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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After hours of pleasant, deep sleep, Harriet finally woke and blinked her eyes open.
As the bedroom she shared with her husband slowly came into focus, she heard his low, velvet voice ask in a tone barely above a whisper, "...My love?"
"...Sev?" Harriet croaked groggily.
She turned her head in the direction of his voice and smiled as she found Severus staring down at her, his dark eyes soft with worry.
"Hey, Sev." Harriet smiled as she lifted a hand and gently touched his cheek.
Severus intended to inquire about his wife's health, but as soon as he saw Harriet try to raise herself towards him, he bent down and obliged her by placing a tender kiss against her lips.
As soon as they had exchanged that gentle show of affection, Harriet sighed as she settled back against the pillows for a moment.
"How are you feeling today, my love?" Severus asked hesitantly.
"Much better than I remember feeling after the birth." Harriet smiled. Severus watched her happy expression fade as she thought back, "It was an odd sort of sensation really…..like I was….somewhere else or…I…."
"Don't exhaust yourself." Severus whispered to Harriet as he placed another kiss on her forehead, "You've endured quite an ordeal……Your body and mind need rest."
He had barely finished speaking when an angry little grunt rang out that almost instantly erupted into a furious wail.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
"I'm unlikely to get any." Harriet chuckled as a bright smile curled her lips while she sat up in bed as Severus hurriedly glided over to the bassinet and retrieved their crying son.
"How's he been getting on without me?" Harriet asked.
As Severus handed their newborn to his mate, he noticed the hand she kept clamped over her uncomfortably full breasts.
He quelled his own curiosity about her milk as he cleared his throat and admitted, "I've let him nurse while you've slept."
"I didn't wake when he cried?" Harriet asked incredulously while their tiny baby began to impatiently root against her chest.
Severus watched his son wriggle and squirm as Harriet exposed her breasts and guided the baby towards his target while he explained, "Truthfully…..A large portion of your sleep was magically induced."
"Induced?" Harriet asked as their newborn whimpered while he ate, "...By you?"
"No…….by Ingrid." Severus replied. He watched Harriet blink as he explained, "There were…..apparently….several causes to your unfortunate malady yesterday after our son's arrival……I believe she's remedied them all…based on how you're behaving today."
Harriet furrowed her brow just as their little one furrowed his while he focused on getting his meal from his mother.
"Did she say why?...Or how?...What happened to me?" Harriet asked.
"I'll discuss the matter with you later." Severus nodded, "We have more pressing issues….Our son needs a name, for one."
He watched as a bright smile lit up his wife's radiant face as she asked, "Well, that should be plain, shouldn't it?"
Severus narrowed his eyes at Harriet.
"I think he should be named after his father." She said proudly as she bent down and placed a gentle kiss against her newborn's fluffy tufts of dark hair.
She laughed as soon as she glanced up and saw the wide-eyed, open mouthed gaze of disbelief that Severus had cast her.
"Is something the matter?" Harriet grinned, "What's wrong with naming him after you?"
Severus swallowed a sobering dose of his own reality.
He had never imagined he would find happiness, or a mate, let alone father any children.
The very idea that his beloved wanted to name their son after him despite all that had transpired nearly cracked his stony resolve and brought him to tears.
"I……." Severus began while Harriet gazed into his face, "That's an honour I don't deserve."
"Don't be silly, I can't think of a better name for him." Harriet smiled as she turned her eyes down to their baby, "Little Sev, isn't that adorable? It's cute now and one day when he grows up, he'll make his father very proud."
"His father is already very proud." Severus frowned while he stared down at the baby in Harriet's arm with a resolute scowl of determination on his pale face.
The baby cuddled against Harriet after she switched him to her other breast and took her husband's hand in hers.
"I love you, Severus." Harriet said as she nodded and gave him a soft smile.
Severus's dark eyes glimmered with a warmth that Harriet often saw whenever he gazed at her, though his stare moved to their newborn as he spoke, "Regardless…….I'll not pass on the name of Tobias. We'll have to find an alternative for him."
"Alright……" Harriet nodded, "Albus? Fred?...What did you have in mind?"
Severus frowned.
Harriet laughed again.
"Do those names not seem worthy of your son?" She asked.
"The names of those who gave their lives in the war are more than worth honouring, but I had hoped our children would become more than ghosts." Severus solemnly answered.
"What do you mean, Sev?" Harriet frowned.
"...Perhaps we should give him a name all his own, just as his sister bears, so that he may live his life not as an attempt to follow in my footsteps or to mirror that of another." Severus thoughtfully explained.
Harriet nodded quietly as she considered her husband's thoughtful words.
She glanced down at their baby boy before she looked at Severus again and asked, "Alright….do you….do you have any suggestions?"
"A name with meaning….." Severus mused as he gazed at their newborn, "A name that will carry him through life and resonate behind him after he's gone from this earth."
Harriet frowned as she asked, "Godric?"
"Why not Salazar then?" Severus quipped as his face twisted into a scowl.
"I was only joking, Sev!" She chuckled.
"Darren?" Severus asked.
"Darren?" Harriet blinked.
"From the Celtic language, it translates to 'little great one'." Severus nodded, "Just as the male version of 'Harriet', 'Harry', translates to 'army commander'."
Harriet thought quietly for a moment before she smiled down at their baby and spoke, "Severus Darren Snape, that's a rather nice name……But I think I'll still call him 'little Sev'."
She grinned as she glanced up at Severus, expecting to find a look of disapproval on his face.
He surprised her as he pressed a kiss to her soft, sweet lips.
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After little Sev had finished his meal, enjoyed a change of clothes, received a clean diaper, and lay settled in his mother's arms, Ingrid came to the bedroom at Severus's request with Maggie and Disencan, both eager to meet the new baby.
The Snapes' house elf peered at Harriet and the infant with curious mirth in his large eyes as Harriet gestured everyone over.
Disencan seemed pleasantly surprised that the arrival of the family's second baby hadn't been the nightmarish scene he had witnessed upon Maggie's entry into the world.
Disencan carefully slipped one of his long fingers into little Sev's tiny hand.
Harriet and the house elf enjoyed a laugh as the baby's face twisted into a scowl reminiscent of the one his father often wore.
Disencan respectfully withdrew and took a step back after a few seconds as Ingrid came forward with Maggie in her arms.
The tall witch bent down and placed the small girl on the bed.
Severus watched as Harriet cuddled Maggie against her side while she cradled little Sev in one arm and let their toddler stare down at the baby in hushed awe.
"...My brother, Mummy?" Maggie blinked up at Harriet.
"That's right, sweetheart." Harriet smiled as she kissed the top of Maggie's little head, "This is your new brother, Severus Darren Snape, but I'm going to call him 'little Sev'."
"What am I supposed to call him?" Maggie frowned.
"You can call him whatever you like!" Harriet laughed.
Severus kept his frown as he watched carefully.
Maggie wrung her small hands as the baby cooed in Harriet's arms.
"For now, I think I'll just call him 'Brother'." Maggie decided with a nod.
Harriet kissed her daughter's head once more before she asked, "Would you like to hold him?"
Maggie's eyes widened as she looked up at her mother and gasped, "B-But…..he's so little!"
"You're little too, sweetheart." Harriet chuckled, "Here, Daddy and I will help you….You won't hurt him."
Severus rushed forward before Harriet could finish speaking.
A flurry of motion followed as he deftly reached underneath her arm and helped her position the baby so that they both had a firm hold on him while he lay across Maggie.
Severus and Harriet watched in fascination as a bright grin cracked across their daughter's face while her chubby little hands gently clutched the baby as she proudly told them, "Look, Mummy! Look, Daddy! I'm holding Brother!"
"You are, sweetheart." Harriet nodded as she smiled at her daughter, "You're doing so well too…..You're taking excellent care of him."
"Do babies need a lot of care?" Maggie asked her parents as she glanced between them with an adorable pout on her round face.
"Loads!" Harriet laughed, "Though you're practically still a baby, too, my darling." She answered.
"I'm not a baby anymore, Mummy." Maggie insisted as a cute scowl crossed her face.
"Remember to watch over your brother." Severus's low voice interrupted. Maggie's expression softened as she stared into her father's dark eyes while he added, "He needs your help now, my little one……The world is a strange place, however, and we can never truly guess what will happen next."
Maggie blinked as Severus nodded and said, "Its possible that a day may come when you need your brother instead."
Harriet scowled at her husband in disapproval of his unintentionally foreboding message.
She quickly took little Sev back into her arms and changed the subject of conversation with Maggie, but Severus took no offense.
As he watched his beloved Harriet cuddle and care for their pups in her nest, a contemplative frown marred his face while robust pride bloomed in his heart.