Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy!
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Severus managed to control his instincts by reminding himself of the hours that he and Lily would be able to share in private once the children were in bed.
After his twins had finished their dinner, Severus helped Lily to her feet, and took the two older babies from her.
She cradled the littlest one in his arm and let Albus hold her other hand while they followed Severus out of the room and down the stairs.
"Sister! Sister!" Albus cried out excitedly as soon as he saw Harriet.
Lily laughed as he let go of her hand and raced over hurriedly to proudly present his older sibling with the picture that he had spent the better part of the afternoon drawing for her.
Harriet took the picture from her younger brother with a smile and she kept it in her lap as the Snape family shared their evening meal together a few moments later.
Lily cradled her youngest son while she ate.
The twins sat in matching high chairs as they both cooed fondly at their father, excited to see him again after his absence during the day.
Albus and Severus were quiet as Lily looked at her only daughter with a smile and asked her, "Did you have a good week at school, darling?"
"I suppose." Harriet replied while she picked at her food.
Harriet had only been a Hogwarts student for a little over two months.
Lily had been very proud when her eldest child had been sorted into Gryfinndor, but Severus had seemed to lament the fact that Harriet hadn't been placed into Slytherin.
He held out a silent hope that his sons' placements may be different when they entered Hogwarts one day…..
It was halfway through October and so far, Severus had noticed that Harriet had succeeded in making enemies nearly as well as she had in making friends.
"Ron and Hermione…….you know, and me, of course, are all working on a group project for herbology." Harriet told her family.
Severus and Albus blinked at her while Lily smiled, "Oh, that's exciting, sweetheart! Your father told me how well you're doing in potions. We're very proud of you!"
"I'd do even better if we had less group projects in potions, Dad." Harriet told Severus with a frown.
Severus read the look on Harriet's face and he clearly understood that she was referencing the trouble that her assigned partner had given her a few hours ago.
"Group projects in my classes aren't common." Severus replied stoically. He narrowed his eyes at his daughter as he replied, "However, if Mr. Malfoy continues to give you trouble, I'll have to write a letter to his father. I expect that he's most likely still angry with you for refusing his friendship."
"Ron was the first person who was kind to me on the train and Malfoy insulted him because his family isn't wealthy!" Harriet insisted with her green eyes narrowed, "How am I supposed to be friends with someone like that, Dad?"
"I wasn't suggesting that you should." Severus replied with a shrug, "Merely that your refusal offended him. Keep to your own affairs and he'll likely move on once his battered ego recovers."
Albus watched his sister closely as she frowned down at her plate and finished her food.
Lily looked over at Severus but before anyone could say anything else, the baby in Lily's arms began to wail.
"WWWWAAAA!"
"WWWWAAA!"
Harriet had her four younger brothers to thank for that, whenever she needed a distraction, they were usually able to provide one.
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It was a lengthy but enjoyable affair, evenings in the Snape house.
Harriet and Albus could see themselves to bed, although they did wait patiently for their mother and father to come and tuck them in.
Lily's kiss and Severus's gentle murmur were luxuries that Harriet had grown more appreciative of since she had enrolled at Hogwarts.
Once their older children were resting in their rooms, Lily and Severus put their babies down to sleep, and breathed a sigh of relief once the three little ones were all snoozing comfortably.
At last, Severus had his wife all to himself.
That night, he chose not to break routine and he kept one of his long, elegant hands protectively on the small of his omega's back as he led her off to bed.
When they were safely in the privacy of their bedchamber, Severus gave Lily a gentle, seductive kiss before they both began to change into their nightclothes.
It took a lily a moment longer and Severus managed to crawl into bed first.
He was taken by surprise when Lily glanced over at him and whispered quietly, "I was hoping that we could sleep in the nest tonight……."
Severus cocked an eyebrow at his mate but he granted her request.
Slowly, Severus slipped out of the bed and into the cozy pile of pillows and blankets on the floor that made up Lily's place of comfort.
He watched his beloved finish undressing as he breathed in her sweet scent, which permeated the entire nest.
As he did, he felt himself swallow back the excess saliva that formed in his mouth.
Lily's abdomen bore a few silvery marks of proof that she had borne her alpha's children but that and her slightly fuller figure seemed to exhilarate Severus.
He enjoyed seeing the proof that Lily was healthy, fertile, and his.
As she sighed and finally came to join him, Severus wasted no time in wrapping his mate in his possessive grasp.
While they snuggled together in Lily's nest, Severus stole as many sweet kisses from her plump lips that she would allow.
"Lily……?" Severus asked in a husky purr.
"...Hmm?" Lily answered in a deep sigh as she nipped Severus gently.
"You smell delightful…….Do you feel like you're going to have another heat?" Severus asked in an anxious whisper.
Lily chose not to respond and instead, she moved herself into Severus's lap teasingly and deepened their connection.
He struggled not to growl in decadent frustration.
The Snapes needed to cap the size of their family, Severus realized that, but he also realized the loveliness of Lily's scent and how soft, warm, and wet…….
"Perhaps I should brew a heat suppressant? I know we've never tried one before, but we have the children now, we don't need your heats anymore, my love." Severus whispered to Lily after he summoned the gigantic amount of self-control he needed to resist her embrace long enough to speak.
"Perhaps……" Lily replied with a gentle smile as she looked at Severus and gently tucked a stray piece of his black hair behind his ear.
They looked at each other for a moment in the darkness of their room before Lily giggled and remarked, "Harriet seems so mature after only a short while at Hogwarts…...They'll all be grown before we know it."
"Don't remind me." Severus whispered back as he leaned in and rekindled their kiss.
It was then that Lily pulled away.
Determined to tease her husband, she chuckled and said, "It'll be Harriet's turn before you know it, Sev!"
The menacing glare on Severus's face at the mention of his only daughter experiencing the inconvenience of heat cycles and all of the….implications…..that came with them made Lily laugh out loud.
She covered her mouth quickly so that she wouldn't wake the children with her noise and Severus took the opportunity to pounce on his darling.
Lily left her hand in place while her alpha roamed over her with his lips, teeth, tongue, fingertips……..
Severus hadn't been very appreciative of the way he had caught Lucius's son teasing Harriet earlier in the afternoon.
Severus was even less appreciative of hearing that manner of talk from his wife, but Lily didn't mind.
When their coupling finished, Severus was breathing hard and Lily's cheeks were flushed a deep pink from the pleasurable exertion that her husband had guided her through.
Severus clutched Lily close while she snuggled up to him and kissed his chest.
It was really quite embarrassing for her to admit how much she enjoyed taunting her alpha~.
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Halloween arrived two weeks later and the day itself passed by uneventfully.
Lily stayed home with and looked after the children while they all waited on Severus to join them once his duties at the castle concluded.
Harriet walked, ate, and studied with her friends, Ron and Hermione.
She did her best to ignore Draco and his dim-witted entourage.
The unlikely pair had received top marks from Professor Snape on their sleeping draught collaboration.
That elicited an arrogant sneer from Draco and in return, Harriet had gifted him with a disapproving scowl.
Fortunately, they hadn't found themselves being forced to work together again and so they had resumed their usual social patterns.
Draco mocked her, Harriet ignored him.
Draco sneered at her, Harriet ignored him.
Sometimes, if Draco were very lucky, she may frown back at him, but that was the extent of their interactions.
Severus, as Harriet's father and head of Slytherin, was quite aware that Lucius's son seemed to have targeted his daughter, but he pondered how to strategically approach the situation.
Lucius would surely defend his son and Draco would insist that Harriet was a liar.
Still, how should he protect his little girl?
On Halloween afternoon, Harriet was talking to Hermione in the middle of potions class and she was admittedly not watching her cauldron.
When it bubbled up and spilled across the table, onto her uniform, and over the floor, Severus turned and rushed over towards his eldest child.
"What's the matter, Snape? Can't handle a ladle?!" Draco spat in the background while his friends cackled around him.
"That will do, Mr. Malfoy!" Severus snapped at Draco while he looked over Harriet and made sure she hadn't been burned.
"You have to watch it closely. A Potioneer does not abandon their work in pursuit of fleeting fancies or frivolous daydreams!" Severus hissed to Harriet.
He was angered by her carelessness.
She could have been hurt, did she not understand how serious brewing could be?!
"Sorry, Dad…...I won't let it happen again." Harriet apologized with a guilty frown.
She turned her green eyes up to Severus and asked with a pout, "May I go to the lavatory and wash up?"
Severus jerked his head towards the door and replied in his low drawl, "Go…I'm sure Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley can help clean your mess here."
When Ron and Hermione nodded at their strict potions professor, Severus looked at Harriet and commanded her, "When you finish, come straight to the Great Hall for dinner. Do not…..dally."
"Right." Harriet replied to Severus.
She glanced over at Hermione and Ron in a gaze of silent thanks before she hurried out of the dungeon classroom to try and save her uniform from complete ruin.
Severus watched Draco carefully as she went and he noticed that until Harriet disappeared from sight, Draco's grey eyes were fixed upon her…..
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The class concluded shortly after Harriet left.
By the time Severus made his appearance in the Great Hall, he narrowed his eyes to slits when he noticed that Harriet was missing from the Gryfinndor table.
Professor Snaoe was just about to ask Professor McGongagall to go and check on the young Gryffindor when the doors to the Great Hall burst open and Mr. Filch came running inside with his cat, Mrs. Norris, clutched in his arms.
"TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" Filch screamed desperately.
Gasps and whispers rang out through the throngs of students but Dumbledore stood to his feet and listened as Filch spoke again.
"I need….some assistance! A troll is loose in this castle…..I saw it myself….it was heading towards the girls' bathroom!" He declared with his beady eyes narrowed as he glanced around the High Table.
Panic washed over Severus's face.
His worry made him forget to look at Draco, who wore a similar expression of grave concern.
Dumbledore was urgent but calm as he declared decidedly over the noise of Hogwarts' pupils, "Students will be led back to their dormitories by their house prefects immediately! Staff members will follow me to the dungeons."
While the prefects began to collect their housemates, Severus didn't wait to follow the headmaster.
Severus stood from his seat and swept through the door behind his chair that led out of the Great Hall, intent on rushing to Harriet's aid as quickly as possible.
Draco was the only student who broke out of line on the march back to the dormitories.
Crabbe and Goyle, his two closest contacts, didn't even notice he had gone as he slyly removed himself from the very back of the line before he was seen and dashed towards the girls' bathroom down in the dungeons…...