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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As the next months passed, Tom continued to serve as the head of magical Britain's government.

Harriet returned to the Auror Office a few days a week, during which Merope thoughtfully came to look after the twins.

She could hardly believe a year had passed since the birth of her babies as she stood in Riddle manor's massive kitchen and baked fluffy cupcakes one morning.

Tom watched his wife pour the batter into the pan with his dark eyes narrowed as he scoffed, "You don't have to do all of this work yourself….Why don't you just use magic?"

"Because it won't taste the same if I use magic, Tom." Harriet retorted as she took the pan into her hands, turned around, and carefully slid it into the oven.

Tom's gaze hovered on her plump bottom as a mischievous smirk curled his lips.

"I can feel you staring at my bum." Harriet sighed as she closed the oven door and turned to face her husband with her arms crossed.

"You offered me a lovely view." Tom shrugged, "What did you expect me to do, sweetling? Look away?"

"The children will be up soon." Harriet said as she reached up to move a stray piece of her dark hair away from her eyes.

Tom felt his manhood twitch as he noticed the subtle sway of her breasts her action caused.

He had loved Harriet Potter since boyhood and would continue to love her until the end of his days, nothing would change that.

However, Tom did not consider it to be his fault that he had become even more attracted to his mate after the birth of their children.

Although she had maintained her lithe physique, Harriet's body was softer, a bit thicker, and heavier in all of what Tom deemed to be the right places.

"Do you think our children's waking will stop me from staring?" He asked with a dark laugh.

Harriet frowned in disapproval as she lifted a dish cloth from the kitchen counter and promptly moved to snap him on the shoulder with it.

Tom chuckled as he skillfully caught the towel in his hands, stood from his seat, and pulled Harriet against him in one smooth motion.

She gasped as her breasts strained against his chest while his hands possessively slipped onto her waist.

"My, look how naughty you are today, sweetling……I mustn't have my mate misbehave on my children's birthday, now, can I?...Shall I punish you?" Tom frowned.

He expected their banter to continue, knowing full well that Harriet enjoyed exactly that kind of talk.

When she ended their conversation with an abrupt kiss, his eyes widened in surprise, but he indulged his darling nonetheless and deepened their exchange while the cupcakes baked in the oven.

As their passion heated and Tom lifted Harriet up onto the counter with her legs wrapped around his hips, she pulled back to stare at him with half-lidded, emerald eyes as she urged, "Careful, Tom, I've got something in the oven."

"I understand, sweetling." He replied with a wicked smirk, "Don't worry, my dear Harriet…….I'll be tortuously gentle if it will please you~."

As they resumed their kiss and Tom slipped into her, Harriet prided herself on managing to keep her secret from her alpha during the previous week.

She felt overly confident that Tom had failed to realize she hadn't referred to the cupcakes, but once again, she greatly underestimated her husband's talents.

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The twins' birthday party began later that afternoon.

Soon, the entire Riddle mansion was filled with the event's attendees.

Everyone from Merope to Ministry officials to friends of the family came.

Cake, laughter, and conversation abounded as the hours passed.

Tom and Harriet took turns holding their little ones as they opened the pile of presents the party's attendees had brought for their son and daughter.

Before the babies took their afternoon nap, Harriet served Lily and little Tom one cupcake each as they sat in their high chairs.

The partygoers crowded into the doorway of the Riddle's kitchen to watch the Minister for Magic's children sample their first bite of cake.

"Lily…..Tom…..look at me, watch your father." Tom explained to them both as he took a cupcake into his hands.

The twins blinked as they watched Tom raise the treat to his lips, open his mouth, and take a massive bite of frosting and cake.

After Tom swallowed, Harriet stood between her children's high chairs and helped them hold their cakes in their chubby, little hands.

Everyone laughed when Lily imitated her father's demonstration and planted her face into the cupcake, frosting and all, as she gobbled down what she could of her birthday treat.

Tom and Harriet chuckled while they watched their little girl proudly smile in the bright flashes of cameras.

It made Harriet grin that her young daughter already seemed to share her father's love of attention…….but little Thomas didn't seem so sure about his cupcake.

While everyone fawned over Lily and her adorable, messy face with tiny bows in her tufts of dark hair, her twin brother gently placed his cupcake back on the tray of his high chair.

Harriet was the first to notice her baby needed help as she glanced over and saw the sad little pout that had planted itself on his lips.

"...Tommy?" Harriet asked as she walked over.

Tom stopped basking in his paternal pride after he glanced over.

His grin faded while he watched Harriet kneel down beside their son.

Pitying coos of sympathy echoed from the crowd of onlookers as Harriet offered the cupcake to little Tom again, only for him to frown in disgust and wriggle away from her as best he could in his high chair.

Tom chuckled.

Harriet smiled.

"Here, sweetheart," She persisted as she gently took one of little Tom's tiny fingers and placed just a bit of the cupcake's frosting on it, "Go ahead and try it….It's your birthday!"

Little Tom blinked up at his mother questioningly.

"It's very good…..Try it!" Harriet beamed encouragingly at her young son.

Everyone including Tom laughed when little Tom scowled at his mother and defiantly wiped the frosting off of his finger onto the surface of his high chair.

Harriet sighed to herself.

She enjoyed desserts but Tom had never favoured sweets.

Clearly, their children had already taken after their father in more ways than Harriet had realized.

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The twins' birthday party eventually concluded.

Guests began to leave one by one until Riddle manor was empty of all but the family itself.

Later that night, Tom and Harriet cuddled on the parlor sofa as they gazed at the fireplace once they had cleaned the mess from the party with a bit of magic and tucked their babies into bed.

Harriet laid her hand and head against Tom's chest as he bent down and stole a kiss from her lips.

"I love you, Harriet Riddle." He whispered as he pulled away with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"...And I love you, Tom." She smiled softly.

"Our children are perfect." He added with a pleased chuckle, "I can hardly wait to meet the next."

Harriet blinked.

She hurriedly sat up and stared at her husband as she asked, "...What?"

"I said," Tom calmly replied as he gazed into her eyes, "...That I can hardly wait to meet our next child…..or children……Who's to say? You may bear me another set of twins in a few months."

A wicked grin danced across his lips as his dark gaze flickered down to Harriet's flat belly.

She frowned as she realized the secret she had been keeping was really no secret at all.

"Tom! I've told you a hundred times not to read my thoughts!" Harriet snapped.

"I did no such thing, my love." He replied with an innocent shrug, "I'm your alpha, Harriet, your husband, your mate…..Did you believe I had ignorantly ignored the change in your scent? The sweetness caused by a pregnancy is unmistakable, pet."

Harriet's emerald eyes widened as Tom leaned forward, pulled her towards him, and cupped her face as he whispered, "I can smell the life inside your womb, Harriet Riddle…..In the same way I can smell the milk in your breasts…..and the arousal between your legs…." Tom placed a slow, gentle kiss on Harriet's lips as he whispered, "...Is that how badly you want me right now, my darling? The scent is quite delicious, I must say…."

Tom kissed her lips again ever so slightly before he gently pushed his lover back on the sofa.

Harriet lamented the loss of announcing her pregnancy to her husband, but as he moved over her and began to cover her curves in sweet, nipping kisses, she could hardly hold on to anger.

Tom vanished her robes with a wordless spell.

Harriet shivered in response to the sudden cold until his warm breath against her flat belly eased her discomfort as he took several moments to cover her abdomen in appreciative kisses.

"Oh, Tom……" Harriet breathed as she felt her husband's kisses move lower and lower and lower……..

A moan left her lips as he placed himself at her center.

Her hands tangled in his dark hair as logical thought left her mind.

She could hardly wait to give her mate another child.

For once, Harriet conceded defeat.

Tom had been right…….having a family had only brought them closer together.