Ten Oldschool Black Family Halloween Recs
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Happy Hump Day!!! Because Halloween Season is Addams Black Family Season! I got us some spooky on brand Oldschool Black Family recs!!!
AO3 Collection for this list
Rec note - Read the warnings on the fics because some of them are pretty intense. Recs are based on my reading. It's a big fandom out there and I am just one reader.
The Son by @perverse-idyll
Length - 5400 words.
Featuring - Regulus!
Rec because - Regulus is one of the biggest tragedies in the HP books. In this gorgeous, gorgeous fic we get to see what he's thinking about when Sirius picks his side in the war. It's super tragic and really really beautifully written.
Regulus had always finished second, and for the longest time he'd believed that was the way it should be. Merlin, he'd been as besotted as everyone else. He'd craved Sirius' teasing and insults. He would have given up his robes with the embroidered edges and silver buttons, his favourite books, Mother's absentminded tokens of love, Father's casual approval. He would have given them to Sirius and suffered in silence.
But not at this price. Not if Sirius wanted to destroy them and everything they stood for.
The Cherry Tree by rinsbane
Length - 8600 words
Featuring - Bellatrix/Narcissa
Rec because - rinsbane does femslash like nobody else. It's dirtybadhotwrong with perfect characterization. This fic is hot but also crazy intense on the psychology side. We get to see a lot of undercurrents about the politics of their family/social group. Bellatrix is pretty creepy here. But her sister is definitely her match.
Bella’s own arousal has faded, not because she didn’t enjoy what she did, but because she did so very much. The soft shimmer of the golden pink petals in her mind and blood and heart is a continuous stream of pleasure that pulses through her, more intense than anything.
The Lion's Share by pauraque
Length - 1400 words
Featuring - Sirius/Regulus
Rec because - Regulus obsessing about Sirius is my favorite Black family siblings vibe. We get that here. We get a lot of that here. It's perfect! Pauraque writes one of the best Regulus characterizations out there in their fics <3
The bed creaks beneath Regulus's rhythmic bouncing as he searches the model's vacant eyes, desperately wishing he could see what she has seen, know what she knows as she bears silent witness to Sirius's pleasure. Does he imagine this girl real and in his arms? Does he imagine the mystery between her legs, dark and unfathomable? Sirius is getting older, and one day he'll do it. One day he'll bring a girl home late at night, sneaking and snickering past bedroom doors, and he'll do it right here on this bed, with Regulus just on the other side of the wall.
Friday's Child by deslea
Length - 3200 words
Featuring - Narcissa, Bellatrix, Andromeda, Cygnus
Rec because - Dark, brilliant and really really tragic. This fic is a perfect Halloween fic because of how scary it gets. Definitely read the warnings! Deslea is one of the OG Black family authors who wrote some of the most hard-hitting fics about them. Definitely check out their other fics if you are into the Black family!
Everything that had happened, happened to Narcissa Black.
They hadn't happened to her at all.
Rec note - This fic inspired the brilliant Narcissa POV, A horse with no name, in eldritcher's Pandemic. If you are familiar with the Pandemic fics you can definitely see the characterizations and the themes that are inspired from this fic.
Al Aaraaf by eldritcher
Length - 1900 words
Featuring - Walburga, Regulus, Sirius.
Rec because - Walburga's husband is dead. Of course she does what any totally normal Black family member will do. She makes a sacrifice to resurrect him. Really Halloween. Really creepy. Really, really wrong and delicious. Also deeply moving and brilliant. The fic's concept is a horrifying nightmare but eldritcher's prose is way too beautiful to make it anything other than a lucid dream. I feel that makes the fic scarier.
There was a star between paradise and hell. Al Aaraaf was its name to the Persians. There the night waned and waned and brought no day.
In paint and wood she woke, in limbo's maw, in a place between paradise and hell. Her night waned and waned and brought no day.
A Whiter Shade of Pale by amluv
Length - 4500 words
Featuring - Andromeda/Bellatrix
Rec because - Love the introspective Andromeda POV we get here. It's in the 1st person and brings us really deep inside her head. What's not to like! Also really love the fated vibe of Andromeda being unable to escape her past.
Then something odd happens. Something I had not anticipated. The predator seems to disappear and is replaced by something new. Something...tender...loving...needing. She bends down and kisses me tenderly on the lips. For a moment all is right in the world. For a moment, I'm transported back to a place I have been longing for all this time. A place where nothing on the outside truly mattered.
Drawing the Line by ChokolatteJedi
Length - 21600 words
Featuring - Sirius, Bellatrix, Andromeda, Narcissa, Walburga, Orion
Rec because - Because Big Bang fic, baby! It's got plot. It's complicated. It's got some super messy characters with peak Black family vibes. It's got some of the most interesting takes I saw in a Black Family Lordship trope.
Sirius smiled. Yes, he would succeed. He had Bellatrix in his arms, he had Rabastan on his side, and his mysterious guide had just confirmed his progress. "Yes. I will become the Black Lord. I will usher in the Era of Black," he declared.
Black Cracks by RosaCalavera
Length - 900 words
Featuring - Bellatrix/Cygnus
Rec because - They are a pretty messed up family. So we have got to include this fic that shows the full potential of their level of messed up. Read the warnings.
Behind his head, she can see the cracks opening. It's disgusting and shamefull and the walls quake around them. Bits of plaster fall. The promise of oblivion within those slowly growing cracks.
Alphard's Favourite by @thistlecatfics
Length - 4700 words
Featuring - Alphard/Sirius
Rec because - THISTLECAT! <3 But also dirtyhotbadwrongdelicious. Also Peter Pettigrew POV. His observer POV helps us to see how extra crazy this family is. It hits harder than a direct POV!! Also it's got my fav line about Sirius :D
He was the type of dog where you had to learn his tells - flattening ears or low growl - or else you would lose your hand.
lost it all by orphan_account
Length - 2400 words
Featuring - Orion, Walburga, Regulus
Rec because - A Black family dinner after Sirius leaves. Walburga is a total mess. Poor Regulus who's got to deal with her! A brilliant 1st person POV genfic.
But Blacks don’t cry. Blacks must hold up the tradition. Blacks must never break down. Blacks are what they must be. Blacks never say, “Forgive me.” Blacks never plead, “Come back.” Blacks never utter the things that weigh on their hearts so heavily it almost crushes them.
