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 and Harriet both begrudged the cruel reality that their languid honeymoon at Riddle manor concluded with the end of Hogwarts' winter recess.
Although Harriet had the Chamber of Secrets she could readily escape to at the castle whenever the aches and exhaustion of her condition overwhelmed her, she much preferred to spend her days in Tom's arms, awash in the buttery sheets of their sumptuous bed at Riddle Manor rather than roaming the halls from class to class.
The couple garnered a startling amount of attention from their peers as everyone marveled at the only student couple who had already managed to marry, mate, and conceive, but Tom kept his darling Harriet protectively close.
While several exchanged gossiping whispers, there wasn't a single ill remark made directly to the couple.
No one would dare outwardly challenge Tom Riddle by desecreating his love for Harriet.
Tom was anything but shy about his outward display of possessive affection for his new wife.
With his ring on Harriet's finger and his child in her growing belly, he kept his lips on hers and his hand on her occupied womb whenever possible.
Although Harriet delighted in her alpha's affections, she found it hard to concentrate on her studies with their baby moving inside her under Tom's smouldering gaze.
Hogwarts' staff members continued to become more and more concerned about having an expectant mother as one of their students.
Professor Dumbledore eventually granted Tom and Harriet the privilege of escaping their dormitories each night after the Riddle family made a very generous donation to the prestigious magical school.
As Harriet entered her third trimester, instead of trudging up to Gryffindor Tower, she and Tom left the Great Hall together after dinner each evening.
He carried his darling mate in his arms as they journeyed down to the Chamber of Secrets.
Upon their arrival, he would clean them both and settle Harriet in her nest before he joined her there.
The sighs that escaped her lips as he lulled her to sleep with his sweet kisses and gentle touches made him growl with want.
Tom often sat up and watched in silent awe as Harriet rested.
Her dark hair fanned behind her head as her pink lips formed into a soft pout while she snoozed.
It baffled him as to how any living thing could be as flawless as Harriet……Harriet Riddle.
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Despite the valiant attempts Tom had made at easing his wife's discomforts, her uniform became unbearably uncomfortable as her pregnancy progressed.
After a couple of inaccurate measuring spells, she had decided to take her clothes to the magical seamstress in Hogsmeade every other week for skillful alterations.
Tom always insisted on accompanying his lover, much to her annoyance.
Harriet appreciated her alpha's loving concern, however, the arrogant grin on his face as he watched her struggle to carry his pup made her want to slap him.
She craved a moment alone without her hovering, paranoid husband furrowing his brow as if she were a bomb ready to explode at any moment.
Her chance finally came early one Saturday morning.
Tom had been called away to the Ministry for an unexpected meeting with Lucius and several other officials as part of his internship's duties.
While Merope resisted Tom senior's seduction attempts in the privacy of their room, Harriet slipped past Lawrence and left Riddle Manor.
A quick tap of her wand brought the magical bus that traveled to Hogsmeade pulling into the mansion's driveway not more than five minutes later.
Harriet sighed to herself as she boarded the vehicle.
She knew Tom would be rather displeased if he found out about her solo excursion, but Harriet had the courage to face her alpha's irritation.
As a sharp kick crashed into her ribs, she flinched and pressed a hand against her side.
Harriet decided she deserved a little unhindered peace.
Carrying the next Riddle heir had been no easy task.
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Unbeknownst to Tom, his mate thoroughly enjoyed her morning out.
Harriet stopped for a pumpkin juice in The Three Broomsticks, had her uniform altered, and even browsed through one of Hogsmeade's newest children's stores.
It made her smile to look at the small, plush dragon sitting on the counter in front of herself while the clerk processed her transaction.
After the shop worker bagged the toy and handed it to Harriet, she left the store with a smile on her face.
It made her heart glow to imagine her son or daughter playing with the little dragon while she and Tom watched.
Harriet became so caught up in her daydream as she headed down the street towards the bus stop that she failed to notice the four grinning alphas who watched her ominously.
The thin one hid behind a lamppost.
The fat one leered from a sweets cart.
The two with scarred faces loomed out of a nearby alleyway, but Harriet walked on, oblivious.
As she rounded the corner to complete her journey to the bus stop, the four Dark Wizards rushed around her like blanketing fragments of dreadful demise.
"'Ello, kitten." The thin one cackled as he and his cronies sneered down at Harriet.
Her emerald eyes widened as she glanced around at the four nightmarish figures who surrounded her.
She clutched the bag that held the toy dragon.
The tall man and the fat man stood in front of her, while the two men with scarred faces stood behind her, their eyes focused greedily on her rounded bottom.
Their clothes were dark, dirty, and tattered.
Their crooked smiles revealed their rotten, uneven teeth.
A nauseating stench of decay seemed to emanate from each of them. As Harriet stood there, she wondered if they were really….only wizards?
"Sorry, I……I have to catch the bus." She nodded as a hand flew to protectively cover her belly, "I'll just……be on my way then."
Panic took hold of her as their grins widened with lust.
The stench of their bodies churned Harriet's stomach as they all stepped forward to cut off any possible escape route.
"I beg ya pardon, my dear, but ya can't leave yet." The thin man said with an eerie chuckle, "Not until we've had our way with ya first. Don' worry, it won' hurt when our teeth scrape ya skin……Some women even say they enjoy it."
The metallic echo in his voice horrified Harriet.
In the back of her mind, she wondered what sort of austere monsters she had managed to encounter on a sunny day in Hogsmeade.
Harriet bravely reached for her wand but as the fat man…..or thing…..stretched a hand towards her, her need to defend herself vanished.
As if they were pulled by an invisible chain, Harriet's four assailants were all yanked backwards to form a perfect square with their new positions, a safe distance away from her.
She frantically glanced around as an invisible force hauled each of them into the air with their limbs outstretched and their mouths wide open.
Harriet gasped as she watched their fingers and feet erupt into violent flames.
Everyone in the street stopped to point and stare in abject disbelief as the screams from those four…..men….rang out while the fire licked across their bodies, devoured their tattered clothes, and ate through their exposed flesh.
Harriet began to tremble as she watched in shock while her four attackers burned down to their bones.
She gripped her wand as she wondered what had happened and how she may possibly stop it, but by the time she recovered her wits, it was too late.
One by one, the charred bodies of those who had dared to attack her dropped lifelessly to the ground with harsh thuds.
Somewhere in the grim grittiness of that moment, the world began to fade for Harriet.
She heard a scream as she sank to her knees.
The last shout that reached her ears before she lost consciousness sounded like a Summoning Charm for emergency services.
As Harriet collapsed in the center of the square the four corpses had formed, the bag that held the plush dragon she had purchased lay forgotten on the ground.
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The bright light nearly whited out her vision.
Harriet started slightly as she blinked her eyes against the visual assault.
She groaned as she lifted a hand to cover her face from the light's intrusion before something dark moved to shield her.
"...Sweetling?" The blurry shape asked, "Sweetling, can you hear me?"
Harriet scowled as she blinked her eyes until her husband's face came into focus.
"TOM!" She shouted.
They both breathed a sigh of relief as Harriet threw her arms around her lover and embraced him.
He carefully returned her hug as he forced himself not to squeeze his mate too tightly.
Harriet glanced around and noticed she had been admitted to a room at St. Mungo's.
She recognized the chair Tom sat in from a visit once with Ron to see his ailing uncle.
"Oh, sweetling, I came as soon as I heard." He whispered as Harriet nuzzled into the crook of his neck.
Once the memory of the afternoon rushed back to her, she let him go as she gasped with wide eyes, "You……You killed those men! Tom, I know you were defending me, but you heard what I said! If you did it again, then-"
"-Sweetling." Tom interrupted her as he held up a hand. Although he intended to speak honestly with Harriet, he avoided every possible opportunity to upset her, worried it may cause her or his pup harm, "I swear to you, on my mother's head, that I had nothing to do with what happened this afternoon."
"...Oh, really?" Harriet scoffed as she crossed her arms.
"You have my solemn word." Tom answered very seriously, "Since you decided to run errands behind my back, I performed no tracking spells on you this morning…..I thought I would let you sleep. I wasn't even aware anything had happened until a messenger from the hospital sought me out at the Ministry. Do you have any idea how worried I was?!!"
The blind rage in Tom's face showed Harriet she had truly upset him.
"The very least you could have done would have been to let me know where you were headed!" He snapped. Tom grit his teeth as he hissed, "If I ever learn about you going behind my back again, especially weeks away from giving birth, I will chain you to your nest and keep you as my personal pet. Do you understand?!"
His words were cruel and selfish, but Harriet looked past them to see the paranoid, loving concern which had been his motivation.
"Yes, Tom." She frowned, "I'm sorry…..I should have let you know I was going out……I just wanted a bit of time alone…You've hovered since-"
"-And from what I was told, you needed someone to hover today." He growled, "What would you have done, Harriet? What would you have done if that hadn't happened?! If they hadn't burned?!"
"I don't even know how they burned!" She cried in exasperation, "I didn't get a chance to pull my wand! They just flew into the air and…roasted! I thought it was your doing! Your mother told me you set a man on fire once who tried to steal her purse!"
"If it had been my doing, their deaths wouldn't have been that quick!" Tom viciously hissed, "They deserved more than a minute of suffering for threatening my wife and heir!"
As their argument reached a crescendo, Harriet glanced away.
Tom frowned as he reached a hand out and laid it protectively over her swollen belly.
"The healers assured me you and our little one escaped the ordeal unscathed." He whispered, "Although I'm still angry at you for what you did, I take comfort that you're both safe…… I do hope this will teach you to rely more strongly on me in the future."
"Does…….?" Harriet started to ask.
She winced suddenly as the baby moved inside her.
A frown of concern clouded Tom's handsome face as he began to rub soothing circles over his wife's heavy womb.
"Does anyone…..know exactly what did happen?" Harriet asked as she lay back.
Tom moved over her as he shook his head, "No, sweetling, and that's the most puzzling thing of all. The Ministry, the Aurors, no one seems able to understand how you were saved. It infuriates me, however, that I can take no credit for that feat."
Harriet gripped her alpha's hand as she sighed and frowned, "I'm sorry, Tom……..I do love you….very much."
Despite his anger, Tom bent down and kissed Harriet's lips, grateful something had saved his lover.
While Tom hadn't rushed to Harriet's rescue due to his ignorance of her peril, he didn't yet understand the role he had actually played in his darling's survival.