Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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To Mr. Lucius Malfoy,
Since our friendship has spanned many years, I wanted to contact you directly about this matter and express my concern. I am aware that Dumbledore has already written to you and Narcissa in regards to a recent incident involving our children. However, I would formally like to request that your son not make any further lascivious attempts towards my daughter, else the bonds of our friendship may be tested. My child's honor, dignity, and well-being come before all else. As a father yourself, I am certain that you'll have no trouble understanding that.
Sincerely,
Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master, Head of Slytherin House, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Severus finished signing his name with a scowl as he stared down at the parchment.
"Sev, please don't be rude to the Malfoys. You'll only embarrass Harriet." Lily urged him from where she sat on the bed.
Severus furrowed his brow and looked over at his mate as he replied, "I have no intention of being rude, Lily…...Lucius would send me a similar greeting if the situation were reversed."
"...And what do you expect from his reply?" Lily asked.
Severus raised an eyebrow as he folded his letter into an envelope and spoke, "My hope is that Lucius will keep the boy away from her. To aid that effort, I'll deliver a warning to Harriet myself……..that should thwart any more illicit activities for the time being."
Lily laughed heartily, which caused Severus to look up at her with a grimace.
"May I ask why that's amusing to you, my love? I'm more than a bit concerned that you haven't taken this seriously enough!" Severus huffed before he could stop himself.
The terse look on her husband's face forced Lily to quiet herself as she spoke, "...Sev, they're twelve. They're innocent children, curious about what snogging is like, that's all. You've gone far too overboard with all of this."
"I have not gone overboard." Severus insisted as he addressed his envelope, "Harriet and Lucius's son have no need to be curious. The activity they so desperately want to learn about holds no great mystery for them to discover."
"Oh, really~?" Lily asked from her place on the bed.
Severus glared over at his darling wife as he sealed the envelope.
"...Yes." He spoke at last in a confident tone that was barely more than a whisper.
Lily sighed as she deftly rose from the bed with the sweetest of giggles that drifted into Severus's ears.
The children were asleep.
Lily and Severus had shared the previous hour in the privacy of their room.
Mrs. Snape had hoped to gain her husband's attention and to hasten her pursuit, she had worn her softest nightdress.
Out of the corner of his eye, Severus felt his pulse quicken when he noticed exactly how soft that nightdress looked as it floated over Lily's curves while she walked towards him as he sat at his writing desk.
Severus cleared his throat and set the sealed letter down once Lily gently put her hands on his shoulders.
He glanced up just in time to watch his beloved flower boldly lower herself onto his lap.
His black eyes were soft as he gazed at his lover in reverent admiration.
"That's a shame, Sev……" Lily sighed breathily as she let her elegant fingers idly play with the black buttons of his robes while she shifted on his thighs.
The neckline of her nightdress was low enough to give Severus a glimpse of her creamy cleavage.
The thin straps of Lily's garment displayed her delicate throat and the smooth, alabaster skin that covered her shoulders…...undisturbed porcelain surrounded by silky, vibrant waves of crimson tresses.
Between the alabaster, the scarlet, and the mischievous glow in Lily's bright, green emeralds, Severus was helplessly captivated.
It should have been against the law for any omega to tease their alpha as cruelly as Lily taunted him while she looked into his eyes, rubbed the base of his neck soothingly, and spoke, "You see, I've always thought there was a grand, incomprehensible enigma to snogging…..I even thought that we may explore that enigma here and now, but Sev, if you truly believe it's as dull as you say, then I suppose-"
Severus realized what Lily was doing and it irritated him that he was powerless against her charms.
His hands found her hips as he leaned in and crushed his lips against hers.
The neediness that he proceeded to kiss his mate with may have taken some omegas by surprise, but Lily just laughed and let her arms drape over his shoulders as she wriggled in her alpha's hands to shamelessly urge her husband to take whatever he wanted.
Severus's skilled hands worked quickly to snake under the hem of Lily's soft nightdress.
As they slipped up her thighs, across her hips, and over her flat belly to race towards her breasts, Lily sighed to herself in delight.
"That's right, Sev……" She whispered into their kiss, "I belong to you……...take all of me that you want."
Severus nipped at Lily's lips gently in a tender punishment for her misuse of words.
The snogging, the lovemaking, it was all sublime, certainly…..but as long as Severus Snape had Lily next to him, he already had all that he wanted.
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Draco Malfoy's detention sentence was as medieval as Severus could possibly devise.
Under the menacing scowl of his enraged potions professor, Draco spent every evening for two weeks working in the drafty dungeon sitting with his back stick straight while he copied lines over and over and over and over……….
By the time that he finished each night, his bones ached and his hands cramped as he handed in his completed assignment to his angry teacher, who snatched it out of his grasp.
Draco blinked his bleary eyes each time as he braced himself for the furious shouting that would surely result from the release of Professor Snape's pent-up rage, but that shouting never happened.
Severus's anxious silence proved to be a worse punishment for Lucius's son.
Professor Snape maintained his silence as he watched Draco leave the dungeon every evening with the most menacing grimace on his pale face.
Draco couldn't help but wonder if his potions professor intended to look at him like that and hold a grudge against him…...forever?
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"But, Dad-" Harriet pouted.
"-Do not……." Severus glowered as he stared down at his daughter while they chatted between classes in the empty potions room, "...Show…the audacity to refute my words or my commands. I am your father…...I know what's best for you and you will listen to me, Harriet Snape!" Severus hissed warningly as he leaned down close to his little girl and peered into her green eyes.
"Dad……." Harriet pleaded as she frowned.
"Everything I do is to protect you. Everything I earn is to give to you. Every breath that I take is to see you healthy and well." Severus spoke as his eyes bore into Harriet's, "...The least that you can do in return is show me the respect of listening to my orders!...You are forbidden to associate with Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Riddle from this moment forward. If I see you in the company of either…..there will be a heavy price to pay, do you understand?"
Severus watched the sadness creep into Harriet's eyes while she looked at him as if he had stabbed her in the heart.
"...Yes, Dad." She nodded after a moment with a reluctant sigh, "I understand."
"Excellent." Severus replied as he straightened his back and frowned down at Harriet, "Go on…...You should still have ample time to arrive at your next class without tardiness."
Harriet gathered her courage, turned, and left the potions classroom without another word.
Severus's frown deepened after Harriet's exit.
He narrowed his dark eyes as he stared at one of the cauldrons that bubbled beside him.
With a heavy sigh, he raised a hand to his face.
Harriet was too young to understand how badly it hurt Severus to speak to her so severely.
She remained his only daughter, his precious little girl, but that was the very reason he had been so harsh with her.
His statements had all been true.
Professor Snape had to protect his darling.
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As Harriet walked through the castle that day, her heart was broken.
When she declined to tell Ron and Hermione what had happened, they exchanged worried glances while they did their best to lift her sunken spirits.
Harriet's gaze fell on Tom Riddle as he approached from the opposite end of the hallway after Charms class that afternoon and she felt herself tumble into a pit of despair at the sight of him.
"Harriet!" Tom called out fondly as he flashed her his most handsome smile.
Harriet turned around and kept her head down as she tried to scramble away.
Tom was too fast.
He caught up with her at an alarming speed after he watched her purposely turn her back to him.
"Harriet!" Tom called out again as he walked up beside her.
With an injured spirit, Harriet stopped her attempt to flee and whirled around to face him.
"What's the matter?" Tom asked with a laugh, "It almost looked like you were avoiding me there!"
"Tom, I…..I was." Harriet confessed as she sighed, "Or, I am, rather….."
Tom's charismatic smile melted into a frown as he looked at her and asked, "...Why? Have I done something to offend you?"
"No...No!" Harriet replied quickly as she held up a hand, "No, it's not that. My Dad told me that I have to stay away from, erm….boys."
"...From boys?" Tom asked with an unamused grimace, "But you had breakfast this morning with Weasley right beside you."
"Well, he didn't say 'boys' in general, just you and…...Malfoy." Harriet admitted.
"Is that so?" Tom asked with an arrogant smirk.
"...I'm sorry." Harriet replied with a genuine frown of deep upset as she turned away from him again and vanished into the throngs of traveling students.
Later, while Tom sat and watched Professor Snape stalk around the front of the potions classroom while he began to instruct the second years on yet another lesson, a wicked smirk crossed his face.
He had worked so very hard to charm Harriet and his attempts had been going so very well.
Tom Riddle was as deceptively cunning as the serpent that served as Slytherin's mascot.
Tom Riddle would do whatever was necessary to gain what he wanted and if the father of whom he wanted felt that he was a threat, then perhaps he would just have to charm Professor Snape too.
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It pleased Severus greatly that his daughter heeded his words.
Obediently, Harriet stayed far away from Tom and Draco for the rest of the semester.
While Harriet spent another sweet, cozy, loving winter break with her family, Draco spent the holiday with his own.
Each year, the winter seemed drafty at Malfoy manor, no matter how well the house elves stoked the fires that burned in the grand estate's massive hearths.
Draco paled when he heard his father shout on the second morning of January, "Draco! Come here!"
He apprehensively walked towards Lucius's voice as he entered the parlor to face his father, who sat in a large, leather chair in front of the fireplace.
"I've been meaning to discuss this letter with you that I received from Professor Snape." Lucius informed his son, who swallowed thickly, "Come…...read it."
Draco hesitantly stepped forward, took the letter from his father, and read it over in detail.
When he finished, he lifted his eyes from the parchment and met Lucius's gaze with a frown.
"Do you admire the Snape girl, Draco?" Lucius asked.
"...More than anything I ever have before." Draco answered with a confident truth in his voice that sounded far more mature than it should have for a boy of his age.
"If that's so, then I may be able to help." Lucius replied as he gazed at his son, "You are from a noble house, Draco, two noble houses, actually. Aristocratic gentlemen do not have to resort to trickery and deceit to obtain a lady's heart! How could you be so foolish?!"
"I'm sorry, Father." Draco answered as he quickly frowned down at the floor.
"Don't be sorry, Draco." Lucius snapped, "Be grateful for your bloodline and the luxuries that come with it. I'm going to reply to Professor Snape myself and remedy this matter for you. Run along now and appreciate the comforts that you enjoy."
"Thank you, Father." Draco nodded as he met Lucius's gaze briefly before he abandoned the room.
Draco made it back to the chair in the Malfoy library that he had spent the morning in just as Harriet's next words appeared on the torn out diary page:
I like being at home better than being at school now, since my father forbade me from seeing the boy. When I'm with my family, I'm not reminded of him so much.
Draco sighed as he stared down at Harriet's black ink.
He wished that he could have her off of his mind.
He wished that he could forget about her completely.
Yet, still, a larger part of him wished with all of his heart that Harriet had written about him, not Tom Riddle.