title: Calibration

author: TheDivineComedian

rating: T

tags/content: Boggarts, Remus Lupin is a badass, Hogwarts Third Year

summary: Remus's mind is usually a tidy place. The worst has already happened, what's left to be scared of? His fears are labelled, annotated, and most of all, archived. For one evening, though, he'll have to let them come out and play. (Remus prepares the Boggart for his lesson with the third years. Featuring Severus Snape as an unwanted critic, and Sirius Black as the elephant in the room.)

wordcount: 4k

rec notes: After writing about Boggarts myself, my friend sent this to me and said, "Wait, have you read Calibration?" The answer was no, I had not, but I have now, and oh my god. Oh my god! This is how you do a character study. I want to teach this fic in a masterclass. By weaving the motif of the Boggart alongside explorations of Remus' past and his fears, this fic manages to mix tense psychological horror with a sense of gradual revelation, as we get to know Remus a little better with every calibration step. I love the character work in this fic - there's some good stuff on Snape and Sirius too, with the Sirius moments being particularly heartwrenching - and the worldbuilding/magic stuff too. Plus I think this fic does something that all perfect fic does, which is sits perfectly in relation to canon as well as presenting a sort of opposition to canon in the way we receive a different version of events. It's just stunning. Short but rich, this is an easy one to tick off your "must read" list, which I have just put it on. You're welcome.

title: Fields Beyond Fields

author: montparnasse

rating: T

tags/content: Post-Hogwarts, Post-Second War with Voldemort

summary: After the war, Padma and Parvati met the monster.

wordcount: 8k

rec notes: This is another fic from the original run of the Obscuro fest, and it also happens to be one of the most beautiful fics ever written, as far as I'm concerned. It took me a very long time to read, and I don't mean that as an insult: it's just that every time I finished a sentence, I wanted to go back and read it again, and luxuriate in the language, let all the meaning and the visuals wash over me. It's artful.

title: Generally Useless Ravenclaws

author: chaserzachsmith

rating: G-T

tags/content: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Dumbledore's Army, Friendship, Post-Canon

summary: The most fun I've ever had with a weird friendship dynamic, terrible and pretentious attitudes, and various mistakes

wordcount: 55k

rec notes: This is a series of 7 fics of varying lengths, so it's easy to dip in and out of reading them if you're not looking for something long. Each of these fics looks at the Terry/Michael/Anthony friendship from a different angle, chronicling their adventures from their first year of Hogwarts to well after the war. It's funny at times, genuinely very sad at others, consistently well-written and packed with emotion. What's really impressive about this series is the wealth of headcanon for these three minor characters. I thoroughly recommend diving in.

title: towards nuclear winter

author: TobermorianSass

rating: T

tags/content: Espionage, Cold War, Politics, Wizarding Politics, Action, Spy thriller, Racism, Wizarding Racism, Xenophobia, Conspiracy, Wizarding History, The Wizarding version of the Cuban Missile Crisis & Berlin Crisis smashed into one, Pre-First War with Voldemort

summary: Being a collection of personal accounts concerning the events leading up to and following the German Border Crisis of January, 1968, the details of which have hitherto remained obscured from the public eye.

Or, the story of how Amelia Bones singlehandedly saved wizarding Europe from nuclear war, Rufus Scrimgeour got his limp, Nobby Leach was forced from office and Augustus Rookwood got his dark mark.

wordcount: 43k

rec notes: This was written by a friend, for a fest that's close to my heart: Obscuro, which focuses on genfic about minor characters. And this is exactly the kind of thing I look for in that genre; there's politics, there's drama, there's action, and most importantly, an ensemble cast of minor characters, all of whom feel fleshed out and very real in the world they inhabit. This fic is a stunning example of a spy thriller that really lives up to the genre name, i.e. it is utterly thrilling. Once you start reading, it's hard to stop.