A belated happy birthday to katyhasclogs! I hope this is the kind of thing you had in mind...

Home (600 words | PG)

• Prompt: Cazaril, sometime between Chalion and Paladin
  
• Summary: Cazaril has realized that after he marries Betriz, they will need a place to live. The obvious solution is not, unfortunately, the easiest one.
  
• Author’s note: Being away from home (heh) myself right now, I wasn’t able to check any canon details, so if anyone sees any errors or inconsistencies, please let me know!

( “It’s exactly what we need,” Cazaril heard his own voice saying. )
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I was just looking for something over at the Sugar Quill, and discovered that the fic archive is, apparently, no more. Even though I hadn't been over there in ages, finding it gone makes me rather sad. SQ was one of a handful of places in the online HP fandom where I used to hang out in the year between HBP and my discovery of LiveJournal, and I read lots of great fics there that may now be lost.

Anyway, I had one fic that was only posted at SQ, so I'm putting it here now instead. (And I'm fixing the typo that got past me at the time, heh.) I entered this fic in the "Phoenix Rising" fanfiction contest through SQ, and it won Second Runner Up (i.e., third place). The contest prompt was a phoenix moment.

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Choosing Gryffindor (1195 words | G | PS/SS) -- originally posted March 2007
Hermione, locked in the girls' bathroom with a mountain troll, wonders what the Sorting Hat saw in her.

( Hermione swallowed one last shuddering sob, but the flood of angry, humiliated tears had finally stopped. )
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gilpin25, you have been an inspiration from the time I first joined the Remus/Tonks community on LiveJournal. There’s your writing, with its powerful blend of humor and poignancy, always set off by believable human feelings that make your characters come alive. Then there are your kind words of encouragement about both writing and life that you dispense so cheerfully and generously. All of this is garnished with some of the most amusing travelogues it has been my pleasure to read!

So here are best wishes for a happy birthday and a wonderful year to come. I look forward to hearing more about your original writing projects, seeing more photos of Rosie sleeping in the sunshine, and finding out how long before Craig gets himself voted off the show on Strictly... And, more generally, continuing our various conversations, even if sporadically. :)

In honor of the day, I come bearing fic. This one is...a little different, heh. But the idea grabbed me a couple of months ago -- I think you’ll be able to guess when ;) -- and I had to give it a try.

Encounter (535 words | G | post-DH AU)
Tonks is enjoying a seaside stroll with Remus when something interesting happens.
( A sudden gust of wind sent Tonks stumbling straight into Remus. )
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Yep, you read that right. Even though I have had about zero time to read and review fics for the last month (not to mention finishing comments for a certain discussion post that is now two weeks old), last night, instead of getting caught up, I sat down and wrote fic myself. My excuse was: I felt like my head was going to explode if I didn't write something soon. Heh. But I do have about three of y'all's new(ish) fics in open browser windows, waiting for a quiet moment, and I have NOT forgotten them.

And yep, you read that right: it's a Chalion/HP crossover. I've never written any crossover fics before, but this one was sparked by a mind-bending prompt from last summer's ficathon at bujold_fic: 'Cazaril, Severus Snape, and endure' -- which would not leave me alone until I figured out a way to make it work. The story is post-DH, with all that implies about Snape's state of existence, and someone else who puts in an appearance is Ariana Dumbledore. This is not part of my "official" ficverse for either fandom, but I had to give crossover a try...

• The Thirst for Glorious Souls (1100 words | PG)
  Cazaril tries to convince a surly stranger that enough endurance is enough.
  
  Cazaril!
  
  The summons jerked him from a sound sleep.

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I’ve had not one, but two birthday drabbles rattling around in my head for, well, longer than it should have taken me to finish them! Here they are, at last.

First, for drumher: a Remus/Tonks drabble. I meant for this to be just an independent OotP-era scene, but it has kind of grabbed me, so it may end up getting included in the first or second installment of the Kaleidoscope series. ;)

Strategic Thinking (450 words | G)
( Tonks tapped her wand against the locks and latches that studded the front door to number twelve, Grimmauld Place... )

Next, for sspring92: a Remus/Tonks drabble with the prompts theatre and sweater. I hope a little postwar AU, with Remus and Tonks picking themselves up and moving on, will give you a little break from the horrible week you’ve been having!

An Evening Out (600 words | G)
( Andromeda let herself into the house and hung her cloak up by the door. )

Belated birthday wishes to both of you, and all the best for the year ahead!
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I've been behind on f-list posts and e-mail and comment replies for the last few days ... but instead of getting caught up tonight, I wrote this instead, heh. I guess my excuse is that I have an odd fascination for "real-time" fic.

So here's a little shameless self-indulgent Remus/Tonks canon-denial fluff, for the first of September, 2009. (Set in the Warp and Weft AU ficverse.)

Wider Horizons ( 950 words | G )
( Tonks grinned at the chaos. )
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I've been meaning to post a nature picspam from my trip north, and all kinds of things ... hopefully I'll get to it soon.

One reason why I haven't yet, though: I was unable to resist the lure of this week's ficathon over at bujold_fic. I wrote a Vorkosigan story, since that's what I've been reading for the last few weeks, but I will note for the record that there is a dearth of Chalion entries (only one so far), and some very interesting-looking prompts. How about Ista and Cazaril, after "Paladin of Souls", the humour of the gods? Or, for the adventurous, Cazaril and Severus Snape (Harry Potter); endurance. Hee.

Anyway, the official prompt-claiming period is over, and the prompts are day-specific throughout this week, so some have been passed by -- but I've learned that the comm doesn't mind late prompt-claiming, and any of the prompts (including the expired ones) can be posted on the free-for-all day on Sunday. And the minimum length is only 500 words. Just sayin'. ;)

• Testing the Waters
  (1100 words | PG | minor(?) spoilers for Komarr and A Civil Campaign)
  Cordelia is the first to congratulate Ekaterin on her, um, impromptu oration from the gallery of the Council of Counts.

Also -- I'm still in the middle of reading at metamorfic_moon (running off to write about Cordelia and Ekaterin didn't exactly help me stay on schedule), but as usual there are some wonderful stories over there.
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For once in my life, I actually finished a story for an event at metamorfic_moon before the clock was counting down the final seconds to the deadline. Imagine!

This was a Kaleidoscope installment I've been wanting to do for a while (not that I forced my Meta prompt to fit it, or anything ;P ) -- it's about Tonks's first visit to 12GP after Sirius's death and how she and Remus are dealing with mourning, and it's kind of a sequel to Friends. It's set right before Blindsided/Unattainable, so Remus hasn't had his epiphany about Tonks yet, but he's getting awfully close. And this was one of the scenes I absolutely had to plot out so that someday I'll finally be able to finish my version of the post-hospital-wing scene.

• Catching Hold (2536 words | PG/mild profanity, reference to character death)
  Remus finds an unexpected way to help Tonks deal with Sirius’s death. She can’t help wondering whether it means that Sirius was right about Remus’s feelings for her.
  
  ( Tonks very narrowly avoided tripping over the troll’s foot umbrella stand... )
  
  Many thanks to gilpin25 and katyhasclogs for help with British coastal geography!

Whew! This chapter has been a longer time coming than I expected. I owe giant thanks to duck_or_rabbit for her beta work on this -- and for reassuring me that Remus wasn't being too angsty (yet).

Concrit is sincerely welcome, especially pertaining to timeline errors, plausibility, or continuity from other chapters in the story (...if anyone still remembers something they read months and months ago!).

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All Will Be in Order ( chapter index )
Summary so far:

1. The Perfect Flat -- Remus and Sirius negotiate the awkwardness of resuming a friendship disrupted by suspicion and Azkaban.
   
2. The First Mission -- Molly finds the task of cleaning out a filthy house full of cursed objects much easier to face than working with a werewolf, and Percy comes home with news of a splendid promotion at the Ministry.
   
3. A Long Summer -- Molly and Remus each learn that the other is not exactly what they were expecting, and Remus and Sirius finally talk about why things went so wrong before Voldemort's fall.

Chapter 4: A Few Surprises (3516 words | PG/mild profanity)
Remus has to take a side when Dumbledore and Sirius go head to head; he knows what he must choose, but he is only too aware of what he is risking. Meanwhile, Molly sees a few new sides to the Dark Creature she is so wary of.
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All Will Be in Order
Remus, still coming to terms with his new status as publicly outed werewolf. Sirius, who might not have offered the house to Dumbledore if he knew he'd be trapped in it. Molly, smothering her fears with bouts of frantic housework. When all of them move into number twelve, Grimmauld Place, adjustments will have to be made. ( Remus, Sirius, Molly | GoF>OotP | gen )

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Chapter 4: A Few Surprises (3516 words | PG/mild profanity)

Author's note: Many thanks to duck_or_rabbit, for putting her finger on the places where this chapter needed something more.

Dumbledore emerged from the Floo with a smudge of soot on the end of his long, crooked nose. "Ah, hello, Sirius," he said brightly. "You're looking well."

Sirius snorted. "I'll be looking even better as soon as I get out of this house!" He heard Remus enter the kitchen behind him. "What's the mission you've got for us?"

Dumbledore glanced over Sirius's shoulder at Remus before answering. "I'm sorry," he said gently, "but the mission is for Remus specifically."

Sirius scowled. "Fine." He tapped the kettle with his wand and it boiled at once. "Then find another one for me."

( 1. The Perfect Flat ) | ( 2. The First Mission ) | ( 3. A Long Summer ) || ( Chapter Index )

( 4. A Few Surprises )
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This is a birthday drabble/ficlet for hrymfaxe, who gave me the characters Illvin and Arhys and the prompt wishes. Happy (much belated) birthday. :)

Wishes (500 words | PG)
Arhys gives Illvin something new to wish for.

( 'Peace, at last,' Illvin muttered... )
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BEFORE YOU CLICK:

If you haven't read The Thief and the rest of the series, by Megan Whalen Turner, you need to do two things:

• Go read the series. Now. The books aren't very long, and they are very, very good.
  
  
• Do NOT read any Thief fic UNTIL you have read the series. Don't even read fic summaries. You really don't want to be spoiled for this series -- the shocking plot twists are half the fun. I mean it -- don't spoil yourself. In the words of the Queen of Attolia: "Go away."

If you have read the series, of course, then you are welcome to click. ;)

( 'The Thief' stories )
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Once upon a time, there was a meme. Months ago, now. I don't even properly remember what it was... But there was a challenge component, and mrstater challenged me to write some Cazaril/Betriz.

Anyway, I hope this counts -- even though dy Ferrej elbowed his way into the story and insisted on having a whole scene to himself!

Balance of Power (1350 words | PG)

A single decision by Ser dy Ferrej once changed the course of Cazaril’s life. Now Cazaril must ask an even greater favor of the only man who knows just how close he came to having nothing at all.

( Cardegoss, on the evening of Cazaril’s return from Taryoon )
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I'd been planning for a week to make a gleeful post tonight about how I'd finished off a work project (that accursed book chapter) that had been plaguing me all winter, and managed to post a fic at fandomfusion.

...Unfortunately, the book chapter is NOT DONE. *sigh* I can't imagine in the grand scheme of things it will matter all that much to the editor if he gets the chapter on June 2 instead of June 1, but I'm still feeling all bogged down and wishing it were over. One more day. Tomorrow I'm sending it in, no matter what.

At least the fic is done! :/ (And lest this make you question my priorities, heh, it was mostly finished a good three weeks ago, and just needed some final tweaking over the weekend when I was too tired to be working on the book chapter.) I'd been wanting to write another DH fic set at Hogwarts after having so much fun with The Sorting in 2007(!), so I was glad the fandomfusion prompts sent me in that direction.

• Stumbling in the Dark (PG | 1450 words)
  Dumbledore set the wheels in motion, but he left no map. All they can do is hold on tight and hope that someone knows where they are headed.

Congratulations to my fellow deadline-stalkers, especially duck_or_rabbit, gilpin25, and hrymfaxe -- we made it! And you'd better believe that I will be celebrating with a big ol' dose of fic-reading and graphic-novel-viewing as soon as that book chapter goes out. Tomorrow. Yes. (And you're first, zia_montrose. ;) )
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For fandomfusion's Harry Potter genfic challenge, "Beware the Ides of March."

Title: Stumbling in the Dark
Author: shimotsuki
Rating: PG
Warnings: mild profanity
Word count: 1450 words
Characters: Snape, McGonagall
Prompts: #42 (Ovid); #54 (Tom Waits)

Summary: Dumbledore set the wheels in motion, but he left no map. All they can do is hold on tight and hope that someone knows where they are headed. (Part of the DH-at-Hogwarts series Under the Long Shadow.)

( Stumbling in the Dark )
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I haven't had as much fic-writing time as I would have liked, lately, but working on this one in tiny little pieces has at least been a stress-reliever!

As always, I intend this as a stand-alone story within the Kaleidoscope series, but it's also part of the same story arc as Breaking Point and Messages -- what I'm thinking of as the "in-laws sequence," heh.

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Porridge (2638 words | PG)
Andromeda finds that the loss of her husband and the imminent arrival of her grandson have changed the way she views her son-in-law. But she has built her share of the walls between them, and it may be too late for her to pull them down.

( A soft knock on the half-open study door made Andromeda start and look up. )
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There's a new seasonal drabble/drawble event underway at metamorfic_moon. The last one was a lot of fun, so it's great to see another.

I've sort of cheated this time, actually -- I decided to post an excerpt from a "Kaleidoscope" update I've been working on sporadically this winter. It's kind of a sequel to Messages, in that we see the mirrors again and it deals with the dynamics of the relationship between Remus and Andromeda.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish the rest of this story and post it here -- work is really, really crazy right now, and I know I'm always saying that, but I really mean it this time, heh. (This is the first evening I haven't spent working since last Thursday, including the weekend.) But maybe having posted this excerpt will motivate me to finish the story. Especially since the title has nothing to do with this part of it! ;)

Porridge (PG)
( A soft knock on the half-open study door made Andromeda start and look up. )
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Work has been really, really busy -- pretty much ever since the winter holidays. I had high hopes for fic writing during my time off two weeks ago, but not a lot got done.

So this is neither (1) my new "Order" chapter, (2) a "Kaleidoscope" update, (3) my contribution to the Ides of March HP event at fandomfusion, or even (4) the tiny Cazaril/Betriz ficlet I'm writing as a challenge response for mrstater. No, this is a completely random plotbunny that took over my brain yesterday morning on the way to work, and has nothing to do with any of my "real" projects.

But posting something is better than posting nothing. ...Right?

Clean Slate (712 words | G)
A bath boy recognizes a face and discovers that he once made a grave mistake indeed.

(Warning: Major spoilers for my very favorite plot twist in all of Curse of Chalion. Do NOT read this ficlet if you haven't read Chalion yet but plan to someday.)

( Gomo poured clean hot water over the last of the customers... )
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The "Spring is Sprung!" drabble event at metamorfic_moon (which you might like to check out, if you haven't already -- it's been accumulating a good number of drabbles, and even a drawble) inspired me to write a drabble in the Warp and Weft ficverse. But then the drabble wouldn't leave me alone until I figured out how to expand it a little. I think it wanted to have slightly more of a point... It's still a fairly fluffy AU denial-fic in honor of Remus's birthday, though. ;)

Natural History Lessons
1345 words | PG

( 'Okay, Dad,' said Teddy. 'I've finished.' )

The Matthias who gets a brief mention here is an OC werewolf from Greyback's pack, first introduced in Out of Sight.

Here's wishing a most excellent -- not to mention very lucky -- birthday today to tegdoh! This is a very short little something that I hope will give you a bit of a smile in the middle of your busy day.

Suspicious Activities
(332 words | G | Marauder-era)

( Minerva strode into the Transfiguration classroom... )

ETA: And be sure to have a look at the "prequel" contributed by zia_montrose in the comments!
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