For a moment I was confused. I could not wrap my head around the fact that Draco Malfoy was sat, right before my very eyes, in a Muggle bar. It did not feel real.

"Draco? What - what are you doing here?"

His mouth turned up at the corners, twitching into a smirk as his grey eyes twinkled in amusement. "Could ask you the same question, Potter."

"Bad day," I mumbled, staring back into my half-drunk glass of whiskey. My heart was thudding dangerously in my chest, I could not think straight.

"Yeah, well I know how that feels," he muttered, knocking his own drink back.

An awkward silence fell between us and I wondered what was going through his mind.

"So, you two know each other then?"

I lifted my eyes from my drink, the barman was looking from me to Draco with interest. I silently cursed him, wishing he would mind his own fucking business.

"You could say that," Draco sniggered, pushing his empty glass aside. The barman reached out to pick it up, but Draco placed his hand over it, shaking his head.

"Your wife not like you staggering home drunk?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. Fuck. I had been unable to disguise the bitterness in my voice.

Draco looked up sharply at me, a wild flash in his eyes.

Feeling my cheeks flame, I quickly glanced back down at my drink and, not knowing what else to do, I picked it up and downed the rest of it in one go.

To my horror, it made me cough and splutter. Draco chuckled softly, watching me in amusement. "Perhaps you should stick to Butterbeer in future, Potter."

"Eh? Butterbeer?" The barman said, startled. "Don't think I've heard of that one before."

Thankfully, at that moment, another customer arrived at the far end of the bar and he walked away to serve them.

"Careful," I muttered, "you're going to get us into trouble."

"And I was always good at that, wasn't I, Potter?" Our eyes met again and the air between us suddenly crackled.

This time, he averted his eyes first, looking back down at the bar and started tapping his finger agitatedly on the surface.

"So, Daphne's little sister, then?" I do not know why I said this. It literally came out without thought.

Draco immediately ceased the tapping as his long white finger froze mid air. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the bar in front of him and I noticed a muscle twitch along his jawline.

"Yeah," he muttered, but said no more.

I shuffled brusquely on my seat. "I always thought you'd end up with Parkinson." Shut up, shut up, shut up! But I could not help myself. "Although I suppose a Greengrass is a bit more of an improv-"

BANG!

I was cut off by Draco slamming his fist loudly on the bar, making me jump.

"Shut the fuck up, Potter," he spat, turning to glare at me. The coldness in his grey eyes shocked me. "You made your choice, remember?"

My mouth dropped open at his reaction. The anger that emanated from him was so thick in the air, it almost suffocated me.

"Draco, I- I-"

But before I could finish stuttering out my response, Draco leapt down from his stool, grabbed his jacket, and started striding away.

"Draco! Wait!" I called after him. But he ignored me, forcing his way across the pub, towards the exit.

Have you ever experienced one of those moments in time when you made a decision that changed the course of your life forever? When, what seemed like a small insignificant act actually ended up affecting the whole outcome of your future? A turning point, if you will?

Well, this here, was one of those moments.

I could have just let him go, finished my drink, and then later left for home, shrugging the evening off as another sad event in my sad depressing life.

But I was Henrietta Potter and therefore famously had a knack of making poorly thought-out life decisions.

Grabbing my bag, I jumped down off my stool and hurried after him, determined not to let him leave like this.

The chilly air hit me the second I stepped outside onto the street. It had started raining and I shivered as cold droplets hit my face. I looked left and then right, where I saw him already nearing the corner.

"DRACO!" I shouted, and relief flooded over me as he stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he turned around and the breath caught in my throat as, under the light of the streetlamp, I could see the hurt and anger rife in his eyes.

"You know I had no choice?" I said breathlessly, running towards him. "You know it was the only way?"

His hardened expression gave nothing away as he stared stonily at me. He did not say anything, but neither did he attempt to walk away.

Gasping, I closed the space between us, stopping in front of him. The rain was falling heavier now, and I brushed my damp hair from my face.

"You would have never let me go," I implored, my voice shaking with emotion as his cold hard face looked back at me. The rainwater had flattened his blond hair, but he moved not a muscle as glistening drops dripped down his pale face and along his sharp jawline. "I had to tell you that, even though it wasn't true."

"Don't," he snapped, his voice so low and dangerous, it sounded more like a growl, "don't say things you don't mean."

His breathing now matched my own jagged and uneven breaths as rain continued to spatter harder on our faces. But I didn't care, I didn't care about anything right then except him. He was the reason my heart had been broken for so long, he was the reason that ever since the war I had been wandering around aimlessly, feeling as though a piece of me was missing. He was everything, and I was sick and tired of being everyone's saviour when all I wanted to do for once was save myself.

So, it was no surprise to me when I allowed the next words to fall from my lips, unstoppable and unrepentant.

"I love you, Draco... I always loved you."

"Etta..."

Our eyes locked with such a burning intensity that I found all the breath had quite suddenly left my body.

And then, with a speed that took me by surprise, Draco swiftly closed the remaining gap, crashing his lips against mine.

*****

I Apparated us immediately to my flat.

We barely spoke, barely even came up for air as we stumbled clumsily down the hallway to my bedroom, tearing at each other's clothes in our desperation to feel skin on skin.

"Fuck," Draco rasped, pulling his mouth from mine as we fell onto my bed, my lips already numb and tingling from his desperate, fervent kisses.

Pinning my wrists above my head, he peppered urgent kisses down my jaw, leaving a bruising path in his wake until he eventually reached the sweet spot on my neck just below my ear.

I trembled and whimpered beneath him as he nibbled and sucked my skin, resisting the urge to just scream at him to fuck me, every inch of me alive with pins and needles as his hard cock pressed almost painfully into my hip.

But before we could get any further, Draco lifted his head, both of us panting heavily as his darkened eyes looked almost regretfully into mine.

"Shit, Etta," he gasped, and almost instantly I felt flushed with disappointment, fear that he was going to stop this, that he had decided this could not happen after all.

So, when he said, "I'm sorry, I don't have a condom." I found myself blinking in confusion.

"O-Oh..." I stuttered, my relief at discovering he wanted to continue quickly turning to despair. "I don't have anything either."

No, fuck! Why didn't I think of going on the pill before? An implant... injection...anything?! The sad truth was, I was not very sexually active, and the men that I had dated usually always had the standard 'ring' in their wallet.

But, of course, unavailable men do not usually go out 'prepared'. Well, not ones that intend to remain faithful to their long-term partners at least.

I supposed it was something that Draco no longer carried them, but then again, it was also a stark reminder that he was a fucking married man.

"What are we doing, Draco?" I asked breathlessly beneath him. Our faces were just inches apart, his hands still pinning my wrists together and cock still pressing against me.

"Don't ask me that," he said vehemently, "please."

"You're married," I whispered, the offending words lingering in the air long after my lips stopped moving.

A pained look immediately pinched his features as his eyes gazed sadly into mine.

"You should've told me sooner."

"You shouldn't have left."

"Damn it, Potter! What did you expect? You told me you never loved me!"

"I lied! I lied to save your fucking backside, you ungrateful twat!"

I did not know if it were my imagination, but I could have sworn he was getting harder.

And seeing as his response was to hungrily crush his lips against mine, I guess I wasn't wrong.

His kiss was hard and forceful, teeth tearing my lips apart as a low guttural growl vibrated in the back of his throat.

He was like a starved lion literally ravishing his prey.

And being the responsible adults we were clearly not; we began to fuck.

"Oh fuck, Etta, fuck!" he cried out as his thrusts became fast and sloppy within minutes.

I ran my hands over every part of hot, damp skin I could reach, loving the feel of his muscles clenching beneath my fingers as his taut body began to tremble and shake at his impending orgasm.

He dipped his head catching my lips back in his.

"Cum with me," he rasped against my mouth. "Cum with me, Etta."

He pressed his forehead against mine, looking into my eyes as he increased the speed of his thrusts, his hot, uneven breaths hitting my face as he moved faster and faster.

Shifting his fingers from my wrist, he clasped my hand as his other gripped my waist, his fingers digging painfully into my flesh.

It was enough to make the burn in my stomach rip, and as I groaned into his mouth, he slammed into me with one last shuddering thrust, his own groans reverberating against mine.

Afterwards, we collapsed in a sweaty, spent heap onto my mattress, both of us gasping and gulping for breath as our hearts pounded noisily beneath our chests.

Without another word, he pulled me to him, and as I lay there in his arms, I couldn't help but think that I was finally where I had longed to be for so long.

Except, the sad truth was, Draco Malfoy was no longer mine to have.

***