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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Severus and Lily offered Harriet their guidance.
Lily encouraged her with gentle words of advice.
Severus taught his daughter the most effective stunning spell she could manage.
There were plenty of powerful potions he could have brewed, far beyond even the capabilities of the champions who were the proper age, but he lamented the fact that those concoctions were all against the Triwizard Tournament's rules.
Each night, Tom coached Harriet on her Parseltongue by giving her pronunciation instructions through his written words.
She practiced her new dialects with Anuman while Draco watched from afar with a jealous, worried pout.
It frustrated him to know that not only did Harriet once again steal fame and recognition that could have been his, she faced awful peril against which he could offer her no real assistance.
As her celebrity grew for various reasons in those weeks before the task, Draco's misery increased.
Harriet Snape seemed to slip further and further away from him.
Out of all the gifts Narcissa and Lucius had lavished upon him since the moment of his conception, Draco remained most grateful to his parents for their acceptance of Voldemort's demand.
The knowledge he and Harriet had been betrothed to one another at birth was the only comfort that allowed Draco to close his eyes at night.
While he tumbled through fitful dreams, he clung to that truth as if it were a lifeline which kept his heart beating.
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The dreaded first task of the Triwizard Tournament arrived startlingly soon.
Hermione, Ron, Lily, and Sev had spent weeks working on several different potential strategies for whatever situation Harriet would encounter with the dragon, but anxiousness still plagued her.
What if their efforts failed?
What if she embarrassed herself in front of everyone?
What if-
Harriet's mind swirled with nauseating questions while each champion reached into a small pouch that morning and blindly selected a scaly opponent.
Her throat went dry when she became lucky enough to pull the Hungarian Horntail.
Despite her boldness and bravery, Harriet's head swam while Viktor completed the first task.
"They honestly expect us to get an egg away from a dragon?!" Harriet hissed to Cedric and Fleur while they waited to hear who would go next.
Fleur frowned but Cedric shrugged and said, "A golden egg…….What did you think we'd be doing, Snape? They said it'd be dangerous."
"Yeah, well-" Harriet started, but Cedric stopped her.
"-Maybe you should have thought about all this before you put your name in the Goblet." He shot back.
Harriet scowled as she prepared to angrily proclaim her own innocence when Dumbledore walked through the swaying doors of the tent and nodded, "Now then, Mr. Diggory, you'll be up next."
Cedric nodded at Harriet as their heated exchange ended prematurely, but as he stepped out of the tent, she and Fleur exchanged worried looks of repressed woe.
Whatever Fleur's impressions were of Harriet entering the tournament, it was evident by her expression that her nervousness outweighed any jealousy she may have harbored.
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Many deemed it fair that Harriet would be the last tournament champion to face the dragon.
Whether or not that was true, she and her loved ones were tormented the longest as they all waited for her time to finally arrive.
Once Dumbledore summoned her onto the field at last, Harriet could hardly walk without trembling from anxious excitement.
A part of her was ready to fight, but another part of her wanted to go home.
As she walked onto the craggy arena filled with pointed rocks and sooty soil, the urge to find and strangle whoever had the audacity to enter her name in the tournament burned in her veins, but Harriet had little time to dwell on her grudge.
Her eyes widened as she saw the spike-backed monster glaring down at her.
A single golden egg sat on the rocks at the dragon's clawed feet.
The dragon she faced barely took the time to notice her before it opened its mouth and promptly blew what would have been a fatal blast of flame in her direction.
Everyone in the stands gasped as Harriet ducked behind a rock just in time to avoid a grisly fate.
Severus reached out and clutched his wife's hand supportively as a small, anguished moan escaped Lily's lips.
Hermione clasped her hands over her mouth.
Ron's eyes widened while Draco gnashed his teeth as his face lost what little colour it held.
Ellery frowned in rapt worry for his sister.
Crouched behind the rock while her dear ones looked on, Harriet hastily pulled out her wand and shouted, "Accio, Broom!"
The dragon's chains rattled as it approached with heavy, ominous steps.
Before the creature came too close, Harriet's broomstick arrived in a rush as it whizzed through the air.
She glimpsed the side of the monster's jagged face as she boarded her vehicle and flew out of harm's way a second before the dragon spewed another wave of fire.
Everyone in the crowd cheered but to Harriet's horror, the higher she flew, the more the dragon sought to chase her.
Gasps rang out as the chains around the massive creature's neck eventually broke as a result of its fervent pulling.
Harriet glanced behind herself with wide eyes as she realized the dragon pursued her beyond the tournament arena.
As she whirled through the air on her broom, the clouds in the sky threatened to erupt into a surge of lightning as thunder crackled.
Harriet saw no better opportunity to put her and Tom's plan into action.
While she skillfully kept one hand on her broomstick to steer, she used her other to point her wand at her throat as she cried, "Sonorous!"
The dragon screeched behind her as it flapped its expansive wings.
Harriet battled against her own terror as the creature bore down upon her while she hissed in Parseltongue, "I mean you no harm!"
Her plan seemed foolish as the dragon approached with its sinister eyes narrowed and its wide mouth open as if it threatened to burn her at any second, but to Harriet's surprise, instead of a shriek, she heard a loud, booming response.
The words sounded garbled and the tone not quite right, but Harriet managed to comprehend the dragon's response, "How can you speak to me? No other has before."
"I am a friend of Slytherin's heir." Harriet hissed back as she dove towards the ground.
Her heart filled with hope as the Hungarian Horntail followed her path until they both landed calmly on the grass beside the castle.
"...And I share this talent with him." Harriet nodded as she dared to look into the dragon's eyes while she held her wand to her own throat.
"Then why do you chain me? I have no desire to be used as an amusement for humankind." The dragon huffed as billows of smoke poured from its nostrils, "Release me and I will leave you in peace."
"You've already broken your chains." Harriet blinked.
The dragon glanced down at its own ruined shackles before it looked back at Harriet and growled, "And yet, those responsible for my capture will surely hunt me again."
"Not if you get a head start." Harriet reasoned as she pointed towards the open sky.
Despite the grimness of the weather that day, the rolling scenery of the Black Lake and swooping hills painted a morosely beautiful picture against the grey sky.
Harriet watched the dragon flap its wings longingly as she assured the creature, "If you spare my life, I'll distract them long enough for you to get away."
"And they will not cage me again?" The dragon asked Harriet as it stretched its wings.
"Not from here, not today……..Go!" Harriet hissed, "I can't hold them off forever!"
The dragon gazed at Harriet for a moment as it tried to determine whether or not she was trustworthy enough for it to accept her offer.
With one, ear-piercing shriek, the dragon made its choice and leapt into the air.
Harriet cried out as she stumbled backwards and fell onto the grass as the gust of wind created by the flapping of its massive wings threw her off balance.
By the time she recovered and staggered back to her feet, the Hungarian Horntail had soared into the distance.
Harriet watched the dragon disappear into a dark cloud just as a deluge of pouring rain fell down over her like a bucket of cold, unforgiving bath water.
Her robes were soaked and her heart was pounding as she walked over, mounted her broom again, and began her return flight to the arena.
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Draco balled his hands into fists as Harriet came soaring overhead, grabbed the golden egg from the rocky terrain, and lifted it into the air.
Celebratory cheers and applause instantly erupted throughout the crowd, despite many students' icy reception toward Harriet in the last few weeks.
Ron and Hermione shouted their joy as their friend glanced up at them.
Ellery screamed out for his sister, "HARRIET!...WELL DONE! WELL DONE!"
Harriet raised her golden egg over her head victoriously as Lily stood to her feet and wailed, "YES!...YES!"
Severus loyally stood with his wife as he glanced between Harriet and Lily while he applauded his daughter's success.
In the Slytherin section of the stands, Draco began to cough and sputter as he pretended an insect had flown down his throat and choked him.
He had to think of a viable excuse to explain the tears of relief that had welled in his grey eyes.
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Severus groaned as Lily pushed him against the wall of their empty cottage's living room later that night after they returned home.
"You brave, handsome man….." She purred to Severus in between their kisses as she pressed her breasts against his chest.
His heart raced as his wife let her hand dip down to rub his growing arousal while she began to wrestle him out of his robes.
"Lily……" He cautioned, but Lily didn't seem to hear.
He tried to warn his darling of his own eagerness as she stripped them both.
"I love you, Sev……I love you so much." Lily whispered heatedly before she resumed their kiss.
Severus held his wife's hips as he led her in a stumbling stagger over to the sofa.
They collapsed onto the soft fabric of its cushions together as their loving exchange continued.
Without breaking their kiss, Severus ignited the fire in the hearth with a wave of his hand before he gave himself completely to his beloved, as eager for her as she was for him.
Danger still lay ahead for Harriet, the Snape family, and the wizarding world as a whole, but that night, Mr. and Mrs. Snape enjoyed a not-so-quiet celebration of their daughter's victory.