Too Young

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob kept his face towards the window. He was nearly tucked onto the window frame, his knees up to his chin, his arms wrapped tightly around them. Jacob had ducked away from his family, telling them the first excuse he could think of, that he had to use the bathroom and would catch up, before running the opposite way, where he kept on running up and up until his face was red and his breath was ragged.

The eleven year boy still didn't really understand what had happened. What the revolution was for and why everyone had been so...angry about it. He liked being a wizard. He'd been waiting to get his wand since he knew what wands did. But that didn't mean he hated Muggles. His grandpa was one, and he was one of Jacob's favorite people ever. They even shared a name. And then Link had gone and punched that boy. He'd deserved it, for sure. Jacob didn't know why the boy was saying such mean things about their family, and why others were talking about his mom and dad like they were the ones who made the world go bad.

Jacob wanted a hug from his mother, but he knew she would ask him questions if she saw him like this. And he didn't want to be the one to tell an adult about this, not when he believed that everyone already hated his family and maybe him. So, he just sat there, feeling sad and confused as he stared out the window.

 

[Jemma Potter]

Jemma hadn't believed Jacob when said he was going to the bathroom. She understood that he probably wanted to be alone, but she didn't care. She didn't want to leave him alone. Jake was her best friend. He always had been, and he always would be, and he needed her. Jemma took off running after him, but she wasn't quite as fast as he was. She lagged far behind and only barely saw him turn up to go to the north tower, dashing furiously to catch up.

When Jemma finally found him, he was tucked up into the window frame. She was confused about what exactly was going on in the courtyard. She had missed most of it, only catching the tail end when Link punched some kid in the face. Not that she blamed him for it. Jemma went up to the window seat, and climbed up next to Jacob, hugging him whether he liked it or not. "Wanna talk?" she asked him. It was okay with her if he didn't want to. She would sit there in silence with him until he was ready.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob had heard the footsteps behind him, but he hadn't slowed down even though he knew who it had to be. So, he wasn't surprised at all when he was wrapped into a hug. Jacob didn't move at all even though he appreciated her hug and knowing that, even if there was nothing else, there was family. And with Jemma he had the added bonus that she was his best friend. She knew everything about him. So, he knew that she knew that he wasn't going to answer her, at least not right away. Sure enough, a long while slipped by, Jacob simply breathing and trying not to think about anything. That wasn't easy at all. Eventually, he leaned his head back, still not looking at Jemma but ready to talk. "Can we talk about anything but what just happened?" Jacob asked, hoping Jemma would be ok with that. He was still way too upset about it all.

He thought it was a meeting that was supposed to be about coming together and making things better for wizards, all of them. The leader had allowed everyone to come together...against their hatred of his family. It hadn't been right. "Why didn't she do anything?" he asked, bringing up the topic himself. " She just let everyone be against us as if we're the bad people. We're not, I know it " he sighed.

 

[Jemma Potter]

"'Course we can, Jakey." Jemma said, using his childhood nickname. The young Gryffindor had no problem creating distractions. She had a million random thoughts running through her head at all times."I'm thinking about dying my hair pink. It's my favorite color, and I saw a girl with blue hair. It looked so cool! Think I could pull it off?" she asked, seriously. She trusted Jacob's opinion more than anyone else in the school.

Jemma looked at Jacob with her bright green eyes, just like her siblings' as he returned to the topic of the meeting. She knew her distraction wasn't going to last long. He needed to talk about what happened just as much as she did. "I'm not sure she knew what to do." Jemma said with a sigh. It was hard to give the older girl the benefit of doubt, but Jemma was trying. "She doesn't know him like we do. To all those people, he's just some figurehead. Not a real person. I think what you said to her was really brave, though. And, you were right." Jemma told him, though she hadn't caught much of what was going on before she got there.

 

[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob listened to his cousin and nodded his head, agreeing with her. He usually did. Jacob hadn't felt very brave at all in there. If he had been, none of them would be in this mess. Noah had only stepped in because he'd seen how upset Jacob looked, and Link and Lyra had only stepped in because they'd seen Noah arguing. Jacob sighed. "I hope Mom goes easy on Link" he said before he brightened slightly.

"That was a really good punch though" he grinned wickedly at his best friend as he mimicked the punch. Jacob couldn't believed it had happened, but he couldn't help but admire his older cousin for not letting anyone mistreat him. "You really thinking of going pink, Jem?" he said, touching a lock of her hair as he considered it.

 

[Jemma Potter]

"I know." Jemma said, thinking about Link and Aunt Cyndi. "But you know she can't be too easy on him even if she wants to because of how it will look. Everything always goes back to how it looks." she said rolling her eyes. She had no intention of falling into that trap. Jemma was determined that she would always do exactly what she wanted to do, no matter what.

Jemma grinned as Jake started imitating her brother. "It was, wasn't it?" she said. Link was careless and rash in his actions, but she thought he was pretty cool as far as big brothers went. She couldn't imagine having a better one. Jemma cut her green eyes sideways at Jake. "Well, that depends. Do you think it's a good or bad idea?" she asked, curious.