Surprisingly Potter had raised no arguments when Severus told him he was going to leave his aunt and uncle for good. It only served to prove even further to Severus that taking the boy away was the right thing to do.

No, getting the boy away from Privet drive had not been the problem. In fact it had been almost too easy and he decided that he would teach the boy not to trust strangers so easily sometime soon.

It was when they came upon the subject of magic that the real problems began. Apparently the boy had no problems to believe in a big man in red clothes flying a sleigh pulled by reindeers around the world, but immediately rejected the idea of wizards as impossible. Not even when Severus explained that James and Lily had been magical and attended Hogwarts did the boy want to listen. Having had enough for one night, the headache that had been building for hours now reaching its crescendo, Severus simply grabbed the child and apparated them both away.

They appeared again on a side street in Hogsmeade. Severus maintained his hold on the boy’s arm, holding him steady as he stumbled, and a moment later his shoes had been drowned in the remains of Potter’s dinner.

For a moment Severus stood absolutely still while Potter retched in his arms. Then the putrid smell reached his nose and he let go of the boy. Potter stumbled to the side and fell to his knees, emptying his stomach again.

Severus swore silently to himself. He had forgotten that children and apparition did not mix very well. Well, he would just have to accept the situation as it was now, then. They would not need to apparate again so the worst part should be over already anyway.

With a swing of his wand he vanished the puke on his shoes. Another swing and a muttered charm and he had sent his patronus in advance with orders to wake the headmaster. As troublesome as this night had turned Severus realized that he would have to involve the headmaster.

“Come on Potter. Get up!”

The boy moaned but did as he was told, to Severus’ satisfaction.

“Where are we?” the boy asked, looking around at the new surroundings. “How did we get here? What happened?”

“We are in Hogsmeade,” Severus said, starting to walk towards the castle. “I apparated us here, with magic. It’s a common way for wizards to get from one location to another.”

“I don’t think I like magic very much.”

“You will learn.”

For a while they walked in silence, Potter struggling to keep up with the longer strides of Severus and Severus too thin on patience to slow said stride.

“Sir? Where are we going?” Potter asked after a while.

“I told you, to Hogwarts.”

“And Hogwarts really is a magical school where my mom and dad learned magic?”

“Yes.”

“And you are one of the teachers?”

“Indeed, though the term “Professor” would be more accurate.”

“You don’t look much like a wizard.”

“Are you questioning my ability to perform magic?”

“No, no, not at all. It’s just that I thought wizards were supposed to be older, you know?”

“One is not born old, Mr. Potter.”

The more questions Potter asked the quicker Severus walked, forcing Potter to run to keep up with him. Soon enough they had left the village behind them and started the climb towards Hogwarts. They rounded a curve in the path and the Hogwarts castle was in full view. Behind him Severus could hear Potter gasp.

“That is Hogwarts?”

“What had you expected? A pile of ruins?”

Severus led the boy up to the castle. In the corner of his eye he could see Potter looking around with huge, twinkling eyes.

In the Entrance Hall they were met by the headmaster, dressed in his red night robe and a matching nightcap, and Severus steeled himself. Dumbledore had been the one to place Potter at his relatives’ house and surely he would not be happy about Severus taking the boy away.

“Severus, what’s the meaning of this?” Dumbledore asked, his voice low and soft, containing only the barest touch of disappointment.

A pair of small hands attached themselves to Severus’ cloak and suddenly the Potter boy was pressing himself tightly against Severus. Severus glanced down at the boy, confused. Potter was watching the headmaster.

“I did as you suggested, Headmaster,” Severus explained. “I went to see how the boy was and found that is living conditions were beneath all standards.”

“Surely you must be exaggerating, Severus?”

“I assure you that I am not.”

“I was told the boy was just fine!”

“Of course he is. If “fine” includes being made to sleep in a cupboard underneath the stairs, or being sent to bed without dinner for days on end, or being pushed around and slapped for the smallest of reasons.”

His voice was heavy with irony and he glared at the elder man, daring him to oppose Severus’ decision. For a moment the headmaster’s face was just blank and Severus feared that perhaps the headmaster had known about these things after all.

“Are you sure, Severus?”

Now the headmaster sounded simply old and tired. Some of the anger left Severus. It seemed that there would be no need for him to fight the headmaster over this.

“I am,” he confirmed.

They exchanged a look that clearly said that they would be speaking more about the subject later, when they were alone, before the headmaster turned to Harry, who was still clinging to Severus’ robes.

“Hello Harry. Won’t you come closer so I can have a better look at you?”

Harry shook his head and pressed even closer to Severus, hiding his face against Severus’ back. It was an odd feeling, having a child pressed so closely to one’s body, and Severus was not at all sure that he liked it.

“Why not, Harry? Come on, my boy, let me see you!”

Again the boy shook his head. He said something too, but whatever it was it was muffled against Severus back and unintelligible.

“Come on, Potter!” Severus said, trying to push the boy away. “Stop this nonsense!”

“I don’t want to be eaten!” Potter exclaimed, fighting to wrap himself around Severus.

“The headmaster isn’t going to eat you boy!”

“Bud Dudley says that Father Christmas does eat bad boys. Please don’t let him eat me!”

The two adults exchanged a confused glance. Severus could not help but smirk a little as he realized what Potter’s problem was.

“Mr. Potter,” he said, grabbing the boy’s arms and holding him away from his body, “this is Albus Dumbledore. He is the headmaster of Hogwarts. He is not Father Christmas, despite his atrocious clothes.” 

“But he looks like Santa!” Potter insisted.

“And your uncle looks like a walrus but that doesn’t make him one, does it?”

Stopping to think about that for a moment Potter tilted his head a little.

“I guess not,” Potter admitted.

“So say hello to the headmaster. He’s not going to eat you.”

Still the boy did not look overly convinced but he did as Severus told him and turned towards the headmaster.

“Hello, sir,” he said.

“Hello, Harry, my boy. I can assure you that there is no need to be afraid of me.”

“If you say so, sir …”

Dumbledore smiled at the boy and stuck one hand into one of his pockets, searching for something.

“Would you like a lemon drop?” he asked, holding out a sweet towards the boy.

Potter eyed the candy suspiciously before he took it. As Potter placed the sweet into his mouth Dumbledore smiled and turned to Severus again.

“We’ll have to make some sort of arrangements for him in the morning but until then, would you mind letting the boy sleep in your quarters, Severus?”

His immediate instinct was to say yes and refuse to take the boy in. Then he looked down at the boy and noticed that he was still standing much closer to him than to Dumbledore. It had been a long night and apparently the boy had decided, for whatever reason, that Severus was trustworthy.

“Fine,” he said. “But it is only for one night.”

“Wonderful! Now, I believe it is time we all go to bed. Breakfast is only in a few hours.”

They parted and Severus headed down to the dungeons where his quarters lay, Potter following behind as he tried to eye the Christmas decorations put up randomly throughout the school.

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King!”

As they passed a suit of armor the blasted thing began to sing. Severus tried to ignore it, as he always did, but Potter jumped and stared at it with huge eyes.

“Is that thing singing?” he asked.

“Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing …”

“Obviously, Potter, now come along.”

“How is it doing that?”

Instead of doing as told Potter slowly stepped closer to the suit of armor, head tilted to the side as he eyed it. This seemed to cheer the armor on and it began to dance as well.

“Joy to the world, the savior reigns. Let men their songs employ!”

“Wonderful, now it’s going to continue doing that all night! Come on Potter!”

With a, perhaps a little brusque, grip on Potter’s arm Severus dragged the boy along. It had been a long day, for both him and the boy probably, and Severus wanted nothing more than to get some sleep.

“These are my quarters, Potter,” Severus explained, once they had reached them. “This is the living room, the bathroom is over there.”

Curiously the boy looked around at the place where he would spend the rest of the night. Severus was already starting to regret his decision. Did he want a small child in his quarters even for one night? No! Too many things could go wrong.

“You are not allowed to touch anything, is that understood?”

He waited for Potter to nod before he continued.

“You’ll sleep on the couch, for tonight. I’ll be in my bedroom, over there, and you are not to come bother me unless there is a dire emergency. Are there any questions so far?”

“No sir.”

“Then you should go to bed.”

“May I use the bathroom first?”

While Potter used the bathroom Severus got out a blanket and a pillow for Potter to use. It would not be very comfortable to sleep on the couch but compared to sleeping in a cupboard it would have to do, at least for now.

“Why don’t you have any Christmas decorations, sir?” Potter wondered when he returned.

“Because decorations are foolish nonsense that serve no purpose what so ever. No get on the couch!”

Potter did as told, pulling the blanket over him and resting his head against the pillow. Severus was just about to leave the room when Potter spoke again.

“Thank you sir, for doing all of this.”

He closed his eyes and just a few moments later Severus could tell that Potter was asleep.

Severus went into his bedroom, muttering silently about dunderheaded boys and how unnecessary it was with decorations for Christmas, or any other time of the year for that matter.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

On the morning of Christmas day Severus woke to the sound of laughter. Before he was fully awake he wrinkled his eyebrows in thought, wondering where this sound was coming from. Laughter was rarely heard in his presence and especially not in his quarters. Then the memories of last night returned.

“Potter!” he swore silently.

The boy must be up to something. He should have known better than to leave the boy alone for even a moment!

Quickly he pulled his night robe on and put his feet into a pair of slippers. If Potter thought he could do as he pleased in Severus’ quarters then Severus would very soon teach him that so was not the case!

“Mr. Potter, what are you …”

For once in his life Severus found himself speechless as he entered his living room. Where there had only a few, short hours ago been bare walls and a distinctive lack of decorations, there were now holly hanging on the walls, a Christmas tree standing in one corner, complete with a few colorfully wrapped packages beneath it, and even a little puppet dancing and singing on a Christmas Carol. It was the doll that had Potter’s attention and it upped its ante at the boy’s obvious appreciation.

“What, exactly, do you think you are doing, Mr. Potter?” Severus asked once he had regained his composure again.

“Oh, good morning Mr. Snape. And Merry Christmas!”

“Oh Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!” the puppet sang.

The smile the boy flashed his way did nothing to appease Severus’ ire.

“I repeat, Mr. Potter; what do you think you are doing?”

“Oh, what fun it is to ride, in a one horse open sleigh!”

“I’m just watching the doll, Mr. Snape. I haven’t touched anything. Unless you count the couch, or the blanket and the pillow, or the floor, or …”

“That’s enough, Potter. How did all of this get in here?”

He gestured around the room. The puppet had grown silent, apparently sensing that its singing was no longer welcome. At least it seemed to be more sensitive that way than the suits of armor in the rest of the castle, Severus thought to himself.

“I don’t know, sir. I thought maybe you did it?”

“I most certainly did not!”

“Oh, well, then I don’t know. Perhaps it’s some sort of magic?”

With that the boy turned back to the doll, which eagerly began to sing and dance again. Severus scowled and headed towards the bathroom. If he was not mistaken he had a headache potion in one of the cupboards and it looked like he would need it.

Once he emerged from a long, cold shower Severus felt much better about himself. He thought he had figured things out and could not wait to confront his suspect.

“Get dressed, Potter!” Severus ordered. “Breakfast in the Great Hall starts in ten minutes.”

While the boy used the bathroom Severus went up to the Christmas three and took a closer look at the presents beneath it. There were three of them; two for Potter and one, surprisingly, for Severus. All three were from “Santa”, though that was obviously the kind of nonsense that only a certain headmaster would come up with to hide his own involvement.

“I’m ready, sir.”

Together they made their way through the corridors and up to the Great Hall. There were only a few students awake yet and, though they glanced curiously, they did not pay too much attention to the little boy following their Potions Professor to the head table. Potter for his part seemed barely aware of the students, being much too occupied staring at the huge Christmas trees or the magical snow falling from the ceiling.

“Good morning, my boys! Had a nice night, I hope?” Dumbledore greeted them cheerily.

“I did, headmaster, until I awoke this morning to find what state my quarters had been reduced to!” Severus replied icily.

Though Potter gave the headmaster a quick smile he chose the chair that gave him the most possible space between himself and the headmaster.

“Something happened to your quarters, my boy?”

“Don’t pretend like you do not know anything about …” Severus began, only to be interrupted a moment later.

“Go on Harry, my boy, take some breakfast. I myself am especially fond of this jam. Try some, won’t you?”

Seemingly oblivious to the icy glare Severus was sending him the headmaster passed a jar of jam towards Potter, who accepted it and hesitantly put it on a piece of bread.

“I’m sorry, Severus. You were saying ..?”

“I was saying that my quarters are in an abominable state and I really do think that there should be some acceptance as to other people’s privacy!”

“What’s happened to your quarters, Severus?”

“Don’t act like you do not know what I am talking about!”

“I’m afraid I really do not know what you are referring to, Severus.”

Their eyes met. After a few moments Severus looked away. There were only truth in the headmaster’s eyes and though he could most certainly be a convincing liar Severus did not believe he was lying this time.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” Dumbledore suggested. 

“There were … Several items of questionable character and origin had without my validation been placed at various places throughout my rooms.”

“I suppose it is not Dark Arts Artifacts you mean by “items of questionable character and origin”, or I suspect this conversation would have been entirely different.”

“Someone has seen fit to decorate my rooms in the most ridiculous adornments!”

For a moment the two adults just stared at each other. The surprise on Dumbledore’s face was genuine.

“They are not ridiculous at all, sir, if you don’t mind me saying so. I don’t believe even Aunt Petunia has anything quite like it,” Potter commented.

The boy took another bite from his bread. Dumbledore chuckled and Severus scowled. Since when did Potter have the right to have an opinion about how Severus’ quarters should look?

“Yes, Christmas at Hogwarts is something quite special,” the headmaster agreed.

“It sure is! Did you know there is a suit of armor that sings Christmas Carols? And last night it even danced!”

“I know they tend to embrace the spirit of the season, yes.”

“And there was this puppet in Mr. Snape’s living room that sang and danced, and there was a Christmas tree and holly and, and …”

Whatever the boy continued to say Severus tuned it out. He had never been a very festive man and generally preferred peace and quiet to any holiday.

“I suppose you haven’t gotten any presents yet, Harry. We’ll have to see what we can dig out,” the headmaster said towards the end of breakfast.

“I’ll get presents?”

“Of course. No reason to have a Christmas tree if there are no gifts to place beneath it.”

“There were presents too,” Potter confided.

“Really now? Did you have a closer look?”

Blushing a little Potter looked down, casting a quick glance at Severus.

“I did,” he admitted. “I looked at one of them and it said for Mr. Snape. I didn’t touch anything, though. I’m not supposed to touch.”

With Potter looking for all the world like he expected to be scolded Severus found he did not even want to berate the child. After all, Potter was a young boy in a magical castle at Christmas and he had so far behaved amazingly well.

“I believe,” Severus said, raising his cup of tea to his lips, “that the other two gifts were addressed to you, Mr. Potter, and not me.”

“There were presents for me? Really?”

Astonishment laced the boy’s voice. Severus nodded. Immediately the boy smiled, a huge and wide smile that would have looked entirely Potter had it not been for Lily’s glittering eyes.

“Can we go back, sir? Can I open them? Please?”

“Finish your breakfast first and then we’ll go.”

Very carefully Severus ignored the meaningful look Dumbledore was giving him, as Potter finished his breakfast within moments and dragged Severus with him out of the Great Hall.

“I didn’t think I’d get any presents,” the boy told him. “Who do you think it’s from?”

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la …” the armor began to sing as they passed it.

“Aunt and Uncle said they wouldn’t get me anything this year,” Potter continued, not giving Severus a chance to answer. “Do you think they changed their mind? I suppose not but who else would give me anything?”

Lily had talked too much and too fast when she was nervous or excited, Severus remembered. Had her son inherited the habit?

Finally they reached Severus’ quarters and Potter practically dove underneath the Christmas tree, coming out with the three presents.

“Uhm … this one’s for you, sir,” he said, pushing one of the presents towards Severus. “This one’s for … me! And this one too!”

Picking up the gift that was for him Severus sat on the couch. Turning the package over in his hands he tried to figure out what it might be. It felt like a book but that was all he could make out. Who would send him a book and claim that it was from Santa?

“Oh, candy!”

Looking up from his own presents Severus noticed that Potter had unwrapped his first gift, which was a box filled to the brim with sweets. From what Severus could see there were both muggle candy and wizard sweets.

“What’s this? Chocolate frogs? I’ve never seen these before. Don’t think Dudley’s ever had any.”

As Potter opened the box the frog jumped and a chase around the living room ensued.

“Calm down Potter!”

There really was not much need for the order because Potter was very careful in his chase, in the way only one used to being scolded for everything and nothing would be. Nevertheless Potter calmed down and Severus would not have to worry about his rooms being torn down because of a thoughtless child.

Slowly Severus unwrapped his own gift to reveal a green book. He turned it over to see the front where he could read the words ‘Raising a Magical Child; A Helpful Guide on How to Encourage and Discipline a Magical Child’.

Scoffing he threw the book aside. Obviously this was some sort of joke.

“Cool! It’s awesome! What is it?”

Again focusing on Potter he learned that Potter had now opened the second gift, which was, much to Severus’ horror, a toy broom. The toy was red and green and had a comfortable seat for the flyer to sit on.

“It’s a broom,” Severus moaned.

“I know it’s a broom! But it’s no regular broom, is it? It looks nothing like the usual ones.”

Who was so cruel as to set this up? Here he was with Lily’s child, which also happened to be the spawn of James Potter, and someone saw fit to gift the boy with a broom of all things! Was someone trying to make this Christmas miserable for him?

“Wow!”

And now, while Severus had been feeling sorry for himself, Potter had managed to get the damn thing to levitate a few feet off the ground.

“I think I might like magic after all,” Potter stated, standing up.

“Do not mount that broom inside!” Severus immediately said, sternly.

Potter froze, that obviously having been his plan, and looked hesitantly at Severus.

Lily’s eyes. Potter’s face. Lily’s pouting lip when she really wanted something but could not get it. Potter’s natural handling of the broom. The headache potion he had ingested earlier would not be enough.

“That is a flying broom, Mr. Potter. It is not to be used inside. If you wish to ride it you will do so outside, where there are more room and less likely for you to crash into a wall. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes sir. May I go outside then?”

Sighing Severus stood and went to get his cloak. It was only for a couple of hours, he told himself. The headmaster would make other, more suitable arrangements and then Severus could go back to his peaceful life. Until then he would just have to make the best of the situation.