Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
—————————————————————
Silence fell in the hallway after Harriet's unexpected statement.
The Chosen One shattered two alphas by uttering a single sentence.
"Oh......" Elion fumbled, clearly shocked that his generous offer had been rejected, "Do forgive me, then, Miss Potter."
"Don't be silly, there's nothing to forgive." Harriet replied kindly with a gentle smile as she knocked on Severus's door again.
Knock, knock, knock.
"I don't know why he's not answering." Harriet frowned at Elion worriedly.
"Perhaps he's asleep?" Elion asked with a shrug.
His mind was spinning too quickly to care much about Severus.
"Perhaps....." Harriet mused. She kept her frown while she added, "I'll come back later and try again. He did tell me to bring him the quizzes once classes were over though...."
Harriet bent down and slipped the parchments under the door.
Harriet didn't know, but Severus stood on the other side, with his teeth grit and his heart broken as she slipped the documents into the space he called his living room.
How Severus longed to wrench the door open, grab her hand, and pull her inside, but he couldn't!
Harriet belonged to another......another that he didn't know and she hadn't mentioned.
As his broken hopes crashed around him, Severus wondered silently.
.........Were they happy together, Harriet and her mate?
Was he kind to her?
On the other side of the door, while Harriet was fulfilling her duty of delivering the quizzes to Severus, Elion didn't miss the opportunity to stare at her round bottom before she straightened back up and sighed with a heavy heart.
After Severus heard Harriet and Elion leave, he picked up the parchments and held the ends of them to his nose.
Not there, not there, not there...There!
He detected the faint trace of Harriet's scent from the area on the papers that she had been holding in her warm palm.
Severus resisted the urge to whimper as he rubbed that area of the parchments, that Harriet had accidentally scented, against one of the pillows on his bed.
Severus hated wasting his time in an attempt to soothe his wounded spirit, but after he was finished, he laid with that pillow, and breathed in Harriet's scent.
It helped to calm his pesky, raging instincts as he clung to the pillow that carried the smell of the one he desired most.
Severus felt it was pathetic, but alone in his chambers, he didn't really care.
He would take any scrap of Harriet that he could get, especially since he knew that he would never have her to himself.
—————————————————————
Harriet returned later that night and twice the next day to Severus's door.
Each time, she knocked and waited in the hallway for the greeting that never came.
Severus ignored her.
He chose to stay and sulk bitterly inside his rooms.
Severus didn't have much of a choice until the potion was complete. He couldn't safely open the door and see her standing there, staring up at him with those eyes......her eyes.......while he was still in his rut.
The last thing he wanted to do was hurt the worried omega accidentally.
Harriet frowned each time that she was met with silence when she attempted to check on Severus, but Harriet Potter was stubborn.
She refused to give up.
Early the following morning, the potion finally finished brewing, and Severus had consumed it.
A short while later, Severus was mercifully released from his rut, and it wasn't long after that until Harriet came to his door again in one last attempt to inquire about his condition.
Knock, knock, knock.
She took a startled step backwards when the door flung open and Severus stood, glaring down at her, with his black hair hanging in his face, and his dark eyes narrowed.
"What, Potter?" Severus snapped, "What could you possibly want? I've had to listen to your incessant banging all weekend long. Have you forgotten that I haven't been well?"
"I....I'm sorry, sir, I wasn't trying to disturb you." Harriet gasped with a frown, "I was only checking on you to see if you may need-"
"-My health is none of your concern! I needed you to lead the classes, which you already did. If I need anything else from you, I'll ask directly." Severus snarled.
Harriet blinked as he escaped back into his chambers, with his black robes billowing around him like thick lines of smoke, and angrily slammed the door in her face.
THUD!
Alone in the hallway, Harriet sighed to herself.
Despite his rudeness, Harriet was quite relieved to see that whatever had troubled him had clearly resolved.
Headmaster Snape was back to his old self.
—————————————————————
Although Severus had recovered from his mysterious illness, over the next few days, Harriet noticed that his prickliness had increased to such a level that she was barely able to speak to him.
Severus was curt and nasty at every available chance. Instead of lingering by the fire with Harriet in the evenings, he would shove the night's work at her and glide out of the room, leaving her on her own.
Severus refused to speak to Harriet at meal times, regardless of the fact that she still sat beside him.
The heartbroken alpha couldn't bear to be in her presence.
It was a struggle for him to tolerate the moments he was forced to look at her during the day.
Severus Snape was full of saddened, angry envy.
How had he lost again?
Who had he lost to?
Clearly, some boastful alpha had swooped in quite quickly to claim Harriet as their own.
Severus regretted not seizing his chance at the end of that long summer they had spent together, when Harriet's words to him had been as gentle as the touch that she used to care for his wounds.....
During the many hours that he spent brooding over the situation, certain details began to gnaw at Severus and he had difficulty reckoning them.
Clearly, Harriet's alpha, whoever he was, was all brawn and no brain to let her come work under another alpha for a year, day in and day out.
Clearly, there were no rings on Harriet's fingers and no visible sign of a mating bond.
Clearly, Severus had reason to be suspicious~.
The Wednesday after his inconvenient weekend, when the morning mail was dropped off in the Great Hall, Harriet received a letter from the day's owls.
Severus furrowed his brow at his assistant and he watched the tension creep into her face as she read over the lines on the parchment.
Severus started to say something to her, but before he had the chance, Harriet leapt from her seat and hurried out of the room.
Severus gazed after her with a scowl.
What news had that letter brought?
—————————————————————
An hour later, Severus stood in his dungeon classroom, alone. He was already irritated that students would be showing up soon and Harriet was late, for the first time in his employ, she was late.
He was hatefully contemplating writing a letter to the Auror department expressing his displeasure, when she came bursting into the room.
"Tardiness will get you nowhere, Potter." Severus growled at Harriet as she dashed up to him, breathing hard with her green eyes wide.
"Headmaster Snape!" Harriet called out, "I'm sorry.... I know I'm late, but I've had a bit of an emergency."
"There are no 'bits' of emergencies......Potter." Severus drawled as he crossed his arms and let his robes elegantly flutter as he looked down at the omega in front of him, "There either is an emergency or there's not."
"Fine!" Harriet exclaimed, "There's an emergency and I need your help!"
Severus bristled at her plea.
Severus had helped her survive, he had helped her win the war, and now, he was helping her to become an Auror.
What more help could he possibly give her?
"I have to leave soon....for a couple of days..... I need to go Friday night and I can return on Monday, before classes begin." Harriet informed Severus.
Severus narrowed his eyes at Harriet as he responded in his low voice, "I think not, Potter. I already have a large list of tasks I need you to complete this weekend. You may not go anywhere if you wish to continue in the Auror trainee program."
Severus knew Harriet had no family, where could she possibly have to run off to?
Her alpha, her mate.
It made Severus want to vomit.
That lazy lump, whoever he was, had probably been the one who wrote to Harriet. He was most likely waiting on her to come to him so he could spend the weekend having his fun and-
No.
That, Severus would not allow, not as long as Harriet was under his watch.
"Alright, fine!" Harriet gasped in exasperation, "Then, may I have a guest visit me? If I can still do my work?"
"Absolutely not." Severus replied, "The headmaster has to approve any guests brought to this castle and it just so happens that the current headmaster does not allow visitors~."
"Please!" Harriet implored Severus, "I'm begging you! I can bring him to your office on Friday night! I have a duty to him! I made a promise!"
Him.
Severus resisted the urge to snarl as he calmed himself.
Very well, then, let her bring him to his office.
Severus could get a good look at who Harriet's lucky alpha was, he could see what treacherous usurper stole his last chance at happiness.
Then, he would inform the couple that her mate couldn't stay after all and throw him out of the castle while he forced Harriet to finish her work.
Oh, it was a lovely plan~.
"Very well..............Potter." Severus quipped, "Bring your guest to my office Friday at seven for my review."
Harriet sighed in relief as she nodded, "Thank you, Headmaster, I appreciate it very much."
"I made no guarantees of my approval." Severus replied cuttingly.
"Of course." Harriet nodded, "But I hope that when you meet him, it's something you'll consider."
Severus eyed Harriet curiously as the first students of the day began to enter the room.
Was her alpha tall like he was?
Did he have dark hair or blonde hair?
Red hair, maybe?
Severus fought to maintain his concentration over the next two days.
He was too preoccupied fretting over what Harriet's mate looked like, what profession he held, and what on earth had made her turn to another instead of seeking refuge in his own arms.......
————————————————————
Friday night came at last and immediately after dinner, from which Harriet had been absent, Severus sat at his desk in his office, with his hands folded as he stared into the fireplace with a scowl.
It was ten till seven.
At any minute, they would walk in....together.
At any minute, Severus would get to lay his eyes on who had robbed him of his second set of dreams.
He hadn't forgotten that James Potter had been the first.
Severus was so wound up in his own grim musings that he practically jumped out of his chair when a firm rapping fell upon his door.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Come in." Severus called out gruffly.
The door opened and Severus watched as Harriet's hand landed on the wood first to push it open, then she stepped into the room........
Severus blinked his black eyes in confused disbelief.
There was a child in her arms, a toddler with reddish hair and brown eyes.
"Good evening, Headmaster." Harriet nodded at Severus with a hopeful smile.
Severus clenched his teeth as melancholy rage coursed through his veins.
A child.
Harriet had a child?!
Whoever her alpha was had moved quickly, indeed, the boy looked to be about three years or so of age.
Severus pursed his lips as his thoughts raced.
No, that couldn't be right.....Harriet would have had to carry the boy before the war and she hadn't even presented then, so-
"I'd like to ask you again for permission to have a guest this weekend, sir." Harriet nodded at Severus, then she patted the little boy's back while she held him in her arms and introduced the child, "Headmaster Snape, this is Teddy Lupin, my godson. His grandmother looks after him most of the time, but she's had to go out of town unexpectedly and I've been placed in charge of his care this weekend."
Severus didn't know what to say, he just stared at Harriet with an unreadable frown.
"Please, Headmaster?" Harriet asked as Teddy rustled around in her arms and she bounced him to help him get comfortable, "Will you give your approval to let Teddy stay in the castle as my guest? Only until his grandmother returns?"
Severus took a deep breath in and let out a silent sigh as he answered, "Very well, Potter. You have my approval, the child can stay."
"Thank you, sir." Harriet nodded gratefully at Severus.
The bright smile that she flashed him made his frown deepen.
Harriet turned around to leave, but Severus called out to her in a voice that was much softer than any he had used over the past few days as he asked, "..........Potter?"
"Yes, sir?" Harriet blinked as she turned back around with little Teddy in her arms.
"I still expect all of your work to be completed and accurate, know that. The boy won't excuse you from your other responsibilities." Severus warned Harriet as he nodded to her.
"Of course, sir." Harriet replied.
She opened the door and left without another word.
Severus frowned to himself after she had gone.
Why did the boy have to stay with Harriet, who was hard at work?
Why couldn't the child, Teddy.....Teddy Lupin......have stayed with her mate for the weekend?
That was something to be suspicious about in itself~.
As he began to examine the situation more closely, Severus dared to let a glimmer of hope rise in his heart.