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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News of Tobias's illness played a larger role in Severus's life than he wanted to admit.
Lily noticed her husband's frown had deepened.
Severus carried himself with a heightened, somber seriousness during the next few weeks that followed, but whenever she approached her darling about the matter, he took every available measure to avoid the subject.
Sensing that her husband preferred not to discuss the past or his feelings towards his father, Lily wisely supported him in gentle silence.
She cooked Severus's favourite meals and baked the lemon shrewsbury biscuits he loved so well.
She cuddled him more tightly each evening and let him claim her whenever his dark eyes glimmered with smouldering want.
She stood beside him whenever she caught him staring contemplatively into the forest.
Although no words passed between them in those quiet moments, Lily would take Severus's hand and give him a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
It made her smile that although Severus remained silent, he returned her gentle show of affection with a grip that matched hers in a quiet expression of grateful sentiment.
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Another phone call had eventually reached the Snapes' cottage from London Morning's Hospice and Palliative Care.
Harriet and Ellery mourned their grandfather's passing in a state of regretful musing.
They wondered what Tobias had really been like and what they could have learned from him or heard from him if they had had the chance.
Months later, once the school year finished and the summer began, there were entire afternoons where brother and sister chatted about that very topic.
"Do you think Dad would be angry if he knew we had gone to see him?" Ellery asked Harriet as they walked through the edge of the forest next to their family's cottage, "...I think he'd be furious."
"Well, we were furious with him for not taking us." Harriet shrugged, "Besides El, it's over now. If he finds out, what can he do about it?"
"Nothing, I suppose." Ellery shrugged.
"As sad as everything's been, you should be excited, I know I am!" Harriet said cheerfully.
"Excited for what?" Ellery asked.
"Excited for the meeting, of course!" Harriet laughed, "Dad said everyone's going to be there! We never get asked to come to one…..I think it'll be brilliant, don't you? To sit with all the adults?"
Ellery shrugged.
Harriet stopped abruptly as she looked at her brother and flashed him an incredulous grin, "You don't want to……to be in the top ranks one day?"
Ellery scowled.
"What's the matter?" Harriet blinked.
"Harriet, come on….." Ellery sighed as he raised his hands and let them fall in a gesture of exasperation, "You're Harriet Snape, Quidditch extraordinaire, popular, pretty, outgoing…..Lord Voldemort's Chosen One."
"I am not Lord Voldemort's Chosen One!" Harriet laughed, "I'm not any of those things, El!"
"Yes, you are." Ellery said with another weighty sigh, "He's said several times over that you're 'his favourite of the next generation'. Perhaps the meeting is something for you to celebrate, sure, but I only got invited because I'm your brother and Dad's son. I'm just the quiet boy standing in your shadows."
"No, you're not!" Harriet laughed again as she gave Ellery a playful shove.
A bright smile manifested on his face as he and Harriet chatted, "Dad's the war general, you're the Chosen One, and I'm a mere Shadow Walker."
"El, stop it!" Harriet chastised him as she curtailed her laughter while his quiet smile began to fade, "You're not being very funny."
"No, I'm not." Ellery said as a sad frown formed on his face, "I'm being serious, Harriet."
A last fleeting chuckle escaped her throat in a dry gasp as they walked towards the house while silence fell between them.
Whether Harriet wanted to admit it or not, her brother spoke with a wisdom beyond his years.
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"My love, it makes my heart ache to see such a miserable scowl on your beautiful face." Severus commented that morning as he and Lily enjoyed a private moment in their bedroom while their children played outside.
"Sorry, Sev….." She said with a weighty sigh as she brushed her vibrant, crimson hair, "The idea of my little ones sitting in on yet another dangerous event that could result in the end of their lives makes me anything but happy."
"It's only for a short while, Lily." Severus reassured his bride, "Another two years, maybe three and Harriet will be strong enough to fight……Dumbledore hasn't yet revealed to me his entire plan, though I do know he's spending the summer away on some sort of…..quest….for the Order."
"So, now Hogwarts is essentially unguarded?" Lily asked as she slipped off her nightdress.
"The Dark Lord has no current interest in the school……Which is precisely why Dumbledore is taking advantage of his opportunity to be away on errands difficult to assign to others." Severus explained as his dark eyes lighted on Lily's pert bottom, covered only by the scrap of lace that served as her panties.
While she moved her voluminous crimson tresses as she gazed at her reflection in the vanity mirror, she smirked as she noticed her husband staring at her in silent lust.
"It's a pity this had to happen during our lifetime, Sev. Really, it is….." She sighed.
Severus let his eyes flicker over to follow the movement of Lily's full breasts as her chest rose and fell before she went on, "Do you ever wonder how things would have gone if we had been born in a different age?"
"...My love?" Severus asked as he situated himself on the bed, careful not to let his growing arousal become obscenely visible through the fabric of his black trousers.
"Well, if there had never been any Dark Lord or Death Eaters, I expect that afternoon in fifth year would have never happened….Which would have meant James and I would have never happened either……" Lily trailed off with a sigh.
Severus blinked while he waited for her to go on.
"...Then we would have been together so much sooner, Sev." She surmised with a smile.
Severus frowned as the romantic moment took a melancholy turn while Lily gazed at him through the mirror with a look of profound sadness in her emerald gaze.
"Oh, Lily……." He breathed as she turned around.
The angsty tears in her eyes made his heart ache.
Severus watched his wife raise a hand to her face as she thought, "Harriet would be yours……really yours, Sev, like Ellery…..and we wouldn't have to worry about all this nonsense with her eventually being the one to-"
Lily raised a hand to her face as her words cut off suddenly while a choked sob echoed from her throat.
"My darling, don't weep." Severus purred in his low voice as he stood and glided over to comfort his beloved flower.
"I'm sorry, Sev……" Lily sniffed as he frowned down at her while he placed his hands on her waist. She glanced up and met his black stare as she whimpered, "I'm sorry, I-"
"-There's nothing to apologize for, Lily." Severus interrupted her as he frowned. He spoke his vow to her with utmost seriousness, "Harriet is my daughter too…..I declared her as my own in the eyes of the Ministry and that will never change. You are my wife…..Ellery is our son……We're a family, the four of us……..This war would have happened with or without your marriage to Potter……Regardless, it is our daughter who will end it……and no amount of apologies or wishing will change that. She's strong, Lily, and brave, I see more of you in her every day."
Lily's shoulders shook with a strangled sob as she clutched Severus tightly and buried her face in his chest.
His elegant hands moved from her waist to wrap around her back as he held her close while she cried.
"I'm here, my love, I'm here……." He whispered in his low, soothing tone as he clutched her close, "There's no need for tears……..I can't promise you riches……I can't promise you luxuries…….but I can promise that I will love you and our children until the end of my days and I will continue to do everything in my power to protect you all."
Severus noticed his darling quieted after he spoke.
The next thing he realized, his lips met Lily's as she raised her head and pressed a gentle kiss to his mouth.
Severus groaned into her affection as her hands tangled in the loose fabric of his white nightshirt.
Understanding his bride's silent plea, he eagerly returned his wife's kiss as they both staggered backwards until they reached the bed.
Severus wrapped one arm under his darling's bottom and the other across the small of her back as he gently laid her down on the soft blankets.
His heart raced as he broke away from her mouth and trailed gentle kisses down her neck.
By the time his lips reached her plump breasts, Lily sighed his name and writhed underneath his skillful attention, "Oh, Severus……."
As Mr. and Mrs. Snape spent the next hour comforting each other in the intimate way that only passionate lovers could, Severus gladly replaced his wife's tears with happy shouts of joy.
The awful sight of Lily weeping had never become any less disturbing for Severus to witness.
If he could do nothing else for his bride, he at least sought to dry her tears and give her hope for the future, no matter how bleak he believed it to be.
