Disclaimer: All belongs to J.K. Rowling
Snape was busy in the kitchen when someone knocked on the front door. He could sense a familiar magic but could not remember who they were.
"Lad! Get the door!" He yelled from the kitchen, hoping that his former student would move her ass away from his library to open the door. Sadly, he heard she screamed something back almost like, "Fuck you, Snape. I'm busy!"
So much of hoping, Snape sighed and put the bowl of mixing baking flour on the kitchen table. He wiped his hands to his dark green apron as he walked to the front door. When he finally turned the doorknob and pulled it back, he smiled fondly at the sight of a group of Slytherin... and a Gryffindor? Now that made one of his eyebrows moved up in questioning.
"Morning Severus!" Racc greeted sweetly to the man while urging the group to move in.
"Morning Racc," he acknowledged her greeting and closed the door as the last one get in. "So why is she here?" He asked, pointing his elegant finger at the odd Gryffindor.
"Aw! Come on, Severus! We know you want a big and fun Christmas party. So here we are, including her and a few Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff," Racc patted his shoulder like an old friend then dragged the man to the kitchen with her.
In his small, rather tiny kitchen, Snape was grumpily as seven pairs of eyes were following every single of his movements. He then felt regretted of sending out his invitations to some of his former students. Apparently, they invited a few more that were not in his house. It was not like he disliked other houses, but he knew clearly that they did not fond of him. He could not understand why some of them agreed to come in the first place.
"I did not force them to go," Racc finally spoke up when she noticed the discomfort in the man's face. "They come willingly and happily. You will be surprised of how they think of you."
"I would rather not know," he murmured. "Addi! Don't touch that!"
Addi looked up to see a very concerned Snape reaching out and grabbed her wrist as she was trying to poke her finger into the oven. "Are you alright?" he asked softly, surprised majority of the people in the room of how warm his voice could be.
She nodded and smiled fondly to the man. "I'm alright," she said, rubbing her thumb on his forearm.
Nel, a Hufflepuff, suppressed a rising laugh as she saw Snape's face turned slightly pink. Unfortunately, she broke out in the end and erupted the whole room.
"OMG! What are you doing to my Snape?" Lad entered the kitchen at that moment and saw Snape tried to release his hold on Addi's wrist, who then refused to let him go.
"Go for it, Addi!" Racc laughed and supported Addi, knowing the girl had a little crush at their former head of house.
And it did not end well as Lab joined the two and tried to separate Addi from Snape. The man finally snapped and forced all of his students out of the kitchen and put up an Imperturbable Charm on the door. "Stay in the living room and don't touch anything!" He screamed and angrily walked back to finish the gingerbread men that supported to be in the oven by now.
"Uhm, sir?" A voice should not be there suddenly spoke up.
Snape's head turned around immediately and found the odd Gryffindor. "Why are you still here?" He definitely was not please to see her.
"Uhm, I'm stuck?" her answer sounded more like a question.
"What do you mean by… stuck?" his voice trailed off as he found the edge of her shirt stuck between the joint of his table and one of its legs. "How did it get in there?" He arched one of his eyebrows and waited for her reply.
She looked down at her shirt and looked back up to him. "I… don't know, sir!"
Snape found his left face was twitching as if all the nerves were trying to break out. His flick his wand and her shirt freed from the table. He did not speak another word and turned around.
The only sound remained in the kitchen was from the whisk hit slightly to the bowl, her breathing, and his soft murmur.
Unknown to Snape, the group he forced away had a very different plan.
"Now, we can decorate the house for him!" Racc beamed at her friends, grinning a bit too much like a Cheshire Cat. She knew the man would not want to celebrate Christmas fully. He just wanted a little gathering with his former students. However, she had none of that. She wanted him to have a best Christmas ever, and she willingly sacrificed whoever or whatever to achieve her goal. Currently, the first victim was JJ, the odd Gryffindor, whose life status was unknown to them.
"I want to be in there with him," Addi pursed her lips, totally ignored Racc's announcement.
"I planned for you to be there," Racc sighed. "I just did not expect to see our wonderful Lad to join the situation, unannounced."
"Shut up, woman!" Lad snapped. "How the hell should I know if you refuse to inform me the plan?"
"I owled you, flooed you, and even came to your fucking house, but you're nowhere to be seen," Racc cursed. "Don't blame me of what happened!"
"Hey guys! Cool off! Okay?" Nel stepped in between the two. "We come here to make a special Christmas for Snape, not to see you two fight off like a married couple."
"JJ is in there and she knows what to do," Ophiuchus said. "Let divide up and change his place a bit for the party. Those cookies will be ready very soon and we don't have much time to surprise him."
Racc and Lad looked at each other for a few minutes before nodding in a silent agreement that they would continue the lame argument later on, in private. Racc quickly gave out the instruction of what they would do. Then they went out by their own or with another person or two with their wands in hand, prepared to make give Snape a surprise.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, JJ was sitting on a stool and watching Snape moving around the kitchen. She felt uneasy but she needed to keep an eye at the man before the group finished what they planned. So she took all of her Gryffindor courage, which currently hid off somewhere in her body and refused to appear, and made a request.
"Sir, do you want me to help with the cookies?" she nervously spoke.
Snape remained quiet for almost fifteen minutes, then he said, "Now, tell me, before I kick everyone out of my house, what you guys are planning."
JJ's eyes opened as wide as possible. She had no idea where on earth he picked up that idea but she kept her face straight and calmly replied, "What are you talking about, sir?"
"You know my role in the war well enough to understand that I can tell whether you lie or not," Snape warned. "And stop the stupid sir, I'm not your professor anymore."
"You never give me the permission to address you differently, so calling you sir is the most reasonable option," she kept her voice steady but her palms sweated like hell. "And I have no idea of what you're trying to get from me."
"Get out," he ordered.
JJ took a deep breath and shook her head, "No, I need to be in here."
"Why? To keep an eye at me while those dunderheads destroy my house?" Snape hissed dangerously. His mood definitely did not go down as JJ expected.
JJ took a deep breath and made the most stupidest decision in her life. She jumped off the stool, walked around the kitchen table and stood right next to Snape.
"We choose to come here because we want you to have a best Christmas ever," her voice was low and soft, but it did not lose its power. "Whatever you are trying to build in that thick head of yours are not even true. Do you know why I am the only Gryffindor in this weird group? Because I admire your talents and I love your lectures, even though, you're the most scariest professor I ever had. And I believe everyone comes to your house today share the same idea. You can think negatively as much as you like, but if you want to throw me and everyone out? You need to step over my fucking dead body!"
She was furious of his annoying ability of doubting everything around him, so she spoke without even thinking. Words just came out unprepared. However, her words did make the man to freeze on the spot and stared back at her. A flick of surprise showed in his deep dark-color eyes and she almost wanted to smile at the sight but she chose not to.
They stood really close as she could feel his breath touched her face. Then, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. She saw the kitchen's door opened wide and he pushed her to the other side. She was waiting for him yell or scream at her, but his voice never came. She looked at him and saw a blank face. He stood there unmoved. Her eyebrows knitted in, curiously following his eyes' direction and then, she knew of the reason.
His living room had became someone else's house. Lights and Christmas decorations made the place more cozy and welcomed. A Happy Christmas sign hung brightly above his fireplace. A few socks stuck below the sign. She noticed they brought in a small Christmas tree as well. Nel and two Ravenclaws were still working on it. Next to the tree placed numerous gifts from everyone that came to his house. The atmosphere in his house definitely changed for that evening.
The moment the kitchen's door opened, everyone's attention landed on the man of the house, whose face froze of all emotion. Racc quickly yelled, "Happy Christmas, Severus!" and flicked her wand as the traditional Christmas music began to play softly in the background and the place brightened up with beautiful lights.
Before Snape could explode his temper, his oven announced his gingerbread men were ready. Racc smiled up, smugly, and signaled everyone to stand up. In a blink of an eye, everyone threw themselves at the man and squeezed him in a super big hug, which painted a darker shade on his face.
The music continued playing in the background while the delicious smell from the oven spread around the house.
The man rooted at the spot, unmoving from the assault of his former students.
And… that was how Snape spent his Christmas.
A/N: Originally wrote and posted in Discord: A Civil Snape Server. There will be a sequel after the holidays. Happy Christmas, everyone!
