Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 18 The Prince Family

"Who knew you made decent kids, Snape," Black… Sirius said as they watched Laila get her hand and footprints taken. Harriet had succumbed to exhaustion and was sound asleep in the hospital room.

Snape. He hated the last name more than anything, yet he kept it for so long. It was the main reason that Laila Potter was written on his daughter's hospital bassinet and birth certificate, one of the main reasons he had yet to formally marry Harriet.

"Thank you," he said sarcastically.

"Dad!" Rowan was nearly six now and was running towards him with Edward tiredly following him. "Mummy said I can hold her!"

"Your mother lied," Severus said dryly. He always regarded his newborns as if they were made of glass. They were too small, both of his children. "In a few months."

The boy narrowed his bright green eyes. "Mummy said I'm big enough."

Sirius's snickering almost Severus consider it. He glanced at Laila. She was a week early, while Rowan was over a week late when he was born. Even though it was only by a pound, she seemed so much smaller as she dozed in her bassinet with all the other infants.

"Not yet." Severus smiled slightly when the boy groaned until B-Sirius promised the boy sweets from the gift shop. The whining immediately ceased. He was definitely Harriet's child.

"We're going for a hike." While he considered his newborns to be fragile, Harriet was ready to take them out into the forest near their cottage as soon as she recovered from the birth. Little Laila was six weeks old. Harriet grinned at his scowl. "Coming?"

"No." He stood up from the kitchen table and took Laila, who whined at being taken from the sling at Harriet's breast. "And neither is she."

Harriet rolled her eyes and let the baby curl her tiny fingers around her index finger. "It's nice out. Rowan's stir crazy. She doesn't want to do paperwork with you."

"And he could use an hour alone with you." Severus hoped she wouldn't look at what he was working on. Now that he was taking the time to formally change his last name to Prince, he found himself a little embarrassed.

But she didn't and only halfheartedly glared at him. "I just had her."

Severus grinned. "So you won't be long."

"Ugh!"

Harriet wanted Severus to come with them. She needed to talk to him. She didn't know how to explain it to him, but she wanted Laila to be the last baby. She loved her babies, but… There was a completeness about her family that she couldn't put into words. Everything felt right.

"Mummy look!" Rowan was pointing to a trio of pixies beckoning them forward. "What are they?"

Harriet smiled wistfully. Severus still hated them. "Some of my dearest friends. Did you know they can talk?"

"Really?!"

Harriet laughed, and they ran through the forest, playing tag with the pixies and letting the afternoon escape them.

Pettigrew Apprehended by Mexican Ministry!

Severus's heart sunk. They didn't subscribe to the paper, so he didn't see the headline until he went to pick up the engagement ring he planned to give Harriet. What was he going to tell her?

Nothing. He could hear Sirius saying it even as he bought a copy before flooing home. He couldn't do that to her, of course, but it was oh so tempting when he arrived home to find her feeding Laila on the couch while Rowan played with his toys at her feet. They had such a perfect, quiet life.

Harriet brightened at his arrival, but her face immediately fell at how horrified he must have looked. "Are you okay, Severus? You look sick."

Rowan leaped to his feet. "I'll get the thermometer!" Now that Laila was here, he enjoyed any stolen alone moment with his mother, and that would include taking the time to prepare a potion for Severus.

"Don't celebrate just yet," Severus said dryly.

Solemnly, he handed Harriet the paper. As she read it, he barely paid attention to Rowan shoving the thermometer in his mouth and nearly choking him. He waited for her to spring to her feet to rescue him. Her eyes glistened, but no exclamations came. Worse, she became incredibly quiet.

Rowan ripped the thermometer out of his mouth and made for Harriet since all the color drained from her face. Severus scooped him up, ignoring his kicks and protests.

"I need to go for a walk," she nearly whispered. Severus wanted to tell her no, but he was her partner, not her father. What scared him the most was that she left Laila and Rowan behind.

"Daddy," Rowan whined when Laila wouldn't stop crying a few hours later. "She's hungry."

Severus thinned his lips, trying not to snap at the boy when he was going mad with worry. "I know."

Rowan gestured to his chest. "Well. Go on. I won't look. Teddy said I shouldn't look."

"What?" Severus closed his eyes, reminding himself that the boy wasn't even six. He considered his son incredibly intelligent for his age, but the boy was in fact, still a five year old. "Rowan, I am not a woman."

Rowan stared, an act that he got from Harriet to illustrate that he was confused. "Daddy, she's hungry. Stop being grumpy."

Before he could explain matters to the boy, Harriet ripped open the door. Her shirt was soaked with breast milk, but she still took the inconsolable Laila into their room and shut the door behind her.

"You're scaring me," Severus said later that night. Harriet was running her hands through Laila's wispy hair, which was starting to turn red. "The Ministry is bringing him back here. To Azkaban."

Harriet's eyes met his, looking completely exhausted. "I'm a terrible person, Severus."

After the War, the dementors were banished, and Azkaban wasn't much worse than a Muggle prison. There would be no Kiss, which Severus thought wasn't very fitting. It was tempting to push for the death penalty, but he couldn't do that to Harriet. After all these years, he was sure that part of her hadn't moved on. Perhaps if Pettigrew was killed…

But he couldn't do that to her. Harriet never spoke a word of it, but he was sure that she still saw Pettigrew as a father figure. How couldn't he be? He raised her, taught her how to love. Harriet wouldn't be Harriet without Pettigrew, as much as he hated to admit it.

"You can visit him." The words felt bitter in his mouth, and he wanted to retch at the thought. He only hoped that a goodbye would shake her out of this.

Harriet tilted her head to the side. "Like Firenze?"

His heart sunk even lower, if possible. She visited the centaur at least once a month, more if Rowan begged. He wanted to say no, that she couldn't see him at all, but Harriet was nearly thirty three years old, and like he said earlier, his partner, not his child. "Yes."

"Okay." Harriet didn't look appeased. Perhaps she would, after she saw him.

"Are you insane?" Sirius hissed. He swooped in the very next day, and Severus was surprised he hadn't come sniffing about sooner. "You can't let her visit him!"

"Harriet does not need my permission," Severus said coldly.

"Dad!" Rowan ran into the kitchen. "Mummy says you'll take me to the bookstore!"

Severus ran his hands through the boy's messy hair. Harriet was shoving books at him by the time he was three. "Go brush your teeth. We'll pick out something for your sister too."

"And I going to read it to her!" he said proudly before marching off to the bathroom.

"Will you let him go?" Black asked.

"Absolutely not," Severus barked, realizing he fell for the trap too little too late.

"I bet she'll bring Laila," Sirius taunted.

"She will not," Severus growled. Then, he softened as Harriet came into the kitchen, dragging her feet as she opened the fridge to pour herself a glass of milk. He had a feeling she was only eating so she could feed Laila. "Harriet?"

Her sad eyes fell on Sirius. "I can't paint today. I'm sure Rowan would love to."

All the trickery slipped out of Sirius, and he became just as concerned as Severus. "Harry—"

"I just had a baby," she said flatly. "I need a little while to feel myself again."

"O-okay," Sirius said feebly. Harriet slunk back to her room, giving him the opportunity to round on Severus. "You can't let her go."

"Let her go?" Severus repeated as quietly as he could. "If I don't let her go, she'll start sneaking. And then what? I'll wake up one day, and everyone is gone!"

Sirius's eyes widened at the confession. Over the years, they went from reluctantly civil to almost friends. Never, not even to Harriet, did Severus allow himself to be this vulnerable. As sick as it was, he wished the Ministry had never found Pettigrew.

"C'mon Dad!" Rowan grabbed his hand and grinned. "Are you coming too, Grandpa?"

"Y-yeah," Black said quietly. Now Sirius didn't want to leave him alone. Great.

Severus woke up the day of Harriet's visit with Pettigrew to the sound of her crying. With a sigh, he rubbed his eyes and sat up. Sleep had been fitful these past few weeks, and it wasn't at the fault of their newborn.

Harriet's eyes were red, telling him that she had been crying for some time. "I'm sorry!"

"You don't have to be sorry." Severus waited for her to calm down, but she wouldn't. "I'm not angry with you for wanting to see him."

"I'm a terrible person," she gasped quietly. Her shoulders shook as she put her face in her hands.

Severus put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "He raised you and was your entire world for seventeen years. There's nothing wrong with loving him."

"I don't want to go!"

Oh. Severus held his breath, waiting for her to explain. All this time she must have felt like he was pushing her to see Pettigrew when in fact, he was trying his best not to forbid her to go.

Harriet choked down a sob before explaining. "I-I want to stay here with Laila and Rowan and you. He-he's my dad, and I don't want to see him! I didn't want to see him ever again!"

Severus opened his mouth to intervene, but Harriet barreled on. "You don't make Rowan feel guilty when you want something and you never l-lie to him and… and you don't make him d-dependent on you and he-he's so brave!"

So she finally saw it. Seeing him raise their child with her made her finally see her childhood for what it was, which was heartbreaking to say the least. All of her memories were probably tainted now, and Severus didn't know how to make it better.

"You need to tell him," he said quietly.

Harriet froze, fully expecting him to indulge in her misery and let her hide from Pettigrew forever. "What?"

"You need to work past this, Harriet," he whispered as Laila started to stir. "You'll feel better."

Harriet shook her head. "I was past this."

"Until he was found." Severus felt terrible when the baby started to cry, and Harriet forced herself out of bed to feed her. She needed this, more than he needed her to stay.

For the first time since she was pregnant with Rowan, Harriet wanted to pull out her hair. There was a buzzing noise when Daddy was let into the visitation room, surrounded by aurors. Harriet started biting her nails.

He looked healthy. Miserable, but healthy. Wherever he was, he was able to get a tan and put on quite a bit of weight. He sat across from her with a sigh. "Princess…"

"Don't call me that." Her voice was small but firm, making him look up in surprise. "I'm not a princess."

"I know." The words seemed to defeat him. "Harriet…"

"Why…" Harriet swallowed at the lump in her throat. "Did you ever love me?"

She expected him to lie through his teeth, say anything for her to try to get him out of prison. Instead, he told her the truth. "Not enough."

Harriet bit her lip, thinking of her own children. Because of them, she wasn't willing to say out loud that she loved him, even though she did. Loving him as a father seemed like a betrayal to them, a betrayal to Severus. Instead, she confessed, "I wish you did."

Daddy looked at her sadly, and his words only confused her. "I wish I did too."

So why didn't he? Loving Rowan and Laila was so easy. She couldn't imagine treating them like he treated her. Harriet wanted to scream at him that she hated him, but she knew that would be a lie. Given their relationship, perhaps what she chose to say was worse. "I don't need you."

He raised his eyebrows, surprised. His words surprised her even more and were what she needed to hear most. "Harriet, you never did."

"Let's go camping!" Harriet couldn't keep his hands off him when she returned home. Severus almost groaned when Rowan started cheering and running to his room to try to pack all his toys. "Please?"

"You seem rather chipper," he said dryly.

Harriet hugged him and buried her face in his chest. "I'm where I need to be."

They had a magical tent complete with a library, thank Merlin. Severus was perfectly content to sit with the baby while Harriet and Rowan picked berries and she taught him how to fish. She still didn't eat meat, but when Rowan wanted to like Severus, she didn't try to stop him.

"Daddy!" the boy exclaimed proudly at supper time. "Look! I catched it!"

Harriet beamed while Severus tried his best not to yell at Rowan to keep the dead fish away from the baby. "Are you going to teach him how to cook it, Severus?"

Severus glared at her until he spotted Rowan trying to show Laila. "You can show her when it's cooked and free of germs." The boy lit up and nearly tripped over himself to run over to him with the damned fish.

"How is Mummy?" Severus asked as they started to fry their dinner.

"She wants to play again," Rowan said happily. "Are you goin' to play wif us tomorrow?"

Severus smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. "Of course."

"We're playing tag!" Harriet called out from the living room where she was snuggling with Laila. She laughed as soon as she said it, knowing it was the game he hated the most. He was over fifty.

Thankfully, with the baby in a sling, he was "base." He would never admit it, but Rowan's shrieks of joy as Harriet chased him warmed his heart. He recalled chasing her through the Forbidden Forest during the unicorn incident, and her trying to coerce him into saying that he loved her. With a smirk, he grabbed her arm. Rowan full on belly laughed and started climbing a tree to try to stay out of his mother's clutches.

"Hey!" she yelled indignantly, but she was smiling.

"I love you," he said seriously, causing her to stop panting and complaining. "Will you marry me?"

Harriet's face absolutely lit up and Rowan nearly fell out of the tree. "I thoughts you guys was already married!"

With tears in her eyes, Harriet laughed at their son's words. "Yes!"

Thank you for the reviews Hewie101, Guest, and Kath3rin! And thank you all for reading this story!

So I started making a direct sequel and I didn't like it very much. So I decided to make another Severus and Harriet story. Maybe they'll have Rowan in that one?

It's somewhat similar to this. Same Harriet grew up in the Forbidden Forest plot, but Peter gives her to Voldemort in the very beginning. It's called The Thrill of the Hunt. Check it out on my profile if you're interested! The first chapter is up!

Also, there's a really good Snape x fem!Harry story called Moonlight's Shadow by Silenti Aspicientis if you're looking for another one.