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 breathed a sigh of relief when his duties for his sham campaign finally came to an end.
As Britain's wizarding world prepared to choose its new Minister for Magic, he settled back down into his quiet, reclusive life with Harriet, Maggie, and Disencan.
Kingsley had expressed his immense gratitude for Severus's willingness to help and every few days, a letter arrived from the Ministry, proudly notifying the Snapes about what newly caught criminal had been expunged from government service.
Severus held Maggie one pleasant morning while he worked across from Harriet in the vast garden that grew on their property.
Maggie clutched onto her Daddy and blinked as she watched Severus harvest the gingleberries off the tall, creeping stalks when they both started as they heard a noise.
Severus instinctively tightened his grip on Maggie as he scowled in the direction of the sound.
His face relaxed when he noticed that a small, grey bunny had come to nibble on the lower leaves of a nearby gingleberry stalk.
Severus prepared to shoo the animal away until he heard Maggie gasp.
He looked at his little girl and frowned when he saw that her large eyes had widened as she beheld the animal.
From the bunny's soft-looking fur to its tiny, fluffy, white tail, Maggie was delighted by the creature.
It surprised Severus that his daughter stretched out her arms towards the bunny and thrashed against him as best she could in a desperate attempt to get a closer look.
He frowned as he lamented the fact that Maggie wouldn't be able to toddle towards the animal like other children her age, although he knew that the rabbit would surely flee.
Regardless, Severus deftly sat Maggie down on the ground as he taught her the name of her new obsession in his low drawl, "...Rabbit."
Maggie blinked up at Severus for a moment.
He looked into his child's eyes and instructed her again, "Rab-bit."
Severus spoke a little too loudly and the bunny jumped.
He looked over at the animal as its heart pounded while it skittishly braced itself.
Maggie didn't seem worried as she stretched out her little arms again and called to her new friend, "Rab-bie!"
Severus's dark eyes widened.
It had taken two long years and something that genuinely interested her, but at last, Maggie Snape had found her voice.
While Severus watched the bunny warily come closer, a part of him realized that he should have called out to Harriet.
Instead, he chose not to interrupt the moment as the small animal slowly and cautiously made its way over to Maggie.
The bunny was just a baby, much like its admirer, and in its gentle way, it curiously sniffed Maggie's chubby little hand with its velvety nose.
Maggie laughed as the bunny's faint breath blew over her while she happily cried again, "Rab-bie!"
Her joyful shriek was a bit too shrill for her nervous friend's liking.
The small bunny made his escape in one sprinting leap as he disappeared through the thick rows of gingleberry stalks.
Maggie frowned at Severus while he lifted her back into his arms after the rabbit disappeared.
He hurried over to Harriet and Disencan, who had spent the majority of the morning trimming mint leaves.
"She spoke." Severus hissed to his family members as he rushed up to them with Maggie in his arms.
Harriet frowned at Severus for a moment before she asked, "...She what?"
Disencan blinked.
"She spoke!" Severus exclaimed. He looked at Maggie and asked his little girl, "What did we see in the garden just now?...Can you tell your mother?"
"Rab-bie!" Maggie happily informed Harriet with a bright smile.
Harriet's mouth fell open as Severus explained, "There was a rabbit…..young, like her. The sight pleased her so well that it drew the word from her throat. She seems to be having trouble with the last syllable, but she spoke!"
Harriet gasped.
A happy smile came over her face as she placed her hand on Maggie's back and she praised her daughter, "Mummy's so proud of you, love!"
"Daddy……." Maggie replied as she placed a hand on Severus's chest.
Severus's dark eyes glimmered with pride as Harriet nodded eagerly and replied, "That's right, that's Daddy! Very good, sweetheart!"
"Mummy….." Maggie murmured as Harriet scooped her out of Severus's arms to hold her close.
"Yes!" Harriet nodded as she cuddled Maggie close, "I'm your Mummy, very good, love!"
As Maggie laid her head down on Harriet's chest, Harriet closed her eyes for a moment.
She had waited two years to be addressed by the title that she had earned, the title so many other women complained about hearing themselves called……...Mummy.
While Harriet snuggled Maggie, Disencan looked on from the background.
Ever the teacher, Severus pointed to the elf and asked his daughter, "...Can you tell us who this is?"
"Disey!" Maggie giggled.
A warm smile lit up Disencan's face as Harriet kissed Maggie's little cheek.
"There will be quite a bit of work to be done on her pronunciation." Severus remarked to Harriet as Maggie looked out over the garden.
"That'll come with time, Sev!" Harriet whispered so that Maggie wouldn't hear, "She's spoken! She's finally spoken!"
Severus proudly embraced his wife and daughter as the birds that flew overhead chirped in the sky.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Snape held onto their hope that perhaps, their daughter would be able to heal.
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It could have been the relief of the campaign stress being alleviated or perhaps the joy that Maggie had started to make progress.
Whatever the reason, a week after the Snapes' daughter had uttered her first word, Harriet found herself spending the day upstairs, obsessing over every detail of her new nest.
The covers, the pillows, the sheets, everything needed to be in perfect order for Harriet.
It had been so long since she constructed a place of comfortable respite that she had forgotten what a monumental task it was in the immediate days before a cycle began.
Her head ached, her empty womb cramped, nausea constricted her throat……..
Harriet sighed to herself as she dreaded the unbearable warmth that would inevitably come, yet she relished the idea of having her mate next to her the entire time.
She had used a fair amount of Severus's clothes to make her nest.
As she finished her cozy spot and crawled into it later that evening, she relaxed with a sigh as she buried her face in a pile of her husband's white undershirts.
Severus's scent alone was enough to soothe Harriet's racing mind and tame the pains that her body imposed on her.
Harriet knew that she would soon be underneath him, nude, helpless, and begging while he hovered over her to ease her struggle.
Harriet sighed to herself as a smirk crossed her lips.
She hoped that her alpha was ready.
Her womb had grown tired of being empty.
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Severus acted no differently in front of Maggie and Disencan, but he found himself swallowing his own drool several times a day while Harriet's scent became sweeter and stronger as her cycle approached.
The tension that came with her coming heat would have been more crippling for Severus if they had been alone.
However, he forced himself to stay sane enough to continue on as the head of the household.
Severus feared how much he would be able to control his instincts once Harriet's cycle arrived.
He had discussed the issue with Disencan.
The kind elf had agreed to look after little Maggie during the hours that Severus and Harriet would find themselves…...preoccupied.
There was never a time, no matter her condition, when Harriet would refuse to care for her baby.
Severus had made the arrangements with Disencan as a precaution.
It wasn't Harriet that he worried about…….
To avoid being manipulated by his attraction to his mate, Severus spent large portions of the days before Harriet's heat out in the garden again, with Maggie in his arms and Disencan by his side.
The work was relaxing and the crisp, spring air was soothing.
Severus had noticed that every morning, Maggie stared over in the direction that she had first seen the little bunny.
"...Do you intend to tell me what you're looking for?" Severus asked his curious daughter one morning as he watched her stare over expectantly at the place in which the rabbit had appeared.
"Rab-bie…….." Maggie exhaled in an excited whisper as she blinked her large eyes.
A small smirk curled Severus's lips as he watched his little daughter anxiously wait for another glimpse of her furry comrade.
The rabbit had captured Maggie's heart, but her enthusiasm about the animal had given Severus an idea.
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That same evening, he crawled into Harriet's nest and cuddled her close as he breathed in the exaggerated sweetness of his mate's scent with a contented purr.
Severus had learned that there were few things more cozy in the world than being welcomed by a nesting omega.
Harriet laid against him, covered by only her thin nightgown.
As they cuddled together, wrapped in the warm blankets, Severus placed two fingers under Harriet's chin and lifted her face towards his to stealthily capture her lips in a deep kiss.
Harriet thought she had imagined the flush that crept over her cheeks while Severus slid his other hand across her back and pulled her tightly against him.
She wanted so badly for him to continue that her heart nearly shattered when he pulled away from her.
The frown on her face caused one to spread across his own as he reminded her, "Soon, my love……you and I both need to conserve our energy for what's to come."
"...You mean our second baby?" Harriet boldly asked.
Severus felt a throb of arousal course through his groin at his mate's cocky question.
"Are you truly arrogant enough to assume that our conception efforts will be successful with one heat?" Severus asked Harriet as he pushed himself up in her nest.
"I've had one heat since we've mated." Harriet shrugged, "...Maggie was born several months later. I think that speaks for itself."
Severus scowled at his lover while she writhed under him with a little sigh. She yawned as she added, "You can't taunt me, Sev. I know the strength of our bond…...you know it too. I don't feel that we'll have any trouble welcoming another baby."
Severus's black eyes softened as he looked down at Harriet.
To distract himself from the urge to claim her, he spoke, "...Maggie waits for the rabbit to return every morning."
"...Does she?" Harriet asked, "She really loved the little thing that much?"
Severus's dark eyes flickered over Harriet's hardened nipples as he drawled, "I believe so..."
"That's very sweet." Harriet replied with a soft smile.
"The animal helped her find her voice…" Severus went on. He curtailed his apprehension as he approached Harriet with his idea, "...I've considered the matter in great detail."
"Oh?" Harriet asked, "Won't you tell me your thoughts, then?"
Severus stared into Harriet's emerald eyes as he suggested, "Perhaps…...we should consider adopting a pet?"
"A rabbit?" Harriet blinked.
"I think that Maggie would be enamored with the creature." Severus reasoned, "She spoke her first word when she saw a rabbit...I don't think it's unwise to draw the conclusion that one's presence may prove to be therapeutic for her."
"...Right." Harriet nodded, "Yeah, Sev, I don't think that's a bad idea. Let's take her down to the pet store tomorrow and let her choose one."
"I hardly support the notion that you'll be in any condition for an outing tomorrow." Severus quipped as his black stare glided over Harriet again.
"My cycle's days away yet." Harriet frowned.
"...Is it, really?" Severus asked.
Before Harriet could respond, he bent down and pressed another sweet, tender kiss to her lips, but that one didn't end.
Harriet and Severus continued their kiss, sparked by passion, and fueled by pheromones, until they both drifted off to a rest filled with pleasant dreams.
While Severus slumbered, he saw his daughter walking and laughing as he and Harriet looked on with their hands over her rounded belly.
Harriet smiled in her sleep as she saw the same vignette of happiness dance through her mind.