Fic: Lionheart
Dec. 28th, 2013 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Title: Lionheart
Rating & Warnings: G, none
Word Count or Art Format: ~900 words
Prompt: forhuldrejenta’s prompt #3:
Jonatan: You know I can't kill another man.
Orvar: Oh Jonatan, if everyone thought like you, Evil would have prevailed a long time ago.
Skorpan: If everyone thought like Jonatan there wouldn't be no evil.
From Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
Summary: Tonks finds an old favourite book; Remus hasn't heard of it.
Notes: I tried to write the serious fic I felt this lovely, weighty prompt deserved, but the holiday cheer got to me and it turned fairly fluffy! Also, I'm totally cheating here, because I haven't read "The Brothers Lionheart" yet myself, though a friend who lived in Sweden described it to me once in some detail. Definitely on my "to read" list now.
Oh, and I deliberately haven't pinned this to any specific time period, but in my head I think it's very shortly after they're married – perhaps while sorting through possessions in preparation for moving in together.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“This!” Tonks said, flinging up a triumphant arm from where she’d draped herself along the juncture of floor and wall, one hand fishing around behind the furniture. “Behind the bookshelf all along. Of course.” She sat up and waved aloft a tattered, well-loved Muggle paperback book. “I’ve been trying to find this book to show you, because it reminds me of you. Or you remind me of it. Whichever.”
Remus leaned down and took the proffered paperback. The Brothers Lionheart, he read as he straightened up again, by Astrid Lindgren.
“Here,” Tonks said, scrambling up from the floor and catching herself against Remus’ arm as she overbalanced. She leaned her chin in over his shoulder and snaked an arm around his elbow so she could flip through the pages of the book. “That bit there,” she said. “Where they talk about Jonatan.”
She gave him a few seconds to read where she was pointing, then turned to him, digging her chin into his shoulder. “That’s kind of how I think about you. If everyone were like you… Well, I’d be out of a job for one thing.”
Remus frowned. “Dora, this heroic image that you have of me… That’s not who I am. I am not some innately good person. If I seem ‘good’ to you, it’s simply because I’ve had to work so hard to counteract the darkness.”
Tonks frowned right back and poked him again with her chin. “Well, yeah, that’s kind of what I said. Except you said it more eloquently, obviously. If everyone worked as hard as you do at doing the right thing… I guess I can’t say for sure there ‘wouldn’t be no evil,’ but things would be a lot nicer, at least.” She grinned suddenly. “Everyone would say please and thank you and know how to make a proper cup of tea and they would all fold their clothes very neatly each night before they went to bed…”
The response to that was an eye-roll, or at least as close as Remus Lupin ever came to rolling his eyes. “You’re really not going to let that one go, are you?” he complained.
“Never,” Tonks agreed happily.
In one deft motion, Remus swung her around so they were chest to chest, his hand that still held the book pressing into the small of her back.
“What about you?” he asked, tone serious again. “Can you honestly tell me you read a passage like that and don’t see yourself reflected back?”
“Me?” Tonks scrunched up her nose. “Hello, I’m an Auror. I basically attack people for a living.”
Remus leaned back enough to give her the full weight of his Sceptical Look. “Seriously? That’s the line of argument you’re going to take?”
“Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Slightly. But we’re not exactly sunshine-and-unicorn folks, you know.” She snorted. “That’s the Centaur Liaison Office, actually. They’ve still never lived down that decade in the 1500s when unicorns got accidentally lumped in with centaurs…”
“Back to my original point,” Remus said, though he was smiling.
“What, that I’m more upstanding than you?”
“Precisely. You chose to be an Auror because you care so deeply about justice that you would put yourself in danger’s path every day for its sake.”
“How do you know I didn’t become an Auror for the power and glory of it?”
He smiled. “Because I know you too well.”
She laughed. “And are you ever going to stop using that as your all-purpose trump argument?”
“Never.”
The two of them shared a contented smile.
Then Remus said, “Believe me, it’s more than flattering to see myself through your eyes. But I wouldn’t want you to have illusions about me.”
“Illusions? Come on, just yesterday, I seem to recall, you were calling me ‘frighteningly sensible’ or some such nonsense. And then you’ve got your whole bit about how you trust my judgement because I’ve got my feet ‘so firmly planted on the ground’ or whatever…”
Remus sighed. “Your prodigious memory does come back to bite me at the most inconvenient of times, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s agree to disagree,” Tonks proposed. “Maybe you think more people should be like me, but I definitely think more people should be like you. If more people thought like you, Remus Lupin, it would be awfully hard for evil to prevail.”
Remus gave a slight but involuntary shudder at those last words. Evil to prevail. Tonks squeezed him closer.
“Oh, stop it,” she said. “Don’t think like that. I know we’re in the middle of a war with an awful lot of concrete examples of evil around us right now, but it won’t prevail. Not in the end. And in the end, anyway, we all get to Nangijala.”
“We…sorry, what?”
“Seriously, I can’t believe you’ve never read this. How have you not read this?”
Remus unwrapped his arm from behind Tonks’ back and brought the paperback to rest between them, above her heart. “You clearly love this book.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll bet your parents read it aloud to you when you were small.”
“Yeah.”
“What do you say we read it together? Maybe a bit every evening?”
When Tonks looked up from the book to Remus, her eyes were shining. “Ooh, yes, let’s!” She gave him another grin. “Remus, you know, you may not be the type to kill a man, but you sure do know how to steal a woman’s heart.”
. . . . .
starfishstarTitle: Lionheart
Rating & Warnings: G, none
Word Count or Art Format: ~900 words
Prompt: for
huldrejenta’s prompt #3:Jonatan: You know I can't kill another man.
Orvar: Oh Jonatan, if everyone thought like you, Evil would have prevailed a long time ago.
Skorpan: If everyone thought like Jonatan there wouldn't be no evil.
From Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
Summary: Tonks finds an old favourite book; Remus hasn't heard of it.
Notes: I tried to write the serious fic I felt this lovely, weighty prompt deserved, but the holiday cheer got to me and it turned fairly fluffy! Also, I'm totally cheating here, because I haven't read "The Brothers Lionheart" yet myself, though a friend who lived in Sweden described it to me once in some detail. Definitely on my "to read" list now.
Oh, and I deliberately haven't pinned this to any specific time period, but in my head I think it's very shortly after they're married – perhaps while sorting through possessions in preparation for moving in together.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“This!” Tonks said, flinging up a triumphant arm from where she’d draped herself along the juncture of floor and wall, one hand fishing around behind the furniture. “Behind the bookshelf all along. Of course.” She sat up and waved aloft a tattered, well-loved Muggle paperback book. “I’ve been trying to find this book to show you, because it reminds me of you. Or you remind me of it. Whichever.”
Remus leaned down and took the proffered paperback. The Brothers Lionheart, he read as he straightened up again, by Astrid Lindgren.
“Here,” Tonks said, scrambling up from the floor and catching herself against Remus’ arm as she overbalanced. She leaned her chin in over his shoulder and snaked an arm around his elbow so she could flip through the pages of the book. “That bit there,” she said. “Where they talk about Jonatan.”
She gave him a few seconds to read where she was pointing, then turned to him, digging her chin into his shoulder. “That’s kind of how I think about you. If everyone were like you… Well, I’d be out of a job for one thing.”
Remus frowned. “Dora, this heroic image that you have of me… That’s not who I am. I am not some innately good person. If I seem ‘good’ to you, it’s simply because I’ve had to work so hard to counteract the darkness.”
Tonks frowned right back and poked him again with her chin. “Well, yeah, that’s kind of what I said. Except you said it more eloquently, obviously. If everyone worked as hard as you do at doing the right thing… I guess I can’t say for sure there ‘wouldn’t be no evil,’ but things would be a lot nicer, at least.” She grinned suddenly. “Everyone would say please and thank you and know how to make a proper cup of tea and they would all fold their clothes very neatly each night before they went to bed…”
The response to that was an eye-roll, or at least as close as Remus Lupin ever came to rolling his eyes. “You’re really not going to let that one go, are you?” he complained.
“Never,” Tonks agreed happily.
In one deft motion, Remus swung her around so they were chest to chest, his hand that still held the book pressing into the small of her back.
“What about you?” he asked, tone serious again. “Can you honestly tell me you read a passage like that and don’t see yourself reflected back?”
“Me?” Tonks scrunched up her nose. “Hello, I’m an Auror. I basically attack people for a living.”
Remus leaned back enough to give her the full weight of his Sceptical Look. “Seriously? That’s the line of argument you’re going to take?”
“Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Slightly. But we’re not exactly sunshine-and-unicorn folks, you know.” She snorted. “That’s the Centaur Liaison Office, actually. They’ve still never lived down that decade in the 1500s when unicorns got accidentally lumped in with centaurs…”
“Back to my original point,” Remus said, though he was smiling.
“What, that I’m more upstanding than you?”
“Precisely. You chose to be an Auror because you care so deeply about justice that you would put yourself in danger’s path every day for its sake.”
“How do you know I didn’t become an Auror for the power and glory of it?”
He smiled. “Because I know you too well.”
She laughed. “And are you ever going to stop using that as your all-purpose trump argument?”
“Never.”
The two of them shared a contented smile.
Then Remus said, “Believe me, it’s more than flattering to see myself through your eyes. But I wouldn’t want you to have illusions about me.”
“Illusions? Come on, just yesterday, I seem to recall, you were calling me ‘frighteningly sensible’ or some such nonsense. And then you’ve got your whole bit about how you trust my judgement because I’ve got my feet ‘so firmly planted on the ground’ or whatever…”
Remus sighed. “Your prodigious memory does come back to bite me at the most inconvenient of times, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s agree to disagree,” Tonks proposed. “Maybe you think more people should be like me, but I definitely think more people should be like you. If more people thought like you, Remus Lupin, it would be awfully hard for evil to prevail.”
Remus gave a slight but involuntary shudder at those last words. Evil to prevail. Tonks squeezed him closer.
“Oh, stop it,” she said. “Don’t think like that. I know we’re in the middle of a war with an awful lot of concrete examples of evil around us right now, but it won’t prevail. Not in the end. And in the end, anyway, we all get to Nangijala.”
“We…sorry, what?”
“Seriously, I can’t believe you’ve never read this. How have you not read this?”
Remus unwrapped his arm from behind Tonks’ back and brought the paperback to rest between them, above her heart. “You clearly love this book.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll bet your parents read it aloud to you when you were small.”
“Yeah.”
“What do you say we read it together? Maybe a bit every evening?”
When Tonks looked up from the book to Remus, her eyes were shining. “Ooh, yes, let’s!” She gave him another grin. “Remus, you know, you may not be the type to kill a man, but you sure do know how to steal a woman’s heart.”
. . . . .
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Date: 2013-12-28 09:39 pm (UTC)Other favorite things, in no particular order - the ending line, the unicorn non-sequitur, that little moment of darkness, the idea that Remus can't *really* roll his eyes but does some approximation of it, and the way they are standing.
Another delicious one-shot. :)
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Date: 2013-12-29 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-29 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-29 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-29 03:11 am (UTC)(I've never read this book either, but between this story and
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Date: 2013-12-29 07:11 pm (UTC)Thank you, glad you enjoyed!
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Date: 2013-12-29 06:18 am (UTC)I'm so enjoying seeing R/T love on my LJ again! Been too quiet for too long!
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Date: 2013-12-29 07:30 pm (UTC)I'm having a ton of fun with all this R/T too – much thanks to shimotsuki, gilpin and huldrejenta, because this whole thing is all down to them!
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Date: 2013-12-29 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-29 08:07 pm (UTC)As for The Brothers Lionheart, a lot of people seem to rank it as an absolute favorite, and call it Lindgren's best work, even beyond Pippi Longstocking...
no subject
Date: 2013-12-30 12:09 am (UTC)(Remus, being a Gryffindor, would make a perfect Lionheart ;) I used to hope that his Patronus was a lion.)
I can easily imagine this book being one of Tonk's favourites, and the image of the two of them reading it together is absolutely adorable. I love how they both can see the other one as the Lionheart, and I really like the line when Remus says that if he's good, it's because he's had to work so hard. I think that's an important reason why I find Remus so interesting (and in a different way Sirius as well, as you mentioned in your reply to my comment to your last fic) - he's not perfect - where would be the fun in that - but he's sweet and funny and tries to counteract the darkness. Thankfully he's got a woman who sees him for who he is, and vice versa.
I love what these two are doing for each other in this story.
Really enjoyed this a lot :D
no subject
Date: 2013-12-30 01:51 pm (UTC)You know, the line you point to, Remus saying he's good only because he's had to work so hard at it – now that I'm thinking about it, in a way I think that really kind of sums up Remus for me: He's spent so much of his life struggling as hard as he can to be socially acceptable, to be upstanding and kind and good enough to make up for the darkness he sees in himself because he's a werewolf, that he can't even see what the people around him who care about him see so clearly – that in the process, he *has* in fact become a good man. That's my take on him, anyway!
(And yes, that's a big part of why I love him and Tonks together, because she tells him in no uncertain terms where it's at!)
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Date: 2013-12-31 01:30 pm (UTC)Thank you for a lovely fic :D
no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 09:10 pm (UTC)And yeah, I think almost any relationship is going to have a bit of that ("I know you're wonderful, but what do you see in *me*?") but Remus and Tonks do exemplify it rather strongly, don't they? (Though Remus, of course, has that more than almost anyone...)