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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While Severus fretted over his wife, Ixora fretted about gaining her peers' acceptance.

She had inherited her mother's kindness and her father's shyness, which made for an unfortunate combination in social situations.

Eager to help and friendly to chat with once a conversation began, Ixora Snape was not someone to approach a stranger and strike up a friendship, though she gave everyone who looked in her direction a warm smile.

Harriet had been pleased to learn her eldest daughter had been sorted into Gryffindor.

Severus held onto the hope that at least one of his remaining six…..or really, seven…..children would be placed into Slytherin.

As Ixora ate her lunch in silence one afternoon, she frowned to herself.

Since her second week at Hogwarts, she had purposely arrived late to meals so that she could avoid the throngs of other students.

Without any friends at school, Ixora had finally discovered what it felt like to be lonely in a crowd.

Her studies curtailed her sadness and as she swallowed another bite, she glanced over at the open book on the table while she resumed her reading.

As her eyes skimmed over the page, her mind wandered.

It had all been a mistake, a grand mistake.

The Sorting Hat had placed her incorrectly.

Ixora's frown deepened as she thought.

She couldn't possibly be a Gryffindor like her mother.

Although Ixora admired Harriet's courage and bravery, she lacked the boldness to even speak first to one of her schoolmates.

How was she ever supposed to-

Her deep brooding had blocked the sounds of approaching footsteps.

"Miss Snape!" A shrill voice rang out.

The noise shook Ixora from her inward musings.

She blinked as she looked up from her book and watched the headmistress approach with an unfamiliar, red-haired boy beside her.

"Miss Snape!" McGongagall called again, pleased to find one last Gryffindor first year still seated at the house's table.

"G-Good afternoon, Professor." Ixora nodded as she batted away a tinge of nervousness.

Why should she be nervous?

She chided herself silently, knowing she had done nothing wrong.

"I hope your day is going well." McGonagall nodded at Ixora once she came to stand a short distance away.

"Thanks….I hope yours is too, Professor." Ixora nodded, although her emerald eyes flickered over to the red-haired boy who blinked at her curiously.

"Miss Snape, I wonder if I might have your help with something? We have a bit of an odd occurrence on our hands." McGonagall explained.

"...Sure." Ixora nodded after she gazed up at McGonagall for a silent second, "Of course, Professor, I'd be happy to help."

"Wonderful!" McGonagall beamed before she laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, "This is Mr. Hugo Weasley, a first year like yourself. Mr. Weasley, this is Miss Ixora Snape."

"How do you do?" Hugo asked instantly as he stuck a hand out.

"Very well, thanks. And you?" Ixora asked as she reached back.

Hugo flashed Ixora a handsome smile as he nodded.

As their hands connected, the mischievous sparkle in his hazel eyes sent a blush spreading across Ixora's fair face.

McGonagall smirked as she noticed their exchange.

Once their handshake ended, she cleared her throat and continued, "Mr. Weasley comes to us a few weeks late due to an unforeseen circumstance on his parents' behalf. However, he's been sorted in my office this morning, per their granted request. Since you two are both in the noble house of Gryffindor, I was wondering if you would consider showing him around this afternoon, Miss Snape?"

"I……I'd be delighted." Ixora said with a kind smile that was a mirror image of Harriet's.

"Your kindness is most appreciated." McGonagall nodded, "I'll leave you two to have a quick bite to eat before the afternoon's classes begin."

"Thanks, Professor!" Ixora called as Hugo sat down next to her while McGonagall turned and walked away.

When she heard Ixora's shouted thanks, McGonagall stopped to face her again and ask, "...Miss Snape?"

"Yes, Professor?" Ixora frowned.

"You really do have the best of your parents in you." McGonagall nodded.

A smile of gladness spread across Ixora's lips while her headmistress turned again and left the Great Hall.

The room was largely quiet except for the last conversations held between the few students who lingered and the handful of staff that still sat at the High Table.

Regardless of the others in the room, Ixora and Hugo enjoyed a thrilling sense of privacy as they dined together at Gryffindor's empty table.

"Um…..You should try the chocolate cake if you…..Well, if you like chocolate." Ixora shrugged as she glanced at the decadent dessert on a nearby pedestal.

"I do, thanks……I will." Hugo replied as he began to help himself to the fine offerings that waited to be eaten.

Ixora nodded, unsure of what to say next.

For the first time since her arrival at the castle, her courage has been bolstered.

Desperate to learn more about Hogwarts' intriguing new student, she asked, "Sorry if this seems rude, but aren't your parents Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger?"

"Yeah, I mean, they were before they got married. My mum's changed her last name, of course." Hugo nodded once he swallowed.

"Oh……yeah, of course." Ixora chuckled sheepishly at her own oversight.

"Your mum and my parents are good friends……Or used to be at least." Hugo went on.

"That's what I've been told too." Ixora agreed.

"I've heard all the stories loads of times……I wonder why they don't see each other anymore?" Hugo frowned.

"Probably too busy?" Ixora suggested.

"I dunno." Hugo answered.

"If I had friends, I'd see them whenever I could." Ixora mournfully confessed.

"I thought everyone has friends at Hogwarts?" Hugo frowned.

"Mostly they do, yeah, but I'm just…..I'm very shy." Ixora explained.

Her eyes bore into his handsome face as they held each other's gazes.

The quiet moment became terrifyingly intense before Hugo mercifully released the pressure with a warm smile as he answered, "Well, I'm not. Don't worry about that."

As Ixora laughed, she had her first taste of comradery outside her home and siblings.

Although, as Severus and Harriet's daughter delighted in Hugo's handsome smile, she endured her first pang of angsty yearning.

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A week after Hugo's enrollment at Hogwarts, Harriet and Severus enjoyed breakfast one morning while the children played together in the adjacent living room.

Harriet kept a hand on her heavy belly as she silently breathed through another false spasm while Severus scanned the letter in his hands, with his dark eyes narrowed to slits.

"What does it say, Sev?" She asked.

Severus glanced up at his wife before his eyes moved back to the parchment, the written lines of which which he began to read aloud:

Dear Mummy and Daddy,

Has the baby come yet? Mummy promised me you'd bring me home to meet them as soon as they're born. I finally have a friend now, a boy named Hugo Weasley. He says his parents are Ron and Hermione, Mum's old friends? He's a Gryffindor like me. Love and miss you both.

Ixora Snape

Severus fell silent as he looked up at Harriet to gauge her reaction once he finished reading the letter.

The soft smile on her face lifted his weighted worries.

"I'm not surprised she befriended Ron and Hermione's son." Harriet chuckled, "We've let too many years pass. I need to write to them, meet them for tea or something."

"You're hardly in a condition to meet anyone currently." Severus frowned as he glanced down at Harriet's full womb.

"Yeah, actually, when you write her back, can you tell her I'm as ready for this baby as she is?" She huffed.

"It'll be soon, my love." Severus whispered comfortingly as he reached across the table and clutched Harriet's hands.

She wanted to enjoy a quiet moment with her alpha, but her six little ones easily prevented that as they crashed and zoomed around the living room, laughing while they chased one another.

Severus watched his wife noticeably cringe at the cacophony before he rose from the table and asked, "Perhaps you'd allow me to take the children outside to play while you lie in your nest?"

"Oh, Sev, you don't have to do that." Harriet sighed.

Severus didn't give his wife much chance to protest.

He glided over, bent down, and swept her into his arms as she rewarded him with a squeal of pleasant surprise.

As he carried his darling into the living room, he called over to his rambunctious children, "Enough!...Follow me……we're putting your mother to bed and then we'll continue the morning outside."

All six of the Snape children blinked before they obeyed their father's low command and fell into line behind him as he walked down the hallway.

Severus cradled Harriet while he opened the door, marched into their bedroom, and settled her comfortably into her cozy respite.

The children watched with curious eyes as their father lovingly tucked their mother in before he gave her a kiss on the forehead, stood, and promptly led them all out to the family's large backyard to allow the continuation of their imaginative play.

Harriet sighed as she rolled onto her side and pulled the covers tightly around herself.

A hard cramp made her narrow her eyes as she held her belly.

It had been several years since the last set of twins had been born.

In fact, it had been such a long time that Harriet had nearly forgotten the difference between uncomfortable practice spasms and the beginnings of labour.