Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
By the time the midwife arrived, Harriet was more than glad to see her magical healthcare worker.
A quick examination yielded the confirmation that everyone hoped for……the baby was officially on its way.
With her midwife's permission, Harriet paced slow circles around the bedroom as Severus trailed behind her for the next few hours while the pains gradually became stronger.
Although her labour was far from enjoyable, as the minutes passed by, Harriet's anxiety lowered as her pain increased.
The onerous process hurt, but beyond the physical torment, she felt safe and comfortable in her home, in her room.
She had not been allowed those soothing luxuries with Maggie.
Harriet paused whenever a contraction washed over her.
As she concentrated on her breathing, Severus rubbed her back while the midwife pressed her hands against Harriet's belly and murmured a nonverbal spell to check her progress.
Her heaving breaths turned into whimpers, which evolved into loud moans by the evening.
Though her labour had been lengthy, Harriet felt grateful for the passage of time as she glanced out the window at the moon that shone high in the sky.
Maggie's birth had been terrifyingly quick.
When the time came at last, Harriet squatted naked in her nest and leaned on Severus as the midwife patiently worked between her legs.
"You're doing so well, my love." Severus purred in his low drawl as he kissed Harriet's wet forehead, "So very well……just a bit more effort and we'll have the child in our arms."
As Severus tasted the saltiness of his lover's perspiration on his lips, he reached to grab the damp rag that lay on the nightstand, but Harriet stopped him with a groan as she gripped onto his shoulders.
The midwife glanced up at Severus with a tense smile as she explained, "The next pain is about to begin, Mr. Snape. You may want to wait a moment…..She's getting a bit tired."
Harriet moaned as she buried her face in the crook of Severus's neck while her insides clenched with the start of the spasm.
"Breathe……" Severus coached while he frowned and massaged what he could reach of her sides. As Harriet started to pant, he purred, "That's it……..good girl, gather your energy so you can-"
"Push, Mrs. Snape!" The midwife instructed.
Harriet grit her teeth as she clutched onto Severus for dear life and used every bit of muscular strength in her core to bear down as she cried out, "NNNGGGGHHHHH!"
Severus grit his teeth too as his heart broke while he listened to her pained groan, but the midwife's face held enough joy for them both.
"Excellent!" She laughed cheerfully as Harriet ended her push with a loud, moaning gasp as she collapsed onto Severus.
"One more and the baby will be in your arms!" The midwife gladly informed Harriet as she paused to pat her patient's back.
Harriet sighed heavily as she tried to catch her breath while she rested her head on Severus's shoulder.
He used a small bit of nonverbal Legilimency to skim her thoughts, but instead of pain signals or cohesive musings, he saw only scattered fragments of what should have been whole ideas.
It worried Severus deeply to realize just how close to total exhaustion his mate had come.
As Harriet panted while she waited for the next contraction, he moved his arms to hold her in a more secure embrace, careful not to disturb her grip on him.
She whimpered as Severus's low voice whispered in her ear, "One more, my love, one more……that's all."
"I……I can't." Harriet whispered back.
Severus glanced at her with a frown.
He watched his darling close her eyes as a tired sigh left her lips, "I can't do it, Sev, I'm tired…..I'm too tired now….If I could just rest for a bit, I-"
Harriet's voice cut off as her face twisted in pain while a new contraction began deep in the base of her core.
Severus watched in horror as her face flushed with the force of the violent spasm as she dug her heels into her nest and groaned, "AAAAAAAAGGGHH!"
"You don't have time to rest, my love." Severus said. His stoic resolve cracked as he commanded his mate, "This babe is coming now, take a deep breath and push!"
Harriet nearly ripped the flesh off of Severus's shoulders as she clawed at him, grit her teeth, and closed her eyes.
A primitive, guttural groan of effort left her throat while she bore down with every bit of energy she could summon, "NNNNGGGHHH!"
Severus ignored the pain his beloved caused him as he held her steady.
He carefully watched the midwife move between his mate's legs.
Harriet's cry ended in a ragged gasp as she opened her eyes wide at the unexpected, sudden exchange of weight.
Slowly, a small cry started that quickly became a loud, angry wail…..
"WWAA!"
"WWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWWAAAA!"
As Severus glanced behind Harriet, he watched the midwife sit up with a squirming bundle in her arms.
He quickly helped his tired mate onto her bottom so the healthcare worker could safely place their new baby in her arms.
"Congratulations to you both!" The midwife nodded as Harriet and Severus stared down at their small baby in silent awe, "You have a handsome, healthy, new son!"
Severus's mouth dropped open as he watched his darling mate cuddle their newborn.
The baby blinked up at his mother with Severus's dark eyes as Harriet gasped in loving adoration and clutched her baby to her bare chest.
As soon as her newborn rooted and began his first meal though, she felt a sadness grip her unlike any she had ever known before.
Tears that Severus mistook for happiness watered in Harriet's emerald eyes as she laid her head back on the pillows and wept.
Harriet did not have the heart to voice her anguish to her mate as she batted her unwelcome feelings aside while he bent down, kissed her lips, and whispered, "You did very well, my love…..He's flawless."
A dry wail escaped Harriet while she anguished over Severus's words.
He was right, their newborn was perfect and adorable, sweet and innocent.
Harriet couldn't understand why then a gloom had surrounded her as intensely as if she sat in the company of three dementors instead of her husband, their new baby, and her midwife?
—————————————————————-
Severus breathed a sigh of relief that his son had managed to enter the world safely, with his pup and his mate faring well through the ordeal.
While many considered him to be conventionally unattractive, his children proved that Severus Snape was more than capable of fathering cute babies.
Severus's newborn son was as lovely as Maggie had been at her birth with his chubby cheeks, large, dark eyes, and fluffy tufts of raven-black hair.
The baby didn't cry too loudly during his first few hours of life, but he did have a demanding whimper whenever he wanted Harriet's milk.
Once the midwife left after she determined that mother and baby were safe, together, Harriet and Severus spent their first night with their son.
By the following morning, Severus knew that something had gone very, very wrong.
Despite her painful, exhausting ordeal, Harriet had barely slept and he had hardly rested as well.
Severus had spent the hours sitting beside his beloved in her nest and rubbing her back gently while she stared out the window into the darkness with silent tears pouring down her face.
As the sun rose outside, the Snapes' tiny son began to whimper loudly from hunger, ready to be in Harriet's arms again.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
Severus paused for a moment and waited anxiously to see if Harriet would respond.
To his horror, he watched her sit numbly still as she gazed out the window while wetness poured down her cheeks as their baby's hungry whimpers escalated into angry cries.
"WWWWAAAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
Severus deftly rose from his mate's nest, walked over to the bassinet, and lifted his furious son into his arms as he purred soothing words to the baby in a low tone filled with parental love.
He spoke to his child, but in truth, Severus reassured himself as well.
Cuddled against his father's chest, the baby boy's hungry cries crackled into irritated sobs while Severus sat down beside Harriet.
He looked at his darling wife as he hesitantly asked, "...My love?"
Harriet said nothing in response as she stared out the window and continued to weep quietly.
"My love?" Severus repeated patiently as his newborn thrashed in his arms and fisted against his chest, eager to find his mother's nipple, "My love, I believe our babe is hungry again……Won't you feed him?"
Harriet drew in a deep breath as she turned to look at Severus with her emerald eyes wide.
"Harriet……?" Severus asked, "...Please?"
The baby whimpered miserably in his arms as Severus glanced from his little boy to his beloved.
Harriet swallowed thickly as she gazed back at Severus.
"I……I can't touch him!" She whispered as she gasped for breath while she looked down at the baby in terror.
"My love…." Severus frowned as Harriet struggled out of her nest to her feet while he followed her.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
"I can't touch him!" Harriet screamed as Severus took a step towards her.
"Harriet, calm yourself." Severus commanded as he furrowed his brow.
Though he was not under the influence of the raging hormonal storm Harriet suffered from, Severus's alpha instincts raged while he found himself tasked with the mutual burdens of soothing his mate and caring for his newborn.
As Severus took another step towards Harriet, she moved back until her spine pressed against the wall.
He watched her claw wildly behind herself before she covered her eyes with her hands and cried, "Don't come any closer to me!!"
"Harriet, please!" Severus pleaded while their baby screeched his displeasure.
"WWWWWAA!"
"WWWAAAA!"
"NO!" Harriet cried as she clamped her hands over her ears.
Severus clenched his teeth while his mind raced.
What had happened?
How could he help?
Where could he take Harriet for assistance?
…..Would the emergency department at St. Mungo's be best?
Perhaps he should call the midwife back and ask her opinion first?
In the meantime, how would he feed their baby?
A voice interrupted him as it cut into the room above the infant's cries.
"Are you going to calm that child or must I show you how to do that as well?"
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
Harriet stayed in her same position, but Severus whirled around to find Ingrid frowning at him from the doorway, unimpressed by the new baby or the scene that she happened upon.
"How do you expect me to calm him?!" Severus shouted hoarsely as he glared at Ingrid, "He's hungry and……something's terribly wrong with my wife!...Her mind isn't right!...She won't feed him!"
"She is polluted by curses….Overburdened from protecting the child for so long, that is all." Ingrid shrugged.
"No!" Severus shouted, "Her midwife gave us pamphlets on the dangers of depression….She's been unhappy for weeks, I should have anticipated this would-"
Ingrid cut him off as she spoke directly to Harriet, "-My dear, if you return to your nest, all will be silent and still, you have my word."
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
Severus scowled at Ingrid before he whirled around and watched Harriet gaze at his ancestor with wide eyes.
Ingrid spoke with such a reassuring, echoing confidence that Harriet hurriedly obeyed as she darted past Severus and reached for her nest.
As soon as her fingers touched the edge of a blanket, Harriet fell down into a deep, enchanted sleep.
Severus turned to stare at Ingrid with shock in his dark gaze as she nodded at Harriet's sleeping body, "One wailing has been silenced, one continues…….Feed the child, son of my son, and I will cleanse the mother."
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
Severus hesitated for a moment but Ingrid did not.
She strode over to Harriet's bedside and waited patiently while Severus climbed into his wife's nest.
He gently propped Harriet against his chest while he cradled their baby in his arms.
As Severus exposed his wife's full breasts to his hungry son, the newborn's wails quickly dissolved into irritated, snuffling grunts as he latched onto his mother and greedily ate.
Ingrid slipped her hand into Harriet's as she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath.
On the bed in front of them, Severus watched a small cloud of magical lights begin to flicker while Ingrid started to hum.
The melody was low and soothing, though as its volume increased, the magical lights slowly arranged themselves as a single string of bright, white magic encircled Harriet and Ingrid's wrists.
Severus glanced from his nursing son to the flood of blackness that Ingrid began to draw out of Harriet and contain in that single string of brightness.
As her hum developed into the words of a song from a language long dead, Severus watched the cloud of magical lights materialize into the shapes of people and places.
He held Harriet and their baby against him while he closely watched the scenes that began to unfold in the lights and listened to Ingrid's song, eager to learn more about his family's origin while his wife healed.
He furrowed his brow as the twinkling lights on the bed showed a grand palace that stood above a village amidst huge mounds of swirling sands.
From a window high on one of the massive palace's clay towers, two dark eyes peered out into the blinding sun……