Choices (Harry Potter story)
See Choices for other uses of this title.
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Choices |
| Author(s): | MesserMoon |
| Date(s): | 21 March 2021 to 16 June 2022 |
| Length: | 624,000 Words |
| Genre(s): | Canon-Compliant |
| Fandom(s): | Harry Potter (Mauraders Era) |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | On AO3 Archived Version |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Choices by MesserMoon is a canon-compliant Marauders Era, Harry Potter fanfiction published on AO3 from 2021 to 2022. It explores James/Regulus along with James/Lily in a canon-compliant setting. It is an extremely popular fanwork, with over 38,000 kudos and over 10,000 comments as of May 2024.
Contents
People make mistakes, but they also make choices. It’s important to James, that difference. He does his best not to confuse the two. -Summary on AO3 provided by MesserMoon
Choices starts in James Potter's fifth year and Regulus Black's fourth year and continues to James's death on Halloween 1981. Originally told through James's point of view, the story grew to encompass that of Regulus as well as other characters in the story. On her inspiration two write Choices, MesserMoon has stated
“That idea for that ship [Jegulus] was like floating around… on TikTok, and I was like yeah, but… could you actually write that? Could you make that fit in canon? So, that [Choices] started as more of a problem that I felt was given to me by the fandom… it was a question that I feel like the fandom… put out there…. I’m going to see if I can answer that.” Soph (MesserMoon) on the podcast Into the Fic of It [1]
Pairings included in the fic are James/Regulus, James/Lily, and Sirius/Remus with Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes.
A Remus/Sirius sequel Chosen has also been published on AO3 by MesserMoon.[2] As of June 2024, it is a work in progress.
Reception
Within the Marauders fandom, Choices became an extremely popular and influential story and is a cornerstone of the Jegulus ship. On AO3, it is the public fic with the most hits, kudos, comments, and bookmarks tagged with the pairing as of June 2024. Though, it is beaten in popularity by the locked fic Crimson Rivers.
As a canon-compliant fic featuring major character death, Choices is also well-known for the extreme emotional response it frequently elicits from readers. One GoodReads user went so far as to describe Choices as a "Shakespearean tragedy."[1]
Comments
"I will always have a soft spot in my heart for choices, one of my all time favorite fanfics but it also literally destroyed me and i still can’t get myself to reread it because of how hard I sobbed the first time around. Heartbreaking but beautiful 10/10 recommend." Reddit user arshmell on Choices.[2]
Related & Inspired
Fanart
- "Choices by messer moon cover design" by Pennikolikko
- "Choices Covers" by invisiblemuseum
- "choices cover art <3 (not for print and typesets taken down!)" by exhaustedpeach
Fanfiction
Podfic
- [Podfic] Choices by MesserMoon by Seralina (read by the Marauders Audio Project)
Related Works by MesserMoon
- "That's a Choice" by Soph (MesserMoon), reread podcast by the author with behind the scenes commentary
- "Chosen" by MesserMoon, sequel to the original fic
Translations
- German translation by pleasedontcry
- Polish translation by Xawery_y
- Russian translation by AmyLetty
- Ukrainian translation by velkin
- Finnish translation by wannaberaconteur
- Spanish translation by LxuxrSaad
- Another Spanish translation by accwalker
- Italian translation by avv_elena_ti