Immature

Immature by Walkingcensure

Summary: Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter are seven years old, plump, cute, and innocent. Life for them is all about cake, ice cream, friendship bracelets, and premature vows of love. Humour, 8,713 Words.

Why You Should Care: Because it’s so cute! Mini!Marauders and Mini!Lily may just be the best things ever. There’s a wonderful ruefullness about reading this story, it takes you back to the dramas of being seven and all the crazy stuff you used to believe and it’s fun. Additionally, the author manages to keep all the characters pretty in character, and also passably young. It’s a nice gimmick, but done so well that it feels like more.

Why You Might Not Care: Vaguely AU. Also, small people are not everyone’s cup of tea. Plus, Lily/James.

Note: I haven’t actually been able to pin down Chelle about recs, but I guess I’ll just post as many as I can as often as I can until Chelle tells me not to…?

Death and King’s Cross

Death and King’s Cross by Sciathan File

Summary: Who was to know Death had etiquette enough to be personalized? Oneshot, 10,074 Words.

Why You Should Care: Because it’s my very favorite Harry Potter afterlife fic ever, I think.  It’s amazingly well characterised and considered, with each afterlife tailored to the individual.  It is completely canon, having been launched from the springboard of the King’s Cross chapter in Deathly Hallows, and it’s just really, really well done.  JKR would approve, I think.  Hedwig’s interlude especially made me smile.

Why You Might Not Care: If you dislike afterlife fics, that is all this one is about.  Otherwise, it’s really an excellent comment on the characters it covers.  Definitely worth the time to read.

Surprises

Surprises by Lady Bracknell

Summary: Lily likes surprises, and this thing with James Potter has been positively filled with those. Drabble, 678 Words.

Why You Should Care: Ahhh… this tops up my James/Lily metre nicely.  It’s sweet, a bit romantic, and mostly sigh-worthy fluff.  Lady Bracknell’s just damn good at finding all those impossible little nothing moments that mean so much.

Why You Might Not Care: All about James/Lily for people who ship elsewhere.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Nellie Darlin

Summary: The real reason Lily Evans keeps turning James Potter down?  She’s already sleeping with his best friend…. Romance/Drama, 18,890. (NC17)

Guest Rec’d By: Kira

Why You Should Care: A canon-compliant Lily/Sirius fic that manages to (fantastically!) document how Lily migrates from one Marauder to another without being dreadfully angsty or making her seem like a fickle shrew.  Nellie writes with an entrancing voice that creates perfect imagery and captivating characters.  What really wins me over is the excellent dynamics that she writes between the characters – Lily and her conundrum between James and Sirius – and how, despite it being a Lily/Sirius fic, she manages to fill in the transformational gaps for James from “arrogant, bullying toe-rag” to love of Lily’s life and the Lily/James moments are precious.  The final scene is possibly one of the best fanfiction end-offs I’ve ever read; it takes my breath away every time.

Why You Might Not Care: There’s not much here for people who can’t stand Lily/Sirius, but if you’re even mildly neutral towards the pairing, you’ll find this fic endearing.  There’s an OFC best friend for Lily, which is common enough in Marauder-era fics, and while this one’s a little bubbly, she doesn’t annoy and serves as an important plot device as opposed to others who are window-dressing Mary Sues.  Personally, I was initially a bit off-put by under-aged sex (16 y.o’s – but I frankly prefer to think that no one at Hogwarts is tapping any ass until they permanently leave the gates), but apparently that’s all the rage these days with young whippersnappers.

Haggis From Algernon

Haggic From Algernon by Vea and GhostOfBambi

Summary: The fic about nothing. Humour, 101,594 Words.

Why You Should Care: Because it’s funny, and there’s not enough funny left in this damned fandom. Part-crack, part-romance, part-cat!worship, this fic is two talented comic authors playing with Lily, James and the eponymous Algernon to whom I give my heart.

Why You Might Not Care: It’s almost crack, and, hard as they try, there’s no poignancy or worthiness. Not drink-safe.

Awards: 2008 Hourglass Award, Best Comedy Fic — Second Place

Curiousity

Curiousity by Lady Bracknell

Summary: Remus has always been curious about Lily Evans, but kept his distance. Now, he wants to do nothing of the sort. Oneshot, 2,183 Words.

Why You Should Care: No one makes me love the Remus/Lily pairing as much as Lady Bracknell does. Even though the idea of Lily cheating on James makes me all sad inside, I love this despite that. Somehow Lady Bracknell manages to make this infidelity the right choice for the characters and the situation, like a necessary aside rather than a moral detour. Neither of them regret it, and somehow neither do I. It’s cathartic for them, I think; it wouldn’t have been worse to continue to let their feelings be unfelt forever.

Why You Might Not Care: If James/Lily infidelity makes you weep, maybe steer clear. It’s rated R for sex, but it all seems fairly worksafe to me.

A 12-Step Program

A 12-Step Program by FalseEyelashes

Summary: 12 steps. 12 steps, and you can cure alcoholism, sex addiction, a love of coke, an uncontrollable rage or that hatred within yourself. 12 steps and you can dance in reverse, fall apart and watch the carefully constructed fabric of your life unravel. And in 12 steps, two people can foolishly fall in love.  Novel-Length (almost), 39,019 Words.

Why You Should Care: This is a stirred and physicologically colourful look at love, lust, and the difference (or sometimes lack thereof) between the two.  The characterisations of Lily and Remus are multifaceted and startlingly (almost shockingly) real — even bordering on gritty — and what strikes me most is how appropriate for their age this emotional opera is.  The writing is stylized and almost exclusively narrative, slipping into and reaching most of Lily’s conscious and unconscious thoughts.  In some ways, this is an angsty fic about angst.

Why You Might Not Care: This fic could be seen by some to be overindulgent, and in some ways I might agree, except I remember what it was like to be in my own head at 18 and think that maybe a little of that is part of the point, really.  It’s both fascinating and tedious; in some places it digs so deep it starts going in circles.

Twenty Random Facts About Lily and James

Twenty Random Facts About Lily and James by Thistlerose

Summary: Lily, James, and a popular LJ meme. Oneshot, 1,500 Words.

Why You Should Care: This is made up of the pieces that make a two people, and especially the pieces that make them work so well together.  Wonderful, brief glimpses into two lives cut short, and beautifully poignant without being indulgent.

Why You Might Not Care: Surprise!  It’s another list fic!  There’s also some non-essential but ridiculously blatant Remus/Sirius that definitely didn’t have to be there, but that’s Remus/Sirius for you.

Five Reasons Why Lily Evans Does Not Like Sirius Black (And Five Reasons Why She Does)

Five Reasons Why Lily Evans Does Not Like Sirius Black (And Five Reasons Why She Does) by Papered

Summary: Sirius Black is infuriating in a way only he can be. And maybe that’s why Lily Evans comes to like him. Romance, 3,374 Words.

Why You Should Care: Hey there, your resident Lily/Sirius shipper checks in with a rec. This fic tells the Lily/Sirius story in a original, almost funny, sweet and fitting way. You can see it happen: Papered is expert at giving just enough detail for us to envisage the scene. Denial!Lily is the best thing ever.

Why You Might Not Care: List fics should die. Even ones where the form is actually used pretty well, like this one. But read on.

Apology: This is late from yesterday. Laptop issues. Sorry for inconvenience!

Rush

Rush by Infinitesimal

Summary: He whispers, hot open mouthed kisses, and she tastes like cinnamon from her toast that morning and the butterbeer he had bought for her, ran all the way to Hogsmeade under his cloak and bought for her, just because she said she’d never tried one before. I want you to experience everything he’d told her, and she’d looked so innocent. Oneshot, 1,408 Words.

Why You Should Care: I know I recced Infinitesimal just the other day, but this fic is so noteworthy that I hope you’ll let it pass. This short and simple Lily/James piece is so richly emotive and carnally passionate that something within you stirs as you read it. At first glance it just feels like a pointless, mussed-haired moment, but the details about the emotions and facets of the characters give this piece light, shade and depth as the characters stand gingerly on the edge of the precipice.

Why You Might Not Care: Rated NC-17 and at times gets a little close to being a little PWP-ish, but mainly it’s character-driven, not porn-driven.

Valedictory

Valedictory by Thirty2Flavors

Summary: It is the night before the Fidelius Charm is performed, and Lily cannot shake the feeling that this will be the last time she ever sees Sirius Black. Oneshot, 2,091 Words.

Why You Should Care: This piece broke my heart when I first read it. You might think, alright, the last time James and Lily will ever see Sirius — okay, not that original, moving on. But no, Thirty2Flavors dives right in and presents the scene with such raw emotion that I can guarantee that you have never seen it like this before. I rarely cry at fanfiction, but tears were streaming down my face by the end of this one. Lovely, and heartbreaking, and so real. Thirty2Flavors, once again, has set my personal canon.

Why You Might Not Care: Sharp, piercing angst. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Also, like I said, you might have already imagined or read about this scene — but really, it’s so worth reading, even if you think you’ve seen it all before. (Maybe you’re tired of reading Thirty2Flavor’s fics, too, but I have no sympathy for you there, because you’d have to be mad not to love her work.)

Awards: 2007 Hourglass, Best Oneshot — Second Place.

Myriad

Myriad by Infinitesimal

Summary: To fall, to fly, to sleep, to dream, to die. Drabble, 898 Words.

Why You Should Care: I love Lily. I love happy!Lily and pregnant!Lily and James’!Lily. But most of all I love crazy!Lily. Half-minded, edge-of-a-precipice, somewhere between here and insanity Lily. This fic, with its so-tangible imagery and its so-relatable narrative, is the perfect example of this Lily I love. The depiction of grief and self-deception in this fic is heartbreaking and honest. You laugh and you cry reading this fic and damnit, it’s less than 900 words.

Why You Might Not Care: Very brief and gratuitous angst/purple prose. But you love it really.

Once Upon a Time, In Winter

Once Upon a Time, In Winter by CatFoxBird

Summary: He had to see her, just once more. Oneshot, 1,923 Words.

Why You Should Care: I’m not really sure, actually, except that there’s something about it I quite like.  Maybe it’s the mixing of unrequited romance and creepiness that suits Snape’s character, and how — for a little while — his motives and plans for that night are seriously in question, and it feels like the story might move into darkfic territory in a hurry.  Wonderful tension that breaks on the lighter side.

Why You Might Not Care: I probably would have liked this fic even more if it had moved into darkfic territory, because there is serious potential to dive head-first into some obviously dark themes.  It would have been a different story, though.  And probably a different character.

If I’m A Fool For You

If I’m A Fool For You by Esinde Nayrall

Summary: On New Year’s Eve, Remus Lupin makes a promise to Sirius Black. Five days later, Remus Lupin makes a promise to himself. If he keeps them both, it will be the hardest thing he’s ever done. Romance, 84, 000 Words.

Why You Should Care: It’s hard to write Remus/Sirius originally: it’s all been done before, but this fic feels fresh. The author has very clear characterisations of Remus and Sirius and they’re quite out of the norm, and yet they fit perfectly with the adults we know they will grow into. But this fic is more than heartbreaking (which it is, by the way. There’s a whole load of angst. I cried. I never cry at fic.). James and Peter are also really well characterised; these feel like real people and the way they react to different situations is also very real. Not to be missed.

Why You Might Not Care: There’s slash. Lots of slash. Some NC-17 slash. Quite a bit of NC-17 slash, actually. And also, angst that makes you want to die, just to stop it. And a rubbish attempt at using the Black Family Tree. As in, Sirius’ mother is Cassiopeia and his uncle Alphard is dating a guy called Marius. But yes. Read this fic, it’s fabulous.

The More Things Change

The More Things Change by Shimotsuki

Summary: Sirius Black has been unnervingly polite ever since Lily found herself actually kissing James Potter. Oneshot, 1,344 Words.

Why You Should Care: Because something of this sort probably would have happened.  James and Sirius’ friendship was so tight that Lily taking up a certain amount of James’ time must have upset the balance a bit, and it would have taken all the Marauders some time to adjust to this intrusion; Sirius taking it the hardest seems very accurate, considering his character.  The interaction on the tower between Lily and Sirius is well written, and Lily and Sirius’ characters are nicely portrayed; both of them are clearly defined without the author needing to explain to us in a long, dialogue heavy, angsty scene.  Well done.

Why You Might Not Care: It’s very to-the-point.  Perhaps a little *too* to-the-point.  The scene on the tower and at the breakfast table the next day are excellent, but I think I would have appreciated a little longer build.  A few more interactions between the five.  This seems too short.

The Enforcer

The Enforcer by EmilySavsTheDay

Summary: Lily becomes sick at a Quidditch match, and James comes to see her (but only after he’s done playing, of course). Oneshot, 3,870 Words.

Why You Should Care: Oh, the banter!  This is how I feel James and Lily really should be, you know.  I think the combative nature of their early relationship would have translated into glorious and hilarious Josh’n’Donna-esque pedeconfrence banter (for those of you who don’t know, that’s a West Wing reference there).  This is like that.  Two people of equal wit showing each other they care by way of carefully placed digs.  Love it.

Why You Might Not Care: That up there is my impression of these characters, I admit, and yours might be different; if so, this might strike you as out of character– though we know so little that it’s really all about personal preference when it comes to James and Lily, isn’t it?

Five Dead Women

Five Dead Women by Snegurochka

Summary: Five vignettes, seemingly unrelated and featuring diverse Potterverse women, explore the link between these women that will answer the question: why are five of them dead? 6,400 Words.

Why You Should Care: There’s something beautiful about a fic that draws subtle links that are canon, but never before apparent. Snegurochka’s style is haunting and tense, the fic is laden with symbolism and suspense. It’s been cleverly crafted, you can see the amount of premeditation and effort in the structure and the reader really appreciates the writer’s work.

Why You Might Not Care: It’s symbolic and beautiful. but tends to get carried away in itself – this fic could do with an edit and a good cut. But it’s worth it, trust me.

Bouquets

Bouquets by ShootingStar

Summary: She still has the dried rose bouquets he sent her, you know. Back when he pursued her eagerly, happily, when he fed her corny pickup lines and tickled her at every opportunity. She never did throw the flowers out. She doesn’t know why. Oneshot, 1,258 Words.

Why You Should Care: ShootingStar really strikes a nerve here. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, she says, and I found myself with unexpected tears in my eyes. It’s Lily/James as it probably did happen; it’s not cliched, it’s realistic. Cleverly structured, using moments and memories, this is Lily’s maturity as she realizes just what she missed. And by including a moment of sweetness at the end, the author avoids this being pure angst and gives a message of hope.

Why You Might Not Care: Because you’re heartless. This is adorable in a tear-jerking kind of way.

Three

Three by ChristyCorr

Summary: “You ponder how you did this to yourself. There’s no one else to blame, but it’s just easier to take out your frustration on Death Eaters, garden gnomes and Alice Longbottom.” Oneshot, 4,568 Words.

Why You Should Care:  I’ve got this secret little addiction to fanfic that fills in some of the particulars of the prophecy, and this is probably one of my favorites.  Second person point-of-view is not the easiest way to write, but Christy pulls it off with aplomb.  Combined with a thoughtful — and not altogether typical — character design of Lily and heavy internal dialogue, this fic is a wonderful study of normal people in crisis, and of the nine month transition a woman goes on to become a mother.  Chock full of little revealing moments and clever asides.

Why You Might Not Care: Buggered if I know.

Awards: 2007 Hourglass Award, Best Drama — First Place.

Newton Knows Best

Newton Knows Best by EntirelyToo

Summary: Lily and James learn Newton’s Laws of Motion first hand. One Book in Motion tends to prevent two Objects Not in Motion from snogging in the stairwell… Humour, 16,628 Words.

Why You Should Care: Anyone who’s been to a Physics lesson will find themselves howling with laughter at this fic: it’s monumentally brilliant. This is the kind of plot bunny that appears at two in the morning in conversations with friends, and it takes a writer like EntirelyToo to pull it off with this much humour. It’s fluffy, funny, random in a good way (as opposed to a ‘why the hell?!’ way) and original. With huffy!Lily and teasing!James, you’ll never see Physics the same way again.

Why You Might Not Care: Pure fluff lies here. Nothing angsty. Nothing tear-jerking. If you don’t like to laugh, don’t look this way. (But do reconsider. Laughter is the best medicine, after all.)