The Shoebox Project

A long running Harry Potter fanfiction, featuring the Marauders--James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Other characters such as Lily Evans, Severus Snape, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, and the Prewett brothers also make appearances. Co-written by Jaida Jones and Rave (who also drew the illustrations.)

The Shoebox Project follows the Marauders from the summer before sixth year through the first year or so of life after Hogwarts. It's a (very realistic) Remus/Sirius and James/Lily ship story, but fans also love it for its wit, style, excellent dialogue, and thoughtful treatment of each character. Hilarious, touching, overall just beautifully done.

Sadly, The Shoebox Project is a Dead Fic -- it hasn't been updated in years, and it didn't exactly help when the Livejournal page got hacked in 2008. You can read it in full PDF version here.

In 2011, it was featured on CBS News, with co-author Jaida Jones available for comment on the work itself.

Tropes used in The Shoebox Project include:
  • Adorkable: Remus. So very, very much. James also tends to get like this around Lily.
  • Academy of Adventure: The Wizarding School.
  • Adaptation Expansion
  • A Good Name for a Rock Band: Remus says this of "the Wet Blankets And One Very Lonely Marauder" in Part 10.
  • Allergic to Love: When Remus finally gets up the guts to confess to Sirius and kiss him, he becomes physically ill and has to run off to find a toilet to vomit in. Sirius finds this disgusting but kisses him anyway before leaving, and Remus ends up spending a good deal of time brushing his teeth and washing his mouth out before meeting up with him again.
  • Ascended Extra: The Prewett brothers, who were mentioned maybe a couple of times in the canon. Here they become legendary Hogwarts pranksters turned glamorous Aurors, whom James and Sirius absolutely worship.
    • Caradoc Dearborn gets this, too; most people don't even remember his name in the books. Not to mention Kingsley freaking Shacklebolt.
  • Beach Episode: Part 21 has the Mauraders on holiday at the beach.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: James and Sirius, all the time.
  • Boys Love
  • Buffy-Speak: Everyone, but most notably Sirius. He even manages to pull it off in letters.

Sirius's Letter: He played that one I like though! The Glen Miller one. The dah-nah-nah dah! dah! dah! dah! da dunnah dunnah, doodle oodle doodley doo, doo doo doo! dah nahnuh doodle oodle doo doodle oodle doo, doot doodle oodle doo doodle oodle doo, and then the same three notes over and over.

  • Christmas Episode: Parts 6 and 18.
  • Continuity Nod: SBP stays mostly canon in terms of plot, which means that things like Sirius and Snape's rivalry and the creation of the Marauder's Map get interestingly fleshed out.
    • Attentive readers may notice a few interesting bits and pieces hidden in casual conversation: Rosier is mentioned to have been expelled because of what the protagonists assume to be a simple tattoo. Readers will realize that it was the Dark Mark.
  • Cute Bookworm: Remus.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Nearly all the characters get this at some point, but Remus seems especially suited.
  • Did I Say That Out Loud: Although he doesn't say the line itself, Sirius' little...slip while kissing Sophie in part 14 definitely evokes this.
  • Dramedy
  • Drop-In Character: Sirius is definitely one of these in Part 26.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: James to Lily. She gives in eventually when she realizes that he really is a nice guy underneath all the bravado.
  • Double Don't Know/One-Liner, Name. One-Liner.: Hilariously combined for the school paper article on Sirius and Snape being forced to kiss under the mistletoe:

"I don't know," said Ted Tonks, a young man who bore witness to the entire spectacle. "I just don't know."
Neither do we, Ted Tonks. Neither do we.

“Oh my God,” Sirius says. “We’re going to die, aren’t we? This is your way of telling me. You don’t remember anything. Moony, listen, there’s something I’ve got to tell you before we kick it.”
“Disgusting,” Remus mutters. “There’s something wet — are you still dripping?”
“Remus, listen to me, this is very important—”
“Got it!” Remus grasps his wand triumphantly, holding it high above his head. “Lumos!” Weak light flutters from his fist which is, disturbingly, red and sticky. “Hallo, is that blood or cranberry juice?” He turns to face Sirius, wand wavering between them. “Well? What is it?”
Sirius falters, squinting. “I got chocolate on your sweater,” he says, averting his eyes. “Your favorite one. That light in front of your face makes your nose look enormous. Like a great big dolphin sticking out of your head.”

  • Gayngst: Remus and Sirius, obviously, as the story is about them, but also Caradoc "Man Panther" Dearborn and Fabian Prewett
    • However, all things considered, there really is relatively little Gayngst, especially between Remus and Sirius. The story goes to great lengths to keep the plot and the characters' interactions lighthearted and funny, even when more serious aspects of the story come into play. The authors even admitted that one of the main reasons they wrote the fic was to challenge themselves to write a Remus/Sirius story with relatively little angst. Many would say they succeeded.
  • Genre Savvy: Remus to the horror movie being played out in part 16. Sirius has his moments, too.

Hunting down the missing persons is the best possible way to get them both devoured. Not to mention they’ll have to go through the corridors. If Dr. Frankenstein, for example, had just stayed in his common room and eaten crumpets, he would probably have kept a good deal of people out of a good deal of mess.

  • Halloween Episode: Parts 4 and 16.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: James and Sirius.
    • Except that Sirius isn't heterosexual. Doesn't mean he has a crush on James, though.
  • Homoerotic Dream: After Sirius kisses Remus, the latter starts dreaming about them acting out various works of literature, sometimes causing something Perfectly Natural in his pyjama bottoms. Remus is suitably horrified by the entire thing. Fortunately for him, they stop once he and Sirius actually talk about the whole thing. The tension doesn't go away, however.
  • Ho Yay: James and Sirius' hero-worship of the Prewett Brothers reeks of this, to the extent that Sirius seriously considered wearing a pink shirt reading 'Mrs. Fabian Prewett' in public.
    • Also, the spells Dumbledore casts in part 16 to make the school act out a horror movie invokes this in the Slytherin girls.
    • And Sirius and Remus are very touchy-feely before it becomes clear that they're an item.
  • In Vino Veritas: In part 17 on Sirius' 18th birthday he gets drunk and starts complaining about Asexual Remus is. To the audience, it's clear he's upset about the fact that he's fallen for someone who, from his perspective, doesn't appear to be into anyone. Remus, however, understands none of it.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Part 18:

“He makes the fleas flee,” Peter says, mostly to himself, and cackles.

Sirius: I am getting the distinct impression that you are not hip to my jive. Are you or are you not hip to my jive?

“The ceiling,” James sighs. “I like the ceiling. It doesn’t twinkle. It’s not beautiful or far away. It’s not going to up and dump you one day because it thinks you pulled a prank on Severus Bloody Snape. Don’t you like the ceiling, Pete? The ceiling is so lovely.”
“Er,” Peter says. “Wait, you’re not talking about the sky anymore. Are you?”

James: "...And do you remember that time, with the toaster? It was like that only a hundred times worse and a hundred times longer and less burning and more squeezing."

  • Not What It Looks Like: In part 16, Remus and Sirius fall down a flight of stairs and onto one another, getting stuck on the helmet of a suit of armour. Which wouldn't have been so bad, except a moment later, Kingsley and Snape happen upon them.

“Is that Lupin and Black?” Snape says, sounding delighted. “Are they on each other?”

Sirius: Can you even say the word ‘sex’ without going all British?

  • That Didn't Happen: Dramatic example when Sirius kisses Remus in part 12. When Remus just seems shocked more than anything else, Sirius freaks out and suggests this, which Remus agrees to without thinking. Needless to say, it doesn't work.
  • The Talk: In one hilarious chapter, all four boys are separately traumatized by The Talk.
  • Their First Time: James and Lily in Part 21. It doesn't go well.
  • Trademark Favourite Food: Chocolate for Remus.

Where does it come from, he pauses to wonder, this love of chocolate, this veritable obsession? Everyone has a favorite food, he supposes, something that tickles an untraceable fingerprint of personality somewhere deep inside their bellies. Chocolate is a comfort. Chocolate is the essence of luxury; silks and satins for the tongue. But why chocolate? he asks himself. The way you are about it — it’s lunatic, you know.

Repeat after me, Mr. Black: I do believe in commas. I do, I do.

  • Will They or Won't They?
  • Wolf Man: Remus is a shy bookworm most of the time, except when he turns into a huge monster on the full moon.
  • Wrong Name Outburst: At one point, while kissing Sophie, Sirius accidentally says Remus' name. Needless to say, their relationship does not last long afterwards.
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