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 remaining days before the ball passed by in a busy fog of buzzing excitement.
The second Saturday in September quickly arrived.
An hour before the event began, students had already lined up to enter the Great Hall, which had been fabulously decorated, complete with flickering crystals floating close to the ceiling and a stage at the front with a live band that had been hired to play music for the duration of the evening.
The students were set to walk in first and then the staff would make their entrances, couple by couple.
When Filch finally opened the massive doors to the Great Hall, he tried and failed to control the overwhelming flood of eager students as they poured into the room. Those who had come in the company of their romantic interests clutched onto their dates and others, who had brought a companion out of sheer obligation, looked around the room in hopes of better prospects for dance partners than the person next to them.
Everyone remained standing in two seperate groups on either side of the room, leaving a clear path down the middle of the Great Hall so that the staff could walk unhindered from the massive doorway to the High Table.
Elion, along with the other house prefects, stood on the front lines and respectfully waited for Hogwarts' leaders to enter.
Elion's date, an unfortunate girl from Slytherin house, stood meekly behind him and frowned as he stared into the dark hallway past the entrance to the Great Hall, prepared for the moment that Harriet would step into his view.
Once the students were settled and silenced by Filch, it was the staff's turn to arrive.
Severus strode elegantly into the room with McGonagall at his side.
He gently held Minerva's hand high as he peered around the crowd with his black eyes narrowed in a shrewd scowl.
McGonagall had worn her best red dress robes, but Severus had chosen his usual clothes and allowed his imposing, long, black cloak to billow behind him in its intimidating way as he walked over and sat down in the headmaster's chair at the High Table once he had chivalrously helped McGonagall to her seat beside him, to his left.
After the headmaster had made his entrance, the rest of Hogwarts' staff sauntered into the ball.
When Harriet's turn finally came, she had to lean down just a bit to grasp Professor Flitwick's hand without embarrassing him about his slight stature.
As Harriet passed by the crowd, whispers passed from one student to another.
An arrogant smirk danced across Elion's lips.
From his seat at the High Table, Severus stared at the omega with his mouth agape.
Whether she was viewed as a hero or a villain, no one could deny that Harriet Potter looked beautiful that night.
Harriet's new dress had been magically tailored to her alpha's desires. Her dress was long, formal, and damask.....made from panels of rich black taffeta that flowed gracefully as she walked. The sleeves ended in a single white ruffle and tight, black buttons fastened them from wrist to shoulder. The dress's empire waistline also bore those same, tight buttons all the way from the center of the chest to where the neckline halted and exposed the very top of Harriet's cleavage.
The bodice piece of the gown was a rich shade of absinthe green, which gave Harriet's eyes the illusion of glowing brightly as she walked down the candlelit room, with her hair tousled in sculpted waves over her shapely shoulders.
Harriet tried to glance around the room and smile. She tried to look away as Severus gazed at her with his dark eyes melting into sifted ore, but she crumbled and returned his stare with a happy, bright smile that made her reddened lips shine and her cheeks flush a deep shade of pink.
As both alphas watched Harriet, Severus's mouth went dry, but Elion's hand slipped into the pocket of his robes to clutch a hidden, glass vial.
Severus marveled at how stunning Harriet looked in her lovely new dress.
Elion fantasized about the gratification he would feel when he ripped it off of her in a very short while.
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To his great displeasure, Severus and McGonagall officially opened the ball with the first dance of the evening.
During their waltz, Severus had been awkward until McGonagall hissed at him while several first years giggled in the background, "Severus......put.....your hand......on my......waist."
Reluctantly, with a deep frown, Severus complied with his friend's request.
Mercifully, he only had to twirl with McGonagall on the dance floor for a few moments until they were joined by other couples from the students and the staff in attendance.
Harriet was polite enough to dance with Professor Flitwick several times. She was careful with her turns and her steps to not draw too much attention to their glaring size difference.
Professor Flitwick did his best to not make his lacking height a hindrance and he remained kind and courteous to his date.
Eventually, everyone began to switch partners and as Professor Flitwick took Professor Trelawney out onto the dance floor, Harriet sat down in her chair at the nearly empty High Table.
Harriet turned around suddenly when a low, velvety voice whispered out, "...........May I have this dance, Potter~?"
"Headmaster!" Harriet exclaimed with a soft look of admiration as she saw Severus standing formally behind her.
Headmaster Snape gazed down at Harriet and as he did, he loomed over the omega, tall and brooding in his heavy, black robes.
Harriet stared back at him and watched as he extended a pale hand out to her.
"Certainly!" Harriet replied while she reached up and took Severus's hand before she stood to her feet.
Severus didn't let his face betray the joy that bloomed in his heart as he clutched Harriet's soft hand in his and led her out to the crowded dance floor.
Before they began to move, Severus faced Harriet and bowed politely.
Not knowing quite what to do in response, Harriet curtseyed back to him.
Severus raised his arm in one smooth motion and she reached out to take his hand.
He didn't want to frighten the omega, so he purposely made the error of putting his other hand on Harriet's shoulder, but she quickly corrected him.
Harriet looked into Severus's dark eyes with her glittering, emerald gaze as she laughed quietly and placed her hand over his.
Severus watched as Harriet whispered to him, "On my waist.......Headmaster."
Harriet noticed how closely Severus's eyes followed the movement as she gently lifted his hand off of her shoulder and guided it down until it clasped her lithe waist, just above her hip.
The contact was proper and formal, nothing that a casual observer would have thought anything about, but for Harriet and Severus, the placement of his hand on her waist was.......intense......and charged with the unspoken desires that lingered between the pining couple.
Slowly, Severus began to waltz Harriet around the Great Hall in sweeping strides. He discovered that he enjoyed performing right-handed turns with her because during them, the angle of Harriet's motion sent a waft of her scent drifting his way.
He struggled not to shudder at the omega's delicious smell.
Harriet blushed at the gentle firmness of Severus's grip.
Harriet savored the way that Severus gazed at her while they glided across the room, as if she were the only other person alive.
Their time on the floor together was silent, but they needed no spoken words to communicate their feelings.
Song after song played.
Harriet and Severus kept dancing.
Neither of them were interested in finding different partners.
Why would they want different partners?
At last, they had each other.
As they danced, Severus began to see a slight sheen of perspiration glisten across the top of Harriet's chest.
While she was led in Severus's embrace, Harriet's skin started to glisten under the candlelight and her breasts heaved against the confines of her gown as her breathing grew heavy, making their waltz seem like a parallel to a much more intimate act.
Severus's eyes were liquid chocolate as he gazed down at Harriet, drawing pleasure and comfort from her ruby lips that smiled at him so tenderly.
Nearly an hour later, at the end of one particularly lengthy song, Severus dipped Harriet low and swept her off her feet as their dance finally concluded.
Harriet was panting by then and Severus fought to control his own breathing as they stared at each other intently.
"You've worn me out, Headmaster." Harriet laughed with a gasp.
Severus slowly released Harriet from the dip and helped her back onto her feet as he asked, "Perhaps you'd like-"
"Headmaster Snape! Headmaster Snape!" One of Elion's friends screeched as he came running over to the couple with wide eyes, "You have to come quickly! Benjamin and Calvin have gotten into a terrible fight over who's going to dance with Margerie next!"
Since hormone-fueled quarrels often erupted at events like the ball and the boy making the claim about the battle was known to be one of Elion's close friends, in the moment, Severus took the Slytherin boy's claim as truth and he narrowed his eyes as he snapped, "Where?!"
"Over there! Over there! Hurry, sir!" Elion's friend shouted frantically as he pointed to the other side of the Great Hall with feigned urgency.
Like a predator hidden in the shadows, Elion stealthily began his approach.
The glass vial in his pocket, that had previously been filled with the heinous potion he had brewed, sat empty in his robes.
The vial's contents had been emptied into one of the two goblets that Elion held as he marched towards Harriet.
The scheming alpha had been carefully monitoring her whereabouts all night.
He hadn't intended to give her such a strong dose, but to his surprise, his annoying headmaster had left him no choice.
If his plan was going to be a success, Elion needed to proceed quickly.
As soon as Severus rushed over to end the supposed skirmish between the two warring students, Elion stalked up behind Harriet, who stood alone on the dance floor while she waited for Severus's return.
"Miss Potter!" Elion exclaimed with a polite smile.
Harriet blinked and turned around.
She felt her heart drop in disappointment when she saw Elion regarding her with a smile as he spoke, "You look awfully fatigued. Would you like some punch?" He asked as he offered her the goblet in his left hand.
"Oh.....that's alright." Harriet said with a friendly nod, "Thank you, but I'll be fine."
"It would be my pleasure to help." Elion insisted as he pushed the spiked beverage towards her, "It is a prefect's duty to assist the staff in any way possible.... and you look as if you're about to collapse. For your own sake, please! Drink this, Miss Potter, you'll feel better."
Elion smiled cordially at Harriet.
She didn't want to seem blatantly rude, so before she considered the situation more closely, Harriet took the goblet from his left hand.
As she raised the metal rim to her red lips, under her breath, she murmured a quiet incantation that many witches used to detect malicious substances in their beverages during parties and nights out.
The spell checked for poisons and toxins, therefore it completely missed Elion's potion.
The potion that the Slytherin prefect had brewed was designed to trigger an omega's heat.
That same mixture was often used by married couples who were trying to conceive or those who wanted to mate and were too impatient to wait for the omega's next cycle.
The potion itself hardly counted as a true "poison".
Although, under the right circumstances, it could be weaponized, just as Elion had plotted.
Harriet took a single sip from the goblet and tasted only the punch, not the potion dispersed throughout the drink.
The punch was light and refreshing and she did start to feel much better as she quickly swallowed the goblet's contents.
Elion tried not to smirk openly as he watched Harriet empty the cup. He reminded himself that he needed to stay focused and not waste time on gloating.
Time was a precious resource to Elion Dacre.
While Severus was still distracted, Elion began to chat with his intended, "Are you enjoying your evening, Miss Potter?"
"I.....I am, yes." Harriet mumbled as she was struck by an abrupt wave of dizziness.
She had become overheated from dancing with Severus, that was it.
It was very loud and crowded there, in the Great Hall.
There was a lot to process all at once.
There was no real problem.
"I am as well." Elion nodded, "It's a splendid party, although I must say, I was hoping to dance with you?"
Harriet felt her stomach churn. The inside of her mouth turned metallic as a surge of nausea coursed through her system as she replied, ".......P-Perhaps a bit later......"
Elion's eyes widened in faked concern as he looked at Harriet and gasped, "Miss Potter! Are you alright?!"
Harriet put a hand to her face as blood rushed to her head and Elion heroically let her lean on him while she started to stagger towards the doorway, "I........I think I need to leave, actually....I.....I don't feel so well...."
"Oh! Of course." Elion nodded in pretend sympathy, "I'll see that you get back to your chambers safely, you don't need to be wandering the hallways alone like this......"
Harriet didn't understand what was happening or why.
Harriet didn't see the victorious smirk on Elion's face as he led her out of the Great Hall and into the dark corridor.
Harriet also didn't see Elion's four closest friends obediently leave the ball to trail after the couple like vengeful ghosts.....
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Back in the Great Hall, Severus swept through the crowds of students as he scowled furiously.
He became visibly frustrated when he was unable to identify any visible conflict.
After several moments of searching, he came across the two Slytherin boys named Benjamin and Calvin, whom Elion's friend had accused of fighting.
Severus looked at both of the boys who sat together, calmly chatting at a table as he walked up to them.
"Have you two been here.....as you are now......for the entire evening?!" Severus barked at the boys.
Benjamin and Calvin blinked at their headmaster.
Severus noticed the boys' dress robes weren't wrinkled, their faces weren't bewildered, and they bore no bruises or scratches.
Their wands were nowhere to be seen.
There were no outward indicators that either of the Slytherins had been involved in any kind of a physical altercation.
"More or less, yes, sir." Benjamin answered first.
"Our dates chose to dance with some Ravenclaws, so we've just been having a chat." Calvin shrugged, "Is something the matter, Headmaster?"
Severus grit his teeth.
He didn't even bother to answer Benjamin or Calvin before he spun around and hurried back to the place he had left Harriet standing as his suspicions rose.
When he saw that she was no longer there waiting for him, his jaw clenched, and his black eyes darted around the room in a worried search.
There was no fight and Harriet was.......gone.
The alpha's pulse quickened as worry seized his heart.
Severus would have been less concerned if he hadn't noticed that Elion and the boys who were frequently found nearby the Slytherin house prefect were also nowhere to be seen.
There were so many people in the Great Hall that pushing past them all would take far too long.
Severus pulled out his wand and waved his arm in a dramatic circle as he entered broomless flight.
In a swirling ball of black, he soared over the crowd, rushed through the open doors, and sailed out into the hallway.
As Severus traveled, he could smell Harriet's scent which seemed to grow every sweeter and sweeter as he went.
His insides clenched when he thought about exactly how sweet that scent was.....too sweet.
An omega lacked the ability to smell that particularly pleasant under normal conditions.
Severus began to drool involuntarily as he flew down the hallway and pondered a single, terrifying fact.
Wherever she was and whoever she was with, Harriet was going into heat.