This one was submitted by donna-ryta  but I am glad you liked it as much as I did.

The whole situation with Snape & Lily & the Marauders is a big old mess & I like when people try to get past the black and white bullshit about one side’s actions excusing the other’s.

This has been in my inbox since like March (oops). There aren’t even words for how much this picture makes me cringe tbh. Posting link below for people to follow it because I kind of don’t want to see it on my blog.

Apart from the fact that Lily would never do something she went nuts at James and Sirius for doing, the whole fat-shaming/personal attack on an actual person side of it is pretty stomach-turning. (Even if that person completely sucks.)

http://miamiflalaw.com/images/lilkickass.jpg

I haven’t, actually!

I think I started it years ago, but never really got into it, you know? It’s just… not quite what I’m after in a Marauder Era fic.

Thanks and sorry for being so fail at updating lately.

I think that after their initial dislike from meeting on the Hogwarts Express, the relationship between Lily and Sirius was fairly indifferent.  He thought she was a bit of a pain, she thought he was a bit of a git, they butted heads on occasion (mostly when the boys were up to something stupid) but pretty much existed free of each other.  I don’t really buy that thing you sometimes get in fanfic where Sirius and Remus spend their lives playing matchmaker for James and Lily - in SWM Sirius seemed relatively indifferent to James’ plight, and I don’t see Lily giving Sirius the time of day even if he was inclined to try to put in a good word for his mate.  (Remus would maybe give it a go once, but only because he has trouble saying no to his friends, and Lily would just laugh and tell him to sod off, and it would never happen again….)

When Lily and James became friends, I think she became friendly with Sirius too by default.  Given how close the boys were, I don’t think it was ever an option for Lily not to spend at least SOME of the time she spent with James hanging out with the lot of them, but I definitely see tension between Lily and Sirius once she and James actually started dating.  A bit of jealousy and fear of losing his best friend/brother to a girl, plus a bit of mistrust of Lily’s intentions towards James, of course… For Lily’s part, maybe there would be a bit of jealousy right back, and between the two of them a bit of competition for James’ attention in a way.  They probably snarked at each other for a while, and then had a blow up, and finally settled down and learned that they weren’t in competition, and that there would be more room for them both if they would get along more.

I think I’ve said in the past that I see the Marauders as a bit of a package deal that came along with loving James, to Lily.  She could hardly build a life with him without the other 3 them being a part of it and I think they were a family.  You can sort of see it in her letter to Sirius in DH - she calls him ‘Padfoot’, her letter is loaded with both affection and honesty.  I don’t think Lily could have written to him like that if there wasn’t genuine trust and affection between them in their own right - if it was purely about their mutual love of James, I think Lily’s letter would’ve been more formal/stilted sounding.

I always pictured him with longish hair, actually.  Like, the kind that is always covering his face that he could hide behind when he felt the need to. Just long enough for him to tie back on occasion, even.  And I always pictured it as lighter than David Thewlis’ hair, too, more of a dirty blonde to light, sandy brown kind of colour, and a little bit thicker in his younger days, before the toll of adulthood poverty set in. 

I always figured that his time as a student is when Remus would’ve been his most healthy, so I don’t see him as all that painfully thin, either.  Certainly he’d be looking wasted around the full moon, but for the most part I think he had a build that could be described as at least pushing healthy.

As for clothes, as much as I hate to perpetuate the stereotype of teenage Remus looking like a teacher, I do see him wearing a lot of knitted sweaters and corduroy trousers… But I mainly see it as a matter of practicality, not style - op-shop specials, hand-me-downs, or hand-knitted things from his Mum. And in the warmer weather he’d be wearing faded t-shirts and the like.

Facial features wise, this is weird, but I don’t really have that strong a picture of teenage Remus in my head.  The only thing that sticks out for me is that I feel like he had a wide mouth.  Odd, I know, but there you have it!

Thanks!

Ok, I really REALLY do not think Remus would ever willingly tell anyone about his ‘furry little problem’ unless he was absolutely forced to.  I think he would let friendships and relationships die before telling someone.  My feeling is that people who knew about Remus at school were the ones who figured it out for themselves or were told by someone else.

I get why people always force that issue in RP because it’s such a huge drama and angst card, but I don’t see it as particularly realistic.  Not only because I think Remus would do anything to avoid telling people, but because when you look at the calibre of the people who figured it out on their own it suggests Remus was pretty good at hiding it. 

Hermione was the brightest witch of her age.  Snape was frickin’ sharp as a tack (except not emotionally obvs.).  James and Sirius were top of their year, and Peter was not as durr-brained as people make him out to be so when you add in the closeness of sharing a dorm of course they noticed.  I also believe Lily figured it out too, and she was also gifted and clever character.  I think it’s fairly obvious - Average Joe just probably wouldn’t figure it out.  Remus would’ve been run out of Hogwarts as a student if he wasn’t so good at being discreet.

That’s my opinion - I get why people play the furry little problem card, but I don’t see it shaking out that way in canon at all.

Not really.  Sorrydon’tkillme.

I’m not really big on fics - mostly because I just don’t have the time anymore, which is a very depressing commentary on my life and makes me wish I could go back to being a student.

My favourite stuff that I’ve read/can remember reading in recent times comes from Offbeat Orbit.  She does awesome drabbles and short fics that really hit home for me with her characterisation of Lily, Snape and James.

For some reason, I always liked A Conspiracy of Cartographers, by Pica too.  It’s Wolfstar flavoured which I’m not usually into, and there are bits and pieces I’m not entirely on board with, but ultimately it’s a nice look at the Marauder friendship as it builds with a side dish of Prewetty goodness.

Thank you! You sound kind of awesome, btw. I do know a few people who are Snape fans without excusing or downplaying his bad characteristics and I always love hearing their thoughts on him (as well as his friendship with Lily, and everything between him and the Marauders).  Leave as many thoughts as you’d like to!