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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When Lily pulled back from Severus's embrace, she laughed with happy tears in her eyes at the look of complete awe on his face.
His expression had gone slack, his mouth had fallen open, and his dark eyes were soft voids of reverent, melted ore.
"Sev?" Lily asked with a chuckle, "Are you alright?"
"...How long?" Severus managed to murmur.
"What?" Lily blinked.
"How long have you known?" Severus asked as his brow furrowed, "Why haven't you…..mentioned this…..to me sooner?"
"I just found out last week." Lily replied as she laid a soothing hand on Severus's chest, "Calm down, love. I thought it would be a good surprise, you know, to share the news with you today. There's no need to be upset."
"I'm not upset, Lily." Severus glowered. Lily watched him reach for her hand, grasp it, and start to pull her towards the center of the room, "Come over to the sofa, you shouldn't be on your feet for long periods of time."
"I'm not quite at that stage yet." Lily laughed quietly as she let Severus guide her over to the sofa, "...Although I guess we can sit down for a moment."
Severus kept one hand on Lily's waist while he clasped her fingers in his other as he helped her gently lower herself onto the furniture.
Lily had hoped that he would be comforted if she sat down, but that seemed to only stir more urgent questions in his mind.
"Are you well, my love? Is there anything that I can bring you or do for you?" Severus asked as he held Lily's hand in his and continued to gaze at her with that uncharacteristically bewildered expression of endearment on his pale face.
"No, Sev, I'm perfectly fine." Lily said with a smile as she squeezed his hand, "I'm really excited though! I hope it's a boy!"
Severus drank Lily in like a sponge as he watched her face light up as she expressed her desire to give him a son.
A son, a real-
"-Have you seen a midwife yet?" Severus asked suddenly.
"I had my first appointment yesterday." Lily nodded, "...When you went to the castle to check on the supplies in your closet for an hour. She assured me that everything looks healthy and that we both seem to be doing well."
Severus nodded in glad approval as he glanced down at Lily's hands.
She watched him pass his fingers over her wedding rings while she asked, "Sev?...Are you angry?"
Severus's black eyes glimmered with loving adoration as he looked up at his darling flower and spoke in a low purr, "...I could never be angry with you, Lily."
A warm smile played across Mrs. Snape's lips as she leaned over towards Severus to give him a merciful kiss.
He placed his hand on her throat and gently moved to cup her cheek as their gentle affection melted into one of meaningful, eternal sentiment.
Their kiss continued.
A soft declaration of enduring loyalty and immersive passion, that was what Severus and Lily shared that evening as he lifted her into his arms, with their lips still meeting, and carried her up the stairs to their bed.
Their lips brushed as they vanished each other's clothes and laid down to share a long, intimate cuddle.
It made Lily smile wide when she woke the next morning to find herself on her side, with Severus lying close behind her.
He had one arm wrapped underneath her to pull her in close and his elegant hand splayed protectively across her flat belly.
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Severus begrudged the fact that his work kept him from his family during the day.
Every hour at the castle felt like an eternity without Lily and Harriet.
As the school year resumed, Professor Snape gave his lessons with a scowl on his face and a sharp bite in the words that he spoke to his students.
No matter how strict or uptight Professor Snape seemed, underneath his frown, he fantasized throughout each day about the moment when he would be able to go home to his wife and daughter.
When that wonderful time finally came each afternoon, Severus raced back to the cottage that had become his home to greet Harriet with a pat on the head and Lily with a kiss.
His hands were always in a rush to find his beloved's belly, which started to round rather quickly.
As winter approached, Lily, er, Laima's body proudly displayed the fact that it carried Severus's child.
Her breasts had already started to swell, along with her middle.
On one chilly December night, Severus sat on the bed and watched his pregnant darling ready herself at her vanity for the evening ahead of them.
Lily's crimson hair had been thoughtfully curled, her lips had been painted a matching red, and her eyelashes had been brushed with a black cosmetic to highlight the emeralds that they so beautifully guarded.
It made Severus's trousers tighten to see the green velvet of his wife's tight dress strain to cover the swells of her heavy cleavage and the adorable roundness that held his child.
"Is something wrong, Sev?" Lily asked with a subtle smirk as she delighted in the way that Severus gazed longingly at her reflection in the mirror.
"No." He replied quickly, "You look…….you look lovely, Lily."
"Thank you." She replied with a sigh as she stood from her vanity and turned to face him, "You look very handsome yourself, Sev."
Severus only wore his usual black robes.
He shifted on his feet when he heard the compliment from Lily which he felt he didn't deserve.
She enjoyed the sway that she held over her husband for a moment as she stalked towards him, with the mermaid-like tail of her green, velvet dress swirling around her feet and her cherry lips moving as she giggled, "Then again, I always think you look handsome, Sev~."
Severus tried to maintain his composure while Lily came so close to him that her curves bumped against his chest.
She reached a hand up to move a strand of his black hair out of the way as his palms slipped over her belly.
"I love you." Lily whispered as her bright, green eyes scanned over his face.
Severus gazed down at her for a thoughtful moment.
He considered throwing their plans for the evening out the window when an excited cry interrupted his thoughts, "Mummy!...Daddy!"
As Lily turned around, Severus's palms still covered her belly, but Harriet didn't notice as she bounded into the room with a happy grin on her face.
"Hello, sweetheart! Are you ready to show Daddy your new dress?!" Lily asked with an excited smile.
Harriet laughed as she toddled over to her parents and forced Severus to take his hands off of her mother's womb so that he could use them to lift her into his arms instead.
Lily had purchased a children's dress made out of the same shade of green velvet as her own so that she and her little girl could match.
Harriet felt very proud to wear something similar to what her Mummy had on.
"A lovely dress, indeed." Severus nodded as he held his little girl in his arms.
"I like my new dress, Daddy." Harriet proudly told Severus as Lily smiled and stroked her daughter's hair.
"...As do I." Severus nodded very seriously at Harriet, "It's as pretty as your mother's."
"...But I don't want to go to the party." Harriet pouted at Severus, "I just want to wear my dress."
"Well…….." Severus continued very seriously, "I'm deeply sorry, but we have to go to the party."
"Why?" Harriet frowned.
"Because it would be rude not to." Severus nodded.
Lily smiled as she watched Severus explain the situation to their little girl.
"What happens if you're rude, Daddy?" Harriet blinked.
"People will think you're a bad person." Severus instructed Harriet, "And you don't want people to think you're a bad person, do you?"
The low tone in his last few words made Harriet shake her head after she blinked at him for a moment.
"...Correct." Severus purred at Harriet in his low rumble while Lily looked on, "You want people to know that you're a good person…….Now be on your best behavior for you mother and I, tonight…….Alright?"
Harriet looked down and played with the dark buttons at the top of Severus's collar. Her tiny lips twisted into a pout while she reluctantly agreed in a resigned huff, "...Alright, Daddy."
Severus glanced over at Lily, who flashed him a warm smile.
Together, the Snape family left their humble cottage and used a Portkey to make the brief journey to Malfoy Manor.
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With the Dark Lord's whereabouts unknown and most of his followers either in Azkaban or hiding, the Malfoys' annual Christmas party had greatly dwindled in size.
After the conclusion of the first wizarding world war, the Snapes, along with a couple of other wealthy families, all unaffiliated with the Dark Lord, sat around the huge, ebony dining table and enjoyed an evening of forcibly polite chatter, fine food, and hopeful discussions about the future.
Lily's swollen abdomen already prohibited Harriet from resting on her lap at the dinner table, so she sat on Severus instead during the course of the meal.
"How lucky you two are." Narcissa commented to Lily and Severus when she found them unentangled in any one conversation.
Lucius was busy chatting with the Malfoys' other guests.
Severus frowned as he spoke, "Thank you, Narcissa. We look forward to growing our family."
Severus's inner joy at Lily's pregnancy did not displace his serious expression.
Narcissa locked gazes with Lily, er, Laima, but Laima couldn't hide the smug smirk that spread across her face.
She could see it clearly in Narcissa's blue eyes.
Narcissa Malfoy was scorchingly jealous, but what secretly bothered Lily was the question of…...why?
Did Narcissa want to give her husband another child too?
Or….did Narcissa……..covet Severus for herself?
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An evening filled with damask surroundings, adult conversations, and little movement was not a very enjoyable one for a toddler.
Eventually, Harriet wriggled her way off of Severus's lap.
He carefully helped her down onto her tiny feet and watched her make her way over to see what Draco was doing, who sat playing with his stuffed dragon in the far corner of the room.
Narcissa and Lily had engaged in a witty banter of disguised niceties that only two women who disliked each other could undertake.
As Mrs. Snape and Mrs. Malfoy completed their verbal sparring match, Lucius and Severus watched their children prepare to interact.
Harriet walked across the stone floor and stopped a short distance away from little Draco.
Clad in a miniature black suit with his tufts of pale, blonde hair slicked back, Draco blinked up at Harriet as he held his plush dragon.
Harriet blinked back at him.
A frown crossed his pink lips as she plopped down on her little bottom close beside him.
Draco and Harriet saw each other occasionally, but since they were little more than babies, they didn't really know what to think of one another yet.
The absinthe green hue of Harriet's velvet dress reminded Draco of the textiles and colors in his home.
He silently decided that he liked Harriet's dress well enough to let her hold his plush dragon.
Lucius smirked, but Severus frowned as they watched little Draco pass his toy to Harriet, who seemed overjoyed to have something entertaining to hold after an evening of boredom.
"Look, Severus," Lucius whispered at the table, "My son is being a gentleman to your daughter."
"...I didn't realize that Malfoys knew how to share." Severus quipped.
Lucius threw his friend a scowl, but over in the corner of the room, Draco blinked his grey eyes curiously as he watched Harriet gently hug his plush toy.