ART & FIC: his smile (by kath_ballantye & kaalee)
A bit of a look at Remus Lupin, though Sirius Black's eyes. This is a little collaboration between kath_ballantyne & kaalee and dedicated to the glorious magicofisis. (Really, it was Em's gorgeous art that drove the entire thing.)
art & ficlet under the cut...
his smile
remus/sirius, pg13, art & ficlet (680 words)
It's not that Remus doesn't smile. Not exactly.
It's more that his smile actually means something. Professors teasing during class, a well-placed muttered insult, one of Wormtail's endlessly infantile questions... yeah, Remus'll give a little twitch or some small indication that he's heard, that he's amused. But it's an accomplishment in and of itself to get a full on smile that brightens his eyes and colours his cheeks.
When Remus smiles, you've bloody well earned it.
Most people don't know this. They spend a bit of time in his company, measure the bloke up in something like six minutes and think they know him. "Quiet; keeps to himself," they say. "Bit of a loner, I'd wager."
Sirius knows every bit of that is a pile of freshly shat dragon dung (if you'll pardon the language).
They don't know that the bloke can--and with only a few minutes of listening, mind you--emulate the sound, timbre, cadence, and facial expression of any Englishman, Irishman or Scot. Plus, he's almost got some of the Eastern European accents down, too, thanks to Sirius's habit of tuning in Hans Holtzmann on the Wireless every Sunday morning for the Quidditch report.
They never saw Remus give Arkie Rowle a right dressing down for insulting Lily's Muggle heritage, all the while holding James back from tackling him bodily to the floor. Remus never broke a sweat.
They don't know that Remus used to clarify everything they'd learned in class back in the Gryffindor common room every night at eight, and that most of the Gryffindors in their year showed up (he always made a hell of a lot more sense than any of their professors).
They also don't know that he can be an obnoxious bastard. They've never been on the other end of one of his self-righteous rants. Rants that heat Sirius's blood to boiling until the only way to shut him up is shoving him roughly up the wall and slugging him until his skin is bruised and beautiful and they're both panting reckless desire into the humid night air.
No, people don't know any of that. They just get a few short minutes with him and they think they know what Remus Lupin is all about. But they've never seen him smile.
They don't know a bloody thing.
. . .
Of course, none of that really matters right now.
Lily and James beam at him throughout his eleven minute (yeah, bugger off) toast, and Remus jumps up at the end to add some important details of his own.
The guests roar with laughter, clinking their glasses again and again, while Sirius lets Remus finish off the story of James and Lily's disastrous first date (they never meant for the Nifflers to actually get off of the leashes and it definitely wasn't their fault that Sirius had just perfected the ear piercing charm and James had put in a shining gold stud).
When Remus finishes, the guests surge to their feet and Sirius raises his glass, "To Lily and James!"
As the toast echoes around the room, Sirius hugs James, kisses Lily, but can't seem to let Remus out of his line of sight. He lowers his champagne flute and steps closer.
"Thought if you told the story none of the guests would realize that the Nifflers were all your idea, then?" he says to Remus.
Remus colours a bit, but holds Sirius's gaze for several intense moments before he looks down with a reluctant grin.
This time, none of the murmured, isn't he just a lovely young man? were about Sirius. This time, Sirius didn't once glance out to see who was watching him, didn't throw his head back slightly to the left (always his best side) as he laughed, and didn't wink at any of the young witches.
This time... well, it might just be that Remus's smile means a whole lot more than Sirius thought.
. . .
~thank you so much for reading & looking! ♥
Also, just a little fangirly note about Em's art: I am *so* in love with Remus in this painting. I seriously cannot stop staring at his smile and the hint of color across his nose and under his eyes. Writing this piece for magicofisis with such gorgeous, inspirational art from kath_ballantyne was one of the most fun things I've done in a long while. *happy sigh*
art & ficlet under the cut...
his smile
remus/sirius, pg13, art & ficlet (680 words)
It's not that Remus doesn't smile. Not exactly.
It's more that his smile actually means something. Professors teasing during class, a well-placed muttered insult, one of Wormtail's endlessly infantile questions... yeah, Remus'll give a little twitch or some small indication that he's heard, that he's amused. But it's an accomplishment in and of itself to get a full on smile that brightens his eyes and colours his cheeks.
When Remus smiles, you've bloody well earned it.
Most people don't know this. They spend a bit of time in his company, measure the bloke up in something like six minutes and think they know him. "Quiet; keeps to himself," they say. "Bit of a loner, I'd wager."
Sirius knows every bit of that is a pile of freshly shat dragon dung (if you'll pardon the language).
They don't know that the bloke can--and with only a few minutes of listening, mind you--emulate the sound, timbre, cadence, and facial expression of any Englishman, Irishman or Scot. Plus, he's almost got some of the Eastern European accents down, too, thanks to Sirius's habit of tuning in Hans Holtzmann on the Wireless every Sunday morning for the Quidditch report.
They never saw Remus give Arkie Rowle a right dressing down for insulting Lily's Muggle heritage, all the while holding James back from tackling him bodily to the floor. Remus never broke a sweat.
They don't know that Remus used to clarify everything they'd learned in class back in the Gryffindor common room every night at eight, and that most of the Gryffindors in their year showed up (he always made a hell of a lot more sense than any of their professors).
They also don't know that he can be an obnoxious bastard. They've never been on the other end of one of his self-righteous rants. Rants that heat Sirius's blood to boiling until the only way to shut him up is shoving him roughly up the wall and slugging him until his skin is bruised and beautiful and they're both panting reckless desire into the humid night air.
No, people don't know any of that. They just get a few short minutes with him and they think they know what Remus Lupin is all about. But they've never seen him smile.
They don't know a bloody thing.
. . .
Of course, none of that really matters right now.
Lily and James beam at him throughout his eleven minute (yeah, bugger off) toast, and Remus jumps up at the end to add some important details of his own.
The guests roar with laughter, clinking their glasses again and again, while Sirius lets Remus finish off the story of James and Lily's disastrous first date (they never meant for the Nifflers to actually get off of the leashes and it definitely wasn't their fault that Sirius had just perfected the ear piercing charm and James had put in a shining gold stud).
When Remus finishes, the guests surge to their feet and Sirius raises his glass, "To Lily and James!"
As the toast echoes around the room, Sirius hugs James, kisses Lily, but can't seem to let Remus out of his line of sight. He lowers his champagne flute and steps closer.
"Thought if you told the story none of the guests would realize that the Nifflers were all your idea, then?" he says to Remus.
Remus colours a bit, but holds Sirius's gaze for several intense moments before he looks down with a reluctant grin.
This time, none of the murmured, isn't he just a lovely young man? were about Sirius. This time, Sirius didn't once glance out to see who was watching him, didn't throw his head back slightly to the left (always his best side) as he laughed, and didn't wink at any of the young witches.
This time... well, it might just be that Remus's smile means a whole lot more than Sirius thought.
. . .
~thank you so much for reading & looking! ♥
Also, just a little fangirly note about Em's art: I am *so* in love with Remus in this painting. I seriously cannot stop staring at his smile and the hint of color across his nose and under his eyes. Writing this piece for magicofisis with such gorgeous, inspirational art from kath_ballantyne was one of the most fun things I've done in a long while. *happy sigh*