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snoggedtitle: Finding the Sunshine
fandom: Harry Potter
characters: Tonks, Fleur Weasley, Astoria Greengrass
rating: PG/FRT, for alcohol use
word count: 759
recipient/prompt: for A Very Potter Round of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
multi_genfic
Name: Kels
Theme 1: Fix-it
Three elements you'd like included: Tonks-is-alive, motherhood, bonding with other ladies/moms
Two things you don't want: mourning, heavy emphasis on the kids themselves
Range of ratings you'd like to read: any/all
beta: angelskuuipo
setting: After book 7, Tonks-is-alive.
summary: Tonks spends the summers at the Shell Cottage.
The shells that decorated the walls of Shell Cottage were varied – some plain, some opalescent - all beautiful in their own way. Tonks would brush her fingers against the ones that shimmered, soaking up their magic, and letting it filter into her hair. It made her feel like a mermaid when the sea breeze blew through her locks and filled her nose with the sweet, briny air.
As an infant, Teddy would look at her with wide eyes and wrinkle his nose. There were times when he would sprout duck lips and other times when he would suck in his cheeks and fish gills would appear. The fish gills worried her because he would cough and sputter, not able to breathe properly unless he was being splashed by water.
Bill Weasley learned quickly that it was important to have buckets of water in case of a fish emergency.
Now, those buckets were being used to build sandcastles on the beach. Teddy and Victoire Weasley were working together to make towers and turrets, moats and caverns. Tonks could see Hogwarts in their craftsmanship, could see the way it used to look back in its hey-day.
Before the War….
Before the End….
Before Remus….
Tonks sighed and touched her fingers to her heart. He still lived there with her, as he always had and always would. She did not feel tears form in her eyes, but instead she let a small smile curl at the corners of her lips, watching as her son transformed his lips and nose into the beak of a seagull.
“Mine,” Teddy chirped, reaching for the plastic red shovel.
Victoire laughed, tucking the shovel into the folds of her dress and taking off across the sand. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
“You look like you could use this.” Fleur interrupted her thoughts and sat beside her on the blanket. She handed Tonks a brass mug filled with frothy silver liquid. “Bill calls it a Sunbeam. Careful with it or it will knock you right on your derrière.”
“Thanks,” Tonks replied. She took a small sip and savored the warmth of the alcohol sliding down her throat. “It’s delicious.”
“Anytime, ma chérie.” Fleur wrapped her arm around Tonk’s shoulder as Tonks felt another body settle down on the blanket. She glanced behind her and saw Astoria Greengrass, a younger witch who had graduated from the house of Slytherin a year ahead of Ron and Harry.
Astoria’s family had a cottage up the road that was, of course, bigger and better than Shell Cottage. It was made of brick and the windows were trimmed with silver. In the right light, the silver moved around the glass panes as if it were serpentine. Teddy liked to take Victoire there because it freaked her out.
Astoria and Draco Malfoy had been wed less than a year ago and her belly was already roundly curved and firm.
“Astoria, you didn’t need to sit on the sandy beach with us,” Fleur admonished. “Bill could have brought you a chair.”
“No worries,” Astoria replied, placing her hands gently on her bump. “I’m not ready to be treated like a beached whale just yet. I’d like to enjoy my time with the girls.”
Fleur smiled beatifically and handed her a glass of water. “Enjoy the flexibility while you still have it. I had the worst swollen ankles when I was pregnant with Victoire.”
“You think swollen ankles are bad?” Tonks asked. “Try being a Metamorphagus with an infant that’s obsessed with kangaroos. I had to keep that boy in a stomach pouch for 9 months after he came out.”
Astoria raised her hand to her lips as if she were trying to hold back a smile, but she had been spending so much time with these girls that her pedigree was starting to slip. Tonks always said that “genuine” and “weird” looked way better on her than “prim” and “proper” did. Fleur and Tonks quickly broke out into peals of laughter as well.
The kids looked up at them and Teddy flashed his mom a strange, knowing smile before he returned to playing.
It felt good to do this. It felt good to drink and laugh and watch the kids entertain themselves.
Before the Second Wizarding War, Tonks figured that someone would think of this as a joke. “A Hufflepuff, a Slytherin, and a Beauxbatons walked into a bar….”
But now this was life.
This was unification.
This was how it always should have been and, with any luck, how it always would be.
fandom: Harry Potter
characters: Tonks, Fleur Weasley, Astoria Greengrass
rating: PG/FRT, for alcohol use
word count: 759
recipient/prompt: for A Very Potter Round of
multi_genficName: Kels
Theme 1: Fix-it
Three elements you'd like included: Tonks-is-alive, motherhood, bonding with other ladies/moms
Two things you don't want: mourning, heavy emphasis on the kids themselves
Range of ratings you'd like to read: any/all
beta: angelskuuipo
setting: After book 7, Tonks-is-alive.
summary: Tonks spends the summers at the Shell Cottage.
The shells that decorated the walls of Shell Cottage were varied – some plain, some opalescent - all beautiful in their own way. Tonks would brush her fingers against the ones that shimmered, soaking up their magic, and letting it filter into her hair. It made her feel like a mermaid when the sea breeze blew through her locks and filled her nose with the sweet, briny air.
As an infant, Teddy would look at her with wide eyes and wrinkle his nose. There were times when he would sprout duck lips and other times when he would suck in his cheeks and fish gills would appear. The fish gills worried her because he would cough and sputter, not able to breathe properly unless he was being splashed by water.
Bill Weasley learned quickly that it was important to have buckets of water in case of a fish emergency.
Now, those buckets were being used to build sandcastles on the beach. Teddy and Victoire Weasley were working together to make towers and turrets, moats and caverns. Tonks could see Hogwarts in their craftsmanship, could see the way it used to look back in its hey-day.
Before the War….
Before the End….
Before Remus….
Tonks sighed and touched her fingers to her heart. He still lived there with her, as he always had and always would. She did not feel tears form in her eyes, but instead she let a small smile curl at the corners of her lips, watching as her son transformed his lips and nose into the beak of a seagull.
“Mine,” Teddy chirped, reaching for the plastic red shovel.
Victoire laughed, tucking the shovel into the folds of her dress and taking off across the sand. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
“You look like you could use this.” Fleur interrupted her thoughts and sat beside her on the blanket. She handed Tonks a brass mug filled with frothy silver liquid. “Bill calls it a Sunbeam. Careful with it or it will knock you right on your derrière.”
“Thanks,” Tonks replied. She took a small sip and savored the warmth of the alcohol sliding down her throat. “It’s delicious.”
“Anytime, ma chérie.” Fleur wrapped her arm around Tonk’s shoulder as Tonks felt another body settle down on the blanket. She glanced behind her and saw Astoria Greengrass, a younger witch who had graduated from the house of Slytherin a year ahead of Ron and Harry.
Astoria’s family had a cottage up the road that was, of course, bigger and better than Shell Cottage. It was made of brick and the windows were trimmed with silver. In the right light, the silver moved around the glass panes as if it were serpentine. Teddy liked to take Victoire there because it freaked her out.
Astoria and Draco Malfoy had been wed less than a year ago and her belly was already roundly curved and firm.
“Astoria, you didn’t need to sit on the sandy beach with us,” Fleur admonished. “Bill could have brought you a chair.”
“No worries,” Astoria replied, placing her hands gently on her bump. “I’m not ready to be treated like a beached whale just yet. I’d like to enjoy my time with the girls.”
Fleur smiled beatifically and handed her a glass of water. “Enjoy the flexibility while you still have it. I had the worst swollen ankles when I was pregnant with Victoire.”
“You think swollen ankles are bad?” Tonks asked. “Try being a Metamorphagus with an infant that’s obsessed with kangaroos. I had to keep that boy in a stomach pouch for 9 months after he came out.”
Astoria raised her hand to her lips as if she were trying to hold back a smile, but she had been spending so much time with these girls that her pedigree was starting to slip. Tonks always said that “genuine” and “weird” looked way better on her than “prim” and “proper” did. Fleur and Tonks quickly broke out into peals of laughter as well.
The kids looked up at them and Teddy flashed his mom a strange, knowing smile before he returned to playing.
It felt good to do this. It felt good to drink and laugh and watch the kids entertain themselves.
Before the Second Wizarding War, Tonks figured that someone would think of this as a joke. “A Hufflepuff, a Slytherin, and a Beauxbatons walked into a bar….”
But now this was life.
This was unification.
This was how it always should have been and, with any luck, how it always would be.
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no subject
on 2016-04-03 02:29 pm (UTC)I also enjoyed the kangaroo bit!
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on 2016-04-03 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2016-04-03 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2016-04-03 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2016-04-03 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2016-04-04 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
on 2016-04-04 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
on 2016-04-04 03:06 am (UTC)no subject
on 2016-04-13 04:17 am (UTC)This was beautifully written. I love the beginning with her feeling like a mermaid. And fun image of her having to have a pouch for the baby!
Tonks and Remus were probably the deaths in the last book I thought were most shocking, saddening, and unnecessary, from a fan and literary standpoint. Why both of them?
This was a great and touching alternative, cheers!
no subject
on 2016-04-13 12:09 pm (UTC)I'm happy you enjoyed it.
*hugs*
no subject
on 2016-04-15 03:25 pm (UTC)I love the subtle hints of how the Wizarding world has changed. I love that Tonks has a family and women to support her despite Remus' passing. I love the references to her and Teddy having a special bond because of their Metamorphagus-ness (and also it being just the two of them). I love how EASY these three women are together, friends and family and mothers all together.
This is so perfect and lovely and with just the slightest edge of haunting for the things that have been lost without overly-romanticizing the past and with an acknowledgment that things are better now socially.
I just find this to be so precious and delightful. Precious.
Thank you so much darling.
And I'm so so sorry that it took me so long to get to this. I shouldn't have abandoned the Internet for so long.
no subject
on 2016-04-16 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
on 2016-05-24 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2016-05-27 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
on 2016-05-05 03:05 am (UTC)ughhhhhh it gave me ALL the feels.
And it's just super lovely.
♥
no subject
on 2016-05-05 03:42 am (UTC)It thrills me that you read this. :)