à la the username, i think it would be treason to not start with tlat - aka the life and times by jewels5 on fanfiction.net
this is a jily fic (obviously) starting from the beginning of sixth year to november of seventh year. is it unfinished? yes. is it over 600k words? also yes. but in my opinion it’s worth it. james and sirius’ relationship make me awfully jealous, the marauders are larger than life and peter is more than a will-be-evil cheerleader. intergration of barely mentioned canon characters is skilfully done, the ensemble is massive and yet no one is sidelined
the dialogue is fantastic, almost reminding me of gilmore girls, james and lily have this natural progression into enemies then associates then friends that makes it realistic for a pair of awfully dramatic teens in an awfully dramatic period (in the midst of a bloody war!)
lily’s relationship with snape and her sister is given a layer of depth that is more than snape + petunia=bad, and the original characters have a strong sense of self and purpose that isn’t only to drive the romance.
i’d say read tlat if you’re a fan of witty sarcastic jily, the best characterisation of james ever, a unique outlook on the famed ‘prank’, and a couple of good mysteries and wizarding activism.
if the fact that it’s unfinished puts you off, tlat ends like you knew it was coming, almost, so while the ache was there, i felt gladder that i had read it in the first place, rather than unfulfilled.
as my favourite fic ever, this gets full scores
The Life and Times Chapter 1: Prologue, a harry potter fanfic | FanFiction
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