Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
Severus and Lily left the castle exhausted that night, too tired to make their usual appearance at the Great Hall's dinner after an unusually rigorous day of classes.
"I'll warm some leftovers from Sunday." Lily sighed as Severus sank into a dining chair after they returned to their cottage.
"...That sounds wonderful, my love." He whispered as he passed a hand over his pale face.
"We could have eaten at the castle." Lily chuckled, "...The food would have been better."
"Nonsense." Severus drawled. His dark eyes narrowed at his wife while he watched her bustle around their small kitchen, "Regardless, I confess that the food was the least of my concerns……I craved your private audience, my dear, above any form of sustenance."
"You're sweet, Sev." Lily giggled as she glanced up at her husband.
She blushed at the hunger reflected in Severus's black gaze.
Lily knew their quiet evening would most likely develop into physical intimacy, but that wasn't all she found intriguing about Severus's dedicated stare…….it was his great need for her.
Not just her body, not just pleasure, but her.
Severus wanted more than anything else in the world to be near Lily, to be close to Lily, to have Lily at his side.
He rose from his seat despite his exhaustion to help his dear wife prepare and serve their meager meal.
A short while later, they ate together at the table while they stole glances at each other.
Silently, Lily slid a hand towards Severus and opened it in a quiet ask.
Eager to hold her palm in his, Severus acquiesced her request and stretched his own arm out to grasp her hand.
"Today was quite trying, wasn't it?" Lily asked with a defeated smile.
"At times." Severus nodded, "Although its difficulties would have been exaggerated had you not been by my side, my love."
"There'll never come a day when I'm not next to you, Sev." Lily promised.
"If there does, I have no desire to live through it." Severus bitterly replied.
As they finished the last of their food, Lily gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
"It's odd that I'm exhausted but not drowsy, isn't it?" She asked with an amused chuckle.
"It may comfort you to know that I feel the same." Severus answered as he looked up from his plate and into Lily's emerald eyes.
She couldn't help but grin as she watched her husband lose himself in her gaze as his mouth went slack.
"Perhaps we can…….amuse ourselves before bed?" Lily asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps you'll let me take you into my arms?" Severus quipped in his low drawl.
There was a husky undertone in his otherwise smooth voice that sent a coy smirk dancing on Lily's lips.
Severus rose from the table first as he stretched a hand towards his wife, his elegant fingers reaching past the white fabric that stuck out from the edges of his dark sleeves.
Lily was on her feet a second later.
She giggled as she took his hand and let him lead them both out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and to their bedroom.
A place of welcome respite, Severus lit a single candle in their private chamber before he pulled Lily close, slipped his hands onto her waist, and pressed his lips to hers in a loving kiss.
Lily sighed into his affection as she wound her arms underneath his to hold his shoulders, desperate to be close to him.
The candle flickered as the peaceful silence in the room became challenged only by the soft sound of the couple's sweet exchange.
A small groan left Lily's lips as Severus gently pushed her back onto the bed and crawled over her.
His black cloak covered them both like a soothing blanket, but Lily's hands worked quickly to undress herself and her husband.
Minutes later, her fingers interlaced with Severus's while he placed tender, sucking kisses along her collarbone.
Her nails dug into the backs of his hands while she cried out his name as he rolled his hips against hers.
As exhausted as the pair had become, they somehow found the energy for another hour and a half of coupling before they finally fell into a deep sleep, wrapped in each other's arms.
—————————————————————-
In the middle of the night, the Snapes remained in that same place.
With his hooked nose buried in Lily's crimson hair, Severus's deep snores echoed off the walls.
The noise failed to disturb his wife.
On the nightstand, the candle sat extinguished.
A single popping sound came from downstairs.
Fortunately, Severus and Lily had taken the time to put on their nightclothes before they had fallen asleep.
Had they been more careless, Harriet would have been traumatized and disgusted as she opened her parents' bedroom door.
She frowned as she peered into the room and found them both sleeping peacefully.
As she slowly walked forward, her emerald eyes hovered on Severus.
She imagined the early years of her life, her infancy, her toddlerhood, all those precious moments her memory had failed to record.
Her eyes flickered to Lily after a moment.
By then, a harsh frown creased her face.
She sighed to herself before she turned and slowly left the room, careful to quietly close the door.
Harriet's heart had been full of resentment, her mind tormented by questions, but as she gazed at Severus and Lily and contemplated everything they had done for her, she could not show them the cruelty of waking them from their deep sleep.
Instead of returning to the castle, Harriet quietly walked downstairs, careful to avoid the floorboards she knew would creak, and sat at the dining table.
As she looked out the window at the moon, she thought that perhaps a few hours pause would be for the best.
The last thing she wanted to do was cause her parents any more pain.
Regardless, Harriet needed to hear their sides of the story.
—————————————————————-
Her racing mind taught her how easy it could be to stay awake all night.
Harriet's body barely noticed the missed sleep as it fueled itself with adrenaline while the sun rose.
Eventually, she heard the sound of stirring from her parents' room above her head.
Harriet straightened her back as she heard their door open.
Steps pounded down the staircase………
Lily appeared first.
Her emerald eyes widened as she saw her daughter sitting at the dining room table instead of in her spot with the Gryffindor students in the Great Hall.
"...Harriet?!" Lily gasped.
Harriet drew in a breath as her mother hurried towards her with Severus on her heels.
"Good morning, Mum…..Dad." Harriet greeted them both with a solemn nod.
"Sweetheart! Are you alright?!" Lily asked as she rushed towards her daughter and began to look her over, as if she expected to find an injury, "How did you get here?! They must be looking for you at the castle!...I don't understand!"
"I came home late last night……with some assistance." Harriet explained.
Severus's dark eyes narrowed to slits.
"What? What assistance? How? From who?...For what reason?" Lily asked as she furrowed her brow, "Has Dumbledore sent you? Did something happen at the castle? Where's your brother?"
"No, Mum, you don't understand." Harriet said as she waved her hand, "Ellery's fine. Everything's fine, nothing happened at Hogwarts! I followed Professor Lupin out of the castle."
Severus's face fell as Lily whipped her head to look at him.
They exchanged glances of mutual dismay while Harriet carefully watched them both.
"I know about the Order." Harriet nodded, "...Of the Phoenix. I……..I know about everything."
As Lily searched for words, Severus stomped away, with his black robes trailing behind him like the swishing of an angry snake's tail.
Harriet frowned as Lily sat down at the table, put her hands over her face, and began to weep.
"Mum, what's the matter?!" Harriet exclaimed, "There's no need to cry! I'm…..I'm not angry! Not anymore! I know you were both trying to protect me!"
"And how can we possibly do that now?!" Lily wailed as she looked at Harriet, her face red from the force of her sobbing.
"The only thing that kept us going this far was your father!" Lily whispered as she wiped her wet face, "He can maintain Occlumency so well that……that….."
"-I'll never see him again." Harriet said quietly.
"WHAT?!" Lily gasped as she looked up, terrified Harriet had referenced Severus.
"Voldemort." Harriet nodded, "I won't see him until the final battle, not until I'm ready to destroy him……When you and Dad are hidden somewhere safe."
"Oh, Harriet!" Lily gasped as she raised a hand and laid it on her daughter's cheek, "What are you talking about?!"
"There's no need to pretend for me, Mum, not now," Harriet said as she leaned into her mother's hand and closed her eyes for a moment. They snapped open to gaze at Lily in fierce determination as she nodded, "...I know about the Prophecy too."
Lily's eyes widened in horror as Harriet rose from the table and left the room to pursue Severus.
Fear crept into her heart.
To Lily, Voldemort's defeat seemed so very far away.
Harriet had already missed several important Death Eater meetings.
How much longer would her absence go unquestioned?
—————————————————————-
Harriet found Severus sitting on a fallen log close to the entrance of the forest that surrounded the Snapes' cottage.
He looked over as she approached, but once he saw who had come, he stared straight ahead.
"Am I to assume that Black and Lupin told you……more?" He drawled.
Harriet stared ahead as she nodded, "I dunno, I suppose you could say that."
A silent pause passed as she walked over and sat on the log next to Severus.
Harriet glanced over and saw the sullen expression on his gaunt face.
Desperate to console him, she spoke a truth that she hoped would bring warmth to his tortured heart.
"James Potter may be my father……." Harriet admitted.
Severus drew a deep breath, as if to brace himself against an anticipated blow.
"...But you've been my Dad since my birth and that will never change." Harriet said quietly as she took Severus's hand.
He looked over at her with a quick jerk of his head, as if he intended to see some shocking apparition sitting in her spot.
Harriet laughed at the awe on his face before she let go of his hand and embraced him in a loving hug.
There on that log in the forest, Severus blinked away the tears that gathered in his black eyes as he slowly lifted his long arms and returned his daughter's embrace.
His daughter.
Harriet Potter, Harriet Snape, her name mattered little.
Harriet would be his daughter…….always.