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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Draco accepted the messages he received from Lily that evening with an awful sense of dreaded resolution.
With Lily absent from Malfoy Manor, Harriet's care was left to whoever would be willing to take her place.
She knew something significant had happened the second she watched Draco bring her dinner to the room instead of-
"Where's my mother?" Harriet spat.
"Not here, is she?" Draco hatefully retorted.
He walked over and sat the tray down on the nightstand next to his bed as he nodded, "Would have had a house elf do it, but…..for some reason, they wanted me to tell you what's happened."
"So, tell me." Harriet barked, "What's happened? I'm not in the mood for games."
"Neither am I, Snape." Draco huffed, "He's…….He's going to the school tonight, to….to look for someone."
Harriet studied Draco's face carefully while he spoke.
"To look for who?" She asked.
"His enemy, that Potter person." Draco said as he waved a hand, "That's not important. You know everyone at Hogwarts was sent back?"
"Yeah, Mum told me." Harriet sighed as she laid a hand on her belly, "...I really wanted to see my brother."
"...Your Mum thinks….there's going to be an attack." Draco slowly confessed.
"...An attack?" Harriet blinked.
Draco nodded, "Yes….and……And…….your family's……there. They have no intention of leaving."
Harriet let out a breath.
"I already sent word to Weasley and Granger, they told me Riddle has gone back to Hogwarts chasing the Basilisk and hasn't returned yet. Assuming, he's still alive-"
"-What do you mean assuming he's still alive?!" Harriet spat, "Of course he's alive! Why would you say that, Malfoy?"
"In case you haven't noticed, a lot's happened while you've been lounging about eating bon bons all these months!" Draco raged.
"I've tried to get up and get out more times than I can count, Malfoy!" Harriet snapped.
"If you hadn't spread your legs for a bloody monster, then you wouldn't have been put into this bloody bed to begin with!" Draco shouted.
He realized he had gone too far when Harriet cast him a look of deep pain.
Wordlessly, she looked away, threw the covers off of herself, and stood.
"...Are you mad?" Draco blinked as he watched her retrieve her jacket from the closest dresser drawer and pull it around her shoulders, "Your condition must have affected your brain if you think this is a good idea!" He snapped.
She sighed as she glanced up at him and placed a hand on her heavy belly, "I can't very well leave my friends…..and my family…..at the most crucial hour of all this, can I?" She asked.
"Your most crucial hour could come anytime!" Draco hissed as his eyes flickered to the swell.
"I'll be fine, Malfoy, it's one evening." Harriet snapped.
"And you need to rest!" He retorted.
"I can't rest when I know everyone I love is going to be killed!" Harriet snarled.
There was such a fierce anger in her cutting tone that Draco closed his mouth and took a step back.
His heart skipped a beat as she let out a breath, closed her eyes, and gently moved her hand over her side.
"What's the matter?" Draco asked quickly, "Are you in pain?"
"I'm always in pain now." Harriet nonchalantly replied before she opened her eyes again to scowl at her enemy, "Stay here or come and fight, it doesn't matter to me. The snake and him, that's all I need. Then this can be done and over with, finally!"
Harriet shuffled over and removed her wand from the nightstand drawer, much to Draco's dismay as he watched, before she promptly flicked her wrist and apparated away to the hillside next to Hogsmeade.
Draco had no real role in the battle that was to come.
He had no interest in killing or wounding innocent people according to Voldemort's orders, yet he couldn't be seen actively fighting against him for fear of having his own life and everyone that he cared about, taken in the event that Harriet lost.
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Severus stood on the stoney ledge of the castle's highest tower as he watched the advancing troops creep towards Hogwarts.
For the first time in quite a while, he realized he was no longer desensitized to numb himself against the crippling fear of what the night may bring.
He had saved so many with his covert schemes over the years, but how could he guard the castle against the war Voldemort brought to its doorstep?
Severus closed his eyes as he allowed himself to bask in one selfish comfort.
He could send his son to the Room of Requirement and keep him safe.
Harriet remained at Malfoy Manor, she would not be in the battle, near it, around it, or-
"...Sev?"
Severus's black eyes widened as he found himself pulled from his gloomy musings.
His mouth fell open as he whirled around and gazed at who had come to join him on the tower.
"LILY!" He cried.
"Hey, Sev." She greeted him with a little giggle as she walked forward, reached out, and grasped his hand.
He pulled her towards him as a desperate sigh of disappointment left his lips, "What have you done?...My love, what have you done?! You should have left as soon as the charms were cast! Your safety would be all but guaranteed at the manor and now-"
"-And now, no matter what happens, we'll be together." Lily smiled as she clutched Severus's hands, "Don't try to push me away, Sev, not tonight, I won't go. I will be beside you until the end."
Severus grasped Lily's face between his large hands and gazed into her eyes.
For a moment, she couldn't determine whether his expression held anger or horror, but he let her know which as he pressed a deep kiss to her lips.
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Harriet landed with an ungraceful tumble that nearly sent her falling onto her belly.
She caught herself at the last moment with her hands and although she survived the impact without injuring herself or the life she carried, her heart pounded as she contemplated how close she had come to disaster.
She had barely started to push herself up when an odd, deep cramp coursed through her abdomen.
Harriet grunted in irritation as she arched her back while she tried to escape that punishing, rolling pain.
Little did she realize, Draco had arrived a short distance from her a moment after her fall.
Although the sticking branches of trees poked painfully into his arms and face, he shrugged it all aside as he crept forward and watched, ready to announce his presence when the moment was right.
Draco's eyes widened as he watched Harriet bend over and clutch her belly with the moonlight shining down.
He took a step forward to reach out and call to her, but something happened that surprised him.
Although Harriet's face had paled from her pain, she did her best to straighten her spine once it ended and slowly made her way forward, with one hand protectively cradling her belly.
Draco's wide eyes narrowed to slits as a worried frown manifested on his face.
He made certain to move quietly, desperate not to let her hear his stalking footsteps as he crept behind her, but as she walked up the hill, Draco went with her.
He had known the day would come when Harriet would need him, or the night.
As his heart pounded and his teeth scraped against each other, he genuinely wished that time would have been any other.
Wasn't fighting a battle enough?
Apparently not for his darling,
He crept behind her each step of the way as she gnashed her teeth while she infiltrated the castle and found her father by listening through the door of his office.
The moment that one of Voldemort's ruffians told Severus to meet the Dark Lord at the boathouse, Draco watched her crawl away as she headed towards that very destination,
It was all he could do not to rush to her and demand she let him carry her there.
As he watched her gasp for breath and hold her belly while she pressed onwards, he wished he could have at least offered her a soft bed to lie in for the night.