Fic: Accidental Daddy I
There was no mistaking the red hair, the freckles, and pale skin. Anyone who saw him could guess who his father was.
They just didn’t realize how wrong they’d be. Only she knew and it would have stayed that way had her five-year-old son not asked her to take him to see the man who had helped conceive him.
It had been-five years. Five years of running, hiding and avoiding their past. All of it blown with a single glance in her son’s pleading blue eyes.
“Hermione!”
Molly Weasley threw open the kitchen door with flourish. Her long, meaty arms hooked around Hermione’s shoulders and dragged her into the hardest, tightest hug she’d felt in years.
“Hello, Mrs. Weasley,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes closed and praying to remain in control of the tears threatening to spill.
“Where have you been?” the older witch demanded, about to slam the door closed behind her when her blue eyes caught sight of the small figure hiding just around the corner. “Who’s this?” Hermione could tell from the tightness in the older woman’s voice that she knew, or at least thought she knew, who the boy was.
“This is my son,” Hermione whispered, motioning the boy inside, resting a gentle hand on his small shoulder. “Cleon, say hello.”
Head still bowed, Cleon mumbled what could have passed as a greeting.
Just behind Molly, the others were beginning to take notice of the conversation. Heads turned, necks craned, and voices whispered as the table full of people strained to make out what was happening. Hermione did not glance at a single one of them. She knew, without looking, that he was there, watching, and would know.
“’Mione?” Ron, her school-girl crush and once boyfriend, rose from his chair, blue eyes the size of saucers as they darted between her and Cleon.
“Perhaps you should come in?” Molly suggested, eyes never leaving the small boy huddled against Hermione’s leg.
Cleon must have taken that moment to glance up at the faces surrounding them. There were so many. He grabbed a fistful of his mother’s skirt and tugged to gain her attention.
“Which one’s my daddy?” he asked when Hermione glanced down.
She didn’t blame him for asking. Everyone around the table had a head full of bright red hair, blue eyes, freckles and pale skin. Anyone of them could be his father. Hermione had hoped that he would wait until she could get his father cornered and tell him the news in private before divulging to an entire family. No such luck it seemed.
“’Mione?” Ron pressed a second time, his voice squeaking with barely contained fear.
“He’s not yours, Ron,” Hermione murmured, not missing the way his shoulders sagged. In regret? Perhaps a little, but also in relief.
“Who then?” Molly demanded, knuckles becoming white clenching a dishrag anxiously.
Hermione swallowed, raising her brown eyes to the one person who had yet to move, look away or speak.
All eyes followed her gaze. Gasps rang out, and yet, he did not falter.
“Charlie?” Molly gasped.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, ignoring his mother.
Hermione shrugged, blinking back tears. “I was scared. I didn’t know how you would take it.”
His blue eyes dropped down to Cleon and something like pride shone just behind them. “I have a son. How do you think I would have taken it?”
“That night had been a mistake,” she reminded him. “We were both confused and lonely-”
His eyes lifted to hers. “Being with you had never been a mistake. Letting you go was.” He rose to his feet and moved around the room to stand in front of her. “I looked for you.”
She looked down, unable to look into his eyes. “I didn’t know.”
He didn’t reply. Instead, he knelt down in front of Cleon and peered into his son’s eyes.
“Are you my daddy?”
Charlie smiled. “I sure am.”
***
Thank you once again to Brandy01for her help betaing this and to everyone who read and reviewed! I hope you enjoyed it! :D
Accidental Daddy II: When Cherry Blossoms Fall