An alternative origin for Baby Teddy

[sunnyskywalker]

Because I was re-reading some old recaps in various places, and it suddenly struck me that there's an awful lot of speculation that if someone screwed up/deliberately skipped the contraceptive potion, that someone must have been Tonks. I've wondered about that possibility myself. It seems primarily based on two factors: (1) Tonks was pursuing Remus in the previous book, and he was reluctant for various and possibly-not-all-stated reasons, and (2) that's how the most reliable Muggle contraceptive method works.

Tonks was indeed pursuing Remus. She pressured him by debating the merits of their relationship in public, thus bringing more peer pressure to bear on his decision. But do we know her well enough to know whether she'd force a baby to participate in this drama? Hard to say, really - I'd be open to arguments either way. And since for the most part she only discusses her relationship issues in private with a very few people as far as we know during that whole year - granted Harry isn't around enough to provide reliable observation on that point, but at least she doesn't ever start telling the kids her woes - it's possible that the scene in the hospital wing was a stress-induced lapse on her part, if you want a more charitable reading.

So point 1 could go either way, and as for point 2, we can't rely on magical contraception being a perfect analogue of ours. Why couldn't they have a Spermus Mortalitus potion? (Or an easily-reversable Vasectomus or Fallopius Tie-us spell, for that matter... And yes these are all bad Latin, but so is JKR's.)

Just because Tonks ended up being happy about the results doesn't mean it was her actions that led to them.

And in canon, who is the person we know to have forgotten to take a very important potion at least once before, consequently endangering others and causing himself trouble as well?

Comments

[600ants.livejournal.com]

Lol, I wander here after maybe a year of absence, and what greets me but my favorite topic. :-)

No no no, this is JKR's world. You know, like our world, only even more screwed up, and with the gender roles more rigid. Oh I bet there *is* a spell or potion for wizards, but can you see them bothering? I can't. *Especially* Lupin. The person passive about next to everything, and incapable to take *once a month* something as vital as wolfsbane.

Ok, I guess it didn't have to be Tonks's "fault" (though I'm very much convinced it was :-)). It could have been an accident, or the spell/potion could have been tempered with by someone else. But afaik magic doesn't usually fail, and I don't see how Tonks's pregnancy by Lupin could be in anyone's interest. Even Molly probably isn't marriage&maternity freak enough! :-)

I guess they might have been acting under the belief that werewolves are sterile, though. Lupin at least seems to be surprised, and says something to that effect. "My kind doesn't usually breed", or something like that.

And anyway, we have no proof that the kid was actually his. I think it was here, at DTCL, where I read the immortal: "No way is Lupin the father. He's such a wimp, he doesn't have the equipment to father children." :-)

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Squeee! You remembered! I wrote that! I repeat it in chapter 11.

Re Lupin's remark about not breeding, I always thought that meant werewolves chose not to breed because (1) they didn't want to pass on their disease, and (2) they were afraid of killing or maiming their children in their wolf state.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

'Course I remember! It was just so brilliantly put and full of wisdom. :D (By the way, I hope I didn't horribly misquote you. :-))

(Sorry I forgot it was you! :( Actually this is the only article I read here after an awfully long time.)

Me as well, and I'm sure that's how the remark was inteded, too. But I guess it can be read many ways if one wants to. :-) (I've come up with all sorts of crazy theories over the years. :))

[sunnyskywalker]

Well, it could be that they invented the male potion first more or less by accident a few decades ago (maybe it gave some wizard the opportunity to experiment on himself, and "conducting magical research on oneself, especially without taking proper safety precautions" does seem right up their alley), and magicals being as ridiculous and lazy as they are, just quit researching after that :D And Tonks, well, she does seem rather... optimistic about Lupin's character. Everything's great! Of course he'd remember to take his potion! (Which could be weekly or monthly or even quarterly, after all.) I mean, does she know the full details of what happened in PoA? Who would have told her? Certainly not Lupin! Or at least, he would have phrased it in such a way that it sounded like he was being entirely to hard on himself for something that was obviously not his fault at all, maybe Snape's or just bad luck, and he was dashing off heroically to rescue the children (this works better if Wolfsbane is more effective when taken in the evening or something, but denial works too)... So she was just deluding herself, and Lupin was irresponsible, woopsie.

But hey! More alternatives for all tastes!

- There are potions for both sexes, and they both screwed up, Lupin out of self-sabotaging carelessness and Tonks out of youthfully irresponsible forgetfulness.

- There are potions for both sexes, and Lupin passive-aggressively "forgot" to take his (perhaps as semi- or entirely-conscious resentment for being pressured into marriage, so danger and time off from the career for her, so there!) and Tonks on-some-level-manipulatively "forgot" hers too (you can posit whatever level of unconscious or conscious intent you like).

- Tonks "forgot" hers and sabotaged Lupin's, because we're all like Merope in the end, don't you know.

- Lupin "forgot" his and sabotaged Tonks's, because he was Ever-So-Evil all along (and just never got caught) and this was an unexpected opportunity to take one of the Order's fighters out of the running for a while with the perfect cover. (That darn apothecary shop must have stored them improperly and rendered them ineffective!)

- The apothecary really did store them ineffectively, either because accidents happen, or wizards are incompetent, or a DE had an actual cunning plan and thought sabotaging the WW's birth control would be a nice chaotic monkey wrench in things.

[sunnyskywalker]

ETA: or any variant of the above with a potion for only one of them, of course.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

I am rather fond of Evil!Lupin theories....

[oryx_leucoryx]

A variant: Back in Y6 Severus warned Remus that if he was going to have a relationship with Tonks he might want help modifying contraceptives to his werewolf physiology (remember Remus noting how well Severus prepared the Wolfsbane during his New Years Eve visit?). But after Severus killed Albus Remus decided Severus was just saying that to taunt him, so just went along with the standard potions.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

That's quite possible (especially the part about normal contraceptives not working for werewolves). But all in all using ineffective contraception is the same as using none at all, no? Same reasons (laziness, carelessness, ignorance...), same results.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Yes, but I think the detail gives it a Remus twist - that it was his opinion of Severus that he used as excuse to be irresponsible.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

If only it was any other couple...

But Lupin doesn't want Tonks to like him, he wants to get rid of her. ;) In any case, it would have been easier for him to let *her* take care about contraception, and if there is one character known to consistently choose what's easy.... :-)
Anyway, it's the woman who runs the risk of pregnancy. Would Tonks risk getting pregnant from a random one night stand, or even rape? (after all there's a war going on)

- Tonks "forgot" hers and sabotaged Lupin's, because we're all like Merope in the end, don't you know.

Reminds me of my golddiger!Lily theory. You know, that Harry conceived so promptly was just a way to make sure James's money *will* go her way. :-) Hey, it's not *my* awful sexist prejudice! I'm just trying to think like Rowling. :)

I love the last two! :D Shame DEs and Lupin are too dumb and boring for that.

[sunnyskywalker]

It would have been so easy for them to be less dumb and boring! Why, JKR, why?

I'm sure Tonks wouldn't intentionally put herself at risk, but without a few more years of life history of making and seeing others make mistakes, she just might not have the level of urgency that the situation really warrants. That's when "oops... well, just missing one of the weekly doses by a day won't really make much difference, will it?" accidents happen. A lot depends on what wizarding contraceptive methods are available, though - it would be a lot easier to screw up entirely unintentionally with a daily potion than a monthly spell. And we just don't know. (Though really, they should have easily-reversible magical tube-tying and vasectomies, if they have any brains... which they don't...)

Another thought: could Tonks's metamorphmagery interfere with its effectiveness? If they're really rare as she claims, there might not be enough case history to even know that it is a risk.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Not only that, Tonks is an active-duty Auror. How many active female Aurors do we see?

And she told us she aced her field trials for disguiase, as a Metamorphmagus. Everyone else had to rely on Glamours.

Or, um, Polyjuice.

How many witches out there regularly take Polyjuice, or regularly Morph into an entirely different being?

And when they morph back, what's the effect on that once-a-month steriility potion?

I mean, if I morph back into exactly the same physiological state I was in before the last change, that's one thing. As long as I've been Morphed for only an hour or two.

It would throw my monthly dose off by an hour, no big deal.

If I morph back into what I feel to be my standard (my mid-cycle top-of-the-world best), that's quite another..

From the point of view of a monthly, cycle-dependent potion.

I'm rather suspecting that Wolfsbane, too, might suddenly prove ineffective, if used on werewolves throwing their cycles off with Polyjuice, Metamorphmagicery, Animorphmageri, et al.

[sunnyskywalker]

Now I'm wondering if Neville exists because Alice used Polyjuice a few times too many in the course of her duties. Tonks Morphing into the wrong stage in her cycle sounds like the easiest way to screw things up, but maybe Alice was chugging Polyjuice like there was no tomorrow once the violence ramped up in 1980.

[600ants.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the thread necrophilia. :)

That's stuff people would have noticed. I don't mean metamorphomagi or werewolves, just in general. Most muggles DO know that some medicaments can't be combined with each other (with milk, alcohol, ...), and what side-effects they have. And if they don't know, they go and ask an expert. And we know that wizarding world DOES have potions experts, so what's problem again? They were too lazy and irresponsible to really take care of everything in their power.