Fic: Happily Ever After

[shimotsuki]

Author/Artist: shimotsuki
Title: Happily Ever After
Rating & Warnings: PG, mild profanity and original characters; postwar AU
Word Count: 4690

Prompts:

• (Time/place) gilpin25: Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions
  
• (Miscellaneous) arctic_comet: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt, This is My Story

Summary: Tonks wonders whether she

Comments

[shimotsuki]

That prompt was so apt for Remus! But I had a little bit of fun turning it around and having Tonks expect Remus to be undervaluing himself, when he was generally doing a fairly good job avoiding that for a change. :)

I'm completely living in denial for these two, and much happier for it, heh. Thanks for the kind comment -- glad you enjoyed.

[solochan]

I read this when it first appeared but didn't get a chance to comment, so here goes.

Firstly, I literally bobbed up and down in my chair at the thought of Remus wanting to show Teddy off. It felt so right, so beautiful that he'd want to do that, and I'm not surprised she's worried about him going back to being his old worried fearful self.

That last scene about being grateful, is so powerful, imagining Remus's voice fierce in tone, but over something so important to him actually made my knees weak, I love how you portray him and all of his "moods" or stages.

I'm just going to end up wanting to draw from all of your stories aren't I? :) You totally have me fooled this is canon most of the time (both with Warp and Weft and Kaleidoscope.

Thank you so much for sharing :)

[shimotsuki]

Thanks so much for the lovely comments! It makes me so happy to hear this ficverse is almost canon for you. :)

I like to think that after his *ahem* near-death experience, Remus has really learned what's important in his life. And I think he'd make a wonderful proud dad!

[gilpin25]

I've decided there should be a warning to this fic stating that it guarantees the reader a warm, contented after-glow! Because it wasn't just Tonks and Remus who were relishing their happy-ever-after throughout, but me along with them. You did a lovely job with this

[shimotsuki]

Thanks so much for the encouraging and thoughtful comments. I always appreciate your analysis!

I've been wanting to write Remus's postwar (AU? What AU?) reunion with the werewolves for a long time now, so your prompt was the perfect impetus to do that. It's interesting to think about how they would interact in the changed circumstances.

Very glad you liked Remus's changed attitude here! Partly I was thinking that in this context of this ficverse I want to take seriously the fact that in By a Thread, Remus deliberately chooses to wake up instead of staying safely in the afterlife. So it's not the case that all of life's problems are miraculously fixed, but he's really had a major shift in perspective. Poor Tonks doesn't fully understand just how major, so she's still anxious, but she'll catch on eventually!

For some reason, the Tonks in my head keeps wanting to dress Remus in blue (the new bathrobe she gets him in a random DH scene I haven't written yet is blue, too). She may be onto something...

[huldrejenta]

Remus muttered something in his sleep and rolled over so that he was pressed all along her side. His arm wrapped around her waist. She balanced Teddy in one arm and slid the other hand along the curve of her husband’s back, and he sighed a little, nestling even closer.Aww, this image is the most adorable ever! I love to think of the three of them having many moments like this :D

[shimotsuki]

Thanks so much for reading, and for the thoughtful comments! I really do think that putting the world back together after the war would take time for everyone, even Harry, but I like to imagine a perfectly healthy, thank you very much Remus and Tonks finding a lot of happiness even as they work to move forward.

[starfishstar]

"This was the happily-ever-after part now, Tonks thought, rubbing her eyes in the first grey light of morning." I like this line because I'm all about stories that show how happy endings take work, and things aren't all better just because the main conflict is over, and to me this line captures that juxtaposition, with the thoughts about happily-ever-afters but also the gray light

[shimotsuki]

Aw, thanks so much! One of my excuses for continuing to play with this AUverse is that it really is interesting to think about what things would have been like after the war for Remus and Tonks -- whether Remus would be able to keep that (canon!) happiness he'd found, and what would happen with the werewolf pack, and all that.

I'll be really interested to see what you do with the werewolf pack post-HBP in your story! That's a facet that I'd like to see more exploration of in fic.