hi! i just remembered there’s a question i’ve been wanting to ask for a while. you’re one of the only authors who’s work ive read (in my opinion) that is able to write from both remus and sirius’s povs wonderfully. how do you go about writing their perspectives or inner monologues? what are some things you think are different about their thought process, or about the way they view each other? i know every writer will view them differently, but i wanted to hear your take on it! you make them seem so different but simultaneously equally in love with each other and it’s honestly one of my favorite things ever

Thank you so much! I love getting into their heads and trying to write from each of their voices and POVs.

They’re slightly different with every fic I write because I like to imagine how different life circumstances would shape their inherent traits. Sirius with and without James is very different, for instance. Remus with and without a chronic illness is also very different.

Here’s how I see them most of the time and how I wrote them in Language Lessons and to some extent, Dear Mr. Black.

Sirius Black has a sharp wit and even sharper tongue. He’s confident, easily bored, and usually the smartest person in the room. He’s derisive toward people who deserve it. He has a temper. He’s good at whatever he tries. He has righteous anger. He’s loyal as hell. He’d take a bullet for anyone he loves, and he loves hard. He can put an asshole in their place with as little as a well-timed arched eyebrow. He fights for what’s right, but there’s also no doubt he grew up an aristocrat. He dislikes the spotlight, but it finds him anyhow (when you’re that handsome, clever and brave, it happens). He only respects rules when they make moral sense to him. He has a natural aversion to people who punch down and prey on the weak. He’s not afraid to speak up for what’s right. He’s confident. He says what’s on his mind. He loves a good fight, but only with a worthy opponent. He’s funny. He’s prone to depression. You don’t wonder where you stand with him. He’s a sarcastic motherfucker.

Remus Lupin is also a sarcastic motherfucker. But where Sirius’s sarcasm is a knife to the jugular, Remus’s is a drop of poison in a warm, honey-sweet cup of tea. He is kind and quietly competent. He is riddled with self doubt. Instead of depression, Remus struggles with anxiety. With worrying he’s not good enough and with the heavy feeling that he has to prove himself and his worth at every turn. He feels like he needs to earn his place. He weighs each word that comes out his mouth, especially when he’s in public or with people he doesn’t fully trust. He’s a great teacher. He’s experienced chronic pain, poverty, and/or discrimination and knows the relentless, spirit-eroding fatigue of all three, which makes him not only deeply empathetic, but also extremely cautious and aware of what he views as his tenuous place in society. He keeps a lot bottled up inside.

I think Sirius has an undercurrent of anger and Remus has an undercurrent of sadness.

And together. Oh! I love writing them together. I think they bring out not only the best in each other but parts that they don’t show anyone else. Sirius can be ruthless, but with Remus he’s gentle. Remus can be insecure, but with Sirius he’s confident, both in himself and toward others. Remus doesn’t always speak up for himself, but will always speak up for Sirius. They’re both fiercely protective over the other. They respect each other. They each think the other one is smarter. They understand each other in a way that can only come from the shared experience of hardship.

I find Sirius’s POV easier to write. He’s not a self-insert, but I definitely relate to him more as a character. A lot of what he thinks, I think. I am also prone to bouts of dark melancholy (like right now! Hello darkness, my old friend). I also talk without thinking sometimes (a lot of times).

Also: Like Sirius, I did not know what a cloaca was until I googled it for Dear Mr. Black. I wrote Remus’s line about the egg being warm (“Of course it’s warm, it was just up a chicken’s arse”), and I thought, wait…is Remus just being funny? Or was the egg literally up a bird's arse? Where, exactly, do chickens lay eggs from? Did I really live [redacted] years on this earth without knowing this basic bit of chicken anatomy??

One (horrified) Google query later, Sirius and I learned the disturbing truth. But I defend us! Of course we didn’t know about cloacas. HOW WOULD WE?? I ASK YOU??? WE HAVE HAD NO INTERACTIONS WITH CHICKENS!!

Again, thank you!! I love getting asked things like this 🥰