A Season with the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 9 - Back Again

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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On New Year's Eve, Harriet and Severus married in a quiet ceremony conducted in the headmaster's office.

Those in the hanging portraits served as wedding guests.

Professor McGonagall readily agreed to stand as the couple's witness.

Harriet noticed her former teacher wiped happy tears from her eyes as she watched them share their first kiss as husband and wife.

For their honeymoon, Severus and Harriet spent the last remaining days of Hogwarts' winter recess locked in each other's arms.

There were moments when Harriet forgot she was indeed pregnant and not in the middle of a heat.

While the winter snow flurried against the castle's windows, Mr. and Mrs. Snape stayed perfectly warm in Harriet's cozy nest as they passed hours kissing, cuddling, and making love.

In her most extreme fantasies, Harriet had never anticipated Severus would be so affectionate.

Severus had never dared to imagine he would ever find true, returned love.

The wizarding world was shocked to hear of their union, but instead of hateful sneers or snide comments, Severus and Harriet received an overwhelming amount of well-wishes and congratulations.

Harriet's friends were as shocked as the students of Hogwarts on the evening they returned to the castle and listened to their headmaster announce his nuptials.

Harriet had purposely chosen black robes in an effort to hide her changed figure, but the slightly visible swell of her belly from her seat at the High Table sent more than one eager schoolgirl whispering scandalous rumors to her friends.

On the evening before classes resumed, after Severus made his explosive announcement during dinner in the Great Hall, he and Harriet enjoyed another luxurious bath, surrounded by the warm water offered of the claw foot tub in the headmaster's lavatory.

"You were brilliant tonight." Harriet sighed as she sat on Severus's lap while he lay with his spine resting against the smooth porcelain.

All around them, sparkling traces of the pearlescent, shimmering soap Severus had added to the water drifted and swirled in elegant, glittering patterns.

Bubbles appeared here and there yet the couple failed to notice them much as their gazes remained locked.

Harriet smirked while Severus glanced away from her face to let his dark eyes roam her bare body.

"I'm getting a bit fat, aren't I?" She chuckled.

Severus drank in the view of her fuller breasts and rounding belly as he lifted his hands to deftly touch her changing curves.

"Even if that statement ever came true, I doubt I'd mind if you were plumper." Severus replied.

Harriet bit her lip to suppress a pleased sigh as Severus's skillful hands slipped over her wet skin.

"Severus......." She breathed.

Some women may have been offended by his blunt retort, but Harriet saw his words as an acknowledgement of their primitive attraction to one another.

The water sloshed as Severus sat up in the tub, clutched his wife close, and buried his face in her wet breasts.

Harriet cried out as her fingers tangled in his soaked, black hair.