Loving Lily: A Snily Story

Chapter 12 - The Dark Lord's Gift

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 and Lily both were grateful that James's little daughter had the ability to stay.....little.

Madam Pomfrey saw Lily and Harriet in private for discrete check up appointments.

At each visit, Hogwarts' healer reassured Lily that her baby was fine, but the infant didn't grow very much during her first weeks of life.

Severus and Lily waited until the middle of September to formally announce the birth of Severus and Laima's daughter, Harriet Snape.

Harriet was six weeks old by then, but she was still small enough to pass as a new baby, almost as if she had slowed her own growth down to give herself and her mother a better chance of survival.

Severus knew that was impossible, however it did make the situation easier.

Voldemort and several of his Death Eaters descended upon the humble cottage that Severus shared with Lily on the evening that the news of Harriet's arrival reached the Dark Lord.

Lily was holding her infant as she sat in bed, playing the role of a woman who had just given birth, completely shrouded in her disguise.

She stayed quiet as Severus led Voldemort and his followers inside of their bedroom.

Lily was too busy hoping the cloaking charms that Severus had cast would work to conceal the true paternity of her baby girl and the maddening fears that raced wildly through her mind.

If anyone could hide anything from Voldemort, it was Severus Snape.

The Dark Lord smiled down with wicked mirth at the baby in Lily's arms.

Lily and Severus both held their breath and hoped that their trickery would succeed.

"What a beautiful child......" Voldemort purred in his eerily smooth voice.

"Thank you, my lord." Severus said with a nod as the Death Eaters peered over his shoulder at the baby in Lily's arms.

"Th-thank.....you......m-my lord." Lily said as she struggled to pronounce the words.

Severus had given her another dose of Linguatorquin to enhance her costume.

"May I?" Voldemort asked Lily with a sneer that he thought emulated humility as he reached out his hands.

As Lily looked at the long, gray nails that resembled talons on the end of his fingers and the utter coldness in his cruel gaze, the last thing that she wanted to do was to hand her baby over to Voldemort, but as she glanced at Severus behind her veil, he gave her a practically undetectable nod and she knew that if she hoped to live, she had little choice.

Lily restrained her reluctance, ignored her instincts, bent forward, and placed tiny Harriet into Voldemort's grasp.

Harriet whimpered as Voldemort stared down at her.

He laughed in amusement at the fearful noise that he had elicited from the infant.

"A fine girl!" Voldemort proudly declared to everyone in the room as Harriet whined.

"Don't you think so, Lucius?" Voldemort asked hastily as he jerked his head to look behind his shoulder.

Lucius Malfoy wove through the small crowd of his comrades and looked down at the baby before he glanced back up at Voldemort and nodded, "Oh yes, my lord. She'll be a very beautiful witch when she grows up."