Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
Draco clutched his darling in his arms while everyone ran to her aid.
He followed solemnly while Harriet's parents carried her to the infirmary.
A short while later, Lily, Severus, Draco, Ron, and Hermione all waited anxiously inside Hogwarts' hospital wing while Madam Pomfrey treated her unfortunate patient.
Draco was the first person that Harriet saw when she opened her eyes.
"...Malfoy?" She blinked curiously as her impaired vision slowly came back into focus.
In her groggy haze, she frowned curiously at the look of anguished worry on his pale face that she thought she saw.
Harriet felt it was odd enough that Draco had come to her bedside.
If he had any logical reason to be there, she would have at least expected him to wear a snide sneer.
"...Harriet, darling?" A familiar, gentle voice called out.
Harriet felt a gentle touch on her hand, and after someone pushed her glasses onto her face, she looked over to see her mother, who wore an equally serious frown of concern as she bent towards her and asked, "Can you hear me, love?"
"Yeah……." Harriet whispered. She took a deep breath and tried to focus as she nodded, "Yes, Mum, I can hear you."
After Harriet forced her eyes open more, she noticed that her father stood behind her mother with an anguished scowl that clouded his pale features.
She glanced over and noticed Hermione and Ron at the foot of her bed.
That was all right, she would expect her parents and her friends to be with her, but…….
"...Malfoy?" Harriet blinked incredulously as her memory of the accident returned.
Everyone looked over at Draco as Harriet asked, "What...What are you doing here?"
Draco covered his worry with a hateful smirk as he shrugged, "I came to make sure you didn't die, that's all. I can't believe that you fainted, Snape, I mean, you actually fainted!" He scoffed, "A bit dramatic, weren't you?"
Severus's scowl turned into a grimace, but Lily clutched his hand and silently signaled him to refrain from an intervention.
"...I didn't do it on purpose." Harriet murmured as she sat up in bed.
Her head immediately swam with her sudden change in position.
Lily saw her daughter away and she leaned in quickly.
Harriet closed her eyes while her mother put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Easy, love, easy….there you are, nice and slow."
Draco's haughty sneer left and his concerned frown returned until he felt a scorching, angry scowl burning into him.
He glanced over and saw Professor Snape glaring at him with such loathing that it amazed Draco his Quidditch uniform didn't catch fire.
"She'll be fine," Severus drawled wisely to Harriet's peers, "You three run along and continue with your day. Her mother and I will look after her from here."
Hermione and Ron walked away with frowns, but Draco wore a pout as he reluctantly obeyed and left Harriet's side.
She was still hurting, yet he had been forced to abandon her…...was there any worse punishment in existence?
Draco's heavy heart enjoyed a partial lift as he stepped out of the infirmary to find Tom Riddle waiting outside with a frown on his face.
"You may as well go on back to the common room." He told Tom with a smug shrug, "Professor Snape chased everyone away from his daughter's bedside. You won't get close to her."
Tom shot Draco an ominous grimace that could have wilted flowers, but Draco grinned victoriously as he sauntered down the stone hallway.
—————————————————————
"My poor, poor darling." Lily sighed while she sat at Harriet's bedside and gently stroked her daughter's hair, "Does it hurt very much now?"
"No, not terribly, Mum." Harriet said as she closed her eyes at the soothing feeling of her mother's touch.
"Madam Pomfrey informed us that although you have no broken bones, your left leg is badly sprained." Severus informed his daughter as he stared down at her, "She'll most likely keep you here overnight for observation."
"That's alright with me, Dad." Harriet nodded.
Lily and Severus looked at their little girl with tense expressions of worry on their faces.
Despite Lily's anguish that Harriet had been slightly injured and wasn't feeling well, when she glanced up at her lover and noticed the paternal worry that shone in his black eyes, her heart melted.
It made Lily's pulse race whenever she saw her alpha act protectively loving over the children that she had borne for him.
"I remember my first menstruation." Lily recalled with a smile as she gazed at Harriet, "My poor dear, I can't imagine trying to play Quidditch during the worst of it, or being hit like that! You should have told your father and I….We could have asked for you to be excused from the game."
"I didn't want to let Gryffindor down." Harriet sighed.
Severus and Lily both grimaced as Harriet closed her eyes and groaned as another deep cramp rolled through the base of her abdomen.
"It's starting to hurt again…..I thought that Madam Pomfrey gave me some Pain Potion?" Harriet huffed.
"She did." Severus nodded.
An anxiousness swirled through his system as his instincts roared at him to aid his suffering child although there was nothing particular that he could do.
"Mum…." Harriet whimpered as she opened her eyes when another cramp seized her, "Is it supposed to hurt this much?"
"It can, unfortunately, love." Lily said with a bittersweet smile, "The first cycles are usually the worst. I had horrible cramps when I was your age…….but they improved with time…. In a few years, you'll barely notice them."
Harriet took a deep breath before she spoke, "I don't know if I can do this every month for a few years."
"Well, sweetheart, you'll have to do this every month for more years than a few! It won't stop anytime soon!" Lily chuckled.
Severus looked down at his shoes while his wife and daughter held their feminine discussion.
Harriet groaned at her mother in frustration before she pouted and complained, "...But it hurts, Mum."
"Wait until you birth a child, darling." Lily laughed.
Severus's black eyes snapped over to his mate as if she had suggested something obscene.
Lily glanced up at her husband with a silent smirk before she turned back to Harriet.
She and Severus didn't leave their daughter's bedside that evening until after she had fallen asleep.
Lily held onto Severus's arm while the pair walked out of the castle, across the grounds, and back to their home in Hogsmeade.
It amused Lily to see the stern look of annoyance on her husband's pale face.
Normally, Severus would have been quite distracted by the way his omega kept purposely pressing his arm against her soft, warm bosom, but he was too distraught that evening to fall victim to Lily's subtle attempts at seduction.
"Sev, it's alright." Lily chided as she patted his forearm with her free hand.
As he glanced over at Lily, she smiled softly and tried to reassure him as she spoke, "This is perfectly natural….It's a good thing! Our daughter's healthy…...doesn't that make you happy?"
Severus gazed at Lily as his mouth turned downwards into such a frown of pure melancholy that she couldn't help but laugh.
His mate's laughter sent his expression spiraling into a scowl that worsened when Lily exclaimed, "Our little girl's growing into a woman, Sev!"
"NO." Severus flatly insisted as they reached their house.
Although Harriet had yet to present, Severus and Lily both knew that menstruation was a sign that she would most likely be an omega.
That thought terrified Severus down to his bones.
A primal rage filled him as he imagined Tom and Draco sliding towards his innocent daughter like hateful serpents, both intent on luring her into their beds with the intention of destroying her maidenhood.
Severus let Lily walk into the house first before he followed her inside.
He grit his teeth as he closed the door behind himself and paused to consider his own gratitude that Harriet's siblings had so far been born male.
The chances of his sons becoming alphas were high.
Severus wasn't certain if he could have handled a group of omegas that all needed his protection, having one wife and one daughter heightened his anxiety enough.
"Lily," he called in his low, velvet voice.
She turned around in their darkened house to look at him as he commanded, "I need to take you to bed, my love."
Lily's cheeks heated at the possessive tone in her husband's deep growl.
As Severus stepped forward and scooped his beloved flower into his arms, Lily held onto him while he carried her up to their bedroom.
Eileen had retrieved Albus from Lily earlier in the day while Severus had sat with Harriet and waited for her to wake.
She and the children had gone to bed long ago, but Lily knew that she and Severus wouldn't have any rest for hours to come.
Mrs. Snape recognized that Mr. Snape needed to have her surrender and recognize his dominance that evening.
Lily was more than willing to fulfill her alpha's needs.
—————————————————————
Back at the castle, Harriet rested peacefully in the infirmary.
She had been fortunate to have the hospital wing nearly all to herself and the quiet made for a good night's sleep.
The Sleeping Draught that Madam Pomfrey had allowed her to take hadn't hindered her slumber either.
Harriet hadn't been alone for terribly long when she received her first visitor of the night.
It was no great task for Tom Riddle to sneak out of his dormitory and into the school's hospital wing, however, it did take quite a bit of ingenious slyness for Draco to follow him undetected.
While Draco stayed out of sight, Tom stealthily crept into the infirmary and approached Harriet's bedside.
Draco watched with disgust as Tom stared down at her while he gently stroked her cheek.
As Tom bent forward and pressed a tender kiss to Harriet's forehead, Draco forced himself to swallow the bile that rose in his throat.
He silently fretted over how long his enemy intended to stay with Harriet until a sudden noise rang out.
Tom instantly looked up.
As footsteps approached, Tom abandoned Harriet and made his escape.
Draco watched while Madam Pomfrey began to carry out her night rounds.
She tended to the two students lying in the far corner of the room before she eventually came over to Harriet.
Draco wrinkled his nose as he looked at the amount of blood that had soaked into the pads which Madam Pomfrey pulled out from underneath his darling with a flick of her wand.
He ached sympathetically for his love.
A dreamy look crept into his grey eyes as his heart swelled while he pondered how he may relieve her suffering one day.
Soon, they would present and maybe then, his attempts at winning her affections may be solidified if he won her body first.
Harriet wouldn't have to worry about bleeding every month if she carried his child in her belly.
She wouldn't-
A shrill voice abruptly interrupted his thoughts, "-Mr. Malfoy!"
Draco had become so engrossed in his own whimsical musings that he had stepped out from his crouched position and made himself plainly visible.
"Madam Pomfrey!" Draco smiled as he quickly recovered his wits, "G-Good evening!"
"Do I need to alert Mr. Filch and Professor Snape that a Slytherin student has wandered out of bed, Mr. Malfoy?" Madam Pomfrey snapped.
Draco smoothly lied his way out of trouble, "Oh, no, Madam Pomfrey! I've come here to see you! I've…..I've got such an awful stomach ache that I can't sleep."
Madam Pomfrey stared down doubtfully at Draco for a moment before she crossed her arms and nodded, "Very well…...have a seat on the bed there and I'll examine you."
"Which bed, Madam Pomfrey?" Draco asked.
He had seen the direction of her nod, but he wanted to hear her say it.
"That one there, beside Miss Snape." Madam Pomfrey confirmed as she pointed a finger at the empty bed next to Harriet.
While Hogwarts' healer went to fetch her rolling cart of supplies, Draco leapt onto the bed beside Harriet with a triumphant smirk on his handsome face.
He convinced himself that if he complained with great emphasis, he may even be fortunate enough to have Madam Pomfrey let him spend the entire night next to his love!
As Draco looked over and gazed at his darling, he prided himself on winning not one victory, but two, over Tom Riddle on the same day.