Fic: What's in a name?

[pinkhairedauror]

Title: What's in a name?
Author: pinkhairedauror
Rating & Warnings: PG. The last part is AU (denial fic, much!)
Prompts: What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Word Count: 1 173
Summary: Three times a disliked name is reconsidered. (Pieces set in OotP, late HBP/early DH, and post-DH).
Author’s Notes: I think the

Comments

[sspring92]

Just Lovely! That is the best explanation I have ever read as to why Tonks hates her name! I can really see her thinking that she is a disappointment to her mother and doesn't live up to her name! And I think Remus would hate that that's how she felt about it. I also love the use of Dora! I really don't think Tonks is intimate enough for him@

[pinkhairedauror]

Thank you! I tried to make it as... reasonable as I could, because - while impulsive and changeable, she's a consistent person, and to react so strongly, I thought she must have good reasons... So, writing. Let's dig those reasons up! :D

And yes... Remus calling her Dora at Shell Cottage was the thing, for me, that said that Remus had relaxed and opened his heart. Ahhh, Remus and Dora. We luffs them so!

Thanks a bunch for reading and reviewing!

[gilpin25]

This is a lovely read. It would have been quite easy to do the obvious with the prompt and tell us the story which the first part does - why she dislikes her first name. It seems an excellent explanation, and also very likely that Tonks would see herself as lacking the type of grace and elegance that she imagines her mother was hoping for in a daughter. (But then there's different types of grace and I rather doubt Andromeda feels let down at all.) But you've taken the story beyond that to show us how Remus comes to call her Dora and, in his quiet, thoughtful way, plays his part in getting her to gradually accept 'Nymphadora' before their son makes her realise that the name being said unconditionally and lovingly, as a source of pride, is what it's all about.

Really enjoyed this and your very thoughtful characterisation. I loved this line about Remus:

Giving tiny compliments the way only he could do and was so good at: understated, quiet, slipping past her reflex to deny anything that suggested she was something she wasn't.

[pinkhairedauror]

Thank you so very much!
Heh. Longest as it is, the first part was the hardest to write - maybe because it is obvious. I needed a good strong idea to pull me through it and tie it properly with the prompt.
And... no. I don't think Andromeda feels let down. Dora was certainly not what she might have expected, though, that far her daughter is right. I think that Andi loves too strongly, and accepts too thoroughly - with an open mind - to let unmet expectations blind her. (Which is something I believe she passed on to her daughter.)

Thank you thank you :D I think that by the time I completed the month for rt_challenge, I had lost my good grip on the characters, so knowing that they ring true here - means a lot.

And heh. That sentence was extremely amusing for me, and I think my beta too - she plays Remus a lot against my Tonks, and Tonks makes him blush so hard with her ... open, almost extravagant - but always honest - compliments

[mrstater]

Oh, this is really, really lovely! I like the different scenes with the evolution/acceptance of Tonks' name, but I think the first scene is particularly well done. The way you've started it off with strictly dialogue really establishes the Tonks you have her describe herself to be, and I also really like how you slowly reveal where they are, what they're doing -- the style really fits for two people scoping out a situation.

It's a really perceptive take on Tonks' name to approach it from the angle of the name symbolizing all of Andromeda's expectations for her daughter, and how Tonks feels she doesn't measure up. I think that's a really in-character look at their relationship, and even more I like how Tonks is so confident in who she is while at the same time not feeling like she lives up to Andromeda.

I just love fics that give me a new insight into the characters I'd not thought about before -- and so entertaining, too! A great read!

[pinkhairedauror]

Thank you muchly! As I've commented above, the first part was hardest to... get a good grip on, maybe because it was the obvious reaction and I tend to avoid those when writing (heh, I love twisting the arms of prompts!)

I am glad the fic was insightful. I think Tonks is very much... 'I'm not perfect. I can't be. And I won't try to be, no matter how much you may wish me to be. ... good news is, I don't expect to be perfect either. Just yourself.' ... but the name reminds her that somebody very important expected something different of her, and she'd rather not be reminded. (Of course, Andromeda is among the people who insists on calling her Nymphadora, which also figures... I really don't want to have been among those two when they were fighting, they are so stubborn, both of them!)

Heh. Thank you again, for reading and taking the time to comment!

[bookish_brownie]

That was very nice. As others have said, I like how the evolution of their relationship goes along with Tonks' eventual acceptance of her name. I especially like the ending of the first part when it shows their professionalism, going from talking about something relatively inconsequential to working.

[pinkhairedauror]

I am glad you liked, and I thought that was a sensible way to end that section - which, with those two, could drag on and on till it got boring for anybody but them ;)

Thank you for reading and commenting!

[love_1776]

Aw, I liked it. I don't normally like Tonks, here characterization is just bluh, but this was different then most fics. It was so adorable! Who doesn't love fluff?

[pinkhairedauror]

Thank you! :)