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Sirius Black disappeared.
Severus breathed a sigh of relief that his old enemy had apparently decided to leave his family alone.
Regardless of his supposed innocence concerning James's murder, Severus had no desire to be in the company of any of the Maurauders and he certainly wanted them nowhere near Lily, Ellery, or Harriet.
……..Especially Harriet.
Severus and Lily had both agreed to keep the truth about Harriet's paternity a secret from her even as she aged.
The less she knew, the less chance there would be for her to accidentally give Voldemort access to dangerous knowledge.
One bright summer morning, after the conclusion of their third year at Hogwarts, Harriet, Ron, and Hermione strolled through Diagon Alley.
Hermione and Harriet had left their pets behind, but to their disdain, Ron had brought Scabbers along for their day of shopping.
"Do you really have to have that disgusting rodent with you?" Hermione asked Ron as she furrowed her brow at the ugly rat in his arms.
"Scabbers hasn't been feeling well lately." Ron retorted, "Mum and Dad went out today and no one else was around to sit with him. What was I supposed to do, Hermione? Leave him by himself?"
"Stop it, you two!" Harriet interrupted their quarrel with a laugh, "Let's just enjoy the day….Can we, please?"
Hermione and Ron ended their spat as the trio went from shop to shop.
They enjoyed their browsing until they came to Celia's Confectionery Corner, the biggest rival of Honeydukes in Britain's wizarding world.
Harriet had no trouble choosing the items she wanted to purchase, but Ron and Hermione had a bit more decision-making ahead of themselves.
After Harriet completed her transaction, she stepped out of the crowded shop to wait in the street for her friends while she rummaged through her bag of sweets.
An unfamiliar voice stopped her unexpectedly as someone called out, "Oh…….it's you!...It really is you!"
Harriet blinked as she glanced up.
Behind her glasses, her eyes widened as she stared at the scraggly, dirty, austere man in front of her.
His Azkaban uniform was filthy and tattered.
His dark hair looked wild and matted, but the true horror was the inexplicably gleeful expression on his face.
His wide grin revealed his decaying teeth.
Harriet recognized him instantly from the unsettling pictures she had seen in The Daily Prophet during the last few months.
"You're…….You're Sirius Black!" She gasped as fear flooded her heart.
"I am!" Sirirus cried hoarsely. He reached towards Harriet and took a staggering step in her direction as he called again, "I am and you're-"
The bell on the shop's door chimed as Ron and Hermione stepped out.
Their eyes widened as they saw their friend being accosted by the man the press had proclaimed to be an evil killer.
"Harriet!" Hermione cried as she pushed past Ron and raced down the shop's steps.
While Sirius turned his attention away, Harriet shakily pulled out her wand and bravely pointed it towards him.
Ron was beside himself with terror but he loyally followed Hermione as she came to stand in front of Harriet with her own wand brandished at Sirius.
"Get away from her!" Hermione shouted.
Ron gulped as he pulled his wand out as well.
"What were you going to say?" Harriet asked with her brow furrowed in curiosity as she stared at Sirius, "Go on, out with it! How do you know me?"
Sirius gazed at Harriet with deep sadness in his dark eyes as he opened his mouth and spoke, "You're……"
Ron squeezed Scabbers a bit too tightly and elicited a loud squeak of pain from the fat rat.
Sirius looked over in the direction of the sound before the Golden Trio watched his eyes widen in horrified realization.
"...Well?!" Harriet demanded, "Out with it! Say something!"
Ron's rat stared into Sirius's dark eyes for a taunting second before a large gust of wind whipped through the street and caused the Golden Trio to hide their faces from its slicing edge.
The mysterious gust of air subsided a second later.
As the Golden Trio looked up, they noticed Sirius Black had made his escape.
"Where did he go?!" Harriet asked as she frantically glanced around.
"Harriet, I don't know!" Hermione shouted in consternation while she looked in every direction, "But we've got to tell our parents….NOW!"
"Scabbers……" Ron whimpered. He gently stroked his rat as his young heart filled with sympathy for the animal, "I'm sorry, I only wanted to protect you."
Ron had no idea that the rodent in his grasp, his beloved pet, was actually a Dark Wizard who had no interest whatsoever in protecting him.
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The Snapes, Grangers, and Weasleys were all promptly informed about their children's unsettling encounter with Sirius Black.
The adults immediately alerted the authorities who launched a full scale yet unsuccessful search for the escaped criminal.
Harriet harbored more of a disdain towards Sirius than ever as he became the reason her and her friends were no longer allowed to go out alone for the rest of the summer.
Despite her inconvenience, she contented herself with weekly visits to the castle alongside Severus.
While her father worked in his classroom to prepare for the upcoming academic term, Harriet often spent time with Hagrid and Anuman.
Ellery usually stayed home with Lily and passed his day quietly reading books in the gentle presence of his mother.
One afternoon, while Severus lingered in the castle's dungeons, Harriet and Anuman hissed back and forth to each other in friendly conversation as Hagrid watched with a soft smile.
"It makes me proud to know you've developed a bond with 'im, Harriet." Hagrid sniffed, "I suspect Dumbledore 'll be sendin' 'im back home soon."
"Back home?" Harriet asked as she turned her head and frowned at Hagrid, "You mean……..they'll?...But……But he can't go yet!"
Hagrid shrugged, "Well, he will if Dumbledore says he can……Not much you and I can do 'bout that."
"...He can't leave though!" Harriet scowled, "His parents were killed, he doesn't have a home to go back to!"
"He ain't from here, Harriet." Hagrid chuckled, "He can't be let into the forest, now can he? There's no place for 'im there, he's better off bein'-"
"-What if I ask my Mum and Dad?" Harriet blurted out.
In his cage, Anuman flicked his tongue curiously.
Hagrid narrowed his eyes incredulously as he replied, "Asked 'em what? If you can keep 'im?"
"Yeah, why not?" Harriet frowned.
"I would be honoured to stay with you instead of returning to the grim reminders of my past." Anuman whispered to Harriet in Parseltongue.
Hagrid shrugged, "I don' see the harm, but mind ya, I doubt you'll have an easy time gettin' Professor Snape and Dumbledore to agree to this."
"Leave it to me, Hagrid." Harriet answered with a confident smile.
Silence settled for a moment before Hagrid stood and asked, "Well, before ya go back to your Dad, would ya like to see the new pot-bellied slug worms I found yesterday? They're great big things, they are! McGonagall told me she's goin' use them in her classes this year. Apparently, they're good for turnin' into chairs?"
"Sure!" Harriet nodded.
Hagrid glanced at the cage behind her as he answered, "Alright….Go ahead and let 'im out for a roam while we're gone. I'll let ya help me put 'im back again once we're finished."
Harriet turned and opened the door to Anuman's cage before she left the hut with Hagrid.
After the two walked out, Anuman slithered onto the dusty floor of Hagrid's hut.
Outside, Fang joined Hagrid as he brought Harriet to the edge of the forest and showed her the colony of pot-bellied slug worms he had discovered the day before.
While no one was around, Anuman began to tremble and shake.
In one violent jolt, he launched himself towards the window.
With that single strike, his scales turned into soft, bronzed skin.
His forked tongue became whole and pink as his serpentine eyes melted into handsome pools of black, surrounded by fluffy, dark lashes.
Tall and muscular for a boy his age, mere months younger than Harriet, Anuman stared out the window and sighed as he watched her visit with his other caretaker.
His dark, silky hair framed his angular face in jagged, handsome tufts.
A frown graced his lips while he leaned on the windowsill and frowned longingly.
Harriet Snape's green eyes reminded Anuman of the jungle he had spent his childhood in with his parents, happy and fulfilled.
Her dark hair reminded him of the night sky he had so often admired as he walked with his mother in the evenings.
Anuman lacked the courage to reveal himself and his heart to Harriet.
What would she want with him, an orphaned boy from a far away land, penniless and alone in the world?
Snakes were proud creatures, even those only in Animagus form.
Rejection was not something Anuman could bear.
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Later that night, after Harriet had made her plea to her parents, she used her nervous energy to spill the entirety of her thoughts to her very best friend, Tom Riddle.
Her green eyes narrowed as she finished penning her words:
My scaly friend needs a home, you know. I've asked my parents if he could come and stay with us, but they only said they'd think about it. I dunno if they'll let me keep him as a pet or not.
Her quill tapped against the wood of her desk while she impatiently waited for her ink to vanish.
She grew frustrated during the few seconds it took for Tom's response to appear:
I myself have a rather large snake that lives with me. If your parents decline your request, perhaps you can bring him to my care? I promise to look after him for you, until the day you no longer need their permission.
A wide smile danced across Harriet's lips as her heart fluttered.
She knew it was silly to have her pulse race over a boy in a diary, yet her smile remained while she wrote back:
Thanks, Tom. You're a really good friend, but…How could I do that? I can't come to where you are, that's what you said before.
Harriet took a deep breath of silent wonder while her soul filled with resounding hope as Tom's response appeared on the page:
Perhaps you may, when the time is right.
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While Harriet wrote to Tom that night, Severus held Lily in his arms as they lay together in bed.
Their lips met softly as they both tried to calm their ragged breathing in the moments after their lovemaking.
Lily sighed as she pulled away and let her head rest on Severus's chest.
"Shall we let her keep him, Sev?" She asked quietly, "It may teach her about responsibility. Caring for a snake will be a bigger task than looking after an owl. Hedwig makes things easy for her sometimes."
Severus frowned at Lily for a moment before he drawled, "I suppose we….may allow her to attempt the task. However, at the first sign of neglect, the creature will return to Dumbledore."
He blinked as his lover reached up and pressed a gentle kiss of gratitude against his lips.
Severus wrapped his arms around Lily as he lovingly kissed her back.
Satisfying his wife in any and every way never failed to assuage his own aching heart.
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Once Severus and his darling flower told their daughter of their decision the next morning, Harriet nearly exploded with joy.
Ellery was indifferent to his sister's new pet, but as Anuman was taken from Hagrid's hut and placed into Harriet's bedroom, he breathed a sigh of elated relief.
The secret Animagus couldn't imagine anywhere else in the world he'd rather be.
Harriet loved having her friend in her home, though she did find it a bit strange whenever she dressed for the day that Anuman seemed to stare at her from the confines of his cage.