[Fic] Long Memories

[shimotsuki]

Title: Long Memories
Author: shimotsuki
Word count: 2101
Rating: G
Summary: Once Remus finally braves the Hogwarts staffroom, the transition from student to teacher is easier than he expected.
Genre: (Mild) humour
Author's note: This is my grand_national prize fic for ladybracknell, who requested Hogwarts teachers, PoA year.

Comments

[mrstater]

This is really lovely! The end is laugh out loud funny with the teachers plotting to get Mr. Marauder back, and I love that they caught him unawares! Your Remus is adorable here, so quiet and wry and not quite believing he's really a teacher, and that's really believable for the confident teacher we meet in POA to be feeling like that underneath. And the touches of sadness really round him out, too. A really, really nice fic! Thanks for a little Remus to start the day. :)

[shimotsuki]

Oh, I'm so glad you thought the end was funny; I feel a little insecure about trying to write humor in anything longer than a drabble...

I just hope this Remus hasn't come out looking too much like a wimp, because I didn't mean it that way. I'm fully in agreement with some of the points you've made in discussing your "Magical Creatures" stories, about PoA year being a real high point for him -- he's finally got a meaningful job that he's good at, and he's liked and respected. What I actually meant to do here was write Remus having standard-issue first-teaching-job jitters. I've talked to so many friends and mentors who are teachers, even successful, confident ones, who had this when they started out. (Are the students going to listen to me? If they get the answers wrong, is it actually my fault? How can I call these senior teachers by their first names when they taught me?) Hmmm. If I revise this, maybe I should put a little more in about Remus being thrilled to be teaching at Hogwarts and happy with how his lessons are going

[mrstater]

No, I didn't think he came across as wimpy at all! I thought he was very much a mixture of confident Marauder and first time teacher. Especially given that he wasn't very proud of his track record as prefect, so he wouldn't be totally sure they'd listen to him! And anyway, yes, first-teaching-job jitters came through perfectly. Don't you worry there!

[shimotsuki]

first-teaching-job jitters came through perfectly. Don't you worry there! -- Hee hee! I figured the jitters themselves had come through okay; I just meant, I wanted them to be the kind of jitters anyone would have, and not something specific to a wimpy!Remus. But from what you said it sounds like maybe that worked okay. So thanks!

[jncar]

This is just lovely! I really like how you mixed his happiness over his new position with his uncertainty at how well he would do. And the little touches of melancholy in his memories is perfectly balanced with the humor in them, and of course the final joke. :D I love the idea of Minerva pranking him - I think its perfectly in character for her. Ad I also liked getting a behind-the-scenes look at how the teachers relate to each other.

Thanks for sharing another enjoyable story.

[shimotsuki]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! I think you're right about Minerva -- I suspect she always had a soft spot for the Marauders, and so I suspect she may have been a bit of a prankster herself once upon a time.

[lady_bracknell]

Oh wow, this is so wonderful

[shimotsuki]

Oh, hooray, I'm really glad to hear that you liked it! And thanks for the comments -- you picked up on a bunch of things that I was going for with this

[bratanimus]

I adore this!!

The idea of Minerva remembering who, exactly, was responsible for the fireworks and then springing them on him 20 years later was brilliant, and quite in her character, I think! ;)

I really love your characterization of Remus in this, especially, as ladybracknell said, his testing of his sore spots to see how much they still smart. Particularly liked It was all right to snigger at that Sirius, the one who was just a boy, one of his best friends. Remus only felt sick to his stomach when he thought of the other Sirius, the one who-No. *shiver* And the little glimpses into his awe at being "one of them" at last: I never thought I'd be able to sit in a room with this many people all knowing what I am and no one fleeing or screaming. Wonderful

[shimotsuki]

Thanks so much for the encouraging comments; I'm really glad to hear you liked the story. I figure, if these teachers are practically living with the students for seven long years, they probably get to know them pretty well. (Well, maybe not Binns. ;) )

[katyhasclogs]

This was a pleasure to read; funny and poignant at the same time.

I especially liked how the teachers don't think of Neville as hopeless as he comes accross in the books. I also liked how Flitwick seems particularly fond of the twins - fits in nicely with the bit of canon about Flitwick keeping part of the swamp in the corridor.

The part where Remus checks through the essays to see if everyone's misunderstood is very realistic I think. I know its the kind of thing my mum does when she's marking. A good teacher tends to think it's their fault when pupils don't understand and Remus is definitely a good teacher.

[katyhasclogs]

By the way, do you mind if I friend you?

[shimotsuki]

Thanks so much for reading and commenting! I would be delighted if you friended me, and I hope you don't mind if I friend you back.

I was actually marking (or grading, as we say in the US) final exams and term papers when I was writing this story, so I channeled some of my RL frustration (and insecurity) into the teachers' comments. (Ernie Macmillan lives. But I also do what your mum does about double-checking the errors...)

As for Neville, we know Snape doesn't think much of him. But Sprout does, and even McGonagall, while she won't let him into her N.E.W.T.-level Transfiguration class, praises his work in Charms. So I thought it would make sense if even in his early years he wasn't totally hopeless.