This was written for My Dear Professor McGonagall's Mother and Child competition. I used the canon pairings and children's names from Harry Potter Wiki. I don't own anything you recognize. Please review
Angelina was rocking quietly by the fire in her favorite rocking chair, sitting for the first time all day. Ever since Fred was born, she had been exhausted. Roxanne was an energetic baby, but at least she slept sometimes. At two weeks old, Fred seemed to only sleep when he was in someone's arms. Lost in thought, she started at the noise of the sudden green flare of flame from the glowing embers in the fireplace. As she looked up, her heard a voice softly call out, "Hey, Ang?" Moving slowly so as not to disturb the baby in her arms, she quickly rose and knelt by the fire, quietly responding, "Hey Hermione. Is everything ok?"
"I'm fine. I wanted to talk to you. Is now a good time?" Hermione asked. Angelina glanced down at Fred. He was finally asleep, and appeared dead to the world. Still whispering, she said, "Sure. We'll just have to be quiet," and then backed up from the hearth rug so Hermione could Floo in.
Once Angelina helped Hermione up and got them both tea, Fred had started to stir. Angelina was prepared to calm him, but she didn't need to. Unlike his usual loud and energetic self, upon waking he just lay sleepily sucking his thumb. So Hermione and Angelina sipped their tea in peace and enjoyed a companionable silence. Once they were both almost finished, Hermione said, "Fred seems quiet today. How has he been doing?"
"Oh, this is so strange. He's never been like this yet, he just wants to see and do everything. He'll only sleep once he is utterly exhausted," Angelina described.
"Sounds about right. Just like his uncle," said Hermione sadly. It had been years since the Battle and Fred's death, but everyone in the family still mourned him.
"Yes, just like him," Angelina mumbled. The two friends lapsed into silence again, remembering their lost brother-in-law. Then Hermione broke the silence. "That's just what I came to talk about, in fact."
Angelina was startled. "Fred? As in Fred I? What about him?"
"About them both, really. Fred and his namesake, your son. I understand that George needed to honor his twin by giving his name to his son, but I'm worried," Hermione began.
"Whatever for? What's wrong with that?" Angelina asked defensively. In truth, she had had some nagging doubts, but had pushed them all away until now. "What could go wrong?"
"It's a fine way to honor him, and Fred would have been ecstatic to have a namesake to train in his pranking ways. And with that name and a father like that, there's a good chance Fred II will be just like his namesake. But however much he's like him, he isn't Fred," Hermione finished carefully. She knew this was a tricky topic, but felt it needed to be brought up, before it was too late.
"And what does that mean?" Angelina asked, angrily. Of course her baby wasn't Fred! Well, Fred is his name, but they are two different people, and she knew that.
"I don't quite know how to explain . . . well, have you ever heard Harry talk about Sirius? And you've heard about the Order of the Phoenix, of course," Hermione said. It was a stretch, but the story that came to mind might be the only way to get through to Angelina.
"Not really. You mean Sirius Black, right? But he wasn't guilty in the end, he was Harry's godfather? And the Order of the Phoenix was the organization Dumbledore founded to fight Voldemort . . . weren't you all in it?"
"That's him. And yes, that's the Order, but we, as in Harry, Ron and I, weren't technically ever made members. We went straight from school to being on the run, and after that was the Battle—no more need for the Order after that," Hermione explained. "But that's not really the point. The summer before our fifth year, Harry, the Weasleys and I stayed in Sirius's house for most of the summer. Sirius was Harry's godfather, yes, but he was because he had been Harry's father's best friend all the way through school. When Sirius ran away from home, the Potters took him in. They even became Animagi together. But then, Harry's dad was killed and Sirius was wrongfully stuck in Azkaban for twelve years. Sirius hadn't seen him since Harry was a baby. And now here he was, staying with him, only a few years younger than his dad was when he died. They had also written letters to each other in the years after Sirius's escape. So Harry and Sirius, for the short time they stayed together, weren't just godfather and godson, but friends. He had Ron and me, yes, but Sirius was the closest link he had to his father."
Angelina was listening silently, with a slightly puzzled look on her face. Despite the look, she had a sneaking suspicion where this was going. Still, she nodded to Hermione to go on.
"Sirius was the link to his father, but Molly was the only mother figure he had. She took him in even as far back as his first year, sending him a Weasley sweater. So Harry had two strong—willed parent figures, vying to control his care, and Dumbledore pulling strings in the background." Hermione stopped and took the last sip of her tea. When she had finished, she continued, "Molly and Sirius never really got along well. As soon as Harry got to the house, they had a big fight over what Harry should be allowed to know. It turned into a shouting match, as is inevitable with Molly, but then went too far for Sirius—she accused him of mistaking Harry for James. Of course, he denied it, and so did Harry later. Rather, Harry liked having this father figure/friend there for him. But I always thought, however much Sirius resented it, Molly was right."
Hermione paused again to let the information sink in. She knew the next part was, as the Muggles say, the "bombshell," and wanted Angelina to have a chance to absorb it. Angelina's face had frozen, and her only movement was rocking her chair ever so slightly. But she wouldn't recover from just sitting there, so Hermione persisted.
"You and George made the decision to name Fred after someone who was very important in both your lives. You both mourned him for a long time. But this is even bigger for George than you, because it was his twin that died. Someone he had a bond with deeper than with any other person. Fred's death left a huge hole in George's life, that he had to slowly but surely try to at least heal the jagged edges of, and move on. You helped him with that.
But now, George has another Fred. A little boy with the same name, who will undoubtedly look just like his twin, and it is his son. And yes, there's that good chance that it will be like Fred never left in some ways. But Fred, Fred II, is his own person. He is not George's twin, he is your son. He can be a friend and partner—in—crime, but he needs a father. And he needs to be allowed to be his own person, separate from the legacy of his namesake. I think it will be up to you to make sure he can do that. Because just like Sirius, George may never fully be able to separate the two."
Hermione looked up again at Angelina as she finished. Angelina seemed struck dumb, motionless, not even rocking anymore. Seeing she would not get any answer, Hermione quietly rose and whirled home in the flames.
This left Angelina to ponder what she had just heard. She sat there, completely still, holding the eerily quiet Fred. They stayed that way until at least two hours later, when Roxanne woke up from her nap yelling for food.
The noise shocked her into movement. She stood, gathered the cups with her free hand, and started towards the bedrooms to get Roxanne. But as she walked, she looked down at her peacefully sleeping son, and whispered,
"I will always love you, no matter what—just the way you are."