Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
As the night wore on, Severus continued to slumber peacefully, but Harriet woke halfway through, drenched in sweat.
She slipped against Severus as she clawed her way out of the covers.
Air, she needed air.
Harriet gasped for breath as her heart pounded in her chest.
Her cheeks felt heated.
Her skin burned.
The all-encompassing inferno that engulfed her was nothing compared to the aching want that ignited an irresistible desire between her legs.
"Oh…….." Harriet breathed as her stomach turned while she felt wetness drip from her.
Wet, she was wet.
She was all wet and need and want and…..
"SEVERUS!" Harriet called out as she reached over and grabbed onto her mate.
Harriet intended to wake Severus from his rest, but he had already roused a moment after her eyes had popped open.
Her scent had become nearly suffocating and from a crack in the folds of blankets that covered them, Severus had stealthily watched her.
It had been a bit cruel of him to enjoy seeing his omega writhe with her primal need, but that didn't make the sight any less interesting.
When Harriet grabbed out blindly to get his attention in the darkness, Severus raised himself up like a rising serpent.
Harriet gasped at the predatory look in his black eyes.
Although the room was dark, she could see the wolfish triumph that radiated from his glimmering gaze.
Harriet's body forced its demands on her so violently that she had no time for games.
Instead of teasing her alpha or trying to incite him into a feral frenzy, Harriet threw herself at Severus's mercy.
"I….I need you…." She confessed as she let her knees part while she pushed herself onto the pillows and laid on her back.
Severus kept his dark gaze firmly fixed on Harriet as the soft covers deftly rustled around his pale frame while he moved over his suffering bride.
Harriet stared up into her mate's black eyes until he bent down for a kiss.
The feathery touch of his lips was torturously slow and viciously sweet.
Harriet whimpered into her lover's gentle affection in a pleading whine for him to end her agony and see to her comfort.
Harriet didn't understand why, but Severus displayed no mercy as he licked at her lips before his painfully delightful kisses trailed from her mouth, across her jawline, and down her throat.
As Severus gnawed on the sensitive base of her neck for a moment, Harriet's mouth fell open as her emerald eyes locked onto the ceiling.
He could taste her pulse as it throbbed against his tongue while a wicked spark of alpha instinct ignited in his chest.
How pleasant it was to have his confident, stubborn mate become so pitifully vulnerable underneath him, completely dependent on his affection for her survival.
Harriet's heart raced with anxiety.
How long would Severus torture her before he finally gave her what she wanted?
How much would she have to give him until-
His command cut through the air like the finest edge of the sharpest sword.
Harriet's eyes widened when she heard the growling purr of her mate's velvet voice curl from his throat to float into her ears.
"Spread."
Harriet's breathing became labored as she drew her legs further apart.
Severus pulled away from her throat with one last, sucking kiss as he stared down at her.
He allowed his hands to find her supple thighs while Harriet clawed his sleep trousers open and freed his arousal.
Severus smirked to himself while she stared at his manhood in fascination as it glared at her proudly from his hips.
"More." He growled at her as his smirk faded into a frown.
Harriet's hair hung in messy waves around her head.
Her cheeks were tinted a deep shade of scarlet.
Her breasts bounced on her chest as she heaved for breath, but she obediently followed her alpha's orders and widened herself until she saw his scowl lessen.
As Harriet waited for Severus to give his approval while she lay underneath him, opened as far as her body would allow, he chose not to waste anymore time with words.
He had planned on tormenting Harriet for a bit with his seductive voice and pleasant touches, but the scent of her need blinded his ambition.
Harriet nearly wept with relief as Severus dove forward and pulled her into his arms.
—————————————————————
Full.
Harriet felt so deliciously full that she wondered if she would die of happiness right there in Severus's arms.
The Silencing Charm that he had cast on their bedroom cocooned them into their own private, soundproof escape.
Harriet grit her teeth and let her nails scrape the floorboards while Severus pressed against nerve endings that she had forgotten she possessed as he made love to her from behind.
As her heat crashed over her during the next few days, after more than two years of missing out on such a blissful event, Severus was more than willing to ease his mate's burden.
Disencan kept the household running while Mr. and Mrs. Snape were indisposed.
Harriet cuddled with Maggie every day and fed her tiny girl when she requested, but the majority of her hours were spent inside her nest…...with Severus inside of her.
Disencan looked after Maggie, did the house work, tended the garden, and brought Harriet and Severus their meals, which he left outside their door.
The house elf didn't mind in the slightest as he sat there on the fifth morning of Harriet's cycle and sipped a cup of tea while Maggie showed him some pictures in one of her favorite books.
It wasn't a bad life that he had found with the Snapes.
In fact, as Maggie smiled up at him with an adorable laugh, Disencan returned her gesture and smiled back.
He had decided long ago that he had finally found his true home.
—————————————————————
By the time that Harriet's cycle ended she felt refreshed, but Severus felt drained.
Harriet wore an arrogant smile on her lips as she went about the house, content that her alpha had done his very best to fulfill her desires and anxious for her womb to consume the vast amount of seed that he had planted deep within her belly.
Severus had forgotten what it was like to devote all of his mental, physical, and emotional energy to caring for a needy omega.
Although, as he recovered during the final days of Harriet's cycle while her urgent longings gradually dissipated, he remained extremely grateful that his mate yearned for him so greatly.
Severus delighted in the knowledge that after years of painful rejection and callous neglect, he was genuinely and completely wanted.
Wanted…….
Maggie still wanted the rabbit to return.
Each morning, as Severus carried her while he and Harriet tended their garden, she stared in the direction of the place where she had met the little animal previously.
On the last day of Harriet's cycle, Severus frowned one morning as he glanced over in the direction of Maggie's gaze.
"My love…….?" He called out worriedly to his wife.
Harriet looked up from her work and walked through the garden to stand beside Severus.
She frowned as he raised a hand and pointed towards what had caught his attention.
A huge portion of the gingleberry stalks had been snapped and broken.
The dirt that surrounded the area had been thrown here and there as if some wild, rampaging beast had come through in search of food.
"What did all of this?!?!" Harriet exclaimed.
"Rab-bie!" Maggie happily told her mother.
"No, this isn't the doings of a rabbit." Severus frowned at his daughter.
He clutched his little girl close as he and Harriet walked towards the damaged area of their garden to inspect the destruction.
"There were tracks….." Harriet said as she bent down and looked at the dirt, "...But whatever it was walked over them so many times, I can't see anything clearly now."
Severus scowled down at the earth while Maggie put a hand to her tiny mouth.
"Do you think it may have been vorish weasels?" Harriet asked as she straightened her back and frowned at Severus.
"Perhaps…...that or a migrating sandalsnit." Severus shrugged, "Squirrels, rabbits, foxes…..they may have eaten the leaves, but their consumption shouldn't have disturbed the surrounding area this badly."
"Do you think it'll come back? Whatever it was?" Harriet asked as she glanced at Maggie nervously, "Should we all go inside?"
"I will not allow vorish weasels and sandalsnits to hamper our morning." Severus told Harriet with a defensive scowl as he protectively clutched Maggie close, "My wand remains in my pocket…...You're aware, Mrs. Snape, that I've faced far worse enemies before……..Let's finish our work, shall we?"
"Right." Harriet nodded, "Sure, can I take her for a moment? She seems a bit sad."
The little frown on Maggie's face conveyed her disappointment that there was no rabbit to be seen.
Severus handed Maggie to her mother and watched Harriet carry her over to the tomato plants while he thought.
As soon as Harriet's pheromones calmed enough for her to go out in public, then Severus would take his family to Diagon Alley and purchase Maggie the fluffiest, kindest rabbit available.
Regardless, his dark eyes flickered back to the disheveled portion of the garden.
The Snapes grew a variety of herbs and flowers which were useful in potions, but also the food source of several magical creatures.
The question weighed on Severus's mind that he dared not speak to Harriet…….what if the damage had been caused by an animal not quite as harmless as the ones they had each suggested?
—————————————————————
Harriet and Severus had ignored the newspapers since they had agreed to aid Kingsley.
Their decision did not change as the election arrived.
On that day, the entire wizarding world of Britain bustled with activity from sunrise to sundown as every eligible witch and wizard rushed to make their trips to the polls and submit their votes for who they felt would be the best Minister for Magic to succeed Kingsley.
Kingsley looked forward to ending his career as the head of Britain's magical government, although he forced himself to maintain his patience while the hours of Election Day wore on with interview after tedious interview.
The choices were clearly displayed on the ballots:
Severus Snape, former Headmaster of Hogwarts, Potions Master, Spy for the Order of the Phoenix, husband to Harriet Potter and father of one, credited with being essential to the war effort, the inventor of several spells, who had also made numerous potion discoveries, and possessed a keen use of cunning.
Bigsley Hunklebart, esteemed gentleman born from years of fine breeding, distant cousin to Rowena Ravenclaw herself, although some viewed his family tree as hotly debated, senior Court Administrator in the Ministry, and a married father of three.
Samwald Shangleharn, innovative wizard and freethinker, a dreamy wild card candidate who purposely chose not to attend Hogwarts in his youth citing the school as endorsing a dangerous level of conformity. Unmarried, with no children, but a great desire, as emblazoned on his campaign posters, to unite the magical and muggle worlds into one "peaceful hum".
The members of Britain's magical community chatted all day long as they traded opinions, made predictions, and speculated over what the election results may be and the potential outcomes that would most certainly result from each.
"Who did you vote for?" One witch asked her friend as they walked out of the polls together.
"I voted for Severus Snape." The other witch nodded, "I don't care about his family history, Hunklebart's a blabbering fool. We can't hardly have someone as daft as Shangleharn running things either, can we?...Unite our world with the muggles?! Ha! Complete chaos is all that would be!...Who did you vote for?"
"I voted for Professor-erm, I mean, Severus Snape, too." The first witch replied, "He was a very stern and strict teacher…..I remember his classes well, but we all learned from him. I did my best in potions and I hardly think of myself as talented. If he can control a government as well as he can a classroom, then he's the best choice in my opinion. Besides, Kingsley's endorsed him for months."
"You can always trust Minister Shacklebolt." The second witch nodded, "I read an article about Snape's doings during the war…….Brave man."
"Brave, indeed." The other witch agreed.
Together, the two magical women walked through the hectic streets of Hogsmeade.
As they went, they passed by hundreds of other people who were busy speaking to each other and casting their own votes.
The witches' conversation in support of Severus, along with their ballot choices, were hardly unique.