Severus watched Potter bid his friends goodbye for winter break with only mild trepidation for the weeks ahead. Black was still a threat, thereby shutting Hogwarts down to students for the winter break, and fear for Potter’s, as well as his friend’s lives, had kept Severus and the other professors at Hogwarts, on edge.

  The adoption had gone through without a hitch – both Severus and Harry’s remaining misgivings notwithstanding – the ceremony had been conducted by a wizard from the Wizengamot, witnessed by the Weasely boy, the Granger girl, and at Harry’s request, Dumbledore. It had been a subdued affair, though Prince had hosted a grand dinner for the intimate gathering afterwards.

  Both Potter and Prince were ecstatic about spending the Christmas holiday together. Severus just hoped that he’d survive the holiday with his sanity intact.

  Prince and Potter were like two peas in a pod. They’d both been reluctant to meet each other, but one wouldn’t know it to look at them now. Prince had been worried that Potter wouldn’t like him, and Potter had worried that Prince wouldn’t want him. Severus had found it all rather annoying, especially when the two had hit it off almost from the moment they met.

  “Potter,” Severus called, not unkindly, and he watched as Potter’s shoulders drooped. The boy turned toward him and shuffled his feet as he waved goodbye to his friends. Severus rolled his eyes, wondering if things between them would get better, as Dumbledore, and Prince, had insisted they would.

  “Are you ready?” Severus reached for Potter’s trunk, and was unsurprised when the boy shrugged him off.

  It was going to be a long break. In spite of Granger’s and Weasley’s intervention, and acceptance of Potter’s situation, as well as Potter’s defense of him, the boy still hadn’t warmed up to him overly much – he was still a little standoffish. Not that Severus was really concerned about whether or not Potter liked him. He’d still function as Potter’s guardian. And, so what if the boy had taken to Prince quicker than he had to Severus. He was not jealous.

  “Just admit it, Sev,” Lily smirked at him as she danced out of his reach, “you are jealous. J-E-A-L-O-U-S.” She punctuated each letter with a waggle of her hips, and stuck her tongue out at him when he glared at her.

  “Am not,” Severus pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from the redhead that he secretly loved more than he loved being magical.

  Lily had bounced back to his side and poked him in the chest. “Oh, yes you are, Severus Tobias Snape.”

  He scowled at her and swatted her hand away. He hated his middle name, and she knew it. It was his father’s name, and he wanted nothing to do with his father. When he grew up, he was going to take his mother and move as far away from his father as he could.

  “Am not,” he repeated, and he turned away from her, watching the swings that they’d recently abandoned – Lily with a graceful twirl of her skirt as she dismounted the swing in midair, he with a much less graceful skid-slump to the ground – sway in the wind.

  “Ah, Sev,” Lily coaxed. “It’s okay; you’ll catch the hang of it.”

  Severus shrugged, but refused to look at her. He didn’t need to be able to fly through the air like a bird, and land on his feet as nimble as a cat. He didn’t care. So what if he was nothing more than a clumsy, dimwitted, little boy that no one wanted – his father had just told him so this morning – he didn’t need to soar up, up in the air. He needed to keep his feet on the ground, and his head out of the clouds.

  Lily sidled up to him and draped an arm over his shoulders. “I’m sorry, Sev. I shouldn’t have rubbed it in like that. It’s just…”

  Something in her voice caused Severus to turn and look at her. Her mouth was pursed and her green eyes were scrunched, and she drew in a deep breath, letting it out with a dramatic puff of her cheeks, which were red with some emotion that Severus didn’t understand.

  “What?” Severus asked crossly.

  “Well, it’s just that youdoeverythingelsewellandthisistheonethingI’mgoodat.” Lily’s words came out in a single string of words that Severus couldn’t even begin to separate.

  He blinked at her, and Lily sighed. “Isn’t it okay for just me to be good at this one thing, at least until you get the hang of it?”

  Pondering his best friend’s words, Severus cast a look at the swings, and then nodded. One day, he’d master the art of dismounting the swings mid-air, but until then, it would be Lily’s domain, and, besides, she’d said he was good at everything else. His heart soared at that. Maybe his father had been wrong about him.

  “Yes, Sir,” Potter responded politely, jogging Severus from yet another bitter-sweet memory of Lily.

  With a sigh, Severus waved his hand and gestured for Potter to follow him. This time they’d be flooing to Prince Manor.

  “Mr. Potter, you can dispense with the formalities,” Severus said, once they’d entered the Headmaster’s office to use his Floo. “We are going to be on holiday…”

  “With all due respect, Sir,” Potter said through clenched teeth, “it would be a whole lot easier to, dispense with the formalities, if you would refer to me as something else other than Potter.”

  The boy was breathing heavily, and Severus blinked and frowned when Potter threw his hands up in the air and started pacing. It didn’t help that Potter’s actions reminded Severus of himself when he was Potter’s age.

  “I told Ron and Hermione that this would never work out. You don’t like me, and, believe me, Professor I’ve got plenty of people who don’t like me. I’d rather not be in the care of yet another one of them. You might as well just pack me off to the Dursleys.” Potter turned and faced him, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Potter’s face was pale, save for two red spots high on his cheeks – like Lily got when she was worked up about something. His green eyes were shining brightly, and his chin was trembling slightly.

  “Look, Potter,” Severus spoke in an even, clipped tone. He slammed his mouth shut when he saw the boy flinch and look away from him, yet something else which reminded Severus too much of Lily. He ran a hand through his hair, and sighed.

  “Harry.” The name felt strange on Severus’ tongue. “Harry,” he tried again, clearing his throat.

  Severus had no idea what to say next. It wasn’t that big of a deal calling someone by their given name, but, judging by Potter’s reaction, it meant something to the boy. As a professor, he was used to referring to all of his students by their surnames. It was common practice. But, he was not just a professor to Potter anymore; he was the boy’s guardian.

  “Thank you, Sir,” Potter said quietly.

  He was looking at his feet, his jaw working like there was something more that he wanted to say. Severus waited. When Potter raised his head to look at him, Severus was momentarily taken aback by the strong emotions he saw swirling in the boy’s eyes.

  “My uncle, he always either called me, Potter or…freak…I, I just, I just don’t want to…” Harry trailed off, wiping suspiciously at his nose with the back of his hand.

  “You don’t wish to be reminded of your uncle on your holiday?” Severus guessed, and didn’t bother to try and hide his smile when Potter’s head snapped up and the boy gaped at him as he nodded frantically.

  “I see,” Severus said, and he was rewarded with a small smile from Potter. “Well, in that case, Po…Harry, during holidays, you may refer to me as Severus, or, if it doesn’t turn your stomach, Uncle Severus.”

  “Are…are you sure, Sir?” Potter asked.

  “Yes, Harry, I’m sure,” Severus said dryly, rolling his eyes when the boy smiled widely at him. He really didn’t understand teenagers; they were always such mercurial beings.

  “Now, if we’re finished, I believe that your great grandfather is waiting for us,” Severus said, not quite sure what had prompted him to use the familial title rather than Prince, but, judging by Potter’s face-splitting grin, it had been the ‘right’ thing to say.

  “I believe he said something about having plans for decorating the manor, and letting you pick your own room out. Something about you being able to make the place your own by choosing, rather than having a room chosen for you.”

  Severus had insisted that the rooms they’d already been provided with would be sufficient, but Prince hadn’t heard a word of it. He’d sensed, and perhaps rightly so, that Harry was uncomfortable in the room that he’d been given.

  Though they’d been to the manor numerous times over the past few months since Severus had adopted Potter, this would be the first time they’d spent more than a weekend there. The way Harry’s eyes lit up at the mention of picking out his own room made Severus’ heart swell, and he was reminded of a Muggle story that Lily had read to him when they were young children. Something about a man called a Grinch.

  “You know, Severus, sometimes I think that your dad is like him,” Lily said, pointing at the green man pictured in the children’s book. “And all he needs is for someone to bring him a little Christmas cheer.”

  Severus snorted, and shook his head. He’d tried, but failed, to hide his most recent black eye from the redhead earlier that morning. Lily’s concern over him had prompted her to bring him back to the Evans’ home where her mother had doted over him, and Lily had dragged him into their sitting room and read to him.

  “More like a Christmas kick,” Severus muttered, but he’d looked down at the floor, unable to meet his best friend’s eyes because his own were watering and he didn’t want to cry. Not in front of a girl. Not in front of Lily.

  “In the arse,” Lily added, nudging him, and giggling.

  “Lily Evans,” her mother scolded, but when Severus looked up at Mrs. Evans, terror in his heart, he saw a smile on the woman’s face that belied the harsh tone she’d used. “Mind your tongue.”

  Lily stuck her tongue out at her mother, and Mrs. Evans swatted at her lightly, spurring another burst of giggles from the young witch. Severus watched, bemused, and wistful, imagining that it was him and his mother, with his father looking on fondly from the doorway, as Mr. Evans was doing.

  When he left for his home later that afternoon, the image of the Grinch’s tiny heart was superimposed over that of his father’s, except, he’d wagered that his own father’s heart was just a few sizes smaller than even that of the Grinch’s. He wondered what it would take to make his father’s heart grow bigger and bigger, like the Grinch’s had, until it was big enough to make him stop hurting his mother and him.

  “My very own room, of my own choosing?” Potter asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet, looking much younger than his thirteen years of age would dictate.

  “Yes, I trust that you are familiar with the concept?” Severus arched an eyebrow, and mentally kicked himself when Potter bit his lip and shook his head.

  Severus carefully placed his hands on Potter’s shoulders when the boy looked down at his feet. He winced when Potter flinched, but didn’t loosen his grip, knowing that he couldn’t avoid touching the boy for the remainder of his guardianship.

  Severus breathed in and out through his nose, trying to gain control of his own chaotic emotions. He realized that he didn’t know half of what Potter had gone through while living with his only remaining blood relative. Petunia had been an ugly spirited child, and Severus had hated her on principle when he was just a kid for the way that she’d treated Lily and him. Now, he hated her even more. Something he hadn’t thought would be possible when he was younger.

  “P…Harry, I’m sorry for that, I…”

  “That’s okay, you didn’t know,” Potter said, shrugging. “It’s no big deal. I mean, after the letters came, I got Dudley’s second bedroom.”

  The lopsided grin on Potter’s face did something to Severus’ heart that was almost painful, and he wondered if that’s what it had felt like for the Grinch when his heart had started to grow. He nearly rolled his eyes at the analogy.

  “Then it’ll be nice to have a room of your own choosing,” Severus said, squeezing Potter’s shoulders before releasing Potter and backing up to give the boy some space.

  “You’ll get one too, right?” Potter asked, sounding a little anxious.

  “Yes. Now, if we’re finished with the little inquisition…” Severus’ joke was met with a short bark of laughter that Potter quickly shut off with a hand clapped over his mouth. Severus was reminded of just how much work he’d have to do with Potter before the boy was more comfortable around him.

  “Relax, I was joking,” Severus said, and he took a handful of Floo powder, motioning for Potter to pick up both of their trunks. He grasped Potter’s forearm, and then tossed the powder into the Floo, calling out, “Prince Manor.”

  They both landed in the Prince fireplace, arms akimbo and coughing. The trunks scattered out over the threshold, and were immediately plucked up by two house elves. Severus dusted himself and Potter off, and counted it as a slight win when the boy only flinched once.

  Prince walked into the room with a giant, dimpled grin on his face. “I see that my two boys have arrived in fine, festive fashion.”

  Prince rushed forward, embracing Severus and Potter with a kiss on either cheek. Severus noted, with a stab of something that might have resembled jealousy, (were he a wizard given to jealousy) that Potter didn’t flinch, but readily returned his great grandfather’s embrace.

  “Let’s say we get started with the festivities?” Prince sounded like a little kid himself.

  His joie de vivre was contagious, and soon both Severus and Potter were caught up in the ‘spirit of Christmas’. After decorations were hung and dinner was eaten, rooms were chosen.

  Potter chose a room which looked out over the gardens, now covered with snow. Severus had chosen a room that was only a few doors down from Potter’s. Just in case something was to happen to the boy, he wanted to be able to reach him in time. Both rooms were opulent and Severus knew that he and Potter were feeling equally out of place.

  It wasn’t until a week into their holiday that things started to change between Severus and Potter, and, looking back, Severus would be hard-pressed to remember what had acted as the catalyst. He thought that it might have had something to do with the ill-advised snowball fight that Prince had started when he was showing them around the grounds.

  He’d caught Severus in the side of the head, and Potter right in the stomach, laughing all the while. For a while Potter and Severus had banded together in an effort to thwart Prince.

  All of them had returned to the manor, half-frozen, Potter doubled over in laughter, and Prince clinging to Severus as he, too, had been overcome with laughter. Severus hadn’t been laughing, but he had enjoyed himself. Steaming cups of hot chocolate had been waiting them upon their return, and Severus didn’t think he’d ever felt as warmed by a drink as he had when he drank that cup of hot cocoa.

  “Thank you,” Potter said, once the laughter had subsided, and he’d been sufficiently warmed by the cocoa. “I haven’t done something like that outside of Hogwarts.”

  He stood and wrapped his great grandfather in a hug, and something moved inside of Severus. He wondered if this is what the Grinch had felt when his heart had gotten used to growing.

  When Potter turned and looked at him, hesitancy showing on his face, and in each faltering step that he took, Severus held himself as still as he could. His heart was hammering in his chest, the pace picking up with each step that Potter took to close the space between them. Severus didn’t have words, barely had breath for any words, and didn’t know what to do when Potter leaned down and gave him a quick hug, whispering words of thanks into his ear.

  “Thanks, you know, for not turning a deaf ear, and simply walking past me when you overhead Ron and I talking,” Potter whispered. “And thanks for not taking house points.”

  Severus chuckled silently, and he felt tears glistening in his eyes. Seasonal sentiments were getting the better of him; he might be the wizarding world’s biggest Grinch, but Potter was no Cindy Lou Who.

  The change had occurred sometime after that moment. Sometime after waking up to Potter screaming his way out of a nightmare, and comforting the boy back to sleep. Sometime after Weasley’s and Granger’s afternoon visit, during which snow battles were conducted, forts were built and Potter had come in with a bloody nose that Severus put back to sorts while Prince and Weasley had hovered nearby, sharing the same worried looks. Sometime after Prince had told Severus that this holiday, other than the ones in which Eileen had been in his home, was the happiest time of his life.

  Severus wasn’t sure if it was just one thing, or maybe the combination of everything, but he’d begun to see Potter, and himself, in a new light. Maybe Dumbledore had been right all along. Maybe Severus could have a little more with Potter than just a grudging mutual respect.

  Maybe he could be the boy’s father, not a replacement of James Potter, but maybe something else, something like an ‘other’ father. The father Severus had always dreamt of having when he’d been growing up, and the father that Potter would have had, had Severus not made the second biggest mistake of his life. The first had cost him Lily Evans’ friendship; the second had cost her, her life.

  “That’s quite enough of that now, Sev,” Lily said, frowning. “Stop blaming yourself for what happened.”

  Severus looked up at her from where he was sitting on the swing. He shrugged, and gestured at his crooked nose. “It’s the truth, though.”

  “But, you don’t have to be like him,” Lily insisted, kneeling down in front of him and imploring him to look at her.

  “I look just like him, though, and…” Severus’ heart thudded in his chest. He swallowed back tears. “I…sometimes I just want to…I want to kill him,” he whispered the last part, almost afraid to hear the words aloud.

  “Oh, Sev.” Lily wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest. “Promise me that you’ll hold onto hope.”

  “What for?” Severus was despondent. He saw no future for himself, let alone hope that he could hold onto.

  “Someday, something good will come along, and when it does, you’ve got to grab onto it and never let it go. Promise me you’ll do that, Sev. Promise me that you won’t forget this, that you won’t forget me,” Lily said. Her green eyes were bright and shining with unshed tears. “Promise me that you’ll remember.”

  Though Severus’ heart felt like lead, he nodded, and offered her a small smile. “I promise,” he said in a hollow, lost voice.

  Looking back now, Severus realized that this was what Lily had been talking about all along. This – the reconciliation with his grandfather and the adoption of Potter – was his second chance at life. Oh, he was under no illusions that Lily was a prophetess, but she’d always held onto hopes – hope that one day Petunia would no longer be jealous of Lily’s magic, and that Severus would have a loving family.

  When he’d been unable to hope, Lily had held onto hope for the both of them.

  Severus tugged the door to Potter’s room, leaving it just slightly ajar. He’d been in to comfort the boy after a nightmare. Unlike the previous times, Potter had told Severus about his nightmare, and had let him offer what comfort he could, just as Severus remembered his mother doing for him when he was a little boy and had suffered from a bad dream.

  His hand hovered over the doorknob, and he peeked in, once again. Potter was now slumbering peacefully, his face blank and carefree. Smiling, Severus turned away, and walked the short distance to his own room.

  “I remember,” Severus whispered to the ghost of Lily’s memory, and he felt his heart grow another size bigger. This time, it didn’t hurt.