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 stayed right beside Lily, determined to watch over her.

He cradled the baby and made certain that Lily had a good view of the new life she had just brought into the world while Madam Pomfrey finished her work.

Once Lily was settled comfortably in bed, Severus handed the newborn to the healer so that she could clean and tend the little one.

He was a bit startled by the initial impulse of primal reluctance that he felt as Madam Pomfrey reached for the babe in his arms, but his attention was called back to Lily as soon as Madam Pomfrey walked away with the infant.

Severus swept over to sit on Lily's bedside as he stared down at her with a frown of sympathetic worry.

She smiled up at him while he raised a hand and gently brushed her damp, crimson hair out of her face.

"I'm alright, Sev." Lily said with an exhausted but happy sigh.

Despite her ordeal, her face was radiant and her emerald eyes glowed with the bright spark of a new mother's joyful pride.

As Severus gazed at Lily, he was in awe of the stunning beauty and resilience that she displayed.

"Madam Pomfrey approved me to give you a bit more pain potion shortly…..to ease the cramping." Severus informed Lily in hopes of reassuring her.

Severus certainly wasn't a woman, but from the books he had read, he understood enough about female anatomy and the process of childbirth to know that there was a recovery period involved afterwards.

As he had with the birth, Severus sought to aid Lily in her recovery as much as possible.

"Thank you, Severus." Lily said as she kept her brilliant smile. She took one of his hands and squeezed it tightly as she whispered, "Thank you so much….."

"Lily, I……" Severus began, but he was interrupted by a small squeal as Madam Pomfrey walked back over towards the bed and handed Lily her squirming bundle.

Severus couldn't help the slight twinge of jealousy he felt as Lily's eyes widened when they moved off of him and onto her baby after she let go of his hand and reached out for her daughter.

"There we are, Lily!" Madam Pomfrey said with a pleased smile as she watched one of Hogwarts' former students beam down at her newborn, "You've got a fine little lady there. A bit hungry, but that's nothing that mother can't remedy."

Lily watched her new baby turn and whine impatiently as she nuzzled against her chest.

Lily seemed to forget that anyone was watching as she freed her breasts from the confines of the loose nightdress she wore.

She held her little one closer and carefully helped her daughter find her nipple until the baby latched on properly.

Lily let out a breath and looked up at Severus with an expression of awed wonder as she felt her baby begin to take her first meal.

Severus's mouth was open slightly as he gazed back at Lily, enraptured by the ethereal glow in her flushed cheeks.

Severus wished that he had a way to capture that moment forever, Lily's look of untainted purity as she cradled her child with all of the loving tenderness that he had ever hoped to receive.

As the baby's snuffling little grunts filled the room, Severus promised himself silently that he would store his memory of that instant for later replay.

Madam Pomfrey gave the couple a few instructions and lingered for an hour or so before she eventually bid the trio goodnight.

Severus was too worried about Lily to rest.

Lily valiantly attempted to fight off her drowsiness and stay awake with her daughter but after Severus gave her another dose of pain potion to relax the cramps that echoed through her abused womb, slumber overtook her.

With Lily asleep, Severus felt that it was his duty to look after her daughter, at least on that first night of her life.

Newborns were fragile.

What if the baby needed help and no one heard her cry?

Lily's heart would be broken, with no hope of repair.

Severus sat on the bed beside Lily and frowned down at the baby who stared up at him from the blankets that swaddled her.

To his surprise, the little girl curiously looked into his face and blinked her large, green eyes at him.

Severus's frown deepened when James Potter's daughter smiled up at him happily.

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Severus and Lily were indescribably glad that classes were not in session.

Over the next week as they adjusted to life with a newborn, they appreciated the flexibility that came with their open schedule.

Between Voldemort and the Potters' spies, it was too dangerous to take the baby out of the castle.

Lily had not alerted James about the birth.

However, the trials of sleep deprivation and the tumult of surging hormones seemed to increase Lily's paranoia about the possibility of her daughter being removed from her care.

"You don't have to worry, Lily." Severus purred as he sat next to her one afternoon while she held her sleeping baby on the sofa, "You can lean on the safety of my claims and trust my words, I will not let James Potter take your…..child….away from you."

"What are you going to do then, Sev?" Lily sniffed as she wiped away tears of stressed frustration, "Are you going to kill him?"

"Do you want me to?" Severus blinked.

"No!" Lily said in a hushed whisper, careful not to raise her voice and wake her daughter.

Severus shrugged, "I'm only trying to make you happy, my love."

While he watched Lily wipe away more tears, he turned the subject of their conversation to more pleasant matters as he glanced down at the baby and whispered, "...Your infant needs a name."

"I'm going to call her Harriet." Lily said with a determined sniff, "I wanted to name our son 'Harry' and James hated it, so I want her to be Harriet instead."

Severus smirked as he imagined the irritated look that would appear on James Potter's face when he found out the news.

"I think that's a lovely name." Severus replied in a low purr as he leaned over and kissed Lily's forehead.

She sighed as she relaxed against Severus while they both looked down at the newborn in her arms.

Severus closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in the lovely scent of Lily's hair, mingled with the sweet smell of the milk in her breasts and the innocent, powdery freshness of the child that had been thrust between them.

Severus had one arm protectively around Lily and as she cuddled him, he traced gentle circles into her side as he marveled at the fact that she was there, in his arms, in his rooms, on his sofa.

Severus bent down and kissed the top of Lily's head until she turned her face towards him and smiled through her tears to give him a grateful kiss.

It was brief, but it was enough.

It was always enough for Severus, whatever kiss Lily felt like giving him.

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Severus Snape had never considered fatherhood or dreamed of pursuing it, but he played the role as Lily needed while she recovered from the birth.

He wouldn't dare turn down the opportunity to support his beloved during one of the most difficult times in her life.

Severus went and brought the baby, Harriet, to Lily when the infant cried in the night.

He changed her tiny diaper.

He bathed her.

He swaddled her.

Whenever the baby fussed, Severus cast a silencing charm on his living area to let Lily rest while he paced back and forth with the child and bounced her gently to soothe her cries.

He stayed silent during those times, in terrified amazement of how long and how loud a newborn could wail.

How could such a small set of lungs produce such a cacophonous noise?

One particular night, Severus was nearly at his wit's end after spending hours pacing the floor with Harriet who had screamed her displeasure the entire time.

She was fed, she was changed, but she would not stop crying and Severus didn't understand why.

He sat down on the sofa in defeat and heaved a great sigh as the baby in his arms continued to shriek relentlessly.

"WWWWWAAAA!"

"WWWWWAAAA!"

"WWWWWWAAA!"

"WWWWWWAAAA!"

"You're giving me a headache…" Severus confessed in his low drawl.

He blinked when Harriet's deafening cries dissolved into fussy whimpers.

Severus gathered his courage and dared to look down into the face of the small monster who had kept him from Lily's side for so long.

Baby Harriet blinked up at him in anticipation.

Severus blinked back and wondered what the infant was waiting on.

When she started to whimper warningly, Severus frowned at her and spoke, "I implore you to quiet down…. Are you not tiring yourself at all? My ears must be close to bleeding."

The baby's whimpers died away as she wriggled slightly to settle into Severus's grasp while she cooed.

Besides the smell and sound of her mother, there was one other thing that soothed little Harriet…..

The possibility of what that could be occurred to Severus as he sat there and stared down at the infant.

A curious scowl spread across his pale face as he asked the baby, "...Do you recognize my voice?"

Harriet responded with a little heaving gasp and Severus chuckled dryly to himself.

He had spent a fair amount of time talking to Lily while he was close to her during her pregnancy.

He surmised that his speech patterns and frequency were heard by the inhabitant of her womb during that time and as a result………

A short while later, Severus had eliminated Harriet's cries and calmed the small baby into a dreamless sleep as he sat on the sofa and read to her in his low drawl from a potions textbook on the coffee table.

Harriet had more age-appropriate reading material that Severus could utilize later, but he didn't have the ability to wander from room to room and look for Harriet's baby books without waking her or Lily.

Severus glanced down at the infant in his arms as he very carefully closed the textbook and studied her tiny, sleeping face.

He contemplated how it was possible for something so small to be alive?

How could Voldemort want to kill something so harmless?

Kill.

A sly smirk curled the ends of Severus's thin lips as he thought.

Kill?

Severus didn't need to kill James Potter, that would only solve the dilemma of Lily's custody battle.

Severus needed to kill Lily and her baby, that would take care of all of their problems…...

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"I'm so terribly sorry, dear." Mrs. Potter said to her son as she stood behind him and laid a comforting hand on his left shoulder.

"We're here for you, my boy. We're here for you, don't you ever doubt that! Your mother had a miscarriage before you were born…..it was very difficult, indeed, but we made it through and so will you!" Mr. Potter said encouragingly as he laid his hand on his son's right shoulder while he stood next to his wife.

James was too shocked for tears and too numb for words.

He raised his hands to his face absently while the letter he had clutched in his fingers drifted out of his grasp and fluttered onto the table in front of him.

The words were emblazoned in vivid, black ink.

To James Potter,

I regretfully inform you that your wife, Lily Evans Potter, passed away peacefully under the care of a kind but ill-prepared midwife due to complications suffered after the sudden onset of her labour. The child that she carried was unable to be saved and per her mother's wishes, is to be interred alongside her. I can answer any questions that you may have, but Mrs. Potter's last wish was to be buried in peace.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Party

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"Is that so, Severus?" Voldemort asked with a gleeful sneer.

The Dark Lord stood in front of his most trusted spy while they conducted a private meeting in the empty, gothic dining room at Malfoy manor.

"Yes, my lord. Dumbledore himself spoke to me. Lily Evans Potter lost her son and her life in childbirth. Dumbledore believes the process was aided by her broken heart. I'm not certain if you knew, but she was in the middle of a bitter divorce……..without her husband's love, it seems that Mrs. Potter no longer possessed the courage to carry on." Severus explained to Voldemort.

"Oh yes, I've heard a similar story before…...how incredibly weak bringing new life into the world must make women." Voldemort laughed with a hateful smile that looked more like a snarl as he thought of that similar story.

Severus nodded in agreement, "How incredibly weak indeed, my lord."

"...The child, Severus?" Voldemort asked as he stepped alarmingly close to Severus's face and hissed, "I care little for the mother. What of the child?! Is it true?!?!"

Severus held his stony expression as he looked into the eyes of pure, living evil. He shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "It is as I said, my lord. The child followed its mother into death."

"James Potter's son?" Voldemort hissed again as he waited for confirmation.

"Yes, my lord." Severus lied as he mentally focused on maintaining the occlumency he practiced to preserve his lie and his life, "James Potter's son is dead."

A dry, cracking noise in between a shriek, a gasp, and a laugh escaped Voldemort's throat as he turned away from Severus and looked around arrogantly, as if a world of new possibilities had opened up for him.

"Excellent! Excellent…..the Longbottom boy will be dealt with and then nothing will stand in our path, Severus! What delightful news!" Voldemort exclaimed.

"Of course, my lord." Severus replied as he dared to flash Voldemort an expression akin to a smile.

Voldemort turned his back to Severus as he sat down at the head of the large, empty table in the

Malfoys' grand dining room.

Severus took the silent cue as his dismissal and he raised his wand to apparate away but before he could leave, Voldemort called out, "Severus!"

"Yes, my lord?" Severus asked as he looked over at Voldemort with a frown.

Had he done something wrong?

Had he betrayed his true thoughts somehow?

"How is Laima?" Voldemort asked with an eerie grin as he looked over at his servant.

"She's…..she's doing well, my lord." Severus nodded quickly, caught off guard by the question, "She'll be humbled that you inquired about her health."

"You'll alert me immediately as soon as your daughter arrives? Lucius and Narcissa summoned me instantly when their son was born, I'd expect no less from you, Severus." Voldemort glowered.

"Of course, my lord." Severus replied as he nodded at his dark master, "It will be my daughter's honor to be graced with your great presence during her first few moments of life."

"And many years after!" Voldemort smirked.

"And many years after." Severus readily agreed.

"You may go now, Severus." Voldemort said as he turned away once more.

Severus apparated out of the room and back to the hillside next to Hogsmeade before Voldemort had a chance to change his mind.

What neither Voldemort nor Severus realized was that during their entire conversation, Peter Pettigrew was standing right outside of the closed Malfoy dining room doors.

Peter grinned wickedly to himself as he reached down into his grubby pocket.

He scowled in thought as he pulled out that single, red hair that he had kept in his possession since the night that Severus had presented his forbidden lover to Voldemort.

Peter had a choice to make, but he just couldn't decide.

Who should he give the hair to?