Hello!! Most people liked when I explained my thought process while writing No Control, so I thought I would put some of my explanations for this one as well. This book took a lot of time for me to come up with the concept. No Control wasn't really meant to have a sequel, but when I came up with the idea, I had to write it.
At the beginning I needed to establish a sense of stability and that everything is going well for the Marauders before the mess that awaits them. Slowly, they are being pulled apart. James is busy with quidditch and being Head Boy, Remus befriends Davy Gudgeon and is preoccupied with the book club, and Peter is always off with Mary, leaving Sirius alone.
- Remus never stopped loving Sirius, he just took it for granted. In chapter 9, Remus tells Sirius "love you too" and those who read NC know the importance of the "I."
- For this story, I needed a "villain." But it's quite impossible to imagine hating somebody as much as everybody hated Abigail McHealy. So, I combined them. Davy wasn't always Abigail, either.
Clues About Davy/Abigail
1. I established Davy's looks and repeated them consistently every time he appears to reinforce the idea he is not himself later on.
- Davy is described with "neatly styled dark hair, deep blue eyes, and freckles that cross over his nose" (chapter 3)
- Davy is described as "tall, dark, and handsome" (chapter 4)
- Davy's hair is described as perfectly quiff-ed (chapter 10)
- Davy is staring at his reflection in the library because it's really Abigail observing her new body. This is also the first time Abigail becomes Davy (chapter 22)
- Davy is wearing more casual clothes and his appearance is described as messier (chapter 27 and 37)
- Davy's eyes are described as a "bright electric blue" - the color of Abigail's eyes (chapter 31 and 37)
- Sirius contemplates hexing Davy's hair on fire, but decides not. Davy's hair is described as "ash brown" and it looks as if someone sprinkled bleach over it (chapter 33)
- Davy's features are described as soft (more feminine) and his freckles are faded (chapter 37)
2. Books are a major theme. Davy and Remus bond over their love of books. (I may or may not have watched Pride and Prejudice one too many times while writing this)
- At the first book club, Davy and Remus agree that in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy was an arse with good reason. They agree that Elizabeth Bennet doesn't want a man to desperately chase after her (chapter 3)
- Remus quotes Pride and Prejudice "most ardently" but Davy doesn't understand (chapter 27)
- Davy tells Remus that the book he suggests is "boring" and that reading is "arbitrary" (chapter 31)
- Davy admits he hasn't started reading the book (chapter 37)
- Remus quotes Pride and Prejudice as a test "In vain..." but Davy doesn't understand again (chapter 37)
- Remus asks Davy if Elizabeth Bennet would want to be wooed and Davy says "what girl wouldn't" - a direct contrast to his original answer in chapter 3 (chapter 37)
- Cyrano de Bergerac is a story about a man who uses another person to court his lover. This is a reference to Abigail using Davy's body as a way to get close to Remus again
3. These clues I planted just to see if anybody paid attention.
- Remus asks Davy if he knows anything about Abigail, and Davy tells him the he knows of her, but not much else. This is important because "Davy" seems to know an awful lot about Abigail later on (chapter 19)
- During detention, Davy tells Remus that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" when taking about Sirius - a direct quote from Abigail in NC (chapter 22)
- During Potions, Sirius tells Professor Slughorn that he's out of knotgrass - an ingredient in polyjuice potion. Slughorn claims that he had just restocked (chapter 25)
- The most recently letter from Abigail isn't signed with a lipgloss kiss print and her letter comes extremely fast (chapter 26 and 28)
- Abigail's letter also tell Remus to hangout with Davy more and says "I can't wait to see you soon" hinting that she will see him soon (chapter 26)
- Frances runs into Davy who is leaving a supply closet and he takes 50 house points from her (chapter 26)
- Peter crashes into Davy and he spills a "disgusting liquid" which turns out to be polyjuice potion (chapter 28)
- Davy claims to be allergic to pumpkin. Remus tells Sirius that Abigail is allergic to pumpkin in NC. This clue is repeated twice. (chapter 28 and 37)
- Remus overhears that Davy plagiarized another students work (chapter 31)
- Davy rushes off claiming to have forgotten to hand in an assignment, but it's really the polyjuice wearing off (chapter 34)
- "Davy" is stumped by "bloody riddles" because Abigail can't get into the Ravenclaw common room (chapter 37 and 42)
- Davy suspiciously appears from behind a tapestry on the fourth floor, where the real Davy is kept, catching Remus off guard (chapter 39)
- Dumbledore notices "two, three" different shoe prints in the dust on the fireplace. It hints another person has used the floo network beside himself and Hope (chapter 40)
- It's mentioned that Dumbledore isn't in his office because he's away on Ministry related business, leaving his office unoccupied (chapter 27)
Notes.
- Davy does have a crush on James, which he admits to Remus. This isn't anything very important, but Davy asks to go to the Gryffindor quidditch game, not to be with Remus, but to watch James. Lily also tells James to be nicer to Davy and says that Davy "asks about him," suggesting he is interested in James (chapter 24)
- To all my Harry fans out there, if anybody caught it, Peter asks Sirius if Peeves would feel anything if he were to punch the poltergeist. Sirius tells him "Physically no. He would just be emotionally bruised" (chapter 35)
- Frances is bi and the love interest shift from Regulus to Willa also indicates her own personal growth and self-love.
- The memory Remus continues to never fully remember was when Abigail cheated on him first in their fifth year. Because his memories are being manipulated, he continuously sees different things. This is the one memory that causes the rest to fall into place.
- The Mirror of Erised reveals Remus desires the acceptance of his father. This is what he refers to at the end when he says he understands why Abigail did it. The unattainable goal of being loved by someone who doesn't love you.
In the end, I wanted this to be a love story. The idea of Remus falling in love with Sirius all over again, hence the title, seemed like the perfect compliment to No Control where they first fell in love. And yes, the titles No Control and Falling are both based off One Direction and Harry Styles.
Please comment thoughts and questions, vote, share, reread, do whatever you like with this.
Thank you again to everybody. I love you all, most ardently ;)
Grace
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