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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Harriet had become intrigued by the slow but undeniable progress she had made at penetrating the solid walls around Severus Snape's battered heart.
She had known the task of winning his affections would be a monumental undertaking, although as he spoke to her more and more everyday at breakfast, she couldn't help but allow hope to bloom in her soul.
If only there had only been a faster way in which she may establish a more….direct…..connection with him.
Reserved and self-disciplined to a painful degree, Severus lacked the carnal impulses that most men displayed.
Touch repulsed him, he gave no indication otherwise.
If he had a desire for any sort of sexual gratification, he spoke nothing about it to Harriet, though she remained unsurprised.
Knowing the situation between them, she felt certain that if her strict, former professor had desired the company of a woman for a night, he certainly wouldn't have mentioned any such longing.
After a lifetime of rejection and loneliness, Severus Snape had become comfortably accustomed to depravity.
Each evening, Harriet grew so excited about the possibility presented by each new morning that she began to have problems falling asleep.
She knew that when she woke, she would get to spend a few, precious moments in her beloved Severus's company.
Breakfast was all the time that Mr. and Mrs. Snape spent in each other's company each day.
They ate their morning meal together, then Severus hurried off to the castle.
When he came home at night, he went immediately to his bedroom, closed the door, and declined to emerge until he came downstairs for breakfast the following morning.
Although she often sat alone in her damask room, it broke Harriet's heart to imagine her husband down the hallway, staring sadly into the fireplace while he frowned and dreamed of a better life.
Harriet knew that she could give Severus a better, brighter time on earth, if only he would allow her into his frozen heart.
One particular evening, while they sat silently in their seperate rooms, neither she nor Severus anticipated just how melted his icy countenance would become once the sun rose.
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As the dawn of the next day arrived, it brought with it the guarantee of interrupting Severus and Harriet's breakfast plans.
Harriet's emerald eyes snapped wide open that morning as a delicious scent filled her lungs while she gasped for air.
Fresh, earthy, yet somehow decadently musky, she swallowed thickly while she inhaled the aroma of lavender-laced, smoky vetiver.
Her limbs trembled as she hastily threw her bed covers aside and shakily stood to her unsteady feet.
Harriet sucked in a tense breath as she reached over and pulled her morning robe on to cover her thin nightdress before she cracked her bedroom door open and peered out into the hall.
She could feel her thrumming pulse pounding in her fingertips as she laid her hand against the aged wood.
Harriet heaved for breath as she closed her eyes and reveled in the increasing intensity of the scent while she stepped out of her bedroom and began to gingerly walk down the hall.
Was it….?
Could it be…..?
She felt hopeful arousal churn in the base of her belly as she contemplated the very real possibility that the alpha she loved had gone into a rut……..
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Severus hadn't managed to get a single moment of rest during the entire night.
His sleep deprivation only added to the aggravation forced upon him by his body as his instincts raged against his logical mind.
He paced his bedroom floor in gliding strides as he gnashed his teeth and contemplated what to do.
The lock on his door kept him safe from students, from innocent strangers, and most importantly, from his wife.
Severus sat down on the side of his bed with a low, irritated growl.
The crippling urge to give into his primal urges had caused a fine sheen of sweat to break out across his pale skin.
He hissed against the nausea that turned his stomach as he begrudged his lonely situation.
A monthly potion had been enough to ward off his ruts for more than a decade.
He clenched his jaw as he brooded about the potential reasons why his magical mixture had suddenly ceased to be effective.
Close to screaming from the need to at least move, Severus stood to his feet and began to arrange the covers on his bed in a pattern that any omega might see as welcoming.
He refused to entertain the idea in conscious thought, but as Severus worked to make his bed into a suitable nest, it wasn't any omega he considered, it was Harriet.
For a brief moment, he stopped hiding from himself and allowed wild fantasies to dance through his hazy mind.
He could coax her into his room and claim her to his heart's content.
He knew she loved him, she would eagerly see to his needs.
Severus found himself forced to swallow the saliva that pooled in his open mouth as a knock landed on his door.
"BE GONE!" He roared.
Out in the hallway, Harriet's hand hovered over the door to her husband's room.
She gasped as she listened to how uncharacteristically rough and threatening his usually smooth voice had become.
Another woman may have scampered back to the safety of her own bedchamber, but Harriet's courage afforded her the boldness to raise her hand and knock a second time.
"I said 'BE GONE'!" Severus snarled as he glared over at the door, "Are you deaf?!"
Out in the hallway, Harriet scowled as she began to rap incessantly on the door.
Severus's pale fingers curled into tight fists as he contemplated the cruelty of his predicament.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
He closed his dark eyes as an anguished frown clouded his pale face.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Severus knew if he opened the door, he may very well alter the course of his life, but his frayed nerves made bearing the insufferable noise that Harriet created an impossible feat.
Instead of reaching for his wand to cast a silencing charm around the room, Severus strode over to the door.
With a horrible snarl, he flung it wide open.
In a tense silence, Harriet and Severus stared at each other for a long moment.
Severus narrowed his dark eyes as his heart thudded in his chest while he gazed at the beautiful omega in front of himself.
Harriet's chest heaved as she stared up at her husband, painfully aware of the way his dark hair had fallen into his face.
The portion of his pale chest exposed by his white nightshirt thrilled Harriet more than Severus realized.
"...Leave me in peace!" He hissed at Harriet.
"No." She flatly replied.
"Potter……." Severus glowered as his black eyes glimmered, "I am warning you…….Turn around…walk back to your room….and never speak to me again…….For your own safety!"
Harriet gazed up at him as he bent down to put his face close to hers while he growled ominously, "...Have I made myself….clear?"
Her emerald eyes widened as she gazed at Severus.
For a fleeting second, without using Legilimency to check the accuracy of his assumption, he prided himself on having inspired fear in the heart of his unwanted wife.
Severus foolishly celebrated his victory too soon.
Since her birth, it had been a rather difficult thing to predict how Harriet Potter would handle any given situation.
She had surprised the wizarding world with her survival of the Killing Curse and in that moment, she surprised her husband with her response to his rude, unfeeling command.
"My name isn't Harriet Potter anymore." Harriet defiantly reminded Severus as she stared into his dark eyes, "My name….is Harriet Snape."
It enraged Severus that her bold statement actually pleased him.
He sneered as he opened his mouth to respond, "Why, you arroga-"
Harriet mercifully released her husband from his silent torment.
While Severus busied himself with hissing insults at her, she closed her eyes, closed the distance between them, and pressed her lips against his.
Severus staggered backwards but she did not break their kiss.
As Harriet brought a hand up to cup his face, she gasped as his strong hands flew to her waist.
Intoxicated by his bride's kiss, Severus crushed his lips against hers while his fingers splayed over her hips.
All the while, Harriet delighted in his taste as she silently hoped that his instincts would rage on.
If she could only spend a moment there, in Severus's arms, with his lips upon hers, after years of unrequited longing……
For once, Severus's steely resolve seemed to falter as he gripped onto Harriet as if she were life itself.
She let her hands slip from his face to his chest.
As she laid her palms over his exposed flesh, she gasped at the frantic rhythm of his racing pulse.
Severus needed her, Harriet knew it.
Severus wanted her, his touch told her that, greedy and eager to possess her for himself.
The very idea of that truth made her want to greet the world with a wailing shriek of happy victory.
Desperate to support her beloved, Harriet whispered her offer against his lips as she pulled back from their kiss to speak.
Severus growled at the loss of contact, but Harriet made sure to brush his mouth with hers as she whispered, "I know what you need……I know what you want…….You've spent decades refusing yourself, don't refuse me…...Take me……Take me as yours, as a toy, as a way to slake your lust and nothing else if that's what you want, I don't care……Just take me!"
It was Severus who pulled away then.
Harriet fearlessly met the heavy intensity of his black gaze as she stared into his face.
She braced herself for the words that could fall from his lips, terrified she had gone too far.
Would he spurn her again?
Send her from his room in a fit of anger?
Slander her for even suggesting that they…..
Severus halted Harriet's worried musings as he dug his nails into the soft layer of flesh that lined her hips while he bent his head and indulged them both with another deep, passionate kiss.
Harriet whimpered as Severus lavished her in affection that held the same tender, painstaking thoughtfulness he used in the precise skill of his potion-making.
At length, he eased his tongue from her mouth and slowly, deliberately licked her lips to savor their sweetness.
His low, velvety drawl sent shivers down her spine and arousal pooling in her lower belly as his dark eyes opened to bore into hers, "Mrs. Snape………..Would you be kind enough to join me in bed?"