For all you Remus lovers out there

[donnaimmaculata]

In the course of the last few days, I was fortunate enough to stumble across two fics which feature a Lupin I like. Unlike what seems the majority of the fandom, I don't like the idea of Remus and Sirius having been involved with each other (not to say: each other's One True Love) before Azkaban, especially if this scenario is combined with the notorious werewolves-mate-for-life cliché.
One Last Regret by Kimagure is one of the best fics I've read with this pairing, not only because the author has the characters develop their relationship post-Azkaban (set after Harry's sixth year), but also because Kimagure gives them very honest difficulties in doing so.

The characterisation is excellent; Angryattheworld! (author's notes) Remus is kept within reasonable limits, showing his anger and resentments rather by cold indifference and by not letting anyone near him than by physical violence and abusive language.

Sirius is lost and broken, trying to find his way around in the new realities and to deal with Remus - and Harry, who stays with them for the summer - both of whom try everything not to let him near. Sirius wants to communicate, Remus and Harry don't, and if dialogue occurs, it is full of misunderstandings, leaving them rather more hurt than before.

The story is rather long, so be prepared to invest some time in reading. Once you've started, you won't like to stop. Trust me.

In case you prefer something shorter to begin with, Relics by Ambika (saeva) is a beautifully characterised story featuring Remus and Harry in the aftermath of Sirius's death. Here, too, Harry has been living with Sirius and Remus and is living with only Remus now. The development of their relationship - in the platonic sense of the word - is very well done, and this must be the best Angsty!Lupin I've ever read. Hell, this is one of the best Lupins I've ever come across, but this might be because Ambika has characterised him in a way I fully agree with.

I have also found the actor whom I would have liked to play Lupin.

The man I'm talking about is Hugo Speer, and if you've seen the film The Full Monty, you will know whom I mean when I tell you that he's the guy who got on the Hot Metal team after dropping his pants during the first audition. (If you haven't seen The Full Monty, you really should go and do it now.) Among the most popular candidates for this part, I've always found Ralph Fiennes too mushy-softy-melancholy looking and Ewan McGregor too youthful and too cheerful to be a convincing Lupin. Hugo Speer is... plain. And in spite of all the love I feel for Remus Lupin, I don't think he's particularly goodlooking, or particularly sexy - not in a forward sort of way. I don't think he's ugly, either, but he's probably more sort of a second-look guy. A man one might find attractive - especially in combination with his good qualities as a person - but by whose looks one isn't particularly struck. So far, Mr. Speer has been the most convincing man for the job. (It doesn't hurt he's got a nicely chiselled torso, either.)



In other news: I would like to read a good Harry/Dudley fic. No, honestly. And this has nothing to do with villainny's squickfest. Only, on skimming through the first chapters of OotP, I was struck by this idea (or: mad desire), and now I am seriously looking for Harry/Dudley. I'd be ever so grateful if someone could point me to a fic which is preferably set after OotP and features Harry and Dudley's slow, hesitant coming-to-terms with each other. I'm not after steamy, love-hate, master-and-servant action, but after a fic which explores in a realistic way how Harry and Dudley could come to an understanding of sorts. Does a story like this exist somewhere?

Comments

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Huh. I really disliked One Last Regret, and talked about it in a not-too-long ago lj entry; basically, I thought it was too much angst-through-introspection and not enough character revelation through interaction and dialogue. I find this style dull, showing not telling. Also, the dialogue was terrible, chatroom style, with *grin* and *laughs* interspersed rather than real tags. Not what I consider a good writing style.

My favorite post-Azkaban Sirius/Remus is Sushi's Flesh and Substance (http://www.livejournal.com/users/wikdsushi/86673.html), NC17.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's interesting. Now that you mention it, I remember having skimmed through your comments on this fic.

I thought there was rather plenty of dialogue, and the introspection bits were nicely embedded into it. Many introspection bits were shown in form of flashbacks on Remus's part, which is OK with me, although I'm usually not too fond of MWPP-era fics.

And as to the chatroom dialogue: I do hate chatroom-style with a passion, but here, the author used it very, very carefully, in a few interludes, so to speak, and the usage of *grins* and *blinks* was so very minimal it didn't disturb the flow of the fic for me. I rather felt these short, minimalistic bits of dialogue contributed to the dynamics of the story.

Also, I very much liked the characterisation, and am therefore rather biased towards the fic as a whole.

Thanks for pointing me to Flesh and Substance. I have read it before, but never bookmarked it and couldn't be bothered to go and look for it. I do like it a lot, but if given the choice, I prefer a fic with less sex and more plot and action and such. 20% sex, 80% "the rest", I'd say.