Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
Tom lost his unhindered use of the Basilisk in his bargain with Dumbledore, but he and Harriet gained the right to complete their Hogwarts education in spite of what had happened.
By the end of their second week of detention, Harriet began to notice that after she finished grading papers for McGonagall each night, she went to bed with a terrible headache.
Every morning, the pain returned as soon as she opened her eyes.
Most afternoons, Harriet stopped by the Hospital Wing after Divination class to ask Madam Pomfrey for a dose of Pain Relief Potion.
Professor Trelawney had started giving her strange looks during class, but Harriet paid no attention to those bizarre stares.
Hogwarts' Divination teacher had become famous for her odd mannerisms.
Madam Pomfrey performed a quick, diagnostic exam each time Harriet came to report the pain in her head.
One afternoon, after eight straight days of prescribing the medication, she frowned at Harriet and informed her, "This is the last day I can give this to you, Miss Potter."
"...What?" Harriet asked with wide eyes, "B-But….Pain Relief Potion is the only thing that will stop the ache! What am I supposed to do?!"
"You're supposed to see a healer who specializes in ailments beyond those reported in a normal school day for a more thorough workup." Madam Pomfrey sniffed.
Around the Hospital Wing, ill and infirmed students rustled uncomfortably in their beds.
"I would do it myself, Miss Potter, but this is really beyond my scope of practice and I have so many others to look after…..The weekend is coming quickly, I would advise you to make an appointment for Saturday. That'll give you some time to rest afterwards." She nodded as she handed Harriet her final dose of potion.
Harriet frowned as she asked, "Madam Pomfrey…..?"
Madam Pomfrey mirrored her patient's expression as she waited silently.
"...Do you think it's anything serious?" Harriet asked.
"Surely not, Miss Potter. It may just take something a bit stronger than Pain Relief Potion to cure, that's all. Run along now, you'll be late to your next class." Hogwarts' healer nodded.
"Right……thanks." Harriet replied before she turned and left the infirmary.
As Madam Pomfrey watched her go, a worried frown pulled on her lips.
—————————————————————
Three days later, halfway through Saturday morning, Harriet left the healer's office in Hogsmeade with her eyes wide and her breath coming in gasps.
She tried to assuage her own shock by reminding herself that she had not bothered to use any contraception during her week with Tom.
Why should she have been so surprised by what she had learned?
Harriet swallowed thickly as she slowed her pace and took a deep breath.
In a single, dizzying second, she contemplated exactly how much her world had changed with the utterance of a single sentence from the healer.
She couldn't just race down the street and push her lungs to the brink of exhaustion as she dashed back to the castle, no.
Harriet pressed one of her hands over her lower belly as a chilly, autumn breeze blew past.
She carried Tom's son or daughter inside of her, an innocent life, the physical product of their love.
It was up to her to protect and nourish that precious little soul.
A soft smile curved Harriet's lips as she walked towards the castle at a healthier pace.
As she passed by people who walked up and down the street, the world seemed entirely new.
Two children ran in front of her, laughing and playing as they crossed from one side to the other.
Harriet's smile softened as she watched them carelessly drift by.
The peace that resonated in her soul despite her previous resistance against Tom's plans for a family right away surprised her.
Harriet couldn't decide if her tranquility came from the maturity of age or the bliss induced from her hormones, but confidence padded her psyche.
The list went on of things she knew would work out in time; the baby, her training as an auror, an eventual wedding, graduation……….
She could hardly wait to find her alpha and tell him the happy news.
—————————————————————
Tom sat in the library that day with his dark eyes narrowed and a heavy, leather book held open in his elegant hands.
He furrowed his brow in concentration as he used the silence of the mostly abandoned room to scrutinize each instruction detailed on the aged pages.
Expanding his knowledge of the Dark Arts continued to be one of Tom Riddle's favourite pastimes, though he rarely talked about his interest with Harriet or his parents.
As he skimmed over the words detailing instructions for a curse capable of causing the victim's bones to snap into twelve directions at once, his eyes narrowed to slits as he squinted at the minuscule footnotes written along the very bottom of the hand-copied text.
Harriet's voice interrupted his careful study as she walked up behind him and softly whispered his name, "...Tom?"
His dark eyes widened in happy surprise as he heard the familiar sound of his beloved omega's voice.
Instead of being angry at the unwarranted interruption, Tom dropped his study instantly as he snapped the book shut and turned around to see Harriet standing across from him.
"Well, hello, sweetling~." Tom grinned as he rose from his chair and walked over to her, "I haven't seen you since breakfast."
"I……I've finished with my errands!" Harriet explained a bit too eagerly as she nodded vehemently.
"I can see that." Tom chuckled. He would have skimmed through her thoughts to learn where she had been, but the giddy excitement on Harriet's face told him that she would reveal her previous whereabouts without a need for him to delve into her mind.
"Well…….You look like you have something to tell me." Tom grinned as he placed his hands on Harriet's hips while she laid her palms flat on his chest, "Go on, then, sweetling…….What is it? Did you buy something new in a shop?"
It frustrated Harriet slightly that her alpha, supposedly the most talented Legilimens in recent history, exceptionally gifted at potions and frighteningly talented in the Dark Arts, had failed to notice anything at all, yet she admitted that she had so far escaped any noticeable symptoms beyond her headaches.
"Really, Tom?" Harriet laughed, "Can you not tell me the news instead?"
Tom furrowed his brow as his dark eyes narrowed.
He frowned at Harriet as he considered what she could possibly be hinting at before he spoke, "I'm certain I could, sweetling….I purposely chose to stay out of your mind and allow you to reveal the-"
While he spoke, Harriet reached down, took one of his hands off of her hip, and guided him to splay his fingers over her flat lower belly.
Tom blinked for a moment before his dark eyes widened in realization.
"Sweetling…..?" He asked incredulously as his mouth fell open.
A bright, beaming smile of radiant happiness spread across Harriet's face.
"Oh……." Tom breathed as he drank in the startling, joyful confirmation that Harriet's silent smile offered, "Harriet!! Is….is it true?!?!...Are you really-?!?!"
"YES!" She cried excitedly before she could stop herself. The few others in the library glanced over at the noise before Harriet met their glares, cleared her throat, and smiled at Tom again while she spoke in a quieter voice, "Yes, Tom! It's true! I really am! A healer in Hogsmeade confirmed it this morning!"
A sound between a gasp and a cry escaped Tom's throat as he threw his arms around his mate and pulled her close.
Harriet laughed happily as she clung to his robes while he cradled her against him.
"Oh, sweetling….." Tom purred as his pulse pounded with excitement.
After a moment spent in his protective grasp, Harriet pulled back and pressed her lips against her alpha's in a deep kiss.
Tom eagerly accepted his pregnant lover's display of affection while his possessive hold tightened on her carefully, not enough to cause any injury or damage to his darling or the cargo she carried, but firm enough to let her know that she and the baby in her womb were loved, safe, and-
"Oi! You two! Knock it off or I'll have to tell the headmaster!" A narrow-faced girl hissed as she turned the corner and found the happy couple locked together.
Tom declined to end his kiss with Harriet as he raised a hand and used a forceful bit of wandless magic to knock the girl harmlessly back.
A wild shriek of surprise left her lips as she skidded across the room and dusted herself off.
She scowled at Tom in offended irritation, but she wisely chose to walk away without interrupting his moment with his mate again.
Harriet blushed as Tom continued their kiss.
To avoid any further pesky hindrances, he slipped his wand into his hand and nibbled Harriet's lower lip as he whispered a spell while he flicked his wrist.
She blinked her eyes open as she heard a subtle, rustling sound and gasped at the swirling veil of cloaking black that enveloped them behind their own private curtain.
Students walked by the couple without seeing them or the cloaking veil, which left Tom free to do as he pleased with his omega.
Harriet whimpered as he pulled away from her lips to kiss down her clothed body.
His strong, skillful hands gently cupped her breasts before he fell to his knees, lifted her blouse, her sweater, and began to lavish her lower belly in gentle, tender kisses.
Harriet sighed and combed her fingers through Tom's dark, curly hair as he possessively splayed his hands across her midsection while he nuzzled her flat abdomen.
Harriet knew her lover had many faults.
Tom Riddle was flawed, she understood that.
However, there was no purer bit of him than his love for Harriet Potter, except, perhaps, for the love he already held for their son or daughter.
—————————————————————
Once they finally ended their sentimental exchange, Tom held Harriet's hand in his as they walked down the hall together and headed towards the Chamber of Secrets.
"I can take us to Riddle Manor this very afternoon….If you feel well enough to travel, sweetling?" Tom asked worriedly.
"Yeah, sure." Harriet nodded, "Really, besides the headaches, I've felt fine…..it's just….."
"What?" Tom asked as he came to an abrupt halt. He frowned worriedly at Harriet as he pressed, "Is something wrong? Should I take you to the Hospital Wing?"
"No, no, it's not that at all." She assured him with a wave of her hand, "But…..Do you honestly think we should tell your parents like this?"
Tom's face lit up in a mischievous smirk as he asked, "...Like what, sweetling?"
"Well, just barge in and tell them that….we've had an accidental pregnancy." Harriet frowned.
"Accidental?" Tom chuckled, "I beg to differ. I knew exactly what I was doing when I held you in my arms, Harriet Potter, and you did as well, don't deny the truth." He said quickly as he watched a scowl form on his lover's fair face.
She opened and shut her mouth as she pondered the reality Tom forced her to face.
"You knew my desires for a family and yet, despite all of your heated protests, you let me into your nest and gave yourself to me whole, without so much as a thought about Contraceptive Potion or any sort of Contraceptive Charm….That makes you as guilty as I am, sweetling. The timing doesn't matter much, we'll be married soon enough." Tom finished with an arrogant smile as he reached out and spread his hand possessively over Harriet's flat belly again.
As angry as he made her with his smug attitude, Harriet's heart fluttered at the way Tom's dark eyes glimmered while he laid his palm over their unborn.
The pride on his handsome face made her knees frighteningly weak for a moment before Tom glanced up and asked eagerly, "Shall we go then, sweetling? Don't fret, Mother and Father will be beside themselves with joy."
Harriet sighed as Tom led her down to the Chamber of Secrets to begin their journey to Riddle Manor.
Although she pretended as if she were apprehensive about informing Merope and Tom senior, excitement bloomed in her heart as she anxiously waited to tell others about the new life she carried.
In fact, if she could have, Harriet would have walked through the castle and relayed the happy news to each person within its walls.
She could hardly contain her ecstasy that came from knowing she and Tom would be a family, a real family!