Fic: Thirteen (NC-17)

[minnow_53]

Thirteen
by minnow_53

Disclaimer: The HP characters belong to JK Rowling and various corporations.
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Remus/Sirius, Remus/others.
Summary: Remus is with Sirius, but obsessed with young girls.
Genre: AU
Warnings: Where do I start? AU, chan, dub con/non con, het, demonising of a beloved HP character... This is far from being a

Comments

[westwardlee]

I read this much more as an original piece of work than a fic. Certainly the parallel with HP made it easier to understand Remus - amazingly enough, I could really see the HP character doing just that, being a super nice person on the outside and having a horrid dark side, too.

The way that he just got away with everything made me cringe: you presented it beautifully, from the "I couldn't have done it, I'm gay," to the outrage the gay community would have about the accusations. It was very plausible.

And Sirius, so much like the partner who deep inside knows he's been betrayed, yet prefers to believe the excuses - he, too, was incredibly real. To the point that I didn't even feel sorry for him for having a paedophile for a partner: he deserves Remus.

Is it bad that I really, really wish that Remus gets caught by the police soon? That he makes the one mistake that will give him his due?

I loved this story, in case I didn't make it clear.

[minnow_53]

Thank you very, very much! :) I'm really delighted you liked it.

It did seem incredibly unfair that Remus actually got rewarded for what he'd done; but I felt a tiny bit sorry for Sirius, though not for his part in covering up.

Is it bad that I really, really wish that Remus gets caught by the police soon?

It seems quite reasonable to me! Unfortunately, I think he's the kind of man who has extraordinary luck, and will probably be able to go on doing what he's doing indefinitely. Though that red-headed girl seems a bit more clued up than some of the others, and may shop him at some point.

[westwardlee]

I really hope she does!

[inksheddings]

Oh, minnow! I love it when you post something dark and depressing, even if it's just so I can tease you about it. *g*

But in all seriousness, after reading this I had to step away for a while to really think about how it made me feel, what I thought about the use of beloved HP characters and if that worked for me, etc.

It did work for me, in that this is an amazingly heartbreaking, disturbing, and extremely well-written story. It was painful to read, yet I couldn't stop myself, and I think if you'd used original characters I would have had the same reaction.

Honestly, I think I do kind of see them as original characters. Like flessdress, at first I kept trying to make the parallels too, and that took me out of the flow a bit. So I stopped and just read it as a story about two people I wasn't familiar with and found that worked much better for me. I don't know if that's because the idea of Remus as a pedophile is that disturbing to me or what, but

[minnow_53]

First, a vest is an undershirt. I think sometimes you'd refer to it as a wifebeater (in the OC and so on), but probably not when kids are wearing them.

I love it when you post something dark and depressing, even if it's just so I can tease you about it.Lol! :D Now, that's a really good attitude

[snegurochka_lee]

Oh, wow. I couldn't tear my eyes away from this this morning! There's something so beautiful in the awfulness, the psychology and characterisation so reminiscent of Lolita. It's a stunning portrait of this man, made all the more poignant because right through to the end, he never gets it, and that is maybe the most terrifying thing of all.

It reads a bit like original fic, sure, but at the end of the day, I'm glad you called this character Remus, because it wouldn't have been the same story if he was Steve or Jack. He would have been any old creep then, someone I couldn't have sympathy for, but if it's Remus, God, I have all these character associations already and even though it's AU, it makes his character all the more heartbreaking and complex this way. Nice work. :)

[minnow_53]

Thank you very, very much! :) That's an amazing comment, and I really appreciate it.

I don't feel the character could have been anyone different, or not in the fic as it stands: to me, he's been Remus all along, a sort of shadow, alternative Remus. The whole story arose from HPB and the sudden Remus/Tonks, so whatever I do or don't do with it later, at the moment it's most definitely fanfic in my eyes, even if it's slightly tangential.

[lyras]

This is a very uncomfortable read, but that's what makes it good, I think. I almost stopped reading when you got to Remus deciding that thirteen is a good compromise, because that sort of thing is such a turn-off for me. But I continued because I was fascinated - and then it just gets worse and worse.

What really scares me is that you make it seem so easy for Remus to get away with everything that he's doing. Whereas I'd have thought that thirteen-year-old girls would be easily believed and screaming from the rooftops, you create plausible situations in which this isn't true.

I felt for Sirius, too. Remus may be in love with him, or believe himself in love with him, but he clearly doesn't care about him.

He doesn’t wear glasses, but looks as if he does.

Oh, yes. Remus as unobtrusive, unthreatening as ever.

Sirius as a latchkey kid getting one over on his mother works for me.

She was very aware of the environment.I like this detail that Sirius provides, where Remus has been totally uninterested in Dora apart from encouraging her

[minnow_53]

Thank you so much for reading and commenting! :)

Though I've amended the header since posting, I was very unsure whether to post this or not: and I'm still feeling a bit iffy about it. :(

All sorts of paedophilia are a turn-off for me too. I can't read detective novels if they involve children, unless they're totally dispassionate. So this is the sort of thing that also squicks me horribly, and I can't say I even found it in myself to sympathise with Remus either.

Whereas I'd have thought that thirteen-year-old girls would be easily believed and screaming from the rooftopsI think that's a slight blurring of narrative truth, because Remus does admit that some of the girls are younger, and he obviously picks the real victims. I didn't want to make too much of this, as the story has enough squickiness already

[aerama]

So this is what is the substitute for magic, this terrible wrongness; magic subverted and twisted and darkened, straining vainly for the light too far away on the surface.

Wow.

So yes, I think this had to be Remus (and Sirius), taken out of context into an AU that shakes us off balance from the start. I had no choice to keep reading despite echoes of Lolita in my head (a book I don't plan on reading again), because of the way all this burst out of you, carrying me on in its flood

[minnow_53]

Oh, thank you for another amazing comment! :) *big hugs* And thank you so much for reading. You say such lovely things, and have such insight.

But I do know that he's only swapped one incurable disease for another. And in this case the monster is impossible to control.

I think that's very much the case. Remus is greatly defined by being a werewolf, and whatever it's a metaphor for, it also means a violent, terrifying beast. He's just as much Fenrir on full moon nights as he is mild Professor Lupin at other times. So though this fic shows his shadow, obviously, I think you could also say that HP canon represses the shadow a lot and concentrates more on the sunshine, or whatever the term would be.

I think in this Remus chooses most of his victims very, very carefully, except that once with Ana, making quite sure he preys on the weakest, or perhaps girls who might really have a crush on him.

Will it be a relief for Remus when Sirius dies, or will he be too far removed to feel it as such?I think he'll be devastated, or imagine he

[aerama]

Speaking of dangers on the net, how apropos - I've even put a ginormous disclaimer on my top post just in CASE of spies. And man, I've barely cracked into slash. I feel like pushing instigators' buttons though, suddenly...*rage*

In any case, you = ♥

For some reason that phrase "mild Professor Lupin" strikes me as quite hot. You can see him, peering over his papers, adjusting his briefcase, all rumply-sweatered and floofy-haired - with the beast that lurks inside him...

HP canon does indeed repress the shadow. I would say, extrapolating a bit, that it squashes it, given everyone's forcing of Tonks on Remus. "Oh, you're fine, that's why we have potions!" they say brightly. Whatevs. He's not fine.

Ah - so when Sirius dies - he'll realize he was more connected than he knew. The wrench could break his mind.