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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Three days later, Severus and Lily returned to the midwife's office for the disclosure of Lily's pregnancy test results.
The anxious couple had shared a torrent of emotions while they had waited, but the midwife's words brought their wild musings to a screeching halt.
"Mr. Snape, Miss Laima," The midwife said with a tense smile as she looked at the couple, "I'm afraid that the pregnancy test results were negative. I can prescribe a bit of energy tonic to resolve the fatigue.....Laima, the tenderness in your breasts is most likely from a surge in hormones due to the lateness of your cycle, which may be from stress. I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you."
Lily forgot her ruse of not understanding English well as she frowned and nodded.
Severus's face fell into a deep scowl when he heard the news.
Was he........disappointed?
"I'll write that prescription, then you two will be free to go." The midwife smiled at the couple, "Do either of you have any questions for me?"
"No." Severus replied quickly, ".......No questions."
The midwife nodded and left the room.
As Lily raised a hand to wipe away the annoying tears that gathered in her eyes, Harriet's gentle coo mercifully shattered the heavy silence that followed.
Severus bounced his infant daughter in his arms as he reached out and grasped Lily's hand while he comforted her, "My love, don't weep, it's just as well that another child won't be joining us now. The world is too dangerous.......it would only complicate our situation further."
"I know." Lily said as she sniffed. She nodded bravely as she forced back her tears and sat up from the examination table, "You're right, Sev. It's for the best."
Severus frowned while he followed Lily out of the midwife's office.
Harriet saw the serious expression on her father's face and she put a little hand in her mouth as she furrowed her tiny brow along with him.
Severus hated it when Lily was anything less than happy.
It bothered little Harriet to see her Daddy look so.........sad.
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Lily said nothing else about their visit to the midwife, but Severus noticed the melancholy look that marred her features for the rest of the day.
As they laid down to sleep that evening, while Harriet snoozed in her cot, Severus slid into bed behind Lily.
He pulled her tightly against his chest and purred softly in her ear, "My heart can't bear to see you so dismayed, my love."
"I'm not dismayed, Sev." Lily replied with a sigh, "Just a bit let down, I suppose."
Severus placed gentle kisses along her throat and shoulder while she went on, "....Another baby would be a nightmare right now, with the war and everything, I'm no fool."
"No one could possibly think of you as a fool, Lily." Severus drawled as his lips found the sensitive base of her neck.
"I just......" Lily gasped as Severus nipped at her flesh, "I just fell in love with the idea of bearing your child, Sev."
As she sighed at her own confession, Severus sat up in bed and gazed down at her.
His black eyes glinted in the darkness of their room.
".....Perhaps......after the war ends...we may be able to revisit that notion, my love?" Severus asked as he gently rolled Lily onto her back and pulled the sheets away to expose her to his view.
A bright smile danced across Lily's lips while she spread herself under Severus's dark gaze and nodded eagerly, "That sounds lovely, Sev...after the war ends."
His need was ferocious, but he skillfully controlled his fingertips, lips, and manhood to ensure that he treated Lily incredibly gently that night.
As he made love to her, he sought not only to quench his own thirst, but to honor the woman that he loved, the woman who had given him everything, and only desired to give him more~.
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On the lighter side of events, Harriet continued to grow.
She crawled.
She babbled.
Without warning one afternoon, Severus and Lily watched in awe while their beloved daughter took her very first clumsy steps towards them after she let go of the table leg that she had clutched onto for support.
Lily had clapped, smiled, and praised Harriet as she ended her journey by tumbling into Severus's lap.
What surprised Lily more than her daughter's first steps though was the look that the event placed on Severus's face.
When Lily glanced over at him, her mouth fell open at the small smile that had curled the ends of his lips.
It was a slight smile, but a smile all the same, and that unusual bit of visible happiness made Lily want to reward her lover.
Later that night, she whimpered as she writhed against the softness of the sheets while Severus crouched over her dominantly, content to take control and guide his flower on her way to pleasure.
Down the hallway, Harriet managed to climb out of her crib and stumble out of her nursery.
Severus gave Lily a very sharp love bite just below her nipple, which earned him an elated scream from his darling that made his eyes widen.
"Did that feel good, my love~?" He asked in a husky purr that sounded raw with want.
What neither Lily nor Severus noticed was that their escapade had lost its seclusion.
They had been so anxious to kiss and cuddle that Severus had forgotten to take the proper precautions.
From the open doorway, Harriet blinked at her parents curiously.
She babbled quietly while she thought.
The noise caused Lily and Severus to look over towards the doorway in mortification.
If Harriet hadn't made a sound to announce her presence, then she very well may have witnessed her father doing more than biting her mother.
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Lily and Severus's dream of having a happy, peaceful family life were put on hold as the war crescendoed.
After a year passed and no word of the Potter boy's whereabouts had reached Voldemort, the Dark Lord became enraged.
He sent his followers out on hunts that proved to be so exhausting his numbers gradually started to decrease.
Although Severus suspected that Voldemort's own paranoia played a role in that since he witnessed his dark master dispatch more than one of his soldiers after they failed to show enough endurance in the field.
The afternoon was filled with tension on the warm June day that Severus and Laima visited Malfoy manor for a special party held in Draco's honor.
Narcissa clutched her fair-haired little boy while Lily, er, Laima, held Harriet in her arms during the event.
Voldemort and all of his elite were present that day.
The official reason for the party was to celebrate little Draco's young life, but that would have been impossible to deduce from the villainous conversations that took place during the occasion.
Severus never left Laima's side as they sat at the table and listened to the frightening ideas that were suggested by Voldemort's most loyal followers.
Once evening approached, the Malfoy house elves served an incredible meal for everyone and the chatter gradually quieted while the party attendees busied themselves with filling their bellies as they gobbled down the assortment of fine foods.
Voldemort ate very little.
His involvement in the Dark Arts and the mutilation that he had already undergone greatly reduced his need for mortal sustenance.
However, while the rest of the party-goers continued their meal, the Dark Lord's serpentine eyes roamed the table.
"Tonight, we celebrate the growth of the next generation who will carry on your legacy after you have all gone!" He announced.
Applause sounded around the table as everyone nodded in agreement.
"Narcissa, Laima," Voldemort said with an eerie grin as he glanced at the two mothers, "You're both mercilessly cruel to deprive your leader......Bring the children to me so that they may sit on my lap and understand the importance they'll one day have in the world that I will build."
Lily and Narcissa instantly locked gazed as they cradled their little ones in their arms.
Both of the warring women had weaponized silence that day as they avoided each other for the duration of the party, but when the monster asked to hold their children, they immediately became comrades who had been thrust onto the same sinking ship.
It had not been Narcissa's idea to join Voldemort, she had gone along with Lucius's decision.
Lily was in hiding and the man who asked to hold her baby spent his days and nights contemplating ways to slaughter the little girl who whimpered against her shoulder.
Severus met Lucius's stare as the two mothers slowly rose from their seats while Narcissa called out, "Yes, my lord, of course. We'd be honored."
Slowly, reluctantly, Lily and Narcissa walked along the length of the grand Malfoy dining table until they reached Voldemort.
Carefully, as each mother handed her baby over, Voldemort placed Draco on one knee and Harriet on the other.
His body, his aura, his voice, it had all been permeated by the decay of evil.
Children as small as Harriet and Draco could sense his ominousness.
Draco promptly burst into horrified wails while he sat on Voldemort's lap.
"WWWWAAAA!"
"WWWWAAA!"
Voldemort looked down at him and patted his tiny back as tears of terror poured from baby Draco's grey eyes.
Severus and Lily shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"WWWWWAAAA!"
Narcissa struggled not to cry out of sympathy for her little boy while Lucius scowled in embarrassment.
"WWWWAAAA!"
"There, there, young Draco." Voldemort said in an unsettlingly calm voice as he attempted to soothe the distraught baby, "Relax, now, I expected you to be braver than your father."
"WWWWWAAA!"
Lucius's scowl deepened.
"WWWWWAAA!"
As Draco's cries became wilder, Harriet wriggled her chubby legs out of boredom.
Voldemort's evil nature didn't seem to bother her.
As the Dark Lord placed his hand over her chest to stop her from squirming off of his lap and onto the floor, she blinked.
"WWWWAAA!"
While Draco screamed, Harriet bent her little head and promptly sank her only two teeth into the flesh of Voldemort's hand.
Severus and Lily's eyes widened.
"AAAGGH!" Everyone around the table gasped while Voldemort cried out in pain and scowled down at Severus's daughter.
Draco quieted at the noise as his screams dulled to frightened whimpers.
Harriet turned her head and nonchalantly met Voldemort's menacing scowl.
Most children would have screamed as wildly as Draco at the sight of Voldemort's face, but Harriet squealed and cracked him a toothy grin while she proudly asked, "Feel good?!"
Voldemort narrowed his eyes.
Harriet wiggled her little feet.
Lily clutched Severus's hand while both of their hearts pounded in dread.
Everyone around the table held their breath as they waited to see how the Dark Lord would respond.
To his follower's shock, Voldemort threw his head back and laughed.
The dark, cackling sound of his gleeful amusement echoed off of the walls as he raised Draco in his hand.
Lily and Severus thought that something about Lucius's child had charmed him at first, but as Voldemort nodded at Narcissa, it became clear that he wanted the Malfoys' baby removed from his grasp.
Although his hand bled from Harriet's sharp bite, Voldemort kept the brave little girl on his lap while he continued his meeting.
Severus and Lily exchanged a nervous glance.
The Dark Lord had chosen his favorite from the new generation.