Yes, it's a new chapter.

I'm SO sorry for the long wait but November has been a very, very hectic month. It's not even funny how busy I've been. If I'm not studying my ass off, then I'm drooping from exhaustion and sleep deprivation.

But enough of that depressing shit, I really wanted this to be longer but I didn't know when I'd next get time to write so I had to wrap this up. Again, I know there's no Sirius/Hermione but I solemnly swear that even if it's longer than all the other chapters combined, I will get it in in the next chapter. I originally wanted to finish this story by the end of this year but I hadn't anticipated how busy I would be. I imagine it'll only get worse from here.

I hope y'all like it, reviews are always welcome :)

Word count: 3384

(1/12/17)

Hermione's jaw went slack as she heard Daphne say that her parents quite literally sold her for money.

Out of all the things on Merlin's sweet earth that could have been the reason why she had left, this had never once occurred to Hermione. Nor to anyone else, if she was being completely honest.

For one, forced marriage or marriage contracts were a thing of the past and especially after the War, no one dared to enter their child into one. And more importantly, Daphne was a legal adult at the time of this happening. That usually means that the parent has no right to do something like this to their child because they were now legal adults who could make decisions for themselves.

The second reason was why her guards went up like a damned shutter. Something wasn't right here.

"And just how were they able to do that, Daphne?" Hermione asked suspiciously. She wasn't just going to believe her just because she had given her a sob story. This was a woman who had quite effectively deceived her best friend and everyone else around him. She was a Slytherin and while Hermione's days of painting all snakes with the same brush were long past over, it would be ignorant of her to think that Daphne wouldn't manipulate a situation to her advantage. In fact, if she was being honest, it would surprise her if she didn't.

"They-They had taken a vial of my blood at birth. It's something that most Pureblood families do as a 'safeguard'," she sneered at the word 'safeguard', letting Hermione know just what she thought about that particular practice. "They had used it to create a marriage contract in my life when I was a minor under their care. It's a handy little loophole that most don't even know about. And with good reason. Because they had it drawn up when they were still my guardians, it still held even after I turned 17."

"Although I didn't know about this until about 4 years ago when they confronted me with it. They said that they didn't care if I was off gallivanting with idiots, but at the end of the day, there was only one choice for me and that was to get married to a man of their choice. Of course, I rebelled, I fought, I did everything I could to get away. What you need to understand, Hermione," Here, she turned desperate blue eyes to the brunette. "Is that I have tried my damndest to get out from under their control as soon as I turned 17. I thought I had done it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think they would have done something like this. I mean, why would I?"

She broke off there, taking in a shuddering breath, eyes closed shut. Hermione could see the hurt and anguish dancing across her delicate features and against her better judgement, she moved forward and placed a gentle hand on her back, rubbing slow circles across it.

Daphne exhaled, before continuing, "I was...I had to marry a man I had no love towards, no wish to ever see in my life again all for the sake of our family and to cement our position in society."

A feeling of dread crept up on Hermione when Daphne fell silent again. She was getting a very bad feeling from this.

"Marcus Flint," Daphne whispered. "He was the bane of my existence, in the most literal sense of the word, when we were at Hogwarts. He was the one person who always broke through my masks, and not in the way Harry did either. He-He made me feel..dirty, polluted, as if I could never be clean again no matter how much I scrubbed myself. In hindsight, a lot of these comments made sense. He must have known about the contract long before I was told about it."

Hermione couldn't quite contain the gasp that involuntarily escaped her lips at Daphne's words. She was married to Marcus Flint? He was a...brute, for lack of a better word. He spoke with his fists and he was a Pureblood supremacist to the highest degree. He..Hermione wouldn't wish him upon her worst enemy.

However, there was something she had to ask her. Something that had been nagging at her for the entirety of this conversation and even before that.

"Gabriel," she started. "Is he-Is he...Harry's?" Her voice was trembling almost imperceptibly. The answer to this question could change everything. For the longest time, all Harry had ever wanted was a family. It was the reason for his unfailing loyalty towards those he cared about and it was the primary reason for him opening the School.

If it turned out that Gabriel was indeed Harry's, and that he had missed the first three years of his son's life, it would devastate him in a way nothing else ever had. The one thing he had wanted to desperately, taken away and hidden from him so brutally. It would break him.

Daphne gasped at her question, horror and panic filling her blue eyes. "No! No, I would-I would never do that to him. I-I know how much he craves for a family and I could never dream of keeping his own son away from him, even if it killed me in the process. No, Gabriel is, unfortunately, Marcus'. While I love my baby boy to death, I-I cannot help but regret the circumstances in which he was born. He doesn't deserve to be in the middle of this ugly conflict, doesn't deserve to be hurt as he is." Her voice had dropped to a whisper towards the end, sadness coating every word.

Unknowingly, Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief. He wasn't Harry's, he wasn't Harry's. She hadn't realized how much that was weighing on her until the pressure lifted off her.

Daphne smiled bitterly, "The day I left Harry, he forced me to...to sleep with him. Gabriel was conceived that night. It remains, to this day, the only time I've even been in the same bed with that monster."

"Oh, Daphne, I am so sorry!" Hermione exclaimed in alarm, the weight that had just lifted off her chest slammed back again. To go through something like that in life, she wouldn't wish it upon her worst enemy, least of all the woman sitting in front of her who had once been her friend.

"I couldn't do anything about it. The Marriage Contract stated one heir had to be born, until then I couldn't refuse...copulation. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that my body was feeling unnaturally fertile that day, and I didn't have to go through it again."

An indignant look rose in Hermione's brown eyes at Daphne's words. She didn't believe how someone could think that. She was about to go on another of her rants about the Wizarding World's backwardness and regressive mindset, and how they didn't care about the happiness of their daughters, but only saw them as breeders, but something about Daphne's countenance stopped her.

Daphne looked at Hermione with red-rimmed eyes, a tired look in her eyes. "Our world isn't sexist, Hermione, they don't go around propagating violence and oppression towards women like I've, no offence, often seen in the Muggle world. Because of how much I've travelled, often to Muggle places, I see a stark difference in the way women are treated in both worlds, and I know you're thinking how unfair it is to a woman to be forced against her will in a contract like this, but I need you to know, it's not gender bias."

Before she could say anything else, Hermione interrupted her, "Daphne, I-I really can't understand how you can say that. It's right in front of you, and yet you're saying the Wizarding World isn't as bad as the Muggle world? I'm not offended, I know I can't really say anything, but I don't get how you think we're worse than here!"

"Hermione, if you're talking specifically about Marriage Contracts, it's a two-way street. It can be forced on a guy as easily as it can be forced on a woman. Assholes don't look at gender. The clause about not...resisting until a child is conceived? It goes both ways. If a woman is particularly desperate for a child as well, the man can't refuse her either. It can be unwanted on his side either," Daphne explained patiently.

"During my travels, I saw a lot of things. And from my understanding, there are two major reasons for the treatment of women being what it was and is in the Muggle world. Religion and physical strength. Whether misinterpreted or not, religion supposedly puts the common woman on a lower pedestal than the man. The rituals are geared towards men and the women are little more than helpers. Religion has made 'periods' something to be ashamed of, something that is 'impure', for example. And physical strength. Women are looked down upon because they're biologically not as strong as men. Would you agree with this?" Daphne asked suddenly, surprising Hermione.

"I-ah-yes. I mean, we can't generalize, but yes, they are the two main factors," Hermione admitted after a moment of thought. She was surprised because she had never really thought about it that way, and now that she did, it made quite a lot of sense. She couldn't deny that she was also shocked at the fact that Daphne was the one who made her aware of this.

"Now think about it. The Wizarding World does not have religion. Barring any personal beliefs in a higher power aside, there is no organized religion, no holy book, nor Gods that we have. This means that one influence is already absent. As for the other, physical strength doesn't quite have the same importance here as in the Muggle world. Professor Flitwick, for example, is a very diminutive man, but he's capable of bringing down people the size of Hagrid. It doesn't matter how you're built, how much you weigh and how hard you can throw a punch if your opponent can cast a curse at you faster than you can react. So, there goes the other influence."

Realization washed over Hermione as she recognized the truth in Daphne's words. Now that she was giving some thought to this, she couldn't deny it. She remembered now how she had never been told she couldn't do something because she was a woman ever since she entered the female world. Remembered how no one had ever put her down, or talked condescendingly to her, or even disregarded her opinion just because she was a woman. Something that happened regularly in the Muggle world, even now.

She came back to the present when Daphne spoke again, "This is why we can't say this world is prejudiced against women. It isn't. I have just as much chance of doing something as say, Draco Malfoy. Now, yes, we are at a slight disadvantage due to our unique ability to get pregnant. And although there have been historic legends of male pregnancies, as far as modern history is concerned, those are just that; legends. We can't help the fact that only we are capable of getting pregnant. Combine that with the dismally low population of the Wizarding population at any given point, and you understand why we are under more pressure at times. And why the number of children is always specified in the contract," Daphne finished. She took a deep breath when she was done.

Immediately, Hermione conjured a glass of water for her, which she downed with a grateful smile.

"Thank-you for that, Daphne," Hermione started hesitantly, "I'm afraid, even after being in the Wizarding World for so long, I was unfamiliar with what you just told me. It's quite fascinating if you think about it, but of course, that's not what we're here to talk about."

"No, it's not," Daphne agreed. "You wanted to know why I left, I told you. You wanted to know who Gabriel's father is, I told you. Is there anything else?" In front of Hermione's very eyes, Daphne changed into the Ice-Queen she was famous for being. Her shutters came down and her blue eyes turned into hard shards of ice.

"I-There is," Hermione took a deep breath, unsure of how to phrase her next question, but knowing she had to do it. "Is Gabriel abused, Daphne?"

She cringed at the way the words seemed to slip off her tongue callously. She had meant to put it in a much more delicate way, but it seemed like her mouth didn't agree with her. She watched Daphne carefully, noticing the different emotions that cycled through her eyes before finally settling on careful aloofness.

"Do you have any reason to believe he is, Hermione?" Even the way she said Hermione's way was cold, detached. Hermione didn't buy it, though. She could hear just the slightest of tremors running through the otherwise perfectly done voice.

Daphne didn't consider one thing, though. Hermione had once been her friend. She knew the way her mind worked, knew when something wasn't quite right.

"You know very well I do, Daphne. I wouldn't have asked you otherwise," Hermione countered, crossing her arms.

Daphne managed to look her in the eyes steadily for another half a minute, before she closed her eyes tiredly and sighed.

"I try my best to shield him from the worst of it, but sometimes I'm not there to…." her voice trailed off towards the end as she wrapped her arms around herself, as if remembering something that she needed to protect herself from.

Despite knowing on some level that her suspicions were probably true, the admittance still made Hermione falter. "But-why?" That was the only thing she could ask. Why would anyone want to hurt someone as precious and as innocent as Gabriel? How could they?

"Because Marcus is a disgusting human being who needs to be put down," Daphne sneered coldly, surprising Hermione with the sheer vehemence in her voice.

"He believes Gabriel is too weak, too childlike. He seems to forget that Gabriel is a child! I can't do anything, because the only time he does anything to Gabriel is when I'm not there to protect my baby boy. He knows that otherwise, he can't land even a Tickling Hex on him," Daphne snarled.

"But, why haven't you left him then? You said the Wizarding World isn't unfair to women, fine. But that should mean you should be able to leave him then, shouldn't it?" Hermione questioned, a little bit more pointedly than she would have wanted but she couldn't do anything about it now.

Daphne sighed again, "All divorces have to go through the Wizengamot, regardless of the reason behind it. Marriage is a sacred institution and the breaking of such a bond is highly frowned upon. Which is why all divorce appeals are looked over with a fine-toothed comb to make sure they're actually valid before a couple is granted. It's hard enough when the couple is amicably parting, but when the two people are like Marcus and I are? It's almost impossible. Marcus would want this marriage to go on just to torture me and all the Wizengamot needs is one word from either partner that a decision as monumental as this was made in haste and that's it, it's gone."

Hermione closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she opened them again, they were flaring with the famous Hermione Granger temper that sent people running for the hills and cowering behind the closest object.

"Daphne," she started, her voice taut with tension that could snap like a thread at any second, "You will come with me and we will devise a plan to get you out of this sham of a marriage, get it? We have the backing of at least three Noble and Most Ancient Houses and we WILL use it to our advantage."

"But, Hermio-" Daphne tried to protest, albeit weakly, but she was cut off when Hermione raised her hand.

"I'm not asking you, Daphne," she said firmly, "I'm telling you that you're coming with me. From what I've gathered, this has gone on long enough. But, that's it, we're stopping it now."

"I-Hermione, I don't know..what to say," Daphne stuttered out, "This-This isn't something I could ever imagine, and I-I just don't know, I'm sorry." Embarrassed, she hung her head in defeat.

Hermione walked up to her and gently lifting her chin up, she looked her right in the eyes and said, "Daphne. I know you're a fighter. I know you've got life in you, and I know you're not letting this go just like that. I'm merely helping you to get there, to take back what was yours, to reclaim your life."

Seemingly overwhelmed, Daphne couldn't do anything more than throw her hands around Hermione in an uncharacteristic loss of composure and bury her head in the crook of her neck.

"I cannot thank you enough, Hermione, for this. Even if this doesn't end up going anywhere, just know that I will forever remain in your debt for what you're attempting," Daphne promised, though her voice came out muffled due to her position.

It was just as Hermione was about to answer that someone knocked on the door. Daphne immediately stepped back from Hermione and cast several Cleansing charms on her face in a matter of seconds, surprising Hermione with the speed at which she reacted. By the time she was done, she looked just as she had when she had entered the School; perfectly composed and emotionless.

Another knock at the door prompted Hermione to unlock the door, "Come in!"

Sirius Black entered the room at her words, eyes immediately narrowing when he saw Daphne Greengrass standing so close to Hermione.

"Are...you okay, Mione?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, yes, I'm alright," Hermione replied with a careless wave of her hand.

"Ms. Greengrass," Sirius acknowledged curtly.

"Sirius," Daphne said softly.

"Siri," Hermione said, "There's something you need to know."

Sirius looked questioningly at her, breaking his eye contact with Daphne, "Yes?"

Hermione looked at Daphne and when the other woman gave a short nod, she motioned for Sirius to sit down. When he did, she bit her lip and said,

"Daphne told me a very troubling tale, Siri. And I've promised to help her, but I can only do so with your help. And Harry's." Hermione could see the confusion clouding his grey eyes.

She could see he wanted to say something, wanted to know what had happened in the past hour that had changed her mind so much that she was now willing to help Daphne, but she could also see that he trusted her to tell him everything.

So she did. Taking a deep breath, she repeated everything that Daphne had told her over the past hour, with the blonde chiming in at times but otherwise remaining silent. Hermione imagined it couldn't have been easy for her to go over this twice in such a short span of time.

She was sure Daphne couldn't have even dreamt of something like this happening and was therefore completely unprepared for it. Hermione knew she wouldn't have wanted to go through it twice. So it was only fair she didn't make Daphne do so either.

By the time she was done, Sirius' face looked like it was made out of stone. Hermione wasn't surprised. You didn't know what Sirius Black was thinking until he let you know. He preferred keeping his thoughts to himself until he was sure of them.

After a minute of tense silence, Sirius spoke up.

"There's no question then, is there? We have to help her." He said it so matter-of-factly that even Hermione was a little surprised.

She wasn't surprised at what he said, though. Regardless of how angry he was at Daphne, she knew he would never let something like this just go on without at least trying to do anything about it.

Hermione smiled. A teeth-baring smile that meant that she was a woman on a mission, and she would do whatever was necessary to achieve what she wanted.

So we find out who Gabe's father is here. Are y'all surprised? I loved how you guys tried to figure out if it was going to be Harry or not, but I had decided right from the beginning that it wasn't going to be him. I just couldn't do that to his, you know?