Fic: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

[tegdoh]

Title: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Author: tegdoh
Format & Word Count: fic, 1900 words
Prompt: 3. distance, 22. flowers
Warning: none
Summary: The Tonks take Dora and their new son-in-law out to dinner.
Author's Note: Loosely inspired by the Hepburn-Tracy movie.
And, per usual, many thanks to shield_wolf for the beta read.
(Edited to fix the

Comments

[mrstater]

I really liked this piece. You painted Ted and Andromeda as three-dimensional parents, which oddly enough seems like a rare thing in fandom. Your Ted is especially well-characterized, with his fatherly prejudice, yet his willingness to trust his daughter in her choice of husband. I loved how he was grading Remus on a point system, lol, seems just like something Tonks' father would do. And "Do you think he likes his steak rare." That was perfect and a nice touch of humor, while still hanging on to the canon that Ted hasn't necessarily made Remus feel welcome.

But gosh, the scene in the restaurant. You did an excellent job with it. I always think it's so difficult to write Remus being treated badly, and I think you did it really effectively, without it being too much. And Ted and Andromeda's reactions of what kind of life will Tonks have with him are perfect

[tegdoh]

Gosh, thanks. I'm glad you liked it so much. I really wanted to show Ted and Andromeda as the kind of parents who could have raised a Tonks-not blatantly bigoted but a product of their society, trying to accept their daughter's choices but struggling with their own prejudices at the same time.

The restaurant scene was hard to write. I didn't want to go overboard, but I did want to make Remus uncomfortable enough that it explains some of the second thoughts we see in DH. And I imagine that he does harbor some guilt over the Montgomery child's death, since he was living with Greyback's pack when it happened.

[merryb87]

I wish I could give you a nice decent review, like the one tater gave you, but alas I cannot as she already said everything that I was thinking. So I'll say this:

This was a very well crafted story. Montgomery was greatly written, I feel sorry for what happen and I understand his anger, yet he doesn't have the right to take it and blame it all on Remus and the other werewolves who almost had nothing to do with the crime.

I also love the connection you made between Andromeda and Ted's relationship and Tonks and Remus's, how they are somewhat similar with one another!

This was beautifully crafted and a great read, you did very well with and I enjoyed it.

[tegdoh]

Thanks!
The prejudice that Ted and Andromeda must have faced when they got married is one of the reasons I can't see them rejecting Remus outright. Doubts and concerns, yes, but not blatant bigotry or rudeness.

[carnivalgirl]

Ouch, those comment from Montgomery was really painful to read! Poor Remus. Didn't he say something like "Werewolves are not popular dinner guests" in OotP? Literally, I suppose. I think Ted and Andromeda's reactions are perfect, though you've already been told this. They're appalled by the bigotry, yet worried for their daughter, and they're trying to be happy and feeling slightly cold. I don't think they'd be directly prejudiced either, but they would find themselves using terms like "the werewolf". So, it was perfectly balanced and very possible in canon (I don't know how to put it...)

Everything in this was really well done, it's a great examination of the family. I liked Remus and Tonks's little moment together towards the end, too. Aww.

[tegdoh]

I've read some fics where Ted and Andromeda come off as being quite dreadful towards Remus b/c of the werewolf issue, and it's always seemed a bit too pat to me. So I'm glad you liked my take on it.

And I've got a plot bunny in my head in which the Montgomery thing rears its ugly head again years down the road... (AU, of course, since I am Queen of Denial when it comes to DH)

[tegdoh]

I'm finding that I really like Ted and Andromeda, in spite of the fact that we see almost nothing about them in the books. But here's a woman who left her powerful, rich family to marry a guy who just seems like a nice bloke, and together they raised this confident, happy, strong woman who falls in love with Remus Lupin. What's not to like?

And thanks for your kind comments.

[shimotsuki]

This is wonderful. Your details of characterization fit beautifully with canon and yet flesh the characters out and make them believable. (They also match really well with my personal images of these characters, heh...) I'm quite sure that what Remus says to Harry about the Tonkses being "disgusted" by the marriage is a product of his breakdown and doesn't reflect what Ted and Andromeda really think -- but at the same time, I'm sure they must have had reservations

[tegdoh]

Thanks very much for the encouragement, especially re: characterization, which is one of those things I fret most about.

I imagine that even the slightest reservation on Ted's or Andromeda's part would have been amplified in Remus' mind to the point of disgust, simply because that is what he has come to expect.