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 stood beside Harriet while she rummaged through the trunk in their bedroom that held several of their most prized possessions.
Her heart raced with anxiety as she scowled through the many layers of belongings until the Invisibility Cloak's mysterious, shimmery fabric caught her eye, trapped between two tattered notebooks.
"Here it is!" Harriet called as she ripped the cloak out of the trunk and hurriedly pulled it around herself while her alpha watched.
Severus's mouth fell open as he stared at her.
"What's the matter?" Harriet asked urgently, "Sev? What's wrong? Is it….Is it…..?"
As he tried to formulate an answer that wouldn't alarm his wife, Harriet rushed over to the floor length mirror next to their bed and peered at her reflection.
"It's…..It's not working either….." She huffed as she let out a breath.
She turned round and round, hoping to find some glimpse of concealment, but the Invisibility Cloak hung over her as a useless, sheer cloth, with her entire body, clothing, and everything else underneath it on full display.
"The Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak have been……have been….!" She cried to Severus as she tossed the cloak aside and threw up her hands, "Who could do this?! How can we reverse it, Sev?! Is this even really possible?!"
"...I cannot be entirely sure of the correct answers…….to those questions." Severus drawled in a serious tone after he spent a few minutes brooding in silent contemplation, "However….it seems as though our next best action will be to confirm that all three Hallows have indeed been….disabled."
Harriet frowned as she stared at her mate and asked, "You mean…….We'll have to visit Dumbledore's grave?"
The look of sad remorse Severus cast Harriet made her hurry across the room to throw her arms around him in a comforting embrace.
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Reopening a grave was nearly as onerous of a process in the wizarding world as it was in muggle society.
Although Severus was Minister for Magic, he could not simply disturb a burial place at will.
Under top secret security measures, he informed only the most elite officials at the Ministry about the Resurrection Stone and Invisibility Cloak's apparent dysfunction.
A vote was taken.
Papers were drawn up.
Documents were signed.
Permits were released.
Finally, with the utmost secrecy available, Severus and Harriet stood next to the small team of people who had been assigned to assist with the excavation of Dumbledore's grave in order to retrieve the Elder Wand.
A powerful cloaking spell protected everyone present from sight, though they still worked quickly, in case the prying eyes of a Dark Witch or Wizard managed to penetrate their veil of concealment.
Harriet squeezed Severus's hand as the lid to Dumbledore's casket was removed and his withered face exposed.
In his decayed hands, the Elder Wand remained firmly held since its placement back into his grasp shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts.
Severus frowned as one of his team members handed him the Elder Wand.
He gave the magical object to Harriet before she flicked her wrist and shouted a simple spell.
An eerie feeling of dreadful ominousness settled around Dumbledore's graveside as everyone observed the uneventful silence with frowns on their faces.
Determined to prove her own horrible suspicion as incorrect, Harriet tried again as she aimed at a nearby tree and shouted, "EXPELLIARMUS!"
Harriet braced herself for the powerful bolt of light she expected would shoot from the tip of the Elder Wand, but there was nothing to brace for.
Severus tried after her, out of sheer desperation, knowing full well the Elder Wand only obeyed its master.
Each member of the excavation team took their turns with the wand as well, all trying their best to elicit even the faintest spark of magic from its powerful tip.
As the final wizard ended his attempt to use the Elder Wand, everyone present exchanged looks of sad nervousness.
"So, that's it, then?" Harriet asked Severus, "What will people say when they find out? There'll be fear, you know….outrage, disbelief, protests…."
"That's exactly why….." Severus began in his low drawl, "...No one will find out, my love, not until we know more about what has happened in our world."
Harriet frowned as she gazed up at Severus.
While Harriet did not value lying, she saw the wisdom in her husband's words.
If the magical public learned that some unknown villain had shut down the Deathly Hallows, neither Severus, Harriet, nor the Ministry as a whole would be able to contain the deluge of panic that would follow.
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The odd nature of their discovery bothered Severus to an alarming extent, but the bizarre situation only became stranger.
The same evening he and Harriet had realized the Elder Wand had been rendered useless, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak began to work once more.
That night, Harriet enjoyed a lovely chat with the spirits of her lost loved ones, though when she offered the stone to Ingrid, the ancient witch held up her large hand in refusal.
"You can see who you're looking for now." Harriet assured her as she nodded, "It did fine for me."
"No, wife of my son's son." Ingrid said as she shook her head, "I became foolish with my own longing…..My desire would be meaninglessly fulfilled if I were to look upon my beloved's face once more yet have no words to say."
Despite Ingrid's sad words, Harriet breathed a sigh of relief that the stone and cloak worked once more.
Another set of votes, documents, signings, and permits passed through the Ministry.
Shortly afterwards, Harriet and Severus once again stood next to Dumbledore's grave as the Elder Wand was removed a second time.
The spark of magic that erupted from the tip of the formidable object caused everyone present to jump as Harriet's spell crashed into a tree and left a stinging scar on its bark.
She and Severus exchanged worried glances with each other as they both thought.
"...Odd, isn't it?" She asked quietly.
"...Inexplicable." Severus replied.
The Elder Wand was placed back in Dumbledore's tomb, though the Minister for Magic did make one small change.
Instead of leaving Hogwarts' fallen headmaster to rest, Severus created the role of sentry for his graveside.
The Ministry hired several witches and wizards to work in various shifts and keep watch over his tomb.
Severus did not trust an enchantment or charm to remain the sole defence against danger.
If any threat or suspicious person happened to wander by, or worse, attempt to retrieve the Elder Wand, the Minister for Magic wanted someone prepared to respond immediately.
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Severus Snape was prone to worry.
He spent hours both at home and at his office anxiously brooding over what or who could have disturbed the functionality of the Hallows.
Had their compromisation been some sort of accident?
Or was there a villain truly capable of turning the Deathly Hallows' functions off and on at will?
That notion sent the Minister for Magic's nerves on edge as he leafed through text book after text book, propelled by a need to learn more.
It frustrated Severus that the Hallows were legendary objects, not much had been written about them besides mere mentions of their existence.
In the entire wizarding world, there wasn't a single instruction manual on when to use them or how they worked that existed.
Severus remained a doting father and loving husband, but he spent no energy on his own well-being.
Harriet had noticed the dark circles that had formed under his eyes as he passed each night with a meager amount of sleep.
Usually, instead of resting, he either tended his son before Harriet could reach him or stared out the window with a nervous scowl on his face.
Severus said nothing in complaint as he bore the strain that only a new parent and head of government could know, but one evening, as Harriet watched the exhausted misery twist his anguished features, she staged a small intervention.
"...Sev?" She asked.
Severus started as if she had screamed while he turned to look at her with little Sev in his arms.
"Give him to me." Harriet commanded as she reached out.
"Go and lie down, my love." Severus refused as he straightened his spine and attempted to sit up in the nursery's rocking chair, "I'll join you as soon as he's settled."
"No, you're the one who's going to bed." Harriet vehemently insisted.
Severus scowled as she walked over, took the baby from his arms, and soothed their little boy to sleep.
He sat in the rocking chair and watched her closely as she laid their snoozing baby down in his cot before she turned back to him, took his hand, and gently pulled him to his feet.
Severus frowned as Harriet led him out of their son's nursery and down the hallway.
"You're going to work yourself into your grave if you keep going like this." Harriet whispered as they walked into their bedroom.
She shut the door with a frown as Severus watched her walk over and begin to strip them both.
"If he wakes in the night…" Harriet nodded, "I'll get up and tend him. You stay in bed…..You have to give yourself a break, Sev, and get some rest, alright?"
Severus watched as Harriet's bright, emerald eyes flashed while she gazed at him and spoke, "I'm your mate, your wife, your omega…..and I understand you're doing all this to make me happy, Sev, but I'm not happy at all. I want you to be rested and at peace. That has to happen….I won't take no for an answer any longer…….Do you understand?"
Severus frowned at Harriet.
Once she stopped talking, he answered very slowly, "...Yes."
"Brilliant." Harriet nodded as she unfastened his trousers and slipped them off.
As they both stood nude in front of each other, she clasped his hand in hers and pulled him toward the lavatory without another word.
Severus kept his frown as he followed her, unsure of what his mate had planned.
To his delight, Harriet took the time to bathe them both, with her wet body sliding over his as she lovingly washed his black hair.
Their lips met several times, but without any lewd expectations.
Once they stepped out of the tub, Harriet bent down on her knees and relieved the growing ache in her alpha's loins with the warmth of her mouth.
His low growl of appreciation sent her pulse racing, though she ignored her own wants in favor of her husband's needs.
Fatigued beyond measure, Severus finally gave in and let Harriet escort him to her cozy nest.
He sighed as she pulled him onto the bed, wrapped the blankets around them both, and guided Severus to lay his head down on her chest.
She knew her alpha could smell the last remnants of her milk.
As they laid there, Harriet was thoughtful enough to offer him her full breast.
Severus closed his eyes as his lips wrapped around her nipple and began to suck gently while he drifted off to sleep.
Harriet smiled once she felt him let go and relax against her as sleep claimed him.
Before she found her own way into a deep slumber, she bent down and pressed a loving kiss to the top of her husband's head.
Severus and Harriet slept the hours away in that same position, with his face against her chest and their arms wrapped around each other.
Mercifully, both Maggie and Little Sev slept through the night.