High-Jinx Jinxes by Alexannah
Summary: Someone’s been spreading festive jinxes all over Hogwarts. Severus and Potter, forced to stick together, are in for a very interesting Christmas. Fic Fest Entry!
Categories: Fic Fests > Winter fest 2017, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Dumbledore, Fred George, Ginny, Hermione, Luna, McGonagall, Neville, Ron
Snape Flavour: None
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Fluff, Humor, Mystery
Media Type: None
Tags: None
Takes Place: 6th Year
Warnings: None
Prompts: Snowball Challenge
Challenges: Snowball Challenge
Series: None
Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes Word count: 4924 Read: 2619 Published: 17 Dec 2017 Updated: 17 Dec 2017

1. High-Jinx Jinxes by Alexannah

High-Jinx Jinxes by Alexannah

“Merry Christmas, Professor Snape!”

 

Severus groaned and pulled his pillow over his head.

“Professor?”

“Why do you have to wake up so early, Potter?”

“Because it’s Christmas,” the boy said, as if it were obvious.

“It’s also barely seven AM.”

“It’s Christmas,” Potter repeated. “And once Ron’s woken up he gets hungry, so if you want to be able to open your presents before we all go down to breakfast …”

“All right,” Severus grumbled, and tossed the pillow aside before sitting up.

He had been sleeping in the Gryffindor sixth-years’ dormitory for two weeks now, and it wasn’t getting any easier. So far nobody had figured out an antidote to the mysterious exploding Christmas crackers that had started appearing randomly all over the castle at the beginning of December. When one exploded, anyone caught in the vicinity was jinxed.

To Severus’ extreme disgust, he and Potter had been in the vicinity of one which had magically lassoed them together. For the last fortnight, they had been unable to stray more than ten feet apart. (Severus also had reindeer antlers, courtesy of a previous cracker. The humiliation from that had been bad enough.)

At the beginning of the lasso jinx, Albus had taken Severus aside and told him sternly to be on his best behaviour, reminding him that Precious Potter was in a fragile state thanks to having lost his godfather, the pressure of the prophecy, and being worried to death about Remus Lupin, who was currently laid up in St Mungo’s with severe dragon pox. (Thankfully it was extremely contagious, so Severus hadn’t had to endure visiting him.) For this reason, Severus was forced to celebrate Christmas with Potter and be civil about it.

Potter and Weasley both had piles of gifts on the ends of their beds. Longbottom’s pile was a little more modest, but still about three times the size of Severus’. The three boys started picking up the top packages, all in good spirits.

Severus kept an eye on Potter as he started to unwrap his own presents, doing it slowly so as to not be finished ages before them. Albus had knitted him a green scarf, gloves and hat with animated silver bells which really chimed. From Minerva he had a book on Muggle chemistry (a subject he found fascinating), and from Filius, a bottle of Firewhiskey.

He paused as he spied Potter pick up the small box wrapped in green paper. “To Potter,” he read off the label, eyes widening. “Happy Christmas. From Professor Snape.”

The three boys all stared at Severus, who kept his expression perfectly neutral.

“Maybe you should get Hermione to check it for traps,” Weasley whispered in Potter’s ear, probably not intending for Severus to hear him.

Potter shrugged him off and tore off the paper anyway. Weasley and Longbottom looked at him incredulously.

Inside was a small glass jar, filled with pale squishy things in murky liquid. Potter frowned as he read the label. “What’s Vivuslimus?”

“I’m not sure,” Ron said, peering at it closely. “Some kind of old-fashioned delicacy. I didn’t know you could still buy it.”

“If you know where to look,” Severus said nonchalantly.

“Um … well, thank you, Professor,” Potter said hesitantly, and put the jar with the scarlet jumper and tin of gingerbread elves he had just unwrapped.

Severus was quite startled when he found a gift at the bottom of his pile with the label: To Professor Snape. Merry Christmas. From Harry Potter.

Full of trepidation, he slowly unwrapped the green paper. Inside was a watch.

Severus gaped. His own watch had broken a week ago, thanks to a stray flying candy cane, but it wasn’t just that Potter had picked something he needed. The watch was customised with three faces: one for the time, one for moon phases, and one a stopwatch. It was the ideal watch for a Potions Master, one which Severus had thought about getting many times, but hadn’t been able to bring himself to spend money on as long as the basic one he’d got on his seventeenth had still worked.

He was sure Potter must have asked Albus for ideas, but all the same it was a tremendously thoughtful gift. (Especially since Severus knew they weren’t cheap.) He couldn’t help it; he was touched.

After a moment he remembered the Vivuslimus, and he looked up quickly, wondering if he could discreetly transfigure it into something more palatable. With alarm, he saw Potter had picked it up and was unscrewing the lid.

“Phew,” Potter said once he’d caught a whiff of the contents. “That’s … potent.”

Severus gulped. “Er—Potter? You’re not trying that now, are you?”

“Why not?” Before Severus could think of a good answer that didn’t involve admitting what he had done, Potter picked out a squishy lump and took a bite.

Severus winced, waiting for the gag, for the Vivuslimus to be spat out violently and Potter to run to the bathroom.

It didn’t come. Potter simply chewed thoughtfully.

“Well?” Weasley asked.

“Weird. Very sharp. Sort of a meaty texture.” Potter swallowed. “Weird but nice. I think it would go well with cold meat—I’ll have some with dinner tomorrow.”

Severus couldn’t believe his ears. The Vivuslimus was the most disgusting thing he could think of which was edible, not harmful, and culture-appropriate (sort of). And Potter had liked it. When Severus had merely licked one as a boy, he had vomited.

Oh, well. At least he no longer had to feel guilty.

Once they had all finished opening their presents, they headed down to breakfast, where they were joined by Granger.

The Chrismas spirit, though not really reaching Severus, was all around him. The students were much rowdier on a normal day, and it was worse when he was in the midst of it. He kept casting longing looks at the empty seat at the High Table.

All over the hall was evidence of the crackers’ work. Several students on the Hufflepuff table were glowing green from head to toe. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were literally stuck together back-to-back (which Severus understood would happen to him and Potter if they attempted to break their tether too many times). A couple of Ravenclaws had house-elf heads. A large group of first-years had Father Christmas beards. Minerva had antlers just like Severus—he saw she had chosen to decorate them with red and gold tinsel this morning—and Albus had a festive bauble dangling from the end of his long nose, which kept getting in the way of his cutlery.

So far the perpetrator of the jinx crackers had not been identified. Severus was getting really impatient for a counter-jinx to be found, but the Christmas celebrations were hampering the search somewhat.

It turned out Granger had plans for them for Christmas morning. Once they were done, she forced Potter, Severus, Weasley, Longbottom, the other Weasley and Lovegood into warm clothes and outside.

“We usually have a snowball fight on Christmas Day,” Potter informed Severus as they waded through the snow.

“Brilliant,” Severus muttered, and pulled his new scarf tighter around his neck. The little bells tinkled.

“Not yet,” Granger said, looking excited. “We’ve got something else in mind first.”

“We?”

“I like skating on the lake,” Lovegood piped up. “We’ve got skates for everyone.”

Severus felt an urge to throttle himself with his scarf.

“I’ve never done anything like this,” Potter said as he laced up his skates. He glanced over at Severus as he slipped and fell painfully on his backside—and he wasn’t even on the ice yet. “Um … sir, are you okay?”

“Fine,” Severus snapped.

“It’s just, if you don’t want to skate, I suppose we could always stay on the side and watch the others.”

It took a moment for Severus to process what he had said. “You don’t want to skate?”

“Oh, I do. It looks awesome. But I understand if you don’t want to.”

Severus really, really didn’t. He’d tried once as a child, and by the time he had given up trying to stay upright he had had a really painful bottom and numb everything else. It had put him off for life.

On the other hand, if he stayed on the side, Potter would have to as well. Albus’ warning about not making Christmas difficult for the boy rang in his ears.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine,” Severus said stiffly. Potter beamed.

“Great!”

They watched Granger and Lovegood strike out on the ice—Lovegood with confidence, Granger a little more hesitantly. The Weasleys (Severus tended to think of them as Sidekick Weasley and Lovelorn Weasley) both took tentative steps, and fell in a tangled heap, laughing. Granger pulled Sidekick Weasley up and skated backwards slowly, pulling him along.

Potter and Longbottom both stepped onto the ice. Severus would have expected Longbottom to fall over straight away, but he seemed surprisingly proficient, Potter also.

“Come on, Professor!” Potter turned to urge him on. “I can’t go any further till you join us!”

Severus edged out nervously, leaning forwards to avoid falling on his rear. He felt very unstable, as if he would fall over any moment. He leaned too far forward, and with a yell, fell flat on his face. “OW!”

He heard someone skate up to him and then a hand on his arm. “I’ll help you, sir. It’s easier once you get moving.”

Severus would have liked to have just gone back to shore and taken Potter’s word on that, but he reluctantly allowed Potter to gently tug him along, holding his arms out like wings to keep his balance.

“I thought you said you’d never done this,” he grumbled as Potter practically twirled him around the ice, easily avoiding Longbottom and Lovelorn Weasley, who were now skating hand-in-hand.

The boy shrugged. “It’s not that different from flying—on a broom you need perfect control over your body movements to tell the broomstick where to go.”

-

Albus Dumbledore’s eyebrows rose as he glanced out of the window, and he moved to take a closer view. “I say. Minerva, take a look.”

“What am I looking at?” she asked, coming over.

“It’s Harry and Severus,” Albus said, eyes twinkling with humour. “They’re skating on the lake.”

“This I have to see.” Minerva pushed him over so she could see better herself. “Oh, my.”

“Harry’s rather good, isn’t he?”

It was a comical sight. Harry Potter was skating backwards quite effortlessly, pulling along a wobbling Severus, who looked like he was going to be sick. As they watched, one of the other figures skated up behind Severus and started correcting his posture. (Judging from the hat covered with satsumas, it was Miss Lovegood.) Their poor colleague almost fell over, but after a moment he seemed to get it. After a few minutes Harry let him go, and he began skating freely, now much less wobbly.

“I never thought I’d see Harry and Severus willingly holding hands,” Albus chuckled.

Minerva’s mouth twitched. “Albus …”

“Yes, my dear?”

“You wouldn’t by any chance have had anything to do with the cracker which bound them together, would you?”

“Minerva! I hope you know me better than that!”

“It’s exactly the sort of thing you would do,” Minerva pointed out.

Albus chuckled. “Well, I can’t deny that. But in this case, the handiwork is not mine. I would like to shake the hand of whoever’s it is, though …”

-

Severus couldn’t believe his students. Instead of leaving him struggling and having a good time around him—which he would have expected—they had insisted on helping him learn how to skate properly so he could join in. As embarrassing as being corrected by his own students (all of whom had grasped it faster than him) had been, he appreciated finally getting the hand of it. He was even starting to enjoy himself (though he would never admit that to anyone).

When they had been on the ice a while, Sidekick Weasley skated to the lake edge, scooped up some snow and started a snowball fight.

None of the children looked too keen to target Severus, probably afraid they would give him detention. At first he was relieved—he didn’t want cold snow knocking him over and soaking his clothes, thank you very much. But as he watched the students laugh as they pelted each other, he felt a strange pang. Being left out was worse.

Potter glanced over at him. Although Severus was sure his wistfulness could not possibly have been showing on his face, something must have given him away. The next snowball Potter threw smacked Severus full in the face.

He overbalanced, spluttering, and as he wiped the snow off and struggled back to his feet, he realised the others students had frozen. Sidekick Weasley was giving Potter an Are you mad? look.

Glad for the excuse to join in, Severus narrowed his eyes and grinned. “Oh, big mistake, Potter. I am an excellent shot.” With that, he gathered himself a snowball and hit the boy in his own face.

The game unfroze, and now Severus was in the middle of it. He pelted all the children with snowballs, aiming particularly for Potter; but he didn’t seem to mind, giving as good as he got. By the time they headed back to the castle, they were all soaked to the skin and shivering madly.

Severus took a much-needed hot shower, changed into dry clothes, and they all headed down for Christmas lunch. Although he was careful not to give too much away, he felt a lot lighter now than he had at breakfast. Included, not excluded. Even though they were only irritating students, it was a pleasant feeling.

He didn’t join in with the chatter around the Gryffindor table, but didn’t attempt to shut it out either as he usually did. To his astonishment, he actually found the conversations interesting. Either the students were deliberately censoring their words to be less annoying, or he’d slightly misjudged them.

A lot of the talk was of the DA’s activities, but (perhaps by mutual agreement) Voldemort and the war generally were subjects avoided, not being very Christmassy. There was also debate as to who might be behind the exploding crackers, and discussion of the newest additions to the jinxes gracing the hall—Hagrid’s blonde pigtails, a Ravenclaw boy who could only converse in animal noises, and a group of third-years who kept hiccupping red, green and gold bubbles.

After lunch, they retired to the Gryffindor common room for some peace and quiet. Lovegood, who had been granted permission by Minerva to join her Gryffindor friends over Christmas, tried to teach them all a game she had invented with complicated rules. They watched Granger’s cat chasing the magic toy mouse she had given it for Christmas. By mid-afternoon Sidekick Weasley had produced bags of marshmallows, and they toasted them over the fire.

As far as Christmas Days went, Severus had to admit he had enjoyed himself more this year than in his previous years, when he kept to himself except for the main celebrations. Perhaps Albus’ insistence that he get out more wasn’t as foolish a suggestion as he had thought.

The day continued peacefully until after Christmas tea. Severus and Potter were making their way towards the Great Hall doors when Potter yelped and grabbed Severus’ arm, dragging him back in a hurry.

“What—”

Then he saw what. There was a cracker on the floor. Like the others, it was gold and emerald green with High-Jinx Jinxes written on it. He started to run, but the cracker exploded.

Severus went flying, the world blurring past him. He tumbled over and over in the air, yelling, until he landed.

“OW!” It had not been a soft landing. Then he yelled “OW!” again as Potter got the soft landing on top of him.

“Sorry, Professor.” Potter scrambled off, and Severus sat up.

“What—where are we?”

It took a moment to figure it out. They were sitting on a round, thick wooden beam. Sprouting from it were long, thin blades, about half Severus’ length. All around them were more beams just like it, but it was hard to see because of a golden flickering glow somewhere before them. Severus stood up cautiously, careful to avoid cutting himself on one of the blades or tangling his antlers in the ones above his head.

“Professor …” Potter said slowly. He reached out to one of the blades.

“Don’t touch it!”

“It’s a pine needle.”

What?

“We’re in a Christmas tree.”

Severus’ stomach dropped as he realised Potter was right. The glow ahead were the Christmas lights. They were right in the depths of the tree, and judging from the length of the pine needles, only about three or four inches tall.

“Oh, perfect,” he muttered. So much for his enjoyable Christmas. Even if they got out of the tree—which didn’t look easy—they would be stuck as miniature people until someone figured out a counter-jinx.

He reached for his wand, and discovered it missing. “Potter, do you have your wand?”

He turned to see Potter peering into the darkness. He patted his pocket. “No, I don’t.” He looked back up. “I think the trunk is this way.”

“Good guess,” Severus muttered. “We don’t want the trunk; we want to get someone’s attention. And we’d better hurry before the hall clears and we’re stuck in here overnight.”

“I was going to say we don’t know how far down the tree we are. If we’re right at the bottom, no-one’s going to see us. Climbing the trunk would probably be easier than trying to get from branch to branch.”

Severus grasped Potter by the arm and pulled him towards the lights. “Then let’s find out.”

Crawling along the branch turned out to be easier than walking it. Severus wasn’t sure how long it took, but it felt like a long time. Finally they noticed it was thinning. It started to shift under their weight.

“I think we’re there.” Potter parted the needles. Before Severus could see out himself, there was a loud rumbling “MEOW!

“Back, back!” Potter said hastily.

They backtracked as quickly as possible, snagging their clothes on the needles. The branch and the ones around them quivered madly, and he nearly slipped off.

“Bad cat!” Potter hissed. “Go away!”

“All right, Potter, your plan it is,” Severus panted once they were well out of reach. “We climb.”

-

“Where did Harry and Snape go?” Ron said suddenly, looking around the common room as if expecting them to appear out of thin air.

“Weren’t they right behind us when we left the hall?” Ginny asked.

“Maybe they went up to the dormitory.” Neville went up to check, then reappeared a minute later shaking his head. “Not there.”

“I’ll take a look at the Map.” Hermione went up and rummaged through Harry’s possessions. He usually took the Marauders Map around with him, but had kept it well-hidden since Snape had started following him around, afraid he would confiscate it. She found it folded up inside an empty Chocolate Frog box.

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

Ink lines spread out over the map. Once it was complete, Hermione looked for the Great Hall.

“They’re still in the hall,” she said once she’d returned to the common room. “The other teachers are still there as well. Maybe they needed Snape for something.”

“Great. False alarm.” Ron relaxed. “Hope they don’t keep him long.”

-

Climbing a Christmas tree was a lot more difficult than it sounded.

Potter, who moved so gracefully in the air and on the ice, was really struggling on the tree. There was no room for Severus to appreciate being better than him, since he was the one having to frequently hoist the shorter Potter up onto the branches. Moving from branch to branch was easier than trying to scale the sheer trunk, but that wasn’t saying much.

“My shoulders will never be the same,” Severus grumbled as Potter’s weight lifted off them for the dozenth time.

“I think I’ve dislocated both my arms,” Potter gasped, dangling from the branch above, his legs swinging frantically and almost hitting Severus in the head.

“For goodness’ sake, keep them still!” Severus grabbed Potter’s feet and pushed upwards, and the boy groaned as he heaved himself over, then collapsed panting. Severus jumped up and grabbed two pine needles, found footholds on the trunk and climbed up after him.

“We must be out of reach by now,” Potter gasped, still lying flat on his face.

“You catch your breath, I’ll check.” Severus made his way cautiously to the end of the branch. It felt just as long as the one they had journeyed before, so they couldn’t have been that much further up.

When he emerged among the gold lights, which were blinding after the relative darkness of the middle of the tree, it took him several minutes for his eyes to adjust. Eventually he managed to make out the Great Hall, though it looked as big as Hogwarts now.

They still weren’t very far up the tree, though the cat had disappeared. Unfortunately, so had everyone else. The teachers usually stayed in the hall for a while after the students had left for present-swapping and hot chocolate, but they had obviously finished while Severus and Potter had been climbing.

Severus cursed. If they had gone, that meant the Great Hall would be empty until breakfast tomorrow. The doors would now be locked, which meant unless someone came looking for them, they were stuck in the room overnight—

His heart leapt as the great doors opened. Someone was coming!

Minerva entered, making a beeline for the High Table. Severus took a deep breath and bellowed, “MINERVA!

She didn’t hear him, too far away from his tiny voice. Severus looked around wildly, suddenly remembering what decorations were on the tree this year.

Miniature chirping phoenixes … flashing gold stars … colour-changing baubles … and gold bells!

He spotted a bell, several branches above him. There was no time to waste—Minerva was looking around the table for something; once she found whatever it was she would be leaving.

Severus took a leap off the branch onto the bauble swinging from the next one, and scrambled up, almost slipping off twice. Then he jumped again to the next one. The third leap, he missed, and plummeted.

“AAARRRGGHHH!”

Convinced he was falling to his death, it was a pleasant surprise to bounce off a lower branch and ricochet back up as if he were a rubber ball. He sized a pine needle, scrambled for a foothold and levered himself up, then took the final jump to the bell, smacking right into it.

Jingle!

When Severus had finished bouncing, he heard footsteps. Minerva’s face loomed towards the tree, frowning.

“MINERVA!” he yelled, waving his arms. After a moment her eyes found him. They widened. “Oh! Severus?

She could hardly hear him, but he managed to convey that Potter was also in the tree—though he had lost track of where, since he’d bounced around so much. Minerva nodded, let Severus slide off the branch onto her hand, and placed him on the nearest table before starting to part the branches very gently, calling for Potter.

“PROFESSOR! HERE I AM!”

Severus collapsed, relieved and exhausted. After a few moments Minerva managed to retrieve Potter as well, and set him down next to him.

“Well, this is new,” she said, looking down at them, though Severus thought he detected a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. “What am I to do with you two, then?”

-

“You have a dolls house?”

“Since I was a little girl,” Minerva said, letting Severus and Harry step off her palm onto her dresser so she could open the front. “I dust it regularly, and it has working lamps and water—I can get you food and soap and things. Unfortunately, it only has one bed—unless one of you fancies taking the cot.”

“Is it big enough for two?” Severus asked.

“Oh, yes.”

They glanced at each other. “That’s okay, we’ll share,” Harry said.

Minerva hid a smile. “In that case, I’ll let you get settled in. Do you need anything imminently?”

“Pyjamas?” Harry suggested.

She transfigured each of their outfits into comfortable pyjamas. “How are those?”

“Thanks!”

“Where are our wands?” Severus asked suddenly. “They’d vanished when we were jinxed.”

“They must have rolled out of the way somewhere; I’ll look for them in a minute and put them somewhere safe,” Minerva promised. She directed them through the house and up the stairs to the bedroom, where a frilly four-poster was waiting. Severus grimaced slightly.

“That’s quite comfortable,” Harry said, testing out the mattress.

“Minerva, can you move the dolls?” Severus asked, eyeing the stiff couple in the corner. “I feel like they’re watching me.”

“Of course.” She picked them up and set them down on her dresser. “Do you want this open or closed?”

“Open please.”

“All right. Night, you two.”

“Night, Professor,” Harry mumbled sleepily. He’d already got into bed, his eyes closed.

“Goodnight, Minerva.” Severus turned to the bed. “Potter, budge over.”

Harry only snored in response. Severus gave him several gentle shoves, then tucked him in.

Minerva withdrew slowly, still watching as Severus climbed into bed beside Harry and lay down, all prepared to live in the dollhouse with him until such time as the jinx was lifted. The Severus of two weeks ago would have kicked up an almighty fuss no matter how impossible the alternative. Harry Potter really had been good for him.

They looked so sweet. It was tempting to just leave them like that. But she’d promised herself to tell Albus how to fix everything on Boxing Day.

Minerva heard her Floo, and left the room to discover the Weasley twins in her office.

“Happy Christmas, Professor,” they said in unison, sweeping their Christmas hats off and bowing comically.

“A very merry Christmas to you too,” she replied, smiling.

“How did the crackers go down?” George asked.

Minerva chuckled. “Like a treat. They’ve been the cause of much hilarity the last couple of weeks.”

“We’re honoured you thought of us to spice Christmas up a bit this year, Professor,” Fred said, grinning.

“Well, with everything going on right now, I thought some harmless pranks would provide a little more distraction. And they have.”

“How are Harry and Snape doing?”

Minerva’s smile widened. “Peacefully sleeping in my dollhouse without a bad word to say to each other.”

“Wow. It really worked?”

“As I knew it would,” she said. “They needed to see the better side of each other.”

“We knew you were a mischief-maker at heart, ma’am,” Fred said, saluting. “And you have our eternal respect.”

“Thank you.”

-

“What was it like being three inches tall?” Ron asked the next lunchtime.

All the jinxes had been countered by Dumbledore that morning—all except for his own, which he seemed to have taken a liking to. He’d now sprouted an additional bauble from each ear. He also kept giving Professor McGonagall funny looks for some reason, like he was seeing her in a new light.

“Apart from being afraid I’d be eaten by a cat, and all that exhausting climbing … not so bad,” Harry said.

He glanced up at the High Table. Snape was back in his usual seat, but his changed mood seemed to have stuck. He was willingly talking with his colleagues, something Harry had rarely seen him do, and once or twice even smiled.

“Did you really share a bed with Snape?” Neville asked. Harry, who now had his mouth full, nodded. “What was it like?”

“I dunno; I slept through it,” Harry said, which made Ron snort and choke on his food.

The atmosphere was cheerful, and Harry was happy. Not just because the jinxes had been removed, but also because of a letter that had come that morning, saying Remus would make a full recovery and would be ready for visitors soon. He spent the rest of the meal answering more questions between mouthfuls from his friends.

Once lunch was over, Harry was headed back to the common room when he heard a voice say, “Potter.”

-

Potter turned around. “I’d have thought you’d have seen enough of me lately to last a lifetime, Professor,” he said with a grin.

Severus’ mouth twitched as he struggled not to smile. “I would have thought so too—but apparently not.”

“What did you want?”

“I …” This was difficult. “I wanted to thank you.”

Potter’s eyes widened. “Thank me? For what?”

“For starters, for your present.” Severus held up his new watch.

“Oh, right. You’re welcome.”

“And … for including me yesterday. I appreciate it.”

“That’s okay,” Potter said. “Don’t mention it. Oh, and thank you for my present.”

“You already thanked me when you opened it,” Severus said awkwardly. He should know; he was thanked for things so rarely, especially by students.

Potter shrugged. “Well, there’s no harm in thanking someone twice. Anyway, I had some with my lunch, it was good. Um … what is Vivuslimus, anyway?”

Severus paused. “I’m not sure you want me to tell you.”

Potter looked at him carefully. “You wanted me to hate it, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Severus admitted. “Sorry.”

“Just tell me. I promise it won’t put me off.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

His funeral. “Pickled Horklumps.”

Potter went as green as a Christmas tree and ran to the bathroom.

The End.
End Notes:
Yes this is a one-shot, and no I have no plans for a sequel, I think it works as it is. Hope you enjoyed it!


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