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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Severus's underdog popularity continued to grow with the public of the wizarding world while he and Harriet quietly lived their lives in their happy, humble home.
Harriet had taken her alpha's spoken desire very seriously.
As she and Severus spent their days next to each other while they cared for Maggie and tended their house, Mrs. Snape did everything possible to incite another heat.
Harriet took vitamins, drank extra water, worked long hours in their expansive garden for exercise.........and she was careful to make love to Severus as often as time allowed.
However, when one month turned into two and Harriet saw no hint of a reward for her extensive efforts, a frown marred her face.
She sat one morning and flipped through one of her husband's large, ancient book of potions while Maggie played on her lap with a rag doll.
Severus had just finished harvesting a few mulberries from the bushes outside when he walked into the house and found Harriet frowning down at the book that lay open next to her on the sofa.
"...........My love?" Severus asked suspiciously.
".........Yes?" Harriet replied without glancing up.
"What on earth do you want with that book?" Severus scowled as he walked over.
"Didn't you say this one belonged to Dumbledore?" Harriet asked as she narrowed her eyes at the tattered page.
"Yes....." Severus drawled, "..... May I ask your intentions with it? You've never been particularly inclined to study potions."
"Is it safe to assume that the formulas here are reliable?" Harriet asked Severus as he peered over her shoulder and examined the page that had captured her attention.
When Severus realized that Harriet was gazing at the detailed, centuries-old instructions for making a particularly potent fertility potion, he smirked at his mischievous mate.
"It is never safe to assume anything.....However, I hardly think we have a need for what you're seeking. If you're truly set on this idea, we could induce a heat in much safer ways." Severus quipped as he snatched the book away from Harriet with a scowl of disapproval.
"You've told me before that heats don't always have a bearing on fertility." Harriet frowned as she looked up at her alpha while Maggie smiled at the soft doll that she held in her chubby little hands.
Severus lifted his chin slightly as Harriet stared up at him.
Her green eyes shone brightly as she fearlessly declared, "I want to be pregnant, Severus."
The jolt of arousal that Harriet's bold words sent shooting through his chest went all the way down to his groin.
Severus clenched his teeth for a moment before he spoke, "........You need to relax. Your body will allow nature to take its course when the time is right. Maggie was conceived with the use of a potion.....Will you not allow us to have one child result purely from the product of our love?"
Harriet's eagerness faded into a shameful pout as she sighed and looked at Maggie.
Severus watched her take a hand and move their little girl's tufts of hair behind her tiny ear.
"I'm only trying to please you......" Harriet murmured without looking at her husband.
"There's no need for you to try." Severus replied cuttingly.
Harriet looked up at him in bewilderment as she processed what she at first thought was an insult before he added, "............You already please me more than you know......every day."
A bright smile spread across Harriet's lips as she slowly reached out towards her lover.
Maggie laughed as her father bent down and gave her mother a deep, loving kiss.
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Severus hadn't intended to give Harriet the idea that he had imposed a demand about when he expected their family to grow.
He took great comfort in the subtle moments of secluded intimacy that came with having a mate, those sweet affections, not only in the pursuit of physical pleasure, that were exchanged between lovers.
It was during those wonderfully meaningful little instances of gentle kisses, calming back rubs, and light touches that he sought to provide a similar comfort to his mate.
A few weeks passed and Harriet dropped some of the militaristic routines that she had adopted in favor of resuming more of her previous, lighthearted attitude.
For that, Severus was genuinely glad.
Above anything else in the world, any want or need of his own, he valued Harriet's happiness.
He did not, however, value the shark-like grin that he saw on Rita Skeeter's face as he sat across from the notorious journalist for The Daily Prophet at Kingsley's request.
Severus had returned to Hogwarts, also at the Minister's wish, to make an appearance during the castle's charity ball one Saturday evening.
Students were prohibited from entering the Great Hall that night as dignitaries, staff members, and Ministry officials all mingled with each other and discussed the welfare of the school, the election, and the recipients of the evening's collections.
Such occasions were rare but not unheard of during a regular election year, but social events were not particularly Severus Snape's forte.
If Harriet hadn't agreed to go with him, then he would have vehemently refused.
Harriet had brought Maggie along that night, at Kingsley's request.
While the party continued behind them, Harriet sat next to Severus, with Maggie on her lap, across from Rita Skeeter in the faculty passage that led to the High Table.
"Severus Snape......" Rita Skeeter said with great emphasis. She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips as she looked at her frowning interviewee, "........Of all the things you thought that you'd ever do, I'm sure you never considered being lucky enough to sit for one of my chats!"
"..............Clearly not." Severus replied in a low drawl.
Rita's Quick-Quotes Quill flew across the pad that hovered in the air next to her while Harriet peered at her old adversary distrustfully.
"Well, then, Mr. Snape," Rita chirped as she tilted her head at Severus and gave him a smile that made Harriet want to gag, "Go on! Tell me everything........for a man so bitterly dejected such as yourself, you certainly have captivated the attention of the general public! Why do you think that is? What's so fascinating about a dull, uninteresting, nondescript, old potions professor, eh? The readers of The Daily Prophet want to know all about you, your role in the war, your bid for office, your love story....."
Harriet frowned as Rita's piercing gaze fell on her like a predator eyeing its prey.
"Harriet Potter." Rita finally acknowledged her with a sharklike smile.
"Harriet Snape." Harriet corrected Rita as politely as she could, although her tone held a bitter bite.
Rita laughed as if Harriet's marriage was a great joke, "What spurred you to end up with a man nearly twice your age? Was it the desire to finally have a father figure in your life? Young ladies of eighteen-"
"-Twenty-three." Harriet corrected her again.
When she failed to see the quill move, she scowled at the green-feathered pen and snapped at it commandingly, "Twenty-three!"
Rita started before the Quick-Quotes Quill hurriedly scribbled through a line and made sure to notate Harriet's age correctly.
Maggie frowned at the sharpness in her mother's voice.
Harriet's tone made her fearful and the exhausting affair of meeting all the new faces that evening sent her tiny tummy growling.
When Maggie planted her face into Harriet's taffeta covered breasts in a silent signal, Severus frowned as he watched his omega stand to her feet.
"I-I need to tend my daughter." Harriet hastily explained to Rita before she nodded at her and carried Maggie away.
Severus was not expecting the reaction that he received from the journalist after his mate fled with his pup.
"Is that baby still at the breast?" Rita asked as a smirk grew across her lips as if she had just uncovered some delicious, scandalous secret that could be used to slander someone, "A child of her age? You know, I didn't hear your daughter make a sound the entire time that she and Harriet were with us. Is your little one quite alright, Mr. Snape? You don't want people to start thinking something's........off.....with your child."
Rita laughed as if that were another great joke, but the dangerous scowl that appeared on Severus's face warned her about the severity of the mistake she had just made.
Severus, his role in the war, his past decisions, his relationship with Harriet, those were all matters that he could tolerate criticism on, but he did not harbor the same leniency about Maggie.
No wise witch or wizard would dare to even hint about anything derogatory concerning Severus Snape's precious little princess.
His low, rumbling voice sliced through the air like a hot knife as he hissed, "I'll thank you, Ms. Skeeter......to remember your place and attempt to act honorably in your profession.......You can tell your readers, yourself, and the rest of the world that if I were to ever take office as Minister for Magic......I would approach my position with far more decency than criticizing how others attempt to heal their injured children."
Rita's mouth fell open as Severus rose to his feet in one fluid motion with his elegant, black robes flowing at his sides. He towered in front of her like a massive, angry bat as he leaned down and hissed, ".......This interview.......is over."
The Quick-Quotes Quill paused as Severus swept past Rita to search for Harriet.
Neither Rita nor her quill knew what to say in response or what to print in the article......
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Severus had made his appearance at the charity ball.
He had chatted with people.
Actually, Harriet had done most of the chatting while he had brooded behind her, but that had been enough engagement with the public for one night.
Harriet couldn't break the Anti-Apparition Charm at Hogwarts to take Maggie home, but she could use the specialized Portkey that the Ministry had provided for the evening's guests.
Harriet allowed the enchanted object to effortlessly transport herself and her daughter back to their happy home.
After Harriet let Maggie lay at her breasts for a few moments, she laid her baby girl down to sleep.
Secure in the knowledge that Disencan diligently watched over her daughter, Mrs. Snape returned to the castle to retrieve Severus.
Harriet had just come back from the side room where the Portkey sat when she turned the corner and ran straight into her alpha.
Severus and Harriet both gasped as she accidentally bumped into his chest.
"Sev!" Harriet exclaimed as she fell right into his arms, "You frightened me! I thought you'd still be-!"
"-Miss Skeeter and I had very little to discuss, after all." Severus drawled as he stared down at Harriet.
Although their uncoordinated clash had ended, Severus didn't release his bride from his grasp.
"Did you hear McGonagall mention earlier that the position of Potions Professor is vacant again?" Severus asked.
".........Yes." Harriet said after a moment as Severus slipped his hands down to her waist, "I did, why?"
"Would you care to take a walk, Mrs. Snape? Before we return home?" Severus asked in a low purr.
Harriet could hardly bear the intensity that burned in his black gaze.
"....Sure." She replied as Severus released her waist, grasped her fingers in one hand, and led her down to the dungeons.
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While the charity event continued on in the Great Hall, its attendees were ignorant of the obscene encounter that unfolded in the dungeons beneath them.
The glass vials that hung on the wall of the potion master's office shook violently as they threatened to fall to the floor from the force of Severus and Harriet coupling against the cold layers of stone.
"L-love you....." Harriet whispered as Severus paused to nip at her lips.
Severus said nothing in return, although his possessive grip on his mate tightened while his kiss became gentler.
He turned Harriet to face the wall as he nibbled along her neck.
She sighed as she closed her eyes to focus on the sweet sensation of her alpha's touch.
It felt good to be wanted, it felt even better to be loved.