Ficlet for Starfishstar: Birthday Celebrations

[huldrejenta]

Title: Birthday Celebrations
Author: huldrejenta
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters: Andromeda Tonks, Teddy Lupin
Rating & Warnings: PG, mention of past canon character deaths
Word Count: 650
Summary: Andromeda, Teddy and birthdays
Notes: Happy Birthday, dear starfishstar! I hope you're having a wonderful day! It's been lovely getting to know you better lately, and I love

Comments

[author_by_night]

I wish I had something intelligent to say to this! But I did enjoy reading it; it was very well written, and I like that you went back and forth between Andromeda and Teddy. It's nice to see Teddy so loved.

[huldrejenta]

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, I'm so glad you enjoyed! :)

[starfishstar]

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. huldrejenta, I can't believe you wrote me a birthday ficlet. I can't believe you wrote me such a lovely birthday ficlet. (I was over the moon with delight even before I'd read the story, and all the more so after!) And of course you managed to include so many of my favorite things, Andromeda, and Teddy, and Remus/Tonks, and characters finding strong, happy moments even in amid the struggles of their lives

[huldrejenta]

(Sorry for taking so long to reply!)

Oh I'm so happy you enjoyed this! <3

And of course you managed to include so many of my favorite things
I'm so pleased you think so! Andromeda is a character that's been there in the background for me on a few occasions, but never quite made it to a story, so this was a great chance to give her a little time on-screen :)

Teddy, trying to hold onto anger because at least it's better than sadness.
You know, I do think Teddy had a happy childhood in many ways, but at some point or another he probably had thoughts like "The Order and their side had so many people - I had only two parents, and they both left me - how could they?" *Hugs Teddy*
I'm glad you enjoyed the birthday memories :) It was a pleasure writing you a little something :)

[starfishstar]

I do think Teddy had a happy childhood in many ways, but at some point or another he probably had thoughts like "The Order and their side had so many people - I had only two parents, and they both left me - how could they?"

Oh, absolutely! You can be totally, ridiculously, wonderfully loved (and I feel absolutely sure that Teddy is, by his wonderful grandmother and his wonderful godparents and surely the whole wonderful, crazy extended Weasley clan) and it still just sucks completely to never have gotten the chance to know your parents. (And to know that your parents made that choice, to put themselves in danger instead of staying home safely with you. OH GOSH, wait, idea: Teddy and Neville bonding over shared experiences fic...? Harry's parents at least tried to hide with him, so maybe Neville would understand Teddy in this sense even better than Harry does?)

Hmmmm, in any case, time to write compensatory fic about Teddy Lupin and his totally awesome life?? ;-)

THANK YOU again for this story! I'm still overjoyed by it!

[huldrejenta]

it still just sucks completely to never have gotten the chance to know your parents
Exactly!

OH GOSH, wait, idea: Teddy and Neville bonding over shared experiences fic...? Harry's parents at least tried to hide with him, so maybe Neville would understand Teddy in this sense even better than Harry does
You know, I think that could be absolutely wonderful. While we don't know precisely what happened when Neville's parents were caught, they at least didn't hide the way Harry's parents did (nor would they have the same reason to do so, I imagine). And both Teddy and Neville growing up with their grandmother. Yes, I'd love to see these two bond!

Hmmmm, in any case, time to write compensatory fic about Teddy Lupin and his totally awesome life?? ;-)
I have to say, I do like the sound of that :)

THANK YOU again for this story! I'm still overjoyed by it!
:-)

[capitu]

This was beautiful. I love the differences and similarities between them. How one held to anger a little longer to keep the sadness at bay, while the other simply can't.

I love their happy birthdays, the differences made by the age, until the reached this moment in which a birthday is peaceful and loving. Wonderful. Made my eyes fill. <33

[huldrejenta]

Thank you so much for your lovely comment, I'm so glad you enjoyed this :) <3

[gilpin25]

This is so sweet, apparently so simple, and so moving. Of course it's not simple at all because you've touched on sadness and anger and loss, and I really didn't see it coming at all that the birthday that they were remembering (and celebrating) was Tonks'. And it's perfect because Andromeda and Teddy are so strong, and the ending is one of hope and peace.

I love the birthday memories you've come up with as well; I want to highlight the same ones as starfishstar. What a lovely story.

[huldrejenta]

Thank you so much for such a lovely comment!

Andromeda and Teddy are so strong, and the ending is one of hope and peace.
I'm so glad you feel that way - I wanted the two of them to find peace and have a celebration with joy despite the sadness in the background.

[unicorngirl22]

I love the paralels and contrasts, especially:
- Andromeda's first memory is quiet and ominious. Teddy's first is loud and full of loving people.
- Andromeda's happiest birthday is about walking down memory lane, reliving the past, creating new memories. Teddy is about hope for the future.
- Andromeda's angriest birthday is what it is because her anger is about the little things, not the things that causes sadness and loss in her life. Teddy's anger is about the big things, trying to push grief away with anger.
- The last birthday (and I love that it's Tonks's) has a peaceful silence, the opposite of the uneasy silence of the first scene. The first scene is a rainy morning, the last scene is a sunny evening, coming to a full circle.

It's very possible I've over-analyzed this comepletely, lol!
But as usual you pull at my heartstrings seemingly effortlessly with a few, quiet words. Lovely! :-)

[huldrejenta]

Thank you so much! What a lovely comment :)
I'm glad you see the things you do in the structure, I don't think you've over-analyzed ;)