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 soon as Harriet and the baby were comfortably settled, Severus called the midwife back to his residence, much to her irritation, while he left to fetch Ixora.
True to his word, Severus apparated to the hillside next to Hogsmeade and stalked up the incline towards the castle as the autumn wind whipped around him.
After he entered Hogwarts, he marched directly to the Great Hall.
"Severus!" McGonagall blinked as she rose from her seat at the High Table while he approached.
As Severus went past, whispers flew between the students.
Although not a single pupil seated that night remembered him as their own teacher, they had all heard stories about the foreboding Professor Snape.
"Good evening, Minerva." Severus calmly greeted the headmistress once he came to stand in front of the High Table.
His sudden appearance was proof of his former, prestigious career's importance.
Having served as a headmaster previously, Severus could still enter the castle freely and walk through its halls unescorted by the current staff, a feat no others could perform except McGonagall herself.
"I beg you to pardon my intrusion….I've come to borrow my daughter for the night……on the most urgent of business." Severus explained.
"Oh……." McGonagall breathed as she scanned his face.
When the slightest hint of happiness crossed his pale features, McGonagall silently understood what his repressed joy meant.
Severus had informed her at the start of the school year that he intended to let Ixora meet her new brother or sister as soon as possible.
"Well, I'm afraid Miss Snape hasn't joined us yet, Severus. You're welcome to wait until she has, however." McGonagall nodded as she gestured towards the High Table, generously offering Severus a seat out of respect and genuine fondness for her old friend.
Severus's strands of soft, black hair drifted over his face as he snapped his head to look around.
His dark eyes narrowed when he realized his daughter was not, in fact, present.
"Where can she be?" He hissed at Minerva as he noticed the seated students were already halfway through their meal.
"She and the Weasley boy have a long walk from their last class." McGonagall nodded, "They should be along in a moment, we're only five minutes into the hour, Severus."
Severus gave McGonagall a curt nod before he whirled around and strode out of the Great Hall.
His billowing robes announced his imminent departure in grand swirls of rippling, black fabric.
McGonagall blinked and hoped she hadn't offended her dear friend, but the students busied themselves with their whispers.
Their first sighting of the famous Professor Snape had verified their assumptions that he was every bit as intense and dramatic as their parents' recollections had caused them to imagine.
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Although Severus hadn't bothered to ask Minerva what class his daughter would be coming from, a simple tracking spell cast as he glided through the corridors easily led him in Ixora's direction.
Up a flight of stairs, to the left, and around a corner brought him face to face with his daughter………….and Hugo Weasley.
"DAD!" Ixora shouted in surprise as her eyes widened while she stared up at Severus in innocent shock.
Hugo blinked at the tall, imposing figure dressed in all black who scowled down at him.
"Good evening, young lady……" Severus drawled, "I beg your pardon for disrupting your……..evening." He growled as his dark eyes flickered accusingly to Hugo before his gaze turned back to Ixora, "However, I've come to invite you to meet your newest sister."
"My SISTER?" Ixora cried as she drew a happy gasp of excitement, ready for another girl after the birth of five brothers, "Brilliant!"
The moment became awkward as Hugo shifted on his feet and nodded at Severus, "Congratulations………sir."
"Sorry!" Ixora smiled sheepishly as she glanced at her friend then back to her father, "Dad, this is my friend, Hugo Weasley. Hugo, this is my Dad, Severus Snape."
"Pleased to meet you, sir." Hugo said politely as he reached a hand out towards Severus.
Ixora and Hugo had been innocently walking side by side.
They were both first years, children, friends, and nothing more, but Severus Snape was a shrewd man.
As he gazed at Hugo Weasley standing next to his daughter, he resisted the urge to berate the boy and frighten him into never speaking to her again.
Instead, Severus slowly reached out as well and shook Hugo's hand, though he declined to say any polite phrases in return.
"Tell me, Mr. Weasley," Seveus began as he stared at the boy who had dared to befriend Ixora, "What must be done to the horned slugs prior to brewing Boil Cure?"
Ixora bit her lip as she glanced anxiously at Hugo.
Hugo just smiled at Severus as he confidently replied, "Well, you'd have to stew them of course, sir. Otherwise, the texture would be completely off and the Flobberworm Mucus wouldn't absorb properly."
Severus didn't waste time snapping back, "And why then, Mr. Weasley, is Asphodel necessary for Wiggenweld Potion?"
"Because of its bitterness, sir." Hugo nodded as he boldly maintained eye contact with Severus, "Asphodel root has a sort of mourning sweetness that balances the brew…..Or, that's what my mum's told me at least."
"...Has she?" Severus drawled sourly as he narrowed his eyes to slits while he gazed at Hugo.
"Come, Ixora." He ordered before his daughter obediently stepped forward, "Your poor mother is exhausted…….She waits at home for our return."
"It really was nice to meet you, sir!" Hugo called as he watched the two walk away.
Severus declined to return his sentiment, though he did glance back at the boy with an ominous scowl.
Hugo had passed Professor Snape's impromptu quiz with zeal, which had irritated Severus far worse than his expected failure.
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"Do you not care for Hugo, Daddy?" Ixora asked once they returned home and Severus led her inside the house.
"I do not 'care' for any alphas near my daughter." Severus quipped, "It would be preferable if you were to befriend a few girls in your year instead."
"But Hugo isn't an alpha!" Ixora laughed.
"...Yet." Severus answered, barely moving his lips.
"Daddy!" Ixora pouted, "The other girls hate me! I can't-"
Severus silenced his eldest by placing a pale, tapered finger to his lips as they walked down the hallway towards Harriet and the new baby.
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While the midwife entertained the six elder children in the living room, Mrs. Snape cuddled her newborn in her nest.
Exhausted from the birth, a bright smile still lit up her face as the door finally opened and her husband walked in with Ixora.
"Oh, sweetheart!" Harriet cried as she sat up in bed.
"Mummy!" Ixora laughed while she raced forward.
Careful not to disturb her mother, she stopped a short distance from the edge of the covers.
Severus pulled out his wand and cast a quick cleaning spell over her school uniform before his oldest daughter slipped off her shoes to join her mother on the bed.
"Come and meet your new little sister!" Harriet smiled eagerly as she proudly showed Ixora the small baby wrapped inside the warm blanket.
It had warmed Harriet's heart that her eldest daughter had maintained a captivated awe when she looked at each of her infant siblings after their arrival.
Ixora had always been the child most eager to help with the hands-on care of her brothers and sisters before she had gone away to school.
Severus attributed her kindness and interest in her younger siblings to her birth order.
Harriet wisely understood her daughter's hopes of having a family of her own one day.
"She's perfect, Mummy……." Ixora breathed as she gazed at the small baby.
"What shall we name her?" Harriet asked as she looked at her darling's face.
The genuine amazement in Ixora's expression melted Harriet's hormonal heart.
"I'm named after a flower." Ixora mused as she glanced between her parents, "So is Lila…….sort of…….Maybe the new baby can be too?" She asked as she glanced at her newborn sister.
"Rose, perhaps?" Severus suggested.
"Hermione and Ron already used Rose." Harriet yawned.
Severus narrowed his eyes but Ixora helpfully suggested, "What about 'Astrantia'? I read about it at school. It symbolizes strength and bravery…..Right, Dad?"
"Yes……..Astrantia Snape would be a formidable name." Severus nodded.
"Astrantia Eileen Snape?" Harriet asked as she smirked at Severus.
Severus's black eyes glimmered as Harriet chuckled and nodded, "I think that's a very strong name for a very strong little lady."
As she gently touched her newborn's nose, the baby let out a small coo.
Ixora gasped and covered her mouth, enraptured by the adorable sound.
"You're growing so quickly." Harriet chuckled as she looked over at Ixora and lovingly ran her fingers through her daughter's long hair, "One day you'll be in your nest and I'll be there beside you instead."
"Mummy, I really hope so!" Ixora smiled eagerly, "I want to have a family like you and Daddy one day. A nice, big, loving family!"
As Harriet wound her free arm around Ixora in a loving hug, Severus gnashed his teeth.
It would be decades upon decades before Harriet's predictions came true.
He may already be in the grave by then.
It wasn't possible, could never be possible…….
There wasn't any way that his little girl, his first child, the baby he had cradled in his hands, would grow up enough in just a few short years to graduate Hogwarts and live a life of her own.
The mental image of Hugo standing too close to Ixora in the hallway an hour earlier filled Severus with silent rage as he watched her cuddle Harriet and little Astrantia.