Henrietta Potter And The Slytherin Child - (A 'Henrietta Potter' sequel) || D.M

6 - The Secret Son

Ashen faced, Draco slowly closed the office door behind him.

"Etta," he breathed, making me wince at the sound of my name on his lips. I'd never seen him look so shocked before. I stayed silent, allowing him to process this information as he shakily lowered himself into the chair in front of my desk.

"Does he- does he know?" his voice sounded strangled, like he was finding it difficult to breathe. Standing up, I walked over to the water dispenser and filled a cup up for him, plonking it on the desk in front of him.

"No. No one knows. Only you."

I sat back down in my chair, exhaling slowly. It felt very strange to be having this conversation. I never thought I'd ever see Draco again, let alone this. Albus was everything to me and I was suddenly aware that the truth of his parentage coming out may cause a great rift between us. It terrified me.

"If I'd known-"

"Then you would have still gone back to your wife." I cut in abruptly. I didn't want to hear it. "She was carrying your child too, remember?"

Draco's head shot up at the bitterness of my tone and the guilt in his eyes was rife. Rather than make me feel satisfied, it just made me feel sad.

"I'm sorry, Etta, I'm sorry for how I left you."

"Don't," I said. A roaring noise had started up in my head as years of suppressed hurt and heartache started to mount to the surface. To hear his apologies and excuses would be too much. "What's done is done. Albus has had a happy childhood so far. I've been able to provide for him everything he needs."

"A father?"

"His father walked out on us before he even knew of his conception. His father had another family to worry about."

"Etta-"

"DON'T CALL ME ETTA!" The damn inside of me burst and the anger suddenly exploded through me, red hot and furious. "YOU LOST THE RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT WHEN YOU USED ME AS YOUR FUCKING SIDE HOE TO HELP YOU PATCH UP YOUR MARRIAGE!" I paused, trying to steady my heavy breaths. Draco at least had the decency to stay quiet and look utterly shamefaced. I lowered my voice. "For four months I deluded myself that you loved me, that what you and I had was not just some sleazy extramarital affair. And then one day - pfff - you're gone, leaving nothing but a pathetic piece of paper with two fucking words on it whilst you go crawling back to your wife, who by the way, you failed to mention you were trying for a baby with at the time!"

Draco closed his eyes, putting his head in his hands. "It wasn't like that, I thought I was doing the right thing."

I felt a bubble of laughter rise in my throat. "The right thing?" I scoffed. "Please Draco, you were screwing around behind your wife's back. I willingly got myself involved with someone else's husband. Nothing either you or I did was the right thing, no matter how much you try and dress it up."

Draco's face remained hidden behind long white fingers as he rubbed his eyes. He did not seem to have a response to this.

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. Abruptly, I stood up. I needed a moment to calm down, away from him.

"Where are you going?" Draco's head had shot up at the sound of my chair scraping back, a look of panic in his face as I headed to the door.

"To get a coffee," I gritted, "want one?"

"Oh- yeah...Yes please," he stayed in his seat as I stormed down the corridor to the office kitchen.

I fiercely flicked the kettle on and took a few steadying breaths as I waited for it to boil, trying to get my head around the situation.