The night before the final pregnancy test, I have a visitor. And not a surprising one at that.

"The ferret is here and wants to see you," Ron says, sticking his head around my bedroom door. "Should I let him in or tell him to fuck off?"

I sit, up, my heart suddenly pounding. "Let him in, Ron. Tell him to wait for me at the kitchen table. And please, give us some privacy."

Ron hesitates. "Are you sure? I can stay if you need. Just in case..."

"That's sweet, but I think we are capable of having a conversation without fucking on the kitchen counter."

He raises his eyebrows and shakes his head as though he doesn't believe me.

As soon as he leaves, I jump off the bed and quickly run over to the mirror, checking out my reflection. Oh fuck, I look so rough. All I have done is puke for days on end, and my complexion looks tired and grey. So much for the fucking pregnancy glow. Surely he is going to realise just by looking at me? Panicking, I grab some lipstick hoping that might take the attention away from my skin.

But it's me who ends up wondering if Draco is the pregnant one when I step into the kitchen and see him sitting there, looking sad and tired, as though he hasn't slept in a very long time.

However, his face lights up the moment he sees me. "Harper."

He begins to rise from his chair, but I quickly motion for him to sit back down, scared he is going to cross the room and hug me.

I take the chair opposite him, the table safely dividing us. Although this doesn't stop Draco and he reaches across the table at once, grabbing my hands. "I've missed you. I've missed you so much. I haven't even told Astoria you have gone. I kept hoping every day that you would change your mind and come back."

I pull my hands out of his, and look away. Not being able to stand the look of hope in his eyes and in his voice.

"Draco, I'm pregnant."

The air stills. "What? But the test, it was negative."

"Yes, and we had sex since, remember? That last night when I told you I couldn't do this anymore. Well, it seems your sperm had the last laugh."

"Fuck. How long have you known?"

I shrug. "About two weeks after I arrived here. I've been puking ever since."

Draco's face flickers in concern as his eyes scan me. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have looked after you."

"You're not supposed to be involved, remember?" I remind him. "It was part of the agreement of the surrogacy. Astoria wants us to be apart to severe any connection we may have forged during conception."

Draco blinks, and I watch as my words sink in and he finally understands what I am saying. "You're not still going ahead with this, are you? I mean, the surrogacy? You're just going to give Astoria your baby?"

"Why wouldn't I, Draco? I made a promise."

"You told me you couldn't do this anymore! Your exact words to me were you couldn't have sex with me with the intention of making a child for my wife. And then we made love and we created a child. So, technically, that baby isn't Astoria's. It's ours - yours and mine."

I look at him, my jaw falling open. "And how exactly do you think that's going to work? Are you going to leave your wife and bring this child up with me? Is that what you're saying?"

He nods. "Yes, why not? I will divorce Astoria. I will marry you and we can bring up our baby. Together."

"I DON'T WANT A BABY! I DON'T WANT TO BE A MOTHER! AND I CERTAINTLY DON'T WANT TO BE MARRIED TO YOU!"

He looks startled, as though I have just slapped him. "Harper, you don't mean that."

"Don't I? Draco, I walked into this arrangement making a promise to your wife. Yes, I had a wobble but that was only because I was confused about my feelings for you. I understand it now: we forged a connection because of the intimate way we were trying to conceive. The lines got blurred. Our feelings, they were not real."

"When I fucked you that last time, Harper," Draco says steadily his eyes piercing mine, "you had already said you couldn't do it anymore, that you were walking away from the surrogacy. I asked for one last night with you. That night was for you and me. Not Astoria. I wasn't fucking you to give my wife a child, I was fucking you because I wanted to be with you."

"You are focusing on the wrong thing here, Draco. It doesn't matter which fuck made me pregnant."

"It does to me! That test Marge gave you was fail proof. There was no way you could have been pregnant before then. We conceived a child after you had renegaded on your promise to her."

"I'm not budging on this, Draco. I'm sorry."

He gets to his feet, his whole body shaking. I am shocked by the fool force of his anger, of his insistence that I do not give Astoria his child.

"I won't sign them. I won't sign the adoption papers. As the child's father, you will still need my permission to name Astoria as a legal parent. I won't let you do this."

I look down at my hands, realising they are shaking quite badly. I feel sick again, and I am worried I am going to hurl whilst Draco is still in the kitchen.

"I think you should leave now." I say quietly, trying not to cry. "I'll come by the manor tomorrow for the official test and to let Astoria know about the baby. But after that, I don't think it's a good idea that we see each other again."

"Please," Draco says, his voice breaking, "I love you, Harper."

His words take my breath away and make my head spin. I feel the room tipping around me.

And I don't say anything, I can't say anything.

Draco looks at me, his eyes penetrating mine. "This is the part where you tell me you feel the same."

I close my eyes, pain consuming me.

"Please, just leave, Draco." I sob, desperately concentrating on not throwing up or fainting. Or both. "You don't know what you're saying."

Five seconds later I hear the slam of the front door. When I look up, Draco has gone.

*****

I arrive at the manor before Astoria has returned. Not wanting to see Draco until I have to, I go out to the patio area and sit in the morning sun. It's cold a day, but I just find this soothing.

"Harper?"

At Astoria's voice, I turn around and see her standing in the doorway. She looks pale and frightened. I feel a flicker of confusion, shouldn't she be happy?

"Oh, Harper," she says stepping towards me, "I'm too scared about this test. What if it's negative again? I just don't know what I'll do."

"Hasn't Draco told you?" I ask, bewildered.

No. Of course he hasn't. He doesn't want Astoria to have this baby.

"What?" Astoria looks even more terrified. "Harper, darling, tell me what? What's happened? Are you okay? You are not ill are you? Oh, I couldn't bear it."

"No," I say at once, trying to calm her down. "It's good news, I promise. I did a home test two weeks ago because I was displaying symptoms. Astoria, I'm pregnant."

She gasps, her handing flying to her mouth. Her eyes grow so wide and I see the joy dancing in them at once. "Are you sure? Oh my god. I can't believe it. I'm going to be a mummy!"

Laughing, she flings her arms around me, screaming and jumping for joy.

When she lets me go, I see tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Astoria, don't cry."

"No, no - these are tears of happiness, my darling, Harper. We're having a baby! Oh, I have never before felt this happy than I do in this very moment. Can I..?"

She motions down towards my still flat stomach and I nod. She crouches down in front of me and presses a hand flat against my belly, her expression soft and tender.

"I'm your mummy, little one," she says lovingly, "and Harper here is going to be so kind as to look after you for the next nine months before you can come out and be with me. And I'll be here, waiting to be the best mummy in the world."

A loud cough startles me. I look up to see Draco standing in the patio doorway, his face sporting a pink tinge as he looks on at us, his eyes flashing angrily.

"Marge is ready for us." he says, his voice a low growl.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Astoria says, jumping up and looking at Draco in confusion. "I've been worried sick."

Draco swallows, his Adam's Apple bobbing in his throat as he looks anywhere but at me. "I was only informed of the pregnancy last night. Harper left to stay at a friend's when she first began to feel ill. I didn't want to worry you."

"Oh," Astoria looks between me and Draco, a frown creasing her brow. "Well, it's all worked out in the end, hasn't it?"

"Of course," I say, offering her a smile. "This is the outcome we all signed up for, after all."

I say this rather pointedly, looking directly at Draco and I do not miss his flinch, his eyes darting away, as though my gaze burns him.

We all go up to Marge's office together, with Astoria, as usual, sitting between me and Draco. There is a lot less tension in the atmosphere this time, knowing that the test is already positive. Marge's test, however can pinpoint the exact time of conception.

"Three weeks and six days." Marge beams across at the three of us. "Congratulations, you have almost completed your first month."

It confirms what Draco was saying. There is no question that we conceived the baby that final night. The night he didn't fuck me for his wife.

But I'm pretty sure he stopped fucking me for his wife long before that anyway.

I can't look at him, I know what is going through his mind, and I'm half afraid that he may confess to Astoria right here in this office and demand that the surrogacy should not go ahead.

But he says nothing, not a single thing.

I only half listen as Marge starts dishing out pregnancy care advice. I know Astoria is listening intently. She even scribbles down notes, asking Marge to repeat the odd detail here and there.

"Don't you worry," Astoria says to me, "I will not leave your side the entire pregnancy. We are in this together, Harper. You and me."

I think she forgets Draco even exists at this point.

Draco excuses himself to go and pack. I tell myself not to follow, just to let him go. But I can't, not without saying goodbye.

"Oh yes, you absolutely must," Astoria says when I explain I want to go and see him off. "I'll be in the kitchen preparing you a nutritious lunch for you and our growing baby."

As I hover outside his bedroom door, preparing to knock, I realise this is the first time I've come here. We always used my bedroom for sex.

"You can come in, Snow," Draco's voice drawls loudly from inside. "I can hear you pacing outside my door."

Slowly, I push the door open. Draco is stood over an open suitcase set upon his king size four poster bed. He continues to pack without looking up at me.

"I didn't want you to leave before I could say goodbye." I say tentatively.

He glances up at me then, his silver eyes piercing mine. "What like you did to me, you mean?"

"Draco-"

"What do you want, Snow?" he asks coldly. "Do you want me to be fucking ecstatic that you and Astoria are playing happy families whilst I am being pushed out? How the fuck do you think this makes me feel? This is my child too and I don't even get to be there for you during the pregnancy."

My heart starts racing. "Draco, you are talking like this hasn't been the plan from the beginning."

"Well, plans change!" He snarls, tossing a pair of socks so hard, it misses the suitcase entirely.

"Not these ones." I say. "I can't have a family with you, Draco. This is Astoria's baby. Please, just take this time to think about things, about what you really want from all of this."

"I already know what I want!" he says, driving his hands through his hair. "But you won't fucking listen to me. You have it in your head that what we feel for one another isn't real and if I cannot convince you otherwise then we are at a bit of a stalemate, aren't we?"

He slams his suitcase shut, his jaw tense, a muscle pulsing beneath his skin.

This goodbye is not really working out as I wanted it to.

"I'm sorry," I say, turning to walk back to the door.

"Wait."

Hopeful, I turn back to him. His body seems to sag. His eyes are so sad that it breaks my heart.

"I'm not giving up on you, Harper," he says quietly. "You do whatever you have to do, I'll leave you to it for now. But I won't ever give up on you, on us, or our baby. Here, pass me your phone," he holds out his hand motioning for me to hand it to him.

I reach into my pocket and quickly unlock before handing it over.

"I'm putting in my number," he says, making quick work with his thumbs over the screen. "If you need me, anytime, night or day, I'll be right with you."

He passes me my phone back. Our fingers touch as I take it from him. This small touch makes my body come alive, like an electric shock up my spine.

"Thank you," I whisper.

Then, unexpectedly, he steps towards me and envelopes me in his arms. I hug him back, hug him so tight as my entire body seems to sing in joy and sigh against him. He feels so solid, so real, and there is that feeling that I never want to let him go.

"Look after yourself, and our baby," he murmurs, his voice thick with emotion. "I love you, Harper."

I don't answer, I can't because I am so choked up with sadness. I want to say 'I love you' back.

This is the part where you tell me you feel the same.

But I can't.

*****