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 next months seemed to pass by for Severus with the usual amount of excitement an expectant father and new Minister for Magic would anticipate.
Gradually, the Snape family became accustomed to the daily rhythm set in place by Severus's prestigious position.
Maggie and Harriet adapted rather well to their new lifestyle.
Both mother and daughter thoroughly enjoyed the moments they shared cuddling and playing in the private room attached to Severus's office whenever Harriet was not busy.
Every day, Severus began his duties by sorting through the pile of mail he personally received.
Harriet often helped him, but one particular morning, she tended Maggie while he started the task of sorting the day's parcels.
He opened and replied to letter after letter.
Unfortunately, that morning's last letter had been sent to Minister Snape looking for a reply that could not be written in ink.
As soon as he slit the innocent-looking parcel open, a sticky slime oozed out across his hands in furling swirls of creeping, black muck.
Severus's eyes widened in horrified shock.
He hastily cast a protective charm on himself and his office, but when he noticed the slightest hint of moisture lingered on his fingers, he rose from his desk and glided towards the door.
Harriet stepped out from the secondary room in time to watch her husband hurry across his office as she raised her eyebrows and asked, "Sev, what's the matter?.....Where are you going?"
"We need to contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately to open an investigation against that letter lying on my desk." Severus explained as he reached a hand out and grabbed the doorknob.
Harriet took a single, curious step towards the letter until Severus cried out, "DON'T TOUCH IT!"
"Why not?" She asked with a scowl, "Keep your voice down, you'll wake Maggie. She's fallen back asleep."
"The wretched parcel contained a poisonous enchantment!" Severus frowned at Harriet, "I've done what I can to insulate us, however, I fear it may not be enough protection."
"..........What?" Harriet gasped in disbelief.
Severus bluntly revealed the truth as Harriet felt her heart anxiously skip a beat, "We've been cursed, my love."
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The Minister for Magic's office was thrown into an uproar as aurors rushed to collect the letter, discover its secrets, and find its sender.
The aurors worked with a team of visiting healers to examine Severus, his pregnant wife, and his young daughter in hopes of attaining certainty that his enchantment had acted as a sufficient shield against the Dark Magic that had targeted the family.
Harriet felt relieved once she, Severus, and Maggie were finally released to go home later that day, but Severus kept a tight scowl on his face.
"I've never seen anything like that." Harriet mused while the Snape family shared their dinner together.
Disencan frowned as he listened.
".........The letter?" Severus asked in his low drawl as he let his fork graze his food but failed to lift a bite to his mouth.
"Yeah." She nodded, "What sort of curse was it anyway? We never learned about things like that at Hogwarts, you know."
"The Dark Arts are vast and ever-changing, as ancient as they are new." Severus murmured as he bent his head down and raised his hand to his temple.
Maggie blinked at her father as a pout manifested on her tiny lips.
Harriet watched her husband warily and felt her stomach clench.
An ominous feeling of dread overtook her as she asked, "............Sev?"
When her alpha failed to reply, Harriet stood from her chair and urgently asked again, ".........Sev?"
Harriet shrieked as she watched her mate's eyes roll back into his head as he toppled off of his chair.
"SSSEEEVVV!"
"DDDAADDDYY!"
Maggie let out a screech that matched her mother's as Harriet raced over to her fallen husband.
In response to the terrified cries, Rabbie quickly transformed into Ingrid, who dashed into the room with her black eyes narrowed.
Maggie started to sob as Ingrid walked over and knelt down at Severus's side, opposite of Harriet.
"I can help." Ingrid offered, "The son of my son has been touched by darkness, but I can stop its reach and bring him back to the light."
"No!" Harriet called back as she pulled her wand out and quickly cast a summoning charm, "I.....I....We were treated today by a group of healers and aurors, I'm sending for them now! They'll know what to do!"
"But I know what to do." Ingrid frowned.
"I appreciate it very much, but he received a cursed letter this morning and they've worked on learning more about it all day." Harriet hastily told Ingrid.
"So my assistance is not welcomed, wife of my son's son?" Ingrid scowled.
Harriet started to reply and smooth out the insult she had unwittingly hurled at Severus's ancestor until loud pops rang out in the room in a quick interruption.
The aurors and healers arrived in droves, much to Harriet's relief.
As they rushed towards Severus, Ingrid scowled as she stood and moved away from him.
She kept her scowl as she plucked Maggie from her high chair before she walked down the hallway while Harriet conversed with the team that had come to her husband's aid.
"Rabbie?" Maggie asked as Ingrid carried her outside.
"Yes, little one?" Ingrid answered while she walked Maggie through the Snapes' garden.
Maggie looked around at the peaceful evening while Ingrid began to gather what she needed; a couple of berries, a blade of grass, a bit of dirt, a sleeping bee, and several leaves from the large tree in the center of the garden.......
"Where are we going?" Maggie blinked as she enjoyed her unexpected trip.
"We are taking a walk to help you sleep well tonight." Ingrid lied so that Maggie wouldn't be afraid.
"What's wrong with Daddy?" Maggie frowned.
"He fell asleep, that's all. Look up there." Ingrid instructed her as she pointed towards the moon.
Maggie turned her large eyes onto the full moon that glowed in the sky while Ingrid bit off one of her fingernails and dropped it into the palm of her hand with the other ingredients she had collected.
"Isn't it beautiful, little one?" Ingrid asked Maggie as she closed her fist around the assortment of items until her knuckles went white.
"Yeah!" Maggie nodded with a happy smile.
"Yes, the night is very beautiful." Ingrid agreed.
Maggie laughed as Ingrid opened her large hand and began to rub the paste that had been formed in her palm over her from head to toe.
She giggled as the mixture tickled her skin while she asked, "Rabbie! What are you doing?"
"Seeing that you sleep well, little one." Ingrid said as she covered Maggie completely in that thick, purple paste.
Once she had covered Maggie in the mixture, it slowly ebbed away as it absorbed into her skin and hair.
After her task had been completed, Ingrid took Maggie back into the house and tucked the little girl into bed while Harriet worked with Disencan, the healers, and the aurors to revive Severus.
Ingrid transformed back into her Animagus form and crawled next to Maggie as a frown formed on her furry face.
Ingrid closed her eyes and slept soundly beside Maggie.
Harriet sat beside her mate, wide awake with worry as she watched perspiration bead on his forehead.
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The team of assistants never left the Snape household that evening.
By the next morning, Severus's condition had worsened.
Disencan was beside himself with anguish as he watched his family suffer.
It did not surprise Ingrid when she rose to find the house elf still healthy, even while Harriet had fallen as ill as the son of her son.
Ingrid prided herself on taking matters into her own hands as Maggie giggled and chatted with her while she looked after the child that day.
Disencan handled the meal preparation as he, Ingrid, and Maggie waited for Harriet and Severus to recover.
The hours passed.
The team of aurors and healers did their best, but the Minister and his wife made no improvements.
Sweating, vomiting, and twitching, Harriet and Severus endured one miserable moment after another, but Ingrid respected Harriet's wishes.
She let the aurors and healers perform their duties.
A day went by, then two.
Three.
By the fourth morning, both Severus and Harriet had become alarmingly pale as their agonies continued.
The aurors and healers flurried around them while they frantically raced to reverse the curse until Ingrid decided the time had come to relieve them from their assignment.
The tall witch walked into Severus and Harriet's bedchamber with a disappointed sigh as she looked at the professionals and nodded, "I thank each of you for your efforts, but your work has been meaningless..........I must ask you now to leave this place."
The aurors and healers spewed protests as Ingrid ushered them all out of the house as she left with them and closed the door behind herself.
"But......we are to tend to the Minister for Magic and his wife!" One healer shouted with an angry scowl.
"And it has become clear that you are incapable of doing so." Ingrid shook her head as she walked past them and went out into the garden.
The healers and aurors murmured suspicious whispers to each other as they watched the tall witch disappear into the rows of crops while she glided through the early morning's mysterious mist.
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It didn't take a terribly long time for Ingrid to make more of the purple paste that she had rubbed all over Maggie.
In her fevered fog, Harriet blinked when she heard someone next to her suddenly.
A sharp gasp escaped her parched throat as she watched Ingrid's scarred face hover in front of her.
The ancient witch gazed down at Harriet as she placed the edge of a goblet to her lips.
"I.....I'm with child...." Harriet croaked hoarsely as her scrambled mind remembered her unborn baby.
Ingrid said nothing as she pressed the goblet to Harriet's lips and tilted it slightly until she saw the ill woman take a large swallow of its contents.
Harriet coughed violently for a moment before she quieted and leaned back against the pillows.
After Harriet fell back into a fitful sleep, Ingrid moved over and did the same for Severus.
She scowled when he vomited the diluted, purple mixture a moment after she had poured the chalky chunks down his throat.
Ingrid cleaned the mess with a wave of her hand before she dug her fingers into the cup.
Severus's clothes removed themselves underneath her glaring frown before she spent the next half an hour rubbing the diluted paste into his pale skin.
Maggie, who remained perfectly fine, played games with Disencan and Ingrid for the rest of the day.
That evening, all three looked up when Harriet and Severus staggered into the living room.
Their eyes were bleary, but healthy colour had returned to their faces, which were no longer covered in sweat.
"Where are all the aurors and healers?" Harriet asked.
"After they failed you, I sent them away." Ingrid explained.
"Are we to believe your skills surpassed that of trained professionals?....We were healed by you?" Severus asked with an incredulous scowl.
"No." Ingrid replied. Her dark gaze met Severus's as she corrected him, "You were healed by old magic."
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Harriet felt grateful.
Severus remained skeptical.
Regardless, they both expressed their thanks to Ingrid for her assistance.
Severus had returned to work once the midwife had examined Harriet, after which she had fortunately determined that no irreversible harm had come to mother or baby.
A team of aurors took over the daily task of fielding Severus's mail while the investigation continued to find the witch or wizard who had sent that dreadful letter.
Severus suspected Ingrid.
Harriet suspected otherwise.
The couple enjoyed a deep kiss while they lay cuddled together in Harriet's secondary nest one afternoon until a Ministry employee pounded frantically at Severus's office door.
"Minister Snape!" He called, "Minister Snape!"
Severus growled as he released Harriet's lips, stood to his feet, left their private room, and opened the door.
He scowled when he saw the terror-stricken look on the employee's face.
"........State your business." Severus coldly commanded the employee.
"There's.....there's been more letters received, sir! L..Like the one that poisoned you!" The employee stammered.
Severus glanced back at Harriet who watched from the doorway of their private room while they both exchanged anxious scowls.
"More letters have arrived here at the Ministry, addressed to me?" Severus asked as he whipped his head back around to stare at the employee.
A few strands of his raven-black hair fell in his face from the movement, but Severus ignored the minor irritation.
"No, sir!" The employee frowned, "The letters have been received by members of the public! Entire families have fallen ill this very day!"
Severus's stomach dropped into the soles of his feet.
Harriet clenched her jaw.
What new threat did the Ministry face?