Chapter Text
Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy!
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A sly smirk curled Severus Snape's thin lips as he kept himself silently suspended a short distance above the ground so that there would be no footsteps on the stone tiles of the castle floor.
Dumbledore had moved the object again and again, but during his own time as headmaster, Severus had quickly discovered that it was necessary to constantly shuffle the Mirror of Erised to different locations.
Since he had been reinstated at his post after surviving the war and earning public approval once his name had been ultimately cleared, Severus attempted to act as a just and fair leader for Hogwarts.
However, that didn't mean that he no longer enjoyed catching Harriet Potter breaking school rules.
It didn't matter that the omega was a war veteran and a legal adult, like most of the other returning eighth year students.
No, that didn't matter at all.
Filch had informed Severus earlier that afternoon that the Potter girl had stumbled onto the mirror's hiding place.
Once the academic day had ended, Severus had been quick to lurk around the corner close to the room where the mirror sat as he lay in wait for her to return.
He hadn't been there for more than an hour when he heard someone enter the room, then a soft sound as something collided with the floor.
As Harriet sat in front of the massive piece of glass, gazing into the hypnotizing void it offered, Severus tried to contain his delight as he glided around the corner and through the doorway into the small room.
He saw the invisibility cloak that she had shrugged off lying in a crumpled, discarded heap.
Severus knew his reflection would be safely hidden as he silently approached her, eager to hand her a scathing remark and a hefty detention sentence.
He relished the idea of breaking the silence with his low voice and startling her.
From where she sat, Harriet shifted as she stared at the glass.
Severus's black gaze shone with intent.
He felt a surge of alpha pride race through his veins as he opened his mouth and prepared to speak, but Harriet spoke first.
"Oh, Severus……" She gasped in a breathless sigh as she looked into the mirror reverently.
Her gentle cry abruptly stopped him.
Severus's mouth fell open and his eyes narrowed in disbelief.
Harriet dreamily sighed again as she continued to look into the glass.
Severus did not enjoy the feeling of being humbled.
While Harriet gazed at the glass, Severus swiftly examined her thought process by touching the very surface of her mind with his own to view the subject of her admiration.
Had he heard her correctly?
Surely she hadn't said his name…..?
When he peeked at Harriet's thoughts, his horror was confirmed.
There, in the mirror of Erised, Harriet Potter saw herself standing next to Severus Snape, holding his hands in hers while they kissed sweetly.
Severus was so dumbfounded by the truth that he was frozen in place even after he ended his nonverbal legilimency spell.
As his mouth went dry, he struggled not to swallow as he processed what his discovery must mean.
Perhaps he was wrong.
…….Had she managed to give him false information?
No, Harriet had never mastered the magical arts associated with the mind.
Besides, she had…...she had spoken his name while she stared into the glass.
Severus watched Harriet stand, but he could not move.
When he realized that he couldn't manage to escape without being seen, he ended his hovering spell and landed on the stone floor with one decisive thud to make his presence known.
At the intrusive noise, Harriet whirled around in response.
He watched her wide, green eyes grow even wider when she saw who was there with her in that small, lonely room.
"Headmaster Snape!" Harriet exclaimed in shock.
Severus looked at Harriet with his brow furrowed and his jaw clenched.
Harriet stared back at Severus in bewilderment, as if he had just caught her committing a crime.
"Your age doesn't matter, Potter." Severus hissed in his low voice, "Regardless of the year, students are not allowed out of bed at night. I believe that…. particular…..rule has been brought to your attention several times in the past."
"Y-Yes sir, it has." Harriet answered with a quick nod.
"...Then may I ask why you're out of bed?" Severus inquired.
"I…..I….." Harriet stammered.
"Are you to expect me to believe that you have no ill intentions when I find you creeping about, stuttering like an imbecile while you eye one of this castle's most precious artifacts?" Severus hissed as he walked up to Harriet and leaned down close to her face.
He learned the severity of his mistake when he caught a whiff of the omega's unbelievably pleasant scent.
Severus usually made it a point to keep his distance, but Harriet had baffled him, and he had for once, decided to indulge his curiosity.
"I wasn't stealing, sir! I wasn't…..planning to steal." Harriet managed to gasp out.
"Then tell me, Potter…..." Severus growled in his low purr of a voice, "Why...are you…. out of bed?"
They were so close to each other that Severus's nose nearly brushed Harriet's.
Her heart pounded in her chest as the tension between them silently built to an unbearable level.
As Harriet looked into Severus's dark eyes, she boldly decided to end her years-long battle of denial and listen to her instincts.
In the darkness of that small room, Harriet closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Severus's.
He stiffened at first, in offended surprise, but as Harriet's gentle kiss overwhelmed him, he let a small portion of the walls that he had built around himself drop while he tasted the omega.
Sweet and fresh, like ripe cherries, Harriet's kiss after two decades of war, blood, and death was an intoxicating relief for Severus.
It ended before either of them were ready when Harriet pulled away and raced down the corridor.
She left her befuddled headmaster to stand there and scowl as he blinked after her with a breathless gasp.
Alone again, Severus glanced over at the Mirror of Erised and thought……
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The next morning, during breakfast in the Great Hall, Harriet tried to avoid eye contact with Severus while she ate.
When the morning meal came to a close though, Severus rose from his seat, stepped down from the High Table and walked over to Harriet as he informed her in front of her friends, Ron and Hermione, "See me in my office after classes end today, Potter."
Ron and Hermione stared at their headmaster incredulously as Harriet blinked and inquired, "...May I ask for what reason, sir?"
"Detention, Potter." Severus answered dryly, "No student wanders the halls after hours unpunished. I'm certain that you remember our discussion last night?"
"Right, sir, of course." Harriet nodded.
Ron and Hermione whispered to Harriet as Severus walked away, but she hid her smile as she deflected their questions and speculations with vague statements.
While Severus left the Great Hall, that sly smirk threatened to curl his thin lips once more.
Both Headmaster Snape and Harriet Potter eagerly anticipated the discussions that they may have later that afternoon during Harriet's detention~.
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Later that afternoon, Headmaster Snape sat across from Harriet in his office after classes had ended for the day.
Harriet shifted uncomfortably in her chair under Severus's black gaze as he peered at her calculatingly.
"...I'm sorry, Headmaster." Harriet finally admitted as she cleared her throat.
"...Are you…..Potter?" Severus replied as he slowly rose from his chair like a looming shadow.
Harriet shifted in her seat again as Severus stretched out his long arms and leaned over his desk to stare at her more closely.
The white fabric around the black edges of his sleeves silently brushed over the dark wood.
"I'll not tolerate another audacious display of impetuousness. Is that understood?" Severus asked in a low growl.
Harriet blinked at him from her seat.
His statement was profoundly uncharacteristic and she had to find out why.
Harriet kept her emerald eyes fixed firmly on Severus as she hesitantly inquired, "...May I ask, sir, why you've chosen to tolerate this one?"
Harriet expected Severus to approach her, to get close to her face and hiss a thinly veiled insult, but instead, Severus let go of his desk and turned away.
"Our chat is over, Potter. You may go." Severus replied in a cryptic, low drawl as he stared at the stone wall with his back to Harriet.
His answer wasn't good enough for her.
She needed more words, more thoughts, more feelings…..
She swallowed thickly and stammered as she searched for a way to continue their conversation, "Headmaster, I….."
"You may go, Potter." Severus repeated in a voice so harsh and commanding that Harriet could put up little argument.
She stood with a scowl and walked out of Severus's office.
He didn't turn around until he heard the door close loudly behind her.
When he looked towards it, his pale face was a mask of anguish.
He couldn't possibly have looked at her any longer.
He couldn't possibly have moved any closer to her, else he would have lost control.
Harriet Potter smelled too sweet and her kiss had been far too loving for Headmaster Snape to resist.
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The letters began arriving at Harriet's apartment after graduation.
Short, well-written, unsigned letters.
Harriet felt like she knew their author long before she met him for tea one afternoon.
It was on that same day that her dreams at last were realized.
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"...And then the prince rescued the princess from the dragon. The prince and princess rode off together to a far away place, safe from the thorny kingdom and all of its monsters, to live happily ever after." Severus finished in a low drawl as he closed the large storybook that he read from while he sat on the edge of the bed.
"Did you save Mummy from the dragon, Daddy?" A black-haired little girl asked as she peered up at Severus with wide, emerald eyes as she lay under the covers of her bed.
"Daddy saved Mummy many times from the dragon." Severus quipped as he pulled the blankets around his small daughter and nodded to her, "...It just took Mummy and Daddy some time to ride off together."
The little girl smiled as Severus leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead before he whispered, "Close your eyes and sleep now, Eileen. It's past your bedtime."
Eileen obediently closed her eyes as she whispered, "Alright, Daddy."
When her breathing became slow and deep, Severus deftly stood, turned out the lamp beside the bed, and quietly left his little one's room.
Once he made it back to the bedchamber that he shared with his mate, Severus changed into his nightshirt.
He stealthily crawled into bed beside Harriet and pulled her into his arms, careful not to wake her from her slumber.
Severus cuddled his darling and drifted off into a dreamless sleep as he reminisced.
Although it rarely made him happy when students misbehaved, he was profoundly glad that he had caught Harriet looking into the mirror that night, so many years ago…..
It was Severus Snape's greatest joy to be Harriet Snape's erised.