Stone Cold Hedwig

KT | writer, historian, academic. Scotland. Gryffindor. Jily. Oliver Wood's biggest fan. AO3: stonecoldhedwig 

[stonecoldhedwig]

I thought I would update my fic list, as of December 2025!

Series

December's Valentine (Modern Muggle AU) December's Valentine (E) Lily shags James, and thinks she'll never see him again. Right? Wrong.

All That It Is (M) Sirius tries to work out his feelings towards his housemate, ex-girlfriend, Marlene.

Yule Logs, Baubles, and Other Festive Body Parts (E) Christmas Day at Peverell Farm is, frankly, nuts.

The Marauders' Map (Modern Muggle AU) Hepburn Avenue (M) Text fic of the Marauders' final year at university. James/Lily, Sirius/Remus, a lobster called Goose. It's so fucking dumb.

Canterbury Lane (T) A cheese-fest one shot of Sirus/Remus in a car.

WIP: Costa Del Sol (M) Text fic, when the Marauders go on a post-graduation holiday. Will probably remain WIP for the rest of my whole entire life.

Caraway Street (E) 100k of the Marauders navigating their first year post-graduation. James/Lily, Sirius/Remus, eventual Marlene/Dorcas. No lobster; instead, a dog called Snuffles.

Peverell Hall (G) A little taste of James' idyllic childhood, plus a dog in goggles.

WIP: Highgate Mews (E) The Marauders' second year of adult life. Things get serious.

Standalones

General Marauders A Bitter Little Eucharist (T) James Potter is the Boy-Who-Lived. He, Remus and Sirius visit Peter's grave in October, 1982.

Remember that You are Dust (M) Death addresses the Marauders on the nights they are destined to die.

Giving Us Doomsday (T) It's New Year's Eve, 1980. A group of friends gather in Remus Lupin's cottage, and reflect.

James Potter/Lily Evans WIP: Coming, Evans? (E) James/Lily friends-to-lovers, in a magical AU take on Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days.

The Parting Glass (T) James and Lily's first Slug Club Christmas party, where James has precisely zero chill.

The Way the Light Looks (T) James and Lily's first kiss.

James Potter and the Case of the Lacy Black Bra (E) A drinking game and an animagus walk into a bar bra.

A Little Bloom of Hope (T) Flower Shop AU. James has allergies.

My Heart is Overcome (T) Lily reflects on her life at the start of October 1981.

Better Ways (G) James Potter gets detention. Lily Evans supervises it. Professor McGonagall might give some dating advice.

Last Rites (E) James and Lily have an angst-ridden shag in a safe house in the middle of the war.

God Bless the Shed, and All Who Sail in Her (G) Lily's first time visiting the Potters is nothing if not nonsensical.

Sirius Black/Marlene McKinnon The Paintbox (M) One sultry summer in Oxford, an art dealer and a portrait artist try very hard to ignore one another.

Confession (M) In a dusty safe house during the war, Sirius confesses how he really feels.

Oceans & Glaciers (E) A smutty subversion of gender roles in Sirius and Marlene's relationship.

REWRITING: In Love and Death We Don't Decide (M) A Blackinnon-centric look at the Marauders' final year of Hogwarts.

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin Snowed In (T) Remus can't make it home for Hanukkah. Sirius tries to help.

Until It Shines (T) Remus is sappy about the war, and his house husband.

WIP: The Secret "Oral" History (E) w/ jennandblitz The Secret History meets Slughorn doing cocaine.

Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley A Place for Hidden Things (T) After the war, Harry goes through the contents of his Gringotts vault.

A Lesson Overheard (E) One of Hinny's awkward first times.

Three Gnomes in a Knitted Trench Coat (G) A somewhat cracky look at post-war Hinny interacting with the Weasleys. There's also a fox.

Opaline (E) Unhealthy coping mechanisms ahoy in the aftermath of the war.

Family (T) Ginny tries to cope with missing Harry by thinking about her brothers.

Oliver Wood/Alicia Spinnet WIP: A Great Many Things (E) Oliver Wood's loved Alicia Spinnet for as long as he can remember. Only he missed his chance. Or maybe he didn't?

WIP: Haunt Me (E) Eight years ago, Alicia left Oliver's life without a trace. Now she's back, and he wants answers.

Charlie Weasley/Neville Longbottom/Hannah Abbott Lay the Summer's Dust (M) Charlie deals with his feelings about Hannah and Neville getting married.

Come to Seek Thy Name (T) Charlie deals with his feelings about Hannah and Neville having a baby.

Assorted delights/monstrosities

Every Rose Grows Bonny in Time (E) Remus Lupin/Rosmerta. Remus visits an old friend, and has a lovely time.

hoax (T) Marlene McKinnon/Gideon Prewett. Marlene knows she should break up with Gideon. She just... can't.

[stonecoldhedwig]

For fic asks...I think I know the answer to #11, but I love hearing you talk about your research process so would you please enlighten us?!

Hello friend! ❤️

11. Which fic did you do the most research for?

Your guess is likely correct: always, always Fugue.

Re: research process, I usually start with the location, because I love place-as-character, and then work out how to make my Barbies fit in my Dream House.

So for Fugue, I had the vague notion of Climate Scientists Jily (I thought Sirius was gonna be an astronomer tho, which is very much WRONG) but I had to get Station H/the Antarctic landscape right in my head first.

Same with December's Valentine - I had Peverell Farm in my head really before the story, drew the floorplans etc.

Then once I know my location and what's brought a character to it, I generally try to organise my research to answer the question of "what do I need to know to write this character existing authentically in this place?" and cherry pick information as my whims lead me.

Often end up circling round really irrelevant details tho, that then tragically do not make it into chapters. RIP Sirius' conversation about plankton with a side character called Horsey Bob.

[stonecoldhedwig]

1 and 9 for the ask game? ❤️

Hello! Thank you for the ask 🥰

Which of your fics is your pride and joy?

December's Valentine! It was at times hard to find time to write it, but that version of Lily and James has just always made sense to me, and as such, I think it turned out well. But I also have a soft spot for Caraway Street, despite its terribly tortured prose; and for Haunt Me, an unfinished Oliver Wood/Alicia Spinnet.

9. Do you write in order or do you jump around?

I don't think I've ever written a fic in order. I would love to, but I regularly don't finish sentences or paragraphs, so alas I fear it may be beyond my skill set.

[stonecoldhedwig]

11 & 18 for the ask game 🤲🏼 :)

Thank you for the ask! (also so speedy, I am impressed)

11. Which fic did you do the most research for?

The answer to this will always be A Fugue in Four Voices lmao. My interest in Antarctica predates the fic, but I've been really saturated in all things Antarctic for about 8 months now. I hope my interest never fades, I am having so much fun.

18. What's a trope that you want to write but haven't written yet?

A good question! I love a contrived fake dating scenario, with an emphasis on the contrived - I want it to be a really nuts reason to have to pretend to date an ex etc. So probably that!

[vagueshadows-fics]

Seen this floating around, so why not! Feel free to send me an ask 🫶

[stonecoldhedwig]

When oh when are we getting more AFIFV??? Yes I made that acronym up right now but your fic is so good it deserves and needs its own! Thank you for all your amazing work , it’s a joy to read!!!!

Thank you for such a lovely ask!! I am hoping to get the next chapter squared away for the weekend; it's another Sirius chapter, because I felt like we needed a break from James and Lily being nuts. They will then proceed to be insane for the next seven trillion chapters, I guess.

Anyway, as a treat, have a snippet from the upcoming chapter:

“Seriously?” He nods at Sirius’ plate. “This is getting old.” Sirius looks down at his cheese and crackers. He frowns, and then squints at Remus. “My… girl dinner?” “You don't have to keep making this point about the cheese balls. I didn’t even want to bring the stupid things to that terrible party—” Sirius scoffs. “My parties aren’t terrible.” Remus’ eyebrows shoot up. “We listened to Kokomo by the Beach Boys four times in a row. It’s not a good enough song for that.” “That’s because the CD player kept skipping back. We’re working with prehistoric technology and Marlene’s taste in music, cut me some slack!”

[stonecoldhedwig]

i decided to make antarctica is slowly becoming a hyper fixation for me because of your fanfic 😭😭😭 any recommendations books/movies/documentaries ect or what did u use to get ur inspiration/informations for your fanfic??? i’m obsessed 🙏💖🪭

Hello! Thank you so much for this fun ask, and I'm so glad you're enjoying the fic 🥰

I mainly read stuff, rather than watch, in part because I learn best that way; and in part because there are a lot of BAD documentaries out there. That said, @bloodonthetracks93 recommended Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World and that's my favourite documentary bar none.

You should also probably watch The Thing, for science.

I try to read some scientific papers for each of the characters, but as I am an historian by training, not a scientist, I assume my impressions of current research are imperfect. Through a glass, darkly, etc.

I've put my reading list below the cut! I will maybe make a GDoc of this at some point, once I have read more.

General Antarctica

Antarctica: A Biography - David Day (excellent primer on the continent)

Antarctica Atlas - Peter Fretwell (for the maps!)

Terra Incognita - Sara Wheeler (my personal favourite)

Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica - Rebecca Priestly (I finished this recently; I found Priestly both very moving, and incredibly annoying. YMMV)

Antarctica: An Intimate Portrait of the World's Most Mysterious Continent - Gabrielle Walker (this was fine)

Antarctica on a Plate: Misadventures of a Polar Chef - Alexa Thomson (I wouldn't really describe this book as good but it's ended up being good inspiration for a handful of side characters)

Alone in Antarctica - Felicity Aston (I thought this was bad, but I have included it anyway)

Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration

Before the Heroes Came: Antarctica in the 1890s - T. H. Baughman (this is where the title of Fugue comes from! Baughman has written lots about Antarctica, I'm hoping to work through the back catalogue)

I May Be Some Time: The Story Behind the Antarctic Tragedy of Captain Scott - Francis Spufford (I don't think I've ever encountered a Spufford book I don't like)

The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard (ACG is my inspiration for one of James' antecedents; more of this in an upcoming chapter)

Cherry - Sara Wheeler (biography of the above)

Escape from the Antarctic - Ernest Shackleton

South: The Endurance Expedition - Ernest Shackleton (honestly, any Shackleton you can get your hands on)

Penguins, Marine Biology, and Other Scientific Specificities

Among Penguins: A Bird Man in Antarctica - Noah Strycker (this was a huge influence on Remus for me)

A Polar Affair: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero and the Secret Love Lives of Penguins - Lloyd Spencer Davis (this is sort of part biography of George Murray Levick from the Heroic Age, and part testimony of how penguins fuck)

Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land - James McClintock (written by a marine biologist, this has been incredibly useful for thinking about Sirius' dives)

End of the Earth - Peter Mathiesson (again good for Sirius, but also Marlene)

Fiction

The Birthday Boys - Beryl Bainbridge (novelisation of Scott's expedition to the South Pole)

Biggles Breaks the Silence - W.E. Johns (I read this as a kid, and found my copy at my parents' over Christmas)

Other Inspirations

Tennyson's Ulysses

Joni Mitchell's Blue

Dr Donna Oliver's Instagram account

Iceberg A23a, which succumbed this spring about a month or so after that article was written, and which I am yet to get over.

[stonecoldhedwig]

Ch. 6: Remus Lupin, Penguins (Read on AO3)

Not for the first time, Remus wonders what the fuck he’s doing with his life. He’s sitting in the canteen one afternoon in mid-October, watching the early stages of a windstorm move pieces of ice around the harbour. Sirius Black is sitting opposite him. Remus didn’t invite him to have lunch; Black just turned up, with the air of a man who has decided that every inch of this planet belongs to him, and that there is nowhere that is not enriched by his presence.

****

I'm really glad that I let this chapter marinate for a couple of days because I wrote it, came back to it, and realised it was a complete info dump about the life cycle of emperor penguins. There are still quite a lot of penguins in it.

S/o to @bloodonthetracks93 for the moral support, and also for accepting texts like these without question:

[stonecoldhedwig]

New Fugue chapter is ready to post tomorrow but it’s marinating overnight because I have my favourite book about Antarctica, my favourite beer, and this is the view from just outside my tent.

[fagcrisis]

i hate the word spicy can we bring back calling things erotic

[maryoliveoil]

rolling up to Wendy's to get an erotic chicken sandwich

[queermasculine]

im not above eating some low hanging fruit like if theres low hanging fruit i might eat some

[stonecoldhedwig]

Unfortunately for me, I now know what my next Jily obsession fic is going to be post-Fugue because this was astonishingly good and SO Jily-coded.

I may also feel this way because I’ve had my annual Kir Royal, and crème de cassis makes me silly.

[gumy-shark]

oh, no, you misunderstand me. those were my monkeys. yeah the circus and i have since parted ways. yeah it was the elephant thing, i dont really want to address that right now though

[nateconnolly]

Huge shout to my friend from an undergraduate philosophy program who started working out every single day, not for health benefits or to become conventionally attractive or whatever, but because -- and this is a direct quote -- he was concerned that otherwise he might "become lost in the world of signs and forget the things they signify". I have thought about this every single time that I've worked out since.

[stonecoldhedwig]

Ch. 5: Rock/Hard Place (Read on AO3)

“Oh, I’m making more of a deal out of it?” James snorts as they turn onto their corridor and head for their rooms. “I mentioned I think she’s attractive once and you have to act like a teenager about it. You’re thirty-seven, for fuck’s sake.” Sirius scoffs behind him. “Oh, like you can talk!” James swings round and glares at him. He lowers his voice—the walls in the Gryff are paper-thin—and hisses, “What that’s supposed to mean?” “Forget it,” snaps Sirius in reply, rolling his eyes. “No, c’mon, you’ve got something to say, so you might as well say it.”

James has the World's Worst Day.

Pls check updated tags and TWs!

[stonecoldhedwig]

Things I have done with my free time over the past week instead of finishing James' birthday fic, or the next chapter of Fugue, or the edits on Coming, Evans:

Made a lot of strawberry and rhubarb jam

Watched [redacted] hours of Miss Marple

Started organising my study, got bored halfway through, pushed through the boredom only for the new organisation to actually be completely useless because I can't find anything

Stared out the window and thought about Katy Perry's off-putting aura

Stared in the mirror and thought about my own off-putting aura

Reorganised my greenhouse

Sent an email to my accountant that I had been strenuously avoiding for far too long, simply because it meant not thinking about my fic

Walked my dog a lot

Promptly forgot every plot point I'd come up with on said walks

Eaten [redacted] amounts of cheese and crackers

Will today be a productive day? Tune in tomorrow to find out it hasn't been!

[stonecoldhedwig]

Happy birthday James Potter, and happy Friday to me with the first camellias out of the garden this year.

In my reading about the Victorian language of flowers, camellias apparently mean “my destiny is in your hands”, which seems like a mental thing to represent with a plant that is in bloom for about three seconds of the year, and whose flowers rot in a most unattractive and prolonged manner. Something was Wrong with the Victorians, idk.