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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"We would like to welcome you all back to Hogwarts for the second and final semester of this particular academic year." Professor McGonagall spoke at the podium while she addressed the throngs of students on the first morning after the winter holidays, " I ask that you forgive me for speaking in the headmaster's place today, but he's agreed to let me share a happy piece of news with you all……."
Behind McGonagall, the school's staff members sat at the High Table and listened quietly.
Severus shifted in his seat and Harriet stiffened her back bracingly.
"Over the winter holidays, our very own Headmaster Snape and his assistant, Harriet Potter, became husband and wife." McGonagall announced.
The immediate barrage of whispers, squeals, and gasps that rang out through the Great Hall was deafening.
Harriet and Severus had discussed the matter in depth.
After he had obtained his bride's permission, Severus had informed his colleagues on New Year's Day of his marriage to Harriet.
He had been shocked by the amount of kind support and congratulations that he had received from the other professors.
The Snapes thought it would be wise to formally announce their union to Hogwarts' students in an effort to crush the never-ending gossip that flew around the school about them both.
Besides, Harriet's growing belly reminded her and Severus that their ability to continue concealing their relationship was quickly nearing an end.
"Quiet! Quiet down, please!" McGonagall called over the crowd until the students gradually fell silent.
"I ask you all to remember that Hogwarts expects its students to treat its staff members with the utmost respect in regards to the happenings in the classroom and in their personal lives." McGonagall nodded.
As McGongagall spoke, Severus rose from his seat in a swift, elegant motion and glided over to her.
Once she sensed Severus standing beside her, McGonagall nodded again and concluded, "Without further adieu, I'll turn the announcements over to Headmaster Snape now."
McGonagall glanced at Severus and smiled softly before she stepped away from the podium, walked back to the High Table, and sat down in her chair next to Harriet.
It took Severus by surprise that as soon as he stood in front of the podium, startling amounts of celebratory applause and excited cheers erupted throughout the Great Hall.
Many students looked happy, some of them appeared smug, and others giddily gleeful, but they all expressed their approval.
It was a wonderful yet foreign feeling for Severus, the pleasantly overwhelming notion of a room filled with hundreds of people that clapped for him and his achievements.
Bewildered, he turned to look at Harriet for a moment.
His heart soared when his bride beamed at him reassuringly.
Harriet could have promised that she caught a glimpse of Severus attempting to smile back at her, although it was probably just a trick of the floating candles' light…….
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Despite their blatant reveal, Severus and Harriet continued to be the subjects of suspecting smiles and anticipatory giggles.
Harriet's belly was the first place that the students' eyes went during potions classes that day.
Severus's pupils eagerly chatted amongst each other about the gentle curve that they were certain they could see on Mrs. Snape's abdomen.
After Harriet and Severus's mysterious seclusion several months ago and then their sudden wedding news, a pregnancy was almost expected, especially by the gossiping girls of Hogwarts.
Severus kept a scowl on his pale face while he taught that day.
His menacing stare forced all speculation into the background as he ominously paced around the dungeon classroom and scanned the faces of his students, ready and willing to sentence anyone who bothered him or his wife straight to a grueling detention.
Harriet didn't mind the discussions, really.
She and Severus had agreed not to draw attention to her condition.
However, Harriet hoped that once her belly rounded more and the teenage girls' assumptions were confirmed, they may be inclined to move on to other, more interesting topics.
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The baby that Harriet carried seemed to enjoy making its presence known.
With each passing week, the swell of her abdomen proudly grew, much to Severus's delight.
Headmaster Snape spent a good portion of his free time with his slender hands covering his wife's womb or his ear gently pressed against the mound.
When Harriet's condition became undeniably obvious, it was as she suspected, the whispers finally quieted as the remainder of the thrilling secrets that she and Severus had kept from the population of Hogwarts were at last, exposed.
Actually, several of the students were thoughtful and curious.
If the boys and girls noticed that Harriet seemed tired, someone would move over and allow her to sit down on their bench while she assisted them with their formulas.
Severus usually only allowed Harriet to be present for classes during which there was no active brewing.
He wouldn't risk her being too near most potions, frightened that the fumes or a potential accident may harm her or his pup that she carried.
When Harriet was in the classroom though, a couple of curious first year girls had the audacity one day to ask if they could touch her belly.
Harriet had readily agreed but when they laid their little hands on her, she could feel Severus scowling at them from across the room.
That evening, after the academic day had finished, she sat with a smirk on her face while she graded a few essays.
Next to Harriet, a cauldron sat filled with a simple lavender elixir which Severus was impatiently waiting on to bubble.
He had shooed Harriet out of the room at first, but she insisted that the pleasant smell of the cauldron's contents was soothingly refreshing to her.
She had spoken honestly.
Harriet had sat nearby the cauldron on purpose, glad to use the tranquil fragrance as aromatherapy while she completed her task.
Every few moments, she lifted her green eyes from the parchment and caught Severus throwing irritated frowns at her from where he sat at his desk.
"They weren't going to hurt me, you know." Harriet broke the silence as she called out to calm her protective alpha.
Severus's paternal instincts had seemed to progress with Harriet's pregnancy.
"They had no need to touch you." Severus retorted without looking up from the open book on his desk.
"They're just little girls, Sev." Harriet laughed, "Did you see the awe in their eyes?"
"No…...I was too preoccupied with ensuring your safety." Severus sniffed dryly, "The awe in their eyes happened to be the very least of my concerns at that moment."
Harriet sighed to herself with a smile on her face as she rose from her seat and put a hand on her lower back.
Severus glanced up and watched her stretch, but he frowned as he turned back to his work.
Harriet walked over and gently touched her husband's pale face once she stood next to him.
A strand of Severus's black hair fell in front of his eyes for a moment as he turned to look up at Harriet while she smiled and said, "...Thank you."
Severus scowled at her before she added, "...For looking after us."
He followed the motion closely as she put a hand on the side of her rounded belly and breathed, "Our...baby... is going to love you so much….I love you so much…….."
Severus's face softened.
He stared at Harriet with tender devotion shining in his black eyes as he held her womb in his hands and gave it a gentle kiss through the heavy fabric of his wife's robes.
"I'll do what I must to protect you." Severus purred in his low drawl as his fingers splayed soothingly over Harriet's sides. His gaze bore into hers as he vowed, "I'll do whatever I can to make you comfortable, to keep you comfortable, well, and safe…..both of you….."
Harriet knew that she could depend on Severus's promises.
If the protection he had given her during her school years hadn't been convincing enough, surely the way he had catered to her every wish, bathed her in kisses, and clutched her tightly to him in a loving embrace at every available turn during the last few months confirmed his sincerity.
Harriet groaned slightly as she tried to bend down.
Severus came to her aid and stood from his chair to crush his lips against Harriet's in a loving kiss while his hands still cradled her belly that proudly protruded between them.
Their kiss became needful and desperate as they stumbled backwards for a step or two until the cauldron began to crackle loudly from the table.
Harriet broke their kiss to blink and look over at the pewter pot.
Severus scowled when she let go of him to peer inside the bubbling cauldron and breathe in its lovely smell.
Harriet grabbed a nearby ladle and gave the lavender elixir a gentle stir.
"It's ready to be consumed." Severus assessed as he swept towards her and peered over her shoulder at the potion she had helped him brew.
He purposely let his indulgent whisper of a voice slip past her ear and cascade down her neck to tickle the sensitive area where the visible proof was displayed that Harriet had allowed Severus to claim her as his mate.
"That makes two of us, then~." Harriet chuckled as she let go of the ladle.
She sighed quietly as she felt Severus's skillful hands slide up her hips, then her sides, until they came to rest very gently on the swell that held the life they had created together, the unignorable evidence to the world of their love.
The tall alpha bent his head and wisps of his feathery, raven-black hair ghosted across Harriet's flesh while he began to nip along her neck.
"S-Severus…….." Harriet breathed as his incisors needled against the softness of her skin while he kept one of his large, strong hands possessively spread over her rounded womb.
Slyly, Severus allowed the other to wander up and delicately cup her tender breasts.
Harriet heard Severus murmur something under his breath and she gasped as her clothes vanished, leaving her body naked and exposed to the cold, dungeon air.
Alone with her alpha in the empty, locked room, Harriet heard Severus growl at how quickly her nipples pebbled under his fingertips in the chill.
She whimpered as he let his hands slide to her sides and spin her to face him.
The pleased look in Harriet's emerald stare forced a scowl onto Severus's face as he wrapped her in his dark cloak and lifted her gently to sit her bare bottom down on the edge of the wooden table.
Severus's dark eyes glowered with lust as he scanned over his mate and begrudged himself for not being able to nibble her everywhere at once.
"Severus…..please….." Harriet whimpered as her mate deftly spread her knees and enveloped her in his cloak.
A loud gasp left Harriet's throat as Severus unfastened his trousers, released his aching arousal from its prison, and moved forward.
In one swift thrust, he sheathed himself in her moistened center as his lips wrapped around one of her tender nipples.
The contents of the cauldron spilled onto the table as Severus began to pound into Harriet while he greedily suckled from her as if he were wanting to sample the milk that was already forming for their child.
"S-Severus!" Harriet cried out as she felt heat explode in her belly, edging outward to the entirety of her body while she grabbed fistfuls of his silky, black hair.
Severus growled and released his hold on Harriet's breasts in time to capture her lips in a rough, harsh kiss just before he felt her flutter around him while her pleasure crashed over her.
The sensation, along with her cries, took him over the edge……..
Harriet felt her lover's body go rigid.
Severus felt her fingernails scratch his skin through his robes as she clung to him for support.
"You're mine, Mrs. Snape~." Severus snarled in a husky, commanding whisper as he glanced down to admire his mate.
"I'm yours….." Harriet groaned in a breathless gasp.
Severus cleaned the room, Harriet, and himself with a few flicks of his wand.
He held her in his strong arms while he used magic to bottle the potion and take the cauldron off of the flame before he carried her through the dungeon classroom and into their chambers.
Carefully, Severus laid Harriet down in her nest.
It bothered him for a moment, to see how spent she looked as she cuddled under the blankets and stared up at the ceiling.
With his brow furrowed in concern, he took Harriet's hand in his and asked, "Do you feel alright? Is there anything I can get you? Bring for you? Do for you?"
Harriet breathed in a deep sigh before she looked at Severus with a contented mirth in her emerald gaze.
"I feel fine…….just a bit of happy exhaustion…..there is something you can get for me, though..." She grinned at Severus while her fingers idly ghosted across her husband's.
"And that is……?" Severus asked urgently.
Whatever Harriet wanted, whatever Harriet needed, Severus would secure it at all costs, without delay.
Based on their previous disagreements though, he was not prepared for what Harriet requested.
"...A proper nest." Harriet said with a gentle smile.
Severus narrowed his eyes incredulously and asked, "...Are you saying that…..?"
"I want us to have a home together, Sev." Harriet explained, "A real home together, not just your rooms here in the castle."
Severus held his breath in silent euphoria.
He glanced down at Harriet's belly, then back up to her green eyes before he leaned in and kissed her gently.
They would have to hurry, there wasn't more than four months left before their baby would join them, but it would be wonderful nonetheless.
Severus greatly looked forward to finding, establishing, and keeping a home with his darling bride.