The Honeymooners

[mrstater]

Title: The Honeymooners
Author: MrsTater
Rating & Warnings: PG-13 for innuendo and implied sexuality
Prompt: Close your eyes and I'll kiss you / Tomorrow I'll miss you / Remember I'll always be true / And then while I'm away / I'll write home every day - "All My Loving," The Beatles
Word Count: 7862 words
Summary: Two years after their wedding, Remus

Comments

[shimotsuki]

Aww! I'm so glad you were able to finish this for the challenge, because it's a wonderful read. Where to start? It's lovely just to think of Remus and Tonks finally settling into a peaceful life after the war, and having the relaxing and fun honeymoon they never had a chance to take. Also, I love the "souvenir" they were after from the get-go, hee.

But this is also wonderful for the way it shows that their whole outlook on life has shifted now that they are parents -- if Tonks has grown up, Remus has grown out of his painful self-doubt into the kind of dad we would expect a Marauder to be.

My very favorite part may be their -- especially Tonks's -- growing insight into Harry, and the way he has become part of the family for them, too. I'm not sure I've seen you write this much of Harry before, and I think you've really nailed what he'd be like after the war, a little older but still very much himself. I loved Remus's point that Tonks is more like Lily as a mother-figure than Molly is... I never saw it coming that Remus and Tonks might turn their honeymoon into a family vacation, but that's an absolutely perfect ending to the story. (And the last line is just great, especially since Harry's going to end up with three of his own someday!)

[mrstater]

You have no idea how thrilled I am that the end came as a surprise! I've never felt like I'm able to pull off a good twist, but I was really hoping this would read like Remus and Tonks were going to go home early from their holiday, rather than have the boys come home to them. If that had been the only comment you'd had about the fic, I'd have been thrilled, but as it is you've said so many lovely things I think my face is going to be permanently stuck in a grin. :D

I'm very glad so many people are happy to read AU -- though of course I'm not surprised you are, since you've got such a great denial 'verse yourself. Before DH came out I'd always hoped that the end of the series would bring a chance for Remus and Harry to finally get to have that close relationship they always seemed to want to have in POA, OotP, and HBP, and though we got hints of that in DH, it still wasn't happily ever after, so this is really a bit of long-desired indulgence on my part. And of course I always thought, and still think, that the only right ending for Remus and Tonks is to be rewarded in life for all the hardships they've come through so honorably. I'm very happy you liked seeing them in this sort of life, too, because it sure is fun to write!

Not being a parent, I'm never quite sure whether I can write authoritatively about raising a family, so it's great to know you think I've captured the right kind of outlook for Remus and Tonks at this stage of their lives. Even though Remus is at his lowest ever in Ch. 11 of DH, the Shell Cottage scene strikes me as a tremendous turning point for him, that leads me to think that Teddy's birth really would be the antidote for much of Remus' self-doubt. It goes back to POA, I think, that he'd be a naturally great father, and I think more than anything else, raising a healthy, whole son, would make him healthy and whole.

And no, I've never written Harry this much before, and I was nervous about how his voice would read, so I especially appreciate your comments about him! Very glad you like what I did with his relationship with Tonks, too; I was sad we didn't get to see more of that in DH, since he obviously cares a great deal about her as well as Remus. But I guess that's what fanfic's for, huh?

I can't thank you enough for your thoughtful and insightful feedback. It means a lot!