Harry couldn't help but smile as he reached the Muggle Studies classroom. His relationship with Draco had improved, each of them making more time to simply talk and spend time with each other. There was still work to be done, the occasional awkward pause would appear when they ran out of things to talk about. Draco had begun sharing some stories of what it was like in Slytherin, Harry admitted to having snuck into the common room. He was surprised to find out that Draco had been in the Gryffindor common room several time, though he would not tell Harry how he had gained access

"That is one secret you'll never find out." He'd always say.

This particular day in muggle studies was a special one. They were watching an old romance movie that Harry had never heard of before, but Hermione apparently loved. Her eyes had gotten so big when Ron had mentioned it over breakfast the week before. Less than an hour later, Harry found himself standing next to his redheaded friend asking Ashton if he minded Hermione joining the class for a day. He had made some stupid joke about her being a muggle born, acting as if she was going to be a specimen rather than a person, but quickly agreed. Now Harry was sitting between her and Draco, ignoring the way that her eyes would drift over to where Ron and Blaise were sitting. The two of them were close enough together that he could simply pretend that she was always looking at her boyfriend.

Part of the way through the movie, a sliver of light entered the room, signaling that someone had opened the door. Harry glanced back and saw a woman standing at the back of the room, holding something in her arms. It was too dark for him to see what it was. A quick glance to the front of the room showed that Ashton was not exactly pleased at this woman's appearance in his class room. He glared back at her, his face visible in the blue light from the TV. The woman did not approach the front of the room and he did not move towards the back. She simply stood by the door and waited. Harry continued to watch them watch each other until the movie finished and Ashton turned on the lights.

"Alright, write a paragraph about who your favorite character was and why you like them, it is due next time. If you didn't like any of the, write about why you didn't like any of them. Out you go!" Ashton waved them all off, ignoring the woman.

With the lights on, Harry was better able to see the woman. She was attractive and well dressed, just a little older than he was, which put her at about the same age as Ashton. There was a small gold band around her ring finger and Harry could now see that the thing in her arms was a baby, sound asleep.

"That's Ashton's wife," Draco clarified, "And his new baby."

Harry's eyes flew wide. Ashton had a baby? He hadn't mentioned anything about it before, and the professor didn't seem pleased either. He stayed in his seat and watched what was playing out in front of him. Ron had skirted around the edge of the classroom and was now sitting next to Hermione, they were both silent, eyes transfixed on the young professor. The woman approached Ashton and offered up the child for him to look at. With one gaze at the sleeping infant, he turned away and started walking towards his office. The woman did not follow him. She turned towards the door, tears streaming down her face.

Without a word, Draco stood up and began marching towards Ashton's office. Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed him. Harry couldn't believe that Ashton was acting so callus towards his wife, even though everyone knew that it was a forced marriage that he wanted out of. That baby was still his child, he could at least show some affection to it. Then again, he had seen the way that Mr. Malfoy treated Draco, most likely the way that many pureblood treated their children. Hardly made it right.

The argument had begun before Harry got into the room. He missed what Draco had said, only hearing Ashton's response.

"One son, I just need one son and then that girl and I can forget this sham! Once she pops out one son, she can go back to whoever it is that she loves and I can get back to finding someone that I love!"

"Look, you can try again next time."

"Yeah, and have sex with that…uck! I don't even want to think about it! I just want to get back to doing what I want to do!"

"Well, now you have a child, so you'll have it…"

"It will be dead in a weeks time anyway!" He spat at Draco, "DeQuarts, or whatever the hell they are claiming it is!"

"What?" Harry asked before his brain could tell his mouth to keep closed.

"DeQuairtz," Hermione corrected, "It is a blood disease mostly seen among pureblooded wizard lines, it's genetic, usually kills within the child's first week of life."

"It's a problem with the kid's genetics anyway," Ashton snorted.

"What?" Hermione raise an eyebrow.

"The brat isn't mine," Ashton clarified, "That's why he is going to die, there is no genetic disease."

"Is this true?" Hermione crossed her arms, glaring at Draco.

"Certain families use spells to determine parentage and keep bloodlines pure. Isn't it strange that with so much mixing of pure blood and muggle borns that only children of two pure bloods get this genetic disease, and oddly enough, the Weasly family has never had a single child get it? Even stranger, it is only the rich families whose kids die of this. You think that is a coincidence?" Ashton spat.

"That is disgusting!" Hermione shouted, storming off.

Ron glared at Draco and Ashton now, though neither seemed to really care. Harry took a step back, not wanting to get in the middle. Certainly, he did not agree with killing babies, he doubted that anyone would, but he doubted that Ashton or Draco had any say on the fate of this child.

"You made my girlfriend cry," Ron sneered.

"First off, we don't actually know she is crying, she left, but yeah, she probably is." Ashton snorted, "And second off, I'd reexamine that whole girlfriend thing."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, loosing some of his anger to confusion.

"Where did she spend Christmas? What was she doing the whole time you weren't here? Why does she spend so much time "studying" when Draco used to whine about her being a know-it-all? Think about it."

Ron's mouth stood open as he looked over to Harry and Draco.

"You knew!" He shouted at them. "Hermione, she…Blaise?"

"Harry didn't know." Draco lied, "and I wasn't your friend then. I had no reason to tell you."

Ron looked back and forth between them before storming out of the room, slamming the office door on his way out.

"That went well," Ashton mused, "Now if you don't mind, I suppose I should start planning my unwanted wife's child's funeral, so leave!"

Harry and Draco walked out of the room, knowing that Harry's circle of friends was crashing down around him. Ron wasn't likely to forgive Hermione, and Hermione was likely to blame one of them for Ron finding out, and Harry didn't want to be asked to choose sides. While he knew that what Hermione had done was wrong, it wasn't like he was much better. He didn't exactly have plans to tell Ron about his relationship either.

"Hey, thanks for telling him I didn't know," Harry said with a deep sigh.

Draco smiled, glancing around the empty space before giving Harry a deep kiss, "It will be alright."

Sorry that it took so long to update! I have no excuses.