Lily arrived a bit after lunch, carrying a brightly wrapped present and her father's Polaroid camera. Mrs Snape shooed them off to play outside.

"Come on, open it!" Severus urged, leaning close.

Harry beamed at her, touching the bow reverently. "Thank you, Lily. No one's ever …"

"You don't even know what it is."

"Come on, Severus is right. Open it!"

Harry peeled back the wrapping from the box and opened it. Between soft white paper nestled a blue photo album with a white bunny in the lower left corner. Raised letters proudly proclaimed: Friends Forever.

"Smile!" Lily brandished the Polaroid Camera, taking a picture of Harry holding the photo album. "Da even gave me another pack so that we can start right away!"

Harry shoved his present at Severus and hugged Lily. "Thank you. This is awesome."

Mrs Snape then shooed them out and they went, arguing where to take pictures first.

ooooo

Later that afternoon they sat around the wobbly kitchen table, drinking squash out of plastic cups, when Mr Snape came in, holding one of his wife's scarves.

Before Harry could protest he was blindfolded and everyone in the room started to sing for he's a jolly good fellow.

"You can take the scarf off now, Harry." Mrs Snape prompted.

On a plate, smack in the middle of the table sat a birthday cake with 12 burning candles. It was a bit lopsided, the icing a tad grainy and the candles leaning here and there, but to Harry it was the best cake he had ever seen.

"Come on, Harry!" Lily had the camera ready. "Blow out the candles and make a wish."

Harry closed his eyes, trying to focus on what he wanted most, and with the flash of the camera echoing red through his closed eyes, he realized that he already had it. He warmed himself on the feeling of hope and friendship radiating off the people in this room, nearly not recognizing it for what it was but craving it with every fibre of his being. Harry took a deep breath. I want this to last forever.

ooooo

They rode the train together back to Hogwarts but this time, there were no boats to ferry them across the lake. Instead the prefects led them to wooden coaches which and bumped and rumbled on a dirt road around the lake, through the gate to the castle.

"How do they move?" Harry tried to look out the window, past the other coaches.

"What do you mean?" Lily looked at him as if he were mad. "The horses of course."

"What horses?"

"She means the thestrals." Severus continued looking out the window, over the lake at the castle glowing in the dark.

"Are you two having me on?" Harry glared at his friends. "There's nothing out there pulling those coaches."

"Just because you need to clean those window panes you call glasses…" Lily snapped at him.

"Hogwarts, a History says…" Severus started.

"What's it with you and that book?" Lily threw her arms in the air in exasperation.

"What's it with you and the sniping?" Severus shot back. "I was just explaining …"

"Well some of us can do without you lording it over us that you read a book."

"Maybe you should try it once in a while, then you wouldn't call thestrals horses." Severus snapped, turning back to watching the castle in the distance.

"What's up with you, Lily? You've been in a foul mood ever since we stepped on the train." Harry look straight at her, daring her to lie.

"Nothing."

"Big fat nothing." Harry looked over at Severus. "Tell me I'm not making this up."

Severus ignored them, his face a ghostish reflection in the window.

Lily gave him an I-hate-you look. "I had a fight with my sister. She thinks I'm a freak. You happy now?"

ooooo

Harry sat at the Slytherin table, telling himself that he was glad to be back. Even though next to him Severus was surrounding himself with a wall of petulant silence. Harry pretended to listen to the Sorting Hat sing. Severus was still sulking and had not reacted to any of Harry's attempts to lift his mood. Harry could only take so many mphs and had given up, pretending to listen intently to the Sorting.

When Professor McGonagall called for Regulus Arcturus Black, Harry elbowed Severus.

"Did you hear that?"

"That hurt." Severus put his head back on the table, his hair fanning out around him and sighed dramatically. He raised his hand in the air making mocking cheering gestures. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's all welcome the newest addition to the Marauders. Yip yip Hurray!"
Then the unthinkable happened. The hat bellowed: Slytherin.

Harry and Severus joined into the clapping, revelling in the boos that came from the Gryffindor table.

ooooo

"Hey, where have you been?" Severus, pawn in hand, looked up from the chess board. Half of Malfoy's game pieces lay slaughtered on Severus' side, his king a few moves from check-mate.

"Nowhere." Harry walked past the little table Severus and Malfoy used to play chess and slammed the door to the dormitory behind him.

"You might want to go after your friend." Lucius looked slyly at Severus. "Let's call it a draw, shall we?"

Severus raised an eyebrow at him. "If you say so, Malfoy." But he tapped his wand against the box and the chess pieces neatly arranged themselves in it. "I can always slaughter you another day."

ooooo

When Severus entered the room, Harry lay face down on his bed, his shoes kicked off halfway across the room, the curtains of his four-poster nearly drawn shut. Severus pulled them open with a snap and kicked Harry's bed.

"Go away." Harry hid his head under his pillow.

"Tell me what happened?" Severus kicked the bed again.

"Sod off." Harry turned away from him, fumbling for his wand. He found it and spelled the curtains shut again.

Another kick made Harry's bed shake. "Fine, go sulk. See if I care!"

There was a muffled reply from within and then silence with the occasional quiet sob. Severus shrugged, sat down beside his bed, took out his Herbology homework and started working on the required essay on foxgloves.

About halfway through the first scroll Severus noticed that gentle snoring had replaced the sobs. He finished his homework.

ooooo

Severus woke Harry in time for dinner. Harry blinked at him from the semi-darkness of the enclosed bed, his glasses crooked on his face.

"I swear, Severus, if you kick my bed one more time." Harry yawned. "I will hex your pants on backwards."

"You coming to dinner?" Severus tried to sound casual.

"Guess so." Harry reached for his shoes and put them on.

"You're not going to tell me what happened, are you?" Severus sounded cross.

"You're not going to give up till I do?" Harry sighed and stood up.

Severus just looked at him.

"Fine. I tried out for the Quidditch team." He paused, trying to suppress his emotions. "They told me to get a broom and practice and then I could try again next year." Harry kicked his bed. "Fat lot of good that'll do me. The school brooms are shite."

Severus looked at his own second hand robes, his hands balled to fists, his voice low and dangerous. "Don't you think I know…"

ooooo

A few weeks later, Harry had barely made it in time to Professor Flitwick's class and sat panting and trying to catch his breath in his seat when Flitwick announced this lesson's topic: Identification Charms.

They were supposed to perform the charm on their partner, and, as Professor Flitwick demonstrated on himself, with a quick swish and flick a hovering semi-translucent scroll appeared in front of him stating his full name and title.

"Now, repeat after me: Agnosco."

The students dutifully chorused and Professor Flitwick was about to demonstrate the hand-wand movement in detail when Sirius Black raised his hand.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Mr Black, what is it?"

Severus snickered and whispered at Harry: "Wanna bet he was faffing around and missed the charm command?"

Black, who had obviously heard Severus, glared at him but went on. "How does the charm know it's you?"

"Good question, Mr Black, good question." Flitwick beam down at him from his stack of floating books. "One point to Gryffindor."

The teacher turned to survey the class. "And now, another point for anyone who can answer Mr Black's question!"

Silence reigned in the class, several students looking at their tables, notes and out the window, anywhere but at Professor Flitwick.

"Anyone?" Flitwick prompted.

Severus tentatively raised his hand. There was snickering from the Gryffindor side.

"I don't think it recognizes us, Professor." He started, sounding more than a tad unsure. "But our wands?"

"Brilliant!" Professor Flitwick squeaked and nearly fell over backwards in excitement.

Severus beamed under the attention, sitting up straight when Flitwick went on.

"Very clever. It is indeed as young Snape says. Every wand bought is registered with the Ministry of Magic."

"So..." Potter chimed in and grabbed Lily's wand from the table. "If you did the charm now, I'd be Lily Evans?"

"No you wouldn't, you prat." Lily punched him the arm to get it back then addressed her teacher. "My wand won't work for him, will it?"

"It might work, but not very well and the results are unpredictable." Professor Flitwick clapped his hands. "Well then, we have work to do."

After a few tries most students seemed to get the hang of the charm, translucent scrolls were hovering over almost everyone's head, to the embarrassment of some with rather unfortunate middle names.

Harry looked at the scroll he had managed to charm over Severus' head. "Is Tobias your dad's name?"

"Yes. What of it?" Severus sounded slightly annoyed. "Your turn now. Let me see if I can do this."

Severus flicked and swished his wand the way Professor Flitwick had demonstrated. "Agnosco!"

A scroll appeared over Harry's head, the lettering fading in an out, changing, as if they themselves were not quite sure what was happening and where they should be. The first name that flickered into view was Diocletian Vector, quickly changing to Harry James Potter and back again only to blink once more and settle on Harry Diocletian Vector.

"Bloody hell, what was that?" Severus shook his wand as if that would fix anything.

"Professor!" Pettigrew crowed from a few tables away. "Dursley's scroll is being weird!"

Flitwick, still on his book stack, took out his wand. "Let me see."
He ended Severus' charm with a finite incantatem and cast his own identification charm. This time only one name appeared on the scroll: Harry Diocletian Vector.

"Curios. Hand me that wand of yours, Dursley."

Feeling the combined curiosity of his classmate's stares on him, Harry tried to hide his blush by looking at the floor. He handed over his wand to his Professor and sat back down as quickly as he could.

"Why me?" Harry banged his head against the table.

"Ah, I see where the problem is. We should have this fixed in no time." Flitwick finished casting diagnostic spells on Harry's wand. "This is a second hand wand, is it not?"

Harry, who had not thought that this could get any worse, just nodded. There was snickering and not so hushed whispering.

"Ollivander just didn't reset it right." Flitwick handed the wand back to Harry. "Not to worry, come by after class and I'll fix it for you."

Harry mumbled a 'thank you, Professor' and tried not to die of embarrassment.

ooooo

"Where've you been?" Severus whined, looking up from his calculations. "You were supposed to help me with this."

"Went to see Flitwick." Harry threw his books onto his bed, flopping down beside them.

"And?"

"And he can't sodding help me. Said I'd just have to wait till I can buy a new one."

"Shall we be calling you Diocletian now?" Severus raised a teasing eyebrow at him. "We could rename the common bath after you."

"Hah, bloody hah. As if we need more Roman emperors around."

"We certainly need less Muggle names around. Could do with a lot less Jameses and Peters in this region."

"Less Siriuses, too."

ooooo

The hospital wing was bright and sunny, big windows opening up to the west, bringing in sunshine and air. Severus was staring at the ceiling.

There was only one other patient at this point in time. Frank Longbottom had caught a case of the Dragon Pox and was in a quarantine bubble at the other end of the ward.

Harry stood in the doorway wondering, not for the first time, if everything in this school was built around competition and popularity, and that even being sick was some kind of contest. Longbottom's bed and the area around him spilled over with good cheer. Balloons were tied to the end of his bed, stacks of sweets and fruit declared in bright colours their claims to friendship and camaraderie.

Severus lay alone in front of an empty table, his leg held up by a variety of strings and pulleys, his face as pale as the sheets.

Harry wished he were better at Transfiguration, or at least had remembered to ask someone else. He was considering going back to the dorm to find someone, maybe Malfoy or his girlfriend and see if he could persuade them to transfigure him a couple of balloons, when Severus turned his head and looked directly at him. And smiled.

"Hiya." Harry sat at the edge of Severus' bed. "Heard ya broke your leg."

"Really? No one told me." Severus tried to sit up and grimaced in pain.

"How'd you do it?" Harry offered his hand but Severus stubbornly refused the help.

"Forgot about that disappearing step."

Harry nodded, he had tripped over it more than once himself.
"Can't Pomfrey fix it?" He asked, remembering how fast Severus' broken wrist had been mended.

"It's splintered. She said she had to vanish the pieces and regrow the bone." Severus picked at the bed sheet. "I'll be out of here by tomorrow afternoon."

"Does it hurt much?" Harry looked over to Longbottom, who was happily picking through a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

"Loads."

"I know what will make it better." Harry grinned and got off the bed. "Stay right where you are!"

"Hah, bloody, hah."

Harry sprinted from the room, nearly colliding with Madame Pomfrey and when he got back, ten minutes or so later, he was carrying a huge bowl of strawberry and lemon curd trifle.

This time Severus let Harry help him sit up in bed, holding his hand out for the spoon. "I think it's hurting a lot less already."

ooooo

Severus tapped the scroll, picking up the runes with his wand, swirling them into a ball. "Redimio quod partum!"

The spell started to lift off the paper, forming a glowing ball, and then descended into a rain of useless sparks.

"Give me that." Harry snatched the calculations from Severus. "We must have overlooked something."

"Obviously." Severus snatched them back and put them on the table between them.

They both studied the scroll for a bit, trying to find their arithmancy error.

"Look here." Harry pointed at part of the Finite equation. "I think the incantation clashes with the spell base."

They both stared at it for a while, then Severus reached for a piece of scrap paper, rearranging some of the runes.

"What if …" Severus scratched his head. "If we took out the Finite Incantatem?"

"You mean, put in our own?" Harry reached for the Latin dictionary. "What should we put instead?"

"No." Severus smirked at him. "Let's not put one in."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Harry looked at Snape and then back at their calculations. "What if something goes wrong?"

"It won't." Severus chuckled. "Don't tell me it wouldn't be funny that they'd have to go to Pomfrey to get their mouth back."

"What if she can't do it?" Harry looked more and more uneasy, shifting on his seat. "Severus, I really don't think this is a good idea. Let's just put in our own Finite."

Severus made a huffy sound but said nothing.

"Come on." Harry pushed the dictionary towards Severus. "Just think about how cool it'll be when they have to beg us for the Finite."

ooooo

Harry stood, wrapped in his winter cloak and school scarf, at the Hogwarts train station. Severus, his nose red from the blistering wind, fidgeted. The train whistled for the second time, signalling its upcoming departure.

The wind mussed Severus' hair, blowing it forward so that only his nose was visible. Harry had the urge to tug it behind his ear.

Severus reached into his bag and pulled a folded and sealed piece of paper out of it. He tossed it at Harry.

"Merry Christmas." He grinned at Harry's baffled expression. "No peeking. I'll know!"

He hopped onto the train and waved. The wind roared and blew away Harry's yelled Thank You.

ooooo

Harry had tried to open the letter the first thing when he got back inside. It had grown teeth and snapped at him.

Now it sat on his dresser, under a spare pillow. Every morning Harry checked that it was still there. Each time he lifted the pillow he had the impression that it was watching him.

Harry woke early on Christmas morning, sat up, rubbed his eyes and reached for the envelope under the pillow. It was gone. He frantically scrambled out of bed, looking on hands and knees, but it was nowhere to be found.

Downtrodden and wracking his memory as to what could have possibly happened to his present he washed and made his way to breakfast. As he sat down, just like the year before, a pile of presents appeared in front of him. And on top, white and glistening, Severus' present.

Harry let out a huge sigh of relief. He snatched the envelope and popped the seal open and pulled out the white card inside. It had one word written on it: Volaticus.

Not wanting to try this new spell at the table, and - knowing Severus - before checking what it actually did, Harry put the card away and continued to unpack his other presents.

The next parcel was from the school, Harry opened it and groaned. Hogwarts, A History. Severus would have a field day with this.

Slughorn had send him another box of chocolates and Harry was dead set on eating all the truffles before Severus returned from the holidays.

The last present was a bit of a puzzler. Cheerful but haphazardly wrapped, it sat there in its oversized glory.

Harry pulled at the bow and took off the lid. On top of a very obviously handmade scarf in green and orange was a card with a snowman on it.

Happy Christmas, Harry

Haven't seen yeh in ages.
Come over for a cuppa when yeh got time!
-Hagrid

ooooo

That evening, when he was alone in their Slytherin dorm room, Harry took out the card with the spell Severus had given him for Christmas. He popped open his Latin dictionary on his bed, running his finger down the list of words.

His finger still on the paper, he started to grin. Harry put the dictionary down, reached for his wand and said quietly: "Volaticus."

Harry felt his feet lift off the ground, rising inch after inch, till he was nearly vertical, floating above his bed. He flapped his arms a bit, making swimming motions, trying to gain momentum when the spell gave out halfway across the room and he crashed back to ground.

Pure dumb luck had him land safely on Pritchard's bed.

His heart beating fast with excitement and adrenalin Harry lay back on the bed, thinking about all the awesome possibilities this spell harboured.