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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"Breathe, my love, breathe….." Tom coached Harriet while Madam Pomfrey, Hermione, Merope, and Mrs. Weasley followed him into the Chamber of Secrets.
Harriet groaned through another pain as she gnashed her teeth.
The loss of cushion offered by her waters had been brutal.
Deep inside her, she could feel her alpha's child grinding its way down, desperate to enter the world.
Harriet followed Tom's suggestion and focused on her breath as they arrived at their destination.
Mrs. Weasley glanced around the Chamber of Secrets in startled awe.
Merope and Hermione hovered near Harriet as Tom asked his wife, "Your nest, my love? Is that where you'd like to be?"
"AAAAGGHH!" Harriet cried out while another sharp pain seized her abdomen.
Coos of sympathetic reassurance immediately echoed from her female attendants who reached out and placed their hands on her tensing belly.
"Harriet, we're right here!"
"Oh, you poor dear!"
"Try to groan, not scream, love, you'll need your energy for what's coming."
Once the spasm ended and Harriet opened her eyes, she found herself greeted first by Tom's frowning face.
It pained him to watch his beloved suffer.
Desperate to ease her burden, he suggested, "Your nest, love?...Or the birthing pool? Tell us where you want to be."
During the brief break between pains, Harriet thought about her alpha's words.
Curiously, her emerald gaze turned to the empty pool that stood nearby and waited for use.
Hope bloomed in Tom's heart.
Perhaps the warm water could bring his bride a bit of comfort?
"Would you like to be there, sweetling?" He asked as Harriet sighed, "The warmth may ease some of the pain."
As Harriet nodded, Hermione rushed over, took out her wand, and filled the pool with clean, warm water.
Tom barely had time to strip the robes from his mate and place her in the pool's basin before she leaned over and groaned through another tortuous pain.
Bare from the waist down with only her bra covering her breasts, Merope, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley raced to support Harriet while they encouraged her through the contraction.
Madam Pomfrey hurriedly used a Summoning Charm to send the proper supplies from the Hospital Wing soaring through the castle and into the Chamber of Secrets.
Tom prepared himself with a single spell before he climbed into the pool and let his wife lay against him.
While Madam Pomfrey moved forward and whispered to Harriet as she began to check her progress, he used Legilimency to sweep his mate's mind and study the intensity of her pain.
"Nearly there, Mrs. Riddle…….Going to be quick." Madam Pomfrey nodded at Harriet.
Tom kissed his panting wife's cheek, relieved her struggle would be short-lived.
Madam Pomfrey and the other women whispered helpful advice to Harriet as Tom helped her turn in the water to get comfortable.
Excitement glimmered in his dark eyes.
He had read several texts, spoken to a practicing midwife, and tried to give himself the best education on the subject he could.
As Harriet's panting turned into another loud cry, he looked at Madam Pomfrey with hope welling in his soul.
"AAAAGGGGHHH!"
Tom watched the healer tend his wife as he carried the subtle wish in his heart to assist in the birth of his first child himself.
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Twenty minutes seemed like an eternity to Mrs. Riddle and those who comforted her, but as the baby began to enter the world, Madam Pomfrey kept a close watch on her patient.
Hogwarts' healer had kindly agreed to let Tom be the first to touch his newborn.
Madam Pomfrey remained beside him while he crouched in the pool water between his wife's bent knees.
She coached both of the expectant parents in firm, calm whispers as Harriet's primitive cry rang all the way to the room's tall, cavernous ceiling.
"Doing well, doing well…..Hold her steady, Mr. Riddle….."
"NNNNGGGGHHH!"
"That's it, sweetling! Don't hold back, bear down when you feel the urge!" Tom shouted over her feral grunt.
Harriet groaned as she ended her efforts and collapsed back against the edge of the pool.
Her knees and the top of her belly stuck above the water while Mrs. Weasley mopped her face.
Merope and Hermione each held one of her hands.
Tom gazed between her spread legs in anticipation, ready and waiting to guide their firstborn into the world.
"A few more, Mrs. Riddle, and you'll be holding your little one." Madam Pomfrey nodded at Harriet.
Harriet gasped in relief as her gaze flickered from Madam Pomfrey to Tom before another contraction threatened to snap her womb in half.
Tom watched her squint her eyes shut and curl over her massive belly as she bore down once more, "NNNNNNNGGGHHH!"
"You're doing so well, sweetling…….." He praised his mate as he rubbed the inside of her thighs and gave her knee a gentle kiss, "There, exactly like that……….push, my love….let me hold our son or daughter for a change."
When her push finally ended, Harriet groaned as she fell back again.
"Doing well, Mrs. Riddle, doing well." Madam Pomfrey nodded as she reached into the cart her charm had brought from the Hospital Wing and pulled out a few clean towels.
Harriet panted for breath while Tom flashed her a handsome smile, "You're absolutely gorgeous, sweetling, look at you!...Flushed and out of breath, busy bearing my heir…..Our little one really wants to join us, don't they? A bit more work and we'll be a family, alright? Just a bit more….:"
Merope beamed at her son, proud of the loving kindness he showed his wife while Hermione and Mrs. Weasley gave each other pleasant smiles of happy tension.
Madam Pomfrey interrupted the couple's sweet moment to nod at Harriet, "I'm going to do a quick exam, alright Mrs. Riddle? I need a better idea of how much you have left to go."
Harriet didn't really listen to what anyone said, through the grating grip of her agony, she tried to focus on Tom's voice and scent as best she could.
Before Madam Pomfrey could conduct her study, Harriet bore down once more as her body jolted in a jerking command, "NNNNGGGHHH!"
Tom's eyes widened as he watched his lover open.
Madam Pomfrey wore a scowl of serious concentration as she guided him to cup his hands around his darling's entrance, ready to support the dark shape that came towards him.
Harriet leaned back and panted as Hermione, Merope, and Mrs. Weasley blotted her forehead while they whispered gentle words to her.
"You're doing so well, sweetheart."
"Nearly over now, my dear."
"You can do it, Harriet!"
Madam Pomfrey stayed loyally beside Tom and nodded, "Alright, Mr. Riddle one more, two at most and your babe will be here. Keep your hands exactly as I show you t-"
A bright crackle of flying, orange embers halted her instructions as they sparked through the air without warning.
Harriet groaned as she looked over with everyone.
The embers formed a wide circle before a bright flash of light emanated from within.
"T-Tom?" Harriet croaked dryly.
Tom narrowed his eyes as the bright flash of light ended with a wizard he had never met before stepping through the illuminated circle.
"TOM!" Harriet begged as her next pain threatened to begin.
The four women began to coach Harriet as Tom kept his hands in position while he called over to the wizard, "Who the hell are you?! This Chamber is private! How did you get in here?!...Is that….Is that some sort of Time-Turner?!" He demanded as he spied a bizarre, gold pendant around the wizard's neck.
As the wizard walked forward, Tom's alpha instincts led him to stand and face the stranger who dared approach his labouring mate, especially once his unknown foe withdrew a wand from his pocket and pointed it at Harriet.
Madam Pomfrey hurried into position as Harriet panted furiously.
Tom found himself fascinated by the wizard.
Not much older than himself, Tom noticed the young man had exactly his dark, curly hair and Harriet's emerald eyes.
"No, well, sort of….not really…..Look, it's similar to a Time-Turner, but that's not important!" The wizard huffed as he clasped the gold pendant around his neck. His eyes moved to Harriet then back to Tom as he nodded, "Since the four assassins I sent apparently failed, I had no choice but to come and do the job myself! Please, move aside! I have only a moment to correct the grave mistake you and Mum have made!"
"Who are you?!" Tom demanded again as Harriet screamed behind him.
"AAAAAAGGGHH!"
The sound of her pain made him want to growl in frustration, enraged he could not end her suffering.
"Push, Mrs. Riddle!" Madam Pomfrey shouted.
"Can you not see for yourself?! I'm your son!...And I have only a moment to complete my task! Move aside!" The wizard cried as he swerved and brandished his wand at Harriet.
Tom rushed to stand in his way before the wizard cried, "I promise I won't harm Mum! I've worked very hard on this spell!"
While Harriet prepared to bear down again, Tom reached for his own wand, incredulous, anxious, and determined to return to his mate as quickly as possible.
"Move aside, Father!" The wizard cried as Harriet roared in the background.
"NNNNGGGGHHH!"
Tom slipped his wand into his grasp and raised it to point at the other wizard until he noticed his foe's body begin to fade away before he had a chance to fire off a single curse.
"Move aside!" The wizard pleaded as cracks of light appeared in his face and chest.
"No!" Tom shouted defiantly as he took a step backwards, eager to rush to Harriet.
"MOVE ASIDE!" The wizard shouted again while Harriet screamed, "AAAGGHHH!"
"NO!" Tom screeched.
"You'll live to regret this moment!" The wizard warned with an angry snarl before he disappeared in a glittering ball of sparkling fury, "...You've doomed us all, Father! YOU'VE DOOMED US ALL!"
In one last explosion of burning embers, all traces of the unnamed wizard vanished.
As soon as Tom knew the threat to his mate had been eliminated, he swept back over to Harriet and resumed his place in the pool between her legs as she grunted through the start of another intense contraction.
"NNNNGGGGHHH!"
"I'm here, sweetling, I'm here." Tom purred as Madam Pomfrey moved over, sanitized his hands with a quick spell, and guided him back into position.
"Your wife's going to let you meet your baby, Mr. Riddle, brace yourself." Hogwarts' healer nodded.
Harriet blew out a breath as an anguished moan left her throat.
While Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, and Merope cooed to her, Tom's dark eyes focused in fascination on the firm roundness that had managed to emerge from his mate. Around the crowning head, under the water, he could glimpse the tufts of wet, dark haired attached to the tiny skull.
Harriet gasped as she glanced at Madam Pomfrey once the pain commanded her.
"Go ahead and push!" Madam Pomfrey nodded.
"I'm here with you, sweetling!" Tom cried as Harriet looked into his eyes for reassurance.
A waft of her alpha's comforting scent blew past her face and filled her with new energy.
Tom's support bolstered Harriet as she found the courage to face the pain head on, grit her teeth, and curl forward.
"NNNGGGHH!"
"There we are, there we are!" Madam Pomfrey nodded with restrained urgency as she guided Tom to catch the small, slippery, new life that slid into his waiting hands.
Harriet fell back with a groan as her female attendants praised her.
For once, Tom momentarily found his attention called away from Harriet.
A smile of reverent wonder curled his lips as he gazed down in shocked awe at the furious, flailing newborn who wriggled in his grasp once Madam Pomfrey lifted his hands from the water.
Plump and feisty to be only seconds old, the baby scrunched its face and let out a defiant little shriek as Madam Pomfrey reached past the dumbstruck new father to swaddle the child.
"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Riddle." She sniffed as she lifted the baby out of Tom's hands and into Harriet's arms, "You two have a beautiful new daughter."
Harriet's mouth fell open as she gazed down at her baby while her breathing gradually steadied.
Merope, Mrs. Weasley, and Hermione all gasped as they admired the infant while they echoed compliments.
"Oh, sweetheart! Look at her!"
"She's beautiful, Harriet!"
"You did so well!"
"You did well indeed, sweetling." Tom agreed as he kissed Harriet's knee in complete devotion.
His dark eyes glimmered with sentimental softness as he stared at his gorgeous mate while she held their newborn pup, "I'm so very proud of you."
Harriet flashed Tom a tired smile before she glanced back down at their baby.
The tiny girl didn't cry beyond her first wild shriek.
As the baby blinked her eyes open, Harriet couldn't ignore the chill that ran down her spine as she gazed into her daughter's unnaturally bright green stare.