The Case for R/S

Meta
Title:	The Case for R/S
Creator:	elwing_alcyone
Date(s):	08 August 2003, revised in 2004 (?)
Medium:	LiveJournal post
Fandom:	Harry Potter
Topic:	Remus/Sirius
External Links:	offline; Wayback Machine link
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The Case for R/S is a 2003 essay by elwing_alcyone analysing support for Remus/Sirius in canon.

The essay was discussed in the 2018 The Paris Review article Harry Potter and the Secret Gay Love Story.

Excerpts

One of the things I have always liked about JKR's style is that, in the books, at least, she doesn't spoon-feed her reader. (I won't discuss the interviews at this point. I believe books should be able to stand alone, without the author's commentary, and still be complete.) The plot is always stated outright at the end, but when it comes to her characters, it's up to us to make our own choices. All we get is Harry's opinion; beyond that, we must decide for ourselves how to view characters. Is Draco redeemable? Was Tom Riddle always evil? Could Ron ever betray Harry and Hermione? Could Remus and Sirius be lovers?

All of these questions interest me greatly, but it's the last one I'll be discussing here. Be warned: this essay is both very long and very biased. I ship R/S — otherwise known as the 'One True Way', 'Puppy Love', 'HMS Wolfstar' and 'Wow, You Have A Point There!'

JKR is ambiguous on it. We cant prove either way. You can hate this ship or love it, but you can't prove we're not right. Just as we can't prove you aren't.

Sometimes, however, the visitors stayed to help. Tonks joined them for a memorable afternoon in which they found a murderous old ghoul lurking in an upstairs toilet, and Lupin, who was staying in the house with Sirius but who left for long periods to do mysterious work for the Order, helped them repair a grandfather clock...

OotP, p110, UK; p118, US

'Lupin, who was staying in the house with Sirius'. Not 'Lupin, who was staying in the house to be closer to the Order', or 'Lupin, who was staying in the house because he had nowhere else to go', or even just 'Lupin, who was staying in the house'. He is staying in the house with Sirius.

JKR didn't spend three years writing this book to shove in things that didn't matter.