Songbird ; Fred Weasley

Forty-six

My dad poured himself a glass of whiskey by the liquor cabinet he had in his office.

He put the bottle back after I refused his offer of a glass. Normally he wouldn't, but right now, we were both trying to process what we had found out about my mother — his wife.

"You found the letters they sent to each other?"
Dad said, but it came out more of a question.

"Yes. He hid it in a hollowed out parenting book." I said quietly. "Fred and I realised we really know nothing about raising a baby, so I went to look for something that could help. I found the letters instead."

Dad walked over and sat in the chair across from mine. I had settled into one of the armchairs, my knees tucked under my chin.

He sighed loudly and took a sip of his whiskey, while staring out of the window.

"Did you know any of it?" I asked, and my dads soft gaze drifted over to where I sat. "Did you never even have a suspicion?"

Dad looked down at his glass, running his finger along the rim of it.

"I'm gonna be honest with you, Mavis, because you deserve that. There's been too many lies to past a lifetime."

He inhaled sharply and I felt some kind of fear — scared that he had been hiding stuff from me too.

"I knew your mother and uncle slept together the year before you were born." He told me. "I figured it out and your mother admitted to it. She assured me it was just a one-time thing. It had been a mistake. My brother said the same thing."

He took another sip of his whiskey.

"I forgave her and I tried my best to forget about it. We had five young boys and I didn't want them to have divorced parents. I knew what it was like growing up with parents who couldn't bare to look at each other. But then your mother fell pregnant and while it easily could've been mine, I was reminded of the mistake, as your mother had called it. I did suspect that Eric was the father, and I asked your mother..."

He sighed, shutting his eyes.

"And she said no." I said quietly, causing my dad to nod.

"She assured me she had calculated it and I was the only one who could've been the father. Again, I believed her." Dad then looked at me again. "I haven't given it a second thought. Well, apart from the time I started noticing how much you look like my brother, but then again... genes work in wonderful ways."

He let out a small and sad laugh, and I broke into tears because my dad looked so hurt and so broken.

"I hate her." I cried. "I hate her for doing that to you."

Dad put his glass down before he moved over to the chair next to mine.

"Hey, don't hate her, please." He said softly. "You have every right to be angry with her, but she's your mother. She did what she did because she thought it would be better for the family as a whole. It doesn't make it right, but she was only doing what she thought would be best for you."

"And what about you?" I cried. "She cheated on you and she lied to you and told you I was your child."

"You are my child." Dad placed a hand on mine. "You always will be, Maves. "Eric doesn't get to waltz in here and treat you like he's your father. If he tries, I will—"

Dad took a deep breath to keep the anger from surfacing. He looked at me with sympathy, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.

"Even if your mother told me the truth back then, it wouldn't have changed anything. Them having an affair wasn't going to ruin our family, and it still isn't going to."