SHIP: Sirius and Remus

[Lissa Hess]

No: HPFGUIDX 131328

K:
>I just don't see it.  I think it is  a lot of people reading into Canon
>what isn't there.  Two people of the same gender CAN be and often ARE
>very good friends without having the wacka-wacka guitar playing in the
>background.

Lissa:

I bit earlier, but I'll bite again for this comment, since I see it echoed 
over and over on this thread.

One of the most popular myths about Sirius/Remus shippers is exactly what's 
being said here... and honestly, it really speaks kind of badly for those 
of us who DO ship them as a pair.

I fully believe in platonic friendship.  100%.  I think James and Sirius 
were completely platonic.  I think Ron and Harry are completely platonic- 
and that's with Ron being the thing that Harry will miss the most when the 
other two male champions had their current loves taken away.  And 
interestingly, if you look at the demographics, Ron/Harry is an EXTREMELY 
small ship, and very few Sirius/Remus shippers ship it.  To me, that speaks 
volumes about the shippers.  For many shippers, Sirius/Remus is their only 
slash ship.  That also says a lot about this particular ship.  I mean, my 
other ships are Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, Bill/Fleur... you get the idea.

For many shippers, it's not an "oooh, look!  Two hot guys who are 
friends!  They must be gay!" sort of phenomenon.  It has nothing to do with 
the hug in the Shrieking Shack.  The Hug was a lot of things: it was 
absolution, it was forgiveness, it was acceptance, it was brotherhood, it 
was friendship, it was "welcome back after 12 years"... it was one of the 
most emotional moments of the books.  But for a lot of shippers, it has 
absolutely no indication of a romance.

So what makes us believe there is a romance between Sirius and Remus?  I 
didn't ship them until OotP came out.  The only moment that raised my 
eyebrows in PoA when I first read it was that Remus freaked out when Harry 
asked if he knew Sirius, and then calmed down when a friendship was 
cited.  Goblet of Fire, Lupin's one mention made complete sense.  It was 
when Remus and Sirius were living together, giving Harry a joint Christmas 
present (when Remus couldn't even send a card the year before, or could 
have gotten candy or a little trinket like Tonks did), acting in concert 
constantly, and responding to each other on a truly emotional level that my 
eyebrows got raised.  (For the record, the comment that made me start 
thinking it was the living together bit, and the comment that made it all 
click was the "You should hear Remus talk about her!" bit.  When do WE ever 
see Remus rant?)  But those are details that can be explained either way, 
and it gets really silly to get into arguments over them precisely BECAUSE 
they can be explained either way.  I said it earlier in my post... it's 
just the way they're written.  It's not a feeling I get with any other 
friendship in the book.  I can sit here and cite every other same-sex 
friendship... but that would get really, really redundant.  It's just 
something about the closeness and the intimacy that's there that to me says 
"couple", but to others, doesn't.

But for the record, it's not 
those-things-which-shall-not-be-named-here-but-are-directed-by-Cuaron. 
It's not the fact that two men hugged.  It's not the fact that they're 
close friends.  It's a sum of many things- none of which are the three 
listed right here.  (Although, speaking as a woman who married her best 
friend, the line between friendship and love is the line that's truly thin- 
not the line between love and hate!)

I'm not trying to convert anyone- It IS an ambiguous ship, and I don't 
think everyone needs to read it the same way.  But please give the shippers 
(especially those on the grownups list!) a little credit for 
intelligence.  I promise you many of us are very bright ;)

Lissa