Remus and Harry apparated onto the front porch of the Manor, and Remus opened the door without a word, ushering Harry in ahead. As they came into the foyer, they heard Severus in the parlor. Both Remus and Harry looked in to see Severus putting presents underneath the tree. Harry paused for a moment to take in the sheer amount of brightly wrapped gifts before bolting up the stairs.
"What happened?" Severus asked, standing up and dusting off non-existent dirt from his trousers.
"What happened here?" Remus countered. "I thought you said you were only buying him a few things."
Severus glanced down at the gifts and frowned. He lifted his hand and scratched at the back of his neck. "Yes, well, those three aren't his." He pointed to three smaller gifts to the side of the tree and then to another near the middle. "And neither is that one. It's for Jenka."
Remus grinned, "My, my, aren't we in the Christmas spirit?"
Severus glared at his brother before crossing his arms over his chest. "What happened with Harry?"
The reminder brought the day's events back to Remus's mind and he sighed. "I yelled at him, Severus."
Severus raised a brow. "Is that all?"
"Is that all?!" Remus came fully into the room and dropped down onto the arm of the couch. "He'll hate me now."
Severus snorted. "Mum calls me the dramatic one?" When Remus said nothing in return, he sighed. "He could never hate you; he idolizes you. What happened?"
Remus took a moment to fill Severus in on everything that had happened since they had gone into the bookstore, ending with them disapparating back to the Manor. When he was finished, Severus sat quietly.
"Well," Remus started. "What are you waiting for? Go talk to him!" He pointed towards the stairs. "He's clearly upset and you need to fix this."
"How would you have me fix it, Remus? Knowing him, he's upstairs sulking because he knows he did wrong and doesn't want to be in trouble. And in his room is exactly where I would have sent him anyway, so he really is right where he should be."
"I shouldn't have yelled at him." Remus brought his hand up and bit his thumbnail, a habit he had picked up when he was young and had never been able to break. "I should have watched him better."
"And from the sounds of it, he shouldn't have lied and he shouldn't have gone to Knockturn Alley where he knows that he's not allowed to be."
"I lost my temper with him."
Severus shook his head. "No, you didn't. You were upset and you yelled. Then you brought him straight home. I would have done the same thing. I can promise you that Harry holds no ill will towards you. But if you don't believe me, by all means, go talk to him."
"Me?" Remus looked up. "Why not you?"
"I'm not the one he lied to and snuck away from." Snape answered simply.
"Yeah, but you're his parent. Not me. I'm the fun uncle, remember?"
Snape sighed before walking over and taking a seat in his chair, seemingly relaxed as he considered his brother's words.
"I don't do 'pep talks,' Remus," he finally said. "So if that's what you're after, go to Dad. What I can tell you is that if you let Harry get away with this, he will do it again. You know that. We both went through that. 'Fun uncle' or not, he's a teenage boy and he, in particular, has a penchant for mischief. He has to know that he needs to behave with you, and that if he doesn't, he'll have consequences."
"I don't want to give him consequences. That's not my job. It's yours."
"Okay, then," Snape stood up and moved towards the door. "I'll take care of it, but I don't want to hear it later, when you're moaning that I was too hard on him." Snape was nearly to the parlor door when he heard Remus move from the couch. He walked past him muttering a few choice words under his breath. Snape went back to arranging presents under the tree.
***
Remus stilled himself as he knocked lightly on Harry's bedroom door. He didn't hear an answer, so he quietly pushed open the door and peered inside. Harry lounged in his chair with his head on one arm and his legs draped over the other, with a book in his hand, pointedly ignoring him.
"Not going to talk to me, then?" Remus asked and Harry jumped, turning around in his chair.
"I thought you were Snape," he offered as an explanation, before dog-earring the page in his book and closing it. Remus winced at the treatment of the book but said nothing. He mentally added bookmarks to the list of things to buy Harry for Christmas.
Remus came around the chair and took a seat on the edge of the small coffee table in front of Harry. He leaned over and rested his elbows on his knees as he thought about what he wanted to say. Before he had a chance, Harry asked, "Where's Snape?"
"He sent me up instead," Remus answered. "Is that alright?"
Harry shrugged. "Guess so."
Remus ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."
Harry's eyebrows knit together and for a moment, Remus was painfully reminded of James. "It's alright," Harry said seriously. "I shouldn't have lied to you."
"No." Remus sat up straighter. "You shouldn't have. Just like you shouldn't have snuck down to Knockturn Alley and you should have left the Apothecary when Mr. Mulpepper told you to."
"I know," Harry agreed, looking down at his hands in his lap. "I'm sorry."
"Why did you do it?" Harry shrugged and wouldn't answer. "I don't buy that for a second, Harry. You know exactly why."
"I knew you wouldn't let me go, and Draco said it was a really rare ingredient that Snape wouldn't have had. I just wanted to get him something special."
"The gift you already had in mind would have been perfectly special. What was the ingredient anyway?"
"I don't know." Harry shrugged again. "Something called VenomousTentacula leaf or something like that."
Remus groaned. "Merlin, Harry, that's poisonous. You need special gloves to even touch it! No wonder Mulpepper was so angry!"
"I didn't know!" Harry retorted.
"Of course you didn't, you won't learn about that til sixth year! You don't go messing around with things you don't know about, Harry! If you or Draco had managed to actually get that leaf, the moment it touched your bare skin, without an antidote, you would have died!"
"I'm sorry," Harry said, desperately hoping that Remus would understand.
"Not half as sorry as I would have been if I'd had to tell Severus that you had been killed on my watch." Remus watched as Harry dropped his gaze to the floor, his face reddening as he took in his words.
"Alright," Remus said after a moment of thought. "You're going to write me an essay on the Tentacula plant and its leaves."
"What?! But Remus—"
"I want two rolls of parchment on the magical properties it possesses, as well as the poison and what it's used for. I want to know the dangers of it, how it is to be properly handled, and what is needed for the antidote. And I want it on my desk the day that term starts."
"But it's Christmas!" Harry argued. "Can't I do it after?"
"No," said Remus sternly. "You've still got a week and a half before you come back to Hogwarts, and I'm sure Severus has plenty of books in the library that you can use for research." Harry groaned but gave no further argument. He leaned back against the arm of the chair with a huff. For a moment, as Remus watched Harry sulking, he considered telling him to forget it, but ultimately he knew that would do more harm than good. Also, Severus would kill him.
Remus sighed and reached over to put his hand on Harry's arm. "Don't be angry with me, cub. You knew you would get into trouble if you got caught. That's just the way it is. But I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you. You have to understand that."
Harry looked up at him then. "I do, and I am sorry, Remus." Remus nodded and started to move away. "Cub?" Harry asked suddenly.
Remus smiled and ducked his head. "Sorry. It's something I used to call you when you were a baby. Suppose you've outgrown that now."
Harry grinned shyly, as if he didn't actually want Remus to see him smile. "It's fine."
Remus could have sworn he could actually feel his heart swell with happiness in that moment, and it took everything in him not to reach out and hug the boy.
"Right, then," Remus said. "Before you get started on the essay, do you want to work on that gift you had planned for Severus?"
Harry nodded before getting up and moving over to his desk so that they could work on the new project. Remus made another mental note to thank Severus for the pep talk.
***
"Snape, come on!" Harry whined as he waited for him to finish the page of the book he was reading. "Please!"
"I do not bake cookies," Snape replied without even glancing up.
"But they're for Christmas dinner, Snape," Harry pleaded. "Minnie will be disappointed if we don't bake them."
"Then bake them with her."
Harry groaned. "That's not the same!" He walked over to the couch and dropped down into it with such a dramatic sigh that Snape actually took his eyes off of his book just to glare at him.
"Whining will get you nowhere," he commented, turning the page and pretending not to notice the glare that Harry was shooting back at him.
"I'll just make them myself then," Harry said as he stood back up and left the parlor without another word.
Snape settled back into his chair and began to read. That is, until a familiar pop sounded and he sighed before lowering his book once more. "Hello, Jenka." The house-elf scowled at him. "Is there something you needed?" Jenka didn't answer, though the way she crossed her arms over her small chest and continued to stare at Snape made it quite clear what she was thinking. "You heard him," he said, "he can bake them himself." Again, Jenka didn't make a sound. She simply continued to glare at him with her big blue eyes, until at last Snape put down his book. "Alright, alright!"
He stood up and walked past Jenka, who smiled brightly behind his back and then disappeared with another pop. Snape came into the kitchen and found Harry already hard at work, measuring out cups of flour and sugar. As he began to roll up his sleeves, Harry glanced over with a frown.
"If you tell anyone about this," Snape said, moving to stand next to Harry, "I'll—"
"Turn me into a potion ingredient? Make me scrub cauldrons with a toothbrush?"
"Harry —"
"Oh! I know! You'll force me to hang out with Filch and listen to him ramble on about the Queen?" Harry grinned as he began to mix the ingredients together in a large bowl.
"How do you know about that?" Snape asked, spreading a bit of flour onto the counter so that they could roll out the cookie dough when it was ready.
Harry laughed. "Everyone knows about that. He reads the Muggle tabloids when he supervises detention."
"I know. He has always kept up with the Royals. Here—" He handed Harry the rolling pin and reached across the counter to pick up the cookie cutters, picking up each one to inspect it before laying them out in a neat row next to the dough.
Harry paused in his rolling to look at the cutters. He pointed a flour-covered hand at one and said, "Is that a hippogriff?"
"It is." He picked up the metal hippogriff and passed it to Harry.
"I've never seen wizard cookie cutters before. Just the Muggle ones with angels and Christmas trees."
"We have those, too," Snape said as he pointed to a few of them.
The pair worked together for a bit as they cut out shapes and placed them carefully on the pan. Harry talked about the fun he'd had the night before at the Weasley's Christmas party. Snape relented that it hadn't been the worst time he'd ever had, though a big part was simply the fact that it was something Harry had wanted to do and Snape had found himself unable to say no. Mrs. Weasley had, of course, given him a knitted Christmas sweater, but thankfully hadn't insisted that he put it on. She had smiled happily when he had thanked her and then hugged him, much to his embarrassment.
When the first set was ready for the oven, Harry picked up the dough so that he could roll it out once more. However, he dropped it back onto the counter, causing it to knock into the flour container, which turned it over and caused flour to fly up into the air. Harry noticed in time and jumped backward so that none of it landed on him. Snape was not so lucky. Harry couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face as Snape looked down to see the front of his black robes now covered in white powder.
Snape slowly lifted his eyes to see Harry biting down hard on his bottom lip to keep from laughing. "This is funny?"
Harry nodded. "Hysterical." Snape narrowed his eyes and Harry watched as his hand went slowly towards the mess of flour on the counter. Harry's grin faded. "Snape?" He took a step backward while keeping his eyes on his guardian. "Snape, no. It was an accident." Snape took a handful of the flour and moved towards Harry. "And, hey," Harry said, backing further away, "at least you're wearing your robes! You know, all those anti-staining spells?"
That seemed to be the last straw for Snape and he tossed the flour at Harry, hitting him right in the chest. The flour spread when it hit and Harry waved his hand in front of his face to clear it away. "Alright," Harry nodded. "If you're sure you want to play this game?"
Snape smirked. "I'm sure."
Harry made a run for the counter and grabbed the whole canister of flour. He held it in one arm as he ran around the kitchen island so that it stood between him and Snape, then he reached into the canister and grabbed a handful, flinging it at Snape who dodged it easily on his way to get a handful of his own. Harry was faster though, and had already sent another, much larger, handful towards him. This one caught him on the right shoulder and got into his hair, turning the ebony strands white. Harry laughed, then had to duck to avoid being hit by a second attack from Snape. He watched as this one flew above his head and splattered against the back wall.
"Missed me!" Harry called as he crawled around to the side of the island to see where Snape was now. He frowned when Snape wasn't where he thought he should be and so he popped up quickly. Snape, however, had been right behind him. Harry felt the coolness of the flour as it hit the top of his head and trickled down his neck and back. Some even spilled down the front of his face, though somehow it managed to miss his eyes entirely.
Harry turned around slowly to face Snape who was still smirking down at him. Harry narrowed his eyes and blew out a breath, sending more flour towards Snape. Snape raised an eyebrow before taking a step towards him. Harry was off again, this time abandoning the flour container in favor of other things, like the cookie dough itself.
Several minutes later, the once-pristine kitchen looked like a bakery had exploded. Cookie dough and flour were everywhere: on the floor, the walls, the counters, even on the ceiling. Harry and Snape were absolutely covered in it and standing on opposite ends of the kitchen. Harry had armed himself with a pot lid which he was using as a shield and was once more crouched down behind the island. Snape had stood the table over on its side so that he could hide behind it, and was now the holder of the flour, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
"Do you give up?" he called out to Harry.
Harry laughed. "Never! I'm a Gryffindor. I'm nothing if not determined."
Just then they heard the floo, and Harry, knowing that Remus would be coming by, yelled out for him. "Remus! Help!"
A second later Remus came running into the kitchen, only to freeze just inside the doorway, "What in the bloody he—" He was hit in the arm with flour. "Oi!"
"Snape did it!" Harry was quick to blame as he stood up, his hands raised in surrender. "I was trying to give up and he just kept at it."
"What?!" Snape exclaimed as he too stood up from his hiding place. "You just said—"
Remus was glaring at them both and Harry dropped his gaze automatically. "You two realize that dinner is in half an hour, right?"
"He started it!" Snape accused, pointing a finger at Harry.
"No, I didn't!"
"I don't care who started it," Remus snapped. "Clean it up. Then clean yourselves up and come on over. Mum's waiting." Just then, a bit of cookie dough that had previously been on the ceiling fell directly on top of Remus's shoulder. Harry and Snape both stifled laughter as Remus glared at the offending spot before reaching up and removing it. He pinched off a bit and stuck it in his mouth as he walked closer to them. "Not bad, cub," he said. "Needs a bit more sugar though." Then, Remus took the rest of the dough and plopped it on the top of Harry's nose with a grin.
Harry groaned, "Aw, Remus!"
Remus walked back into the living room with a laugh, leaving the two of them to clean up the mess.
***
Snape and Harry set to work on cleaning the kitchen. This really meant that Snape started a cleaning spell that caused brooms and towels to float around by themselves while the two of them finished the cookies, or what was left of them anyway. Harry set up his decorating station over on the now-upright table, telling Snape to decorate his cookies somewhere else so that he couldn't see what he was working on.
When they had finished, and the kitchen was once again clean enough to pass Jenka's inspections, Harry and Snape went upstairs to clean themselves before heading to Albus and Minerva's house for dinner.
They had just stepped through the floo, Snape carrying presents and Harry holding on nervously to the cookies, when Minerva came into the living room from where she had been cooking in the kitchen. "There you both are!" she exclaimed with a frown. "I was beginning to wonder if you were coming at all!"
"They were a little distracted, Mum," Remus said, coming down the stairs and helping Snape put the presents underneath the tree.
"I can see that," Minerva replied as Harry handed her the cookies. She looked closely at Harry, scrutinizing his appearance before she raised an eyebrow. "You've got flour in your hair, dear."
Harry immediately started running his hands through his hair in an attempt to get the missed spot, but he only succeeded in causing the still damp hair to stand up at odd angles. Severus smirked and waved his wand in Harry's direction. A second later, Harry felt his hair drying completely before what felt like a comb was attacking him, yanking slightly on his hair to get out the tangles and force it to lay flat.
"Ow!" Harry protested as he tried to move away from the comb. "Make it stop, Snape!"
The comb disappeared suddenly and Harry glared at Severus, who only followed Minerva into the kitchen.
Remus took a seat on the arm of the couch. "How's the essay coming?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Do you know how long two rolls of parchment is, Remus?!"
"I'm aware. Does this mean you're still angry at me?"
Harry scuffed the toe of his trainer against the carpet as he looked down. "No," he admitted quietly. "Are you mad at me?"
"Of course not," Remus replied, standing up and moving towards Harry. He wrapped his arm around Harry, bringing him in for a hug. Harry returned it, breathing in the now familiar, woodsy scent that he had begun to associate with the older man.
Remus pulled away after a moment and smiled down at Harry. "I'm not angry at you. I never was. At least, not much anyway. I was scared. You could have been—"
"I know, I know. Snape lectured me for hours after you left the other day."
"Hours?"
"Close enough." Harry grinned, and just then, Snape reappeared in the doorway. He crooked a finger in Harry's direction and Harry shrugged at Remus before following him into the kitchen.
Snape walked over to the counter, where Harry's cookies sat in a tin container, and pointed at one "Is this supposed to be me?" he asked with a glare.
Harry looked at the cookie in question before biting his lip to hide his grin. The cookie that Snape was pointing at had been cut into a vaguely Snape-like shape and decorated to look like him. At least, that had been the intent. "Well," Harry started slowly, "it was supposed to be an owl, but something happened to it in the oven, probably because you were throwing flour at me, and it sort of turned out all wonky, and then I tried to fix it but that didn't work either. So since it was all your fault anyway, I decided to try and make it look like you instead and that's what I ended up with."
Behind him, Harry heard Remus try to pass off a laugh as a cough, and Snape glared at him. Minerva, always on Harry's side, said, "Well, I think they're just fine. Thank you for making them for us, Harry."
"I helped!" said Severus, turning away from Remus to pick up one of the cookies— a perfectly iced snowflake— and holding it up for everyone to see.
"Oh, go set the table, Severus," Minerva said as she replaced the lid over the cookies before turning to check turkey in the oven.
"Yeah, Sev," Remus added with a laugh. "Go set the table."
"Remus, you can help," Minerva said with such a glare that Remus simply turned away from her. "Harry, would you please go upstairs and find Albus. He's in his study, I think. Let him know that dinner is almost ready."
Harry nodded and left the kitchen, hearing grumbles from both Snape and Remus as he went.
***
Dinner was wonderful, as every dinner he had at the cottage was, and when everyone was full to bursting, Albus tapped the table so that it cleared itself. "I think that tonight the kitchen can clean itself," he said before waving his wand and smiling as several Christmas crackers appeared on the table in front of each of them. Snape rolled his eyes, but Harry and Remus both grabbed for one at the same time. Albus himself already had one in his hand as well and he opened it with a loud bang. Blue smoke filled the air.
"Oh, look," he commented as he pulled out the contents of the cracker. "A pirate hat!" He took off his own and replaced it with the new one as Harry glanced down at the one in his own hand. He held it out to Snape, who grudgingly tugged on the other end. When it cracked open, sending more blue smoke into the air, several multi-colored butterflies came out. Harry watched as they flew up and around the table for a few seconds before they exploded, turning into a shower of glitter that floated down around them. Snape scowled as he brushed pink and green glitter from his shoulders.
Once all the crackers had been opened (Snape had even opened one or two himself), the group gathered in the living room. Albus sat in an armchair beside the tree so that he could easily reach the presents. He first picked up a small, square gift wrapped in sparkling blue paper and passed it to Harry, who sat between Severus and Remus on the couch.
"That, my dear boy, is from Minerva and me."
"We really hope you like it, Harry," Minerva added.
Harry carefully began to remove the wrapping, trying not to rip into the paper. Inside was a small box that Harry opened to find what appeared to be a snow globe. The glass orb was attached to a pedestal which gave it the appearance of the crystal balls in Professor Trewlaney's classroom. Upon closer inspection, however, Harry noticed that it was empty inside. He looked up to Albus, wondering if he must be missing something, but the older wizard simply smiled. "I'm sorry," said Harry as he blushed. "I don't understand."
Remus nudged him and leaned down to whisper, "Just shake it, Harry."
Harry did as he was told and shook the glass ball. Immediately the inside began to shimmer as the figure of a person began to materialize. It was Albus, smiling up at him with that same twinkle in his eye. The minute replica of the Headmaster waved happily before nodding his head to Harry and saying, "Happy Christmas, Harry!"
"Wicked," Harry said with a wide grin. When the Albus inside the globe disappeared, Harry shook it again. This time, Minerva appeared, swirling into focus in her dark green robes and tall, black hat. She, too, was smiling up at him. "We love you very much, Harry. We are so glad that you've become a part of our family."
He glanced over to see the real Minerva smiling at him, her eyes glassy as she held back tears. "Thank you," Harry breathed.
"There's each one of us in there," Remus said. "It's charmed, so we won't say the same things each time. So it's always like a new surprise."
Harry looked down at the ball and shook it again. Sure enough, Snape appeared. He didn't smile, but he raised an eyebrow up at him and smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Behave, you cheeky brat," the miniature Snape said, making Harry laugh.
"Love you, too, Snape," he said to the ball before shaking it for the last time, bringing Remus into focus. Snape reached over and ruffled his hair but said nothing.
The Remus inside the ball was grinning mischievously. "Don't forget to have a bit of fun, cub. Or else you'll grow up boring like Sevy." He winked at Harry before disappearing. Above Harry's head, Snape glared at Remus who only grinned in response.
"Alright," Remus said. "Mine next."
Albus reached for two gifts that were off to the side of the tree, wrapped in red and gold paper and emblazoned all over with the Gryffindor crest. One was very large, while the other one was quite small. "And no taking your time with it," Remus demanded. "Tear into it! No one cares about the paper!"
At those words, Harry did as he was told and found a bright, gleaming red sled inside. He wondered briefly how Remus had made it appear to be a box but found his excitement about the sled outweighed his curiosity. "This is mine?!" Harry exclaimed, his eyes bright as he took in the sleek design.
"I reckon you've never had one of these before," Remus said as he moved to the edge of the couch so that he could run his hand along the top of the sled. "It's had a few magical tweaks of course," he was saying as he pointed to the curved front. "Like a feature that causes trees or other things in your path to jump out of the way. Also, it's built to give you extra speed without the added risk of flying off."
"Just what he needs," Snape chimed in, though he was ignored by both Harry and Remus; they were both absolutely entranced by the sled. Remus leaned down so that he was close enough to Harry so that he could whisper without being overheard.
"It's also got a secret feature, but I'll have to show you that later."
Harry grinned up at him. "Brilliant! I can't wait to show Ron! Can we take it out?"
"No," Snape said flatly and Harry turned around.
"Please, Snape. Just for a bit?"
"No, it's already dark outside. You can wait until tomorrow." Harry opened his mouth to protest further but Snape raised his hand. "You have more gifts to open, Harry. Including another one from Remus."
Harry turned back to the gifts. He had forgotten about the smaller one and immediately reached to open it. Inside, he found a Christmas card that had a picture of a snowy scene on the front. Glancing at Remus, he opened it slowly. As expected, a red balloon inflated by itself and floated up from the card before popping in front of him.
"Remus!" Minerva scolded but Harry only laughed. Aside from the balloon, something else fell from the card. Harry reached down and picked it up. It was a bookmark, nothing fancy, just a thin, green card with words written in a swirly, silver font. Harry turned it sideways so that he could read it. "So you don't have to crease the corners of perfectly good books. -Remus." Harry grinned up at him and rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Remus."
"One more for Harry before Severus and Remus exchange their socks and candy." Albus smiled knowingly and winked at Harry before handing him his last gift: another small, rectangle one wrapped in plain, green paper. A card attached to the top said that it was from Snape.
Harry unwrapped it and opened the black box that was inside. There he found a small strip of leather that had what appeared to be a family crest burned into the center. He looked closely to see that a phoenix with its wings spread wide was on the inside, with a knight's helmet on top. "Dumbledore" was written in bold letters on a banner below it.
"It's a cuff for your wrist," Snape explained. Harry held out his left wrist and Snape fastened the strap around it.
"It's sort of a family tradition," Remus added. "We've all got something with the crest on it. Mum has a necklace, I've got a cuff, similar to yours, and Dad and Sev both have rings."
Snape held out his right hand and tapped his ring finger with his left hand. A silver ring appeared where a second before there had been nothing. "They're all charmed to only be visible if we wish them to be," Snape answered Harry's unasked question. "Yours has a few extra protective charms in place." He tapped Harry's cuff with his wand and immediately a soft glow surrounded it for a moment before it faded away. "It cannot be lost. Even if you take it off and forget it somewhere, it will always show up on your wrist. If you tap it, it will disappear like ours, but if you are ever hurt or in a dangerous situation, just cover the crest with your palm. It turns the cuff into a portkey that will bring you directly to our quarters."
Harry nodded as he continued to stare at it, taking in every detail. "What if someone takes it?" he asked absently.
Snape shook his head. "No one can take it. It's charmed to be impossible to remove by anyone but you."
"Won't people wonder about it having the crest on it?" Harry looked between the adults in the room. "I mean, if everything is supposed to stay a secret, this would give it away, wouldn't it?"
"Only we can see the crest as it truly is, Harry," said Albus. "To anyone else, it will simply appear to be a rather nice leather bracelet."
"Thank you," Harry said, leaning against Snape. "Really, it's perfect."
"You're welcome, Harry," Snape said as he wrapped one arm around Harry in a quick hug.
"Alright, my turn!" Remus said, taking the gift Albus was offering him. "I can't wait to see them!" He said in fake enthusiasm as he tore into the wrapping. A moment later, he pulled out a pair of black and white spotted socks. "Just what I always wanted!" Remus exclaimed. "Cow socks."
Snape smirked, "This year I added something new to them. A little surprise for when you put them on."
Harry half expected Remus to look nervous, but instead, he only grinned wider. "Fantastic!" he said. "I added something fun to yours as well."
Snape's face fell slightly as he took the gift Albus was now holding out to him.
"Boys," Minerva said, now slightly on edge. "We are not having a repeat of the sixth year prank war. Is that clear?"
"Sure, Mum," Remus said as he watched Snape open the gift. Harry looked over to see what was inside, but it just looked like regular chocolates to him.
"What did you do to them?" Snape asked warily.
"Why do you care? You never eat them, right?"
"Remus," Snape said sternly as he picked up a chocolate and sniffed it before replacing it in the container, much to Remus's amusement.
Harry leaned over and quietly whispered to Remus, "What did you do to them?"
"Absolutely nothing," Remus whispered back.
Harry didn't even try to contain his laughter.
***
Harry woke early the next morning: Christmas morning. He crawled out of bed and crept downstairs. The lamps were low and cast barely any light for Harry to see by, but he had no problem finding his way in the dark. He sat crossed-legged on the floor and stared up at the tree, mesmerized by the way the soft lights flickered on and off. Harry had never seen a Christmas tree so beautiful. Not even Aunt Petunia's trees back at Privet Drive could hold a candle to this one.
He couldn't believe it had been six months since he had come to live with Snape. He had gained more in this time than during his entire life with the Dursleys. That he was staring at a tree that had been filled to the brim with presents that were for him was proof of that fact.
Harry was sure that his very first Christmas there had been presents. There had to have been, but after that, the first real gifts he had ever been given were after he came to Hogwarts. He was quite certain that none of these held coat hangers or a single missing sock. Dudley wouldn't be able to take any of these. He wouldn't have to worry about them being broken either.
Harry absently ran his thumb over the leather cuff on his wrist, feeling the edges of the crest, the outline of the phoenix. He wanted to commit it to memory, just in case. He knew what Snape had said about it, and he believed him, but he still worried about it. Technically, if the Ministry social worker took it from him, it wouldn't be lost. Would it still be able to come back to him? Harry wasn't sure, but he didn't want to find out.
A sound behind him pulled him from his thoughts and he looked back to see Snape standing in the doorway of the parlor. "Good morning," Snape said, walking over to him.
"Morning," Harry replied.
"Have you been down here long?"
Harry shrugged. "I didn't want to wake you. I'm thirteen, you know. I can wait til you wake up."
Snape raised his eyebrow before surprising Harry by taking a seat on the floor next to him. "It's barely six in the morning, though. That sounds like someone who's excited to me."
Harry grinned. "Maybe a little."
"Have at it, then," said Snape before he pointed his wand at a gift and levitated it over to Harry, who plucked it from the air and immediately started to unwrap it.
The first gift was a book about quidditch: Tips and Tricks for Players of Any Age. The second and third gifts were clothes: a green jumper and a pair of jeans. The fourth, a large red and blue wrapped box, was an actual full-size quidditch set! Shrunk down for easy packaging of course, but it contained everything Harry would need to turn the backyard of the manor into a quidditch pitch. Harry had spent nearly thirty minutes combing over every piece of the set before he finally put it to the side to open up the others. The next had been another book, this one on potions. He had sent Snape a mild glare for it, but put it carefully with the others all the same. Presents six through eight had also been books, but they were for leisure reading. One of them was even a continuation of the pirate book that Snape had given him at the beginning of the summer.
By the time Harry was finished unwrapping all the gifts, he had a mountain stacked next to him and he wondered how he would get them all upstairs. He thought he could just get Snape to levitate them for him, but if not, he planned to just leave them all here and carry them up a little at a time. There were only three gifts under the tree now: a small, square box that had yellow wrappings on it that Snape had gotten for Jenka; and the two gifts that Harry had gotten for Snape.
"Your turn," Harry said, reaching for the gifts that were, admittedly, poorly wrapped. He passed the first one to Snape, who glanced over at him.
"You didn't need to get me anything, Harry," he said, even as he pulled the tape from one side.
"Don't thank me yet," Harry replied with a grin as he repositioned himself so that he was facing Snape. He pulled one knee up and rested his chin on it and watched him open the gift. As soon as Harry saw the first bit of pink appear in the wrappings, he started giggling. He couldn't help it!
Snape glared at the shirt, then at Harry. "World's Greatest Grump," was written in black letters across the bright pink shirt. Harry threw his head back and cackled. He laughed so hard that his sides hurt and he nearly doubled over. Snape, for his part, never cracked even the tiniest of smiles. Harry wiped tears from his eyes as he took the shirt from a silent Snape and replaced it with the other gift.
"Just where do you think I'm going to wear that?" Snape finally asked.
Harry grinned. "You can wear it to the first staff meeting next year! All the other professors will absolutely love it!"
"I think not, little boy," Snape replied as he looked down at the second gift. "Do I even want to open this one?"
Harry composed himself the best he could as he nodded, unconsciously moving closer to his guardian. "I think you'll like it."
Snape unwrapped the present and pulled out a heavy, leather-bound book. The front cover was empty but as soon as he opened it, he gasped. There was a picture on the first page, but not like any of the magical pictures Harry had ever seen before. Instead of just moving and waving up at them, the people in the picture were projected like a hologram. And they didn't just move, they talked. It was as if Snape were watching the scene from the photograph in a video.
The first picture was the one that he had shown Harry weeks before: the one of him and Lily when they were children.
"Sev," Lily was saying, "stand over here with me so that we can get a picture. Marlene says wizard pictures move!"
"'Course they move, Lil," Severus replied. "You don't expect them to stand around all day, do you?" Severus moved over to Lily and they both smiled as someone took their picture.
When the picture was taken, the video seemed to fall and Harry and Snape only saw the original photograph inside the album.
"How did you do this?" Snape asked, gently tracing the picture with his fingers.
"Remus helped me," Harry answered. "Each picture will sort of play the first couple of seconds that happened before it was taken. I'm still not sure how exactly it works, but I think it's wicked!"
"It is," Snape murmured, turning the page. This picture was of Snape and Remus when they were younger. The video showed Remus opening a gift on Christmas morning and groaning when he pulled out a pair of bright purple socks with small bananas embroidered all over. Snape smiled and turned another page.
Together, Harry and Snape looked at every picture in the album. Sometimes Snape would stop to explain what was happening in a particular photo and Harry was eager to hear about any story from his younger years. But just as Harry started to get up, thinking there were no more pictures to be seen, Snape turned the last page and said, "Oh, it's one of you."
Harry furrowed his brows and sat back down. "I didn't put one of me in there."
They watched as the video appeared. It was from Harry's birthday dinner. Minerva had asked the elves to make him a cake, and after dinner they had brought it out to him.
"You have to make a wish," Albus said, and Harry nodded. He closed his eyes and wished for the same thing he wished for every year, cake or no cake: that he had a family. He blew out the candles and a camera flashed just as Snape moved behind him, unintentionally getting caught in the frame.
What Harry hadn't seen that day was that Snape was actually smiling behind him as he watched him blow out thirteen candles.
"What did you wish for?" Snape suddenly asked as the video dropped back down into the album.
Harry blushed and turned away. "A family," he whispered.
Snape reached over and dropped a kiss to the top of Harry's head. This was still something of a rare occurrence, but Harry found that he didn't mind it in the least.
"You've found one," Snape said, closing the album and standing up to reach for Jenka's present which was still under the tree. Just before he could call out for her, however, the floo roared and out stepped Remus, followed by what sounded like a bell.
"A cowbell, Severus?!" Remus glared at his brother who only smirked in return. "You got me a pair of socks that ring a cowbell every time I take a step?!"
"Actually," said Snape, waving his wand at the mountain of Harry's presents and sending them upstairs to his room, "they didn't come that way. I had to charm them to get them to do that. Took a while, to be honest. I ended up needing Flitwick's help with it. He was rather excited to see what you thought of them."
Remus turned to Harry. "Happy Christmas, Harry." Then, he turned on his heel, the bells still sounding from his feet, and stalked back to the fireplace, leaving Harry and Snape holding back their laughter until Remus had disappeared from view.