Of the Star and the Moon [Harry Potter Fanfiction]

Author's Note

Well, we all know what happens in the next few years of life as the Marauders. The boys join the Order, Remus has trouble finding jobs because he's a werewolf, James and Lily have a son, Peter betrays their location to Voldemort, James and Lily die, Sirius is accused, Peter gets away, a whole bunch of lives fall apart, and then Harry turns into the savior of the wizarding world. Etc., etc., we've all heard this story hundreds of times by now.

Wow...I can't believe I was actually able to turn that whole thing into something that made Harry Potter sound boring and outdone. You hear that, Jo Rowling? I'm coming for you! Look out, I was able to make your adventures full of torture and genocide sound boring! Muahahahaha! My goodness, I'm going to get struck by lightning for making such a ludicrous statement.

Anyway, down to the whole description thing. I showed some family life at the beginning of the story with Remus, Peter, Sirius, James, and Lily, but there are a few more things I want to show. I guess I kind of have my own opinions, or theories, if you will, about the lives of the different people in the Marauder era.

Remus is portrayed a lot by people as a weak and super sensitive guy that cries over everything. No offense to any of you, but I think that is completely ridiculous. Yes, guys can cry and it is fine if they feel the need to cry sometimes. But this is Remus freaking Lupin we're talking about here. This guy turns into a werewolf once a month; he has parents that are scared to death of him and don't know what to do about him because of this. He's probably one of the toughest characters ever written. He was able to deal with what he thought was three of his close friends murdered at the hands of his lover! And he kept on living! How the hell is that weak?! Okay, off of my soapbox now. I don't believe that Remus would have gone back to his parents; he felt like he was a burden to them, and as awful as it is, I think he was. I believe that the remainder of their lives was probably a lot more peaceful and less stressful without him, though of course they would've missed him and wondered what had happened to him. I am also very much against the Tonks/Remus relationship. She's a wonderful woman whom I would admire greatly had she not loved and married Remus when Jo Rowling should have known full well that Remus belonged with Sirius! I feel that Remus would have been very sad for the rest of his life because of all the sorrow he experienced. I wrote a poem about it; it's posted on my profile if you wish to read it (and here would be the shameless promoting of my other stories...).

Peter is shown a lot as the cowardly bad guy. I tried to show him a little differently in OTSATM. He couldn't have always been a coward; Gryffindor is the house of the brave. I think that once upon a time Peter was very brave in the face of evil, and he chose his mother over his friends. Think about it: what would you do? Some of you would choose your friends; some of you would choose your parents. It all depends on which you value more. Could there have been a better way for Peter to handle this? Of course! Handing your friends over to death is wrong no matter which way you look at it; I just want everyone to see that Peter is not just an evil person that dreamed of betraying his best friends ever since he met them. He was honorable and bravely defended his mother at first. I think when he gave over to Severus he was very ashamed. He was missing at times where his friends could've used his help; he couldn't face them because he didn't like what he was doing. I believe that, eventually, when he met Voldemort, he became more cowardly. The longer he was around the Death Eaters, the more he became like them. The Peter Pettigrew that Harry knew would have been severely different from the Marauder that the boys knew in their school days. Hate all you want on the scumbag who sold out his friends and wasn't even slightly haunted by the way Harry's face looked almost identical to James's. But remember that there had once been a younger Peter that was brave and uncorrupted in his Maraudering ways.

Sirius was pretty straightforward. He is handsome and arrogant, and he needed something big and tragic in his life to make him grow up. He had a complicated childhood and was actually a great role model considering he left his own family because he knew that they were wrong. Of course he wasn't perfect, but if you really look at him, he was a bloody amazing person. He didn't deserve everything that happened to him. It still makes me sad. He's my favorite character. I'm really glad he was the first person to ever break out of Azkaban. Take that, McGoogles! Sirius is not even close to being stupid! He is BRILLIANT! I'm still quite mad at Jo for killing him; though, I suppose, I'm really quite mad at her for killing a lot of my favorite characters. But I love her anyways; I guess that's what great writing can do to a person...

James was also pretty straightforward. I've always admired him for the way he stuck around and never took his eyes from Lily. He loved her for years while she openly despised him; that kind of love is amazing. One day I will find a man who looks like Sirius and loves like James...

Lily is kind of different too. Jo shows her to be very nice and beloved by all in her books. I think most of us fanfictioners make Lily out to be a crazy, mean, control freak quite a lot. I really don't mean to write her to make her seem bitchy; it just happens sometimes. I actually love Lily. She went through a lot growing up as a muggleborn, and then she gave her life for her son. She was a really great person.

Marlene is mostly just a side character added in to give a little more depth to the story. She finds the personality that she likes and mimics it; this story was Sirius's personality. She is able, however, to become her own person at times when it is required, like when she got Lily to quit sulking and go find James. I think it would be interesting to write or read something from her point of view sometime.

Mary was also just a side character. She was definitely not my favorite. I see her as being a bit stuck up; she also lacks her own personality, but instead of making a different personality suit her, like Marlene does, she kind of feeds off of the people around her. Mostly, that is Marlene. I felt like at the end of the story, she lets her anger make her into more of an individual. She was attacked by one of the younger death eaters because she came from a family of "blood traitors" and this fueled her to greatly oppose Voldemort and later join the Order. I find it very significant that Mary and Marlene stood against Severus with Sirius there at the end because it shows that, while the focus was mainly on the Marauders and Lily, other people actually grew and changed during this time period too.

Alice would have been shown a lot more if the story had focused more on James and Lily. Since it was mostly Sirius and Remus-centric, I left her and Frank to their snogging (which I'm sure they greatly appreciated). Since I write Alice as Lily's best friend whenever I feel that Lily needs a best friend, Alice would have definitely been there more in a Jily fic. I have this theory that Alice is the much younger sister of Fabian, Gideon, and Molly Prewett; Jo just kept this fact secret. Fabian and Gideon were killed, and then Alice was tortured into insanity by Bellatrix; it was too painful for Molly to talk about, so no one ever knew that Alice was related to her. I'm on to your secrets, Jo! ...no, don't stomp on my fantasies. Let me dream their relationships as I will...

And finally, Severus. The most complex character ever to walk through the wizarding world. I feel bad for him, and then other times, I don't. A lot of what happened to him, he brought upon himself. I think that after calling Lily a mudblood and losing her friendship, he sank into a deep depression. He wasn't himself and he was too far gone to try to change anything. He felt badly for what he had done and he still deeply cared about her; he just didn't know how to fix anything. It is my belief that after he left Hogwarts, Severus disappeared for a while. He sank into the shadows and served Voldemort in a lot of ways that didn't involve him contacting the outside world. Except for a few times like when he overheard Trelawney's prophecy, he tried to stay to himself. I really feel for him. He was an amazing character, and I can honestly say that I was truly shocked by the real Severus Snape that was introduced in Deathly Hallows. It brought me around to a completely new level of respect for him. I wrote a story about his and Lily's relationship and how it quickly crumbled; it is also available on my profile (more shameless promoting; but don't worry, the two pieces I promoted are actually my favorites out of the stories I've written. I don't really know why; they just are.)

Thank you so much for sticking with OTSATM until the very end. I am sad to see it go, but it's time to move on. I appreciate the love and encouragement that you have all poured out to me through reviews, follows, and favorites. It has meant a lot. I hope to begin writing something new soon, as I have numerous ideas floating around in my head. Until then, you can read some of my other works located on my profile and other Wolfstar stories. I love you all so much!

Signing off for the last time on OTSATM, Jada