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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"WWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
Harriet heard the sheets rustling as soon as she noticed Lily's needy wails.
She opened her eyes in time to see Severus gliding out of the room and down the hallway.
"I'll tend to her!" Harriet rasped groggily, but Severus had already disappeared from her sight.
She rubbed her eyes with a groan.
Before Harriet could stand, Severus walked back into their bedroom as he held Lily.
His mere presence had managed to soothe their daughter's loud cries into fussy whimpers.
"She needs to nurse." Severus shrewdly informed Harriet.
His tone was almost accusatory as he sat down next to Harriet and moved the baby close to her.
"I can tell." Harriet replied with a tense smile as she worked quickly to pull her nightdress down and off of her uncomfortably full breasts.
Severus watched Harriet's soft curves tumble into his view but that didn't distract him from carefully handing his little daughter over to her mother.
Father Hen looked on with cautious protectiveness in his gaze as Mother Hen sat back against the pillows and sighed.
"You didn't have to get up." Harriet smiled softly at Severus, "I heard her. I was going to go after her."
Severus remained quiet, but as Lily stuck her tiny hand over the blanket that her father had wrapped her in to guard her from the early morning chill, he slipped one of his elegant fingertips into her palm and let his little girl grasp on.
Harriet couldn't hide the wide grin that parted her lips as she watched Severus stare down at their baby with that unreadable look on his face that Harriet knew held unspoken love and devotion.
Mother Hen leaned forward with a gentle sigh and caught Father Raven off guard by pressing her lips to his in that peaceful moment.
In the first rays of the early morning's light that streamed through the window of their bedroom, Father Raven returned Mother Hen's kiss with fledgling cradled between them.
Harriet sighed in contentment as Severus held her face in one of his hands and paused to intensify their kiss to a delightful depth.
He looked at her intently when he pulled away at last.
Severus's black eyes shimmered with admiration as he stared at Harriet and elicited a happy blush from her in response.
Neither Harriet nor Severus were particularly adept when it came to navigating their odd but wonderful relationship.
Harriet hadn't experienced a heat cycle since Lily's arrival, but it was an event that they both patiently awaited.
In the meantime though, they enjoyed their domestically blissful coexistence.
Harriet took care of the baby and tended the house while Severus worked.
Each evening, she waited to welcome him home with one of her sweet kisses that he loved so well.
Severus maintained his position as headmaster during the week, but once he left the castle he was completely devoted as a father and a…….mate.
He and Harriet hadn't spoken the words yet, but they felt the bond that had grown between them and they had silently assumed the roles.
Harriet belonged to Severus and he belonged to her.
They only needed to make it official, to let their guards down, and talk to each other with open hearts.
Severus searched for the right words.
Harriet searched for the right time.
Unfortunately, neither of those things were present that morning and after stealing one more meaningful kiss from Harriet's pink lips, Severus glanced down at Lily and then stood from the bed to ready himself for the day.
There was a sadness that lingered in Harriet's heart for some reason as she watched Severus leave a short while later.
…...Was it guilt?
…….Was it longing?
Harriet wasn't certain, but once Lily finished her breakfast, she changed and dressed her baby as she smiled down at her and asked, "Do you think that we should go and see Daddy at his office today?"
Lily looked up at Harriet and responded to her mother with a bright smile and a happy laugh.
As Harriet returned her daughter's beaming grin, she wondered what the best time of day would be to surprise Severus with a visit…..?
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There were several frustrating matters that Headmaster Snape was dealing with at the castle that morning.
An accidental explosion had temporarily displaced potions classes while the damaged wall was reconstructed.
He had been relieved to learn that no one had been hurt in the blast, but that didn't solve the inconvenience of the ruined wall and the quantity of destroyed ingredients that had been stored in the jars on its shelves.
As a result, Hogwarts faced a shortage of fernalind herbs, an issue that Madam Sprout was working to rectify.
On top of that, parents were petitioning to have the curriculum changed in Defence Against the Dark Arts to incorporate more hands-on practice.
The problems at Hogwarts weren't large or unsolvable, but the irritation that they brought caused Severus to furrow his brow in a scowl as he looked over some documents on his desk during lunch time that day.
When a knock came at his door, he started at the sudden noise and looked up with a frown as he hesitantly called out in his low voice, "...Come in."
The door slowly creaked open.
A female prefect from Hufflepuff stepped inside Severus's office as she held the door in place and nodded at him, "Headmaster Snape, I apologize for interrupting, sir, but there's someone here to see you."
Severus narrowed his dark eyes in suspicion but they widened when Harriet walked into the room, clutching a basket in one hand and the carrier that held their daughter in the other.
"Leave us." Severus commanded the prefect.
After a polite nod, the girl quickly walked out and closed the door behind herself.
"Hello." Harriet chirped while she sat Lily down in the chair across from Severus. She smiled as she sat the basket on his desk and explained, "We just wanted to come by and bring you these…...I baked them fresh a little while ago. Lily helped."
Severus blinked at the folded cloth that he noticed in the basket.
He reached out and moved the cloth aside to reveal the delicious-looking lemon muffins that Harriet had prepared for him.
Severus glanced over at the carrier and Harriet pulled its sheer cover back so that he could see their daughter more clearly.
His face visibly softened as his dark eyes between Harriet, Lily, and the lemon muffins.
Severus had led a solitary, lonely life of bitter mourning and resigned misery…….at least he had until he walked into St. Mungo's basement that morning, a little over a year ago.
As Harriet kept her smile, she wondered if it wasn't tears that she saw shining in his dark eyes?
Severus never imagined that he would have a family.
He felt that he didn't deserve to know that joy, or to experience that happiness, but whether he deserved it or not, it was there, in front of him, his family.
His family had come walking right into his office that afternoon and brought with them the fresh promise of fulfillment.
"We hope that we haven't bothered you, Father Raven." Harriet laughed nervously when Severus failed to respond.
"You could never bother me, Mother Hen." Severus replied.
The unusual warmth in his low voice made Harriet's smile widen.
Lily cooed in her carrier while her mother walked around Severus's desk.
When Harriet stood in front of him, he slowly looked up at her.
As the tension built between them, Severus held eye contact with Harriet while he raised his wand and cast a concealment charm around them both so that they could have some privacy from the prying eyes of the many portraits that lined the walls of the headmaster's office.
While Harriet gazed down at him, she reached over and took one of the lemon muffins from the basket.
Carefully, as Severus placed his hands possessively on Harriet's hips, she offered the muffin to the alpha and watched as he ate out of her hand.
Severus kept his eye contact with Harriet while they listened to little Lily's coos gradually quiet as she drifted off to sleep, lulled into slumber by the soothing atmosphere of her father's office, and the reassurance that her Mummy and Daddy were nearby.
When Severus finished his muffin, he swallowed dryly and Harriet noticed to her embarrassment that she hadn't satisfied all of her lover's needs.
Father Raven glanced over at the door and sealed it with a silent spell as he watched Mother Hen unfasten her robes until her breasts were on full display for him.
Harriet held Severus's gaze as he helped her settle herself into his lap before he leaned forward and treated himself to a few swallows of her sweet, warm milk.
She kept her whimpers quiet for Lily's sake, but she did clutch Severus close and lock his head into place while he drank his fill from her.
Silently, Harriet let her fingers tangle in his dark hair while he teased her nipples with his tongue.
Severus demonstrated fantastic self-control by denying himself the pleasure of draining Harriet completely.
He thoughtfully released her breasts, but she made no motions to cover herself.
Severus looked up at Harriet and scowled at her incredulously as he spoke, "...You do realize it's now likely that half of the school is currently talking about why Harriet Potter came to see Headmaster Snape with an infant?"
Harriet grinned as she shrugged and said, "Then let half of the school talk, Headmaster Snape~."
A thrill rippled through Severus as he realized that the look on Harriet's face conveyed…….pride.
She was proud.
She was hopeful that someone had seen her with little Lily.
She was hopeful that people did talk about her and the baby and…...Severus.
Harriet wriggled on Severus's lap to make herself more comfortable and he stared up at her with his obsidian gaze as he confessed, "If Lily wasn't with you, I'd take you….. here and now."
Harriet's breath hitched as an involuntary flood of arousal heated her core when she heard Severus's unexpected declaration.
"Father Raven….." Harriet sighed as she lifted a hand and let her fingers trail over Severus's cheek while she moved a strand of his black hair out of his face.
"...Yes?" Severus asked in a voice barely above a whisper while he looked up at Harriet hopefully.
Silently, he waited for her to speak and liberate him from his emotional prison.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Severus's face fell in distraught disappointment as Harriet hurriedly leapt off of his lap and fastened her robes.
"Come back later!" Severus roared with a gruff edge to his low voice.
"Headmaster Snape! It's an emergency!" A student's cry came from outside.
With a snarl of irritation, Severus waved his wand, broke the seal, and opened the door.
He watched forlornly as Harriet grabbed the baby carrier and hurried out just as a second year Ravenclaw student hurried inside his office.
"Headmaster Snape! You have to come quickly!" The Ravenclaw boy cried with wide eyes.
"What on earth is the matter?" Severus snarled from his desk, ready to face whatever the crisis was with his instincts fully engaged.
"Madam Sprout wants you to confirm which type of fernalind herb you think will be best. She's ordering them now from a supply company who agreed to deliver them." The Ravenclaw student blinked.
"...May I ask how that qualifies as an emergency?" Severus hissed.
"I…..I don't know, sir, she said that she has to order them today or the shipment won't arrive until next month." The boy frowned, "...And then she sent me here to ask you." He finished with a shrug.
Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with two of his tapered fingers.
As much as he had doubted Harriet Potter's talents in the past, he had to credit her with one accomplishment.
She had managed to do something that others found quite difficult…….distract him.
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That very evening, after months of contemplation and an afternoon spent lamenting the loss of precious moments that could have been cherished with his omega, Severus took a detour on his way to Mother Hen's cottage and stopped by his childhood home in Spinner's End.
As he walked through the darkened, tattered rooms, he narrowed his eyes and tried very hard to remember where his mother had placed it…….
It had to be somewhere in the house, he knew that.
Severus tried Accio, but it failed to bring him the object that he desired.
His father had never learned of its existence, so he couldn't have pawned it off.
His mother had wanted it to stay in the family, she wouldn't have sold it or traded it away.
Severus wrinkled his nose at the musty odor in the abandoned dwelling.
The place held only unpleasant memories for him and because of that, he avoided it whenever he could.
That night though, Severus needed something that was stored in the dilapidated house of his boyhood.
He emptied drawers, he rummaged through wardrobes, he opened each cabinet in the kitchen, and he looked under every piece of furniture in his desperate search.
Through the living room, the den, the dining area, the bedrooms, the lavatories, back to the kitchen……..
When Severus's quest proved to be futile, he brooded to himself in frustration as he stood in the center of the house.
His arms were crossed and his black robes hung at his sides.
Perhaps his father had learned about it after all and used it for money to fuel his addiction.
Severus scowled as his gaze ghosted over the metal candlesticks on the dining table.
Or…...perhaps he hadn't searched thoroughly enough.
He stared into the dining room and focused his attention on those metal candlesticks that sat there on the table, forgotten.
Severus walked over to the dining table and took the taper out of one candlestick before he turned it over and poured out the sand that it contained.
With a wave of his wand, he searched the sand and placed every grain effortlessly back inside the candlestick.
Severus sat the taper back into place and then searched the other.
As soon as he poured the sand from that second candlestick out onto the table, he heard it.
CLINK.
The sound of success.
Severus scowled as he sifted through the sand and retrieved the object that he had hoped to find.
The ring was an old Prince family heirloom, set with amethyst and emeralds around a beautiful, enduring diamond.
The band was a little battered, but its beauty remained.
Tobias had never known about the ring.
Eileen had never worn it, but it had been there all those years, in that shabby house, waiting for its next owner.
Severus placed the sand back into the candlestick before he apparated to Harriet's cottage with the Prince family ring secretly in his possession.
Severus Snape had never imagined that the ring's next wearer would be Harriet Potter.
