A/N: This chapter is for you, ethanskye!
This happened during Christmas Night, after all the Christmas Hallubaloo, before Severus slept.
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Severus shut the door of his room with a satisfied smile. Christmas with his ward was momentous and it warmed him. Severus hadn't spend his Christmas with any other person; save Lily and his mother. Tobias never really got home for Yule for he had to work to live. The Potter boy showed him that Christmas was something to be celebrated and cherished.
Snape changed from his black robes to a white shirt and his silk pajamas. As he was about to sleep, Severus remembered something- the young boy's letter.
He summoned for the letter with a stretch of a hand. The parchment came floating to Severus' hand. Severus flipped it open.
Dearest Professor Snape, the letter began. It was written in the boy's calculated handwriting.
Happy Yule!
I just wanted to thank you so, so much for taking me in. You don't have any idea how much it makes me happy to see you happy. Thank you for accepting me. I know for a fact that you could have said 'No', and it warms me so much you said otherwise.
How much can one person be so good? You have been so kind and so caring for me this past few weeks. You opened up your home to a complete stranger; a parentless boy, a boy who could have been a thief or rude or just a plain ruffian. But you did not even bat an eyelash at the fact that I could have been something else. I know how much you revel in your solitary life, and I really respect that. I really, really do.
But I respect you more now.
For now I know that you are selfless and intelligent. I admire you for being so patient with my sleeping patterns and my unending questions and my bizzarre words. I'm terribly sorry if sometimes I'm a big pain. I hope that you realize how much you have been a great person to me all this time that I have been under your stead.
I'm sorry if sometimes you feel lonely even though I'm here. I just want you to know that I will stay with you even if you think that you are the worst person in the world, because I know that you are not.
Most of all, I thank you for believing in me. During the Quidditch try out, during the whole time that I've been doubting myself that I can get past my grief. How can I ever thank you, Professor?
I guess, all I can ever do is stay, and prove to you that you are one of the best people I have known in my entire life.
Thank you, Professor, and Happy Christmas! Know that you are never alone, for you have me. Always.
Signed,
Brandon Dursely
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Severus Snape opened the door to his ward's room, and found the boy sleeping on his stomach. There was the ornaments book on the bed, opened at one page.
Severus approached the bed and flipped the book close. He then proceeded to spread the blanket on the boy's back. Snape crouched down and watched the boy sleeping for a few moments.
How can one boy be so special?
Brandon Dursely, or Harry Potter, with his long lashes and rosy cheeks looked a lot like Lily Evans as he slept, Severus pondered. This boy was so much like Lily but so unlike her as well.
And he was adorable and easy to love. Severus womdered, how can others hurt this precious, fragile being who loved the simpliest things in life?
He appreciated the simple, yet meaningful things in life. How can those monsters destroy him?
"I guess, child, that I have found something worth living for. Always, indeed," Severus whispered.
With a smirk, he bent down and pushed the hair from his ward's brow and kissed his crown gently.
"Always," Severus promised back.
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As he slept, Severus dreamt of a little boy with green eyes, smiling and giggling and laughing.