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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Harriet, Tom, and Anuman landed roughly back in their camp a few seconds later.

Hermione and Ron gasped as three people instead of two fell from the sky after the loud pop rang out to announce their hasty arrival.

Tom quickly staggered back onto his feet, but Harriet could only crawl over to Anuman, sick with grief and dazed by shock.

Her scaley friend had vanished.

Finally, after years of friendship and innumerable hours of glad company spent together, Harriet saw Anuman for who and what he really was.

"Anuman…….?" She asked as she furrowed her brow, "You're an……an Animagus?"

His breath came in shallow, shaking gulps as he managed to give her the slightest of nods.

Harriet's emerald eyes scanned over him from his black hair, to the handsome features of his tanned face, all the way down to Nagini's long fang that protruded from his chest.

Her green eyes widened as a quiet groan left his lips while his life's blood flowed onto the grass.

"HERMIONE!" Harriet screeched.

She instinctively clasped a hand over the wound in a vain attempt to stem the bleeding, but Anuman only groaned louder as the pressure from her hand worsened his suffering.

Ron and Hermione raced over, their faces gaunt with bewilderment.

"Anuman!" Harriet shouted as she looked at Hermione with her eyes full of horror, "H-He's an Animagus! He's-He's hurt! Please…..Please! Do something! Help him!"

The warm color in Anuman's face had already started to fade as the shadowy hand of death slowly began to caress his soul from his body.

"I……." Hermione gasped while sympathetic tears welled in her amber eyes, "Harriet, there's nothing I can do. There's not enough time!"

"There is!" Harriet cried in defiant insistence. She turned from them to Tom for help as she called, "TOM!...PLEASE!...HELP HIM!"

"The poison we could manage but the wound has been open for too long, my darling." Tom frowned, "I have no Blood-Replenishing Potion nor suture spells in my possession or skill set. I'm afraid that for once I find myself completely useless."

"...No." Harriet whispered as tears of bitter defeat gathered in her eyes.

Desperate for a way to avoid the inevitable outcome, she turned back to Anuman, with her hand still over his bleeding chest as she pleaded, "Anuman, hold on! Hold on, alright? I'll….I'll take you to St. Mungo's! To the hospital! They'll know what to do there, they'll-"

Hermione raised a hand to gently weep into the excess fabric of her sweater's sleeve.

"Harriet Snape……" Anuman whispered while his eyes threatened to close, "I……I need you to know……I need….."

"WHAT?" Harriet cried as she bent down and took Anuman into her arms, "W-What do I need to know?!"

"Everything I've done…….has been for you." Anuman said as a soft smile graced his dry lips, in bitter spite against his own pain.

Harriet gasped as her emerald eyes widened.

"This war…….is too great." Anuman whispered, "I would have……taken you…..to my home….and given you one there, just as you did…….for me."

The sudden shock of his true form, imminent death, and startling revelation was impossible to process in the span of a few moments.

Not usually one to cry, Harriet was overcome by an assaulting myriad of emotions as Anuman slowly faded.

"No……." Harriet begged as she gently passed a hand over his cheek, "...Please!"

"In another life, Harriet Snape….." Anuman whispered.

He flashed her one last smile as his chest heaved with a final sigh, "...Maybe you and I can be."

Anuman's eyes gently closed as his chest deflated, without need or ability to breathe anymore as death kindly escorted him from the world of the living to be reunited with his departed family.

For an awful moment, all Harriet could do was hold him and stare into his face in abject disbelief.

"...No….." She whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

The pain in her heart surged like an ominous tidal wave before it crashed into her soul and broke her down to the core of her being.

Her primal scream sent nearby birds flying from their perches.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Tears welled in Draco's eyes, not for Anuman, but for Harriet.

The sight of watching his darling endure her great loss was a terrible thing to witness.

Ron wrapped an arm around Hermione as she turned to cry on his shoulder.

Tom wanted to scoff, disgusted he had yet another rival who had been lying incognito for that length of time.

Brazilian magic held its own formiditabilities.

It infuriated Tom that he had not been able to easily penetrate Harriet's friend's mind and read his thoughts, especially as Slytherin's heir.

Harriet didn't notice Tom's scowl.

She didn't notice Draco's tears or Hermione's quiet weeping.

Harriet didn't notice anything else as she held Anuman's body close and wept her broken heart out onto his chest.

"A grave for him…" She whispered between her tears. She sniffed back her pain as she looked up and glanced around at four supporters, "Let's all dig together……..We can't just leave him here! He deserves a proper grave!"

Ron nodded abruptly.

Hermione collected herself as she let go of him and wiped her eyes before she and Ron both trudged over to Harriet.

Draco and Tom stepped forward too, each eager to please the one they loved.

Hermione used a simple spell to transfigure five long sticks into suitable shovels and a moment later, the unlikely comrades began their work.

Suddenly, Voldemort and the war seemed less important as they laid one of their companions to rest.

The world itself melted away as Harriet told Anuman her final goodbye after he had been placed in his grave with a makeshift headstone to mark his tragic passing.

Here Lies Anuman

A Boy Who was Loved

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"My love, I wish you would tell me what has troubled you so." Severus urged as he bent down to hand Lily another clean napkin in hopes of catching the heavy tears that rolled down her fair cheeks.

It had started an hour earlier, right after they had returned from another awful raid on a village known for housing muggleborns, close to the sea on the outskirts of magical Britain.

"We managed it, Lily." Severus frowned, "Homes were destroyed, yes, but not a single life was lost. We deterred them…..You were brilliant, my flower, to make them think that-"

"-It's not that, Sev." Lily interrupted as she dabbed at her eyes again as a fresh set of tears rolled down her face involuntarily.

"...Then tell me what's broken your heart and I will mend it." Severus frowned, "You know it weighs on me to see you like this, my darling."

"Do you remember when Harriet was born?" She asked as she sniffed and gazed into Severus's dark eyes.

"...Yes." He frowned.

"I felt that awful pain and I…..I knew the time had come, but you, Sev, you…..you were kind enough to see that I was comfortable. A couple sips of potion and I was…..I was….." Lily's voice trailed off as she wept again.

Severus's scowl wrinkled his pale face as he watched Lily sob miserably while she pressed the napkin against her eyes.

She struggled to get her breath while Severus silently took her hand.

"...I had a terrible feeling something horrible would happen." Lily sniffed as she looked up to meet his black eyes, "...An awful feeling, Sev, and I……I don't know why, but I have that same sensation now! Tonight! It's…..It's…..Oh! I hope Harriet's alright!"

"Lily…." Severus frowned as Lily let go of his hand to press the napkin against her face while another violent round of sobs shook her shoulders, "Lily, my love, don't weep…..Don't weep…..Harriet will endure. Her birth went well, did it not?"

"Yes." Lily said as she cleared her throat and tried to collect herself enough to speak, "Yes…….it did."

"...And tonight will pass in an equally safe manner, whatever she and her companions have planned." Severus reassured his wife as he pulled her into his arms.

Lily attempted to dry her tears as Severus gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead and asked, "How many dangers has she already faced?"

"Too many to count." Lily answered with a bitter chuckle.

"And how many perils has she overcome?" Severus pressed as his skillful, tapered hands began to massage soothing circles into Lily's back.

"More than anyone I know." She smiled wryly.

Severus put a hand on her face to gently turn her gaze onto him as he looked deep into her eyes and whispered, "She's strong, Lily. You and I must place our trust in her more than ever. The day will come soon that we may be able to offer her aid, but until then, we must……..trust."

Lily nodded before she cuddled against Severus and wrapped her arms around every inch of him she could hold.

Severus let his chin rest against Lily's head as he held her close and enjoyed the feeling of his darling being so near.

His own worry for Harriet and magical Britain as a whole mounted with each passing day.

The gratitude Lily inspired in him was practically impossible to measure.