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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The midwife's visit was alarmingly brief.
After determining Harriet was not yet in active labour based on the charm she performed, Tom had been furious that the midwife had the audacity to hand them a potion and go on her way.
Harriet did find some relief and settle down after her dose of magical medicine.
As night fell and she remained asleep, he yawned while he laid down to join her after hours of careful observation.
Foolishly relying on Harriet's slumber as validity for the midwife's determination, Tom curled around Harriet and gradually drifted off to sleep himself.
His rest was unmercifully anxious as he tumbled through one nightmare after another.
Harriet had been abducted.
Something terrible had happened.
The babies had been ripped from her and scattered.
She was screaming.
In Tom's nightmares, his darling's wail wrenched his insides as he listened to her long, primal cry of misery.
As he opened his eyes with a gasp and the noise continued, he slowly realized Harriet's scream had been real.
"AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"
Tom leapt from the bed and pounded into the bathroom towards the sound of his lover's shout.
He blasted the door open with a hateful burst of nonverbal magic before he dashed inside and found Harriet clutching the sink while she hunched over her rounded belly.
"HARRIET!" Tom shouted as he rushed towards her.
"TTTOOMMM!" Harriet called through the pain.
The raw desperation in her voice startled him as a guttural groan came from her chest.
Before he reached his suffering beloved, he nearly slept and fell as he skidded on the clear fluid that had puddled around her feet.
Harriet ended her groan with a dry, gasping grunt as her body finally gave her a break between the pains.
"My-My waters went!" She cried while Tom steadied himself and made it to her, "It's…..It's time! They're coming!"
Tom hurriedly glanced over her in a hasty search for any alternative explanation before he hissed, "That can't be! The midwife said it would take another week to-"
Harriet didn't allow him time to finish as another strong contraction washed over her.
"-OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" She groaned as she widened her feet and sunk her hips towards the floor while she gripped the counter.
Tom braced himself for the challenge as he swallowed thickly and nodded.
He abandoned his dedication to not using Legilimency on Harriet without her permission.
In the throes of labour, he realized his mate lacked the ability to communicate, much less agree to anything.
"Legilimens." He murmured under his breath.
Without the need for a wand, Tom found himself delving into Harriet's mind and grimacing at the pain that had overtaken her logical thoughts.
Helpful beyond understanding, Tom's adeptness at mentally reading her did guide his hand to where low circles and counterpressure would be best rubbed into Harriet's back.
Instead of using words to coach her breathing, Tom placed his mouth next to her ear and let her listen to the pattern she should try to follow once the worst of the pain passed.
He didn't bother her with pesky questions as she fought to steady herself through the uncontrollable shaking the spasm imparted upon her limbs.
Tom reached under her shoulder and clutched her against him while he summoned his wand.
"Accio wand!" He shouted. Once it had zoomed into the room and met his palm, he gripped it tight as he pointed towards the tub and cried, "Aguamenti! Tempero!"
Harriet groaned as she watched the tub full with clean, warm water.
Without the time to get her settled comfortably in bed, Tom listened to her silent wishes and hoisted her into his arms before he placed her gently in the bath.
Pleasantly buoyant, Harriet easily squatted in the tub with her hands on either side of the porcelain.
Tom watched her widen her knees and blow out an anxious breath as the next contraction threatened to begin at the base of her spine.
"That's it, sweetling." He reassured Harriet as she sucked in another breath against the wall of pain that started to crash into her, "I'm here, I'm beside you…..If you feel the urge to-"
Harriet cut him off again as a primal cry of agony left her throat while the contraction's vice-like grip wrapped around her abdomen.
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHH!"
Tom frowned as he reached forward and cradled her quivering belly in his hands.
"You're doing so well, my love!" He shouted over Harriet's harsh panting.
"I HAVE TO PUSH!" She screamed as she widened her knees.
Tom leaned forward over the rim of the tub as he shouted to Harriet, "Listen to your body! Bear down when you feel the urge!"
Harriet squinted her eyes shut as she lowered herself towards the base of the tub and pushed.
Tom narrowed his eyes as he watched her belly contort with the effort, silently wishing he had the time to at least cast a summoning charm and call a midwife.
"NNNNNNGGGGHHH!" Harriet's guttural groan sounded off the walls as she railed against the deep pressure wedged low in her pelvis.
Tom expected her to end her struggle on her own but when she continued until her face turned blood red, he laid a hand on her tensing belly and urged, "Let yourself rest my love or you could cause further harm. Harriet……Take a breath, the next pain will bring with it new instruction."
A heart wrenching groan escaped her lips as she ended her push and gasped for air.
"That's it." Tom smiled as he nodded encouragingly, "Look at you, you're doing so well! A bit more and we'll have them in our arms, won't we?"
"I can't hold myself up." Harriet panted as she slipped from one side to another in the tub.
Tom frowned as he leaned forward and helped his beloved settle herself into a more stable position on her knees in the water.
"There, sweetling, I hope that's better." He whispered as he kissed her forehead.
While Harriet prepared to breathe through another pain, Tom used those brief seconds to summon the midwife.
As he watched his lover bear down again, he had never been grateful to hear the telltale pop of apparition as the magical healthcare worker arrived in the bathroom doorway.
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Two hours later, Harriet lay in her nest with her three, dark-haired, green-eyed newborn sons cuddled against her.
The birth of the Riddle triplets had been as chaotic as the storm that had wracked wizarding London.
The midwife stayed with the family for observation until sunrise that next morning, although Tom kept a close eye on his love.
His newborns tried their best to distract him from his focus though.
He had to juggle them a bit to fit each of them in his grasp at once, but he managed to cradle all three of his sons while his darling slept.
Tom smirked proudly as he recognized that each of his boys had inherited Harriet's bright, green eyes.
Unsurprisingly, each of the Riddle triplets also had dark tufts of fluffy, curly hair and cute, compact noses.
"I've waited quite some time to meet you all." Tom smiled down at his offspring, "I had hoped for a single heir, but the three of you have already proven exceptionally useful to me."
One baby whimpered pitifully, the sound of which Tom instinctively responded to as his dark eyes darted to the infant.
"Make no mistake." He smiled at his little ones, "Each of you will have my unwavering support. How could I not care for you when I watched you leave your mother's perfect womb?"
One baby slept.
The other blinked, but the noisy one continued to whimper as Tom whispered to them, "The descendents of Salazar Slytherin must rely on each other. A day will come when-"
Tom's youngest, impatient son quickly tired of his father's long introduction speech.
As he wriggled in Tom's grasp, his whisper finally escalated into a hungry little cry.
"WWWWWAAA!"
The midwife looked up from her work to glance at Tom and his children as she frowned.
"Oh my…….are the babes ready for their first meal finally?" She asked as she glanced from Tom to his angry child.
Tom looked over at the midwife in time to see her gently waking his beloved.
"Hmm…..?" Harriet asked as she slowly roused, still tired and sore, "What's the matter?"
"Your little ones are ready to be fed, Miss Potter." The midwife promptly informed her, "I never give a baby its first bit of milk without asking the mother if she wants to wake for the moment."
Harriet blinked as she thought.
Still disoriented from her eventful night, the heavy ache in her chest suddenly made sense as she listened to her baby's hungry cry.
"WWWWWAAA!"
"WWWWWAAA!"
"Oh…….." She whispered as she sat up in bed, "Sure. Yeah, of course. I'll feed him."
Tom slowly walked over and sat down on the bedside with their babies in his arms.
"WWWWWAAAAA!"
Harriet sighed as she took the squalling infant from her lover before she gazed at each triplet in turn, "Stay next to me, won't you, Tom? Let me have a look at them. I was too busy writhing in pain to notice them much earlier."
"Of course, sweetling." Tom smiled as he cradled the two remaining triplets.
The midwife nodded as she stood by Harriet and prepared to direct her patient's first nursing session like a bossy manager, "Now, Miss Potter, I'll-"
"I think I can do it." Harriet said confidently as she bristled once the midwife reached towards her.
Tom cast the woman a threatening scowl to warn her about touching his mate against her wishes.
Her patient's reply and Tom's ominous glare forced the midwife to raise her hands in defeated surrender.
She took a respectful step back as she watched Harriet instead of actively intervening.
Harriet had read that some women struggled with their babies, but at least with her youngest, she quickly discovered that wouldn't be her plight.
As soon as she slipped the tiny baby onto his side and offered her fattened nipple to his miniature lips, he happily latched on.
The sensation of an infant feeding was foreign and a bit uncomfortable, though Harriet ignored the pain to appreciate the moment's tenderness.
She looked up at Tom in wonder as she cradled their youngest son against her while he had his first meal.
"They're perfect, aren't they?" She asked happily as she referred to the babies.
"Yes, sweetling," Tom replied. His dark gaze smouldered with sentimental adoration as he added, "...You truly are."
Despite her exhaustion, a pink blush spread across Harriet's cheeks at Tom's compliment.
He acknowledged the notion as shameful, yet as Tom watched his little son take the milk in Harriet's full breast, all he wanted to do was fling him off and harvest his darling's sustenance purely for himself.
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Tom paid the midwife an extra sack of Galleons for her to remain with the family until they were all comfortably and confidently settled.
He quickly wondered how muggles ever managed multiples.
Tom relied on magic with help soothing, changing, and cleaning his sons as the hours wore on.
Between caring for the babies and Harriet, Tom began to wonder if he should consider hiring an extra servant or two for assistance with his little family.
As the cramps that followed childbirth rolled through her abused insides, Harriet was grateful she had such a thoughtful lover.
One baby may have been different, but with three, Harriet finished feeding one of her sons only for the next to cry in want of her milk.
The following morning, the midwife finally took her leave of Riddle Manor once it had been determined that Harriet was healing normally and the triplets were all doing well.
"Still think it was lovely to have three?" Harriet asked Tom as she raised an eyebrow at him while he walked laps around the room to soothe two of the babies to sleep later that evening.
"I could never have asked……" Tom began as he flashed Harriet a satisfied grin, "For a gift this exquisite."
Harriet was exhausted, weary, and already lamenting the undeniable fact her sleep would be interrupted throughout the night, yet as she looked at Tom, a happy smile danced on her lips.
As she sank back against the mound of pillows piled behind her, with one of the triplets in her arms, Harriet had never known greater satisfaction.
Tom Riddle had made her dreams come true.