Harry woke up and put on his glasses. His grogginess was quickly replaced with joy as he realized what day it was.
"Happy Christmas, Ron!"
Harry went to examine his pile of gifts. There was the usual sweater from Mrs. Weasley and some socks from Dobby. Hermione had given him one of her knitted elf hats. Harry wasn't too enthusiastic about receiving that one until he looked inside and found it filled with chocolate frogs.
"Come on Harry" said Ron. "Let's go and meet Hermione."
Harry put down his gifts and left with Ron to go find their friend. They exited the portrait hole and raced down the stairs to the Great Hall. As Harry was running, he ran into someone pretty hard.
"Oh, sorry I..."
Harry looked up to see an angry Professor Snape glaring icily down at him.
"Merry Christmas Potter. I've got a present for you. You've got one week's detention once the holidays are over."
Snape stormed away in anger and left the two friends looking after him in amazement and distaste.
"You'd think the holidays would cheer everyone up, even that greasy haired arse."
"Forget him Ron, don't let that ruin our good day. Let's go meet up with Hermione."
They continued on their way to the Hall, walking this time just in case they met up with their bad tempered teacher again.
"Happy Christmas Ron, Harry!"
"Thanks for the chocolate frogs."
"No problem."
"It's a bit cold down here, let's go back up to the common room. I've got some butterbeers up there. We can get drunk and have a threesome like we did last Christmas."
"That's a great idea Ron. I'm game. What about you Harry?"
"Only if I get to be top this time."
"Alright."
Harry saw Snape leave the Great Hall in a hurry with a look of discomfort and frustration on his face. He decide to go see what the professor was up to.
"I'll meet you guys up there, there's something I have to do really quick. Don't start the fun without me."
Harry left just in time to see the back of Snape's cloak disappear arond the corner. Harry walked quickly but quietly after him and saw him enter the Room of Requirement. Snape stayed there for a few seconds and then exited.
"Hmm... I wonder what he did in there" thought Harry. What he required right now was to see what Snape had done in the room. The door appeared and he walked through. In the room, on the center of a table was a pensieve.
"Snape must've put a memory in it" said Harry to himself.
He approached the pensieve and dunked his head inside the swirling silver memory.
"Severus dear."
Harry looked at the speaker and saw that it was a woman with a resemblance to Snape.
"Must be his mom" thought Harry.
The woman grabbed her son's hand and pulled him into a long line full of eager children and their parents.
"Do you want to meet Santa, dear" Snape's mother asked her child.
Little Snape nodded his head vigorously. He was smiling broadly at the thought of meeting such an amazing figure as Santa Claus.
"Yes, mother. I wanna meet Santa. Will he give me a present?"
"No, Severus. You have to wait until Christmas for that. He comes down the chimney with magic and leaves presents for good children."
"Is Santa a wizard then?"
"I suppose you could say that. Santa uses the magic of love to give gifts to everyone. He is a wizard who uses the magic of the heart."
Little Snape gasped in amazement at the thought of that.
"One day, I want to be a wizard of the heart too!" Little Snape smiled and began to daydream about oneday becoming a wizard that everyone would love.
Harry looked on in shock. "Whoa, he was such a nice kid. I wonder what happened to make him so bitter." Harry followed the couple as they reached the front of the line. Snape ran to go sit on Santa's lap. The child laughed and talked happily to his red clad hero, but all was not well. As little Snape tried to get up, Santa violently pulled him back down.
"Sit down little boy, or you'll get no gifts on Christmas day."
Little Snape felt something hard push the back of his knee and looked down to see a bulge in Santa's pants.
"Santa, what's that?"
"My sack of goodies. You'll get a present if you touch it."
"I don't want to, Santa!"
"YOU HAVE TO OR YOU'LL GET NO GIFTS ON CHRISTMAS DAY" whispered Santa harshly.
Little Snape reluctantly complied. He was too afraid not to.
"How were your five minutes with Santa, Severus" asked his mother as he exited from Santa's lap.
Severus did not answer, but his expression was blank and Harry could see a bit of the man that he would become in his face. Harry watched little Snape walk away with his mother, and then he found himself back in the room of requirement.
"I can see why he doesn't enjoy Christmas now" thought Harry.
He rushed up to the common room to share his findings with Ron and Hermione. Upon entering the room, he found Hermione and Ron drunk and doing roleplay. Apparently, Ron was the grinch.
"Don't steal Christmas, you Grinch!" slurred Hermione drunkenly from behind the sofa.
"Don't worry " said Ron. "I've become good now, my penis grew three times as large."
"Ron, Hermione, guess what." Harry's two drunken friends turned towards him.
"Look who it is Hermione" said Ron. "It's Rudolph come here to join our wild sex games. Sorry Rudolph, but we don't take kindly to your type here."
"Snap out of it Ron, I've got something important to tell you two." Harry hit his two friends with a sobering charm Sirius had taught him. They both blinked a few times and he knew the spell had worked.
"I've found out why Snape hates Christmas so much." Harry told his friends about all he had seen in the pensieve.
"I feel a bit sorry for Snape now" said Hermione.
Ron also looked a bit like he he felt bad for the potions professor although he wouldn't voice his feelings.
"I think we should help him" said Hermione.
Ron and Harry looked at her with expressions of incredulity on their faces.
"Even if we wanted to, what could we do to help Snape" said Harry.
Hermione thought for a few seconds.
"Well... maybe if we gave him a good memory of Christmas, it would cancel out the bad one."
"How do you propose we do that" asked Ron.
Surprisingly, Harry was the one with an idea.
"I think I have a way" he said.
