Harriet Potter and the Alpha in the Dungeon

Chapter 48 - Waiting

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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Ingrid stayed in her rabbit form once the immediate threat of the letters had been eliminated.

She watched Severus work vigilantly to solve the mystery of the poisoned parcels while he aided Harriet in every way that he possibly could.

Although the perilous question of who sent the toxic mail loomed on the horizon, he and Harriet knew they would soon be welcoming their second child.

As the next weeks passed, they both did everything they possibly could to prepare.

Together, they decorated the nursery.

Clothes, toys, and other items were purchased from the finest children's retailers in Britain's wizarding world.

Whenever Harriet noticed that Severus wasn't watching her, she bothered to flip through the pamphlets he had collected from the midwife.

Although she read paragraph after paragraph that detailed her available options, a frown never left her lips while she considered the information.

One appointment a week with Harriet's healthcare provider gradually became two, which soon evolved into three as Harriet came closer and closer to her due date.

Severus refused to leave her side for a single second.

Whatever meeting he had to attend or issue he had to handle, he made sure his heavily pregnant wife was next to him.

If Harriet visited the lavatory, Severus lurked close by the door.

Harriet had decided to have her second birth at home, where she felt safest.

Although Severus supported her decision, he arranged to work from their house as the final two weeks of his wife's second pregnancy began.

The last thing that Severus wanted was for Harriet to feel uncomfortable or out of place.

Whenever her labour started, he certainly did not want to feel the same urgent rush to take his mate to safety as he had with Maggie.

It had not escaped his notice that his darling's eyes had started to shine a little less brightly as her belly rounded and her aches increased.

The forlorn expression he saw too often on Harriet's fair face worried him deeply.

Severus remembered how happy she had been during the time she had carried Maggie, as if she had looked forward to meeting the life inside of her belly.

As he sat beside Harriet one evening while the flames crackled in the living room's hearth, he furrowed his brow in concern.

Harriet stared into the fire with an unusual frown on her face as if she were awaiting her execution instead of their second child's arrival.

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That night, as they laid down together in Harriet's nest, Severus pulled his beloved into his arms and held her close, as he did every evening, until they both fell asleep.

It had become part of their normal routine for them to wake up apart, lying in different positions, or facing opposite directions.

However, the next morning, Severus frowned as he blinked his eyes open to see that Harriet remained firmly on his chest as she slept with her eyes squinted shut.

Severus let one of his hands drift down to the curve of her heavy belly that pushed against his torso.

Careful not to disturb the life in his wife's womb, he let his velvet fingertips ghost over the swell to feel the echoes of movement that came from within.