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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In the seconds following the baby's birth, the entire Chamber of Secrets seemed to tense as if it recovered along with Harriet.

Tom's eyes were as wide as his wife's as she glanced up and met his gaze.

While Merope tearfully admired her new granddaughter, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley continued to lavish praise and congratulations on Harriet, but Madam Pomfrey tended her work.

Harriet looked down at her new baby as the little girl began to whimper and nuzzle against her heavy breasts.

Tom let out a deep breath as he processed each event that had unfolded moments before while he watched his mate and baby cuddle.

He frowned as Harriet placed a hand on her rounded abdomen and huffed, "I……still hurt."

"The afterbirth is hardly pleasant to deliver, Mrs. Riddle." Madam Pomfrey snapped as she cleaned the pool water with a swish of her wand and gently pushed Tom out of the way.

He scowled at the healer caring for his wife before she nodded at Harriet and said, "Now, Mr. Riddle, if you don't mind, I'll ask you to keep your focus on her. The placenta is not nearly as sentimental as the baby."

It bothered Tom that his darling began to writhe again.

"I read the contractions after delivery would hardly be noticeable." He scowled at Madam Pomfrey as Hermione moved to let him be next to Harriet.

"Having been through them six times, dear boy, I wouldn't say they're 'hardly noticeable'." Mrs. Weasley smiled knowingly at Tom.

As Harriet groaned, Tom instinctively bent forward and scooped their baby girl into his arms.

"Mrs. Weasley is correct, Mr. Riddle." Madam Pomfrey nodded as she glanced up at Tom, "The pains that come after are unpleasant, but just as necessary…….Don't take the babe from her mother!" She snapped as Tom began to sit up.

Harriet whimpered as her newborn let out a sharp little cry while Tom hissed at Madam Pomfrey, "Is it not more comfortable for them to-"

"-The baby at her breasts will hasten an end to her task!" Madam Pomfrey nodded as Harriet curled forward and closed her eyes.

"There you are, Mrs. Riddle." Madam Pomfrey nodded at Harriet, "Listen to yourself……bear down when you need." She glanced over at Tom with a curt nod as she commanded, "Mr. Riddle….Do I need to tell you again?!"

Tom frowned as he gazed at his wife.

It made him grit his teeth to see the straining of her belly and the way she held her eyes shut so very tightly.

Part of him didn't believe Madam Pomfrey and Mrs. Weasley.

As he positioned their baby at Harriet's breast, exactly as he had seen in the diagrams of the many books he had read, he fully expected to hear the cry of his daughter's twin as he or she slipped into the world.

Mrs. Weasley, Merope, and Hermione resumed their supportive roles as they gently rubbed what they could reach of Harriet's shoulders.

"You're doing so well, my love." Tom purred in approval as he watched their daughter find his mate's nipple and latch for the first time.

The baby's hungry suckling sent a long, low moan from Harriet's throat as the pain in her womb intensified.

She grit her teeth as one last, shocking sudden exchange of weight left her before she laid back against the edge of the tub.

"...And there we are." Madam Pomfrey nodded as she moved to clean the mess before Tom, Harriet, or anyone else could see, "The birth is complete. If you prefer, Mrs. Riddle, I can administer some Pain Potion for the cramping."

Harriet sighed as she gasped for breath and nodded in relief, glad the unbearable pain in her abdomen had mercifully released her from its cruel grasp.

Tom laid a hand gently on his mate as he and Harriet watched their newborn daughter take her first meal while Harriet's trembling arms encircled the infant.

"She's perfect, sweetling." Tom breathed as he leaned down and stole a kiss from Harriet's lips.

Merope, Mrs. Weasley, and Hermione all stepped back as Tom gently guided Harriet into his embrace while she rested in the water.

"I love you, Tom." She whispered with a frown.

The baby was indeed…..flawless.

Mr. and Mrs. Riddle's newborn was pink and perfect, with tufts of fluffy, dark hair covering her tender little skull, yet somehow, Harriet's heart didn't quite melt as she thought it would once she met the person who had lived inside her all those months.

While Harriet watched her baby girl suckle, she couldn't help but frown in disdain and tense her sore muscles, almost as if she expected ominous fangs to erupt from her baby's mouth and pierce her flesh.

Merope was too enraptured with the little girl to say much, overjoyed to have a grandchild.

Hermione stood beside Mrs. Weasley, unsure of what to do besides lend a comforting presence.

Mrs. Weasley gladly interjected once she saw Harriet's lack of a smile as she nodded and spoke, "Don't worry, dear……it took me awhile with Bill at first…..It was odd, you know, and the hormones were quite bad."

"Right." Harriet said as she looked up at Mrs. Weasley and nodded in return, "...The hormones."

Madam Pomfrey pulled the other women aside as they all began to ready the bedroom for mother and baby.

While Harriet enjoyed her first moment of privacy with Tom, she frowned at her alpha.

"Why do you look so morose, sweetling?" He chuckled with a handsome smile, "Is this not the happiest day of our lives?"

"...Is it, Tom?" Harriet asked with a tired sigh.

When he only blinked in response, she huffed and spoke, "You were here the entire time. You saw our…….visitor. You heard what he said, you-"

Tom waved his hand dismissively as he interrupted her, "-A confused miscalculation, I'm certain that's all that was. Do you honestly believe our future son would have come back to harm his sister using some sort of questionable device?"

"That's exactly what seemed to happen, yes." Harriet said over the baby's irritated whimper.

As her newborn rooted to find a better position, Harriet instinctively guided her daughter.

Tom's dark eyes glimmered with a guilty flash of excitement as he marveled at his mate's plump curves.

"They're not for you anymore, Tom." Harriet snapped as she scowled at her alpha while he greedily eyed her swollen breasts.

Tom chuckled darkly as he leaned down and gave Harriet a long, lingering kiss.

As he pulled away, he whispered, "That's where you're wrong, sweetling…..Of course they're still for me, as is your entire being, body, mind, heart…..You belong to me, Harriet Riddle. No amount of pups will ever change that."

Harriet brushed aside Tom's words with her own exhaustion and concern, though his smouldering stare elicited the hint of a blush from her cheeks while she tried to ignore his bold reminder, "Everything that's happened before she was born……..Then…..then all of that during her birth? Tom…….What if something really isn't right?"

"What do you mean?" Tom asked as a harsh scowl narrowed his handsome features, "Madam Pomfrey assured us our daughter is perfectly healthy."

"Her health isn't what bothers me." Harriet frowned.

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Outside the castle, Professor McGonagall slowly gave Professor Trelawney a sip of water from a bronze goblet after she collected herself enough to sit up.

Professor Snape, Professor Dumbledore, and Madam Sprout, along with the rest of Hogwarts' staff and students all looked on with frowns of worry.

Sybil Trelawney could hardly believe she had returned from her frightening journey.

Although she had woken from her trance and her body had begun to right itself, bitter tears rolled down her cheeks as heavy sobs shook her chest.

"Sybil, dear……" McGonagall frowned as she placed a hand on her coworker's shoulder, "Can you tell us what it is you've seen?"

"C-Call……." Professor Trelawney sniffed, "C-Call the Minister…..The child….The child must be killed!"

Hogwarts' staff all exchanged incredulous glances of horror.

While the castle's many professors had no intention of harming an infant, they heeded Sybil Trelawney's first request and summoned the Minister for Magic immediately.

Professor Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore eagerly read the response they received from the Ministry an hour later.

To the Staff of Hogwarts Castle,

The Ministry of Magic has received your request. Rest assured, this matter has been marked as non urgent level III. The Minister for Magic will arrive at Hogwarts castle tomorrow morning.

Sincerely,

Wintress Snickletym

Senior Secretary to the Minister for Magic

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Later that night, while Harriet slept comfortably in her nest, cradled within Tom's loving arms, their newborn daughter lay asleep beside their bed in her bassinet.

In the stillness of the night, the baby's green eyes popped wide open.

Outside the bedroom door, the water in the chamber sloshed as the Basilisk slithered towards the small room.

The baby stared at the ceiling with her unnaturally bright eyes eerily glowing before she closed them once more and settled back down to sleep.

With one sharp cry, the Basilisk turned and set off at a rushing pace towards a large sewer pipe that led out of the castle.

The robust stone walls shielded the Riddle family from the noise of its wail while it began its long journey as it left Hogwarts.

Hour after hour, mile after mile, the Basilisk slithered over land and swam under sea until it finally arrived at a large cave carved into an impossibly tall mountain.

As the Basilisk cautiously entered the cave, it peered at the many winged creatures who slept within.

Several opened their reptilian eyes without consequence to growl at their unexpected visitor as it passed by, but the Basilisk paid them no mind until it finally reached its destination and halted in front of a huge pile of black rock.

As the Basilisk flicked its heavy tail while it waited, another set of eyes cracked open, somewhere deep within that pile of black rock.

Slowly, the massive pile of rock moved to reveal the glistening scales of blackest black that covered the impossibly large dragon who lay underneath his bed of stone

As two eyes, each a hundred times bigger than a human's head, gazed down at the Basilisk, a steady stream of whispering smoke issued from the dragon's deep nostrils.

Once the smoke billowed past the Basilsik, it shrieked its message in a high-pitched hiss before it turned and left the cave as hastily as it had arrived.

The giant snake plunged into the sea that surrounded the cave as it began its return trip to Hogwarts.

Moments after its departure, a flurry of dragons rushed out of the cave as they spread their wings and took to the skies.

Above the cave, the craggy mountain stood with swooping cliffs of morose desolation.

As the moon shone in the night sky, each dragon began its quest of finding, bringing, and dropping heavy stones on the mountaintop to be used for their eventual purpose.