that we are coming up on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. I'm firmly planning to end Kaleidoscope in some appropriately philosophical way a day or two before the battle, and my canon-escape/denial AU story By a Thread picks up after the battle, so I don't think I'll ever write the Battle of Hogwarts at all.

But tonight, I started wondering what Threadverse Remus and Tonks might be thinking about on the first anniversary of the battle, which led to this one-shot.

Commemoration ( PG | 1444 words | AU )

( Remus glanced at the clock and turned on the wireless... )
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Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it! I hope everyone is having a warm and peaceful holiday -- or a busy frenetic one, if that's your preference...

I'm not making a whole lot of progress on my Meta fic, but last night was a full moon, so I decided to take a stab at an AU drabble set in the present. (The web informs me that temperatures are too high in the UK today for snow, but I've taken a pinch of artistic license.)

( Christmas drabble )
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