Preaching to the Choir

[lls_mutant]

Okay, everyone on this f-list is either R/S tolerant, or a flat-out R/S shipper, I think. Otherwise, you probably wouldn't be here. So, as the title says, I'm preaching to the choir, but I need to get it out.

You know how there are things you know you shouldn't look at, but you do anyway? Yeah, I've still been kind of watching the fandom. There are a lot of interesting things in HBP that bear discussing, so fandom- although overwhelming- isn't utterly terrifying. The Snape debates are entertaining (I still can't decide which way I fall- I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of the Leaky Cauldron/Mugglenet interview!), and there's always the possibility that DD MEANT for Snape to kill him, but that doesn't mean Snape meant for it to help Dumbledore. Anyway.

What's bugging me is the reaction to the Remus/Tonks ship.

I don't mind people being happy about it. Not at all. After all, if you aren't a R/S shipper- and even if you are- it's really, really nice that Remus FINALLY gets a little happiness. And I hated the hospital scene for a multitude of reasons that have solely to do with Tonks, but that's my opinion, and last time I checked no one was legally bound to agree with it. But do so many people have to keep slipping in snarky little comments about "that'll show those R/S shippers!"?

I can TOTALLY handle it on V.E.N.O.M. on FAP. (In fact, the CS R/S thread has been remarkably quiet.) Same with in any thread dedicated to the R/T ship. But it pops up in places like the HPfGU group, and comments on HBP, and that sort of thing. And while I know that some of our shippers have made some enemies, it irks me that people are really willing to paint us all with the same brush.

Not only that... I've seen countless people say "I'm not homophobic for not seeing R/S!" And they're right... in that not seeing Remus/Sirius does not make you homophobic. The text can honestly be read either way. Now, I haven't done a study yet, but it seems like a lot of the people who said that not seeing R/S doesn't make them homophobic are finding great joy in sticking it to the R/S shippers. Like I said, this is NOT an allegation, and I hesitate to even write it because there's a lot of non-R/S shippers out there that agree that R/T came out of the blue and wasn't that well written, and that Tonks's behavior at the end of the book was sickening. There's also a lot of Harry Potter readers that don't care, because Remus/Sirius wasn't their focus. And there's a lot of R/T shippers that DO like the pairing, are happy with how it came about, and are NOT rubbing it in the faces of R/S shippers because they're acting like adults. So what I'm saying is a gut feeling, and nothing more.

What bothers me- and throughadoor (right name? I forget) nailed this perfectly is this: I feel like I'm expected to be embarrassed or repentent or sorry about loving R/S and not liking R/T. I'm being told they're JKR's characters, and she is Goddess, and if she wants to write it that way, she can. Well, I'm NOT sorry I love R/S, or that I'm not crazy about R/T. Sure, she's got the right to write it any way she wants, but I've got the right to say "that didn't work for me." Given that I'm willing to say I LOVED the rest of the book, and this didn't ruin HBP for me, or the Harry Potter series, I don't see why it's such a big deal that I thought she hashed up one of her minor subplots, but there you go.

I'm also not sure I'd ever actually want to see a full background on Remus. I don't know, because by the time it came out it would probably be 4-5 years from now, at least, and I will have moved so far on I might not care so much. But I like being able to imagine him my way. Meh.



Anyway, as a reminder to myself and what's going on in ficland, here's what still needs to be written:

1.) Fic for femgenficthon. Definitely still staying with Hermione, as the girls pretty much sucked in this one and my theme is secrets anyway.
2.) Fic for the HP_synergy challenge. I think this will be a Remus/Sirius post-POA adventure story, with shipping undertones.
3.) Chapter 10 of Accidentally In Love. I've got SO much to work with now. Actually, the great thing is that HBP revived my interest in writing this, and I feel ready to tear Remus and Sirius apart. I have some truly, truly EVIL ideas. Hehehehehehhehehehehehe. The only thing here is that the Regulus thing I was supposed to work on is getting meshed into AiL. I might remix it later and do it from Regulus's point of view (very likely, if I have time!), but it will totally fit.
4.) The Remus/Harry's Patronus story. I went back and reread it and wasn't as happy with the text as I thought, but I still love the idea and basics I've got. I think the Snape working with Remus and being a DE spy will fit into here, as well. Going to be totally gen, because I've decided outside of AiL, I really need to write more genfic.
5.) Moody-Caradoc in their younger days. Can I just say that's utterly untouched by canon? Nenenene.
6.) I might actually do that AU Kat wants me to do and write Remus/Alphard. No promises, but we'll see.
7.) Sirius and Aunt Marge. That needs to be written.
8.) Oooh! Lost Years Remus fic for the Wolfstar Lost Years challenge. And since HBP said NOTHING about the Lost Years, I can still use my idea. Which is good, because I love my idea with all my heart :)

Am I missing anything?

Comments

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I don't mind Remus/Tonks as it's a reasonable inoffensive ship and doesn't flat contradict R/S. But some of the snark form other shippers is really annoying and the hospital scene annoyed me not because there was a shippy moment between Remus and Tonks. But because I didn't agree with how Tonks was potrayed. *sighs*

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I'm NOT upset because Tonks messed up my ship, because as far as I'm concerned JKR left R/S totally alone and ambiguous... just like many of us said we wanted. And besides, saying "she's a crappy writer because she messed up my ship" IS immature and annoying and offensive. However, saying "I don't like how she handled this ship and I thought her characterization of Tonks was inconsistant" is an opinion, and a well thought out one and mature one at that.

It's kind of like the hug all over again. I never shipped them for the hug, and it bothers me that so many people think that I do, just because I ship them. ::rolls eyes::

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

Tell me about the hug. Speak to 95% of puppyshippers and tell them that friends can hug as well. They will rolle their eyes and go "D'uh, we know. That isn't why we ship them them"

All the fuss will eventually die down.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Yup. I figure in probably about a week. That's why I made my "fics to write" list. Heck with this, focus on the fics. HBP gave me a surprising amount of fodder for AiL, and I have some challenge fics that were more gen-related anyway, that I now have some fun new spells to incorporate into!

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

YAY for gen!fics!!

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Right on.

Honestly, I get the impression that some -- though definitely not all -- R/T people are feeling a bit defensive, largely because even though their ship is canon, it was written so badly and treated the characters so carelessly. It is a bit amusing to watch the R/T people suddenly adopt all of the rationalisatin skills that used to belong to us R/S-ers, trying to explain away Tonks' behaviour. The fact is, I have no real objection to R/T except that it's mildly boring. I can list half a dozen ways I think it would be sweet and touching for that ship to have happened in HBP. What actually happened wasn't either, and I think people are scrambling rather quickly to explain why it really is a lovely scene, if you look at it with special goggles on. (And, really, I know how they feel. We did that with R/S all through OotP. That's part of the fun.)

And I could not agree more about this: Well, I'm NOT sorry I love R/S, or that I'm not crazy about R/T. Sure, she's got the right to write it any way she wants, but I've got the right to say "that didn't work for me."

The thing is, just because JKR wrote it doesn't mean it's the best possible way for the story to go, and it doesn't mean that it follows naturally from the rest of the book. That's ridiculous; JKR is not a flawless storyteller (FAR from it, in fact), and all authors make mistakes and decisions that disrupt their stories. To claim that is must work just because JKR wrote it is a very simplistic way of thinking, and sets back the field of literary criticism a few centuries. No book is perfect, and authors can write their own characters inconsistently.

No author is completely faithful to her own story, because her ideas are constantly evolving. But many fans have a tendency to explain away JKR's inconsistencies (not just with 'ships, with everything) by claiming, "Oh, we should trust her. She's knows what she's doing." She's proven in HBP that she does know rather more about what she's doing than she demonstrated in OotP, but she's not perfect. There are still things that don't make sense. And nobody has yet explained to me why Dumbledore can understand the Parseltongue in the memories!

Wow, I got a little preachy there, didn't I? Oh, well. I haven't even visited FAP or any community. I'm sticking with people I know and I like, thankyouverymuch. Oh, and with making new plans for Prankter's Guide. We have such good stuff to work with. *g*

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Preachy, maybe, but like me, preaching to the choir. :) Especially that to claim it must work because JKR wrote it is simplistic. Not everything she writes works, and to be honest, I think her romances in general don't work. Even Bill/Fleur, which I liked, had its issues (like Bill didn't speak the entire freaking book, at least that I can remember.) But that's okay- she's not a romance writer. But I get to say that :)

I DO think she intended R/T and didn't do it to please fans or say fuck you to the R/S shippers (because, good lord, she gave the H/D shippers TONS to work with. I don't ship them and even I was starting to wonder!). I saw a theory someplace that Remus and Tonks are the precedent to Harry possibly losing his powers because he's denying his love for Ginny. (I really, really hope not, but....) But I don't like to think she bowed to pressure- just that that's what she wanted her characters to do.

And I'm definitely looking forward to more Prankster's Guide! We DID get off lucky, we pre-Azkaban writers, didn't we? (And Lost Years. As much as I want to know about the Lost Years, I have this story I've been DYING to write, and every last idea in it is still canon-compliant. In fact, moreso, because it involves someone who's not fully mentally competent with a wand, and JKR showed with Morfin that that's possible. (Because there's no way Morfin was all there, although my case is MUCH nicer.)

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I DO think she intended R/T and didn't do it to please fans or say fuck you to the R/S shippers

I don't think she really did, either. Maybe a little bit, just like she did with Blaise Zabini and a few other minor things, but I doubt that was the primary motivation. I think she did it because she got to the end, thought, "Oh. Um. Oops. I've just killed Dumbles, and I don't think my message about Love Conquering All is quite strong enough yet! I best fix that, lest there be any doubt whatsoever what the theme of these novels is." It is so very clearly the theme talking, not the characters. I could almost see JKR jumping around with a little sign that read LOVE LOVE LOVE, decorated with sparkly pink hearts and smiley faces.

But on another note, I used to think Remus would survive the series, but now I'm not so sure. He is, without a doubt, a walking dead man at the end of HBP, or somebody very close to him is. He's just blown his cover as a spy, and you can bet the slavering beast Greyback isn't going to be too happy about that. We know for a fact that Greyback takes his revenge on people's loved ones; JKR went to very great lengths to make that crystal clear. When Remus says he's too dangerous, he's more right than anybody bothers to hear. He really is a very, very dangerous person to be close to at the end of HBP.

I kind of wonder if JKR isn't setting up a happily-ever-after, but instead a tragic death. I've always thought Tonks would die as a spy, being caught impersonating someone -- probably Harry -- because her powers have to have a purpose somewhere. They haven't been used at all so far, not in any meaningful fashion. And the continued lack of character development makes me think she just might be cannon fodder after all.

Anyway. Just another theory. One I'm sure the R/T people would hate. ;)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

I've wondered that, too. I've always been 50/50 on whether Remus would die. Before HBP I would have said "please no!", but after HBP, I almost did want someone to put him out of his misery. (Not because of the Tonks thing.) But I've really, really wondered about the both of them surviving.

I was half expecting another Metamorph in this, maybe on the DE side, but guess not. But you are right about Lupin being a dead man walking, and that was something I latched on to right away. (Lupin's right about EVERYTHING in that conversation! :) )

I did see another theory that R/T serves as a precedent for Harry losing some of his power because he's denying himself Ginny. I hope to GOD that's not true, but it wouldn't shock me right now. Another thought is that with the angst she dumped on Remus in this book, she HAD to give him something happy so as not to break the angst balance.

And maybe she just likes romance :)

[minnow-53.livejournal.com]

Uh...who says Remus/Tonks is canon? He can't even look at her, though he couldn't keep his eyes off Sirius!

This is a case of an author trying to force characters into a mould, and not succeeding. Why would Remus want Tonks? And why, when it comes down to it, would Tonks want Remus? I can see Tonks/Kingsley, and that's about it. Remus will probably have wriggled out of it completely by the time we get to Harry Potter and the Marauder Slash. Really.

^_^xx

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Heh. True enough about him not being able to look at her! (That's one of the reasons this ship did not ring true to me. Remus NEVER showed the slightest interest in Tonks.) But I'll accept it as canon, because I think that's what I need to do or I'll be very disappointed again.

But it doesn't remotely invalidate anything that came before Sirius's death, because let's face it, Remus and Tonks were NOT together in OotP (otherwise the joint Christmas gift would have been from them).

I actually really liked the idea of Tonks/Charlie. Sure, he's barely on screen, but that could have changed. And every time I write Charlie (which, admittedly, he becomes my character since we barely see him), I think more and more he and Tonks should go together. They'd be such a good couple, I think. And Remus is RIGHT. He's not right for her.

Ah well. Who knows what will happen in book 7?

[yma2.livejournal.com]

I think the problem were're seeing here stems from the nature of R/S. R/S, unlike many slash ships, has the enviable position of being quite cannoncially likely. Oh it did, at any rate. I mean, consider all the other major slash ships. Harry/Draco? in OoTP Harry has feeling for Cho, and it didn't seem like the two boys liked each other. Harry/Snape? Nah. Remus/Snape? Not really much chemistry there... Now I'm not saying these ships are bad, or that they're impossible but of all the slash ships that could be written I do honestly think that R/S is the most likely. We didn't know either of the sexual tastes, they had a strong emotional bond and they were adults, (I think if homosexual realtions are written in HP, it will more likely be adults than any of the kids, but that might just be me.)
This is a bit of a problem to those who don't like slash, and I think they are just so overjoyed that it's been scuttled somewhat. I think the problem would be no worse than it is at, say, the Harry/Hermione ship, or the Harry/Ron ship except, being slash, our ship is somewhat controveritial whilst being quite cannonically possible.
Also, one has to remember that just because someone isn't homophobic doesn't neccesaraly mean they are comfortable with Slash. I wasn't undtill a few years ago (it is something that has grown on me,) and there's just some very happy/smug people around.
Also, to be fair, not everyone on our ship is behaving in the most mature manner. There are some wolfstar shippers that are thorwing some truly spectacular tantrums right now, which is a shame really as it lets us all down, but there you go.
In short I think we'd find the problems we're facing now on almost ANY ship, but the slash nature of ours just makes the issue a little more thorny. I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you. Ships aside there are good readers and bad readers. The good readers will smile and say 'told you so!' but remain friendly and open minded, the bad ones will stamp and yell and sneer and claim there way is the only way. You get it everywhere.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

You're right that we were canonically likely. I still maintain we're canon-compliant (just change Remus to bi, there, instead of gay), but you're right about that. Certainly more compliant than the others you list- or even Harry and Ron.

the point about homophobia and not being comfortable with slash makes me somewhat sad. I agree with what you say, but I also think that slash gets a bad rep because of the PWPs out there. (Of course, there's tons of het PWPs as well.) I converted a lot of people to slash because I eased them into it, and even now, I rarely write raunchy. I know non-slashers who read prankstersguide, because the slash isn't really sexual and detailed.

And I fully agree with you that our ship isn't behaving that well, either, as a whole. I've seen some disgruntled shippers calling JKR homophobic, and I don't agree with that at all. If she was truly homophobic and wanted to sink us totally, she could. But she left us alone. I'll be interested to see if she says about it in the Leaky/Mugglenet interview (although I have more faith in the interviewers than to waste too much time on shipping questions!!!!!)

And you're right about good readers and bad readers, of course. Just sometimes it's nice to vent :)

[nassima.livejournal.com]

You know, reading you, I find myself sort of perversely happy that JKR didn't write the Tonks/Remus believably. It doesn't look, from Remus, like love at first sight (in fact, it doesn't look like love at all), and the way Tonks behaves doesn't seem the best way to make him fall in love! And don't you think that the way Remus tries to refuse looks like he's trying to say that he's gay (or still grieves Sirius too much!) but can't. He never brings up the fact that he's a werewolf, it's the others who do it.

Romances born like this don't last long...

Also, I'm glad that I'm not frequenting the forums you're talking of, because I think I couldn't stand it. Even the cries of despair in remusxsirius bother me these days (hey, move on, change your OTP or write it, it's still possible!), and the insistent posts to say that Snape is more Good than ever irk me, cause what I like in him is the ambiguity and the fact that we don't know.

So, this evening, I'm just reading the fanfics (some of them) and the personal posts. I hope that going back to drawing will help getting some feeling of fandom normality back!

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, this post makes me smile just because you mention going back to drawing. :) I love your stuff.

I agree that it's SO hard for this romance to really blossom. (midnitemaraud_r did a lovely job expounding on why right below.) The other thing I can't quite reconcile is this is Mr. I-Like-People-to-Like-Me. Reserved? Yes. But if he was really interested, would it take that much to get him to give in? I don't think so. Stalking and begging isn't the best technique, Tonks, even if it worked for James Potter! :)

I like the ambiguity in Snape, too. I waver back and forth on him and I love it. (Plus I think he's anything BUT a sex god.) And it's definitely still possible to write R/S as an OTP- especailly if you never believed Sirius was coming back anyway! ;) I actually have MORE inspiration now, with everything with Regulus and Greyback, than I did before.

Just some more preaching to the choir :)

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

I do think it's starting to calm a bit. There are always going to be people who gloat, and people who bitch and whine and moan, and the rest of us will just go on sailing as we did before. I haven't been anywhere near the Wolfstar thread, or Fic Alley, except to submit my last fic - the Sirius and James one. :)

After hearing the 'spoilers' about Remus and Tonks, I started looking for 'clues' in the text and subtext during my re-read. Yes, they are together on a couple of order missions (the first one to get Harry, they've also got like 7 or 8 others along as well!), but Tonks is an auror - she has a full time job, and it's not very likely that any of Remus' missions that didn't involve the children included her. After all, he's a known werewolf and possibly known as one of DD's 'supporters' - it wouldn't really bode well for them to be seen together too often if the ministry is trying to discredit DD. Also, the guard duty is solitary, so they wouldn't be together there. I don't even know if Lupin was ever able to actually pull that duty himself as it's probably not prudent for werewolves to be hanging about the ministry building.

Anyway, the scenes that they are in together, he is polite to her, of course, but except for the conversation they have the morning of Harry's trial (for which Sirius is there with them - it's Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Mr and Mrs Weasley in the kitchen) in which Tonks is telling them how Scrimgeour has been asking her and Kingsley odd questions, there really IS no contact between them. The only time we see them alone together is when they drop the kids off at Hogwarts on the Knight Bus. And that means nothing.

Did they develop a friendship? Yes, I'm sure of it. Did Tonks perhaps develop a crush on him? Why the hell not - we all did after all. But the picture I get of Remus is that he is not one to return affections unless he is... forced to. He's got walls. He's incredibly private. He has trouble even letting Harry in - he forms a sort of friendship with him when he teaches in PoA, but it never becomes anything more than teacher-student. Yet we know he has a history with Harry's parents and likely Harry himself as a baby. But he doesn't act on it, or divulge any information about it when it has to be obvious that Harry would be desperate for just that kind of contact, a fathering role, information...

Sirius, I believe, is the one who can get in through the cracks in Remus' walls. Because he'd done it all their lives before everything really went to hell. Tonks would have no chance unless Sirius had 'softened him up' in a sense beforehand. If Harry couldn't get Remus to open up, why would Tonks be any different? And certainly Remus kept much from DD, too.

With Sirius, Remus was a different person than he was without him. If you look at how much more aggressive Remus is in OotP than he is in HBP, it's easy to see. He so very resigned in HBP - even moreso than he was in PoA. And there are many ways to interpret his taking of the mission to infiltrate the werewolves. Now that we know more about Greyback, we know just how dangerous that mission was/is. Tonks fans will interpret it one way (along with the Christmas scene) and we R/S shippers will interpret it our way. It's all speculation and there is no right and wrong. That's the whole point of subtext and fanfiction anyway. Every other ship does the same exact thing.

Really, we're very lucky. It's the Harry/Hermione shippers who had the most cause to rage. (But then again, I really couldn't understand where they were coming from in the first place since I felt that it was rather obvious that she would end up with Ron. Oops!)

Re: Just some more preaching to the choir :)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Heh. JKR did EXACTLY what many of us wanted her too- she left R/S completely ambiguous. The ONLY thing you have to change is that Remus is not fully gay. And really, if you look at the Kinsey research, the whole idea of the spectrum of sexuality... it's utterly plausible to even keep fics where he thinks he's gay for a long time, and then later discovers no, he IS bi, but it takes a very specific type of woman to get him going.

I did the OotP re-read, too, because I've always suspected R/T might become canon. (She's the only eligle female, he's the major male.) And yeah, there's nothing to indicate any sort of romance in OotP between them. In fact, I still say all the subtext there points to R/S (heck, OotP is why I started shipping them). I agree Tonks very well could have developed a crush, and definitely a friendship, but they were NOT together in OotP. No way. He never would have left her lying on the floor in the DoM for Moody to revive, and the joint Christmas gift would have been from Tonks and Remus, not Tonks and Sirius.

And I agree about Harry/Hermione (I never saw it, either. But ah well!)

Re: Just some more preaching to the choir :)

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

It's so nice to have reasonable puppyshippers to discuss all of this with! *g*

So what is it like over at FAP then? Has the Wolfstar thread gone mad? I imagine there's a LOT of fangirl gloating over on WatcherWolvie. *sigh* I really loathe ship wars.

Re: Just some more preaching to the choir :)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Wolfstar thread is doing about what remusxsirius is doing, and I'm not sure about WatcherWolvie. They have the right to celebrate- a lot of them actually never expected to see R/T canon.

Surprisingly, there is VERY little activity on the CS RS thread OR the CS RT thread. Amazing, but true. What bothers me is that if you mention "OOC" over there, it's 'JKR CAN'T write her own characters out of character!!!" Um, yes she can. Deal.

I suspect it's worse with the people who ship various Trio members, but being an old lady I never bothered with them. :) (And I picked H/G and R/Hr anyway, so....)

Remus

[occult-proposal.livejournal.com]

I agree with you that I might not really want more Remus backstory. I thought I would, having been very pleased with Sirius's backstory, but the details about Remus's bite I found a bit dissapointing. I guess I never expected her to give us more about Remus (which is why i was so suprised at the R/T), and now that she has a little I can say that I really didn't need/want it :/
One of the things I really love about Remus is his so called "cagey-ness" and I would love to see him make it through the series without too many secrets revealed. (and alive. alive would be good)

Re: Remus

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Alive would be good, although I'm a little more doubtful these days!

I just want to keep my stories as canon-compliant as possible :) But by the time she gets around to publishing something like that, I'll be way past it, I'm sure!

[marilla82.livejournal.com]

Lisssssssssssssssssa!

Erm....howdy! Can you e-mail me your address? marilla82@gmail.com :)

[moonanddogstar.livejournal.com]

"I don't like how she handled this ship and I thought her characterization of Tonks was inconsistant"

That's exactly the way I feel about it. Tonks was so different in the HBP. I saw shades of Padme and wouldn't have been at all surprised to see her die of a broken heart! I appreciate that she had lost a cousin, was pining over Remus and that there was a war on, but for the reader to be convinced of the scale of the change in her outlook, I think there needed to be much more detail.

I didn't see the ship coming at all and, even with the benefit of hindsight, I don't feel that there are clues. You're quite right to say there was more subtext for Sirius/Remus - particularly in OotP (which persuaded me to ship them).

There are several scenarios that I can see:
1) Sirius and Remus were very good friends. Remus is now with Tonks.
2) Sirius and Remus were together. Remus is bi and he's now with Tonks.
3) Sirius and Remus were together. Remus had another conversation with Tonks (after their public one) in which he explained that he was attracted to men. Tonks realised it had nothing to do with her personally and, although upset about it, accepted it and recovered her spirits enough to get back her pink hair. Remus and Tonks held hands and comforted each other at the funeral as friends.

Of these, I guess I have to say the second seems most realistic. JK obviously wants us to believe Remus/Tonks so I will, but I continue to believe in Sirius/Remus too.

I have been surprised by the reactions of others - both at the strength of the S/R shipper bashing and the JK bashing. I don't think that JK would change her plans for a character because of the fandom. Therefore, it must have been her intention to write this for years. I just wish it had been fleshed out more.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I LIKE scenario 3 the best, because Remus seemed particularly not too into it. But I think we might be able to get away with scenario 2. She might have intended #1, but she did not go out of her way to sink R/S in HBP (and she could have, with Remus saying "Sirius was like a brother to me."). She left R/S completely alone. So, minor change, but hey.

I think you're right about her intentions. I kind of thought that might be the case when Tonks was introduced, actually, but I didn't see any shippy interaction between them, so I assumed not. Someone also pointed out that perhaps Harry will be sapped of his powers (ick) in the seventh book because of Ginny issues, and Tonks/Remus was meant as a precedent. Possible. (And then, even though I HATE that thought, although I accept it in Merope!, I'd shut up about James not being sapped of HIS powers when Lily didn't love him.) But yeah- we could have had SOME hint that Remus was interested, too.

[jlarinda.livejournal.com]

3) Sirius and Remus were together. Remus had another conversation with Tonks (after their public one) in which he explained that he was attracted to men. Tonks realised it had nothing to do with her personally and, although upset about it, accepted it and recovered her spirits enough to get back her pink hair. Remus and Tonks held hands and comforted each other at the funeral as friends.

Oh, wouldn't I LOVE to see this explained in HP 7? *drools*
Still, option 2 is the one that I'll be trying to think is the truth now, cause I don't want to be utterly disappointed if Remus does something like die protecting Tonks in HBP. Urgh, that would make me vomit.
*daydreams about option 3*

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

This is why I love my flist. :-) Rational and sensible lot they are.

I've seen countless people say "I'm not homophobic for not seeing R/S!"

To be honest, I never picked up on it at all until I started reading fanfic. But then I wasn't looking for it either. I was like Huh? Why on earth? Then I slowly eased my way in. I still don't ship R/S the way everyone else does but I'm weird that way.

Remus/Tonks doesn't bother me because I saw it coming. I can do without the ship wars. Though I did peek in on the Wolfstar thread at SCUSA. Like you, I just can't help myself. I think it was a good thing that SCUSA was closed until yesterday, to allow the knee-jerk reactions to settle. Most seem fairly reasonable, though a few have left.

My, that's an impressive list of fic for you, I can't wait to read it all. I wish I could be so upbeat with my WIPs, my muse is in hiding *pokes languishing WIP list on hard drive with long stick*. I think it's because of the HBP hoopla, while by rights I'll be stuck in OotP for a while. Meh.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I know a LOT of people who don't see any romance between Remus/Sirius. And as long as their rationale is "I just don't see it", I'm TOTALLY fine with that. I think you can read it either way.

Remus/Tonks bothers me more because Remus seemed so coerced and we had no warning from him, and I didn't like the way Tonks was portrayed. And I still maintain there was no foreshadowing or hints in OotP- just a guy and a girl near enough the same age around each other on Order missions. I do agree that it as good that SCUSA closed, and actually, I think a LOT of the responses on the SCUSA threads have been pretty reasonable.

Good luck getting into the writing! I have a list, but I've yet to set pen to paper....