All was still.

All was silent as the snow fell down on Hogwarts. It covered everything, like thick cake frosting and fell delicately over the trees like sifted sugar. The windows of the castle, shown like candles against the harsh winter white of the sky. Inside, the house elves had already been awake for hours, preparing a wonderful breakfast for those who remained on Christmas morning. The halls already smelled of maple cured sausage and cinnamon cakes. People stirred in their beds as the sky continued to lighten with the impending sun pushing through the fog.

Harry Potter slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see some sort of clutter at the foot of his bed. He blindly searched for his glasses and could scarcely believe it when he clearly saw a pile of presents!

"Merry Christmas" Ron managed sleepily as Harry scrambled out of his bed.

"You too" said Harry "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect?" Ron laughed and turned his attention to his own bounty of gifts.

The boys ripped through the packages like a hurricane, and by the end of it, there was sparkly wrapping paper and ribbons everywhere. This was, without question, the best Christmas Harry had ever spent.

Down in the dungeons of Slytherin, Hadrian rubbed his eyes and reached for his wand in the darkness.

"Lumos"

He searched around for his slippers before climbing into them and heading out to the common room. The fire was already lit but the room felt abandoned. Hadrian sat down on some of the throw pillows by the fireplace and stared into the flames. He had never liked Christmas, but he supposed this was probably his best Christmas ever. Nobody was making fun of him. Nobody was scolding him. And he was in an opulent castle with a four-poster bed rather than a leaky old cell with a shoddy cot.

The boy looked over his shoulder, and when he was sufficiently sure that nobody was watching, he wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed as tight as he could.

"Happy Birthday, Hadrian" he whispered into the dancing flames.

Severus Snape awoke to his faithful feline friend scratching on the door to his bedroom. He groaned when he realized how early it still was. Only children ever woke up this early on Christmas. He pulled himself up out of bed and into his slippers with a great stretch.

Once he was in his adjoined sitting room, he noticed the few parcels set out by the fireplace. As usual, there was a box of dubious looking chocolates from the Headmaster, a small parcel of baked sweets and cat treats from Hagrid and a green and black knit scarf from Minerva. Madame Pomfrey had also gifted him a leather-bound book entitled "Primal Potions in the Modern Age". Severus scanned through the first few pages and was about to settle into his chair, when he noticed another small package, wrapped up in what appeared to be discarded pieces of last week's Daily Prophet. He picked it up and felt how light it was. There was no note, and for a moment, Severus wondered if he should be handling the suspicious package with more reserve. When he was sure he didn't sense any dark magic at work, he carefully pulled back the paper the reveal a small nondescript box. Just as he was about to open it, Severus caught a very strong scent coming from the parcel.

"Is this?.." Severus held the box closer to his nose. "Nepeta cataria?"

He opened it up and sure enough, there was a good fistful of what was obviously expertly grown, high quality catnip.

"Well Saxon," he smirked as the large cat nuzzled against his legs, "it seems this present is for you" Tucked in the box, beside the catnip, Severus spied a torn bit of parchment paper. It read:

Happy Christmas Professor Snape,

I grew this in herbology class and thought you might find use for it as I know you have a cat. I apologize

for the less than perfect wrap job… it was all I could find. I hope your cat enjoys the treat.

Respectfully,

Hadrian Hitchens

Slytherin House

First Year

Severus paled a little. Never, in all his years of teaching, had he received a gift from a student. He had to smirk at the wording of the note as well.

"First year" he chuckled lightly. As if the Head of Slytherin House truly wouldn't have known which student he was. Hadrian was steadily becoming his favorite student but this new development disturbed Severus a little. As friendly as the gesture might have been, Severus was not in the habit of being liked by students or thought to be approachable in the least, particularly by the students in his house. He considered it a liability of sorts. Most of the Slytherin student body had Slytherin parents, which meant that many of them had ties to remaining death eaters. It was important that he maintain a certain image of himself as the horrid, cruel professor that deep down, maybe... he truly was.

He sprinkled a generous amount of the catnip on the floor in front of the fireplace. Saxon rushed over and began rolling around on the floor like a clumsy kitten. Severus gave a half smirk and sat down in his favorite chair. He scanned the boy's note to him once more before folding it up and shoving it in his robe pocket. He wrestled with whether or not to make sure that Mr. Hitchens understood that such obvious brown-nosing would not be rewarded in Slytherin. Saxon purred loudly as if to say "Leave the poor boy be". And so… he did… for the time being.

In the Great Hall, Hadrian pushed the food around on his plate without much enthusiasm. He could feel Harry and Ron staring at him and, remembering that Hermione would be cross with him if she heard he had been rude, did his best to simply avoid them altogether. When he had learned that the two Gryffindors would be staying at Hogwarts for the duration of the Winter break, he was disheartened to say the least. Truthfully, he didn't know either boy well enough to have reason to hate them. But he knew a glare when he saw one and ever since he and Hermione had begun studying together, Weasley hadn't stopped glaring at him.

"Honestly Ron… give it a rest" Harry slurped on his pumpkin juice as his red headed friend continued to stare at the lone Slytherin.

"I just don't understand why Hermione bothers being nice to him"

Harry rolled his eyes and tucked into his breakfast. Harry had hardly said two words to Hadrian in the few months he'd known him and unlike Ron, he had seen no reason to pay the strange boy any mind at all. Their conversation quickly turned to Quidditch and Hadrian seemed to have been forgotten about entirely.

From the head table, Albus Dumbledore beamed at the two lion cubs. It warmed his heart to see young Harry making friends so easily. He chanced a look over at Slytherin table and stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"A miserable child, that one" McGonagall quipped. "Sullen… snarky… and utterly rational in every way imaginable!"

"Now now Minerva… you flatter me" An oily voice dripped over the witch's shoulders and she nearly jumped out of her seat.

"Severus Snape! It is impolite to sneak up on people like that!" The old witch clutched her chest and glared at him, bitterly.

Albus chuckled and stirred his tea.

"And is it not equally impolite to talk about other professors in their seeming absence?" Severus smirked ever so slightly at the witch before taking his seat.

"If you must know… I was referring to one of your Slytherins", she motioned over to Hadrian, who now had his nose buried in a book.

Severus narrowed his eyes on the boy in an effort to see what he was reading and forced away a smile when he realized it was an Advanced Potions textbook.

"Come Now, Minerva… the Hitchens boy is quite skilled… might even give your little princess Granger some competition for highest marks" he scoffed.

"It's true" added Professor Sprout, from the far end of the table. Severus and Minerva both turned to face her at the same time. "That boy is a marvel in the greenhouse! My most promising student of the year, so far" she beamed.

Professor McGonagall said nothing but raised an eyebrow and studied the boy in question. Perhaps she had been too quick to judge him. After all, though he unnerved her, she could not think of one single complaint she had about him in her classroom. In fact, now that she considered it, Hadrian Hitchens was a model student.

"Hitchens…" she pondered aloud. "What sort of a name is that? British certainly… but I've never heard it pass through these halls before"

"The boy's an orphan… I found him at…" Albus stammered a bit before continuing, "Wool's"

The table suddenly went silent. Minerva looked visibly uncomfortable and promptly excused herself from the table, followed shortly after by Poppy and Professor Sprout.

Professor Snape simply stared at the boy with wonder. Who was this skilled young lad? The product of wartime revels, perhaps? His face paled a little at the thought that Hadrian could have been the product of dark intentions.

"He's rather unique… wouldn't you say, Severus?"

Snape turned his focus back to the Headmaster immediately. "If by unique you mean, not a complete dunderhead like the rest of his peers… then yes… I suppose he is" he snapped venomously and began to steep his morning tea. The Headmaster peered at Severus over the rims of his half moon spectacles and his eyes began to shine with that trademark mischievous twinkle he had become so well known for.

"Oh Severus… I read an article just yesterday in the Prophet about some new uses for gurdyroot… what are your thoughts on it?"

Albus watched Severus intently as he began to drone on about the overlooked uses of gurdybark as opposed to the root and the finer points of medicinal alkaloids and the benefits of long steeping. Severus Snape was one of the most complex people Albus ever had the pleasure of knowing, and yet… the old wizard could always find the various chinks in Snape's otherwise impenetrable armor. The Headmaster could tell that something was troubling Severus. Something about the Hitchens boy had him stumped… or intrigued. In all fairness, young Hitchens seemed to have everyone who encountered him… stumped or intrigued. He was so sullen, so surly, so mature in his manner, so dedicated to his studies and so eager to prove he truly belonged at Hogwarts. Albus adjusted his glasses and ran his fingers through his beard a few times. This boy seemed awfully familiar somehow.

"You see, Headmaster, long steeping extracts all the chlorophyll, as well as the vitamins, minerals and other medicinal components of the leaves. Steeping in a closed jar keeps the water-soluble vitamins from escaping in the steam…"

"Severus… why have you never taken a wife?"

For the first time since his school days, Severus Snape blushed furiously. His jaw fell slightly as he stared at the Headmaster with a look of horror and confusion, which soon turned to embarrassment.

"I…" he thought carefully about what to say next. He was overwhelmed and humiliated all at once. So, Snape responded in the only way he knew how when confronted by such feelings… with pure unbridled indignation. "I would like to know when you think I would have had time between finishing school, risking my life, fighting a war, and teaching these pathetic little imps, to get married to some tart?… the idea of it is completely asinine!" And with that, Severus Snape stood stiffly and stormed off in his customary fashion.

Albus watched him go with a strange sense of satisfaction, his eyes twinkling like stars in a clear night sky after a storm. It was then that he felt someone else's eyes on him and turned to see none other than Hadrian Hitchens staring up at him. Albus nodded in the boy's direction and wondered if a trip to the Ministry Hall of Records might be in order.