Career ideas for marauders era characters (in a world where no one died)
James: either Quidditch player or Auror because he loves being active and in the field; he also likes his work day to never be the same and have an impact in other people’s lives
Peter: an office job at the Ministry of Magic because he wants something stable and prefers not having to shoulder the burden of decision-making responsibility; also his mum suggested applying for it and if she’s happy, he’s happy too; saves adventure for his free time
Lily: social worker or working for an NGO; she’s an activist and participates in many protests; likes to help people and change the world for the better; might have gone to university beforehand because she wants to be as well-educated about different topics as possible
Severus: renowned pioneer in the field of potion-brewing; has created several revolutionary potions and written many acclaimed books on the topic; mostly does research because there’s always room for improvement but doesn’t really give lectures since his heart belongs to the craft not the presentation of it
Remus: long-time student (because there is just too much knowledge to be obtained!) working the odd job on the side; eventually becomes a teacher or professor and tries to pass on his enthusiasm/ alternatively, he joins a research team (maybe uni was too expensive?) and travels the world; he starts out in a very low and badly-paid position but eventually works his way up and starts researching and exploring the world on his own (Sirius tags along sometimes)
Sirius: something between Newt Scamander and Hagrid - maybe a vet for magical creatures?; the marauders liked to help out Hagrid with groundskeeping during their school years and Sirius discovered that he had a knack for magical creatures; they trust him easily and he likes to take care of them; prefers to stay in one place (practice/ shelter) where he knows each animal but sometimes works in the wilderness as well
Regulus: studied magical law or something similar and gets a high-ranking position to make his parents happy; realises later on that he doesn’t really like working for rich dudes with questionable morals; also realises that he has some valuable skills if he just changes his job a little bit and uses his power for good (e.g. becomes a judge in the Wizengamot)
Marlene: activist like Lily but she’s much more of a streetfighter and nobody really knows how she makes money but she somehow gets by just fine; in reality, it’s actually not that mysterious - she just can create something useful out of literally anything and doesn’t feel like she’s above any type of work
Dorcas: painter/musician/florist; she loves creating with her hands and touching people’s hearts; uses her skills both to soothe pain and evoke or enhance happiness; doesn’t do it for the money but her kind personality and incredible work is so well-received that she always earns a pretty penny
Alice: runs her own shop in Diagon Alley or a Bed&Breakfast type of thing; kind but under the surface also extremely badass - people who misinterpreted her kindness as weakness never made the same mistake twice; cares deeply for her employees and customers
Frank: used to work for the Ministry but now helps out Alice and is happy being a stay-at-home dad; his mother is convinced that he must be miserable and missing his previous job - but in reality, climbing the career ladder felt like the worst decision in his life whereas climbing trees with his son feels like the best
Deleted Scene: Remus grills Sirius about the full moon
This is the original, unedited hospital wing scene between Remus and Sirius from my fanfiction Jessamine & Lemon Balm. I cut it during a rewrite because it would have taken the story in a slightly different direction but when I went through my drafts I kind of liked it as an independent Wolfstar snippet...
“Was there anything worrisome tonight?” Remus asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Sirius immediately halted in his movements. Well.
“Moony, no.” Sirius lifted his head and met his gaze earnestly. “You’d never hurt us. And we don’t let you hurt anybody else.”
“But you are hurt,” Remus insisted and touched the little scratches again.
“I have worse bruises on my knee from sneaking around last week. I promise those scratches are nothing.”
Although he wasn’t quite convinced, Remus rested his head back onto the pillows and stared at the ceiling. “Okay, tell me.”
Sirius let his fingers wander along Remus’ chest. “Well, there was a very handsome wolf boy, who loved the moon very much and wanted to spend all night in its beautiful light…”
Remus felt his lips stretch into a smile. One of the things that had always freaked him out most about his transformations was the fact that he couldn’t remember anything he had done when the next morning came. But since his friends had started to join him, they had made a habit of recounting their nightly adventures once he was himself again.
At the beginning, they had taken turns, but more and more often, it seemed to be Sirius who stayed with him in the hospital wing while James and Peter took on the job of keeping up appearance for the four of them. But Remus liked Sirius’ stories best anyway. It always appeared to be the dog that the wolf let get closest. The one that he played and chased each other with.
“Being alone underneath the moonlight was cold and boring, though. This is why the wolf boy found himself a dog boy who was also lonely and cold and bored.” Sirius mimed two different characters with his fingers. “They spend the whole night cuddling and warming each other. And suddenly, they felt very happy and safe with the moon watching over them…The End.”
Remus drew his eyebrows together in confusion. Normally, these stories went very differently. A werewolf was still no lap dog after all.
“The End?” He asked sceptically.
“The End.” Sirius confirmed and patted his chest gently.
Remus lifted his head and squinted down at him. Sirius gave him a reassuring smile in return, but Remus could see its nervous edges. He also noticed the sudden twitch in Sirius’ fingers. His suspicion sky-rocketed.
“What are you hiding from me? That’s like…You know that this sounds like a pretty big reach.”
Sirius lowered his gaze and stared at his hand splayed on Remus’ nightshirt. “Don’t be mad…I…we don’t even really know…it’s nothing really…I just know you’ll freak out…but it was actually kind of…sweet?”
Remus gulped, suddenly dreading his answer. “What…what happened?”
Sirius took a deep breath and opened his mouth. Then he stopped, his eyes zeroing in Remus’ hand. “Give me your hand.”
“Wha...What?”
“Give me your hand,” Sirius said more determinately and reached out to grab it himself. Confusedly, Remus let him do as he had wanted to.
Carefully, Sirius pulled their arms into Remus’ sight and splayed his left hand against Remus’ right. “Do you see this hand? It’s a perfectly functioning hand.”
As if he wanted to prove a point, he wriggled his fingers and slipped them between Remus’, stretching and tightening them a few times. If possible, Remus was even more confused.
“Okay…,” he replied slowly, slightly distracted by the fact that Sirius was effectively holding his hand at the moment. “And…?”
Sirius curled his fingers again and tightened his grip on Remus’ skin. “I might have…,” he started haltingly. He bit his lip and avoided Remus’ gaze before he quickly rushed out: “...brokenmypawlastnight.”
“What?” Abruptly, Remus sat up, jostling Sirius into an upright position as well. Surprisingly, he felt no pain shooting through his body apart from an unpleasant twinge in his lower back.
This was what he had always been afraid of. That he would seriously hurt his friends during the full moon and nobody was around to safe them. They couldn’t even change back to heal themselves with their wands!
“Moony, it’s okay!” Sirius exclaimed quickly and tried to push him back onto the mattress. “Look, it’s fine! It’s-”
Sirius gave up on pressing his weight against him and nervously flailed his hands around instead. Remus grabbed both of his wrists and forced them to stay still. Sirius took a sharp breath.
“Which one?” Remus asked with husky voice, his eyes closed in fear. Sirius didn’t respond.
Slowly, Remus opened his eyes again and mustered Sirius sheepish, slightly pained expression. Instinctively, his gaze drifted to Sirius’ right hand, which was wrapped in a tight bandage. Quickly, Remus loosened the grip around his wrist.
“Shit! Sorry! Did I hurt you?!” Remus let go of Sirius’ other hand as well and cradled the injured one between his palms. “Did Madam Pomfrey not heal you?”
“No, it’s fine…and she did,” Sirius whispered quietly. “Well, most of it at least. She said if I was stupid enough to sneak around during a full moon, I could deal with healing the last of it the muggle way.”
Remus fell back onto his pillows and stared at the ceiling, an unsettling feeling suddenly spreading from his stomach to his throat. “You tried to trick me.”
“I’m…I’m sorry.” Sirius didn’t move.
“You deliberately lied to my face,” Remus continued and inhaled shakily. “Do you do that often?”
“No, I…not about the bad stuff anyway.”
Remus lifted his head a little and mustered Sirius who was fiddling with his sleeves, an unreadable but vulnerable expression on his face. It pulled at Remus’ heartstrings. He groaned and reached for Sirius to pull his head back onto his chest.
“No more lies,” he said sternly. Sirius snuggled into his side, relaxing slightly.
“Okay,” he whispered sheepishly.
“None at all. I want to know everything that happened last night.”
Sirius nodded reluctantly.
“Well?”
Hesitantly, Sirius cleared his throat. “It was an accident,” he started slowly. “We were racing each other and I misjudged and…you stopped in time, but I didn’t see the slope – only a chance to beat you – and…well, I just tumbled down in full speed and landed really badly.”
“Were you scared?” Remus asked, mustering him worriedly and more sympathetically.
Sirius sniffed a little. “Yeah. I mean, I was lucky that it was just a leg, but at the time I didn’t think like that, of course. It just hurt so badly and I could tell that Prongs and Wormtail were panicking and I just didn’t know how to get up again and carry on.”
Remus bit his lip and examined the peeling paint on the ceiling. He didn’t want to, but he needed to ask. “What did I-the wolf do? Did it try to attack you?”
Sirius didn’t respond. A few seconds passed. Sirius cleared his throat. Nothing.
“Padfoot…” Remus said warningly and forced his gaze back to his friend’s despite the fact that he was scared shitless.
Sirius squirmed against his side, not meeting Remus’ eyes.
“No. I…,” he finally gave in and if Remus didn’t know any better he’d think that he was turning as red as a beetroot. “The rest of the story…is actually…true?” Remus stared at him in confusion.
a) Sirius was the first one to figure out that Remus was a werewolf because he was determined to be friends with him no matter how reluctant Remus was and was overall unreasonably obsessed with every little thing that Remus did
b) Sirius needed to be hit over the head with a bludger (courtesy of James) to notice anything amiss because everyone in his family had dodgy secrets and disappearing each month only to reappear with fresh injuries was actually pretty unremarkable in his book
Tumblr: Sirius is sex-on-legs; a rebellious bad boy and flirt who has fucked everything that moves; may or may not be in love with Remus Lupin
Me: Sirius was raised in an uptight, frigid pureblood household and knows fuck all about sex; he’s way too “cool” and insecure to admit that, though; also - Remus Lupin
I kind of love the fact that Ma Mary always knows when Erin & the others are full of shit but Erin also immediately knows when her Ma is full of shit...
Does anybody ever stumble across their own writing and think "okay, I'm actually kind of intrigued" and then you get excited because you remember that you had so many ideas for the story - only to realise you wrote like three pages before you abandoned it and now you're kind of mad at yourself because you wanna know how it continues?
