aragog was secretly a soccer mum

title: Brighten the Corners

author: montparnasse

rating: T

tags/content: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - America, Drug Use, Music

summary: Nowhere, USA, 1:47 A.M. Fate, love, nausea, and a seven-layer burrito at the Taco Bell drive-through.

wordcount: 7k

rec notes: I am a huge fan of fic that feels deeply rooted in its setting, clinging exhaustively but never frustratingly to detail and establishing a strong sense of place from the start and throughout. You get it in spades in this fic. Reading it feels like you could just dive in, lie back, spread your arms wide, and become immersed. The author's use of language is otherworldly. And this is before I even get started on the characters, tone-perfect Sirius who's full of insecurities and bursting with feeling, and Remus as an ethereal presence, elevated in Sirius' drug-induced haze. Though the fic only covers their first(-ish) meeting, you can feel the promise. It's great.

title: You Know What I Mean

author: kingdra (aroceu)

rating: T

tags/content: Hogwarts Eighth Year, Quidditch, Getting Together

summary: The only reason Zacharias was going back to Hogwarts was because Anthony Goldstein had Owled him that he would, that McGonagall had told him that they were going to have Quidditch for the next year, and that Ravenclaw was going to beat Hufflepuff for the Quidditch Cup.

wordcount: 9k

rec notes: With apologies to my co-mod, who wrote this, but the time has come to embarrass you. This is one of those fics I've read over and over again, and not just because it was a gift for me. It's one of those gems that hits all the right notes that a getting together fic ought to: all the beats of establishing the friendship, subtly putting it into "what are we" territory, and building to crisis point. There's Quidditch and rivalry and banter, there's a kiss that's both sweet and funny and a little frustrating, and it's eighth year, so honestly what more could you want? Even if you're not usually minor character oriented, I would heartily recommend diving in and giving it a read, for something short, satisfying, and perfectly formed.

title: This Word Lies At The Bottom Of A Lake

author: berhanes (sqvalors)

rating: T

tags/content: Canon Compliant, Marauders' Era, Post-Prank, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Dreams and Nightmares, Black Family, Drowning, Prophetic Dreams, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship

summary: Briefly he'd considered going to visit Remus, but Sirius has too many stacked up feelings about him to add any more, and he doesn't trust himself not to ruin their carefully patched situation in the wake of the incident – it's only been a year, after all, and there's no better way to shatter a barely recovered friendship than by doing something stupid like throwing out a declaration of love in the middle of explaining the myriad ways in which your family is deranged and terrible. So instead Sirius had hailed the Knight Bus and requested Bowness-on-Windermere.

wordcount: 8k

rec notes: I don't remember many of the details of this fic on account of the fact that I was in an emotional fugue state throughout reading it - well, all the better to reread, over and again. Short but incisive and to the point, and with the kind of characterisation that will absolutely leave you heartbroken. If the James and Sirius friendship is perfect, then the relationship between Remus and Sirius is transcendent. It's all written with such a deft touch that the prose has stuck with me ever since I first read this over a year ago. Really exceptional.