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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Winter break soon concluded, but as Harriet returned to Hogwarts, she continued to wrestle
with guilt.
Her nights had again been invaded by bad dreams and her days left a heavy weight resting on her heart.
She desired to stay in Voldemort's favour, eager to please her lifelong friend.
Regardless, it upset Harriet greatly to think she could have really injured someone, intentionally or not.
Despite her deep dislike of Draco, as she replayed the Malfoys' holiday party over and over in her mind, the realization that the bowl's broken pieces could have cut his throat or landed in his eyes horrified her.
The first week back in class passed by as an anxious torture for Harriet.
She noticed that Draco glanced over at her throughout each day, although she failed to understand he had kept that silent habit for years.
Saturday, while Hermione busied herself tutoring Ron on their most recent Transfiguration unit, Harriet stalked through the castle.
She spent a good two hours wandering around, checking here and looking there for Draco.
Eventually, she concluded he must have gone home for the weekend as she headed towards the library to join her friends.
Harriet quietly walked through the rows of bookshelves as she kept a careful eye out for Ron and Hermione, not entirely sure of where they had chosen to sit.
Once she rounded the last corner on the left, her eyes widened.
Draco stood by the window with an open book in his hands.
He furrowed his brow in concentration as he stared down at the text, his school robe discarded, and the sleeves of his uniform shirt unbuttoned, pushed up close to his elbows.
Harriet shifted on her feet as she dared notice the elegant lines of his pale wrists and forearms for the first time.
Without anyone else around to see or hear, she decided to free herself from her burden as she walked towards him and called out softly, "Malfoy……?"
As Draco looked up from his book, he failed to conceal the blatant expression of gladness that passed across his features for a split second.
Harriet noticed the look of happy recognition in his grey eyes before he forced a scowl on his handsome face and hissed, "What do you want, Snape?"
Harriet stopped once she was close enough they could speak in whispers while she frowned and explained, "I….I want to apologize for what happened at your parents' party."
"Oh? You mean when you tried to slit my throat?" Draco snapped.
"No." Harriet said as her frown deepened, "When the bowl exploded…..I….I didn't mean for that to happen, Malfoy. It really was an accident."
As they stood with their chests practically touching, they both realized Draco had grown taller than Harriet.
While he stared down into her sad, emerald eyes, he actively ignored the burning temptation to pull her close and press his lips against hers.
Too proud to admit his feelings and still nursing his injured pride, which Harriet had badly wounded in front of his parents, her parents, and Voldemort, Draco decided to be as abrasive as possible.
"Snape…." He sneered, "I should apologize to you…….Everyone knows how volatile you can be. If I had only asked my father to throw you and your disturbed baby brother into the dungeons below our mansion, I would have been able to enjoy my meal in peace."
Harriet's eyes narrowed as she instantly regretted attempting to right her wrong.
Draco smirked down at her as she grit her teeth while they glared at each other.
Harriet resisted the urge to smack him.
Draco continued to resist the gnawing need to kiss her.
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Severus took no chances with Lily knowing that Sirius Black, whom he believed to be deranged and dangerous, actively roamed through the world.
He stayed beside his darling flower day and night.
During the days, he brought Lily with him to Hogwarts and kept her safely hidden in his personal chambers while he taught, relieved by the knowledge that no threat could reach her there without his knowledge first.
At the end of one spring afternoon, he retreated straight there as soon as his final class finished.
Lily glanced up from the sweater she had been knitting once he strode through the door.
"Hey, Sev." She greeted him with a smile.
Severus didn't reply until he glided over, bent down, and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.
"Good afternoon, my love." He purred as he pulled away.
"Busy day today?" Lily asked as she gazed into his eyes.
"As is every day." Severus sighed as he sat down beside her on the sofa by the hearth.
"Ellery and Harriet are well?" She asked.
"Well and doing well, yes." Severus nodded, "Would you prefer to visit them before dinner? They both left in a hurry today……they very well may have their own plans for the evening."
"Oh, well then, no, Sev, don't bother them." Lily said as she waved her hand, "We spent part of yesterday together as a family, I don't want it to seem like we're smothering them."
"They'll become spoiled……You and I never saw our parents until breaks." Severus mused.
"For a while, it was only me and you…..Being placed in separate houses certainly didn't make that any easier." Lily chuckled.
"I've always counted the minutes until I'd be able to see you again." Severus frowned at his bride.
"Sev…" Lily laughed as she laid her project to the side and boldly crawled into his lap, "If you'd given me any idea about how you felt, I would have wrapped my arms around you and-"
"-Lily, was it not obvious?" Severus asked as he cleared his throat.
He forced himself not to stare at his wife's perfect, creamy cleavage that pushed against the neckline of her robes.
"Not to me." Lily answered with a smile as she gazed up into his dark eyes, "You've been a master of concealment for some time now, Sev. You're a hard man to read."
A noise between a purr and a growl left his throat while he bent down and captured Lily's lips in a deep kiss.
She groaned as she lifted her hands and held Severus's face while their affection deepened.
Lily sighed against him while his hands splayed possessively over his hips for a moment.
Mr. and Mrs. Snape took full advantage of the luxury his empty chambers afforded as their kiss deepened.
Severus swept Lily into his arms and elicited a delicious giggle from her throat while he carried her down the narrow hallway.
As they entered his old bedroom and eagerly anticipated the next hour they would spend together, Severus felt his heart fill to the brim with a sensation he never imagined he would experience, certainly not to such a devastating degree.
Despite the war, Voldemort, the stresses of teaching, and every other irritating, inconvenient peril in his life, as he watched Lily wriggle out of her clothes to offer herself to him, Severus felt genuinely and truly……happy.
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Severus Snape's happiness was destined to be disrupted at every available turn.
He and Lily returned home sometime later.
Once they made it back to their humble, cozy cottage, they took their time enjoying their bond.
With an open schedule for the rest of the evening, there was little to stop them from languishing in each other's arms.
After their first session of coupling at Hogwarts, they cuddled and kissed in their bed at home for another hour or two before their hands began to roam over one another again.
As their cuddle became less innocent, Lily gladly welcomed her lover by wrapping her thighs around his waist and listening to the deep groan that left his lips as he entered her once more.
The second session seemed far more exhausting than the first, but Severus and Lily guided each other through their haze of loving bliss with their hips in perfect rhythm and their hands clasped together, fingers intertwined.
Once their exertions finally concluded, Severus drifted off for a brief nap as he lay in bed, physically, emotionally, and mentally spent after his day at work and his efforts at pleasing his wife.
Lily had at first contented herself to lay beside him and admire his pale features while she waited on him to wake, but an urgent thirst and the need to move her twitchy legs drove her to deftly rise from their bed without waking Severus.
She slipped her thin robe around her bare body, left the room, and walked downstairs.
Lily passed a hand over her face as she traipsed into the kitchen and stretched herself for a moment before she turned to the cupboard.
As she opened the door and retrieved a goblet, she noticed a figure with shoulder-length dark hair standing across from her.
Lily chuckled as she spoke, "Sev, why didn't you tell me you were-"
She froze as she looked up.
Her emerald eyes widened as she gazed at the man in front of her.
Thin and gaunt, with his black hair, not all that different from Severus's in style and colour, handing down around his face. His Azkaban uniform seemed nearly as frightening as the maniacal smile on his lips and the austere tattoos that covered a portion of his exposed, emaciated chest.
"Sirius……." Lily whispered as she glanced from his disturbing expression to the wand he held pointed directly at her.
"Hello, Lily." Sirius answered. His wide grin revealed his decaying teeth, "...It's been a long time."
Lily tried very hard to control her fear.
She wisely lifted her hands and did not let her eyes drift to the motion she noticed behind Sirius on the stairs as she kept him talking.
"W-What do you want, Sirius?" She asked as he took an ominous step towards her.
Sirius's laugh sounded wild and unsettling as he exclaimed, "You should know exactly what I want, Lily! I want-"
"EX-PELLIARMUS!"
The shout rang out loud and clear just before a blistering burst of magic rushed across the room and slammed into Sirius.
As he cried out in surprise, Lily screamed while his wand fell from his hand.
In one smooth motion, Severus lunged forward, plucked Sirius's wand from the floor, and caught his beloved flower as she rushed into his arms.
"SEV!" Lily exclaimed as she clung to him.
"Don't fear, my love….I have you." Severus whispered as his grasp on Lily's waist tightened in a protective squeeze, "...I have you."
His low, reassuring whisper ended quickly as he turned his attention to their unwelcome guest.
Severus brandished his wand at Sirius, who lay on the kitchen floor in a defeated heap.
Slowly, he took a step forward as he cautiously pushed Lily behind himself.
Sirius managed to recover enough to crack his eyes open and sneer at Severus, "Hello, Snivelly."
"Get out of my house, Black." Severus answered in an icy tone of merciless hatred.
Sirius's sneer dissolved into a grin before a series of bizarre giggles emanated from his throat as he stared up at his old victim and declared, "Oh, Snivelly….I'm not going anywhere! Not until I get what I want!"
"...What is that you want?" Severus cautiously questioned as he kept his wand hovering over his enemy.
"I want……." Sirius answered as his chest heaved, "I want….to speak….to James Potter's daughter!"
Severus and Lily exchanged nervous glances as thousands of ominous questions ran through their minds.