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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"Let me hold her!" Lily cried as she reached her trembling arms towards Severus.
The primal sound of his mate's request broke his heart.
Severus abandoned the selfish moment he had taken to stare at his new daughter in awe as he hurriedly passed the baby to Lily.
She drew in a long gasp as she cradled her little one to her chest while a bright smile danced across her lips.
Once he recovered his senses enough to think clearly, Severus cast the summoning spell again with an added urgency charm as a frantic signal to the midwife.
He pocketed his wand after he severed the umbilical cord with a simple slicing spell.
As he silently replayed the births of his other children in his mind and tried to determine what postpartum care he would need to perform for Lily, his thoughts were called away by the sublime sight of his mate and daughter meeting each other.
The infant stared up at her mother while she moved her tiny fingers.
"Hello!" Lily whispered to their little girl as the baby blinked her large eyes.
When the newborn let out a soft squeal in reply, Lily glanced up and met Severus's eyes with a beaming smile.
"She's beautiful, Sev." Lily whispered as silent tears slipped down her cheeks while she admired her newborn.
Severus allowed himself the luxury of moving to sit behind Lily for a moment as they gazed down at their little daughter together.
"She has her mother's gorgeous hair and eyes." He whispered as he pressed a gentle kiss to Lily's cheek.
At the very top of the baby's head, underneath the evidence of its recent birth, tufts of matted, red hair were clearly visible.
Although the Snapes' daughter had been in the world mere minutes, her emerald eyes sparkled like fine jewels in her chubby, little face as she pouted at her parents.
Lily and Severus both watched their baby blink at them curiously as she cooed.
"You've made me immensely happy, my love. You did so well." Severus praised his wife as he turned his head and pressed another gentle kiss to Lily's cheek.
"Sev……." Lily whispered as she laid her head against his shoulder.
The pleasantness of that blissful moment faded away into descending darkness as Lily tensed.
"What's the matter?" Severus asked with mortal concern permeating his low voice, "...Lily? What's wrong? Do you feel unwell?!"
"I……I hurt again!" Lily whimpered as she cradled her baby in one hand and placed the other over her abused womb.
"Where?!" Severus gasped as the baby let out a quiet whine, "Do you think you're carrying another?"
"No, it's just…..it's what happens. It's the after part!" Lily huffed miserably as she tried to shift into a more comfortable spot against her mound of pillows.
Severus's face twisted in concern as he pondered how he should assist his wife with the last bit of the birthing process.
Admittedly, during the moments that followed his other children's arrival, Severus had usually focused on his bride and his pups, not the midwife's actions.
Lily barely managed to lay the baby next to herself before she gripped her knees and hunched forward.
Severus tried to hold his nerves steady as his mind raced for a solution of how best to help.
Should he attempt to aid Lily by using his hands?
Should he let her finish the last of her work without his assistance?
Should he cast another spell to call for the help that apparently wasn't ever coming?
Should-
As Lily sank back against the pillows with a groan, Severus stared at her in concern when a loud pop rang out from down the hallway.
Severus whipped his head in the direction of the sound and harnessed his vexed irritation to call out, "IN HERE!...MY WIFE NEEDS HELP!"
Footsteps came running down the hall until the door to the bedroom flew open as the midwife rushed inside.
Her eyes widened as she glanced from Lily, who lay on the bed with her legs spread and the blankets soiled underneath her, to the little newborn, to Severus, who wore a threatening glare.
"Where have you been?!" Severus demanded in a venomous whisper, "My poor mate has had to give birth on her own!"
The midwife brushed aside Severus's angry words and hurried over to tend to her patient.
Lily smiled up at her husband as he took her hand while the midwife sterilized herself with a wave of her wand and removed a clean towel from her bag.
"That isn't true, Sev." Lily whispered through her pain, "I wasn't alone……I had you."
"Alright, dear," The midwife said as she scowled at Lily's center and ignored the conversation, "If I can have you bear down once or twice more, I think we'll have everything finished up with the birth."
Lily squeezed Severus's hand and hunched forward as a lesser pain gripped her middle.
In his state of bewilderment, Severus asked the midwife to silence his nagging suspicions, "Is there another child?"
"No, Mr. Snape." The midwife said with a knowing grin as Lily groaned through her effort, "...But there is a rather large placenta."
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The midwife had been correct.
The Snape family only gained one new member that day.
After the magical healthcare worker finished assisting Lily, she cleaned mother, baby, and the bed by using a specialized charm employed by those in her vocation.
Regardless of the kind care she had provided to Mrs. Snape since her arrival, Severus glowered at the woman while Lily and their new baby took a brief but restful nap.
"I have half a mind to file a complaint with your practice!" Severus hissed in a low whisper, "I cast a summoning charm hours ago! May I inquire as to why it took such an insufferably long time for someone to aid us?!"
The midwife blinked at Severus for a moment.
"Well?!" He snarled.
"You have my sincerest apologies, Mr. Snape." The midwife nodded, "However, I'm afraid we never received any trace of a summoning charm from this residence hours ago. We only have a record of one such enchantment being cast at this address today, a request which I answered less than five minutes later."
Severus frowned at the midwife as she shrugged and added, "There have been a few issues with signal transmission recently, due to the remodeling of the office next to ours. We believe that sometimes the limestone they're using for the floors blocks certain spells from reaching our posting board…….Your wife is one of our friendliest patients and we do hope that you'll continue to use our services, should your family expand again."
Severus kept his frown as the midwife collected her bag and walked towards the bedroom door.
Before she left, she turned and asked him, "...Mr. Snape?"
"...Yes?" Severus replied in a voice barely loud enough to be audible.
"You did an excellent job with your mate in her time of need! I must say though, I am quite surprised that a wizard as steely-nerved as you allowed himself to succumb to panic!" The midwife laughed quietly.
"Panic?" Severus questioned as he narrowed his eyes.
As he recalled the day's events, he remembered doing his best to be courageous for Lily.
He had worked very hard to conceal the fear he had felt in an effort to comfort his struggling omega.
"Yes, sir." The midwife nodded with a sly grin, "In a calmer situation, I'm sure a wizard as capable as yourself would have been able to notice the brief flash of red that announced your initial summoning spell was not received."
Severus's scowl fell away as a look of mortification crossed his pale face.
"That fleeting burst of red that lets the sender know the message did not reach us?" The midwife blinked.
Severus felt sick with shame as he thought back and realized he had dismissed the spontaneous, scarlet flash in his peripheral vision as a trick of the light.
"Thank you……." He murmured to the midwife in his deep, velvet voice, "...For your assistance."
"You have a beautiful wife and a lovely daughter, Mr. Snape." The midwife nodded, "You should be very proud."
Severus clenched his jaw as he watched the midwife turn and walk out of the room.
After he heard her apparate from the hallway, he glanced over at Lily and the baby with a solemn frown.
His eyes widened when he realized that his bride was awake.
"Lily!" Severus gasped, "How-"
"I heard, Sev. I heard it all." Lily sighed.
Severus braced himself for the verbal lashing he felt he deserved, but his mate giggled as she looked at him.
"I'm not angry!" Lily declared with a happy laugh, "What I said was true. I wasn't alone, you were right beside me the entire time. I never could have done it without you, Sev."
"My love, I beg you to forgive me!" Severus implored Lily as he swept over and sat at her side, careful not to wake their baby, "It was never my intention to deny you care or force you to endure such pain."
"The pain is unavoidable, Sev." Lily said with a dismissive wave. She took Severus's hand into hers as she smiled up at him and remarked, "Actually, if you remember, the midwives were out of the room for the majority of my labour with the triplets. I thought it was rather nice this time, just you and I here, together."
Severus squeezed Lily's hand as they stared at each other for a long moment.
As Severus bent forward and kissed his beloved mate, the opportunity to snuggle Lily in her nest seemed to present itself.………until their newborn daughter started to whimper.
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Eileen's eyes widened when she returned with her grandsons that evening to discover the baby had been born.
Severus watched his mother smile proudly in adoration as she stared down at her newest grandchild and first granddaughter.
The triplets blinked at the baby while Eileen cradled the infant for the first time, but they asked very few questions, seemingly more content to play with each other than to stare at the uninteresting new baby.
Harry had more curiosity about the situation.
"That's my sister?" He asked Severus as he pointed to the bundle in Eileen's arms.
"Indeed." Severus nodded.
"Was I that small once, Daddy?" Harry asked as he blinked his large eyes at Severus.
"You were smaller than that when you were born." Severus told his son.
Harry stared at Severus questioningly before he looked at the baby in Eileen's arms again.
It made Severus smirk to see the interest in Harry's expression as he watched his newborn sister closely.
After spending years wishing that he had siblings himself, Severus held onto the silent hope that one day, his children would develop strong bonds with each other.
Severus's vision of a family extended past the simple idea of reproducing with Lily.
The relationships of unconditional love were what Severus felt would make a happy home.
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That evening, after Eileen had helped her son put the boys to bed, Lily nursed their small daughter while Severus sat behind her and let her lay against him.
"What shall we name her?" Lily asked as she stroked their daughter's tiny tufts of scarlet hair.
"...Ixora." Severus nodded.
Lily looked at him with wide eyes.
"Sev!" She exclaimed.
"You're named after a flower." He blinked, "I'd prefer our daughter be as well."
"Ixora?!" Lily laughed, "The sex flower?!"
"That is not what ixora blooms represent in the magical world's language of flowers." Severus scowled, "Ixora stands for enduring passion and deep love. I think it's a perfectly suitable name for our small princess."
Lily smirked as she reached up and kissed her alpha's lips sweetly.
Severus resisted the urge to purr as his darling pulled away and looked down at the baby in her arms while she mused out loud, "Very well then…..Ixora Snape……I think that's a lovely name."
