After it had been made clear he wouldn't be getting anywhere with Pansy, Theo retreated to the same hotel he'd booked Marina into and took a few days to lick his wounds. When he was ready to deal with the world again, it was Marina he dealt with first. The first thing he did was get a paternity test organised for legal purposes, and while they were waiting for the results, he'd come to a financial arrangement with Marina and sent her and Amelie back off to France with a lump sum to make up for the fact he hadn't been around for the first few weeks of his daughter's life. In time Theo was hoping to visit his daughter regularly and have a proper relationship with her, but for now, he still had unfinished business elsewhere.
After dealing with Marina, his father was next on the list of people to face. Unsurprisingly his father had been furious that he'd been so careless, and he'd berated Theo long and hard about bringing the Nott family name into disrepute. Although his angry father was the least of Theo's worries as he also had to deal with Pansy's father, who had come to see him in an absolute fury. After telling Theo exactly what he thought of him, he vowed to get Pansy her divorce, and to ensure his daughter came out of the situation with her good name intact, he'd made it clear that he would be making Theo's misdemeanours public knowledge.
Believing every word his father-in-law said, Theo had faced a race against time to personally speak to everyone whose name he'd used during one of his extra-marital flings. He'd started with two of his oldest friends, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, hoping that they would prove the easiest people to deal with. However, that was not the case as not only were they already aware of what was going on, but neither of them were in forgiving moods. They were both rather scathing towards Theo, and they didn't just take issue with them using their name. They were equally upset by the potential hurt they might have caused Hermione given the exact nature of how Theo's affairs had been exposed.
Theo's next port of call was to the former Slytherins he knew well enough to use their names, but he wasn't particularly close with, like Marcus Flint and some of his friends. None of them took the news too well, and Theo was left in no doubt that he would never get a chance to know any of them any better as they didn't want anything more to do with them.
Although two of his toughest critics came in the form of two wizards who were merely acquaintances - Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Like Vince and Greg they'd known all about Theo's antics and were appalled that he'd dared to use other people's names while up to no good. However, as angry as Harry and Ron were about his using their names, they were angrier about the distress he'd inadvertently caused to Hermione. Dealing with Potter and Weasley was the only time Theo had felt physically intimidated and while neither wizard had hit him they'd come close and he'd left the meeting feeling pretty lucky to have survived in one piece.
Eventually the only people Theo had left to speak to were Blaise Zabini and Adrian Pucey. He'd deliberately left Blaise to last as like Draco, he was one of Theo's closest friends, and he knew the betrayal would cut deeper with Blaise than any of his other victims. And as for Adrian, he'd been trying to speak to him for days, but every time he called around his flat, he was out. In fact Theo had even called in on Adrian on the way to Blaise's office, but yet again Adrian was nowhere to be seen.
Although sadly for Theo, Blaise was also absent from his office. Blaise worked alongside Draco at the Malfoy family business, and in fact rumour had it that Lucius had gifted his son's best friend some shares in the company when he'd left Hogwarts. With Draco working in the same building, Theo felt he had no choice but to at least try to speak to his friend, both to see if he knew where to find Blaise, and to apologise yet again for what had happened. But as it turned out, Draco was also out of the office, although his assistant did inform Theo that both Draco and Blaise were having lunch at their club – Blacks.
Blacks was an old pure-blood club, founded by one of Draco's Black ancestors a couple of hundred years ago, and only admitted pure-blood wizards. Theo himself had a membership for the club, as most pure-blood wizards did, but he rarely went to the club as it was rather stuffy and old fashioned. However, he knew Blaise and Draco often dined at the club, simply to wind the other members up. As a Malfoy, and a descendant of the wizard who founded the club, Draco's membership was unequivocal, however the fact he was married to a muggleborn was enough for most of the members to consider Draco to be beneath them. As for Blaise, he'd become a member of the club thanks to backing from Lucius, and even though his mother swore he was a pure-blood with no father on the scene it was hard to prove, and therefore it made him an undesirable member of the club in some of the other patrons eyes. However, it amused Draco and Blaise to visit the club and make the older, stuffier members of the club squirm at their mere presence.
Knowing where Draco and Blaise were, Theo felt he was unable to put off facing Blaise any longer, and he set off for Blacks. Thankfully Draco and Blaise had finished eating and were relaxing over a glass of fire-whiskey in one of the lavish rooms used for the members to simply unwind and enjoy a drink with their friends. Unfortunately, they were not alone in the room and as he made his way over to where his friends were sitting, he spotted several people he, and more importantly his father, knew.
"May I join you?" he asked as he reached the table where Draco and Blaise were sitting.
"You expect me to drink with you, after what you've done?" Draco snorted as he finished his firewhisky and slammed the glass down onto the table in front of him. "I don't think so."
"Please Draco," Theo begged. "I have to speak to Blaise."
"I don't know what you think you can say to me that will make this any better," Blaise remarked. "I am right in assuming this is the grovelling apology you've doled out to several of our friends, aren't I?"
"It is," Theo confirmed, not beating around the bush. "Clearly by now you know what I've done. I need to personally apologise for using your name. I never meant this to come back on anyone. I simply wanted to keep my promise to Pansy."
"You didn't need to use a false name to do that," Blaise pointed out. "All you needed was to be discreet. I'm sure half the wizards in this club are in a situation like yours, married to a witch they didn't choose. But none of them run around using their friends names for their affairs, they just use their discretion and keep things private."
"I know, I just wasn't thinking that first time," Theo argued. "I was happily flirting with the witch, and it was clear where it was heading, but when she asked me my name, I panicked. Before I knew what I was doing, I'd given her your name, Blaise."
"And the first time was such a success, you thought you would keep on repeating it," Blaise snorted with a shake of his head.
"Something like that," Theo admitted. "After the first time, I figured I had the perfect way of ensuring there was no comeback from my affairs. But I admit, I got reckless. I started using facts about the person whose name I was using, which was how Marina knew where to find Draco. When she asked about me, I told her about Draco."
"Minus the wife part," Draco sneered. "Oh yeah, and the part where I'm not a snivelling little cheat who is too much of a coward to use his own name when he's sleeping around behind his wife's back."
"Sorry," Theo whispered, well aware that people were watching, not just because he was still hovering beside the table, but because neither Blaise nor Draco were keeping their voices down.
"Sorry does not cut it, Theo," Blaise announced sharply. "Your actions could have wrecked innocent people's lives. Merlin knows what would have happened if someone had shown up at my door, claiming to have my child. With my past, Daphne would most certainly have had her doubts. Now, I'm sure we would have worked through it as she never would have married me if she didn't trust me, but it could have been deeply distressing for us. Just like the distress you caused Hermione."
"I really didn't mean any of that to happen," Theo protested. "I would never want to hurt Hermione," he pleaded with Draco. "Please believe me, Draco. I felt terrible. Is Hermione okay?"
"She is now, but the timing couldn't have been worse," Draco replied. "With everything we're going through, it was the last thing either of us needed. And to be honest Theo, that's why I can't forgive you, and I certainly can't trust you. I think it's best all round if we call it a day. It's been nice knowing you, but our friendship has run its course."
"But you're my best friend," Theo protested in a whisper.
"You should have thought about that before you took some random witch to bed, while using my name," Draco replied as he rose to his feet. "Goodbye, Theo."
Without a second look at one of his oldest friends, Draco walked from the room, ignoring the fact everyone was watching him. Theo watched him go, not really blaming him in the slightest as in Draco's shoes, he thought he might just have done the same thing. Turning back to Blaise, he found he was also on his feet and one look at his face showed he was about to follow Draco's lead and call time on their friendship.
"I'm sorry Theo, but I'm with Draco on this one," Blaise sighed. "It may have all been innocent, but the repercussions could have been huge. It might not have just been your marriage that your lies ruined. Think yourself lucky that no-one else is paying the price for your recklessness."
Well aware that Blaise was completely right, and things could have been a whole lot worse for a lot more people, Theo watched as Blaise also walked out of his life. He then left the club with his head held high, even though he knew news of what had occurred would spread like wildfire in the pure-blood community, and his father would most certainly hear about what had happened.
Rather than head straight home, he decided to make one more call on Adrian, and this time his luck was in as the former Slytherin answered the door. However, Theo could instantly tell he had come at a bad time as Adrian's dark hair was ruffled, his trousers were open, although not showing anything intimate, and it looked as though he'd just thrown his shirt back on to answer the door.
"Sorry to disturb you, Adrian, but I need to speak to you," Theo said, deciding that now he'd found Adrian, he wasn't leaving without saying what needed to be said. "This won't take a minute."
"Is this about you using my name for your affairs?" Adrian asked in amusement.
"You've heard about that then," Theo sighed, secretly wondering why Adrian seemed to find it funny when everyone else had been pretty outraged but his actions.
"Everyone has heard about it," Adrian laughed. "People talk, and old man Parkinson is making sure everyone knows the details of your extra-marital activities."
"I did come to apologise, but you don't seem upset," Theo remarked. "In fact, you seem to find it funny."
"Come inside and you'll see why," Adrian offered, pulling open the door and allowing Theo into his luxury flat.
Heading towards the partially closed door that Adrian gestured to, Theo entered the living room, only to be struck dumb by the sight that greeted him. His wife was lounging on the sofa, clad in only her skimpy black underwear. Upon spotting him, Pansy merely raised her eyebrow, but didn't make any move to cover herself or to offer explanation as to what was going on.
"What the hell, Pansy?" Theo growled, regaining his voice, if not his ability to move.
"I did mention I had a lover," Pansy replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "And that we were discreet."
"So now can you see why I find it so funny?" Adrian chuckled from behind Theo. "There's you using my name to bag some random witch, while I'm happily bedding your wife."
"I can't believe this," Theo muttered. Part of him wanted to lash out, but given the fact his marriage to Pansy was over, it seemed rather pointless.
"This is what you could have had, Theo," Pansy reminded her husband. "You could have had a long-term mistress, with very little sneaking about. I've been with Adrian for years, and no-one has been any the wiser."
"Although I have to thank you, really," Adrian remarked, clapping Theo on the back. "We'd settled for the stolen moments we had together, now thanks to you, we'll get our chance to be together properly. So, thank you, Theo."
Not sure what to say, Theo turned and departed the flat in a stunned haze. Heading back to the hotel he was staying at, he drowned half a bottle of firewhisky before reaching a decision. Paying for his stay, he sent a message to his father saying he was going away for a while and would be in touch when he had an address for him. He then headed off to France to get to know his daughter. His life in England was over, but if he was lucky, he might just get a second chance in France.