#thistlecat fic rec

[thistlecatfics]

The Bent by earlybloomingparentheses (40k, E, wolfstar)

1985, London. The wizarding queer art scene revolves around a gallery called the Bent, where conceptual artist Remus Lupin and photographer Sirius Black exhibit their works, and a club called the Bush, where they spend time with Jane and Lily Potter, who work at a nearby heath clinic. Although war with Voldemort was averted, the wizarding world is still simmering with tension. In the face of increasing intolerance and calls for censorship, Remus’ art takes a riskier, more political turn, and he must figure out how to balance self-expression and safety. Also, he might be falling in love with his best friend.

Almost the opposite of Day 1, this fic is so thoroughly modern even if it's embedded in the 80s. We're still here. We still love ourselves and each other in the face of pandemics, fascists, censorship of art, purity culture, and violence. Still here, still queer.

For @hprecfest

[broomsticks]

Day 26: A fic with an ending you can’t stop thinking about

Alphard’s Favorite

@thistlecatfics on tumblr | thistlecat on AO3 • 5k, M • Sirius/Peter

Peter tries to find out why Sirius is so upset over Alphard’s inheritance. Then he tries to make sure Sirius doesn’t fall off the roof. Then he tries to ensure Remus doesn’t hear them.

Rec: godddd sirius/peter!! sirius/peter!! the most oil-and-water of the four marauders. there's so much to dig into there, in the canon-never-intended-this-but-it's-not-not-canon-compliant grey area of fic, and this story does it so well. leveraging throwaway story details to explore complicated character dynamics so compellingly. i love watching those disaster investigation shows, and this is kind of like those made into fic. you know it can't go anywhere good, you know how it's ending and yet you can't look away. AND EVEN THOUGH YOU SEE IT coming from a mile away, that last sentence is just 💥.

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37737496

--

@hprecfest | hprecs on dreamwidth | my #hprecfest picks

[siriusly-sapphic]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💙

(as always, feel free to ignore!)

(the way this took me ages to get to im sorry but !! thank you for sending this to me!)

Also, this was so hard to choose, and I tried not to make them all siricissa but 3/5 became siricissa anyway.

In no particular order:

We'll Be Happy

Parvati/Lavender | Teen | Major Character death. Lavender dies during the battle of Hogwarts, Parvati predicted it and can't stop it from happening.

Blood in the Water

Sirius/Narcissa | Explicit | First war smut, blood and injuries and more sweet vibes than the tags suggest. This was written for 2022's @siriusblackfest!

Too Beautiful to Save

Sirius/Narcissa | Explicit | Dead dove do not eat: gore, near-murder during sex, blood all around. Sirius and Narcissa dealing with the grief of losing Regulus in a very Black way. This was a collab with @a-loveunlaced!

The Crown You Gave Me

Lucius/Narcissa | Teen | Lucius and Narcissa get a divorce after the second war, but it's amicable and for the best and there are flashbacks to how happy their marriage was. Bittersweet vibes. This was written for 2020's @hptransfest!

In Your Sick Fantasies

Sirius/Narcissa | Explicit | Breeding kinks (inbreeding kinks) and explicit consent to do messed up shit. They're complicated and fucked up and they revel in that knowledge. Also he spits out her wedding ring, that counts for something.

[hephaestiions]

Inspired by your Drarry fic recs and your amazing Flintwood fic, do you have any Flintwood recs or personal favorites?

ah! fantastic ask, anon! flintwood was, incidentally, my earliest hp ship & maintains a soft spot after all these years. their functions in canon (quidditch captains of rival houses, pinnacles of a certain kind of obsessive, single-minded, aggressive athletic masculinity) conduce some of the most raw and gritty characterisations— kind of like if tracing your tongue along the jagged, broken end of a tooth was a ship. flintwood encapsulates a very specific kind of mood— a foregrounded physicality, a delicious emotional dimension balancing both subtlety and brashness. this ship is especially delightful when you're in the mood for some deferred emotional payoff, a little out of reach and more satisfying for it.

(tw for some discussions of queerphobia & masculinity!)

flintwood also works with and subverts some common stereotypes & tropes associated with sports as a site of exalted & amplified masculinity. oliver and marcus are both, in fic, often representations of what a popular (largely homophobic & patriarchal) culture understands as 'masculine ideal stereotypes'— physically hulking, emotionally repressed, narrow-focused, a little dangerous. and flintwood, as a ship, is crucially also about these 'ideal men' making the choice to step away from the hallowed halls of homosociality towards explicit queer desire, dynamics and love.

i'm getting into this because a large selection of flintwood fics i've loved deal (overtly or covertly) with coming to terms with queer awakenings, reckoning with being queer men in sports and similar explorations. my flintwood fic (thank you for reading it, anon!), addictive tendencies (~4k, T, tw for internalised homophobia) also grapples with this fairly significantly. in fact, even when the central tension isn’t explicitly about a queer reckoning, and the worldbuilding has little/no queerphobia, many excellent flintwood fics have some of the themes, ideas and tropes you find in literature accounting for our society’s (often disparaging) attitude towards queerness: a desire both intense and grudging, a sense of “i can’t have this person” justified through rivalry and/or jealousy, poignant internal conflicts, etc.

anyway, enough talk, here's a selection of flintwood fics i've dearly enjoyed, hope you do too! mind the tags & notes & remember to send some love the authors' way :)

best kept secrets by slyther_ing (M, 1.8k)

Marcus Flint is leaning up by the metal chainlink fence - gum popping, grin flashing white, and Oliver has the urge to run away because everything in the taller boy’s stature screams trouble, trouble, trouble.

twenty gauge by provocative_envy (T, 3k)

It takes Marcus less than ninety seconds to determine that his four o'clock is an aggressively annoying piece of shit.

wake up, get up, shut up by provocative_envy (E, 4.2k)

Marcus is twenty-three and half-concussed when it finally occurs to him that he might actually kind of sort of be really into dudes.

rugby boys, they play 15s by thistlecat (M, 4.5k)

Fifteen significant moments in Oliver Wood’s collegiate rugby career that did not make his highlight tape.

no vacancy by provocative_envy (M, 10.1k)

The dreams are frightening, at first.

true but not nice by v (E, 10.2k)

Marcus found out about it from Warrington, who heard it from Montague, who heard it from Derrick, who heard it from Nott, who heard it from Zabini, who heard it from Malfoy, who they said heard from the Quidditch dressing room, which really just meant that Marcus was going to fucking kill him.

self preservation by al-the-remix (E, 17.8k)

Outside the night had grown dark, and at some point Oliver had moved to perch on the edge of Marcus' bed, thigh pressed against his and tray settled between them. As if they had some sort of understanding. As if they were friends.

[consistentsquash]

squash!!! 1, 9, 10, 14, and 19 - ANGST, and (separately) HOT! gimme your sexiest smuttiest recs :D

hiya!!! <3 <3 ok this got long sorry! ALSO YOU NEED TO DO IT if you have time/if you want to. No pressure. But you are an amazing reccer and I get a lot of my new reads from your recs.

👍🏽 A fic you bookmarked recently

this barbie is getting lucky by narqueen - Gloria/Barbie. 900 words. It's 100% fluff!

👌🏼 A fic someone else recommended to you

The Janus Rose by dickgloucester. Snape/Pomona. 5200 words.

this one was a rec from @kellychambliss. It's actually an impossible fic to find with just tags because it doesn't tag the pairing. Highly recommend. It has some strong choices in writing esp about the ending which probably won't work for everybody but I feel like that's a good thing because it gives people something to think about/discuss.

👽 A fic that isn’t prose (poetry, text fic, etc.)

Lovers often do by gaisang. Harry/Voldemort. 1200 words. Poetry.

A beautiful, beautiful, haunting poetry collection which for me not only captures the characters of Harry and Voldemort and their dynamic but also has so many classical literature references woven with intertextual references to eldritcher's Four Chord/Unvollendete sets. It's an incredible poem that gets the raw, emotional power of those stories. Gaisang gets it.

🤩 A fic that made you SLAM that “subscribe” button

Lover Boy At Play by @danpuff-ao3. 4500 words. Snape/Harry.

SLAMMED that subscribe button. Best decision ever. No buyer's remorse. No regrets! Danni writes my fav dirtyhotbadwrong Snarries.

🤔 The first fic you think of when I say ANGST

Morior Animus by vain. Snarry. MCD. 15000 words.

Morior Animus has earned, convincing angst. Really precise writing. The build up is intense. Incredibly creative and beautiful fic. It's the angst fic for me.

Ok now my fav part :D SEXIEST SMUTTIEST FICS

Hot can be pretty subjective! so definitely ymmv. What I find hot falls into two categories.

The fic is dirtybadhotwrong and as a reader I get the vibe that the author is really, really shamelessly into it because that makes me as a reader get into it

The fic uses smut for exposition about emotional complication or emotional simplification. Like the smut makes a relationship get more fucked up or it helps them get to some emotional catharsis. I don't really find it hot when it's just one person in the relationship getting whumped/fixed.

If the fic hits one of those two for me it's really hot! Otherwise I normally skip the smut. It's really the emotions that make things hot for me. But ofc this is a super subjective thing. I don't really go for pure smut fics or fics where their roles in smut have a big impact on their characterization. Smut written by some authors have worked for me.

On the dirtybadhotwrong side, I am a big fan of fics written by DementorDelta, Snegurochka, Who_la_hoop, AbstractConcept, Thistlecat and Cruisedirector. DementorDelta and Cruisedirector are really brilliant authors but they also have this writing phase where they were into writing fics with spanking and golden showers like this Snarry The Safest Place. Who_la_hoop wrote group incest and made it hotter than Texas during a heat wave in The Evil Devil Child and the Perfect Gift. It's Draco/Harry/Albus Severus/Scorpius. Thistlecat made the Black family hot. Huge fan of Alphard's Favourite. It's Sirius/Peter and Sirius/Alphard. Snegurochka made infidelity hot but they took their fics down so no links :/ Their Narcissa/Rosmerta fic is my guilty pleasure except I don't really feel guilty about it. AbstractConcept made curtains hot with their Snarry fic Better Homes and Dungeons . I don't even know how. I love the total shamelessness and dirtybadhotwrong commitment of these authors' writing. I feel this is increasingly rare in our fandom. I also love @danpuff-ao3's fics for the same reason! Everything! But also special love for Draco/Sirius in Gray Eyes (Tell No Lies). I love folks who can write dirtybadhotwrong shamelessly without feeling conscious about it. Because as a reader sometimes I feel conscious if I get the vibe the author was feeling conscious? Idk if that makes sense. It's probably just a me thing. But it's a thing I feel when reading some fics.

On the emotional side, I generally need longfics to feel that vibe because of how my brain works. My goto is two three authors who have a 100% hit rate for me for this type of smut.

ripeteeth! but their fics are not public on AO3 right now so I didn't want to go into a lot of detail. Huge fan of Suspiria by them which pretty much hit everything I want to see in smut 100%.

perverse_idyll's fics where the smut complicates things more in terms of characterization/dynamics. PI's writing has a lot of intensity which 100% works for me in smut scenes. They are also in general longer fics so the emotions have a lot of build up which makes things hotter! Soft Touch is a brilliant oneshot to get a sense of that. Snape is technically a massage therapist but not really and Harry is technically a customer but it gets so dirtybadhotwrong. Their emotions and relationship get more complicated but it's also in a good sense? Like complicated doesn't mean destructive? Rimming and gloves are really hot when we get some spicy emotions salsa to go with those.

eldritcher's fics where the smut is catharsis in terms of personal baggage/relationship dynamics. Smut which unfucks things? Eldritcher's writing has a lot of precision and they are amazing at increasing the intensity organically which works 100% works for me in smut when it's about building dysfunctionally healthy relationships between two emotionally damaged characters without complicating things further. Epic of the Forgotten is a brilliant oneshot to get a sense of that. Voldemort gets Krum to have a one night stand with him after a Quidditch Match and it kind of snowballs into the healthiest relationship ever. They are really emotionally damaged but it works and we get to see that exposition through their smut scenes.

Also Kelly Chambliss doesn't technically write smut smut but I really feel the hotness in Sesquipedalia. Hermione/McGonagall. It's like intellectual hotness? Which works for this pairing brilliantly. Idk how to explain!

[the-starryknight]

Hi all, it's a Tuesday, so let's share a little extra tender love & care around here. If you have the energy, would you share a rec or a compliment for a friend? Either on this post, or on your own (tag me if you do, I love to see it). I'll start with just some notes as I don't have the energy for a proper rec list. Here are just a few of the many, many people I'm glad to share this space with -- tagging each of you, and hoping you'll pass it on. And you reading this, you're invited to play along (share a rec or a bit of love, whatever you like) without a tag too, and it doesn't have to be on Tuesdays.

@onbeinganangel makes the most beautiful embroidery pieces my eyes have ever seen, and @babooshkart makes soft kitchen scenes like no other. @softlystarstruck sends me beautiful art and clothes whenever they think of me, @thebooktopus has been filling my dash with gorgeous rec lists. @thistlecat leaves the best comments on fics, even when the fic's are still anon. @lqtraintracks writes challenging, radical smut, and @julcheninred reminds me of what crafting can do for the soul @bearcheers and @rockingrobin69 have said so many kind things about my micros, I want to hang their comments on my wall. @gryffindorhearts makes the best cup of coffee in the world. @tackytigerfic 's kindness to new folks is one of the reasons I started writing. @shealwaysreads sends me the ocean when we both need it, and @lou-isfake's singing voice moves me to tears. What about you, any recs or love to share?

[thebooktopus]

Day Nineteen: HP Rare Pair Fest 2021/2022

This is going to be a long one, so the recs are below the cut. General thoughts: wow, what an absolutely incredible selection of works (so far) this year. instead of saying it for literally every rec, just assume that a blanket statement applies: "I wish there were more fics of this pairing."

Slash:

The Cost of Survival by @vdoshu M // 11K // Barty Crouch Jr./Peter Pettigrew

🐍🐀 this was an entrancing read. I have a hard time with fics that feature Pettigrew because I don't want to sympathize with him, but there's still a person there. this totally captured that turmoil he must've felt. I'm not excusing it, but I'm saying give this fic a read, it'll make you think: "And when faced with the hopeful smile of the boy across the table from him, the boy who apparently wanted to pick his brain, who wanted to talk to him, and wasn’t just cosying up in order to get to his more popular friends, Peter found a smile of his own."

He Looked Just Like James by @storyof-eden E // 1K // Harry/Sirius

👨‍👨‍👦 :whistles: daaang folks. this is a quick, filthy read; absolutely delicious to read Sirius' comparison between Harry and James and his reluctance: "The boy wasn’t an adult, but then, Sirius and James hadn’t been either. Harry looked at Sirius like he was the one who hung the moon and the sun and the stars. James had always looked at him like that, too. Contrary to what Molly thought, Sirius was not an irresponsible godfather, and he was not under the delusion that he had his best friend back."

Aflame by @nv-md E // 4K // James Sirius Potter/Teddy Lupin

🚨 werewolf a/b/o Jeddy fic. I could go into more detail but you shouldn't honestly need any other reason that I didn't list in the first sentence. 😆: "And, Merlin help him, Teddy couldn’t do anything but give in. He’d been holding back, so scared of hurting James, but this was too much. James always smelled delicious—Teddy had nuzzled his sleeping boyfriend enough to know—but nothing, literally nothing, could have prepared Teddy for the scent rolling off James. It was the thick underbrush of a forest, the sun at high noon baking his skin, the crackling energy of an oncoming storm."

Out in the Open by @sugareey-makes-stuff E // Art // Oliver Wood/Percy Weasley

💦 krissy's talent blows me away - the texture and depth (can you tell I'm not an artist?) she achieves with her linework is simply gorgeous. and this pair? and that... well, it's filthy and I LOVE IT.

Let Me Be by @isamijoo G // 3K // Oliver Wood/Percy Weasley

💝 I think this is one of the only G-rated fics I've ever read (I'm a monster, I know). but I loved this! these two are one of my fav rare pairs, and this fic satisfied all of my fluffy needs: "However, secretly, Percy enjoyed being the centre of Oliver’s attention. Everybody knew Oliver cared little about anything other than Quidditch, so being coddled by Oliver was unexpectedly flattering and pleasant. Oliver treated Percy as though he was astronomically special."

Wormtail Gets Some Tail by @anaxandria-writes T // 1K // Peter Pettigrew/Regulus Black

🐀 you're maybe saying to yourself: "nope, not touching that with a ten-foot pole." FIGHT THIS INSTINCT. this is an amazing character study of Peter; I literally re-read read it the second I finished it: "But Peter had always known he wasn’t as charming and attractive as Sirius, nor as confident and funny as James, nor as smart and kind as Remus. No, Peter was just… Peter. And despite his friend’s advice to 'just be himself,' none of his first dates were leading to second dates."

Till Tomorrow and Til Death by @thistlecat E // 11K // Regulus Black/Remus Lupin

🖤 dark fic, amazing canon divergence plot. most of your favorite Marauders era characters, all very much in-character, just following a different story arc. definitely recommend: "'What the hell are you doing here, Regulus?' Remus asked finally, with the air of a prefect exasperated after his friend’s younger brother had been stroking his thigh all prefect’s meeting. That specific exasperation was familiar to Regulus."

The rest... 😆

Shades of Dawn by @corvuscrowned E // 2K // Ginny Weasley/Lavender Brown

🌗 I beta read this fic and loved it from the opening line. angsty, beautifully written, heartbreaking... sweet, sweet sapphic smut: "It was the danger, at first — I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want you to have to live like this. But Ginny slowly worked that away, peeling petals from the dying flower to reveal its lifeless center. The truth of it, which had nothing to do with Lavender and had everything to do with Ginny."

Lovingly Named by @m0srael E // 11K // Minerva McGonagall/Mrs. Norris

😻 the love story of a lifetime. this is tender and smart, a truly incredible fic, definitely one not to miss: "Ionia turns over fully to shove her face, wide-eyed, into Minerva’s—their noses and foreheads pressed so tightly together it almost hurts. Like two cats, head-butting one another in mutual affection and acknowledgement. It’s something she does when she’s afraid of Minerva’s reaction—as if the forced proximity will leave no room for anything other than the two of them, right here, right now."

Table for Two by @maeshowers E // 3K // Pansy Parkinson/Sirius Black

🌪 wowie wow wow wow. this pair is a delicious mess and work so well together. really fun plot that leads to smut that will both burn and soothe, all within 3200 words. phew: "Twenty minutes and two drinks down the drain and it’s suddenly as if she has a place in the world again."

Finding What's Missing by @sumthinclever M // 9K // Blaise Zabini/Draco Malfoy/Neville Longbottom

3️⃣ this fic is a love letter to non-monogamy, if you ask me. it's about the heart's ability to expand, that love is an infinite resource. also, these three together? come ON: "Draco jerked out of his arms and grabbed Blaise by the shoulders. 'No! I mean… Not really? I love you, Blaise. So much. I have missed you terribly and I was lost for so long and Neville was just there and I… and we…. I love him. I do. But I don’t love him more than you and I don’t love you less because I love him. And I know this is a lot and is confusing for you because your head is still in two years ago and I know you’re probably disappointed and angry with me and I –'"

For more info on my New Year's Rec-olutions for January, check out this post. Tomorrow's tag will be "Dirty Talk."

[thistlecatfics]

With No Spine Intact by xylodemon (3.5k, E, Sirius/Regulus, James, Remus)

You can't always get what you want, even when you're Sirius Black.

Starting off strong with 3.5k of delicious angst from 2008!

The kind of angst you read as a teenager and then it sticks with you for a decade? Yup. Sirius, Sirius, Sirius, my love. Read for the feel of old school fandom - dark, canon-compliant, denying that they're gay. I found this the height of tragic romance as a teenager, and honestly I still do.

These are the versions of the characters that fandom burned into my soul in the 2000s and they're still my favorites.

For @hprecfest

[thistlecatfics]

Unwritten by @inamamagic with art by @fantalfart (M, 83k, Ginny/Pansy)

In which Pansy tries to figure out whether she deserves love and forgiveness while dancing around her feelings for a certain red-headed Quidditch player.

Seriously this fic is SO GOOD. The world building is impeccable, and the themes of healing from trauma and loving imperfect people imperfectly are so well-done. 

Come for the magical history and romance, stay for the thick and intricate friendships and complicated family dynamics and loving people who do bad things. 

And the art! Come for gorgeous butch/femme love <3 

[thistlecatfics]

12 Fic Recs for 2022

In order of how recently I bookmarked them and very much non-exhaustive. (I’m in awe of everyone who has a coherent and systematic fic tracking system. I... do not.)

Lengths are all over the place, as are ships though Blackcest and wolfstar are highly represented. 

Absinthe (and a candy apple) by Anonymous (Bellatrix/Andromeda, 6k, E)

December 1970.

One of them is getting ready for war.

One of them is preparing to leave her family behind.

Neither of them knows that this is their last Christmas holiday together.

Fucked up and delightful

Buy the Stars by wilteddaisy (taotu) (Sirius/Remus, 23k, E)

Sirius Black, respectable pureblood patriarch and heir to the Black family fortune, has a wife and three children at Hogwarts. Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Remus Lupin wrestles with the aging wolf inside of him. When Black offers him a hand, Remus reluctantly takes it.

Dubious morality and Slytherin Sirius Black in the best way!!! What a wonderfully toxic relationship. 

under the blood moon by @iamsiriuslyriddikulus (WIP) (Sirius/Remus, 29k+, E)

A Wizarding War has been raging for several years with no end in sight. When Lily learns how to infuse Dark Magic into her music, Remus and Lily work together to take justice into their own hands.

Murder family bluegrass band AU!! Sirius is especially hot in this. Go subscribe!

White Sheets, in the Closet (or: the earth from a great distance is perfect and whole) by @tahtahfornow (Sirius/Remus, 12k, M)

The preacher’s boy is pale and strange. Silver scar running horizontal across the crooked bridge of his nose like a tributary catching winter sunlight. Dusty freckles collecting in the corners of his cheeks. And thick fair hair that on Sundays shines with pomade, slicked behind two apricot-slice ears: sweet flesh and flesh, always at attention.

(South Georgia, 1961-1962. Hurried kisses in hostile climates.)

So powerfully atmospheric. 

Shades of Dawn by @corvuscrowned (Lavender/Ginny, 3k, E)

It happens once a month — the full moon fades in the black night sky, replaced with the pink light of dawn. Ginny’s Floo sparks — vibrant green, devoured by gold and amber light. And out spills Lavender Brown.

Angsty as hell and utterly divine. 

Lit Match by Phantomato (Alecto/Lily, 2k, E)

Redheads should stick together.

Canon-compliant Lily/Alecto! Go read it! 

Clip, Ravel, Cleave by @vdoshu (Bellatrix/Andromeda, 15k, E)

Before Andromeda met Ted, she was a Black, through and through. While years later the story was told that she’d turned her back on her family’s dark ways, in truth, nothing was so simple.

In the beginning, it was just Andromeda and Bella. And it was just the two of them until it was too much.

One of my all time favorites. Pinnacle of wonderfully fucked up Bellatrix/Andromeda. 

57th Street On Fire by Suchsmallhands (Sirius/Remus, 31k, M)

 It's the 90's and springtime in New York. Remus is dealing cocaine, Sirius is looking to get high.

He felt a twinge of paranoia. He thought, This is a junkie. One way or another. You don’t take walks with people you sell cocaine to. And he might be rich. Do not say yes.

He’d never seen grey eyes quite like that before.

Maybe my favorite Muggle AU of all time? It’s so New York in the 90s and also so wolfstar and so perfect and I just fell in love with Sirius right alongside Remus.

the grace unasked for by @leftsidedown (Remus/Tonks, 18k, T)

What if… instead of going to Bill's after the Malfoy Manor, Harry and co. flee to Tonks' parents' house, where Remus and Tonks are hiding with Andromeda?

How would Remus and the others react and handle this? Remember, Tonks is in her last trimester, her dad just died, she's still being hunted down by Bellatrix and everyone is in hiding, and suddenly Undesirable No 1 shows up with a tortured Hermione, former hostages and a dead house elf and his presence is now potentially threatening everyone's safety..

Read and be converted to Remadora. 

wet gray gold-lit street by basketofnovas @slashmarks (Fleur/Tonks, 10k, E)

Fleur Delacour returns to Britain after the Triwizard Tournament to work for Gringotts and spy for the Order of the Phoenix. Then she falls in love with her Order contact.

It was hard to pick one slashmarks piece but I just loved how both trope-y and canon compliant (and canon defiant) this Flonks is. 

Hurt Heals by @vdoshu (series) (Andromeda/Bellatrix, Narcissa/Hermione, Narcissa/Andromeda, 17k, E)

Pain. Grief. Sorrow.

Sometimes, to suffer is to heal.

I know I’m in awe of how blindingly hot this is because it was specifically written as a gift for me and mindful of my specific kinky tastes BUT also y’all should read it too. 

Nor All That Glisters by sweet_s0rr0w (Draco/Harry, 110k, E)

Lonely and frustrated on house arrest, with no prospects for the future, Draco begins brewing Felix Felicis in an attempt to improve his lot. Just in the short term, of course. He isn’t a total idiot.

But before long he finds himself with a thriving business, a nice flat, some actual (albeit irritatingly Gryffindor) friends, and a very satisfying sex life. What’s more, no-one is hexing him in the street. And Harry Potter is single, and gorgeous, and giving Draco decidedly interested looks.

Stop taking the Felix? You must be joking…

Felix Felicis addiction fic handled so perfectly. I adore the extremely imperfect Draco in this so much

[thistlecatfics]

Do you have any andromeda centric fic recs?

Oh boy do I! Listed with quotes from my comments.

not like the rest of them by unspeakable3 (Sirius & Andromeda, Andromeda/Ted, 11k, T)

Sirius has recently followed in Andromeda's footsteps and emancipated himself from their family. This afternoon, the two cousins will reunite - and see each other for the first time in four years. Andromeda is nervous. Sirius is nervous. There is a lot they need to say to each other.

I love this so much!!! oh they would have had such a complicated relationship! and Andromeda - her anxiety is so real and genuine and based in reality in so many ways. and her courage in actually being honest with sirius!!

Flying Lessons by Phantomato (Andromeda/Rolonda Hooch, 2k, T)

Andromeda takes Teddy to flying lessons so Harry doesn’t get that, too.

oh my god I'm so obsessed with this. I love this Andromeda so much -- so imperfectly realistic. I decided to snag some of my favorite lines when I started reading, and then I realized I was picking a lot of lines, and then I decided fandom is for indulgence and so here is a comment that is basically your whole fic reflected back to you.

we were sisters once (we have another love now) by Nefaria_Black (Andromeda & Bellatrix, 3k, T)

Dora is six and few things are more exciting than a day spent in Diagon Alley. Even if the street is packed with people. Even if she’s separated from her parents by the crowd Because Mother is easy enough to find, isn’t she?

I was SO tense this whole time. So emotionally immersive.

The Waves by nanneramma (Andromeda/Ted, Remus/Tonks, 3k, M)

Andromeda is not sure if she got it right. But she tried.

I love Andromeda so much, and I love THIS Andromeda so much -- loving and sharp with moments of cruelty as self-protection. What a woman, what a fic.

Clip, Ravel, Cleave by @vdoshu (Andromeda/Bellatrix, Andromeda/Rodolphus/Bellatrix, Andromeda/Ted, 15k, E)

Before Andromeda met Ted, she was a Black, through and through. While years later the story was told that she’d turned her back on her family’s dark ways, in truth, nothing was so simple. In the beginning, it was just Andromeda and Bella. And it was just the two of them until it was too much.

I'm just fucking STUNNED by this fic. The horror and recovery of it. The meaning of it. The feeling of leaving a horrifically abusive relationship for a healthy one. Love as control and then love as care and forgiveness. It's hot and disturbing and hopeful and loving all at once. I'm just so obsessed with it. There's just so much here!

The Flavour of Loss by doshu (Andromeda/Bellatrix, Andromeda/Ginny, 7k, E) (and the whole series!)

When Andromeda was emotionally alone, cut off from her family and feeling disconnected from her own body, she sought out her sister. And in her cruel, merciless way, Bellatrix helped. Years later, Andromeda saw the opportunity to help another.

I'm absolutely dead and buried. this is perfection. (this is why it's good to be honest about your kinks on a fic exchange?? because you get lines like this that sear into your memory forever??) Bellatrix's constant comparison of herself vs Ted and the balance of humiliation and praise with Andromeda???

the grace unasked for by leftsidedown (Tonks/Remus, 17k, T)

What if… instead of going to Bill's after the Malfoy Manor, Harry and co. flee to Tonks' parents' house, where Remus and Tonks are hiding with Andromeda? How would Remus and the others react and handle this? Remember, Tonks is in her last trimester, her dad just died, she's still being hunted down by Bellatrix and everyone is in hiding, and suddenly Undesirable No 1 shows up with a tortured Hermione, former hostages and a dead house elf and his presence is now potentially threatening everyone's safety.

YESSS I'm feral. this is exactly it. this is andromeda <3 <3  my Black daughter <3 <3

Blackpool by TheDivineComedian (Regulus & Sirius, 64k, T)

When Regulus is five, he nearly drowns in the sea off Blackpool. When Regulus is eleven, his brother befriends a ghost. It’s not until Regulus is eighteen and ready to die that the Black family’s darkest secret finally unravels. It might, perhaps, change everything.

Andromeda is a side character in this but her characterization is divine.

turncoat: in defense of andromeda tonks nee black by dirgewithoutmusic (Andromeda/Ted, 8k, G)

When her little cousin Sirius got disowned too, years later, Andromeda sent him a fruit basket.

This was truly so excellent - there are tears in my eyes. A fandom classic.

history books forgot about us by @spindrifters (Andromeda/Ted, 25k, E)

Andromeda Black meets Ted Tonks quite by accident, and it’s something like mischief at first sight. From the lost papers and mixed-up files of the marginalia universe, the complete history of a relationship that was never meant to happen.

Tedromeda in a Grindelwald wins AU!! They're so in love!

Plus my own lesbian Tedromeda long fic, but I imagine if you've found my blog you've found my fic :)

[thistlecatfics]

the grace unasked for by @leftsidedown (17k, T, Remadora)

What if… instead of going to Bill's after the Malfoy Manor, Harry and co. flee to Tonks' parents' house, where Remus and Tonks are hiding with Andromeda? How would Remus and the others react and handle this? Remember, Tonks is in her last trimester, her dad just died, she's still being hunted down by Bellatrix and everyone is in hiding, and suddenly Undesirable No 1 shows up with a tortured Hermione, former hostages and a dead house elf and his presence is now potentially threatening everyone's safety...

I LOVE a "what if this one small thing changed" concept which has both big ripples and also keeps the fundamentals the same - this fic is so deeply rooted in canon and canon characterizations which I just love. Each character (Andromeda, Remus, Tonks especially but also Harry, Ron, and Hermione) is portrayed with such deep flaws and strengths in a way that really honors their humanity.

This has one of my favorite Andromeda portrayals and includes one of my favorite headcanons -

"A memory came flooding back. The letter she'd desperately mailed off: your little boy, your Draco, he must be one now? You must understand, then, dearest sister, I am begging not for myself, only for my daughter. Everything I know, anything I can do—She let herself fall back against the cool wall, and cast her eyes blankly upwards. Ted. I promise, I will protect the only piece of you left to me."

The fic left me with no coherent thoughts but just this deep and echoing respect for grief and purpose and devotion and connection.

For @hprecfest <3

[thistlecatfics]

poppies in october by (M, 19k, Remus/Sirius, Remus/Lily, Remus/Tonks)

(It had become, finally, inevitable.)

I am emotional and in pain in the best way possible. Oh! This is why I love them. The ache at the end (the planting photo symbology! oh!) and the interweaving story structure - wow wow wow. I saved a few quotes I loved, and by a "few" I mean "a lot" and by "quotes" I mean "big chunks."

This fic! This fic this fic! Leftsidedown keeps rec'ing it and I have finally gotten around to reading it, and oh! It's got that old school fandom literary angst vibe which I love. There's something indulgent and rich in the writing (the stylistic choices, the literary references), which feels so appropriate for indulging in angst in this ship in this fandom at this time (after all these years?). But paired with Remus's especially tendency towards understatement, it never feels like too much. Something about this fic feels like rich, nutritious soil. (maybe it's the planting photos thing echoing in my head?)

This fucking ship! It's a ship manifesto and a brilliant one <3

"(What he also never said, and Sirius never quite caught, was: Nearly everyone I love is a wizard or witch.  How far can I wander and still be valued, remembered, welcomed home.)"

[thistlecatfics]

Blood Magic by @houseofhebrideanblacks & Thestralsofspinnersend (33 hours, E, Drarry)

A story of thestral magic, forest lore and recovery from all the things that haunt us.

Podfic on Spotify & Fic on Ao3 (334k)

I discovered this fic by digging through tags on Ao3 when I was getting back into fandom at the start of the pandemic. At the time, I had yet to write my own fic and yet to even comment on a fic before! I never could have imagined both how much joy I have gotten out of fandom in the subsequent years and also how significant these authors would become in my life.

I don't mean to be dramatic when I say that this fic cracked open something in me and made me question... hmm... maybe I could be lovable? Maybe I am deserving of love just as I am - traumatized and scarred and messy?

It's a trauma recovery fic - it's THE postwar Drarry trauma recovery fic for me. It's a story in love with nature (forests, gardening, herbs) and with messy, imperfect humans trying their best, especially messy, imperfect humans so rarely depicted with so much love (addicts, sexual assault survivors who don't want to be touched). Rho and James read their story out loud so beautifully if you want to listen to it - but also I wouldn't blame you if you read it instead in order to tear through it as fast as you can. What a story, what a gift to the fandom.

For @hprecfest

[thistlecatfics]

Source Codes by @yeats-infection (167k, E, wolfstar)

In 1993, Remus Lupin figures out how to escape from Azkaban.

An absolute classic with a perfect canon divergent premise: what if Remus went to Azkaban instead of Sirius?

Unfortunately this will not be the best rec I've ever written because I'm feeling the post covid viral fatigue hard today BUT just read this fic if you want some wolfstar longfic gorgeous angsty-with-a-happy-ending goodness. I'm not usually an evil!Dumbledore reader, but this fic handles the wizarding world politics with such thoughtful care, and yeah he's kind of evil but it's for the ~ greater good~ so it works.

There's a mystery! and politics! and a deep love for the humble human and love in the face of political machinations!

my brain is zonked, but this fic is brilliant.

[thistlecatfics]

Le Tourbillon (E, 35k, James/Lily, Sirius/Lily, Sirius/James, Sirius/Remus, implied Sirius/Regulus)

Who doesn't want to be loved by everyone?

Warnings: voyeurism, fingering, drug use, boys being assholes, femdom, poetry, angst, unrealistic portrayals of achieving orgasm, extensive foreshadowing, exhibitionism, excessive length, wall sex, (constant) alcohol use, incest, occasional breach of the fourth wall, over-indulgent discussion of a car, fluff, the French.

This fic from 2007 stole my heart when I first read it, and it stands up with every reread. It perfectly captures the feeling of the summer after high school -- you're an adult! you're unstoppable! your best friends will be your best friends forever! -- while also balancing out this subtle sense of impending doom that everything will change. (The war exists on the very outside of their awareness but it does creep in.) If you want to know how Sirius/Lily could work in a canon context, this fic will prove it to you. I love Peter in this too - just on the outside, desperate to not be.

It's fun and smutty and beautifully written and delightfully characterized, and I love recommending it to anyone who wants to explore older wolfstar or marauders era fics.