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Severus Snape, potions instructor at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, was not a morning person. Nevertheless he was among the first to enter the Great Hall for breakfast on that Thursday when our story begins. Little did those few students who had made it there before him know that he had given a huge yawn in the Entrance Hall before entering and that he had spent all the way up from his dungeon quarters cursing Albus Dumbledore under his breath for putting him on breakfast duty.

Ever since Snape had started teaching at Hogwarts had he been trying to convince the old wizard that he, Snape, didn't mind supervising the corridors until after midnight if only he didn't have to be at the Great Hall at the crack of dawn.

He was already halfway up the aisle between the Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw tables before his still sleepy brain registered the change in the hall:

There, at the end of the aisle, right in front of the centre of the head table stood a Christmas tree. It was higher than Snape was tall and decorated in the house colours of all 4 houses. There were ball ornaments in green, red, blue and yellow and delicate crystal snowflakes which sparkled with stones similar to those that were used to count house points. (Snape looked up at the hour glasses and was relieved to find that the counting stones were still there.) The tips of the branches were decorated with white candles which had tiny Hogwarts crests on them.

Snape made a face but since the tree didn't seem dangerous at all, he continued up to his seat and reached for coffee first. Only after he had nearly emptied his second cup, which was actually quite soon because Snape made a habit of downing at least three before the bulk of the student body arrived for breakfast, did Snape realise that there were also small parcels on the tree. It seemed that they were numbered for from his seat he could spot parcels with the numbers 7, 13, 17 and 21.

He had just caught on what this must be when the voice of one of his least favourite students was heard: "Ooooooh, an advent calendar!"

Snape was in full teacher mode immediately. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Miss Granger," he snarled from his half-hidden position behind the tree. "Now kindly sit down and let the rest of us enjoy our meal in peace."

"Yes, Sir," the girl chimed in a much too merry tone.

Snape had just gotten himself some food – he only did that after his second cup when he was on duty – when the headmaster arrived.

"Severus, it's beautiful!" cried the old wizard for the whole hall to hear. "What a splendid idea!"

Snape shook his head. "If you're talking about the tree, headmaster," he said solemnly, "I have nothing to do with it. It was already here when I arrived."

"And here I thought you had gotten into the spirit over those last few years." Dumbledore sounded a little disappointed. "But if it wasn't you, who put it here?"

Snape admitted that he had no idea and the other heads of houses who were all present by then – how did Sprout manage to look that merry that early in the morning? – agreed that they had nothing to do with the advent calendar tree.

"We cannot open any of those parcels when we don't know who it is from. It may be dangerous!" McGonagall pointed out. Everybody agreed. "What if it is from You-Know-Who?"

"I think," Hagrid joined the conversation, "we should be askin' them house elves. They know a lot."

Dumbledore agreed and told the head table that he wished to speak with the house elf in charge immediately.

The chief Hogwarts house elf was old but he still held himself with pride. His pillowcase with the Hogwarts crest on it was freshly laundered and ironed and the white fluff of hair coming out of the elf's ears looked so tufty it must have been recently washed.

"What may Pinky do for the headmaster?" the elf asked with a dignified bow.

"Pinky," the headmaster replied solemnly, "I wish to know who put this tree into the Great Hall. The house elves work outside of the kitchens mostly by night. Has any of you seen who brought the tree?"

"Oh, we not only saw but we helped!" the elf stated proudly. "We moved the tables just a little to give the tree more room. And we decorated it."

"So it's from the elves?" Dumbledore asked in disbelief.

"Oh no!" cried the little elf. "The castle itself requested we put it up. It added the magic when the elves were done with the decorations."

"Hogwarts?" breathed McGonagall. "Hogwarts has given us a tree?"

"The castle says," the elf confirmed, "that she saw how happy its witches and wizards were with the advent calendars of the last years that he decided to make one himself this year when she saw that nobody had brought one in this year."

"You are giving me a headache," muttered Sprout. "He or she?"

The elf grabbed an empty plate and smacked himself on the head with it before anybody could do something. Dumbeldore was surprisingly quick for his age though and took the plate from him before the elf could hit himself for a second time.

"Stop it, you did nothing wrong," the headmaster ordered. "Just answer the question."

The elf nodded eagerly and explained. "The castle is a sentient being. He was brought to life by the founders' magic but every witch and wizard who ever did magic within these halls added to her. The castle is all and nothing. She is male and he is female, he is both and she is neither."

The headmaster thanked Pinky and sent him back to what he had been doing before he turned to the heads of houses. "It seems the castle itself has treated us to an advent calendar this year. Severus, since you started the tradition, why don't you open the first parcel?"

Snape hated being the centre of attention that early in the morning but then there were only 24 parcels on the tree and hundreds of people in the castle. This was probably the only chance he got of opening a window. He got up, walked around the head table and searched for the parcel labelled "1".

It was a particularly big one, wrapped in Slytherin green with a silver number on it. Snape carried it back to his seat and opened it while the teachers and students watched with baited breath.

In the box was a silver tray which expanded upon being taken out of its confinement, and it held hundreds of chocolate balls! On top of the pile lay a small piece of parchment. "One for each!" it said.

"It seems that the first window of our calendar holds a treat for each and every one of us!" cried Dumbledore.

The students cheered.

Snape spent the next half hour handing out sweets which his coworkers found extremely amusing and never stopped pointing out under their breath.

Most students were not very eager to have sweets that were handed out by their potions master for breakfast but that changed when Weasley of Gryffindor cried "Gold! There is gold in the chocolate!" After his outburst everybody who hadn't yet done so attacked their chocolate ball. And really, some had small golden coins in them. Snape himself discovered a knut-sized coin labelled "23".

It was Flitwick, who had gotten "2", who caught on first. "It seems, we were just informed who is to open the other windows" the head of Ravenclaw cried. Those who had found a coin in their chocolate ball cheered.

Snape was content. It seemed that this had not been his only window.