The Severus Snape Advent Calendar, Take 2
1
Severus looked around nervously. He gathered his cloak closer, not only to protect his slender frame from the cold and the snow, but also to hide a bit. After all, this endeavour was ridiculous for a man his age, but he had to do it! He walked up Diagon Alley, oblivious of the shoppers hurrying to and fro, looking into doorways and examining the small displays of street vendors.
After his fifteenth walk along the whole lenght of the street, Severus admitted defeat. He wasn´t there. Sadly he decided to have a nice cup of hot tea at the Leaky Cauldron before he returned to Hogwarts.
The potions master was just going to open the passage to the pub, when he was addressed from behind.
"Looking for me, young man?"
Severus whirled around. "San..."
He found himself stopped by a raised hand and a stern glare. "Were you hoping to buy another of my little boxes?" the old man asked kindly.
The wizard nodded. Yes. He had been.
"What a pity," continued the white-bearded man. "I never sell to a person twice."
Severus hung his head. The little advent calendar he had bought last year had been fun, and he´d have repeated the experience gladly. "I´m sorry to have disturbed you," he said, hopeless.
"Don´t apologize!" smiled the old man. "I appreciate people coming looking for me. In the past, they did frequently, but nowadays..." he shook his head. "As I said," he continued, "I never sell to the same person twice, but I will make an exception for you!"
"Thank you!" beamed the black clad wizard.
"There is a stipulation though," said the vendor.
"What is it?"
"I will give you one of my calendars as a present, but you must not open more than one window. Every day, you have to find a different person to open it and give them what they find in there. Are you ready to do that?"
To be honest, Severus wasn´t thrilled with the thought, but having one of Santa´s little gifts was better than not getting any, so he agreed. The old man laughed happily and gave the potions master a small pink box with a white number one on it.
So who was he going to let open the first window?
The decision was taken from Severus as he met the headmaster on his way into Hogwarts Castle an hour later.
"Severus!" cried the old wizard excitedly. "You got another one!" He pointed at the pink box. "He must really, really like you!"
"Actually it´s more complicated," the potions master explained with dignity. "He gave it to me, but I have to give all but one gifts away, each to a different person." He paused. "Would you like to do the honours and open the first window?" He held out the calendar to his superior.
Albus Dumbledore clapped his hands. "May I really? Oh, this is even more exciting than Minerva doing the annual accounting!" He took the box reverently and opened it. "Look!" he cried an instant later. "I got a nose warmer!"
And really! In the box was a soft, woollen thing, which Severus would have taken as an egg warmer, seeing that it had a beak, two eyes and a cockscomb made of felt. The headmaster took it out of the box, which he handed back to Severus, and put it onto his nose.
"Just what I needed!" he cried. His voice sounded a little muffled by the nose warmer. "I was on my way to Hagrid when we met! Thank you very much, Severus! But I´d better go now. It´s too warm to wear this inside the castle." That said he slipped outside where the gently snowfall was slowly turning into something akin to a blizzard.
Severus couldn´t but smile. This was going to be fun. He could hardly wait for tomorrow.