Joyeuse Noelle
DISCLAIMER: The Harry Potter series, Sev, and Lily belong to the brilliant J.K. Rowling, not me. But the fic is mine, and I have psycho muses. I wouldn't wanna have to sic 'em on you, so don't steal please, m'kay?
Stupid Christmas.
It was almost eleven at night on Christmas Day, and most of the students at Hogwarts were still partying down in the house common rooms, showing off their presents to each other and enjoying the food and drink. Not so, however, one small first year, who'd climbed one of the highest towers in the castle and was sitting moodily in the oriel, looking out at the frozen forest with a scowl etched firmly across his thin face.
Stupid Potter. Stupid Black. Stupid Lupin. Stupid… stupid all of them! I don't care. Let them throw around everything they have like their good fortune will never run out. I… don't… care… at… all!
He sank a little further into his green-and-silver-striped scarf, hugging his ill-fitting black robes a bit closer around his body.
He didn't care that everywhere in the Great Hall, all the students who'd chosen to stay over the holiday had opened boxes wrapped in brightly shining paper or envelopes fat with loving letters while he had gotten nothing. He didn't care that a crowd of Gryffindor boys had chased him around all afternoon, gleefully chanting his hated nickname and demanding to know why there had been no packages for him. He didn't care that the evening's feast had culminated in James Potter getting hold of a sprig of mistletoe and chasing Lily Evans around with it until he'd tried to put a hex on the insufferable idiot, only to be caught and reprimanded by a teacher. Why should he care? It was just a stupid holiday. Just—a—stupid—holiday. And in a few hours it would be over and everything would just be the same as always.
Stupid, stupid Christmas.
He told himself he didn't care, but his deep-set ebony eyes were a little too bright behind their protective curtain of badly-cut black hair for the thought to be true.
"Pssst! Sev!"
The boy looked up, then whirled around to the staircase, where excited footsteps rang brightly, heralding the approach of a small girl his age with long auburn hair and big green eyes. She, too, was wearing black robes and a scarf, though hers was deep red and gold rather than green and silver, and she was balancing what looked like a large plate in both arms as she ran.
"L-Lily?!" He shook his head at her. "What are you doing up here? If the teachers find you here, you'll get in trouble…"
"Aw, c'mon, Sev, you're up here too, and it's Christmas!" Lily said with a giggle. "You've been avoiding everybody all day, so I haven't even gotten a chance to share these with you yet!" And she held out the plate to him insistently so that he could see chocolate-chip cookies piled high upon it. "Mum sent them. Go on, try one, they're good!"
"But if your mum made them for you, I shouldn't—" the black-haired boy protested, blushing deeply.
"The note said to share with my friends," Lily said staunchly, taking a fistful of cookies and holding them out to him insistently. "So stop being silly and take some!"
With a slightly shy, embarrassed smile, the boy gave in and did. Smiling brightly, Lily sat down next to him, putting the plate on the seat between them. "Th-thanks, Lily."
"Hee. No problem!" she told him, clearly delighted. "Merry Christmas, Sev!"
Severus Snape forgot all about Christmases with no presents and bullying Gryffindors and mistletoe and James Potter as he smiled back at her.
"Merry Christmas, Lily."
Owari.