#think it through

Here are some things you should know

Hey Tumblrs. It's a big decision. A word to the wise for you below. Much love. Be well. ❤️‍🩹💙❤️‍🩹

Going public – telling your story in a public or semi-public way, like posting on social media, talking to the media, or naming someone in a forum – can feel powerful, liberating, and important. But it can also come with serious consequences. If you’re thinking about going public, here are some things to be aware of first.

1. You may be punished or get fired Retaliation is illegal, but it still happens all the time. Some people are fired on the spot. Others are pushed out – given fewer hours, cut off from projects, or frozen out socially until they quit. Your workplace can start to feel hostile fast.

2. It could hurt your career long-term Going public can change your professional reputation in ways you can’t control. Employers often shy away from hiring people who’ve spoken out publicly about harassment, fearing they’ll do it again. People may decide you're a troublemaker, difficult, disloyal, or unprofessional. Those judgements can stick with you for a long time.

3. You could be sued for defamation If you name the harasser, they could sue you for defamation.. Lawsuits are expensive, time-consuming, and emotionally draining, even if you win. Some harassers and employers may use the threat of a lawsuit to silence you or punish you for speaking out - and the risk is higher if your harasser is wealthy, powerful, or has a history of legal threats or lawsuits..

4. You may get backlash (and it might be intense) Not everyone who goes public gets attacked, but many do. Sometimes it’s strangers calling you names online, and sometimes people will dig through your past, contact your employer, or even send you threats. You can’t know in advance whether it will be mild or extreme, and that not-knowing is part of what makes going public risky..

5. You may not like the reaction you get Once your story is out there, anything could happen. People may misquote you. Strangers might share it far and wide, or … not care. What feels critical and personal to you might be minimized, doubted, or ignored.

6. You could harm your legal position or break an NDA If you’re in the middle of a formal complaint or lawsuit, speaking out can complicate things. It may give your harasser time to hide evidence or ammunition to argue that you're exaggerating or acting out of spite. If you have an NDA, breaking it could get you sued.

I read POA in 1999. I was talking about wolfstar (though I didn't call it that) in 1999. And I was far from the only one.

the movie didn't come out until 2004. I had been talking about wolfstar for five years at this point. And I didn't like the movies when they were coming out. I didn't watch POA until years after it had been released.

No, "wolfstar truthers" did not spring into existence with the line "look at you quarrelling like an old married couple"

The three year summer (2000-2003) was a massive time for wolfstar shippers because the end of GOF gave us a whole new genre to play with: "Lie Low at Lupin's". Three years worth of headcanon, fan art and fics all before the movie hit theatres. And that was on top of the intense scenes (and best chapters in all of HP) in the shrieking shack.

The Case For R/S by elwing_alcyone was written in 2003 following the publication of OOTP. It was first written before the POA movie came out and it goes through - in painstaking detail - all the parts of the books which support wolfstar.

Now, you don't have to agree with the interpretation, but you have to accept and respect the fact that back when the books were coming out there were people who did ship it and did so based on canon information. It is a ship based in canon even if it is not canon. And it stems from a time before we knew what would happen next and had to wait years for the next instalment.

Just because some wolfstar fics might now twist the characters beyond all recognition does not mean that Remus and Sirius have to be OOC for the ship to work.

I am only interested in canonically accurate versions of these characters. But I do ship them together, and have done for the past 26 years. Because of what I can see in the text.

Wolfstar shippers are as old as Remus and Sirius themselves (that is to say, they all date from 1999). You might not be able to find masses of early 2000s wolfstar fics on FFN, but that's because they were on live journal and private websites and sites dedicated to "puppy love"/ "the one true way". They were on sites that no longer exist and you have to commit to trawling the wayback machine in a fandom archaelogial dig just to find snippets. But they did exist - in great numbers. I remember them. I saw them. They were my first introduction to fanfic, and there was no shortage to choose from. And the ship was being spoken about IRL, and no there is no internet history for that but it doesn't stop it being real.

You may not have been in these spaces, but that doesn't mean that these spaces were not there. You might not have been a wolfstar shipper (a "puppy love/ one true way shipper") but that doesn't mean other people were not, and that they were relatively large in number - especially for a slash ship at that time.

Wolfstar does not come from the movie. And it certainly doesn't come from All The Young Dudes. And I don't care how much you hate the ship, how much you love Prongsfoot or Remadora (if that's your reason for hating), you have to accept that the wolfstar ship started sailing in 1999 with the publication of Prisoner of Azkaban.

Yes it has grown in popularity over the years and taken some wild turns, but it started with the introduction of the characters and it started in canon.

I get that people like to hate on what is popular, and wolfstar is super popular now and the popular fics bear little resemblance to the books, but hating on something doesn't have to include rewriting the facts - whether that is done in ignorance or maliciously.

Yeah, you have to be in your late 30s or early 40s (at least) to be an OG wolfstar shipper, because any younger than that and you wouldn't see it in the text when it first came out, but please stop writing these older fans out of history.

Especially if you're not old enough to remember or weren't in the fandom back when all this happened.

Wolfstar has been around since Remus and Sirius were introduced. in 1999. I have been shipping them since 1999. And I wasn't alone.

But I have to admit, Dooku manic-hyping himself up for the fatal Invisible Hand fight with Anakin and Obi-Wan and then accidentally starting to cry in front of Sidious who subsequently has to tell him to get it the fuck together is very funny/incredibly sad. 

Dooku: :D I’m only crying because I’m just so so incredibly happy to lose on purpose to a person I hate, a thing I do not find humiliating at all, and be taken captive in your new Empire :D