"You did it," Draco murmurs ardently in my ear, his voice choked with emotion. "Our boy, our beautiful boy."

The baby's cries continues. I wonder what they are doing to him. I'm too afraid to look up, to see what he looks like.

"Would you like to hold him, Harper?" The midwife says. "He could do with a feed for comfort."

I shake my head, willing away the tears. Because I really do want to hold him. The need, the desire, the urge is so strong. How is it that my arms suddenly feel so empty when there was nothing in them before?

"Please, Harper," Draco begs. "Please look at our son. He's beautiful."

"He's not mine," I sob, closing my eyes. "Don't make me, please."

"Here, I'll take him," I hear Draco say to the midwife. And I know what he's going to do, know there is no way of stopping him.

A small weight is placed on my chest. A soft, warm wriggling body. A sigh escapes me, and even before I open my eyes, my arms, of their own accord, reach up to cradle him.

That is all is has taken for me to fall in love with my son.

I open my eyes, gasping in awe at the most beautiful thing I ever seen in my life, my heart filling with instant love. Grey eyes full of wonder stare up at me, searching for me. Wisps of white-blond hair fan over his wrinkled scalp.

"He looks like you," I say in a breathy laugh, not being able to tear my eyes away from him.

"I told you he was beautiful, didn't I?" Draco chuckles, carefully cradling our son's head which looks tiny beneath his large hand.

"It might be a good idea to start feeding him now," the midwife says, pointing to the front of my hospital gown which is rapidly getting soaked.

It confuses me, and then I realise that I'm lactating, that my body is ready to feed my baby.

I immediately sit up, keeping my son cradled to me, wondering what in the hell to do. "I can't, I mustn't. I need to express. It was agreed."

But even as I say these words, I know I don't mean them. My maternal desire is already kicking in and I am desperate to feed my baby myself. I do not want to let him go and I do not want to express into a sterile bottle.

"He wants you," Draco says gently, confirming my thoughts, "he needs his mother."

My baby begins to cry and wriggle around in my arms. Panicked, I look up at the midwife pleadingly. "I don't know what to do."

"Here, love," she says kindly, "always a bit tricky the first time, but you'll soon get the hang of it."

She moves over to me and helps adjust my hospital gown to give my baby access to my breast. She holds his head and positions it so he can latch onto my nipple. I gasp, as it works straight away and I can feel my baby feeding, guzzling, in fact.

"He may look like you but he clearly has my appetite," I laugh, looking down at the sight with a deep overpowering love.

Draco scoots onto the bed next to me, draping his arm around my back and carefully dances his fingers across our son's head as he continues to feed from me.

"I love you, Harper," he murmurs hoarsely, sounding almost as though he is on the brink of crying. "I love you both."

"I love you, too," I whisper, lifting my head to look into Draco's eyes, to show him I mean it.

A look of complete pure and utter joy flits across his face, transforming it, making him look even more beautiful than ever. It's the first time I've said the words out loud.

It would have been an even more beautiful moment if Astoria didn't ruin it by flying into the room, her face falling as she stares in horror at the scene before her.

"Draco - what are you doing here?" She splutters, her eyes widening in panic as they fall on the baby in my arms. "And is that - is that my son? You shouldn't be feeding him, Harper. Why are you doing that? Stop that. Stop that now. He's mine."

Her voice grows more hysterical with every word as she moves towards us. I sense Draco's arm tightening around me, his hand hovering protectively over his son ready to do whatever it takes to stop Astoria taking him away.

"Astoria," he growls, "he is not your son."

Panic flutters in my chest. I suddenly feel so terrified, but not because I am worried Astoria will snatch my baby away but because I am about to take away everything I had promised her and destroy her world. All because I am too selfish to give up my own baby.

"HE IS!" Astoria screams, tears now pouring down her cheeks. "WE HAD AN AGREEMENT!" She looks to me, desperation in her eyes. "Tell him, Harper. Tell him that you are giving him to me. It's what we agreed when you came to my home last year. You said you didn't mind that you didn't want a baby of your own. Take my husband. I don't care about him. I don't want him back. I never have. But please don't take my baby. Please."

She breaks down entirely, sobbing as she falls to her knees. Draco and I just stare at her, horrified.

The midwife comes bustling back into the room, clearly wondering what all the noise is about. She looks at the four of us, at poor Astoria sobbing on the floor. "Is everything alright here? Do I need to call security?"

"No," I say quickly, "it won't be necessary. She's just had a shock, that's all."

Astoria seems to come to, and quickly rises to her feet again, furiously wiping her face as she turns to the midwife. "My name is Astoria Malfoy and I am that baby's mother. We had a surrogacy agreement, you see. I can show you the paperwork, I have it here in my bag."

She begins to reach inside her bag, babbling on. "I require a seperate room for me and my son to bond in. Anywhere will do fine, I don't need a bed, just a quiet space so I can bottle feed him. Harper has agreed to express. He can stop feeding from her now. I'm here. I was running late because I was otherwise engaged, but I'm here now. His actual mother."

She thrusts the papers at the midwife but she refuses to take them. "Mrs Malfoy," the midwife says gently, but firmly. "These papers are no good. I can only let you take the baby under the permission of the birthing mother."

Astoria turns to me again. "Tell her, Harper," she begs, "tell her I'm his mother. Please. You and Draco can have all the babies in the world when you are ready. You told me you weren't ready for a baby, remember? But I am. You've just been through a huge ordeal, and I can understand that you might be confused right now, but you've said throughout the whole pregnancy that this is my baby. Please. If I had been here instead of Draco, you wouldn't be doing this right now. He's manipulated you into believing you will be this wonderful happy family. But it's lies, all lies."

"For fuck's sake, Astoria," Draco growls. "I'm not the one manipulating her here."

I'm breathing so heavily now, my chest heaving so much that I'm surprised the baby hasn't detached from my nipple.

I don't know what to do. Because Astoria has a point. If she had been my birthing partner as planned then I would never have even looked at the baby, let alone be holding him and feeding him right now. And she's right, I'm not ready to be a mother.

Carefully, I unlatch the baby from my nipple, trying to ignore the horrific ache in my heart and the loud rush of blood in my ears. I know Draco is never going to forgive me for this, but I had made a promise.

And I'm not going to break it.

Draco, sensing what I am doing, jumps up. "Harper, don't do this. Don't you fucking dare."

But I ignore him and hold the baby up to the midwife. "Please, take him," I say, my voice shaking. "Astoria is right, we had an arrangement. I agreed to donate my eggs and be a surrogate. She borrowed my womb, and I borrowed her husband."

As the midwife obliges and takes the baby from my hands, Astoria shudders in relief, closing her eyes. "Thank you, Harper, thank you."

"No, you can't do this, Harper." Draco chokes, and I don't need to look at him to know he is crying. "You'll regret it for the rest of your life. Please don't. I love you, and you love me. We love our son. Why would you do this to us?"

I don't answer him, there is nothing I can say. I know I have already lost him as well as my son. Not my son. Astoria's son.

Instead, I watch as the midwife wraps the baby in the blanket Astoria has pulled from her bag. I remember when she bought it. We were shopping in a market town and I saw it in a shop window. It was light blue and covered in little snow leopards, like my Patronus. Astoria noticed it catch my eye and she marched straight into the shop and purchased it.

Pain engulfs me as she now takes the baby into her arms, cradling him to her and cooing softly down at him. It is a worse pain than anything I had just endured giving birth to him.

I hear Draco sobbing next to me, too bereft to fight. "Harper... why? How could you?"

But I cannot answer him. I cannot even look at him. And so I flop back down against the pillows, exhausted and drained.

And then I close my eyes and fall asleep.

******