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

7 - A Potter And A Malfoy

"SIR, PLEASE! YOU HAVE NOT GOT AN APPOINTMENT!"

Carol's shouts reverberated on the other side of my office door just before it banged open.

"Hello, Draco," I sighed without lifting my head. I had sort of been expecting this ever since the morning owl post had arrived.

"I'm sorry, Miss Potter." Carol gasped breathlessly, glaring indignantly at the back of Draco's head. "He just barged right through again!"

"It's okay, Carol, I can handle this." I said, waving my hand dismissively at the disgruntled receptionist over Draco's shoulder.

Huffing, she walked away. I finally, if not a little reluctantly, turned my attention to Draco. His pale pointed face was pinched in a thunderous scowl.

"Have you heard about this?" he demanded, slamming down a piece of parchment onto the desk in front of me.

I sighed heavily, refusing to look at it. "I received an owl from Minerva this morning regarding my son's recent behaviour at Hogwarts, if that's what you mean."

Draco flinched. True to his word, I hadn't seen him since I had told him to stay away from me and Albus. Except, it seems that there was something I hadn't been anticipating; not only had Albus ended up in Slytherin, but he had befriended Scorpius; unknown to him, his half-brother.

And, this morning, I had been informed by Minerva McGonagall that Albus had received a detention, alongside Scorpius Malfoy, for skipping a whole day of lessons to go and hide out in the Forbidden Forest.

They had only been at Hogwarts for four weeks.

"This isn't like him, this isn't like Scorpius," Draco said sharply, stabbing the parchment, which now lay on the desk between us, with his finger.

"And just what are you implying?" I said hotly, feeling an irritation rise. "That my son is a bad influence?"

Again, Draco visibly flinched. "Scorpius is not a leader, he has always been a follower." He said quietly, the scowl still prominent above his eyes.

"Draco, if you've just come in here to accuse my son of leading your son astray, then you can just-"

"Our son," he growled, cutting me off. His grey eyes glittered piercingly into mine, and I shifted my gaze uncomfortably. "And that's another thing," he continued, lowering his voice. "They have no idea they're brothers."

It was my turn to flinch now. I had obviously thought about this too, but a part of me hoped that their friendship would just fizzle out to nothing. It was still early days, after all.

"Scorp likes Albus a lot," Draco continued quietly. "He is all he talks about in his letters home."

"Yeah, it's the same with Albus and your-" I faltered, for some reason struggling to say the word 'son', "-and Scorpius. They seem inseparable."

I looked up and our eyes met before I quickly looked away again. How the fuck had this happened? Of all the things, I had not expected Draco and I to become fellow parents discussing our children's behaviour in impromptu meetings in my office.

"Why Hogwarts?" I found myself snapping, for some reason feeling hugely irritated at him as though all of this was his stupid fault. "I thought you hated the place. All you ever did when we were there was complain that you should have gone to fucking Durmstrang!"

For a moment he stilled. I glanced at him curiously as the Adam's apple in his throat bobbed and the tip of his tongue swept briefly and fluidly across his lip.

"Despite what you think, Potter," he said slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, "I didn't have all bad experiences at that school."

Pfft, whatever. Why doesn't he just admit he's fucking whipped?