“Luna,” Draco acknowledged the younger Ravenclaw who’d stopped at his study table. He took in the sight of the flighty third-year wrapped and muffled up for the walk down to the carriages that would take away the few students who were not staying for the festivities. She wore an old comfortable herringbone patterned wool coat, a few sizes too big – but it had belonged to her mother and the minute the sleeves hadn’t covered her finger tips, she had taken over ownership. A knitted cap graced her abundant curls and an incredibly long muffler was wrapped several times around her neck but still draped nearly to the floor.

“Draco Snape. I just wanted to tell you goodbye and to have a Happy Yuletide,” she said, setting her travel bag down next to her.

“I was hoping you would stay,” he said sincerely. He stood up and adjusted her muffler so that it wouldn’t trail in the muddy slush outside, tucking it securely under her collar. She smiled shyly at him.

“I know, and I would except that daddy and I have never spent a Christmas apart ever since...”

“Your mum died?” he ventured, leaning back against the table.

She fingered an edge of the coat, looking down in remembrance. “Yes.” She nodded her head, sending her Christmas bell earrings ringing. It sounded like heavenly music to the young man. “I can’t let him celebrate alone; he gets very despondent and nips into the gilly-wine too much,” she confided, leaning in a bit towards him. “But you’ll have a good time at the dance and with your family, right?”

He nodded back. “Yes, of course I will. And I understand, but I will miss you,” he confided.

“Well, watch out for the Nargles in the mistletoe and the Robspritz in the Yule trees... they love to make mischief, you know!” she advised sincerely, eyes wide.

Draco chuckled kindly and bent over to grab her bag, offering his arm to her. “I’ll keep that in mind, Luna. Now let me escort you to the carriages. Did I tell you who Harry is taking to the dance? No? Well, you will love this!” he said with a huge grin as he walked her up to the main hall.

****

Harry slammed the door to the dungeon workout room. It was oddly satisfying to hear it crash into the frame and see it shudder under the force of his strength. If only he could do that to that infuriating idiot, Krum.

He stalked around the room some more, letting off steam; setting up dummies and blasting them away just to feel the satisfaction of something crumpling under his attack. The Hungarian made him so mad! Ever since Harry had tied for first on the Dragon challenge, Victor had been giving him the evil eye and hinting dark things about Harry. It was second year all over again with the Dark Wizard and Parseltongue accusations. Fleur was now avoiding talking to him, sending him strange looks and ever since the holidays had started, the rest of the school had been looking suspiciously at him again.

He bent over, resting his hands on his knees, sweat dripping off of his brow – but turned and pointed his wand with deadly accuracy at the cleared throat behind him.

****

Severus had been having a peaceful afternoon, enjoying the late afternoon sun peeking through the high windows in his sitting room; the warmth of the fire beside him in the massive stone hearth and the companionship of a fine glass of wine and a good mystery to keep him entertained. The ancient Victrola – a find in a Muggle antique market many years ago – crooned to him from a back corner of the room with a record of Mozart’s Sonatas. The boys were off entertaining themselves and weren’t due back until later in the afternoon and he’d been saving this one for a few months. It was a new author, Laurie R King, from the States and she had written a book that had garnered the Edgar Allen Poe award that year. He was always interested in new writers, and this one seemed to hold a lot of promise. He was deep into A Grave Talent, enjoying the twists and turns of the plot.

That was, it was peaceful until Dobby appeared before him alternately pulling at his ears and wringing his hands; a huge pile of watchman’s caps towering on his head. Severus had thought Albus quite daft to hire the free-elf, but he had proven devoted to Harry and Draco, working primarily in his quarters and the boys’ common rooms. However, he would have to find out what the hats were for – they were confusing him.

“Master Potions, Sir! Harry Potter-Snape, Sir, is destroying the practice room! He’s going crazy, he is!” The large eyes seemed about to ready to fall out of their sockets in fear.

Severus sighed and put aside his book and wine to follow the little House-elf down thedungeon corridor to the practice room. Now that he had left his quarters, he could hear the sounds of blasting spells reverberating down the corridor. He looked down at the bobbing multitude of knitted fancy. Might as well find out now.

“Dobby, why the hats?”

“Miss Hermione, sir. She wants to free all the House-elves. Has been bad and leaving clothes under trash in the common rooms to tricksy poor unsuspecting elves. I’ve had to clean rooms – I’m already a free-elf!” he said proudly, pointing at his chest.

Severus sighed as they pulled alongside the practice room, he could still hear his son wreaking destruction inside. He obviously would have to have a talk with Miss Granger after the holidays. He pulled his wand, holding it ready as he opened the door. The sound of a small pop told him that Dobby had left, his duty done.

****

“Dad!” Harry said, finally recognising his father leaning on the doorframe. He quickly lowered his wand and tried to steady his breathing.

“Are you quite done blasting apart the dungeons?” Severus enquired with a raised eyebrow.

“For now,” Harry quipped, summoning a towel and glass of water before sitting on the padded mat. Severus slowly picked his way through the destruction and conjured a low stool to sit on; his progeny was currently sitting in the only clear spot on the floor.

“Who was it this time?” Severus asked, knowing his son’s moods fairly well. Harry only went off like this if he thought he was being targeted unfairly. Unfortunately, this was occurring a lot lately since the first challenge.

“It’s still Krum. I can trace every insinuation, every look, every hiss back to him. Now he’s all chummy with Nott and his group. I was starting to get along with Fleur and the Beuxbaton girls until Krum started in with his little digs. I’m just tired of this, Dad,” he complained, letting himself flop backwards on the mat and flinging the damp towel over his face. “Can’t I just hide away in your rooms until it is all over?” came his muffled suggestion.

“Harry Potter-Snape! Are you a Gryffindor or aren’t you?” his father accused, half amused.

“The hat wanted Slytherin, but I talked it out of it,” Harry pointed out, waving a vague hand around before letting it land loudly back on the floor.

Severus rolled his eyes at the pathetic picture in front of him. “Which just goes to prove you should have let it do its job. Perhaps it wouldn’t have taken as long to figure out what was wrong at your relatives.” He received a glare from under a raised corner of the towel before it was lowered again with a huff.  “However, your mother was a Gryffindor through and through and you have enough of her in you to overcompensate for me. Now, those other children will only be here for a few more months – you, on the other hand, will be here for the next three and a half years. I know you can rise above these petty juvenile accusations – you are no stranger to them and have handled them before with aplomb, what is different now?” he asked curiously.

A mumbled response came from the floor and Severus sighed.

“I don’t speak ‘towel’, Harry. Remove that thing at once from your face and speak to me intelligibly,” he insisted.

Harry sighed and rolled upright, letting the towel fall from his face. “I said I don’t know what is going on. It just infuriates me more this time around.” He shrugged, his long hair falling around his face – his exertions having torn most of it free from its usual confining queue.

Severus gazed down at his child, taking in the changes that Harry had gone through in the last few months.

“Puberty,” he said distinctly.

“Huh?” Harry said, looking up finally.

“You are going through the hormonal stage of puberty. It is why you are suddenly inflamed by an accusation that did not bother you so much the last time. Why you want to lash out and destroy things.” He pointed out the destruction of the room around them. Harry looked about as if seeing the state of the room for the first time. He blanched at the sight.

“Sorry, Dad; I’ll repair everything – I just had to do something and this was the safest place I could think of,” he explained.

“I understand, Son, really I do. Unfortunately we all have to go through this stage and some have it rougher than others. Just try to ignore Mr Krum for now, enjoy the holidays – if you have to spend the majority of the time in our flat, I won’t complain. But please, try to ease up on the destructive tendencies?”

“I’ll try... Shall I repair this?” Harry looked around sheepishly. Stupid hormones.

“You could use the practice – come back to the rooms when you are finished, I believe we shall dine in tonight.”

****

“The entire room? You destroyed the entire room?” Draco challenged his brother at dinner that night.

Harry sighed. Looking back on it, he didn’t know what had set him off – and he felt ridiculous for his reaction. “Well, at least I didn’t let go in the Great Hall,” he mumbled. “Which is where I really wanted to light into him. Prat.”

“True, although it probably would’ve been more satisfying. So, is it all repaired?”

“Yeah,” he twirled his fork in his pasta – back and forth before setting it down, not really interested in eating. He missed the concerned look his parent was giving him. “I just feel like I’m going to jump out of my skin – like the slightest thing is going to set me off. And my magic is itching as well; I can feel it running around, wanting to be used...” he complained pouting, while crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

Severus took a sip of his wine as he contemplated the young men in front of him. “What you need is an outlet; something that will let you release all that pent up energy and frustration constructively. Perhaps we shouldn’t have suspended your training during the holidays – I thought to give you some deserved time off, but perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea. But I don’t want it to seem as if you are having lessons either... Give me until tomorrow – I think I have an idea, but I will need some help. In the meantime, let’s decorate the flat tonight, shall we? As we are at school, you can use your wands to help conjure and transfigure.” He looked at the two teens that had visibly perked up at his musings and offer. Harry slowly smiled and Snape knew he’d said the right thing. Merlin, how was he going to survive the next year or so as Harry moved toward adulthood? Draco had enough self-restraint most times, but Harry – well, hopefully his little plan would help for the next couple of weeks in more ways than one.

****

Severus had discovered that, with nearly all of the upper classmen staying behind for the holidays, as well as the foreign visitors; and without any classes to keep them occupied during the day, a breakout of high-jinks and mischief-making was becoming the hell that teachers worried about. So, after lunch the next day, all the common rooms and the Great Hall bulletin boards sported a new flyer.

Holiday Challenge

Come to the Great Hall Until Christmas Eve

To try your hand at

New and Amazing Magics

Or take part in the Snow Escapades on the Main Lawn:

Snow Forts

Snow sculptures

Snow games

Prizes to be offered in all endeavours

That definitely put the Kneazle amongst the owls and the students were all murmuring about the new things to do while on break.

After lunch, those students who went outside found themselves with Hagrid who set them the task of making snow forts in the wonderful packing snow that had fallen all month. The large teams soon got the task completed and were then told to make lots of snowballs. Getting the idea, the game commenced. Hagrid had broken them into two equal teams of mixed houses and years and for once there was no house rivalry or upper years picking on lower forms; just lots of kids having fun with snow.

Inside, the less adventurous students were learning how to make transfigured ornaments for the twelve trees that Hagrid had brought in earlier that morning, and Professor Flitwick showed them charms to make the baubles sparkle and shine with inner light.

Madame Maxime joined in with an especially useful spell that added fairy lights to the trees, as well as real, non-melting icicles; the Muggle Studies professor, Chastity Burbage, was in a corner teaching wizarding carols, and Snape had joined in with Moody to teach several of the upper years, and his sons, proper duelling technique – as the last attempt two years earlier had proven disastrous. They then set up practice dummies against the wall that the students could cast against. They had decided, for now, not to let the children duel each other – maybe at the end of the week, if they behaved.

In midweek, the teachers accompanied everyone to Hogsmeade for one last shopping trip before Yule. Everyone got a chance to see what the students outside had made as they passed through the grounds studded with snow and ice sculptures ranging from a standard snowman to an ice-sculpture that had representations of all four houses. Murmurs of appreciation and awe passed along the line as the students slowed to take in the magnificent sight. Harry and Draco had utilised their tried and true method of Owl Order and so went along primarily just to hang out in the village, until their father reminded them they needed to get a little memento for their dates, something small but memorable to mark the occasion.

Looking scared, they nearly ran into the nearest curiosities shop joining the line of many other boys who had the same idea. Harry had found a small silver bracelet and had a Dragon charm as well as a Pansy charm added to it. His brother approved, and he had found his own gift as well. Counting themselves lucky, they travelled on to Honeydukes to stock up on Chocolate and treats for the next term and then headed towards the Three Broomsticks where they were to meet their father.

“Well if it isn’t Potty-Snape and his traitorous brother; off on a little jaunt today, boys?” came the sneering voice of Harry’s own personal nemesis.

He slowly turned around, flexing his wrist to release his wand while pocketing his purchases and sealing shut his pocket with a wandless movement of his left hand.

“You’re being bold, Theo, to try something in the middle of the street where anyone could come upon us,” remarked Harry.

“Oh, nobody is going to interfere, Snapey,” the taller boy menaced, walking around the two smaller boys. “They all agree with me that you are really a dark Wizard. Speaking Parseltongue just sealed your fate.” He laughed cruelly, his thugs joining in.

Harry and Draco looked around, noticing everyone shooting them wary looks and hurrying to get out of range and knowledge of what was happening. Harry marked that Draco had also pocketed his purchases and had dropped his wand into his hand, and they unconsciously had fallen into a standard defensive posture guarding each others back. This was something they were used to – just not so many at once.

“Cowards...” he heard Draco mumble regarding the rest of the surrounding public as they scurried away.

“Can’t blame them,” Harry pointed out, sotto voce. He quickly conjured a shield with one hand when he noticed Nott finally making a move. Then he noticed Krum and several of the Durmstrang students hovering in the background, watching carefully.

“Harry...” Draco warned.

“I see him,” Harry growled. He flicked his wand to shoot out a stinging hex around his wandless shield while Draco sent a Tarantellegra curse at Goyle causing the large boy to flail about madly. That seemed to be the signal to the rest of the goons to let loose with the curses, jinxes and hexes forcing the brothers backwards into an abandoned alleyway that had a fieldstone wall closing off the far end of it.

Harry and Draco were fighting with all their worth, but it was against at least six other brutish students that they could see and they were quickly running out of room and options. Harry’s abilities to feel the magic signatures was being sorely tested and stretched to his limits. Slowly, but surely, they were being beaten; the other older and larger Wizards – trained in the dark arts – were too much for the two Snapes to handle for longer than a few minutes. Behind a hastily thrown protego they each came to the same conclusion and reached up as if to scratch their ears, disappearing from view amidst a barrage of colourful spells.

When the lights and spell residue cleared, the attack squad was left staring at a blank wall.

Crabbe looked around the alley, confusion written all over his face. “Where’d they go?” He scratched his head.

“A good question, Mr Crabbe – one I’m sure I’d love to answer when we return to the castle and discuss your detention schedule for the next term,” came the silky voice behind them.

The group of students turned en masse and saw their exit blocked by a bevy of teachers in dark cloaks. Snape, Moody and Hagrid stared at the boys in front of them. The Slytherins looked like their hand had been caught in the cookie jar, but the Durmstrang students looked defiant; ranged behind their leader who faced off against the teachers.

“You haf no jur-ees-deek-shon over me,” Viktor stated abrasively.

“Au contraire, Mr Krum. You agreed to abide by the rules of the school when you entered the competition. Duelling and attacks among students are forbidden unless strictly supervised by a qualified teacher under certain conditions. This applies,” he added when Krum had opened his mouth, “whether or not the students are technically on school grounds, or on a school sponsored outing – such as this. As such, you are all eligible for detentions,” Moody gleefully pointed out. “Multiple ones which I am sure Severus and I will delight in supervising!”

“Correct,” Severus agreed. “My students will wait for me in my office. Hagrid will accompany you there and supervise until I arrive.” Hagrid nodded, herding the three reluctant Slytherins out of the dark alley and hustled them down the street. “Professor Moody shall escort you three up to the Headmaster’s office where I will join you shortly. Now move!” he bellowed. The three burly boys flinched as if struck with a baton and quickly edged their way past the irate father, giving him as wide a berth as possible before meeting up with the grizzled Auror who led them away at wandpoint.

Severus Disapparated on the spot, reappearing outside the gates. He hurried up the snowy path to the main doors, quickly running to the dungeon entrance and letting the shadows swallow him as he descended the marble stairs. He rushed through the twisty corridors, allowing his feet to know the way to his quarters. The door had barely squeaked open before he was through it and down the hallway where he heard murmuring coming from the boys room.

Pushing open the door, he sighed in relied seeing them sitting crosslegged on Draco’s bed, a tumble of their purchases between them. They looked up relieved as well when he came in.

“You’re alright?” he asked, looking them over visually and magically as he passed his wand over them checking for residual spell traces.

“We’re fine, Dad. How’d you know something was up?”

“Miss Granger. She saw them surrounding you and hurried into the pub to let us know. We got there as quick as we could,” he explained, sitting across from them on the edge of Harry’s four-poster.

Harry smiled at Hermione’s quick thinking. “That was decent of her; no one else stopped and helped.” He frowned at the memory of everyone running the opposite direction. He didn’t remember if he had seen the bushy-haired girl or not.

“Actually, we kept being stopped by people telling us what was happening. It slowed us down. But I see you two managed to come out of it unscathed,”

“Thanks to your training, Dad,” Draco acknowledged. “We wouldn’t have lasted as long, otherwise.” Harry nodded his agreement.

“It’s what kept us focused enough to get the chance to Portkey home.” He picked at a piece of fuzz on Draco’s counterpane. “So did you catch them?”

“Hmm, yes. Hagrid is watching over Nott, Crabbe and Goyle and Moody is taking Krum and his lackeys up to Albus’ office. If you are both alright, I should lower the boom on my Slytherins.”

“We’re fine. Go give yourself a Christmas present and ream their ...” Harry squeaked when Draco clapped both of his hands over Harry’s mouth. Harry glared over his shoulder at his brother, but Draco was unrelenting, just smiling beatifically.

Severus chuckled darkly to himself as he gracefully rose to his feet and exited the bedroom. Yes, he believed he would have fun with this set of detentions. He had such a mass of fine ingredients that needed preparing for the next term.