On the twenty fifth of December Severus was awakened at 6.30 in the morning by a shout of “It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!”

After that was the sounds of feet clattering on the floor and a door being swung open, before the clattering of feet continued down the stairs to the living room. Severus sighed and pulled the covers over his head. It was too early for this much excitement!

“Santa’s been here! There’s presents under the tree!” a shout soon came.

“Calm down there a little!” Tobias voice came. “Breakfast first, then presents!”

“Aww!”

Despite Severus wanting to sleep in for longer a smile tugged at his lips at the loud groan. Suddenly he remembered his own childhood Christmases. His parents had always insisted upon a full, proper English breakfast, which of course took ages to prepare while Severus sat staring at the pile of presents waiting to be opened.

Slowly he got up, stretched and then moved on to the bathroom to take a shower. He knew from experience that there were plenty of time before it was time to open the presents.

Meanwhile Harry was moving between the kitchen and the living room, staring at either Tobias preparing breakfast or the presents under the tree. There were so many of them! Nowhere near the amounts that Dudley had received of course, but still plenty of them, and he could already tell that several of them had tags with his name on them!

Severus joined them after a while, fully dressed in his usual black robes. In contrast, both Harry and Tobias were still dressed in their pyjamases and dressing gowns. Not that his state of dress was anywhere near the top of Harry’s priority list right now.

They sat down in the kitchen together to eat. The table was full of various dishes, from scrambled eggs to bacon, sausages and toast. Harry ate quickly but was disappointed to discover that the adults were in no hurry to finish their food.

Then finally, finally it was time to open the presents.

“Open this!” Harry said, reaching for the gift he himself had so carefully wrapped.

Severus accepted the gift, looking curiously at the gold, silver and green wrapping paper. It was surprisingly heavy for its size. He gave it an experimental shake bout found that it did not rattle. The tag read:

Merry Christmas

To: Severus

From: Harry

“Thank you,” Severus said, carefully putting the gift down in his lap and starting to unwrap it.

The boy was practically squirming where he was sitting on the floor, excitedly looking at Severus as he opened the gift. Severus resisted a smile and removed the last piece of wrapping paper.

“Do you like it?” was the immediate question.

Severus stared.

“A bird house,” he stated.

“I made it myself! Do you like it?”

While there was nothing wrong with the birdhouse itself it was painted in garish red, gold, blue and orange. The color combination was worse than any of Albus’ festive robes and stung in Severus eyes.

“Severus?” Tobias said. “Answer Harry.”

The tone, and the look in his father’s eyes, told Severus that he had better like the gift. Severus forced a smile.

“Thank you,” he said. “I love it.”

“Will you put it up?” Harry wondered.

“Of course I will. At Hogwarts, maybe?”

“That’d be so cool! Can you do that?”

“Sure.”

“Why don’t you open a few of your presents, Harry?” Tobias interjected.

So Harry turned his attention onto the remaining gifts, of which most of them bore his name.

Unwrapping the first present he found a pair of new mittens in green and red. They were soft to the touch and felt wonderful on his hands. The next present contained a matching scarf and a third even a matching sweater. All three were from Tobias.

There were boxes of candy, a toy train, a ball, a few books and even, much to Harry’s surprise, the bike he had wanted. Granted, he would not be able to use the bike with the snow outside, but it still made him squeal with joy.  

Finally he had reached the last two gifts. One was wrapped in paper that was red and green, while the other was a simple brown paper with a small, red bow and tag on it. Harry reached for the red and green present first, on which the tag read:

Merry Christmas

To: Harry

From: Severus

 “You got me a present?!” Harry exclaimed, surprised but happy about it. Judging from his brother’s brusque and unhappy mood yesterday he had not expected the man to give him anything.

“Of course I did.”

If Severus tone was dry and somewhat ironic Harry did not notice, nor did he notice the look that was exchanged between the adults. Instead he tore the paper off, eager to see what his brother had gotten for him.

“Hogwarts: A History,” he read out loud.

Curiously he flipped the book open. It was thick and full of text, pages up and down, with barely any pictures at all. Harry resisted a groan. He would never be able to read this!

“Since you were so curious about Hogwarts, I thought this might answer some of your questions,” Severus commented awkwardly.

“Thanks,” Harry said, his voice a little too light and his smile a little too bright.

He appreciated the book, he really did, and he would probably read parts of it. But he knew, just from looking at it, that there was no way he was going to read the whole thing. Harry just wasn’t that fond of reading. He did really appreciate that his brother apparently liked him enough to get him a present though.

Putting the book aside he then turned to the last gift.

Merry Christmas

To: Harry Potter

From: Father Christmas

“Huh?” Harry said. “This can’t be real!”

He showed the tag to both Severus and Tobias and both looked equally confused at the tag. Harry shrugged and began to open the gift.

Tobias glanced questioningly at Severus. Severus shook his head. Tobias shook his head too. Neither of them had brought that particular gift.

“Children’s Potions Kit,” Harry read from the box, once the wrapping paper had been removed. “What’s that?”

He looked up at the adults only to find them both looking at least as confused as he was.

“I have no idea,” Tobias replied. “Severus?”

“It’s a kit for children, to learn to make potions. It’s completely safe, unlike any other potions kit, and contain a lot of useful information.”

“Is it from you?” Harry asked. “Thanks!”

But Severus shook his head.

“I was going to buy it, but they were out of them,” he admitted. “I have no idea of how that ended up here.”

And it was true. Having found one reasonably suitable gift Severus had hurried to leave Diagon Alley as soon as humanly possible. How this gift had ended up under their Christmas tree was a complete mystery to him. Because it couldn’t be like the tag said, right? Even the thought were ludicrous.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The rest of the day passed by in the kind of joyful and peaceful mood that comes with Christmas time. They ate a late lunch consisting of roast turkey, Brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes. For desert there was a delicious Christmas cake and, of course, the mince pies Severus loved so much.

They went to bed early that evening, all of them tired from a long if happy day. Severus was just about to fall asleep when a quiet voice spoke.

“Hey … you awake?”

He considered pretending to be asleep but finally turned towards his adoptive brother.

“Yes. Why?” he replied.

“Nothing. I just can’t sleep.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. Too happy, I think.”

There really was no doubt about how happy the boy was; his eyes were glimmering with joy and even now, obviously tired, there was still a content smile on his lips.

“Well … try to sleep anyway,” Severus advised.

“I will.”

Silence settled in between them for a moment, until …

“Hey … you still awake?”

“Yes,” Severus sighed. “Someone keeps talking, making it impossible to fall asleep.”

“Sorry,” the boy said sheepishly. “I just … I was thinking.”

“About what, pray tell?”

“About my gifts. Or, the last one.”

“What about it?”

“Was it from you, after all? Because you can tell me, if it was.”

“It wasn’t from me. Like I said, I intended to buy one but the last one was taken by someone else.”

“Oh. Then who could’ve gotten it for me?”

“I have no idea.”

Severus himself had pondered that the whole day. He might have suspected Dumbledore, had it not been that there was no way for the headmaster to know what Severus had intended to get for his brother. Besides, how had the gift ended up under their tree? Severus’ wards should have alerted him to anyone entering their house, even if it was only to place a gift under their tree.

“Maybe someone put it in my shopping bag,” Severus said.

He didn’t believe it though. There had only been the one gift there when he came home and he had only placed one gift under the tree. But how else had the package gotten into their house.

“Yeah, maybe …” Harry agreed, as unconvinced as his brother.

This time Severus really was almost asleep when Harry spoke again.

“Hey … Merry Christmas, Severus.”

“Merry Christmas, Harry,” Severus replied.

A few minutes later they were both asleep.

And at the North Pole a man leaned back in his armchair in front of his fireplace, content with himself. He had delivered many gifts the last twenty four hours but the nicest gift had not been his to deliver. A boy had gotten a family this year; not only a father but a brother too. A father and his grown son had gotten a little closer this holiday. And that was beyond even the power of Father Christmas to give. That was true Christmas magic.