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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As weeks passed and his growing family settled into their new routine, Severus concentrated on his work.
The unknown threat presented by the curses and those disturbing messages still lingered.
It terrified the Minister for Magic to think that despite Voldemort's defeat, there could be another potential enemy loose in the world who sought to destroy every fragment of the paradise-like peace he had found at long last.
Harriet helped where she could, but between mothering a small infant and a toddler, she often found herself tending her sweet babies instead of assisting her husband.
As she watched her children learn and grow, Severus's professional duties were often placed in the back of her mind.
Severus visited the Ministry's expansive library and gathered every book he could find on ancient magic.
He spent hours with his dark eyes narrowed to slits as he combed page after page for information while he replayed everything he had learned from Ingrid in his mind, desperate to discover some overlooked clue.
After careful weeks of tedious study, it frustrated him that he seemed no closer to uncovering the truth.
His irritation reached a boiling point one night while he watched Maggie roll her chair through the living room to play with her baby brother, who lay on his belly as Harriet held a series of enchanted, squishy balls in front of his face while she spelled out words.
It broke Severus's heart as he gazed at his daughter's cheerful smile while he contemplated her damaged entry into the world.
Rabbie silently sat nearby, until he spoke and drew Ingrid out.
"Is there nothing else you can do? To help my daughter? To help me?" Severus grouched sourly as he looked over at the large rabbit from his seat on the sofa, "......Can you not see that we're struggling?!"
In one swift leap, Rabbie vanished and Ingrid appeared to tower beside Severus.
She blinked down at him as she answered, "Yes, son of my son. I see that you're struggling, that's why I saved your life, your wife's life, and continue to protect your daughter."
Severus moved his dark eyes up to meet Ingrid's as an awful scowl marred his face.
"Is there nothing else you can do for her?" He asked bitterly, "I watched you remove curses from my wife, one by one, surely you can help my daughter in a similar way!.....Look at her!....She should be able to run and play like all children her age!.....It's a living cruelty that she had to be birthed under such-"
"Son of my son, you present yourself as an educated man when you are really just a fool." Ingrid snapped, "I removed no curses from your wife, merely their echoes. If a curse touches a body, there is no magic in this world that can reverse it. I suppose one day you'll bring me a corpse and demand I restore it too?"
"My daughter is not a corpse!" Severus hissed.
"Her legs may as well belong to one." Ingrid solemnly assessed.
It was all Severus could do not to snarl at Ingrid while Harriet and the children continued their play.
"Life is hard for a woman." Ingrid declared as she crossed her arms and stared at Maggie, "It will be harder for the child, though I have come to ease her burden as much as possible. That is all I can do, son of my son, I cannot breathe life into what has died......Her legs are attached to her body and that is where their connection ends."
Severus grit his teeth as Ingrid glanced at him and asked, "As for your work, I thought that you were a great king?"
"I am not a great king!" Severus frowned, "I am the current Minister for Magic, nothing more."
"That's a lie." Ingrid said thoughtfully as she looked at Harriet and the children again, "Perhaps you may not be a monarch to a country, son of my son, but you seem to have a few adoring subjects under your rule."
As Severus frowned at Harriet and their little ones, she glanced up to meet his gaze.
His breath hitched in his chest as the brilliance of her sparkling, emerald eyes tore all the way into his soul.
Severus was no stranger to asking for help from those whom he deemed more powerful than himself.
He admired Ingrid's unwillingness to offer further aid.
Forced to rely on his own wit to solve his issues, Severus went about the task of considering what his ancestor had told him before she interrupted his thoughts, "Your wife mentioned the battle that took place before, during the years I spent wandering the forest and waiting to complete the final chapter of my redemption."
"That's another matter entirely." Severus scoffed, "Fought with a plan, the helped of hundreds, and the Deathly Hallows themselves."
"Are you not capable of formulating a plan, son of my son?" Ingrid asked.
"It would help me greatly if I knew what I planned for." Severus huffed.
While Ingrid thought, Severus thought too.
Perhaps Ingrid had helped guide him after all?
His face twisted into a scowl as he watched his mate and children.
Was it possible for the tools Harriet had used in her own fight to aid him against his new foe?
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Severus helped his wife put Maggie and little Sev to bed that evening before they retired to their own room.
Harriet sighed as she lay down in her husband's arms and closed her eyes.
Instead of drifting off to sleep, she asked Severus as they lay together in the darkness, "Come on, Sev, you know I'm no good at Legilimency.....What's on your mind?"
Severus blinked down at his mate in surprise.
When her inquiry was met with silence, she opened her eyes and frowned at Severus knowingly as she sighed, "I'm your wife, your mate, your partner.....I know when something's bothering you. Are you going to tell me what it is or not?"
Moved by his darling's keen intuition and kind concern for his well-being, Severus began in his low drawl, "It's little more than a passing musing about the situation the Ministry currently faces.....Do not concern yourself with the matter, my love. You've had an exhausting day, close your eyes and rest."
"I'll have an exhausting night too if I can't sleep because I'm worried about my husband." Harriet insisted with a frown, "Tell me what's going on, Sev."
Severus clutched Harriet more tightly for a moment before he sighed quietly and whispered, "The enemy we find ourselves confronted with is nameless, faceless, yet assumed to possess great strength."
"That's true." Harriet nodded as she listened, ".......What about it?"
"Armor against this foe may be a wise approach." Severus thought out loud.
"Armor?" Harriet asked.
"The Hallows, perhaps?" Severus asked.
Harriet sat up as she stared at Severus and thought out loud, "Well.....the Hallows are a good bet.....We could gather them again, sure, but.....What will you use them for?"
Severus shrugged as he thought, "I would have many uses for them, if only I could discover who this unseen villain is, or where they are, or.....anything....really."
"Look....." Harriet said as she took a deep breath, "You've poured your heart and soul into the search for months. Maybe for now.....you should just....give up?"
A severe glare manifested on Severus's pale features as he gazed at Harriet incredulously.
She raised a hand in a cautionary gesture as she explained, "........And allow the threat...enemy...whatever... to come forward and identify themselves. Evil hates to be ignored, Sev. In my experience, if someone means harm, they'll let you know."
"Are you suggesting that I sit idly by while a maniac terrorizes our world until they finally decide to reveal their identity?" Severus huffed.
"No." Harriet said simply, "I'm suggesting that you stay vigilant, behind that wall of Occlumency you can maintain, and draw this person, whoever they are, or group, or whatever....out from the shadows by frustrating them."
Severus's scowl softened into a frown as Harriet shrugged and asked, "What if they've been watching you....us.... all this time?"
Silently, Severus admitted to himself that his wife had offered decent suggestions that evening.
Severus thanked Harriet for her thoughtful input as he took a few moments to bathe her in soft, sweet kisses.
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While Mr. and Mrs. Snape's discussion became more physical and less verbal, Ingrid sat at Maggie's bedside with her single working eye narrowed in concentration as she read the open book in her hands.
She had found the tattered text sitting on one of the many shelves in the Snapes' living room after Severus and Harriet had gone to put their children in bed.
Intuition had ignited her curiosity and it was with a desperate hope that her dark eye skimmed across the pages.
The words had been scrawled long ago in black ink depicting runes that had faded somewhat with age, but Ingrid still managed to decipher their meaning:
The Cloak of Invisibility - a way to hide from anyone and anything, even Death itself.
The Elder Wand - The most powerful wand ever crafted, capable of producing extraordinary bits of magic and tackling complex spells with ease.
The Resurrection Stone
Ingrid blinked as she read the description of the third Hallow.
A relic to bring back those who have passed on, if only in a changed form. For many, the promise of such a sweet reunion is worth even a slighter visit.
Ingrid's dark eyes widened as she gazed at the page.
Silently, while Maggie slept, Ingrid vowed to undertake a second task.
If the Deathly Hallows that Harriet had spoken of would truly help Severus, then Ingrid determined she would offer whatever aid she could in gathering them.
However, Ingrid selfishly decided that night that she would keep the Resurrection Stone for herself.
As she gazed out the window and into the darkness that covered the land outside, she closed her eyes and remembered.
Nearly a thousand years had passed since that day, but Ingrid could still hear the metallic clink her chains had made when they had fallen to the floor.