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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Harriet's mouth hung open as she stared at the thwarted centaurs.
Her emerald eyes widened in horror at the frozen expressions of fear and disbelief on their faces as their bodies remained bound in the air, helplessly, hopelessly suspended.
Ingrid sheathed her axe back in its resting place deep inside the many folds of her clothing before she blew out a breath and calmly said, "The stone is not here, wife of my son's son. I can sense the doubt in your heart….Let us continue on our path."
Harriet blinked as Ingrid turned and stalked further into the Forbidden Forest's grim depths.
"W-Wait! You can't!" Harriet called.
Ingrid stopped and turned around.
"Centaurs are a protected species by the Ministry! You can't just leave them here!" Harriet cried.
"I have not doomed them to death." Ingrid huffed, "They will hang and think of their wrongs, as their muscles ache, and their bodies yearn, they will remember what they did to find themselves in such a state…….Perhaps the next time they find witches they hope to assault, they will consider their….protected status….more than their own desires."
Silence fell between the two women before Ingrid turned around again and resumed her walk.
"So they'll come down on their own?" Harriet asked as she followed.
"Yes…..eventually." Ingrid replied, "Is this the right direction, wife of my son's son?"
"Yeah, sorry, I think it's just up ahead." Harriet nodded. Still amazed by what she had witnessed, she told her husband's ancestor, "You can call me 'Harriet', you know…….if you like."
"That is not the old way." Ingrid snapped.
"With all due respect, the old ways are gone." Harriet shrugged, "The world is new again with new people and new rules."
The low sound of Ingrid's dark laughter rang out as the pair walked along.
Harriet felt a chill run down her spine as Ingrid disagreed, "The old ways can never be gone, wife of my son's son. They have merely been forgotten….buried deep within the blood of those too cowardly to remember and too oppressed to follow them………The world is an old place, it can never be new….People are merely imprints of the souls that came before them as are those who will surely come after."
Harriet mused on Ingrid's spoken thoughts for a moment.
"That's an interesting way to look at things." She quipped as she pushed a tree limb aside.
"It is the truth, wife of my son's son." Ingrid answered, "Interesting or not."
Harriet took a deep breath as the uncomfortable ache in her chest worsened.
She sought to ignore it as they came to a large clearing.
As she closed her eyes for a brief second and drew a breath, her memory of dropping the Resurrection Stone returned in vivid imagery.
Harriet remembered standing there, on that exact spot of the earth, as she opened her hand and let the Resurrection Stone fall to the forest floor, right onto a bed of rocks that anyone could overlook.
"Here we are….." Harriet announced as she halted her steps.
Unknowing that they had already reached their destination, Ingrid's large strides had nearly taken her out of the clearing before she stopped and turned around.
Her dark eyes met Harriet's emerald gaze as Harriet nodded and said, "Well, I suppose we should start looking. It may take quite a bit of time."
Harriet took a step forward, crouched down next to the plethora of stones and began to squint at the rocks, half in concentration and half in pain.
"This will take too long." Ingrid frowned as she watched Harriet pick up a stone, inspect it, place it to the side, and then pick up another.
Harriet stopped her work to look up as she shrugged and said, "Well….I did purposely hide it to blend in. A Summoning Charm won't work…Do you have any better ideas?"
"Give me your hand." Ingrid ordered as she stuck her palm out towards Harriet.
Harriet blinked as she reached up, grasped Ingrid's hand, and gasped as the earth shook underneath her feet.
"Remember that day….." Ingrid commanded as an unignorable sense of motion began to vibrate their clasped hands in a battle of wills, "Focus on the moment the stone fell from your fingers and a path will appear."
Harriet's eyes widened as she watched Ingrid's face.
Finding no doubt or hesitation there at all, Harriet closed her eyes and thought back to the Battle of Hogwarts.
She remembered standing in the forest that evening….
She remembered the evil sneer on Voldemort's lips….
She remembered the inexplicable pain that the Killing Curse had caused when it had ripped through her body to end her life…..
The stone had fallen from her hand, yes, it had.
Harriet had heard, even in her transient state, the very distinct click that had come from it colliding against the other rocks.
A crack of light appeared on the ground as she clutched Ingrid's hand and listened to that sound as it echoed from her own memory.
Harriet's emerald eyes widened as the crack became a line which grew longer and longer with each jagged rip as the forest floor tore itself apart and created a glowing, iridescent path for both women to follow.
She felt herself stumble as Ingrid yanked her to her feet and rushed along that radiant trail towards the stone's resting place.
The path guided them away, through a distant portion of the forest.
Whether the stone had been transported by bird, animal, or storm remained unknown, but its travel was certain.
Harriet held that memory in her mind even as her breasts swelled and Ingrid's grip tightened painfully on her hand.
As she gazed at the wondrous, eager look in the witch's dark eyes though, she understood that they had not come to seek the stone for Severus, they had come to seek it for Ingrid.
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Harriet had her teeth gnashed by the time their journey ended.
Their walk took them to the opposite end of the Forbidden Forest, all the way across from the acromantula's area.
As their steps ended next to a single, glowing mushroom, Ingrid laughed as she fell to her knees and clawed through the thin layers of topsoil until a small, odd-shaped stone bounced into her waiting hands.
"That's it." Harriet sighed as her breasts began to leak, "That's the Resurrection Stone! Take us home, please!"
Ingrid ignored her urgent cry as she stared at the stone in her hand and asked, "You're certain this is it? Beyond all shadow of doubt, wife of my son's son?"
"Yes, I'm certain that's it! Take me back now!" Harriet demanded, "My baby needs me and I need him!"
Ingrid sighed as she looked at Harriet and rose to her feet.
Harriet scowled up at her in anguish as Ingrid grinned and spoke, "Pain is strength, wife of my son's son. Enjoy the feeling while you have it, the day will come when your son will be a man and then, instead of confronting the problems he'll surely face, you'll long for him to be a babe once more. He will survive without you for these few hours, how else should a child learn endurance?"
Ingrid reached out and took Harriet's hand.
While the two journeyed back to the Snapes' cottage, Harriet didn't bother arguing with her husband's ancestor.
She was in too much discomfort to unclench her jaw and Ingrid had made her far too angry to say anything pleasant.
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By the time Harriet and Ingrid returned home, the entire house had lapsed into chaos.
Severus frantically paced the floor in a desperate attempt to calm his wailing son as the baby's shrill cries rattled the windows while he screamed out his demands for sustenance.
Little Sev's cries had broken Maggie's heart.
Tears of sympathy for her poor brother streamed from her large eyes.
To console her while Severus found himself busy with his youngest pup, Disencan had rushed over to Maggie and hugged the little girl close.
It dismayed Severus that the house elf's kindness failed to comfort his daughter.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWWAAAAAA!"
"Daddy! Something's wrong with Brother!" Maggie screeched, "Help him, Daddy! Help Brother!"
"My darling, as soon as your mother returns…." Severus drawled.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
His pale face wrinkled with anxious tension as his alpha instincts gnawed at his soul.
The primal urge to tend this pup remained, even though he had no way to achieve his goal.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
"Where is Mummy?!" Maggie cried.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
"I told you…..little one…..she went somewhere with Rabbie this morning, remember?" Severus sighed as he bounced the baby, "Though…she should have already returned…..I'm not quite certain why your mother's gone and-"
As Severus lamented the tragedy of the situation, the front door flung open.
"WWWWWAAA!"
Harriet and Ingrid rushed inside as Maggie, Disencan, and Severus all looked over.
Little Sev continued to shriek, unimpressed.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"MUMMY!" Maggie cried as soon as she saw Harriet.
Disencan sighed in relief as he watched Mrs. Snape rush forward with wide eyes to take the screaming baby from Severus.
Upset beyond measure, Severus handed over their son, but he scowled at his wife as he demanded in an angry hiss, "Where….have you….been?...Are you trying to starve him to death?!"
"It wasn't my choice! It wasn't my choice!" Harriet cried.
When Severus heard the desperation in her voice and noticed the soaked front of her robes, pity filled his heart for his mate as he cast Ingrid a rageful scowl of loathing.
Content that she had the Resurrection Stone in her possession, Ingrid quickly shifted into her Animagus form and hopped over to Maggie.
Harriet hurried to sit on the sofa before she shamelessly exposed her breasts to Little Sev.
The baby's wild screams were hastily stifled once he smashed his face into his mother's waiting warmth and began to suckle as if his tiny life depended on it.
That morning had been tense and stressful for everyone, but finally, the anxiousness began to dissipate.
Rabbie snuggled and cuddled Maggie as Disencan held the little girl on his lap.
Little Sev grunted happily while he finally received what he had spent the past two hours demanding.
Harriet let her head fall back on the sofa cushion as that unbearable ache in her breasts gradually lessened, but Severus wore a scowl as he watched his family.
Maggie was the only reason he held his tongue in those moments, though he did focus his stare on the wretched rabbit who had become the source of his fury that day.
He assuaged his boiling rage with the idea that he would confront Ingrid later that night after Maggie went to sleep.
Severus Snape had no tolerance for people who caused his mate and pups any amount of discomfort or dissatisfaction.