Harriet Potter and the Alpha in the Dungeon

Chapter 49 - Across a Loom

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 rose early one morning after Harriet roused him and whispered her urgent need of ripe raspberries.

He scowled at the early morning chill as he hurriedly threw on his robes and glided out of their bedroom to head towards the family's garden.

The dawn was not yet up and he stopped suddenly when he walked out of the door to find himself met by the crackling of flames.

He blinked as he saw Ingrid sitting at a wooden stool in front of a large loom by an open fire she had built in a neat pit.

She did not bother to look over at him as he asked, "And are you not supposed to be guarding my daughter?"

"The child is sleeping now." Ingrid replied as his dark eyes focused on her work, ".........Which is why I must finish this before she wakes and finds me gone."

Severus walked closer to peer at her work.

He frowned as he realized she had the hem of her own skirt laid across the loom.

"Surely a great witch like yourself could complete a simple repair such as this with magic?" Severus asked in a sarcastic drawl.

"If a great witch like myself chose to pursue exhaustion by using magic to forget what hard work felt like, then I would be a great witch no more." Ingrid snapped, "That knowledge has been lost on your generation and the generation before that and the generation before that one......but it was a known truth in my time."

Severus frowned while Ingrid ignored him and continued her work.

"Have you never watched someone mend a seam before?" She asked at length, "I assure you, son of my son, there are more fascinating sights in this world."

"My wife wishes to speak with you." Severus frowned.

".........She is in need of more assistance?" Ingrid asked as her massive hands deftly moved across the loom to weave the frayed threads back into place, "I have never encountered such a needy group of magic-using people."

"My wife is not needy!" Severus snapped before he could stop himself.

For the first time since he had stepped out of the house that morning, Ingrid's dark eyes darted over to him as an angry scowl marred her face.

"Your wife has borne you a child." Ingrid said simply.

"..........She has." Severus nodded.

"And she prepares to bear you another." Ingrid said without blinking.

"She does." Severus nodded.

"Then you are acquainted with the sacrifice," Ingrid huffed as she moved a lever on the side of her loom, "and the toil," she growled as she stretched the threads, "and the pain," she sighed as she ripped the hem off of her skirt off the machine, "that a woman endures for her children."

".......In more ways than you can imagine." Severus nodded.

Ingrid stood with a mirthless smirk on her scarred face.

She chuckled as she towered over Severus.

"Then I will thank you, son of my son, to not raise your voice to me as I have made those same sacrifices for the father of your mother." Ingrid spoke in her eerie, song-like tone.

A bird chirped loudly from a nearby tree, which prompted her to look over at the horizon.

"The sun will be up soon." Ingrid sighed as she hurriedly dismantled her loom, put out her fire, and stacked the contraption by the wooden stool, "I must hurry back to the child."