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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Ixora enjoyed her weekend at home as she became acquainted with her newest baby sister, played with her siblings, and helped her parents however she could.
Monday arrived too soon and with it came her return to Hogwarts.
As she and Hugo sat at breakfast that morning, the melancholy expression on her fair features made him grimace to notice.
Eager to see her smile again, Hugo asked, "Did you enjoy your visit with your family?"
Ixora instantly brightened as she jumped at the chance to discuss her newest little sibling, "Oh, yeah! It was brilliant! My baby sister is so cute! She's got little fluffs of fuzzy, red hair and Dad's eyes……She's a really good baby too! She barely cried while I was home."
Hugo couldn't help but mirror her smile as he enjoyed her joyful exuberance.
"...How was your weekend?" Ixora asked, careful not to turn the conversation entirely on herself.
"It was rather dull." Hugo shrugged, "But things are more interesting now that you're back."
Ixora smiled softly while they both contemplated the hidden meaning to his carefully chosen words.
"You really do like your new little sister, don't you?" Hugo chuckled.
"Of course I like her!" Ixora laughed, "She's my sister! How could I not?"
"I dunno, I don't particularly care for my sister." Hugo shrugged again, "We've never gotten along much."
"How old is she?" Ixora blinked.
"Two years younger than me." Hugo huffed.
"That's the problem." Ixora quipped, "Most of my siblings are still very little. I suppose a part of me has always felt like they're my babies too, not just my mum's."
"...How many do you have?" Hugo asked curiously.
"Now I have seven!" Ixora chuckled proudly as she watched Hugo's eyes widen, "Five brothers and two sisters."
"That sounds sort of like my Dad with his brothers and sister." Hugo nodded, "Our family is much smaller, I guess he didn't like it very much."
"What do you think?" Ixora asked.
"...About what?" Hugo blinked.
"About big families?" She pressed.
"I dunno…….I think holidays are a bit cramped when we go to my grandparents' house with everyone running around……Bit tense, that's all."
He surmised.
"Well, I think big families are lovely." Ixora said as she resumed her meal.
Hugo cast her a curious glance as he watched her finish her breakfast, but Ixora was too deep in thought to notice.
Although she was only eleven, like many children her age, she had already begun to dream of her future.
Ixora hadn't quite yet decided on a career but she knew very much that she wanted a happy, loving home that resembled the one in which she had been raised.
She wanted a cozy nest and a crackling fire, with plenty of food and lots of room in the house.
Most importantly, she wanted a kind husband like her father and like her mother, she wanted to be surrounded by little ones.
What Ixora dared not to admit though was that as she daydreamed about an idyllic life of domesticity, instead of Harriet and Severus in position of the mother and father, bride and groom, she saw herself and Hugo filling those roles.
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Severus remained a doting father and adoring husband as Harriet recovered from the birth while their newest baby thrived.
He watched over their older six children but checked on his wife at least once every waking hour, desperate to maintain confirmation that both were doing well.
Severus rose in the night to tend his smallest daughter whenever she cried.
He changed her tiny diapers.
He assisted with her care whenever possible.
To aid Harriet's healing process, he made sure to bathe her in kisses, wrap her in his strong arms, and see that she ate well.
While his other children were entertaining themselves with their various toys, he took the time to keep a steady supply of Harriet's necessities on hand as well.
With Hogwarts' former Potions Master as her mate, Harriet never had to worry about running low on nipple cream, witch-hazel soaked sanitary pads, lactation tea, or Healing Tonic.
As she regained more and more of her strength each day, she reveled in the bliss that her life with Severus afforded.
After napping next to Astrantia for a solid hour one evening, Harriet opened her eyes to her daughter's soft coos and the rich smell of simmering, cinnamon apples.
She groaned softly as she sat up in her nest and stretched before she scooped Astrantia into her arms, slipped on her house robe, and left the bedroom.
When the baby nuzzled against her chest, Harriet unfastened the emerald buttons that led to her breasts and slipped her daughter underneath the fabric of her clothing.
The baby's impatient coos quieted as she began to enjoy her meal while Harriet joined her husband in the kitchen.
"Good evening." She chuckled as she watched Severus move around the kitchen while he prepared dinner.
"Good evening, my love." He replied with a purr, "You could have stayed in your nest……..Surely you must be exhausted after last night…..I would have gladly brought dinner directly to you."
"Thanks, but I needed to stretch my legs a bit, Sev." Harriet nodded with a smile before she turned her head and looked at their older children in the living room.
Alexander sat in the chair reading a book.
Lila held a doll on her lap.
The two sets of twins played a board game with one another on the floor, even though there were many pieces of the toy strewn around.
"I feel as though I've missed so much these past few weeks." Harriet frowned.
"Not at all." Severus drawled, "Recovery is not an easy task…..The children realize that. Have I not brought them to you for frequent visits?"
"You have , Sev, I just don't want them to think I've abandoned them." Harriet chided as she glanced down and touched a fluffy bit of hair on Astrantia's tiny head.
"If you'd prefer……If you feel strong enough…..Perhaps we could gather in your nest for story time tonight?" Severus asked.
"Really?!" Harriet gasped as her fair face brightened with a wide smile of happy eagerness, "Yeah, that'd be brilliant!"
"Very well." Severus calmly replied, "First, we'll need to have dinner…….I have my eyes on you, my love…….I fully expect you to eat your fill…..Your body needs the nutrients."
No matter how much Harriet attempted to help Severus with the dinner preparations during the next hour, he refused her at every turn.
Eventually, he ejected her from the kitchen altogether and exiled her to the living room where she spent time happily seated amongst her older children while they all whispered questions about the baby.
Alexander and Lila had memories of the twins as infants, but for the Snapes' four youngest sons, the baby was a brand new mystery to them.
"But Mummy……." Vincent frowned.
"I'm alright, sweetheart." Harriet smiled as she touched her little boy's cheek reassuringly, "It's been weeks, don't you see? Your bad dream was just a bad dream, nothing more. I'm alright and so is your little sister."
"I know, Mummy, but……" Vincent sighed as he glanced from Harriet down to the baby in her arms. Harriet watched him narrow his eyes in confusion as he asked, "...How can someone that small be real?"
Once the dinner preparations had been completed, Severus stood in the doorway of the living room while he silently watched the exchange between his wife and son as Harriet spoke to Vincent, "You were this small once. Actually, sweetheart, you were even smaller! Twins are littler than babies born on their own."
"I was smaller than that?!" Vincent gasped as he pointed to his tiny sister.
"You certainly were." Harriet chuckled.
Eager to reveal that stunning revelation, Vincent turned to find Severus standing in the doorway, to whom he proudly proclaimed, "Daddy! I was smaller than that!" He said as he pointed towards Astrantia in Harriet's arms.
"I remember your size well, my son." Severus drawled as he gazed at Vincent, "Though I'm certain you will not remember it was I who pulled you and your brother from your mother's womb."
Vincent blinked as he contemplated what he had witnessed of his sister's birth while his father gathered his mother and siblings for dinner.
Too young to be frightened by the notion of childbirth, and thankfully having been shielded from the bloody realities of the scene thanks to Severus's careful handling of the situation, the idea gave Vincent an extra sense of security.
Passed seamlessly from his mother to his father, Vincent Snape had been safely under his parents' protection since the moment of his birth.
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"Across the stony pathway and up the steep cliff stood Cashaby Castle, with its imposing walls and fortified turrets. Inside the castle dwelt the king and queen, along with the village's many princes and princesses."
Severus's decadent voice could have lulled Harriet into a sleep punctuated with thrilling dreams while he read aloud from the storybook in his hands.
Candles burned around their bedroom, bathing the atmosphere in soft, glowing light.
In her bassinet, Astrantia slept soundly.
Severus sat in Harriet's nest with fluffy pillows lining his back and his darling wife cuddled against his chest.
Over top of them, beside them, and at the foot of their bed, each of their six older children lay.
Some had cuddled together.
Demetri held onto Harriet.
Lila sleepily leaned on her father's shoulder.
As the entire family enjoyed the sense of peaceful fulfillment that Severus's low purr induced, the rest of the evening promised to include sweet slumber and pleasant dreams.
