paulamcg

Reveals – and glorious winners and amazing banners – are up at firewhiskeyfic.


Check out all the masterpieces, most of which are hugely inspired by Hagrid! Once again I resorted to an animal's perspective and to dealing with a favourite character's situation in the PoA year.

Title: Not Fish But
Author: paulamcg
Characters: Fang and a stray
Prompts used: All the prompts: Hagrid, Forbidden Forest, Stripped Bare, Cuddling by the Fire, Ice and Snow, and “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”
Summary: In February 1994, Fang decides to venture into the woods, if only to escape a fishy smell and to encounter another.
Rating: G or M
Word count: 950
Author's Notes (if any): This was written for Not-So-Dry January Edition of firewhiskeyfic. The original version can be read here in the DW community – together with the wonderful feedback from generously-commenting fellow participants.

The cleaned-up version is here on AO3
as well as right here:
( a rare joy )

I have eventually managed to continue the Cho/Luna story which I first intended for Femmefest. Having enjoyed crafting the story in my slow pace (and allowing Luna to talk about Remus, whose role threatens to make the fic not pure femslash) and reached 2K words, I decided to start posting it as a WiP (as my third ever chaptered fic). Here's the (700-word) opening scene, which is now called:

For a Change, Chapter One

Publishing this piece now, I both increase my word count for this year a bit and make sure I'll write and post something in 2023, too.

Happy New Year to all of you who still see my infrequent posts!

This year I decided not to sign up for hp_halloween. To be honest, doing all that offering and requesting now that the fest is on AO3 looks like so much work, and I know I won't be sad when there's no gift fic written for me. I've always enjoyed reading a lot of double drabbes, giving a chance to any character, any pairing, any writer.

You can find all the 47 new Halloweeny/spooky/autumny 200-word works in this AO3 collection.

Here's one of the two treats I wrote this time:

Title: Eyes Wide and Wise
Author: paulamcg
Pairing: Ginny/Luna, pre-femslash, or rather friendship
Summary: In October 1993 Ginny is haunted by the previous year's horrors. Luna can see it and knows what can be soothing.
Word Count: 200
Rating: G
Notes: This was written for DandelionConstellation at HP Halloween.

Read here on AO3,
or right here:
( in her nightmare )

This is the outcome of the motivation I found (finally, for the first time since February) in early August. I'm grateful to rarepair_shorts and to yletylyf, who wished for Severus/Kingsley, among other pairings. Here it is finally: a new fic by me that's longer than 2K words (too long, as 2K was the recommended maximum for the event).


Author: paulamcg
Title: Suggested for This Season
Pairing: Severus/Kingsley
Rating: PG-13 (for some language)
Word Count: 2500
Summary: On the day after November's full moon in 1993, Severus has nothing against checking out how much can be gained by meeting the Auror who is not welcome at Hogwarts.
Notes: This was written for yletylyf at the Rare Pair Shorts Summer Wishlists 2022. Dearest Lety, thank you for suggesting this pairing! I hope there's something in this little story that appeals to you. Thank you for the beta, justtoarguewithyou! All the remaining mistakes and oddities are mine.

Read here on AO3,
here in the DW community,
or right here: ( this wizard sent by the Ministry )

After completing the story made of the microchapters that May prompts on Tumblr inspired, I felt I needed to go on. So as to have some joy, I needed the daily writing challenges, small accomplishments, and the little bit of response to fic it turned out to be possible even for me to get on that platform. This is how I've ended up giving another try to the Wolfstar fandom.

( Back when I returned from hiatus )

At the beginning of June I came across wolfstarmicrofic. And now for three weeks I've tried my best to stay content with the small number of likes and reblogs I get when I only slowly gain one or two more followers and my fics can't possibly get much attention. Besides, I still stick to my own style and perhaps unusual scenarios.

I've posted something on the basis of twenty prompts (just not on today's yet), a couple of times using two prompts in one fic. All these fics are with the wolfstarmicrofic hash tag on my Tumblr, here. Because ten of the fics are based on scenes in my earlier fics, I've posted only eight on AO3.

These four stories are set before Sirius went to Azkaban and have been added to my series The Four Shapeshifters.
Secret Records (200 words)
Private Rainbows (250 words)
Penny Sweets (235 words)
Right Here Right Now (250 words)

These are the new post-Azkaban stories, and each of them is part of my series Escape, Lie Low.
Broken Memory (200 words)
Relearning Closeness (700 words)
Imaginary and Real (200 words)
The Album Remus Has Treasured (100 words)

The reveals are finally up at Remus Lupin Fest. I can take the blame for this canon-divergent-after-OotP gen fic.

Title: Timeless Like the Wolf's World
Author: paulamcg
Characters: Remus, werewolf OCs, the three Animagi in memories
Rating: G
Word Count: 2900
Summary: In May 1997, after defying the Ministry, Dumbledore and a werewolf leader, Remus Jaws Lupin invites some members of his pack to run with him under the full moon so as to reach and share memories.

Read here on AO3
or right here: ( he can remember names )

Reveals are up at the Salt and Pepper Fest. The Master List is here in hp_goldenage, and the AO3 collection, now complete with the writers' names, is here.

My contribution to the fest has turned out to be the first Filch/the Fat Lady fic posted on AO3. However, the story features some additional relationships, and includes other themes and topics besides the unusual romance. I still hope some more readers will find it interesting enough.

Title: Being Not Normal
Author: paulamcg (PaulaMcG)
Characters/Pairings: Argus Filch/the Fat Lady, Argus Filch/Albus Dumbledore, Argus Filch & Mrs Norris, Argus Filch & Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin/Sirius Black
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 6,000
Content: PoA missing scenes/retelling, Portraits, Late-life romance, Asexuality spectrum
Summary: Argus has lived to mature years before he realises that he lacks something else besides magic. There's still more for him to learn about rats and pranksters, about restoring paintings, and about himself.
A/N: Thank you for the beta, justtoarguewithyou! Thank you for the fabulous fest, torino10154 and sdk!

Read here on AO3,
here in the fest community
or right here: ( More useful and rewarding )

Exceptionally, I'm making a third post on the same day, because there's another Sweetheart treat I want to share.


Title: Another Rebel
Author: paulamcg
Pairing: Remus/Kingsley
Rating: G
Word Count: 200
Summary:
Notes: This was written as a treat for Beth H (bethbethbeth) at HP Sweethearts 2022. Thank you for the beta, justtoarguewithyou!

Feel free to give me a hit, perhaps also a kudos or a comment :) here on AO3,
besides reading right here:



Another Rebel



The sight of the Auror waiting by Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop startles Remus. Another rebel – wearing jeans and a leather jacket instead of the uniform or any wizard's outfit.

"Professor Lupin..." Kingsley says in his characteristically slow rhythm, reassuring and oddly arousing. "This time there is a recent sighting..."

There's nothing Remus can report. If he'd spotted the escaped prisoner's name on the map he confiscated two days ago.... He wouldn't say that, but how he glimpsed... He can't explain why, a week earlier, nobody besides the portrait and young Weasley did.

He's abandoned watching the map for one evening only to ask Aberforth again if a stray has come to the Hog's Head for scraps – perhaps for a conversation like those he has with his goats. Now a reprieve from chasing the ghosts of his youth is tempting.

"It's a bit chilly. Tea? It's on me." Thanks to having a regular income, for once, Remus can afford little heart-shaped cakes, or one to share – even better.

"May I?" he'll say at Puddifoot's, in the romantic rosy light, which will bring out the deep brown complexion's warm reddish undertones, and he'll swipe off Kingsley's knit cap, caressing the shapely shaved head.

This year, too, I've wanted to do at least one fill at the Three-Sentence Ficathon. The prompt I used was any, any, how their story will be told years/decades/centuries later by elementalraven. This time I decided to stick not only to three sentences, but also to exactly one hundred words (but later I realised that a double drabble with this sentence count would have been a more interesting challenge).

Feel free to give me a hit, perhaps also a kudos or a comment :) here on AO3,
besides reading right here:



His and Sirius's Tale



When Sirius's death recurs in Remus's nightmares, he gets an odd foreboding that, in case he, too, dies in this second war, perhaps after ten years there'll be rumours about a werewolf who lost all his friends, was seduced by a young witch, and left behind an orphan.

Maybe later his and Sirius's tale will be fixed again and again for those who need to see two extraordinary wizards – or any cute blokes – in a world where everyone's queer and accepted.

He must live, doing justice to Sirius's tragedy and their love, and share the whole true story with Harry.

Reveals are up at firewhiskeyfic. I'm proud to have received my second award for the Least Coherent work. This time I tied in the voting with walgesang, who wrote a fabulous Witcher/Arthur fic. It's worth visiting the community to check out also all the other amazing works and the rest of the beautiful Dad Bod banners!



Title: Figuring It Out
Author: paulamcg
Characters: Arthur, Ron, Ginny
Pairing: Mainly gen, but implied Arthur/Molly and Molly/Amelia
Rating: G
Word Count: 590
Summary: In January 1990, Arthur tries to relax and get something done.
Author's Notes: This was written for the Dad Bod edition of firewhiskeyfic. The prompts were: Arthur Weasley, Ottery St Catchpole, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, Plugs, Tinker, and Dad (perhaps also Dad Bod, and Dad by Edgar Albert Guest). I've now tried my best to fix the spelling and added a bit of punctuation. The rest of the incoherence of my typical stream-of-consciousness and second-person writing is intact here.

The original version with all the glory of the tipsy typos can be read here in the DW community.

The cleaned-up version is here on AO3
as well as right here:
( you'll manage )