3Hooray, my first multi-chapter fic! Hope you all like it!
Disclaimer: Not Mine. Not even a little bit. (well, except for the plot…)
000
Hermione was working her way steadily through a large pile of paperwork when the door opened and a familiar voice called to her.
"Mum! I'm home!"
She smiled and set her quill down before making her way into the kitchen, where she found her favorite redhead digging through cupboards, looking for a snack, as usual.
"I take it you had fun, then?" Hermione smiled, looking with amusement at his dirty clothes and delighted expression.
"It was great!" he confirmed, "We won!"
"Good job," Hermione grinned.
"I met a new guy today, too. His name's James and he fits in really well with the rest of us. Although, I have to admit," Jacob laughed slightly, "it is nice not being the only ginger among my friends, anymore!"
"Glad to see you're making new friends," Hermione commented as she started heading back down the hall. "What's he like?" she called over her shoulder.
"He's a great bloke," Jacob raised his voice to be heard. Hermione often worked on papers while holding conversations with her son, so he was unsurprised when she had continued talking while walking back to her desk. "Funny, too. You know what's weird, though?"
"What?"
"It's his hair!" Jacob came into her little office.
"I thought you said he's a redhead, too?"
"He is, and that's the weird part! His hair is the exact same color as mine!" Jacob shook his head in confusion and amusement, not noticing when his mother stiffened slightly. "I was standing next to him and one of the others made some crack about us being long-lost brothers, or something."
Hermione swallowed quietly. She forced herself to ask a question, trying to help the conversation along like she was fine. "Does he have any actual siblings?"
"A younger brother and sister. His brother, poor guy, is named Albus, of all things!" Jacob winced sympathetically. "We call him Al, though. His sister's name is Lily Luna, or something barmy like that."
"Albus? That's an interesting name." Hermione fought to keep the tremor out of her voice as she flipped through the papers covering her desk.
"Yeah, their parents must either hate them or have a thing for weird names. James and Al got in a little spat and we all learned the amusing fact that James's middle name is 'Serious' and Al's middle name is Severus." Jacob snorted as Hermione's fist clenched involuntarily.
"Al was there, I take it?"
Jacob nodded, though his mother didn't see it as her back was turned. "He showed up not long after James. He's a scrawny little thing, and he looks like he's about five years younger than James instead of two! They've both got this crazy, untamable hair thing going on, too, even though Al's got black hair, not red."
Hermione bit her lip. James and Al were starting to sound a bit too much like some people she didn't care to think of at the moment. Not to mention the names, James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. She didn't want to ask, oh, she really didn't want to ask, but she just had to know.
"Did you catch their surname during all of this?"
"Yeah, it's Potter."
Jacob looked on with growing concern as his mum began to tremble. "Mum? You okay?"
"You are not to go near those boys or anyone else from their family again," Hermione said in a dangerous tone. She was so upset, her voice wasn't even shaking. "You hear me? Never again!"
"But, why –?" Jacob asked, confused and angry that she was trying to keep him from his new friends.
"Because," Hermione said shortly, "I don't want you hanging about with them."
"This is completely unfair! You've never even met them!"
"I don't need to!" Hermione snapped. "They sound just like Ha–" She caught herself before she actually said one of Their Names.
"Who, Mum? Who do they sound like? Who was so horrible that anyone remotely resembling them is immediately off-limits?" Jacob's temper, inherited, she assumed, from her, was flaring.
"That is none of your business, young man!"
"And it's none of your business who I hang out with!"
"I beg to differ!" Hermione spun around and fixed her son with a hard look. "It most certainly is my business if my boy is –"
"I can make my own desicions, you know!" Jacob's eyes, usually a warm chocolate brown like her own, seemed to be spitting fire.
"And I reserve the right to let you make your own decisions!" Hermione could feel her own temper and patience beginning to slide.
"Just because you made a few bad choices doesn't mean you have to prevent me from making any! And being friends with the Potters is not a bad choice!"
That name, that name she had avoided for over fifteen years, hearing it come out of her son's mouth a second time finally pushed her over the edge.
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ONE BAD DECISION COST ME!"
Jacob's eyes filled with anger, hurt, and shock. He knew exactly what she was talking about, even if she didn't mean it like he took it.
"You're right," he spat, "I have no idea what you gave up to raise me. But then, you have no idea who my father is, do you?" He stormed away.
Hermione Granger, single mother of a fifteen year old wizard, sat back down at her desk numbly.
Jacob was partially right. She didn't know who his father was.
All she did know, if hereditary hair colors were to be trusted, was that it was a Weasley.
So, she had some idea of his father's identity, right?
Too bad she had severed all contact with the Wizarding World in general after finding out she was pregnant.