Suddenly a light came on in the hallway to his right and startled him, and he realized where he was, and remembered with some amount of embarrassment what had happened the night before. He also realized how lucky he was that somebody cared enough to go looking for him when he couldn't be found. Once Harry had gotten detention in Primary school because of Dudley and when he hadn't appeared with Dudley after school was out, Aunt Petunia hadn't even asked and had drove off without him. Once Harry's half hour detention was over he was left to walk home, and it was dark by the time he had made it.

"You are up early," Severus observed when he walked out of the hallway and spotted Harry standing there in the dark.

"Sorry," Harry said, thinking perhaps that he was in trouble for it. Even after nearly four months at Hogwarts he was still used to getting up at the crack of dawn to cook breakfast for the Dursley's.

"Do not be. Come to the kitchen and help me with breakfast." Harry hurried to fall into step behind him, thinking that ‘help me with breakfast' meant ‘make breakfast now or else,' as it did at 4 Privet Drive.

Severus paused for a moment as Harry hurried on ahead of him once they entered the kitchen and began pulling pots and pans out and setting them on the stove.

"What are you doing?" Severus asked in a calm, curious tone.

"Cooking breakfast?" Harry asked, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing now that he had started.

"Don't be ridiculous," Severus scoffed. "I have yet to meet an eleven year old boy who can make himself breakfast."

Harry bit his lip. "I can," he insisted.

Crossing his arms, Severus leaned back against the kitchen counter and said, "By all means then. Let us hope it does not turn out like last Friday's pepper up potion." Harry frowned, remembering the mess that had been made of his potion when Draco had tossed some unknown ingredient into it, but set to work anyway.

It took a few moments to get familiarized with the new kitchen, but Harry was soon scrambling eggs and bacon he had found in the refrigerator, making toast, and squeezing oranges into two glass for fresh orange juice. Severus was amazed.

"And where did you learn to cook?"

"The Dursley's," Harry said as he dumped half the pan of eggs onto one plate, and then the other.

"How often did you cook there?"

"Breakfast and dinner everyday," Harry told him as he held out a plate to his father.

"Hm... you will not cook here again," Snape told him.

Harry's jaw dropped a little. "You don't like it? I can make something else!" he insisted.

"It is not that I do not like it. It is that parents cook for their children, not the other way around. I doubt Molly Weasley makes her children cook for her."

He beckoned for Harry to follow him to the small wooden table in the small dining room, and he did.

"Why didn't the house elves cook today?" Harry asked, suddenly wondering why there was food in the fridge at all when there were hundreds of house elves who cooked three meals a day.

"Sometimes I do not wish to eat in the Great Hall. This morning for instance, I wished to have breakfast with my son. Instead of making the house elves prepare a separate meal for me and bring it down to the dungeons, I find it more polite to cook the meal myself."

Harry was listening intently. Had Snape just called him his son? Did that mean that he really thought of him like that? Harry hadn't been able to help letting the ‘D' word slip out now and again, but Snape was better in control of his words than Harry was. He doubted very much a man like that would let any words ‘slip' out of his mouth... no, every word was always intentional with him.

After a few moments of silence as they ate, Severus said, "This is exceptional. What did you put in the eggs?"

"That cheese that I found in the fridge with the spices in it, and diced tomatoes."

"Hm... I had not considered putting Pepperjack cheese in eggs. It is good, thank you."

Harry beamed. The Dursley's had never complimented Harry on anything, no matter how hard he had tried to make good food.

"Thanks," Harry said, a little red.

When they were finished eating, Severus had the dishes clean with a swish of his wand, and with another move they were all back in the cupboards stacked neatly.

"What are your plans for the day?" Snape was suddenly asking Harry, who was staring in awe at the ease with which his father had cleaned everything.

"My, my plans?" Harry hadn't really thought about it. He had no homework and his friends were all gone. There wasn't even another Gryffindor in the castle as far as he knew, and most of the rest of the school had gone home as well.

"You are not confined to these quarters, but do not leave the Castle. I would appreciate it if you returned to the Great Hall or here for mealtimes, and were back here by seven in the evening."

Harry nodded, that didn't sound too bad, although he still had no idea what he was going to do for the holiday.

"I, I don't really know what to do."

Severus tried hard to hold in the biting remark that begged to escape him. Wonderful, he thought to himself, I now have to entertain an eleven year old for the next two weeks. Instead of saying this however, what came out was, "What traditions does your family normally follow at this time of year?"

"Um... I, I don't really know. They never let me have any part of Christmas. Dudley and Aunt Petunia decorate a tree, and Dudley gets to open something on Christmas eve because he's too impatient to wait. And Aunt Petunia makes me make a big feast on Christmas day for when Aunt Marge comes over." Here he pulled a face at the thought of Aunt Marge, and Severus nodded.

"Do you want me to get a tree?"

Harry's face lit up for a brief moment, but he schooled it back to normal and looked at the floor. "No, you don't have to do that."

"I know what I don't have to do. I asked you if you wanted a tree to decorate."

Harry peeked up at his guardian. "I don't want you to go to the trouble of-" but suddenly he was cut off as Severus waved his wand and a tree as tall as he was appeared in the corner of the living room. Harry's face lit up again and he reveled in the sight and smell of the first tree that was all his to decorate. He had watched from the hallway or kitchen every Christmas for ten years as his family had done up the tree, wishing he could be a part of it, and now his wish was finally coming true.

He almost didn't notice when Severus waved his wand again and an assortment of ornaments and other decorations appeared at the foot of the tree waiting to be hung up.

Harry moved forward eagerly and fell to his knees to look at all of the wonderful ornaments. There were even red and gold ones with the Gryffindor lion on them.

"Are there any lights?" Harry asked.

Severus moved forward and said a simple charm as he touched his wand to a spot high on the tree. Suddenly a little glowing bug had appeared there. Harry pulled out his wand and tried the charm lower down, and was pleased when another little glow bug appeared. Severus spent the next ten minutes showing Harry how to make different colored glow bugs, and placing lights at the top of the tree where Harry couldn't reach. After that he sat back and watched as Harry took great pleasure in hanging ornaments wherever he pleased, although the majority of them were red and gold. He also hung silver tinsel all over the place, and it was at least an hour before he was done.

"What do you think?" Harry asked, grinning as he stepped back to admire the tree.

"Are you finished with it?"

Harry nodded, and Severus moved forward with his wand out and waved it around the tree as he said another spell. "It is a colorful addition to the living room," he said.

"What's that spell you did?"

"It will keep the glow bugs on the tree and away from the rest of the room." Suddenly Harry noticed that the glowing lights they had placed were no stationary. They wandered around the tree wherever they pleased, occasionally stopping next to another bug."

"Can we put some in my room?"

Severus held out his hand and motioned towards the hallway, and Harry hurried off. Dudley had always been given a string of lights around the ceiling in his room when Christmas time came, and Harry always pretended that some loving parent had put them around the inside of his cupboard for him as he drifted off to sleep Christmas eve.

At noon Harry and Severus went to the Great Hall for lunch where the remaining staff and students were all seated around Ravenclaw table instead of their own tables. Most of the staff was still there with the exception of Quirill, but there were only three other students aside from Harry: A seventh year Hufflepuff, and two fifth year Ravenclaws. Because everybody was at the same table, it didn't look too suspicious when Harry and Snape sat down next to each other.

McGonagall wondered at Harry's grin, knowing that he was now the ward of Severus Snape, dourest professor Hogwarts had seen in her time.

"You seem very happy Harry," she said.

"I got to decorate my room with glow bugs," he told her. "And a tree with all kinds of Gryffindor ornaments!"

She raised her eyebrows and gave a glance at Severus who was purposefully ignoring her. The Headmaster smiled at Harry however and said, "What a wonderful way to start Christmas vacation." Harry nodded.

After lunch Harry went to the library to find a book on decorating that Severus had mentioned, and McGonagall pulled the Potion's Master aside in the empty Entrance Hall.

"You let him decorate a tree?"

"He insisted," the Potion's Master lied, knowing he had to keep up appearances.

"I see, and he insisted about his room as well?"

Rolling his eyes Severus said, "He is my charge and if I choose to have a holiday without him moping around all day then it's my prerogative. If it saves me the headache I see no harm."

McGonagall let a small smile form on her face. "If I didn't know better Severus Snape, I'd say you're going soft. You should adopt some Hufflepuff's too and maybe you'll be tolerable one day." With this she strode off and up the stairs before he could say anything else.

"Infernal woman," he muttered, and continued on to the solitude of the Dungeons.

* * *

Harry crossed idea after idea off of his parchment, feeling utterly hopeless when it came to knowing what to give his father for Christmas. Snape had already given him the most wonderful gift of decorating a tree and his room, and now Harry had nothing to put under the tree for him. He had some money left from what he had pulled out of Gringotts at the beginning of the year, but had no way of getting out of the castle and to Diagonalley to spend it. He had already asked Severus to take him, and had been told that it was too dangerous, because they still didn't know who was attacking him, and couldn't be seen together until then.

There were only a couple of days left until Christmas eve now and Harry was getting desperate. What did you give an adult? He had never given an adult anything before except homework...

McGonagall noticed that Harry seemed a little depressed as she passed him in a corridor after breakfast one day and pulled him into her office.

"Is anything the matter?" she asked, wondering perhaps if Severus were being mean to him again.

Harry shrugged. "He already gave me something for Christmas, and now I don't have anything to give him. I don't know what to get for him even if I could get out of the castle to buy something."

"What did you give your other relatives for Christmases before?"

Harry bit his lip. "Nothing." I've never given anything to anybody for Christmas before. Well, that wasn't exactly true. When he was three he had drawn a picture of himself holding hands with aunt Petunia in front of the Christmas tree and tried to give it to her on Christmas day, but she only laughed and tore it to shreds before throwing it in the fire and sending him to his room for ridiculous scribbles.

"He said you could cook. Perhaps making him something tasty? She rummaged around in her desk for a moment and pulled out a small card with tiny writing on it. "This is a recipe for homemade cookies my mother used to make every Christmas. They are fairly easy if you want to try."

Harry grinned and took the card. "That's a great idea! Thanks!" He hurried off to try the new recipe, thinking that he would have to make it in the kitchens below the Great Hall so that his father wouldn't ask him what he was making and why.

The house elves weren't too keen on letting Harry cook in their kitchens once they were down there however, no matter how many times Harry told them he had a recipe to follow.

"Can I just have ingredients then?" Harry asked.

The head house elf, a fat little one named Pandor, nodded and said, "Let me see the recipe card."

Harry handed it over and watched as the elves hurried around the kitchen gathering the ten or so ingredients he would need and putting them in a box. When they were done Harry thanked them and hurried back to their quarters in the Dungeons.

"What is that?" Snape asked curiously when he entered.

"Um... I can't tell you. And I have to use the kitchen, but you can't look. I promise not to make a mess though."

Severus eyed him, wondering what he was up to, but then waved him off. "If you do make a mess, you will be cleaning it by hand."

"Ok," Harry said, and hurried off.

* * *

With a plate of delicious cookies made and wrapped with a freshness charm on them, Harry was happy as Christmas Eve rolled around. He sat by the fire in the living room reading a second year defense book his father had leant him, as Severus came out of the hallway with a small wrapped gift in red and gold wrapping paper.

Harry looked up as Severus handed him the gift. "For me?" He was surprised, not expecting any more gifts.

"You said it was tradition to open one on Christmas Eve."

Harry grinned and tore into his second ever Christmas present, and found a new pair of brown hiking boots.

"Wow," Harry said. He had never had hiking boots before. "Thanks, they're great!"

"You are welcome." Severus was not accustomed to giving gifts to anybody, except during the staff party where they were supposed to give ‘silly' gifts to whomever's name they drew from Dumbledore's hat. He could not deny the sudden satisfaction he was getting from seeing Harry smile however, and did not want to wait until the morning to receive the same satisfaction when he gave the boy his other gifts.

They spent the rest of the evening playing Chess, before Harry went to bed with a full stomach of a Christmas feast, which Severus had prepared for them.

In the morning Harry was surprised to find ten more presents under the tree and they all had his name on them.

"Wow," Harry said as Severus walked into the living room with a cup of coffee and sat down on the couch.

"Your friends sent presents by owl and I kept them in the closet until this morning."

Harry grinned and opened up his present from Hermione, which was a broom care kit. Ron's present turned out to be an enormous box of chocolates with a note saying he was sorry and that he reckoned that Snape must really care about him to keep saving his life. There were also presents from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Fred and George, which turned out to be a red sweater with the letter H on it, some home made sweets, and a fake wand that turned into a rubber duck when you picked it up.

Harry then opened up a box that contained four new shirts all his size from Severus and another two boxes with four new pairs of jeans and a new pair of khaki pants.

"You seem to go through clothes rather quickly," Severus observed.

"Thanks," Harry grinned. Suddenly he remembered the cookies and ran into his room to grab them.

As he was walking back out of the hall with the plate of cookies Severus said, "Ah, more of the house elves Christmas cookies."

"What?" Harry was confused, and Severus reached to the side table beside the couch and lifted up a plate of the same cookies Harry had baked.

"They sent them down this morning, as well as to all the other staff."

Harry's face fell and he accidentally dropped the plate, letting the cookies scatter and roll away on the stone floor.

"Harry?" Severus stood up, wondering what was wrong.

"They, they stole it! They stole the recipe! And now I don't have anything to give you!" He turned and ran back to his room, flinging himself down on his bed. Why had he let them see the recipe card? How could they just steal his recipe knowing he was going to make some?

It was only a moment before Severus was knocking on his door and coming inside. Harry wasn't crying, but he wasn't happy either.

"Would you care to explain what you said a moment ago? I heard a hurried jumble of words."

Harry sat up and threw a hand up in the air helplessly. "I didn't have anything to get you so Professor McGonagall gave me a recipe for cookies. The house elves wouldn't let me make them in the kitchens but they asked for the recipe card and told me they would give me the ingredients for them. I made them and I was going to give them to you for Christmas but then those stupid elves went and stole the recipe and gave them to everybody! Now my cookies are all over the floor!"

Severus listened quietly until Harry was finished, and then left the room for a moment, confusing Harry. Harry followed him out and watched amazed as Severus picked up every last cookie that Harry had dropped, and put it back on the plate. He turned around and said, "Thank you for the cookies Harry." Here he took a bite out of the cookie on top of the pile, and said, "They are better than the ones the house elves made."

"Eew," Harry stuck his tongue out and laughed, wondering that the man in front of him was eating cookies off the floor for his benefit. Was this what it was like to have parents?

Harry went to Severus and wrapped his arms around his midsection in a tight hug.

"That is the best Christmas present of all," Severus said, once again getting that deep feeling of satisfaction as his son held him tight.

Harry laughed again. "Good. Just don't eat the floor cookies anymore."

Severus chuckled and said, "If you insist."

* * *

The feast in the Great Hall that night was grand, and included many more plates of the cookies the house elves had made. Harry didn't seem to mind anymore however, and seemed to be having a good time. He was sitting next to the fifth year Ravenclaw boys who had stayed and talking about Quidditch and a variety of other things.

At the other end of the table Dumbledore whispered into Severus' ear, "I had planned on giving Harry James' old cloak... you know the one."

Severus pulled a face and said, "And to what reason do I owe the gratitude that you did not give it to him?"

"It has gone missing."

This got Severus' attention and he looked the Headmaster in the eye. "You did not misplace it?"

"Most definitely not. I had pulled it out and placed it in the bottom drawer of my desk when Harry's letter went out to him, because I had intended on giving it to him sooner, but had forgotten about it. Now it has gone missing."

"Are you suggesting that Harry's attacker is using James Potter's cloak against his son?"

"Not suggesting Severus, telling. I asked the portraits and they said that a masked man speaking with two different voices came into my office and took it at the beginning of the school year."

"And they didn't see fit to tell you until now?"

"A spell had been placed on them, and I had to counter it before they were able."

Severus sighed. "At least we now know what we are looking for exactly."

"Indeed."

They returned their attention to the feast as Professor Quirill asked the Seventh year Hufflepuff something that made him laugh.