Ghosts of Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All

Stave 2

"Severus," a soft female voice called, rousing him from his sleep. "Severus, wake up," the voice called again, and he was about to demand what they were doing in his chambers and yell at them to get out when he opened his eyes and stared into the transparent face of Lily Potter.

"L-Lily?" Severus mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

She smiled at him gently. "I am the ghost of Christmas Past. Come, Severus, take my hand, we have a lot to see and little time in which to see it."

Severus took her proffered hand, and the next thing he knew, they were in the living room of a Muggle house. He snorted derisively when he saw the many beautifully wrapped gifts beneath a large Douglas-Fir tree that was decorated with the same meticulousness as the gifts beneath it.

Lily looked at him appraisingly. "Do you know where we are, Severus?"

"Well, seeing that you are the ghost of the past, I can only assume that this is the house in which Potter grew up," Severus retorted.

"Yes," Lily said, sorrow in her voice. "I know what you think of my son, Severus," she continued sadly. "But things are not always as they seem."

"What do you mean?" Severus asked.

"Watch," Lily replied, drawing his attention back to the scene before them.

It wasn't long before a large man with an equally large moustache and no neck waddled into the room, sitting down with a sigh, a stupid grin plastered to his piggish face. "All right, Petunia," he called. "You and the boy can come in now."

Severus was about to scoff once again when a tall, thin woman with a long, horse-like face walked into the room with a large boy nearly the size of a baby whale. This wasn't right, Severus thought. This was not the Potter boy. He was about to ask Lily about it, but the ghostly woman held a finger to her lips and motioned to the room before them.

Severus watched as the large boy ripped into all the presents beneath the tree, not leaving a single one. He sighed heavily when he had finished, carelessly tossing each revealed item aside only to grumble that there wasn't enough, and he wanted more. Severus gaped. There had been dozens of presents beneath the tree.

"B-but what about Harry?" Severus asked before he could stop himself. Lily remained quiet, a sad expression on her lovely, youthful face.

Severus turned when he heard the couple trying to placate the large boy, and saw the man rise and go to a small door. Opening it, he reached inside and withdrew a bent wire coat hanger. He also pulled out an old pair of holey socks that were in a bag of old clothes that hadn't been thrown away yet, and headed toward the stairs. He watched as the man banged on the small cupboard door before unlocking it.

"Here boy," he said gruffly and thrust the socks and coat hanger at him before closing and locking the door once more. "All right Dudley," he called, turning around. "We'll help you carry this stuff up to your room, and then we're going out to dinner. We'll get you some more while we're out, okay?"