Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy!
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Harriet whimpered as one particularly sharp pain ricocheted through her abdomen.
The gentle cry that fell from her lips woke both of her sleeping alphas.
Severus's future self immediately sat up in bed and looked down at his mate with concern.
The grim frown on his face made the younger Severus rouse as well as he opened his eyes fully and sat up.
"My love?" Severus's future self asked as he slipped his hand into Harriet's while she blew out a breath and grit her teeth, "Is it….?"
"Yeah….." Harriet gasped in a deep sigh.
Severus felt his pulse quicken while his future self assumed a look of determined resignation as he kissed Harriet's forehead quickly and stood from the bed.
Severus stared at Harriet while his future self spoke to her in a low, calm voice as he asked, "The boys won't be up yet. Do we have time to send for-"
"No!" Harriet gasped again as she laid a hand over her eyes, "No! I-I need you…….I need you here with me."
"Alright," Severus saw his future self readily agree.
Severus watched in horror as Harriet rolled onto her side and swallowed thickly while his future self knelt in front of her in her nest and began to calmly knead her lower back with his skillful hands.
As a low groan emitted from Harriet's throat, Severus's dark eyes widened.
"Is it her time to deliver?!" Severus asked his future self incredulously.
"D-Don't talk……" Harriet whimpered out and as she groaned dryly, Severus saw his future self let her clutch his hand while she groaned again.
"She doesn't like chatter while she labours." Severus's future self quipped as he massaged Harriet's tensing muscles.
"Will you not try to take her anywhere?! She needs a healer's hands, not yours! I doubt very seriously that I've taken up the trade of midwifery in my later years!" Severus hissed.
Harriet let out a low moan and Severus watched his future self renew the silencing charm he had cast on the bedroom during the previous night before he glared up at him and replied, "The child will come too quickly for her to be transported. She'll be most comfortable here, with my touch, under my guidance. The babe will arrive easier that way, if you wish to stay, you could be of use supporting her."
"Supporting her?" Severus asked.
Past, present, future, the matter of time seemed to be of little issue as Severus allowed his future self to instruct him on how to aid his future wife while she bore their daughter.
It was both startlingly traumatic for Severus to witness and yet, indescribably touching as he watched the future version of himself help his mate with such gentle, genuine, loving care.
Although he was anything but attached to Harriet, it still brought tears to Severus's black eyes when he felt Harriet's nails dig into his hand an hour and a half later.
Her cries were pitiful and primitive as she roared at the discomfort that his emerging daughter caused her.
Severus's future self was crouched in front of Harriet, between her knees, as he whispered to her in low, encouraging purrs.
Severus gasped along with Harriet when his future self eventually lifted a dirty, crying, baby girl over her belly and onto her chest.
Severus let Harriet fall back against him as his future self handed her their newborn.
"You did well, my love." Severus's future self praised Harriet in a velvety tone that simmered with affectionate awe, "...She's beautiful."
"She's ours!" Harriet cried with such gut-wrenching emotion in her voice that Severus's breath hitched as he held Harriet close and admired their tiny daughter in her arms.
"Was it our night of passion that spurred the birth?" Severus asked after a quiet moment passed.
"Perhaps…." His future self replied while Harriet laid the whimpering newborn to her full breast, "Although Albus was delivered in my chambers at Hogwarts after she visited for lunch one afternoon. By the time she felt pain, she needed to lie down."
"And you assisted with his arrival as well?" Severus asked with a scowl.
"What was I supposed to do?" Severus's future self quipped, "Run out of the room and leave his mother on her own?"
When Severus glared at his future self, Harriet sighed and cuddled against him.
The delicious smell of sweet innocence that drifted off of her and their newborn daughter calmed his irritation and soothed his nerves.
"My sincerest apologies." Severus's future self murmured as he looked at him, "But I can't possibly leave her side to go to the Ministry now. You'll have to take the boys with you."
"Of course." Severus replied with a nod, "I understand."
Severus was not a child, he was entirely capable of seeking out the Minister for Magic and the unbroken Time-Turner.
Severus didn't need his future self or his sons as escorts, but, as he watched himself, Harriet, and their new baby, leaving was the last thing that he wanted to do.
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The prospect of returning to the year from which he had left was even more sobering for Severus when his future self alerted Verinth and Albus that the birth had happened once Harriet and the baby were clean and comfortable.
Severus stood next to his future self as they both watched the boys meet their new little sister with giggles, wide eyes, and whispered questions.
"I know that you most likely don't want to go back, but surely you understand that you must." Severus's future self spoke suddenly.
Severus looked over with a frown of surprise.
"The time that you came from is dark, but pacify yourself with the knowledge that there are more pleasant days ahead." Severus's future self reassured him with a nod.
"Perhaps……...suppose it doesn't happen this way?" Severus asked.
His future self looked over at him.
"Suppose Potter…..Harriet….rejects me? Verinth, Albus, and the baby never live. We die. She goes on and our dreams of happiness become mixed with the ashes of the forgotten past." Severus frowned.
"That's impossible." His future self nodded.
"How can you be certain?" Severus asked.
"The love that I share with Harriet is as true, as ancient, and as binding as any force. Surely you've learned by now…...love always wins in the end." Severus's future self finished.
Severus kept his frown as his future self nodded at him and added, "We will live. We will love. Verinth, Albus…...the baby……...this is all that will be, but for that to happen, you have to go back."
Severus's frown deepened as he looked over at Harriet and their children.
While he stared at his happy family, Severus heard his future self repeat,"You have to go back."
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Severus was so deep in his thoughts that he barely remembered traveling to the Ministry later that morning with Verinth and Albus at his side.
After his sons explained who they were to the receptionist at the main receiving desk, Severus stood with them over in a corner, out of the way of the endless throngs of people that bustled through the hall.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Verinth and Albus's names were called out.
Severus followed his sons as they were led by a Ministry employee through a side hallway and into a private lift that took them straight to a polished door.
"The Minister will see you now." The employee nodded at the trio as he turned the knob.
Verinth and Albus bounded into the room as Severus strode behind them.
"Verinth! Albus!" Minister for Magic Hermione Granger greeted the boys as she stood from the chair behind her desk.
Hermione had changed quite a bit from the awkward student that Severus remembered.
Her brown hair was expertly styled, her blue suit was crisp, and there was a look of graceful maturity about her that came only from years spent in a successful career.
"Headmaster Snape!" Hermione exclaimed when her brown eyes fell on Severus.
Severus mentally noted that he and Harriet's best friend were still apparently not on a first name basis with each other, not that it bothered him.
"What a surprise!" Hermione said as she smiled at her three guests, "What brings you three by today? Has the baby come?"
"Yes……." Severus answered in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "But that's not why we're here."
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The baby.
The baby was on Severus's mind as his sons returned him to the Battle of Hogwarts by using Hermione's Time-Turner.
The Minister for Magic had not been pleased with the Snape boys' antics but she saw the reason in letting them borrow her Time-Turner to assist their father so that they and their sister may one day be born.
Severus, Verinth, and Albus arrived back at the boathouse in a sudden rush just as the doorknob next to the windows began to turn once more.
"Go! Hurry!" Severus shouted at the boys while he launched himself at the glass to assume his position as if he had received no aid during Voldemort's attack.
Verinth and Albus clutched each other as they began to spin the Time-Turner, but their eyes fell on Harriet as the door creaked open and she stepped through it.
"Professor Snape!" Harriet called out as she saw Severus sitting in a heap under the window.
Before the boys disappeared, Harriet happened to glance over towards them.
Mother and sons' eyes connected for an instant and Severus watched, anxious about what would happen.
Harriet scowled incredulously as she looked back at Severus and hurriedly walked towards him.
The boys vanished.
"Professor……." Harriet breathed.
The battle had been won.
Voldemort had been defeated.
As the dead were counted and the injured were treated, Harriet had returned to collect Severus's body.
She was shocked to find him still living.
"Professor…..?" Harriet stammered in bewilderment as she looked over her fallen teacher.
Her green eyes narrowed when she moved his collar aside to reveal his uninjured throat.
There was no blood, no scuffs, no scratches, no wounds at all.
"I…..I don't understand." Harriet gasped, "I heard…...I saw everything. I saw you injured……..H-How? W-Who were those boys?"
Severus gave Harriet an unreadable look as he answered her, "Clearly Potter, you did not, in fact, see everything……..You wouldn't believe the truth if I told you."
"Yeah?" Harriet asked as she sat back with an exhausted huff, "Try me."
Harriet had taken Severus's tears to the Pensieve.
She had viewed Professor Snape's memories and learned of his true motivations.
In an effort to show him respect, she had hoped to find his body and give him a proper burial.
Harriet hadn't dreamed of finding Severus so curiously unharmed.
"Those boys were our sons, Potter." He hissed.
Harriet's emerald eyes widened.
"They came to my rescue, Verinth and Albus." Severus went on.
Harriet's mouth fell open in shock.
"I warned you that you wouldn't believe me." Severus frowned as he kept his dark gaze on Harriet.
"No…..it's not that….." Harriet said as she shook her head, "I just…..I'm not sure what to say……..."
"Oh?" Severus asked with a scowl.
"Thank you, Professor." Harriet breathed as she looked up at Severus with her jaw clenched in determined admiration, "For everything that you've done for me. I've never said 'thanks' before and I wanted to…..I wanted to..."
"Have you already viewed my memories in the Pensieve?" Severus frowned.
"I have." Harriet nodded.
"Thank you, Professor." She repeated as she reached out and laid her hand boldly on the alpha's shoulder.
Severus hoped that his future self had been right and that love would ultimately prevail.
As he looked into Harriet Potter's emerald eyes, Severus Snape took on a new mission and a new vow.
He would live, he would love, and someday, he would learn his daughter's name.
