The Best Christmas Ever
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be sitting on my own private island and thanking Harry for making me a billionaire with more money to come.
Now, please enjoy my first one-shot, The Best Christmas Ever!
Severus Snape sighs as breakfast comes to an end. Today, the teachers are going to pass around the list for students who want to stay in Hogwarts over Christmas break. He had loved staying in Hogwarts last year. Since most students leave for home during Christmas, the school is practically empty, making it very peaceful and quiet. Potter, Black, and their little lackey Pettigrew went home last year, and they will probably go this year. Lupin is the only one of the motley crew that stayed last year, but he's quiet and he doesn't bother Snape. There's something even better than not seeing Potter for two weeks, however. Not having to spend Christmas with Tobias Snape, also known as Dad, was the best gift anyone could have given him.
As he gets up from the Slytherin table, a flash of red catches Severus' eye. He turns and sees himself face-to-face with Lily Evans, his best friend. Even though staying in Hogwarts has its many ups, the biggest down is not being able to see Lily for two weeks. "Hey, Severus" she says sweetly as they walk together, "Are you staying at Hogwarts this year?"
"Yeah" he answers plainly.
After a pause, Lily snaps her fingers. "I've got an idea" she says, "Why don't you come and spend Christmas with my family?"
Severus gasps. There were so many reasons why that wasn't a good idea. "I can't do that!" exclaims Severus.
"Come on" whines Lily, "It'll be so much fun!"
Too distracted to give Lily a definite negative, Severus says quickly, "I'll think about it."
"Great!" she shouts, "We'll talk about it at Potions class."
James scowls at Severus in Potions class. Severus and Lily were setting up their cauldron for the Potions assignment. "Why does she always partner with that greasy-haired stick in the mud?" growls James.
"Well" states Remus from a cauldron next to them, "You always partner with Sirius."
James looks at Sirius, who was between Remus and their cauldron. Peter has just dropped his and Remus's cauldron for the third time. Remus sighs and helps Peter set the cauldron up rightly. "The entire situation is different" states Sirius to Remus's bent back, "Me and James are best friends, and Snape is a Slytherin. He should be hanging out with other Slytherins."
"First of all" starts Remus, "Your entire family is Slytherin."
"Don't remind me" cuts in Sirius.
"Second of all" continues Remus, "There are many inter-house friendships, Slytherin being no exception. Finally, Severus and Lily are best friends."
"Maybe in his mind" says Sirius, "but I bet that…"
"Mr. Black" says Professor Slughorn, loud enough for the entire class to hear, "Do you know what kind of potion we are making?"
"Umm…a type of antidote?"
"Wrong!" shouts Slughorn, "What about you, Mr. Lupin?"
"I don't know, sir" answers Remus. The best thing to do is to admit the truth rather than lie and look foolish.
"Well," starts Slughorn, "If you two weren't busy talking, you would have known that we are making Polyjuice potion."
A few snickers could be heard in the class. Severus smirks, and Lily shakes her head disapprovingly.
Sirius gasps as he looks at the ingredients. "Remus" he whispers, "I don't have any clue about what to do. Help me out, will you?"
"I'm not talking to you" hisses Remus, "You're not going to get me in trouble again."
Sirius huffs. "We're in serious trouble, James" he says, but James silences him.
"I want to hear what they are saying" whispers James as he points to Lily and Severus.
"We're going to fail this assignment" sighs Severus.
"Severus, I thought you were going to think about it!" exclaims Lily as she puts one of the ingredients into the pot. Both she and Severus were good in Potions; they could have a casually conversation while making the perfect potion all at the same time.
"I did think about it!" says Severus, which was the truth. There were many cons to going to Lily's house for Christmas. First of all, Severus has met Lily's parents a couple of times, but not enough to stay in their house. Second of all, Petunia, Lily's sister, didn't like him, and he wasn't too crazy about her either. Finally, he really did not want to run into his father. Nevertheless, spending two weeks with Lily by himself would be like given a dying a second chance of life. This might be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Severus?" asks Lily after a long silence.
Severus sighs. "All right" he says finally, "I'll go to your house for Christmas."
"Yay!" exclaims Lily as she hugs Severus.
A loud "What!" was heard in the classroom as James attempts to stand, but instead, he knocks over the cauldron with the toxic mixture that was suppose to be Polyjuice potion.
James and Sirius lie on opposite sides of a couch in the Gryffindor common room. Because of their little incident, Slughorn had them scrubbing flasks and beakers for most of the afternoon. "I still don't understand how I got in trouble" groans Sirius, "You're the one who knocked over the cauldron."
"I still can't believe she's letting him come over her house for Christmas" says James, more to himself than to his friends.
"Why don't you just tell her that you like her?" asks Remus from one of the armchairs, "and accept the fact that Snape is her best friend?"
"He doesn't like Lily!" squeaks Peter from another armchair, "He just wants to protect her from Slytherin influences!"
"Besides" says Sirius, "James wouldn't accept Snape if his life depended on it."
"Got that right" mutters James.
Remus sighs, knowing that his has lost the argument. At the same time the portrait door swings open and Lily steps through. James jumps off of the couch, knocking Sirius over, and goes over Lily. "Yo, Evans!" he shouts, "What's up?"
Lily walks by, ignoring him. "It's a bad idea to invite Snape to your house" says James "He'll get hair grease all over your family's pillows and sheets."
Lily turns on Potter and stares at him with her emerald-green eyes. "Shut up, Potter!" she sneers, "You're just a jerk!" With that, she turns on her heels and walks to her dorm.
"That didn't go over so well" says Sirius as he stands up.
"I told you" sighs Remus.
"There's gotta be a way we can stop this from happening" James says.
"Oh boy" huffs Remus, "I can see where this is going."
"What if we go to the Muggle world and spy on them?" suggests Sirius.
"That a great idea!" exclaims James.
"That's a terrible idea!" rebuffs Remus, "Your families would go crazy if you didn't come home for Christmas."
"My family doesn't like me anyway!" says Sirius.
"Yeah" states Remus, "but they rather have you at home with them than prancing around in the Muggle world."
James and Sirius look down. "Well" pipes in Peter, "You're staying at the school. Why don't you go and spy on Lily?"
"You know very well why I can't go spy on her" sneers Remus, silencing everyone.
"Do you think that this might be useful?" says Peter after a long pause. He pulls out of his robe a big vial of Polyjuice potion. James's eyes widen.
"That gives me a great idea" says James "Thanks a lot, Peter."
Peter squeals in delight.
Lily brings her trunk down to one of the corridors on the first floor. There, she sees Severus with a trunk of his own. Something seemed off about him, however. For some reason, he put grease in his hair, and he was acting more jolly than usual. She was pretty sure that Severus wouldn't throw away all his skepticism in one day. "Hi, Severus" she says casually, "How are you doing?"
"I'm perfectly well" he says happily, much to Lily's surprise. His breath was strange as well. It smelled familiar, but she couldn't place it. What she didn't know is that three people were standing behind a pillar and watching them. Two people were cheering Severus on, while the other one just wanted to see how far this little prank lasted.
Severus struggles against the ropes that tied him to a tree in the Forbidden Forest. This morning, Black and Pettigrew had jumped him and tied him to this tree. He doesn't know where his luggage is, but he knows what they are planning on doing. Both Black and Pettigrew grabbed lumps of his head; they probably made Polyjuice potion for Potter so he can switch places with Severus.
Severus sees movements far away from the forest. He starts yelling, hoping that somebody. The mass moves and comes towards him. Hagrid, as Severus sees, comes up to him with Fang at his side. "Severus" he asks, "How did you get here?"
"Black and Pettigrew tied me up!" shouts Severus as Hagrid unties the rope, "and I bet Potter's behind it all!"
Before Hagrid could say anything, Severus dashes towards the school.
Lily finally figures out what the smell on Severus' breath is. "Severus" she says as she leans in to him.
"Yes?" stutters Severus, starting to sweat a little.
"Why does your breath smell like Polyjuice potion?"
As "Severus" gasps in shock, Severus runs into the hall and uses a stunning spell on the imposter. The potion wears off, and the imposter is revealed to be James. Before Lily could yell out his name, Severus shoots three stunning spells behind her, hitting Sirius, Peter, and Remus. As Hagrid runs up and holds back Severus, Lily opens his trunk. Along with Severus' trunk, there was a large beaker of Polyjuice potion. Remus would have been the only one who could have made such a high-quality potion.
"Severus, are you all right?" asks Lily.
"No" sneers Severus, "Potter got his little lackeys to tie me to a tree in the Forbidden Forest!"
"Wow" says Hagrid as he takes the beaker, "That's not very nice, James."
Lily screams. "I thought that you couldn't get any lower, Potter!" she growls, "And shame on you three for helping him! Come on, Severus, let's go."
Lily grabs her trunk in her right hand and Severus' arm in her left. She drags him out of the school with both of their trunks following behind them.
"I told you this wouldn't work" says Remus as he gets up.
"Shut up Remus" groans James.
Severus wakes up as the car pulls up into the Evans' driveway. The train ride and car ride to Lily's house had been pretty much uneventful. Mr. and Mrs. Evans did not mind that he was staying over their house for vacation, but he had to sleep in the living room the entire time. Luckily, Petunia was not there when her parents picked up him and Lily from King's Cross. As Lily's parents go inside the house, he and Lily get their trunks out of the back of the car.
"This is going to be so much fun!" says Lily as they walk into the house, "I'm about to go upstairs and say hi to Tuney."
Severus drags his trunk into the living room as he watches Lily drag hers upstairs. Looking at the perfectly smooth furniture, he was afraid to sit anywhere. He stands there until Mrs. Evans comes in with a comforter and a pillow. "Why are you standing up, Severus?" she asks sweetly, "Sit down in one of the chairs."
He sits down in one of the lounge chairs and watches Mrs. Evans make up the couch so he can sleep on it. Feeling uncomfortable in the nice chair, he gets up. "I'm going to go check on Lily" he says.
Mrs. Evans nods her head as Severus goes upstairs. He hears shouts coming from one of the rooms upstairs. After that, he hears Lily in Petunia's room say "There's something else." Severus pushes her door open, and he sees Petunia and Lily standing on different sides of the room.
"Severus is staying with us for Christmas" says Lily slowly.
"Hi Petunia" says Severus coolly.
"Get out of my room!" screeches Petunia, looking at Severus with extreme loathing. Then, she turns to Lily. "You get out as well" she sneers, "I'm not going to look at you freaks anytime this break!"
Severus and Lily back out of Petunia's room as Petunia slams the door. Severus really didn't care- Petunia had never liked him- but the look on Lily's face broke his heart. Lily was struggling to hold back tears. Severus sighs; he didn't want to make things more complicated for Lily and her sister. "I can go home for the break" he says, "I think I can deal with my father for two weeks."
Lily shakes her head. "No" she says, "I asked you to spend Christmas with my family, and you will. Petunia just has to deal with it."
Severus looks down and smiles. He's happy that Lily is standing up for him. "I got an idea!" says Lily, "Come on, let's go!"
With that, Severus runs downstairs with Lily to see what she was talking about.
Severus was running down the street. In front of him, Lily's red hair flowed in the wind as she drags the toboggan behind her. Lily's parents said that they could go tobogganing in the park, as long as they get back home by six o'clock tonight. Severus offered to hold the toboggan under his until the got to the park, but Lily declined the offer. Suddenly, Lily stopped before he did, and Severus trips and falls on the toboggan, hitting his head on the curved part.
"Severus, I am so sorry" Lily gasps as she helps him up, "Are you all right?"
"Yeah" he answers as he holds his head to stop the ringing. Lily grabs his face to see if there were any bumps.
"You're all right" Lily sighs.
Severus looks up at the park. Everything is covered in snow. Many children are there playing with the snow in different ways. He and Lily walk to one of the hills that was empty of children. Lily drops the toboggan and sits on it. Severus thought that she was going to slide down the hill and bring it back up so he could slide down. To his surprise, Lily turns towards him. "What are you doing, Severus?" she asks, "Sit down and hold onto my waist."
Severus slowly sits on the sled. Holding onto her waist was a different matter. He had never been that close to Lily before. All he can manage to do is put his arms loosely around her. "Hold on tighter!" she sighs impatiently, "And scoot up more, or you'll fly off!"
Quickly, Severus does as he is told. He is so glad that Lily couldn't see his face; his face was as red as her hair. Suddenly, his stomach drops as they zoom off of the hills. At first, all his senses could pick up was Lily's red hair flying in the wind, and her laughter reaching his ears. Then, he looks pass her at the bottom of the hill. He finally knew why many kids weren't sledding down this particular hill. They were heading straight for a huge mound. As the toboggan collides with the mound, Severus and Lily fly off the sled into the snow.
Severus gets up and turns around. He gasps and runs as he sees Lily's prostrate form lying in the snow. "Lily? Lily!" Severus shouts, "Lily, wake up!" He stops when he hears a giggle coming from the snow. Lily sits up and brushes the snow off of her face.
"That was so much fun!" shouts Lily, "Didn't you think so?"
Severus' heart was jumping out of his chest, but he answers, "I never experienced anything like it in my life."
"Me neither" says Lily. Before Severus could say anything else, a snowball flies straight into his face. "Snowball fight!" shouts Lily as she stands up and throws a snowball at chest.
Hesitant at first, Severus only threw several snowballs at her. Then, he gets more aggressive as she gets more intense. This goes on for about ten minutes. Severus makes a snowball and throws it at Lily's head. He panics as he sees Lily fall down and groans in pain. As he runs to her and sees her face, Severus sees pieces of ice on it and in her hair. "Lily, I'm so sorry" Severus gasps, "I didn't know there was ice in the snowball!"
"That's okay" says Lily, then, "You probably did that in retaliation for tripping you earlier."
"Lily, I swear that's not it!" Severus says in a panic, "I didn't know there was ice in the snowball! It was an accident! Please believe me!"
"Calm down, Severus!" Lily says when she sees that Severus was really unnerved, "I was just joking! I know you didn't do it on purpose."
They sit quietly in the snow for a while. Severus didn't feel like having a snowball fight ever again. Lily, seeing this, gets up, walks to the mound, and pulls the toboggan out of it. "We survived the mound the first time" she says sweetly, "How about another go around?"
Severus smiles and goes up the hill with Lily and the sled behind him.
Even after the disastrous snowball fight, the day turned out very fun. When the sun starts to go down, Severus and Lily start walking home. Lily lets Severus carry the toboggan under his arm this time around. Severus smiles as he looks at Lily walking in front of him. This is the first he has had fun in…ever.
Suddenly, Lily stops in front of one of the stores. Along with the Christmas lights, there was a sign in the window that said "Free ornament making". Lily's eyes widen at the sight. "Severus, let's go inside!" she exclaims.
He shakes his head. "Your parents said that we need to be home by six o'clock. It's about five already."
"It's not going to take that long to make ornaments."
"But what about the sled? We can't bring it in the store."
As if on cue, someone walks out of the store and looks at them. "Are you thinking about going in?" he asks, "There's a sled depot in there that will hold your toboggan until you're finish."
With that, Lily grabs Severus and drags him into the store. The store was crowded with many people, old and young alike, making Christmas decorations. Helpers from the store were passing around plates of Christmas cookies to the decorating tables. Severus and Lily go to the back and put up the toboggan and their coats. Then, they sat at one of the tables. Lily made herself quite at home, taking some of the cookies and materials. Severus, however, was a different matter. Seeing all of the happy face, he felt completely out of place. He puts his head down, and stares at his knees until Lily gently shoves him.
"Look at everyone, Severus" she whispers, "Everyone here comes from a different walk of life. Some of them are poor, rich, or just average. Some might have even experience a personal loss. No matter how their lives are, they are all here having a good time. You should do the same."
Severus realizes she was right. He notices many poor people around him; he was not the only one. With that, he starts making an ornament. Several minutes later, Lily nudges him again. This time, she shows him a beaker filled with eggnog. At the bottom of the beaker is a branch of holly. Severus shows her a red wreath with black flowers.
"That's beautiful, Severus!" gasps Lily, "And very creative too!"
"Thank you" says Severus, "Yours is very beautiful and creative, too."
With that, Severus and Lily get their coats and the toboggan and leave the store.
Severus is woken up by Lily the next day. She stares at him without saying a word. This makes Severus a little nervous. "What's wrong?" he stutters.
After a long pause, Lily sighs. "I think that we should get your mother a Christmas present and give it to her."
Severus knows why Lily hesitated to tell him this. "No" he says firmly. So far, he's having a good time; he is not going to let Tobias Snape ruin that for him.
"But your mother probably misses you!" says Lily, "You didn't come home last Christmas, and she shouldn't be rejected your company because of your father!"
When he doesn't respond, Lily sighs. "How about this?" she suggests, "We can go to your house when your father isn't there. Then, we can say hello to your mother, give her the gift, and leave."
Severus likes this idea. Even though his father could crawl under a rock somewhere, he did miss his mother. "Okay" he says, "But what kind of gift can we give her? I don't have any money to buy her anything."
"I have some money…" start Lily.
"No" interrupts Severus, "I don't want to take your money."
Both of them sit on the couch and think about what to do. Then, Lily snaps her fingers. "We can make her a quilt" she says.
"How?" asks Severus.
"Mum likes to sew. She even taught me how to a little bit. Also, she is a collector of fabrics. We can use those to make a quilt."
"Are you sure it will be all right?"
"Yeah. Come on, let's get started!"
A couple of days before Christmas, Severus and Lily walk toward his house. Severus holds the quilt wrapped in red under his arms. He couldn't thank Lily and Mrs. Evans enough for helping him. He thought that the quilt was beautiful; he hoped that his mother thought the same.
As they walk down his street, Severus grabs Lily's arm and pulls her behind one of the bushes. They both watch as Tobias Snape's car rides down the street. As it turns the corner, Lily and Severus run down the street and knock on his front door. The door opens slowly, and Mrs. Snape is shocked to see both of them. The trio stares at each other for a few minutes.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Snape" says Lily, breaking the silence.
"Hey Mum" says Severus quietly.
Mrs. Snape gasps and wraps her arms around Severus. "Oh Severus, I'm so happy to see you!" she exclaims, "I thought that you were spending the holidays at school again!"
She lets go of Severus and looks at Lily. "You must be Lily Evans" she says sweetly, "Please to meet you. Severus has told me a lot about you."
"Mum" Severus groans as they walk inside the house. Although he was thoroughly embarrassed, seeing his mother had made his day.
"What does Severus say about me?" asks Lily, to Severus' horror.
"Well" starts Mrs. Snape, "He tells me that you are beautiful, kind, and smart. I never knew that Severus was that perceptive."
"Is that what you think about me?" says Lily accusingly, "I'm flattered!"
Severus picks a point at the wall to stare at. He couldn't look at either Lily or his mother. Color was already running from his neck to his face. "Oh yeah" says Lily suddenly, "We made you a gift, Mrs. Snape." With that, Snape snaps out of his daze and hands his mother the package.
"Why thank you" she says as she holds the package.
"You can open it now" says Lily, "You don't have to wait until Christmas."
Mrs. Snape obliges and opens the package. There were three main themes to the quilt: Quidditch, Potions, and Royalty. Mrs. Evans had sown a green-and-silver border around the quilt in homage to Slytherin. Tears come down Mrs. Snape's eyes. "Thank you so much" she whispers, "My years at Hogwarts were the happiest years of my life."
She folds up the quilt and takes it into her room. Severus goes over to Lily. "We should go now" he says.
As they head for the door, Mrs. Snape comes out of her room. "Are you two leaving?" she asks, then, "I'm going to make some chicken and cornbread. Why don't you stay for dinner?"
Severus looks between his mother and Lily. His mother is given him the "Please stay for a while" look, while Lily was given him the "Leaving now would be cruel" look. Severus sighs. "We'll stay for a while, Mum" he says, "But you have to call your parents and tell them, Lily."
While Mrs. Snape cooks and serves dinner, she tells the children stories about her Hogwarts days. Lily told her stories of things they've experienced in Hogwarts. Severus looks at this and smiles to himself. In his twelve years of living, he has never seen his mother happy. This moment had made coming home all worth it.
As they were eating dinner they hear the door open and slam close. The trio turns deathly white as Tobias Snape comes around the kitchen. "Are you eating without me, Eileen?" he whispers.
"I thought you weren't coming until later" says Mrs. Snape just as quietly.
"Then you should have starved until I got here!" he sneers. He balls up his fist as though he was about to hit her, but then he turns towards Severus. "Didn't expect to see you here, boy."
"I came here to see Mum" says Severus.
"Yes" says Mr. Snape, "Come home and run to your Mummy." Then, he looks at Lily. "You must be one of his rich friends" he sneers, "Little Severus can't appreciate what he has, so he has to latch onto the more fortunate like the dog he is."
Mr. Snape gargles and tries to spit on Lily. Severus sees this, and takes the spit ball to his face. He wipes off the spit and stands up, fuming. "You will not disrespect my friend!" Severus growls.
"Boy!" screams Mr. Snape, "You're going to regret talking back to your father!" He balls up his fist and raises it, but Mrs. Snape grabs his arm.
"My son came to visit me" she stutters, then, more confidently, "Don't you dare hit him!"
Mr. Snape grabs his arm away from her. He looks at the similar expressions on his wife and his son's face. Knowing this was a lost cause, he screams and knocks over the kitchen table, food and all. "I'm going out" he sneers. Everyone else stays where they are until they hear the front door slam.
Mrs. Snape lets her breath out. "After I clean this up" she states, "I'll walk you two home." With this, she gets on her knees and starts cleaning up.
"I'll help you out Mum" says Severus.
"Me too" says Lily.
"Oh, you don't have to, Lily" says Mrs. Snape, "I'm so sorry you had to witness this."
"Please" says Lily quietly, "I would be honored."
They cleaned the mess in silence. The walk to Lily's house was just as quiet. Severus was filled with so much pride because of his mother. This was the first time his mother had stood up to his father. At first, he hoped that his father would have never showed up to the house. Now, he was glad that he did; otherwise, that entire scene would not have happened. He is thankful that Lily convinced him to go home.
Severus wakes up and looks at the presents under the tree they had trimmed last night. He looks at the ornaments that he and Lily made, sitting next to each other. Suddenly, he looks to the living room opening as the family run downstairs into the room. "Happy Christmas, Severus!" shouts Lily as she sits next to him on the couch.
"Happy Christmas, Lily" says Severus.
He watches as Lily and Petunia opens their gifts. Lily squeals in delight as she reveals a butterfly clip, given to her by Petunia. As Lily hugs Petunia, their parents give Severus a box. In it were a coat, gloves, a scarf, and a hat.
"Thank you" says Severus.
"You're welcome" says Mr. Evans.
Lily sits next to him on the couch. "I'll give you my gift later."
About a half-hour later, Lily leads Severus up to her room. Before she shows her gift, Severus takes out two snow globes. One had Santa Claus and his reindeer flying around a Christmas tree; the other has Rudolph and Frosty in it. "These are Christmas gifts from my Mum" says Severus, "There's one for each of us, but you can have them both."
"Oh Severus" huffs Lily, "It'll hurt your mother if you gave away her Christmas gift. You can have the one with the Christmas tree, and I'll take this one."
Severus just nods his head and looks at his snow globe. Lily goes and gets a package from her package. "Here's your present from me" she says quietly.
Severus opens it. It was a small, silver swing set with a boy and a girl. As he looks closer, he sees that the children were Lily and him. "I know it's kind of corny" says Lily as she looks down and pats the side of her head, "but I wanted to give you something special."
Severus bites his lip to stop from tearing up. "Thank you Lily" he says quietly, "This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever given to me." Then, he reaches down on the floor and gives her a package that he brought up with him. "Happy Christmas, Lily" he says.
In the box was cedar plank. A bundle of marble lilies were set into the plank. On the bottom, in permanent ink, was a little message: "From Severus to Lily, Best Friends Forever".
"I hope it's not too corny" says Severus.
Lily puts down the plank and hugs Severus. "Thank you Severus" she whispers, "It's beautiful."
Severus wraps his arms around her. So many things have happened this week. Lily invited him to spend Christmas with her family. Potter and his friends were humiliated while trying to stop him from coming. He had so much fun hanging out with Lily. He saw his mother happy for the first time. Not only that, he saw his mother stand up to his father. Finally, he realized how much Lily and his friendship meant to both of them. This is without a doubt the best Christmas ever.
"No Lily, thank you."
This is the end of The Best Christmas Ever!