Light in the Darkness
Summary: Severus has started to accept that Lily is his daughter more and more as Christmas after he fourth birthday is approaching. They are spending it away from the school as Severus is trying to prove to himself that he is capable of doing things right with his daughter, even though he has to enlist the help of a college to watch his daughter while he engages in war with the house elf, Twinkle, over the extent of the decorations. With the clock ticking until Lily returns home, who will win the battle of the Christmas decorations?
Holiday Special
In the short while since Severus had initially started to see Lily as his actual daughter, he had been trying to figure out ways to allow him to make up for lost time with her. However, it was still made difficult at times due to how his heart was still partially closed off to the thought that she was his even if the adoption had been finalized the moment that Dumbledore had handed her over to him. However, there was times when he woke in the morning finding it hard to believe that he actually did have a daughter despite how she had been his for three years now. Though this year, he promised himself that he would make it memorable for his daughter.
So on the morning of the twenty third of December he swallowed his pride with asking for help. He contacted his former professor, and now colleague, Minerva McGonagall. They met during mid afternoon so as to see if Minerva could watch Lily for an hour before bringing her home. Shortly after the conversation, which had been beyond awkward for him asking the woman for help, for her to babysit his daughter for the next day so he and the house elf could get the house ready for Lily to have a good Christmas.
"I would love to watch her." Minerva said as she was sitting across from Severus in the kitchen of his house while sipping tea that Severus had asked the house elf to prepare almost an hour before. 'He really has not changed since he was a student of mine a few years ago.' She thought to herself as she studied Severus over her square spectacles.
"Are you sure? She is becoming more and more of a handful and likes getting into anything and everything even the things that one would think were not possible for her to get near." Severus said figuring it was best that he give the older witch fair warning on what his daughter was capable of doing.
"Severus, I assure you I am more than capable of watching your daughter, because I have been teaching for a long time, and surely she cannot be as bad as some classes that I have taught." Minerva said in a confident tone since she did not think the small child could be that bad. More so since each time she got to watch her during meals so Severus could eat, the child was always a perfect angel.
About an hour later, Severus dropped Lily off with one she at times called 'Kitty' all due to how she could not yet pronounce McGonagall since she was only four years old. The Potions master swore that was the only reason the older woman put up with being called something like that, all due to how Lily was only a small child. 'Kids get away with everything!' he thought to himself as he knew if he dared to call her anything other than her first name since they were colleagues now that he might be transfigured into some odd object.
Pushing that from his mind, Severus left his daughter with the older woman before going back to his quarters to use Floo to get back to his and Lily's small home that was at the edge of a heavily forested area. He stepped out into the living room only for his right eye to twitch at the sight. "TWINKLE!" Severus yelled only for there to be a small pop beside him. "What is all of this?!" he demanded all due to how there was a tree in every corner, with the one closest to the fireplace being the biggest one, but that did not stop the insane elf from decorating each one to look like they belonged in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. That and it seemed that the house elf had done even muggle style decorations all over every single inch of every surface in the room with a mountain of presents under each tree so that each mountain nearly reached the furniture. And even on the furniture there was tinsel and snow patterned blankets that were enchanted to have the snowflakes fall down the blanket.
"I is just decorating the house in preparation for when Mistress Lily comes home." Tinkle said as though she did not see a single problem with the way the room was done. "I is just finishing the kitchen after having finished the living room, and the upstairs, Master Severus."
"The…upstairs…" Severus said with a horror struck expression on his face at the mere thought of the damage the house elf could have caused through the house in general, more so when he thought of how his room was upstairs. "You better not have done anything to my room or I swear I will give you clothes!" Severus yelled as he took off up the stairs after he navigated through the maze that was the living room only to find holly and tinsel wrapped around the railing for the stairs on both sides with candles along the stairs that he was sure were ones enchanted to continue burning but not burn one or drip wax everywhere.
Once he got to the top of the stairs he stood with a look of horror on his face all due to how much damage the small house elf had done in the short time she had been unattended at the house. Tinsel and lights hung from every surface. That and it seemed Twinkle had used her own magic to allow more of the same candles from the stairs to be floating in the air up and down the hallway. Then hanging from each door which consisted of a guest room, Lily's, Severus's and a bathroom, hung curtains of tinsel!
"So long as she hasn't touched my room…" Severus growled as he started toward his door waving his wand to banish the offending tinsel from his door. Even if the insane house elf had allowed that to spill out all over the house, his room was to remain his sanctuary! He reached out gripping the door knob as he opened it only for him to see horrors beyond what any man should ever see in their lifetime. His room had been decorated to rival the living room! "DAMN IT TWINKLE!" Severus yelled as he started waving his wand to banish all of the decorations only for a frantic Twinkle to appear beside him wailing for him to stop.
"Master Severus mustn't! The young Mistress will be sad! This is to be her first true Christmas with Master Severus!" Twinkle cried as she enacted her own magic bringing back all of the decorations as Severus banished them.
"I DO NOT CARE! YOU WENT TO FAR!" Severus yelled as the battle continued for what felt like an eternity since he was sure the house elf held no loyalty toward him, only Lily for some reason. After almost two hours of the constant fight, Severus sat leaning against the side of his bed as half of the decorations, the bigger ones, were gone but the smaller ones remained. "Remove…them…" he ground out as he was feeling a bit exhausted from the constant battle that had raged as he could tell even the small house elf was near her limit for the moment.
"No. Twinkle wants Mistress Lily to have a proper first Christmas with her father, Master Severus." Twinkle said in a determined tone only for there to be a sound from the doorway as both looked to receive a shock. All due to how both of them had lost track of the hour.
/
About fifteen minutes before, Minerva had come through the Floo Network with Lily in her arms. For a brief second the older witch had thought maybe they had gone to the wrong location due to the extent of decorations littering the living room. "Lily, is this really your home?" she asked in a skeptical tone as she kept the child in her arms just in case.
"Yeah, Kitty." Lily said as she squirmed to get down as her blue eyes were wide and bright with amazement at all of the decorations. Due to her small size she was able to easily navigate through the maze of gifts that were spanning the room as Minerva set to just following the child as she soon made her way up the stairs as Lily was smiling ear to ear and laughing with excitement at seeing the house decorated to an extent she had never before seen. More so since the year before her father had told Twinkle to only put up one tree and nothing else, but it seemed this year he had relented and let the house elf decorate more.
When they got to the top of the stairs Lily ran over to her door giggling as the tinsel tickled at her as she reached for the knob of her door and then walked through it. Minerva let the child go as she headed to the room that seemed bare of the tinsel that hung from all the other doorways only to find Severus slumped on the floor across the room from the small house elf. "Why are you on the floor, Severus?" Minerva asked in a stern tone only for the young man to look up with a scowl on his face.
"Because I have been at war with a deranged house elf!" He said in a low tone turning his cold eyes on the house elf who was still across from him. "One last chance, Twinkle, remove the decorations from my room I will not hesitate to give you clothes!" he said as Twinkle whimpered more than what Severus thought she would at the thought of being given clothes. 'She is insane!' he thought as he watched her tear up even more and even started to beg him not to do that.
"Twinkle only wanted Mistress to have good memories, happy ones." Twinkle said as Minerva walked over to the house elf and knelt down beside her and rested a hand on her back.
"As you should." She said before sending a stern look at Severus. "And frankly I like the decorations and I know Lily absolutely loved them." She said as Twinkle looked up at her with her large hazel eyes that were still full of tears.
"Mistress did?" Twinkle asked through a whimper.
"Yes, I have not seen her that happy in some time." Minerva said as Severus scoffed at how she was comforting the house elf.
"I don't care, I will not…" Severus started only to be interrupted by a small body slamming into him as his eyes went wide while he looked down to see that it was Lily. She had come in and thrown herself against him hugging him for all she was worth.
"Please no be mad at Twinkle." She pleaded as Severus felt his heart soften ever so slightly as he shifted so he was able to move her more to his lap only for Lily to lean back and look up at him with a pleading expression.
"I won't be, so long as she removes the decorations from my room. They can stay in the rest of the house the rest of the holiday." Severus relented as Lily leaned against Severus hugging him for all she was worth.
/
Christmas day came in a flash and passed just as fast for the small family. Where in the morning Lily had gone into Severus' room and woke him by jumping up and down on his bed. Once he was up she had insisted on opening presents which had resulted in her being spoiled with books from a few of the professors, a child's first broom from Madame Hooch, and a beginner's potions set from her father. She had wanted to use the potions set right away but Severus had managed to convince her that she needed to eat breakfast first. Twinkle had fixed them a fairly simple breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, and warm tea (coffee for Severus).
Once breakfast was done, Severus had set to teaching Lily to identify the ingredients in her potions kit and even quizzed her by mixing them up only to find she absorbed the information much faster than he would have expected a four-year-old child to do so. Something that had led to him feeling an odd sense of pride at as he felt that opening his heart to his daughter was bringing about a whole new side to him. And even making him face a fear he had with why he had not done so much sooner. One part of the fear being that he did not know how to be a good parent to Lily due to how he had grown up in a home where his parents were almost constantly fighting. So he did not know how to give a proper home to her, but now it almost felt natural to spend Christmas with her and enjoy it rather than leaving her in the hands of the house elf. That and how her smile first thing in the morning had made him realize that his future was with Lily as his daughter.
Once he had come to terms with that as he sat before the fire that night with Lily curled up beside him watching the fire in the fireplace as it cast long shadows around the room, Severus came to terms with the other fear that had held him back to that point. The fear that whoever her biological parents were would show up and take her away from him. After he had lost Lily Evans, he did not think he could take it to lose another that he had opened his heart to.
'Was I scared fool?' Severus thought to himself only to feel Lily snuggle closer to him as he looked down to see that she had fallen asleep curled up against him as he felt his heart warm at that sight. 'I was…' Severus thought as he shifted so he could get up from the couch before leaning down and picking up his daughter, cradling her to him as he then started to head to the stairs.
'Even if they do show up wanting her, they abandoned her when she needed them most. When she was a defenseless infant. I am the one who calmed her crying when she fussed, and though I have been distant, I will no longer be that to her.' Severus thought as he was at the top of the stairs and headed to Lily's room, walking through the wall of tinsel as she bunched up more against him due to it tickling her as she continued to sleep.
Once past the tinsel he made his way over to her bed where he pulled back the blanket only to lay her down on the bed before bringing the blanket up and tucking it around her. Looking down at her he felt a surge of an emotion he thought he had long since discarded. Love.
Feeling near overwhelmed he seemed to act almost on instinct as he leaned over Lily as she slept and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, something he had only seldom done before. "Sweet dreams, my little Lily." He whispered as he straightened as he spoke three new words to him. "Love you, Lily." He said feeling an all new surge at those words, but nothing could have prepared him for what followed.
"Love you too, daddy…" a soft whisper came from Lily as Severus felt almost as though he was weightless from the heavy doubt that had been lifted away from him with her uttering those words to him. He left the room almost in a daze as he headed to his room to get ready for bed as well knowing that the following morning they would be returning to Hogwarts, a little early but it was because of how Lily wanted to be able to go to Hogsmeade Village before school resumed after the new year.
As he was getting ready for bed, and even as he laid down and started to drift off, Severus vowed to himself that he would never again shut his heart away from the love he felt for his daughter. That no matter what she was his and would always be, even if her birth family did dare to show up when she was older or even if they did so in the near future. He would never let them take her away from him. He would always be there for her and protect her and do all he could so that she would never lose her smile.
A/N: Well here it is. The holiday special that I had intended to get up before the new year, but sadly once again I was late in getting it up. I hope that no one minds that it was late. I had been wanting to write this for a while, and thought it would be a good thing to do, in order to go back and explore more into how Severus opened up to the love he felt but was afraid to express. That and to also show more of how Twinkle and Severus do not see eye to eye on things, more so earlier on since Twinkle has her moments of doing things that are meant to be good but end up annoying Severus. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this special! I am hard at work on the new chapter of the main story and hope to have it up possibly this weekend or next week depending on how things play out.