katajainen

The Haunting, Hunted Kind (2603 words) by Irrealia
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Characters: Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Severus Snape, Molly Weasley
Additional Tags: Genderfluid Character, Trans Character, Nonbinary Character, Recuperating this relationship from the original author’s urge to make everyone straight and normal, Remus/Tonks is queer af, It’s so queer AO3 doesn’t even have a category for it, In my happy place where slash and het are one, implied wolfstar, Canon Compliant, Grief/Mourning, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms

Summary:

Nothing could bring Sirius back to him, he knew that, he knew—in a way, he knew his Sirius had never returned from Azkaban in the first place. His Sirius had died in that explosion 15 years ago, just as surely as if he’d been one of the dozen or so Muggles that Pettigrew had found so disposable. But somehow, Tonks had become such a poignant echo of her cousin that Remus found his eyes turning back to her, finding her, again, and again...

The author calls this story a headcanon turned fic, and it is that, but also so much more. It’s two broken, traumatised people circling the ghost of a third that stands between them but also pulls them towards one another. It’s a story of loss, survivor’s guilt, and finding (questionable) comfort in stand-ins and replacements.

...yet it’s not altogether grim. For there is a spark of hope -- and if it’s shaped like defiance and spite and snarling at fate, then so be it. Because this version of the whole affair -- I’m not calling it ‘romance’, not yet -- reads so much more true to the characters and their unique bodily circumstances than the canon ever could. (Or: the original smacks of shoehorned comphet; this version made me ship it.)

Also, It’s so queer AO3 doesn’t even have a category for it is one of the best tags ever :p