“Petrificus Totalus!” 

“Expelliarmus!” 

Severus cringed as a series of crashes echoed throughout the corridor and he hastened his approach to the great hall, where he assumed the source of this racket was centered.  

“Cruc-“ 

“Protego!” 

He quickened his pace, knowing the vast amount of paperwork that would take place should one of the students be caught casting an unforgivable.  

“Incarcerous!” 

“Impedimenta!” 

“Incendio!” 

“Watch out!” 

Severus ran the rest of the way and flung open the door, preparing to terrify the occupants of the room with one icy glare. Instead, he found himself in the middle of a duel between a blonde Slytherin and a black-haired Gryffindor.  

“Expelliarmus!” 

Two wands flew into Severus’s outstretched hand, but the fighting was not deterred by their loss of magic. Before Severus could react, Harry had plowed into Draco, knocking the boy to the ground as his fist began to make contact with the blonde’s face.  

“Enough!” Severus bellowed, “Cease this behavior at once!” 

“Harry!” Ron, who had been standing against the wall, yelled as Draco’s fist came down on Harry’s cheek, “Kick him in the-“ 

“Enough!”  

This time, the boys seemed to hear the unmistakable fury in the professor’s voice and they hesitantly moved apart from each other, Draco with a look of guilt and Harry with one of pure rage. 

“Who wants to tell me what is going on here?” Severus drawled, narrowing his gaze on the boys as they remained silent, “50 points from Gryffindor for fighting.” 

“But professor-“ 

“So now your vocal cords are functional?” 

Harry clenched his fist in anger, and Severus knew the boy was resisting the urge, by the hardest, to strike him. Enjoying the battle of wills, he continued to goad, “And another 10 for trying to argue with me. Weasley, 15 for you for not trying to stop them from fighting. Both of you will serve detention with myself for a week and then Filch for a week.” 

“That’s not fair!” Harry shouted, “Malfoy started it!” 

“That’s not true!” 

“Even if that were true, it is unsportsmanlike to have two students attacking one.” 

“I wasn’t fighting!” Ron exclaimed indignantly, “It was only Malfoy and Harry!” 

Severus glared at the redhead, who quickly stopped talking and looked down in shame. It was nice to know his glare still worked on someone. He turned to Draco, who was far too gleeful at his classmates’ misery to be innocent in this altercation. He smirked as he wondered if it were possible for a Malfoy to ever be innocent in anything. Probably not.  

“Go back to your dormitory, Mr. Malfoy. I will be down in a moment to discuss this…incident.” 

“Yes, sir.” Draco grabbed his wand from Severus’s outstretched hand and shoved it into his robes and slowly walking out of the room.  

Severus resisted the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes. He knew a stall tactic when he saw one, and he was not about to indulge the young Slytherin in his plight to see his classmates get in any more trouble. He turned his attention back to the other two children once the door had shut behind Draco, and gave them the most hateful glare he could muster.  

Ron, at least, had the decency to look ashamed. Harry, on the other hand, met his glare with an identical expression of barely controlled anger. While his first reaction was to want to take away more points for his insolence, he was suddenly intrigued by what the boys had been fighting over. It had to be something of great importance for Harry to still be trembling with anger. 

“What happened before I walked into the room?” His voice was cold and hard, even for his normal standards. Ron kept staring at the floor, his cheeks flushed red, and he mumbled something about Draco provoking them. Harry, on the other hand, continued to clench and unclench his fists in anger, obviously still riled up over the evening’s events.  

“Mr. Potter?” 

“What does it matter what I say? You’re just going to take Malfoy’s side anyway.” 

“Be that as it may, I am required to provide documentation on your atrocious behavior prior to your detention being served, so I need to know what took place here before my arrival.” 

Severus smirked, crossing his arms as he waited for a response. He could tell the boy was livid, and as he watched Harry try to control his temper, he couldn’t help but wish he had been able to render James speechless so many years ago. It was more than a little satisfying to watch his enemy’s son squirm. He tapped his foot, giving Harry yet another glare, “I’m waiting.” 

“We were just sitting here, doing homework, and Malfoy came in-“ 

“I believe I was asking Mr. Potter, did you not say you were merely an innocent bystander in this skirmish? Go to your dormitory, Mr. Weasley. Come to my office at 8 for your first detention.” 

Once alone, Severus grabbed Harry by the arm, “If I ever see you fighting again, you will be out of this school faster than ever imaginable. This rivalry between you and Mr. Malfoy is childish and petty and I will not be subjected to viewing it any further.” 

Harry jerked his arm away, glaring at the professor, “If you do not wish to view it, simply walk the other way.” 

Harry turned on his heel, ignoring the professor’s demands to remain still. Severus felt anger bubbling in his chest as Harry blatantly ignored him, and with a flick of his wand, the tinsel had flown off of the tree and wrapped itself tightly around Harry.  

“Let go of me! Take it off!” Harry screamed, struggling against the offending strands, “Fine! I’ll tell you what we were fighting about, just let me go!” 

The tinsel, which had been fighting back, fell still and Harry took a few calming breaths, “He was making fun of me, my parents. It got out of hand.” 

“Your father certainly was laughable.” Severus commented, sending Harry a scathing look, “Are you telling me that you were hexing a fellow classmate just because he hurt your feelings?” 

“Actually, I hexed him because he implied that it was a good thing my mother had died. I was defending her honor. Go ahead and give me as many detentions as you want, or even expel me. I don’t care.” 

Severus paused, his heart aching painfully at the idea of anyone slandering Lily. Staring at the James-Potter-reincarnate, though, set his mind back on track and he took a few steps closer to the outspoken boy, “You could have seriously hurt him, dueling without an adult present.” 

“He almost cast an unforgiveable on me, sir, I doubt he was the one who would be hurt.” 

“It was a stupid decision, made by a stupid boy. Unfortunately, Dumbledore will likely ignore this and you will go unpunished for your idiocy. Therefore, I am going to take it upon myself to impress on you the seriousness of this offense.” 

“You’ve already taken points and given me detention.” 

“That is not what I meant. Obviously the punishments that work on your classmates are not severe enough to deter you from such behavior. Of course, I expect nothing less from the golden boy who can do no wrong.” 

Harry’s eyes blazed in anger and suddenly there was a shower of glass as the ornaments on the tree shattered. Severus turned towards the tree, then back to the boy, a frown on his face, “Calm yourself, Potter.” 

“Like I said, do what you have to do. I’m not sorry I did it, and I’d do it again.” 

The spark of anger visibly drained from the young boy’s face and Severus shook his head, a frown on his face. Harry looked so much younger than his years, and so much more like his mother, when he was tired and overwhelmed. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and handed him his wand back, “Do you know ‘reparo’?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Then you will help me repair the ornaments that you have broken and we will redecorate the tree.” 

“Is this my punishment, sir?” Severus scowled, wondering if he was going soft. Never in a million years did he think he would be letting one of his students decorate a Christmas tree as a punishment for misbehavior. Seeing the boy’s face light up at the idea, though, convinced him to follow through with his insane demand. He could feel a headache coming on, mostly likely triggered by the foolish boy in front of him. It was hard being around Potter, he always felt an extreme of emotion, whether it be a hatred for James or a fondness for Lily. It seemed like his headache draught supply diminished exponentially faster now that the young Potter was at Hogwarts.  

“Yes, this is your punishment. We’ll repair all of the decorations and then you have to put them on the tree….the muggle way.” 

Harry’s eyes were lit up more than the eight-foot tree before them, and Severus had to suppress a chuckle. You would think the boy had never decorated a tree before, the way he was barely able to contain his excitement. As they got to work, Severus made a mental note to stop by the Headmater’s office later that evening to check if he had been confounded. That was the only explanation as to why he was willingly decorating a Christmas tree with his enemy’s son. 

They worked for several hours, mostly in silence, and as Harry placed the last glass ball on the tree, he looked back to his professor with a beaming smile. Severus could only assume he had forgotten who he was spending time with.  

“Thank you, sir.” 

“Do not forget your detention tonight, I expect you and Mr. Weasley to be prompt.” 

“Yes sir.” 

Harry walked out of the great hall, still beaming, and Severus rubbed his temple, wondering what had just happened. Did he just decorate a tree with Harry Potter? Did he actually enjoy himself? What on earth had the house elves slipped into his meal that night? With a sigh, he made his way down to the dungeons to confront Draco. He was quite certain that the discussion with the blonde boy would not be nearly as pleasant as the experience with Potter had been. While he was in Dumbledore’s office checking to see if he had been confounded or perhaps under the imperus, he’d be sure to ask for a raise as well. Ridiculous children and their penchants for getting into trouble…he would be sent to his grave early for sure by their antics.