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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Harriet hadn't expected to receive a knock on her door hours after her letter had been sent, yet while she ate dinner with her family that night, the sound rang out.
She glanced over at Severus for a brief second before Disencan hurried over to the door and swung it wide open.
"Harriet Snape!" Healer Margot cried as soon as she saw the Minister's wife seated at the table.
As Harriet turned around, her emerald eyes widened once she realized the identity of their unannounced visitor.
"Healer Margot!" She called as she rose from the table and walked towards the Snape family's new guest, "How good of you to come so soon!"
While the two women embraced and chatted briefly, Severus sat waiting with his children for Harriet to bring her acquaintance to the table.
Although he usually despised company, considering the hazards of Harriet's latest pregnancy, it gave him comfort to know that a healthcare professional would be at least temporarily nearby.
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The children quickly came to love Healer Margot.
Full of energy and quirks, the purple-haired healer gladly spent the majority of the next day in the company of the Snape children.
It made Maggie rather sad when her father brought her back to Hogwarts in time for breakfast on Monday morning.
Scorpius's grey eyes followed her as she wheeled herself down the aisle of the Great Hall.
Full of questions and desperate to enjoy the company of his darling once more, he could barely restrain himself long enough to let the Ravenclaws finish their meal before he left Slytherin's table and came to sit next to Maggie.
"Hello, Scorpius!" She chirped as she swallowed her last bite of cinnamon roll.
"Good morning." Scorpius greeted his friend with a warm smile, "How was your weekend at home?"
"Oh, it was brilliant!" Maggie exclaimed. Her happiness faded as she noticed the bittersweet smile on Scorpius's face, "...Was yours not?"
"My weekend was fine." Scorpius shrugged. He glanced down at the table before he met Maggie's emerald gaze and laughed, "It was just sort of….odd….without you, you know."
Maggie laughed in return as her cheeks pinkened.
Before the awkwardness of the moment could crescendo, Scorpius cleared his throat and went on, "Well, tell me all about it! What happened? The whole school's been talking about your Dad's announcement."
Maggie nodded, "Don't say anything to anyone, but he told me he plans to work as Hogwarts' headmaster again." She whispered.
"Really?!" Scorpius exclaimed in surprise.
"SSHHH!" Maggie hissed. She glanced around nervously, hoping no one had heard before she smiled at her friend and nodded, "Yeah, but I don't think anyone is to know yet, so just keep it between us, alright?"
"Alright." Scorpius agreed in a hushed voice.
"That's not the best part though!" Maggie beamed.
"...It's not, is it?" Scorpius grinned.
"No!" Maggie laughed, "My Mum's expecting! In a few months, I'll have three new siblings! Isn't that exciting?!"
Scorpius blinked as he processed the news and Maggie's reaction.
Being an only child, he didn't quite understand Maggie's joy, although as he thought about his ailing mother, he decided he would much rather her be pregnant than ill.
"...Congratulations." Scorpius nodded with a polite smile.
"...You don't think it's exciting, do you?" Maggie frowned.
"It's not that." Scorpius shrugged again, "It's just….I don't have any brothers or sisters, so it's a bit hard for me to imagine."
Maggie laughed, "Yeah, I suppose I can't really imagine being an only child either. My brother's been alive since I can remember."
Scorpius nodded as they both sat in silence for a moment until Maggie asked curiously, "Will you have an only child someday?"
"I……I beg your pardon?" Scorpius blinked.
"Someday when you're older and married……" Maggie asked, "Do you just want one child?"
"Well, I, uh…." Scorpius huffed as he struggled to respond to his darling's unexpected question, "I……I can't really say. I've never thought about it much."
Maggie shrugged as she took a bite of the apple on her plate.
Nervous wonder crept through Scorpius's veins as he swallowed thickly and asked, "Have you already planned how many children you want someday, then?"
Maggie swallowed her mouthful before she glanced over, "No, but I do know I want to be a Mum…….eventually."
Scorpius tried not to let his gray eyes widen while Maggie glanced up at the ceiling in thought, "I can't say how many children I'd like…..I don't think I'd like an only child though, they might get lonely. I'd never want my child to be lonely."
She didn't notice that Scorpius visibly fidgeted as he considered their discussion.
As he delved into the daydreams he frequently entertained about a future with Maggie, he imagined himself as an alpha and her as his omega, his wife, cuddled up in her luxurious nest at Malfoy Manor, with their older children playing at her bedside and their babies in her arms.
The thought seemed delightfully overwhelming.
While Scorpius and Maggie enjoyed their pleasant reunion, neither of them noticed the deathly ominous glares they received from Maggie's rival, who had remained at Slytherin's table to scowl menacingly at the happy couple.
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"AAAAAAHHH!" Harriet cried as she lifted her face towards the ceiling with her eyes squeezed shut.
Through the crack in the door, Severus watched his wife's long, dark tresses spill over her shoulders while her bare breasts bounced as she inhaled sharply.
"Excellent." Healer Margot whispered in Harriet's ear as she kneaded her sore back with her skillful hands, her palms slick with the special healing oil only she knew how to blend, "Now, in through your mouth, nice and slow."
Harriet's pink lips parted as she let out her breath while Healer Margot's hands worked their way around her side and over the swell of her belly.
Severus scowled as he watched the healer's experienced hands drift over his wife's womb to cradle her full breasts.
The sigh that left Harriet's throat as she enjoyed her massage sent jealousy blooming in Severus's heart.
As Healer Margot let her fingers rub oil over Harriet's rosy peaks, he grabbed the doorknob and began to turn it, intent on dashing into the room to put an end to the obscene display.
He took his first step forward but halted just as the healer removed her hands from Harriet and smiled at her latest patient, "Better now?"
Harriet blew out another breath before she slowly opened her green eyes and nodded.
Severus studied the look on his mate's face carefully.
Her eyes were heavy and half-lidded, as if she were on the verge of sleep.
Her cheeks had become beguilingly flushed.
A happy smile of contentment rested on her lips.
"Will you do that every day until the babies are born?" Harriet joked.
Healer Margot laughed before she offered, "I hadn't quite planned on staying that long, though I'd be glad to teach the technique to your mate. Do you think he'd be willing to learn?"
"Yeah, of course." Harriet nodded, "I think he would be……That'd be brilliant."
Severus watched and listened while his jealousy melted into arousal.
He imagined himself there, in Healer Margot's position, with Harriet under a guided trance as he eased her pain and helped himself to…….
Severus silently shuffled on his feet, careful not to make noise and give away his position.
The thought of giving his expectant mate such a level of pleasurable relief had caused his black trousers to grow annoyingly tight.
Severus wanted Harriet to moan like that for him.
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Although he eagerly accepted Healer Margot's offer for a lesson, before his unit of learning could begin, a quick exchange of brief letters brought the Snapes and Healer Margot to Malfoy Manor.
"I don't think I've even said 'congratulations' yet." Astoria smiled weakly while she lay in bed with Harriet sitting at her side, clutching her hand.
"Oh, please don't worry about that." Harriet replied with a kind smile as she gazed down at her friend, "You should focus on feeling better."
At the end of the bed, Healer Margot concluded her examination with a wave of her wand and a skeptical scowl on her face.
"Well…..?" Harriet asked, "What can be done?"
"Perhaps everything." Healer Margot mused.
Astoria gasped as her tired eyes widened.
"...Or perhaps nothing." She shrugged.
Astoria seemed to age ten years as all hope and happiness vanished from her expression.
"What does that mean?" Harriet frowned.
"It would be easier, much easier, if I only had the ability to access ancient magic." Healer Margot thought out loud. She paced the room as she spoke, "The ailment is old in origin, it will take old knowledge to defeat it. Though I-"
"-I can help you." Harriet blurted out.
Healer Margot and Astoria both blinked in surprise.
Harriet suddenly became profoundly grateful for her husband's ancestor's presence.
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"Is she even a real healer?!" Draco hissed to Severus as they waited in the Malfoys' elegant parlor.
Lucius and Narcissa had gone out for the day, leaving godson and godfather alone.
"She claims to be." Severus shrugged, "My wife trusts her."
Draco scoffed in disdain before he frowned and asked, "I heard you mention it was three this time….Was two not enough? Looking to try for a dozen?"
"Perhaps." Severus drawled as he cast Draco a calculating gaze.
Draco frowned as he turned away and walked to the parlor's window.
"There is still…….hope……Draco." Severus said very quietly.
Draco looked over at his godfather with a frightened scowl of mortal dread on his pale face.
"Harriet may very well end up saving your wife with this endeavour of hers……..She's accomplished more with less." Severus remarked.
"And what if she fails this time?" Draco sneered, "What am I supposed to tell my son? That everyone tried to save his mother but couldn't?! That she just…just….died?! It isn't fair! It isn't fair that-"
"-Life isn't fair……Draco." Severus interrupted, "You of all people should have realized that by now."
Draco sighed as he glanced down at the floor for a moment and spoke, "I know Potter, er……Harriet….doesn't approve….." He frowned at Severus before he explained, "...Of my son and your daughter."
"They've formed a mere friendship, nothing more." Severus nodded.
"Right." Draco scoffed. He wiped a haughty smirk from his face as he begged, "Please, she'll listen to you, I'm sure. Whatever happens, don't…….don't take your daughter away from Scorpius……At least not for a while, until after…..Well, you know." Draco paused to run a hand over his face, "...She's the only happiness my son has right now."
As Severus responded with a nod of sympathetic melancholy, he genuinely hoped his beloved wife would once again prove herself to be a hero.