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The conclusion of Harriet's heat was bittersweet for the omega and her alpha. Hermione was bringing Albus back home later that day, but Severus intended to take full advantage of their private morning.
After they both woke, he scooped his small mate into his arms and carried her to the kitchen. After he sat Harriet down on the counter, he moved to the stove and began to prepare their breakfast.
Harriet watched him closely, dressed in his nightshirt which hung loosely off of one of her slender shoulders.
Severus was still wearing his sleep trousers but nothing else and Harriet's green eyes ghosted over the slender muscles of his pale chest, admiring the subtle definition on his arms while he cooked.
"...Love you." Harriet whispered.
It was a sweet, simple statement, spoken so gently that she wasn't even certain her husband could hear.
But from the way his dark eyes immediately snapped up to meet her green gaze, it became obvious that he had.
Severus tended the food in the skillet for a moment and then he turned away from the stove, walked over, and wedged himself between his wife's legs as she sat on the counter.
He placed a hand on Harriet's petite waist and she straightened, blushing from the intensity of his stare.
Severus ducked in to peck her lips and Harriet closed her eyes. His kiss was deep and hungry, just as she knew it would be. Tenderly, Harriet draped her arms over his shoulders and she happily kissed back.
If he had been thinking clearly and not drunk from days of having his omega screaming his name and begging him not to stop, Severus would have placed a protective charm on their food.
It nearly burned to a crisp by the time he was able to pry himself away from the sweet taste of his darling wife~.
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Severus expected Harriet to deconstruct her nest after Albus came home and they resumed their normal, civilized, family life.
His hopes rose when that failed to happen.
One day when Severus returned home from yet another day of teaching classes, he found Albus drawing a picture at the dining table and Harriet stirring a pot of soup that would serve as their dinner.
"Daddy!" Albus cried, looking up.
"Hello, Albus." Severus replied, frowning at his wife's uncharacteristic silence.
There was something in the air that Severus noticed right away, a sweet, delicate aroma, light and refreshing, almost comforting in a way……
Harriet looked up and caught her husband's gaze.
The softness in her green eyes caused his breath to hitch.
It was a silent affirmation and it struck Severus to his core.
Wishing was one thing, but truth was another.
"Mummy, when will the soup be ready?" Albus asked impatiently from the table.
"In just a moment, sweetheart." Harriet replied.
She managed to hide her smirk as Severus strode towards her with his black robes billowing around him, sliding over his leather shoes.
Albus's attention was completely on his drawing and Harriet had her back turned towards her son. That made it simple for Severus to stand behind his omega and place a silent kiss on the right side of her neck.
He enjoyed the gentle way that Harriet sucked in her breath at the gesture. A smirk curled her lips as Severus's long arms wrapped around her slender waist so his hands could splay over her flat belly.
"What a good little omega I have." Severus purred in Harriet's ear, keeping his low voice little more than a rumble to insure Albus wouldn't hear.
"I'm glad that your day went well, darling." Harriet said, clearing her throat to try and pass their interaction off as normal to their son just in case he looked over.
"I'll reward you later, wife~." Severus replied in his husky promise of a whisper.
As Severus swept away from Harriet and went to change out of his teaching robes, Harriet was very happy that she wasn't facing Albus.
She wasn't entirely certain how she would have explained the vibrant blush that had spread across her cheeks to her unknowing little boy.
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Severus's gaze was soft and reverent as he stared at Harriet during the meal.
Harriet delighted in knowing that her mate was watching every move she made.
When she had carried Albus, Severus had hovered to such an extent that he monitored everything she ate, obsessed with ensuring his wife and unborn child were getting the correct nutrition.
Harriet was not neglectful of her own health or her baby's and she ate a decent portion although her appetite was poor.
She had no qualms about potential nausea or digestive issues, unlike most expectant mothers.
When your husband was a potions master, anti nausea and stomach settling elixirs were plentiful.
By the time that Albus was tucked into bed, Harriet was so tired that she had nearly forgotten about her husband's…..remark.
Yawning to herself, she assumed that Severus was still downstairs, working on grading papers, as she showered and laid down to sleep.
On the brink of slumber, her green eyes blinked open when a tall, dark figure appeared over the bed.
Harriet frowned when she saw her mate staring down at her. She quickly became more awake as the memory of the heated words he had whispered in her ear pulsed through her body.
Severus crawled onto the bed, up and over Harriet. She blinked as he crushed his lips against hers, melting them both with a kiss.
A lovely, intimate kiss that left her sighing as he pulled away.
The gentleness in his touch left her breathless and she closed her eyes once more as he trailed soft kisses down her throat, across her chest, all the way to her abdomen……
Severus, her alpha.
So stony faced and cold on the outside, full of warmth and tenderness for her, his mate.
He was thanking her with his kisses and Harriet was grateful for the peaceful way that he was sending her off to sleep.
As her eyes drifted closed though, Severus kissed a particularly sensitive spot on the fleshy inside of her inner thigh.
That kiss went into a nip and her eyes cracked open once again as he piqued her interest.
"S-Severus….?" Harriet asked in apprehension, moving her hands to gently stroke his soft, black hair anxious about what to come.
Harriet didn't understand why she had underestimated her mate.
Did she really think that he would consider a few loving kisses a qualifying reward?
"S-Severus…..?" Harriet asked again when she felt his head move.
One gentle, teasing motion at first, that was all it took to send shockwaves rippling through her body.
Realizing that was only the beginning, Harriet gasped, her hands tightened on his hair as her alpha attacked her at her center.
Devoting herself entirely to her pleasure, Severus didn't stop his devoted assault on her sensitive center, not even when she cried out to him as her body jerked involuntarily.
Severus knew his mate's limits.
Only when Harriet was practically unable to vocalize any further, only when her skin shimmered with the sheen of perspiration produced by his thorough attentions, only when he knew his mate was completely and utterly fulfilled did Severus pull back.
His onyx eyes devoured the sight of his wife lying there, helpless and sated, while he finished licking the last bit of her essence off of his lips.
Harriet was half asleep as she felt her skin being gently cleansed. She remembered the comforting scent of her alpha filling her nostrils as her body slowly collided with the bed once again while Severus enfolded her in his arms to sleep.
Unable to fight her body's demands any longer, Harriet fell into a deep sleep that became fort full and restless during the night.
Waking up uncomfortable halfway to morning, Harriet wriggled out of Severus's embrace and looked around the room.
Careful not to wake her husband, she crawled from the bed……
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Severus woke before morning to the painful reality that his arms were empty.
Fearing his mate may have needed an anti nausea potion, he sat up in bed and glanced around.
Relief flooded his system when he noticed that wasn't ill, she had just relocated.
Lying there across from the bed, snuggled into her nest with the purple blankets he had recently bought, Harriet was fast asleep.
Severus stood from the bed and walked over, the glints of moonlight that gleamed into the room dancing across his bare, pale chest.
Moving stealthily so he wouldn't disturb his pregnant omega, Severus slipped into the nest with Harriet and carefully cuddled her close.
He reprimanded himself silently for being so thoughtless hours earlier.
Of course…...
In the nest with her alpha, that's where Harriet would sleep best in her condition.
Severus had practically forgotten what it was like to have an expectant wife, but he was embarrassed that he hadn't remembered such a crucial detail.
Severus smirked to himself as he noticed that his wife was wrapped up in the two purple blankets he had recently given her.
When she shivered from the chill in the room, he deftly pulled the softest one up to cover her bare shoulder that peeked out over the top.
Harriet's nest was very important to her and would be for the next nine months.
After all, Albus had been born in the last one.