Countdown to small gifts 3/7: Head canon

[smallgiftsmods]

Welcome, folks! Every year at small gifts, we start off the holiday season with a week's worth of discussion posts. It's a chance to get to know other participants (or say hi again), meet our readers (hi, readers! we love you!), and while away the hours before December 1. We'll have one topic per day until November 30. Come on over and introduce yourself on our Day 1 post!

Day 3: Head canon

What are your favorite bits of head canon related to Remus and Sirius? Tell us in the comments below!

Comments

[magnetic_pole]

Secret-bookworm!SIrius is the best. *cuddles him* Love these! M.

[magnetic_pole]

Remus I tend to like as the instigator for a lot of their pranks when they're younger. I mean, he was a Marauder for a reason, and I don't think it was simply proximity. He's just a lot more cognizant of the consequences of his actions. He's had to pay attention to them far more than your average child should ever have to.

Agreed! I can see Remus being a good follower, too, but not exclusively--their relationship in canon is too give-and-take for me to believe that they didn't take turns leading and generating ideas. M.

[magnetic_pole]

Remus can't study or concentrate on work in complete silence without background noise. I feel like his gramophone thingy in the PoA movie kinda does this justice.

Ah, I'd almost forgotten about the gramophone in the PoA movie. That's a nice interpretation of that detail.

Also, a walkman's totally possible, at least by the late 1970s! M.

[abyss_valkyrie]

Staaaahp! Sweaters way too big!Remus mus be my new favourite thing. Prof!Sirius too and swot-but-not-with-school!Remus!Haha!!Cuddly!Sirius gives me the feels!

[sostrata.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! Head canon! I have a ton, but here's just some:

-Sirius is very smart and can do just about anything he puts his mind to. In particular, he likes experimenting with potions and learns how to make the Wolfsbane for Remus. When Harry lives with him (which *does* happen) he learns to become a very good cook.

-Sirius and Remus were working together in GoF. In the book, Sirius mentions things that he's learned, that he missed while in Azkaban. I think that it was Remus filling him in. Maybe they had a mirror or something that they were communicating by. And of course meeting for trysts- I mean, strategy sessions ::coughs::. Sirius certainly doesn't need Dumbledore to tell him just where "Lupin's" is at the end of the book!

- Sirius, well known for his supposed crimes, has a lot of female fans in the wizarding world, who can't resist such a handsome "bad boy".

-Remus can never resist teasing Sirius. It's what he lives for.

I also have loads of head canon for James, but you asked for just Remus and Sirius, so I will stop!

[wild_flame]

These are all so cute to read through!! <3

I don't have this kind of imagination myself so I'm going to share with you the genius of goodfrith and rj31 who are headcanon queens! Just off the top of my head two of my faves are:

1) Totally Tropical Remus- where Remus insists he is not drunk, "I'm just a little tropical," he slurs holding a pina colada in one hand, his hawaiin shirt in disarray. "Yeah, totally tropical, Remus," Sirius replies slowly with a raised eyebrow.

2) Grumpily-mothered Remus- usually by James and Lily, sometimes Sirius. He insists he can take care of himself. He can't.

Their (and others) headcanoning in rs-games team's group chat also resulted in RJ's adorable fairytale where Remus and Padfoot become teachers in Ireland and Goodfrith's hilarious fic in which James and Sirius have to look after baby cabbage heads sort of like when people are given those crying baby toys to look after as a project at school... I don't even know, but I almost wet myself laughing reading it!

[shaggydogstail]

Yes, Remus is definitely an extrovert. (I'm less convinced that quiet extroverts are rare - I think people commonly mistake loudness for extroversion just like they mistake shyness for introversion, but they're not the same things at all.) I've gone back and forth on Sirius, because his withdrawn behaviour in canon often seems the result of his mental health issues more than a sign he really enjoys being alone, but the fact that he chose to live alone at 17 rather than stay any longer with the Potters suggests a preference for decent amounts of alone time.

[shaggydogstail]

#4 is my favourite. Sirius and Lily's friendship never got much page space but they were clearly very close - he was the only person in the whole world she trusted with her child! That's massive! I'll never understand why it's so underrated in fic. (Mind you, I have a whole heap of issues with how Lily is treated in MWPP fic, but that's a whole other story...)

[sostrata.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think of them starting at Hogwarts too, in 6th or 7th year.

Chocolate-loving Remus is because he just happens to have a big chocolate bar on him when we first meet him, then always has some on hand when Harry needs some later. You usually don't carry around chocolate if you don't like eating it yourself. I tend to think of the prevalence of it in fandom as a combo of that and the fic authors' love of writing about chocolate. I don't really write him that way myself (well, except for one time, sorry!), but I don't mind reading it, just because I used to be in a fandom where there was also a chocolate-loving character, but it was much, much worse. Anyone here remember SG-1 fic with Daniel Jackson, who would only eat chocolate and would have to be reminded by his teammates to eat real food? lol, fandom memories.

[sostrata.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I just happened to turn to this bit of head canon in my R/S notebook, and couldn't resist adding it:

Re their relationship with Hagrid: James and Sirius immediately took to him at Hogwarts because he went into the Forbidden Forest and was therefore Cool. Remus, however, stayed away from him. He knew of Hagrid's love of magical creatures, and he thought that Hagrid would probably figure out his secret. Not that he didn't trust him, but he knew how Hagrid accidentally let slip things. He also didn't fancy Hagrid trying to make a pet of him!

[rj31]

💖

[rj31]

Also, if anyone is interested in Totally Tropical Remus I can highly recommend Bea’s dramatic telling of the tale: https://wild-and-flammable.tumblr.com/post/167206328847/totally-tropical-remus-tries-to-get-a-job

It’s possibly one of my favourite things.

[luminousgloom]

I've never thought about it like that before, but this is my HC, too! Thanks for describing it so eloquently!

[luminousgloom]

Yes! Same here, completely agree with Shaggy's entire comment.

[museinabsentia]

Okay, I mean, I get that about the chocolate. I just always got the impression that he had it on him because he knew there were Dementors around, not because he particularly loved it. I mean, Madam Pomfrey actually says something to the effect of, we finally have a DADA teacher that knows his remedies! Like I said, it's not a deal breaker for me, but I do tend to find it... flat.

[museinabsentia]

Oooh, I love seeing different opinions! I actually don't see Remus as being a good follower at all. I see him being almost fanatically devoted to his friends, often at his own expense. I feel like if he were a better follower he would have told Dumbledore that Sirius was an anamagus when he still thought Sirius was guilty.

[shaggydogstail]

Sirius, well known for his supposed crimes, has a lot of female fans in the wizarding world, who can't resist such a handsome "bad boy".

This is too funny. Doris Purkiss can be their club president!

I love Remus teasing Sirius. And Sirius teasing back a bit, but I think he actually quite enjoyed Remus teasing him.

[ruinsplume]

I headcanon that that gramophone belonged to James and Lily; before that it was James's father's. Remus rescued it from the rubble of their house after it was destroyed without even really being aware what he was doing. He wanted to go there and save Harry, but of course Harry was already gone. When Remus got home, he found himself holding a gramophone.

[ruinsplume]

He knew of Hagrid's love of magical creatures, and he thought that Hagrid would probably figure out his secret.

That is an *awesome* headcanon.

[smallgiftsmods]

Aha! *meep* That's lovely head canon but also so tragic.

In my nerdy way, I really enjoying thinking about what it might be like to like in a society that's not consumerist in the same way ours is. One the consequences seems to be a mix of old and new technology, side by side-why favor the walkman over the gramophone when they're both fascinatingly bizarre/mysterious/Muggle? M.

[mindabbles]

Yes!! Lily is clearly awesome and I love when fics give her the space and credit she is due. If the fact that she trusted Sirius with her child wasn’t enough, there’s that letter. I so loved the letter for the window it gave us into their relationship. That misogyny discussed in another thread is really apparent in many MWPP fics — it often feels like people see her as getting in the way of their boys.

[mindabbles]

:) I love Lily and Sirius friendship fic and art. I can totally see them being foils for each other.

[mindabbles]

Yes! I think Remus is someone who doesn’t allow himself to dwell too much on regret. And I think that being with Harry and seeing James and Lily in him, while also getting to know him as himself, must have made that stoicism difficult to maintain sometimes.

[mindabbles]

Hmm, how much does Sirius really struggle? I have a feeling Remus doesn’t mind.

I love the idea of all of the little things that come from Sirius’ upbringing that he would reject, and think there would be some things he just wouldn’t be able to shrug off.

I really enjoyed the sweet little fic you wrote here about the kitten.

No limits. Post as much as you want!!

[mindabbles]

My favorite here is how they are the perfect counterpoint to each other. There are so many little hints of this in the books and it’s a lot of fun to explore in fic. I also see Sirius as always knowing he was gay, while Remus only knows he needs Sirius and little else matters. :)