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 gazed down at the dirty newborn in his trembling hands. His heart was pounding as his tiny son cracked his eyes open and blinked, staring up at Severus.
"Let me see him……." Lily breathed.
"Right, sorry……." Severus said quickly, remembering himself as he quickly, albeit reluctantly, passed the baby into Lily's arms.
"Hi!" Lily smiled tiredly at their new little boy, "Hi! I'm your mummy and that's daddy over there!"
The small baby looked at Lily and whimpered from the cold.
"He's not crying." Lily commented worriedly, glancing at Severus.
"What does he have to cry about? He has a beautiful, loving mother." Severus replied, working quickly to cut the cord.
Though she had missed the birth itself, Severus was still anxious for the midwife to arrive.
Severus was not professionally trained in the medical field and he fretted……..
Was there something he should be doing that he had forgotten?
Was there anything he had missed?
How was Lily's blood pressure?
Severus took out a clean blanket from the kit he had prepared and he bent forward to gently help Lily swaddle their baby boy.
"Thank you, Sev. Thank you so much." Lily whispered gratefully in Severus's ear, pecking his cheek with a kiss.
"You did wonderfully." Severus replied, taking just a second to nuzzle Lily.
Lily pulled away and Severus saw pain cross over her face as the baby whimpered again.
"...Lily?" Severus asked quickly.
Severus had read about the importance of delivering the placenta, but in his adrenaline-fueled state, his immediate concern was that either something was badly wrong or Lily had actually been carrying twins.
"Sev….." Lily started to say just as a loud pop sounded in the room, startling the baby as his tiny eyes widened.
Severus and Lily looked over as a portly woman regarded them with a smile, a bag in her hand, dressed in a blue and white uniform.
The woman beamed down at Lily and the small baby in her arms as she asked kindly, "Did someone call for a midwife?"
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The midwife helped Lily with the placenta while Severus held his newborn, cleaning and sterilizing the tub afterwards with a swish of his wand.
Under the midwife's guidance, Severus then took Lily and their new baby to St. Mungo's for observation.
Luckily, the hateful doctor Lily had encountered in the past was out for the evening, replaced by a kind, elderly man who smiled as much as he talked.
The new doctor examined Lily while the baby was taken to be weighed and measured.
Severus noticed that Lily didn't flinch during the new doctor's examination.
"Looks like you two did a fine job." The doctor smiled, nodding at Lily and Severus.
"Thank you." Lily beamed.
"She's alright?" Severus asked with concern.
"She's just fine. You took great care of her!" The doctor reassured Severus with a friendly nod, "Ever consider a career as a healer?"
"Oh, no." Severus shook his head quickly.
Outwardly calm under pressure, confident, self-assured, skilled, accurate, precise…...
Severus would have probably made a decent healer.
But though he wouldn't trade the experience for anything, Severus genuinely hoped he never had to deliver a baby again.
Severus glanced over at Lily as the nurses brought their son back into the room and he stared openly at the radiant look of joy on her face.
Pure joy……….
Severus was in awe of how beautiful Lily was, despite her ordeal, of how bright her eyes shone, of how pleasantly flushed her cheeks were…….
Though her arms shook with exhaustion, Lily happily reached out and took her baby from the nurses with a smile brighter than Severus had ever seen on her lips before.
"We'll let you all get acquainted for a while." The doctor smiled before he took his leave, gesturing for the nurses to follow behind him.
Once Severus and Lily were alone with their little son, his mood quickly changed and the baby started to fuss.
Lily tried to hold him close to calm him down but when he only flailed and kicked more, she looked up at Severus worried, as if she were asking him silently what they should do.
"I don't think he needs to be changed." Lily said, frowning as the baby's little whimpers of irritations turned into louder cries.
"WWWAAAA!"
"Maybe he's hungry." Severus suggested.
Lily looked at Severus questioningly for a moment but she shrugged and raised a hand to try to undo the tie on the back of her hospital gown.
Severus started helping Lily before she asked and he fought against the surge of arousal that raced through his groin as her full breasts tumbled into view.
"I-I don't know how." Lily said nervously over the baby's cries, which grew even sharper when he sensed Lily's anxiety.
"WWWWWWAAAAAA!"
"Hold him still." Severus calmly instructed Lily over his son's loud protest.
Lily tried her best and Severus very gently turned the baby in her arms so that his tiny cheek brushed against Lily's nipple.
The baby's hungry cries melted into angsty whines and Lily gasped happily when he finally found his target and latched on.
Severus was watching tensely, his black eyes flickering from Lily to the baby, ready to step in at any moment.
"Say 'thank you for the help, daddy.'" Lily whispered to her son as he ate his first dinner.
Lily smiled up at Severus and the kindness in her loving gaze made him melt.
Daddy.
He was someone's……….
Daddy.
Lily's hands were busy holding the baby but that didn't stop Severus from reaching out and gently touching her shoulder.
Lily smiled at Severus again and he moved forward deftly, capturing her lips in a brief but intense kiss.
Once Severus pulled away from their kiss and Lily finished nursing the baby a little while later, Severus took his sleeping son from Lily's arms as her eyelids began to flutter.
"Take care of him, Sev." Lily whispered as she fell asleep, "Take care of Harry."
Harry.
The word hit Severus like a train, reminding him that the baby wasn't just a squirming bundle with a heartbeat, the baby was a person, a life, someone.
"Rest, my love." Severus whispered back in reply, placing a kiss on the top of Lily's head.
Lily slept peacefully and Severus watched her for a long time, holding baby Harry in his arms.
A tiny noise was what finally called his attention away from his beloved.
Severus looked down at Harry, who stared up at him questioningly, fully awake and alert.
"Hush." Severus said quietly, his voice low and soothing, "You'll wake your mother. Why would you want to do such a cruel thing? She needs her rest."
Baby Harry cooed and Severus looked down at his small son, who blatantly looked back at him.
Curious, baby Harry let out another soft coo.
Severus's voice was firm but it held a tenderness like never before as he repeated, "...Hush."
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Lily slept but Severus didn't, he was too busy watching over her and……..Harry.
Severus marveled over the entire thing.
Yesterday morning, he and Lily had been in love, his hand on her swollen belly as he whispered words of encouragement to her.
Twenty-four hours later, he and Lily were still in love, but now there was a life between them…….
From them………
A life with eyes and hair and feelings and needs.
Severus watched in reverent disbelief as Lily signed Harry's birth certificate when she woke later that morning.
Severus felt like it was all a dream when Lily handed him the quill and he placed his own signature next to hers.
And suddenly, from the Ministry of Magic's point of view, Harry Snape was officially in the world, real, breathing, and registered.
Lily had another exam from the doctor just before lunch and afterwards, she had just started to feed Harry again when one particularly boisterous nurse came barging into the room, followed by two others.
Exhaustion had finally won the battle over Severus and he had just started to doze, however, he was wide awake again when Lily's room was invaded.
"Stop that immediately!" The nurse shouted at Lily, "What are you trying to do? Suffocate your baby?! Don't hold him so close!"
"No, I'm not trying to suffocate him! This was in the pamphlet!" Lily shouted defensively.
Harry started to squirm against her, unhappy about all of the shouting.
The nurses pushed Severus out of the way as, to his horror, they ripped Harry off of Lily, who wailed loudly in protest and began to roughly "adjust" her.
"WWWWWAAAAA!"
"Stop! Please!" Lily begged, "I've already fed him! Everything went well!"
"WWWWAAAA!"
The nurse in charge ignored Lily, "You say that now but when he's a good weight you'll thank us, listen to what I'm-"
"WWWAAAA!"
"-I demand you stop handling her like that this instant or I will have a word with the director of St. Mungo's!" Severus snapped loudly over Harry's cries.
"WWWWAAAA!"
Severus knew that he loved Lily and he knew that he already cared for his son more than anything, but still, it was a real shock…..
The primal anger that he felt when he watched the nurse pry Harry away from Lily….,...
All of the nurses stopped and looked at Severus.
"WWWAAAA!"
"You shouldn't even be in the room, husbands only get in the way!" The nurse in charge shouted.
"WWWWAAAA!"
Severus gently took Harry from the other nurse's arms and returned him to Lily, which quieted his cries very quickly as Lily whispered to him soothingly.
"On the contrary, I think I've been more than helpful considering your useless hospital sent her home to deliver in the middle of a washroom!" Severus hissed, standing protectively beside Lily and Harry.
The nurses narrowed their eyes at Severus.
"We're only going to show her some techniques. What does a bloke like you know about her breasts?" The nurse scoffed.
"Quite a bit considering I helped the child get here in more ways than one." Severus quipped.
Lily blushed and the nurses glared at Severus but he stood his ground.
Lily was thankful for Severus's assertiveness.
The nurses indeed showed her some techniques and some tips, but verbally, without touching her or Harry.
After Professor Snape's outburst of defensive, new father rage, it seemed that the nurses of St. Mungo's learned their lesson.
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"Careful." Severus cautioned as he helped Lily out of her hospital gown and into her clothes.
"I'm fine, Sev." Lily said with a smile that was both tired and happy, "Don't forget the bag."
Severus nodded to the far end of the bed where Lily's bag sat, "I've got it right there. Here, hold onto me, slowly now……"
Making sure first that Lily was securely clutching onto him, Severus helped Lily stand from her hospital bed and only once she was settled and stable on her feet did he walk over and collect the bag.
"Ready?" Severus asked Lily, letting her hold onto his arm for balance.
"Ready." Lily smiled.
Slowly, Severus and Lily strolled down the hallway towards the nursery.
Severus and Lily walked up to the nurse that was on duty and Severus handed her the discharge paperwork while Lily waited impatiently to hold her baby again.
"Name?" The nurse asked.
"Harry." Severus replied, "Harry Snape."
"One moment, please." The nurse nodded.
The nurse went to retrieve the correct baby from the correct bassinet while Severus and Lily watched through the window.
The second of August was an exciting day in the Snape-Evans household.
The second of August was the day that Lily and Severus brought little Harry home from the hospital.
But the second of August was an exciting day in the Snape-Evans household for another reason too……..
Later that afternoon, once Harry was sleeping in his crib, Severus knelt in front of Lily and finally took out his family's gold ring from the pocket of his robes.
"Lily," Severus said, eyeing his lover closely, watching the way she gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, "I've…….I've waited for this for so long….Now that we have a moment at last…….I…...Will you-"
"-Yes!" Lily cried, bending down and kissing Severus happily, "Yes, of course I will, Sev!"
Severus drew in a breath and slid the gold ring onto Lily's finger just before they kissed again.
Severus's love for Lily was true.
Severus's love for Lily was eternal.
Though the act itself seemed basic, Severus's proposal to Lily was anything but.
When Severus placed the golden Prince family heirloom on Lily's finger…...
Neither of them yet realized the significance that simple act would have the following year.