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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Tom woke to the sound of a quill scratching across parchment.
He furrowed his brow as he looked over, saw Harriet seated at the desk, and asked, "...Sweetling?"
His dark eyes narrowed as his mate failed to answer.
"...Sweetling?" He repeated.
When his inquiry was met with silence again, he stood from the bed and walked over to his mate as he asked, "Harriet? Are you alright? Why aren't you answering me?"
Tom furrowed his brow as he stared at his wife's mechanical movements as she scribbled on the parchment in perfectly even lines although her eyes stared straight ahead.
"Harriet….." Tom called, "Harriet!"
The mechanical movements of her wrist disturbed Tom nearly as much as the words she wrote, which came out scrawled in a font that was not her own and a language he could not read.
"Harriet!" Tom called again, "Stop!"
Harriet held her unblinking stare as she suddenly stopped writing.
"What are you doing?!" Tom demanded.
In the silent moment that followed, Tom watched the steady rise and fall of his darling's chest.
Her breath was deep and rhythmic, peaceful……..
Tom dove into her thoughts instantly and realized to his confusion that his wife remained asleep.
While he tried to guess what could have possibly happened, she slammed her hand down in one mechanical crack that startled him into a jolt.
He watched his mate spread her palm over the message she had written before a small circle of burning fire ignited underneath her skin.
Tom rushed over to the nightstand to grab his wand, but by the time he turned back around, Harriet had already left the desk, slipped into her nest, and laid with the covers up to her chest, eyes closed.
His breathing was ragged with frightened frustration as he rushed over to the desk.
A perfect circle had been burned into the message, although the desk bore no scorch marks from the flame.
Tom hurried back over to the bed and examined Harriet's hand.
The smooth skin of her palm and fingers bewildered him.
For the rest of night, Tom kept a vigilant watch over his wife, angry, annoyed, and more than he wanted to admit…….scared.
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The healers pushed Harriet's bizarre behavior aside as simple sleepwalking.
Madam Pomfrey didn't entirely believe the odd events Tom claimed to have witnessed.
Harriet insisted he had a bad dream, but as weeks passed, she began to feel a difference in her body.
The letters she had exchanged with Mrs. Weasley and the talks she had enjoyed with Merope had prepared her, but that still didn't make it any more comfortable when she spent a portion of each morning with her head over the toilet.
Each day, Tom stood loyally behind her with her dark hair held in his hands while she retched.
A Cloaking Spell hid the sound of his voice and erased his image from others' view as he wiped Harriet's face off and whispered soft words of loving encouragement to her during every bout of violent sickness.
As Harriet's new symptoms became an unfortunate constant, Tom had the stone bedroom in the Chamber of Secrets upgraded to include a luxurious lavatory, which mercifully eliminated their need for hasty travel and privacy magic each morning as soon as Harriet opened her eyes.
Her first appointment with a midwife had been scheduled for the Saturday of the week her nausea began.
When that weekend finally came, Tom eagerly accompanied her to the midwife's office.
He held her hand as they walked through Hogsmeade together, but a frown of concern marred his handsome face.
Since he had learned of his lover's condition, Tom had switched his reading material from information about the Dark Arts to every available printed text he could find on pregnancy and child care.
Still, though he had come across many potentially helpful potions and elixirs with the ability to ease Harriet's suffering, he had declined to pursue them further until the couple obtained recommendations from an experienced healthcare worker.
Tom had no qualms about trying out a new spell or curse on a proper target, but he would under no circumstances gamble with his mate and child's safety.
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As soon as they entered the midwife's practice, Harriet walked to the reception desk and signed her name on the large roll of parchment in front of the secretary.
The pale woman didn't bother to look up over the spectacles that sat on her nose as Harriet and Tom found seats in the waiting room.
Both sat in silence while they hoped the door would open soon as they anxiously anticipated Harriet's name would be called next.
Silently, they looked around at the other pregnant couples who sat and waited for their appointments to begin too.
As Tom gazed at the other omegas' bellies, he couldn't help but smirk as he rubbed the back of Harriet's hand with his velvety fingertips.
A blush dusted her cheeks as she glanced over at him and noticed the longing gaze in his dark eyes.
It excited Harriet to wonder what Tom would be like when-
Without warning, the door that led to the examination rooms swung open as a smiling nurse stepped out and cheerfully called, "Harriet Potter?"
Everyone blinked as Tom stood to his feet and chivalrously helped Harriet up.
As they walked over, greeted the nurse, and followed her down the adjacent hallway, he couldn't quite rid himself of his grin.
Tom knew it would only be a few more brief weeks and then Harriet's belly would be as rounded as the other expectant women's.
She would be heavy with his child and eventually, completely dependent on him.
As the nurse escorted Tom and Harriet into an empty room, he watched with a pleasant smile as the nurse asked Harriet a few preliminary questions, helped her get comfortable on the examination table, and then left to retrieve the midwife.
Harriet looked over at Tom as she felt him take her hand.
She smiled softly as he pressed a kiss to the back of her knuckles with a purr, "You look so very beautiful, sweetling~."
"Lying here, waiting to be poked and prodded?" Harriet asked.
"Carrying my heir." Tom corrected her as a proud smirk spread across his lips.
Harriet's cheeks tinted a soft shade of pink as Tom's dark gaze smouldered at her.
For a fleeting moment, he entertained the fantasy of locking the door with a quick spell and crawling over Harriet to-
Tom's lewd daydreams came to an abrupt end as the door flung open.
"Good morning!" A smiling woman with a cheerful voice called out as she entered the room, dressed in shimmering robes of rich, sapphire velvet. Her bright, blue gaze fell on Harriet first as she glanced down at the parchment in her hands before she looked up and exclaimed, "You must be Harriet Potter!"
"I am." Harriet nodded, "And this is my mate, Tom Riddle."
The midwife's blue eyes flickered over to Tom briefly before she stuck a hand out towards him and nodded, "I'm Matilda Mathis! Pleased to meet you both."
"The pleasure is all ours." Tom replied with a charming smile as he gave the midwife's hand a firm shake.
She made it a point to shake Harriet's hand as well before she sat down on the stool beside the small table in the room, removed a quill from the pocket of her robes, and stared at the parchment she placed on the wooden desk while she scribbled a few notes.
"Harriet, can you state the date of your birth?" Mathilda asked.
"July 31st, 1980." Harriet nodded, "And my mate was born exactly seven months before…Isn't that funny?"
"My goodness!" Mathilda exclaimed as she glanced up at the couple and blinked at them with wide eyes, "You two are quite a young couple! Have you finished school yet?"
"We'll graduate in early June." Tom nodded. His suave smile remained while he added, "...But we're very much looking forward to starting our family."
"Well, I should certainly hope so, Mr. Riddle!" Mathilda laughed, "Harriet," She asked as she turned back to her patient, "Can you confirm the date of your last menstrual cycle?"
Harriet thought for a moment before she nodded, "Um….I think…..No, it was, er, it started on the second of August, I think? I don't really remember. Sorry, I'm bad at keeping track."
Tom narrowed his eyes at his mate.
"At least not on your birthday….eh?" The midwife asked, "Well, let's have a look at you and see what we can find out!"
Harriet lay back and held Tom's hand as the midwife moved her clothing up to expose her flat belly.
Tom watched with fascination before his dark eyes flickered over to the midwife to follow every move of her hands and wrists with the utmost caution.
Harriet let out a breath as the midwife let her wand hover over her torso and began to guide it smoothly along her skin while she closed her eyes.
Tom felt his heart race in his chest as the staggering possibility presented itself in his mind that everything may not in fact, be alright.
What if his arrogance had blinded him?
What if something had gone wrong and they would lose the life inside Harriet?
What if something awful happened and he lost his mate instead?
What if-
The midwife's words mercifully released him from the mind-numbing panic that all expectant fathers experienced.
She smiled as she let out a breath, opened her eyes, and addressed the young couple, "Right, then! That was rather pleasant!"
"What did you see?" Tom snapped, "What did you learn? Is my mate alright?...Is my pup healthy? Does it seem-"
"Yes, yes, Mr. Riddle, everything's perfectly fine." The midwife said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
She glanced at Harriet as she continued to speak with a reassuring grin, "Everything's coming along nicely, very healthy, especially for a pregnancy in an omega so young."
Tom held Harriet's hand as he waited for the midwife to say more, but she paused as she glanced between the couple and asked, "Sorry, when is Hogwarts' graduation this year?"
"The first weekend in June." Harriet nodded.
A sharp, gasping laugh left the midwife's lips.
"Is something the matter?" Tom scowled.
"No, nothing at all! I only hope for your sake that the little one stays on schedule." The midwife smirked.
While Tom and Harriet exchanged nervous glances, the midwife informed the young couple, "I'd expect the babe will be here by no later than the tenth of that month. It's very likely though that the birth may occur before that date."
Harriet gripped Tom's hand.
In silent response, he gave her knuckles a gentle squeeze before he asked the midwife, "Can you tell the gender?"
"Not accurately, no." The midwife frowned, "Its odd, really. It's as though there's a cloud inside the womb…..The babe has an equal chance of being male as it does being female, based on the shrouded image I was able to view."
Harriet blinked, but Tom smirked, taking that as an indication that his firstborn had already inherited a bit of his great talents.
"If you two will allow me, I have several pamphlets I'd be glad to discuss with you both." The midwife smiled.
"Of course." Tom answered before Harriet had a chance to speak, "Please, teach me how I can care for my mate."
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Overjoyed that the appointment had gone well and happier than ever that Harriet was indeed carrying his little one, Tom spent the rest of the day making love to his darling in the Chamber of Secrets.
The midwife had given Harriet instructions on how to care for herself and Tom plenty of guidance on how to look after his mate and pup.
Between the dietary recommendations, health tips, and other guidelines, Harriet hadn't heard the midwife mention belly rubs or orgasms, but Tom lavished her with both that afternoon.
He kept one hand possessively splayed on her flat abdomen while she roared through another climax, brought on by his fingers teasing her sensitive center to another tumultuous peak as sweat beaded on her chest, "TTTTTOOOMMM!
Tom tried not to drool as he watched his omega flutter around his soaked digits.
As much as he would have enjoyed already being inside her, he preferred the pleasant torture that came with watching Harriet first.
He liked her best like that, laid back against the pillows of her nest, bare, pregnant, and gasping his name as her belly that held his child heaved with her chest.
"You've made me so very happy, sweetling." Tom chuckled as he withdrew his fingers at last while Harriet let out a sigh, half of disappointment, half of relief.
Her cheeks tinted pink as she watched the way he lifted his finger to his lips and began to slowly lick her off them, as if she were a pleasant dessert.
"Your scent is intoxicating now, my love, but your taste……." Tom purred as he sucked the last bit of Harriet from his middle finger.
Her breath hitched while she watched the way Tom's dark eyes rolled back into his head as he swallowed, "Your taste is absolutely……..delicious."
Harriet moved her hips slightly against the unwelcome surge of arousal that started in the base of her belly before it spanned outwards.
Hoping that Tom would overlook the scent of her mortifying neediness after the hours of ecstacy he'd already brought her, Harriet cleared her throat and asked, "Are you worried we won't be able to attend graduation?"
"No." Tom said casually as his dark gaze studied her, "If the baby arrives afterwards, then I see no problem there. If the baby comes earlier, my mother can hold our pup while we receive our honours."
"Tom……." Harriet scowled.
"Yes, sweetling?" He asked.
"What if…" Harriet began, but Tom's attention wandered as the telltale scent of her arousal called to him.
She drew in a deep breath as his dark gaze flickered down to the wet, waiting center between her legs.
Desperate for another taste, Tom moved down as he licked his lips.
Harriet began to speak, "What if the baby comes on the day we-AH!"
Her words were lost along with her concern as Tom began to devour her, bored with subtle tastes, eager to consume her completely.
Admittedly, Tom did not share Harriet's worry.
He was confident that the birth would not interfere with their graduation ceremony.
Everything went according to Tom Riddle's wishes.
His firstborn entering the world the same day that he and his mate celebrated the completion of their magical education was simply not in his plan, therefore, Tom knew it wouldn't happen.
